The Sculpted Ship

by K. M. O'Brien

  “Sir, the CG generators on my ship are fully functional, and I have sufficient power to operate them at maximum output. However, my ship is not currently capable of either interplanetary flight or hyperdrive.”

  “Well, the locations I have currently identified are all on Doran, so that will not be a factor. How soon will your ship be available for a short charter, say, a three hour flight? I will need to verify how stable your ship is, under some specific conditions, before I can contract with you for more flights.”

  “For a short charter, I can be available as early as tomorrow morning. Do you know when you'd like to go? I'll need to make sure it won't conflict with any of my other commitments.” Not that Anailu had other work, but she still had a lot of work to do getting ready for the Torrells.

  “Since tomorrow is available, then tomorrow morning at 7 AM. Your terms and price are acceptable as listed. I'll have to have an assistant take my classes, but the disruption will be worth it if your ship is everything you claim. I'm sending coordinates for our landing platform. Goodbye.”

  With that, the conversation was abruptly over.

  Professor Untsala was not a personable man, but he was prompt. He'd already filled out a standard short charter contract, and as soon as she accepted it, the up-front money was in her account.

  She wasn't usually a morning person, but for a charter? She would make sure she was there on time. First, she checked the automated city flight control system. She checked the status of the landing pad she was supposed to go to. It was open, and she was already clear to land there. That wasn't surprising for a pad that wasn't busy. A lot of clients just gave you landing permission as soon as you had a contract, and then canceled it after the work was done. When the techs were done pulling her gear, she flew to the University. It couldn't hurt to be there early. In this case, she'd be really early. It also meant she could use the University's power hookup instead of burning her own fuel or paying for landing space for the night. She landed, dropped the ramp, debarked long enough to connect the standard umbilical, then went back aboard, shut down the drives and generators, locked up, and finally set the ship's proximity alarms to warn her if anyone approached the pad. Then she went to sleep.

  At 4:30 AM, the proximity alarm activated. Anailu rolled over and opened one eye. She dragged one arm up and out from under the covers, dropping said arm in the general vicinity of the button that would activate the screen to show whatever had entered the area of the landing pad. Surprisingly, she hit the target on the first try. Maybe this would be a good day.

  It was Professor Untsala, standing at the foot of her ramp with a self-satisfied smile. Maybe it wouldn't be a good day. As she watched, he pulled out his comm and started talking to someone. Anailu could turn on the sound, but she didn't really care about it that much, this early. After he finished what appeared to be a one-sided conversation, he turned off the comm and started tapping his foot. Thirty seconds later, he marched up the ramp and proceeded to start pounding on the airlock hatch.

  Suddenly, Anailu was wide awake and sitting up. What kind of arrogant ass would have the gall to come up her ramp and start hitting her ship, especially two and a half hours early? She was up and angry now, grabbing her shipsuit and putting it on. Screw the contract. She was going to tell him where to stuff it. She left the cabin and went to the main lift.

  In the lift, she forced herself to pause for a minute, looking at only the lift doors in front of her.

  Paying client. Paying client. Paying client, who maybe wants an extended charter.

  As the lift doors opened to the second deck, Anailu pounded the wall of the lift repeatedly and screamed her frustration. She knew there was no chance anyone outside would hear her, between the bulkheads and the hull and all the sound dampening the Queen had. Then it hit her: the professor was such an idiot that he thought that she would hear someone banging on the hatch on a ship of this size.

  Wow.

  That thought stopped her short. She continued down the corridor to the entry area, still working on her composure. She activated the display by the hatch to show the external view. He was still intermittently banging on the hatch, with an indignant look on his face. He hadn't even tried calling her! She was tempted to call him, but no, she would go one better. She would be composed and friendly and generally sunny. The ass was ready to start this early? Good, then so was she. With her face peaceful, she activated the hatch.

  It opened, leaving the professor momentarily surprised, with his hand still raised to knock.

  “Why, Professor Untsala! What a pleasant surprise! I had no idea you would be up this early. Do you think we might get an early start?”

  He was momentarily flabbergasted. Sensing an opportunity, Anailu kept going.

  She looked at his arm, still upraised. “Oh, were you about to start knocking on my hatch? I'm so glad I happened to be stepping out for a breath of morning air. I would never have heard that inside!”

  The professor tried not to look embarrassed. “Oh, no. I was just, ah, admiring the finish on your ship's exterior coating. It looks like an iridium-plastic ceramic and those are notoriously hard to spread consistently enough to look this smooth, especially on a continuous piece this large. Most impressive.”

  “Why, yes, professor. I understand the Telani have proprietary methods for achieving these results. It's far more durable than any paint. You have quite an eye for quality materials.”

  She clapped her hands together. “But enough pleasantries. The early bird gets the worm.” Oh, she'd always hated that saying. “How soon can you be ready to get started?”

  “Well, as soon as I saw you had already arrived, I had my assistants start bringing the equipment out.”

  “Wonderful. How efficient.” The professor looked pleased at her compliment, but it sure wasn't what she'd wanted to say. She noticed several young men and women coming through the large cargo door into the landing area, pushing and guiding a large CG cargo pallet with some sort of large and expensive looking equipment on it. Behind it was a much smaller pallet with a different piece of apparatus on it. “Is that them?”

  The professor turned to look, then beamed with pride. “Yes, that is my Wide Array Sensor. I designed and constructed it myself. It is the most sophisticated and accurate multiphasic sensor in the Rim, perhaps the whole Empire!”

  “Very impressive, sir. If you could guide them toward the bow, I'll go forward and set down the cargo elevator so we can load your 'Wide Array Sensor.'” He nodded and turned to go, then turned back to Anailu. “One thing – when we first spoke, I was planning to merely test the stability of your contra-gravity. Afterward, I realized I might as well bring the Sensor, so that if it was sufficiently stable, we could get real data today, instead of wasting an opportunity.”

  Anailu nodded. “That's fine. It's your charter, and you're paying for mass, time, and fuel.”

  “Excellent.” Professor Untsala turned and moved down the ramp and toward his assistants and equipment.

  Anailu went back inside. She was relieved to be away from Untsala as she headed for the bow cargo lift.

  Gotta remember he's a paying customer, but is it really worth it?

  The location of the cargo lift was one of the more unusual design decisions on this ship, even on a ship refitted to carry cargo. Because of the shape of the Dove-class fuselage, the widest cargo bay was Bay 3, farthest aft and closest the widest part of the main hull, with Bay 1, forward, being the narrowest. The cargo lift was even narrower, since it was almost at the bow. Ships designed for cargo generally had all cargo bays the same width. If a cargo ship had a narrow nose, then it was usually set up to lift up, split open, or swing aside – some way of keeping that one part of the ship from restricting the maximum size of the cargo it could carry. The lower part of the Dove fuselage was packed with equipment and systems, so there was something of a reason, but it was still odd. Probably a Telani style thing.

  The lift also included equipment so it could be set
up as a forward docking port, which let you get past the sharp nose of the ship, so that was useful.

  She reached the cargo lift and activated its external scanner, targeting the larger pallet waiting below. That pallet was big, like maybe “not gonna fit in the ship” big. She wondered if the professor or any of his assistants had checked the maximum cargo loading dimensions in her public transport-for-hire listing.

  Well, no matter. The cargo system had very accurate and precise sensors, and it was set up to handle exactly this type of situation. Rather than going out and measuring the pallet by hand, Anailu only had to touch a control on the screen. The system scanned the pallet she'd selected and automatically determined the maximum dimensions of the target. It even automatically ignored the people around the pallet. On the screen, a green outline appeared around the pallet along with measurements showing how much space would be left between the cargo and the walls and ceiling of the lift. It would be close, but it would fit.

  She activated the lift. It had safeties to keep it from moving if anything was in the way. Fortunately, the assistants were moving their equipment nice and slow, so they hadn't reached the ship yet.

  Outside, lights came on, marking where the lift would come to rest on the ground. The ship's automated voice began speaking, loudly and firmly, repeating in its polite, upper-class feminine voice, “Please stand clear of the lift. Please stand clear of the lift.” The volume appropriate for safety at a busy spaceport was a little loud for a university at 4:30 in the morning. She touched controls to turn it down. She hoped nobody nearby was trying to sleep. At least she got everyone's attention.

  The voice warning shut off as the lift touched down. Now that the pallets were closer, Anailu could see that the larger one had a big cutout on one end, with a wide tube pointing down at the ground through the gap. What was that for? Did it need some sort of specific positioning? The professor really should have told her that. Next time, she would ask before taking a job like this. Well, no matter. She could climb down the ladder on the side of the lift, or even just shout, but it was more respectable to just call his comm.

  “Do you need your equipment loaded anywhere specific?”

  He looked up at her and replied, a little exasperated, “Yes, of course. The sensor head must be placed where it will have a clear view to the ground. In the past, that meant we had to shift it each time we took a reading, but the whole point of this exercise is to position it and then keep it locked in that same position relative to the ship so we don't have to recalibrate every time we take a reading. Surely you understood that was why I wanted a ship with sufficiently zeroed inertial dampers?”

  Oh. My. God. Surely this idiot had to be exceptional at something besides pissing me off, because otherwise, someone would have already killed him. If he is as good a scientist as he is at being an ass, he must be one of the great minds of the Empire.

  Paying Client! Paying Client! Paying Client!

  “Sir, all I know was what you told me yesterday, in our very short conversation. I believe I understand where you want it, and I should be able to accommodate your requirements. Does the other equipment need to be placed somewhere specific?”

  He gave a self-satisfied nod. “It will be attached to the Sensor, but we couple it to the sensor platform at the far end from the sensor head, so any motion that affects the Sensor will register on it equally.”

  Now she had a mental picture of how it would come together, at least if he had been accurate in his description. “OK, then we'll bring up the smaller pallet first. If you place it out in front of the lift, my cargo handling system will shift it into position and bring it aboard. Do you want anyone up here to manage it?”

  He waved dismissively at his assistants. “Yes, two of you go up with it.”

  Two of them, a male and female, moved forward with the pallet and looked like they were going to push it straight onto the lift. Anailu called out to them, “Stop! Leave it right there and stand clear.” They backed away and she activated the cargo handling system, targeting the small CG pallet.

  An automated cargo handling system was a great boon to helping a captain protect her ship from careless loaders. It was far too common for loaders to run cargo into the ship, damaging the ship, the cargo, or both. Such systems were costly, though, so small independent freighters often didn't have them. Instead they used an eagle eye on the loaders, spiced with lots of yelling and cursing. The Queen's automated system was top-of-the-line, though, so Anailu just let it do its thing.

  Once the assistants were clear of the pallet, arms extended from the left and right side of the lift platform, moving parallel to each other toward the sides of the pallet. Once they were in position and shifted inward, close to the pallet, they both activated small tractor beams, aligned the pallet with the lift, and drew it back onto the lift, leaving it perfectly centered.

  At this point, Anailu paused the process and waved to the assistants. “OK, you can get on the lift now, but stay back from the edges, and stay clear of the cargo arms.”

  When the two assistants were on the lift in a safe position, she overrode the system's safety warning about personnel on the cargo lift, as well as the audio warnings. She decided waking the neighbors wasn't necessary for now.

  Then she reactivated the process. The lift slid smoothly up until it reached the level of the deck. “Welcome aboard. Now if you'll get clear of the lift and step over here with me, we'll get your pallet in the cargo bay.” They did so, and she continued the final part of the process. The cargo arms moved the pallet smoothly into the cargo bay, depositing it at the front of Bay 1. The cargo arms retracted, and Anailu cycled the lift down again to get the large pallet. As it slid down to the ground, she turned to the two people standing beside her and said, “I could use the crane, but it’ll be faster if you slide that pallet so there's space for the other one right here.” They nodded and went to work.

  The lift had arrived at the bottom. “OK, time for the big boy. Just position it in front of the lift, like the other one.” The rest of the assistants carefully slid the big pallet into position, with the cutout end of the pallet on the side farthest from the lift. Apparently someone down there knew what they were doing, since that was exactly the orientation they would need when it got up the lift. It would sit with the back end of the pallet facing aft, while the front, with the tube, would face the bow. Again, the cargo arms went into action and pulled the pallet onto the lift. It was a tight fit this time, but the system still handled it perfectly. As the lift went up, she saw that for all its size, the big thing wasn't heavy enough to upset the balance of the ship. As the lift came back up, she called down, “Everyone that's coming along might as well come aboard, so come on up the ramp.”

  As soon as she saw them moving that direction, she brought up the lift. Once it was up and sealed, she paused the loading system and walked back to the entry area. She arrived just as the professor reached the top of the ramp. “Welcome aboard, sir, and everyone. Please go forward into the cargo bays. Sir, I left your pallet on the lift so you can supervise where you want it placed.” He nodded and stood beside her as his assistants came aboard, looking around as they went forward into Bay 3. Perhaps Professor Untsala was happy as long as you respected him and guessed what he wanted. Once everyone was aboard, she closed the hatch and they went forward. At the Professor's direction, she used the system to shift the pallet so that the cutout portion was completely overhanging the lift. When he was happy with the placement, she used the cargo locking system to secure it in that position.

  Expensive cargo ships had automated cargo locking systems: devices embedded in the floor, positioned to attach to and secure standard sized pallets, crates, and cargo containers. Anailu brought up the cargo locking system on the same control screen she'd been using. It showed a diagram of all the cargo bays. She touched the rectangle indicating the large pallet, and the locking system engaged the cargo locks which would secure that pallet. There was a warning that the pallet was
overhanging the lift, but she cleared that. “It's locked down. What do you want to do next, sir?”

  He waved the assistants with the small pallet to move it up to the rear of the large one. They slid it into position beside the large pallet and began working with it.

  “While they lock on the movement sensor, I'd like to see the view to the ground for my primary sensor.”

  “Of course.” Anailu set the lift to door mode and activated it to open. Again there was the warning about the overhanging cargo. She cleared that warning, and the lift platform split down the middle. The two halves swung down and out to the starboard and port sides of what was now a large opening in the deck.

  Professor Untsala moved up beside the sensor and looked down through the opening. He nodded and stepped away. “That should be sufficient clearance. Once we have the movement sensor connected, we'll bring everything online, calibrate the system, and do a test run. If the sensor doesn't have any problems, then we'll go to our first site.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “Calibration will take at least an hour, then another half-hour for the actual scanning.”

  “Alright. Do you need anything else from me now?”

  “Yes, the sensor system requires four large power feeds, and the movement sensor requires a separate medium feed.”

  Anailu blinked incredulously. That was a lot of power. If it was really going to draw that much power, she'd need to bring the main drives online to provide it. There was no way the auxiliary generators could carry that kind of load.

  “Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. The movement sensor doesn't draw much power; it was just simpler to keep its power separate from the main sensor.”

  Professor Untsala was wrong. Four large feeds still meant a huge amount of power for a single device. This was also another detail he really needed to mention when he contracted with her. Not many airships would could even produce that much power. Even with the Queen's drives at their current, limited maximum, this much power draw was a substantial chunk of what she could generate. It was good that the fuel costs were on his dime.