by Bob Blanton
“I’m doing research,” Catie said as Natalia escorted her to the sitting area in her cabin. “At first, it was just for a school paper, but now I’m looking into some corruption in MacKenzie Discoveries’ manufacturing plants.”
“What kind of corruption?”
“The food quality has gone down, but we’re paying the same for service,” Catie said. “I’ve figured out that most of the managers are eating offsite at a particular restaurant. They’re having really expensive meals with plenty of booze, and most of them are eating two meals a day instead of the one covered in their pay package.”
“Sounds bad, is that all?”
“I’m having ADI review the books on the restaurant and the HR manager that is responsible for the meal program. We’re checking out some of the other plants too, as we see a similar situation at Vancouver Integrated and a couple of other assembly plants.”
“Kickbacks?”
“That’s what I’m guessing; I haven’t found the smoking gun yet, but I will,” Catie said. “But that’s not why I’m here. I want you and Paul to meet with Nikola and me tomorrow to go over a new asteroid expedition we need to set up.”
“Sure, but why do you need us?”
“We’re going to be mining the asteroids in the belt. We’re looking for platinum group metals, so we can’t afford to move the asteroid here close to Earth; we have to extract what we want there and just ship the metals back to Earth.”
“Paul won’t be back until tomorrow,” Natalia said.
“I knew that. I thought we’d do dinner tonight; I switched days with one of the girls, so I don’t have to be back planetside until tomorrow.”
“Let’s go.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“What’s up with the weight loss; are you okay?” Catie asked as they sat down at their table in Ristorante Altissimo, the latest restaurant to open on Delphi Station.
“No, all good,” Natalia said. “Dr. Metra has me focusing on strength training, strong muscles but smaller. I’ve lost twenty-five pounds; I’m just as strong as I used to be and can run faster and farther.”
“How does Paul like it?” Paul was Natalia’s boyfriend and one of the lead asteroid miners.
“He just tells me I’m gorgeous no matter what I weigh,” Natalia said. “He likes to avoid anything that might lead me to womp his ass,” Natalia laughed. She was an ex-marine, and at six feet tall she had three inches on her boyfriend. That plus the fact that she had trained in Krav Maga with Catie under Liz’s tutelage, made it clear who would win any arguments.
“Are you two going to get married?” Catie asked.
“We’re talking about it. I’m thinking about having a kid,” Natalia said.
“Ooh, do I get to be the godmother?”
“We should start with bride’s maid first,” Natalia said.
“So, when are you thinking?”
“Next May,” Natalia said. “My parents and sisters are coming out to Delphi City next month to meet him. If he survives that we might set a date.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi Paul, hi Nattie,” Catie said as her two friends joined her in the Delphi Station Cabinet Chamber the next afternoon.
“Hey, yourself,” Paul said. “Wow, even with Nattie telling me, I’m shocked at how different you look.”
“Pretty cool, huh?”
“Yes, it is,” Paul said as he sat at the table. “You know this is the first time I’ve ever been in this room. It’s as nice as Nattie said it was. Nice big wood table, must have been expensive to lift.”
“Not really; we brought it up when we were running three-to-one in mass down versus mass up,” Catie said. “Until we figured out how to land the Oryxes on water, we had lots of uplift capacity.”
“Right, I remember Nattie telling me about that. She said you cornered the market in Persian rugs back then.”
“Yeah, I still have a bunch, you guys need another one?”
“Not now,” Paul said. “So, what’s this about mining asteroids in the belt?”
“We need more platinum group metals,” Catie said. “We’ve used up most of the reserve material on Earth, and the mining of new material isn’t keeping up. Besides, the price has gone through the roof since they figured out how much we need them.”
“Okay, so we go grab a few asteroids with platinum metals on them,” Paul said.
“It’s not that easy, the metals are rare even in asteroids; we’ll be finding asteroids with a hundred kilotons down to a few hundred kilograms,” Catie explained. “We need to find S-type and M-type asteroids; the M-type are the best, but they’re rare. The question is, how much time do we spend hunting for them versus mining the ones we find.”
“Well, we didn’t take too long to find the ones we brought here, did we?” Nattie said.
“Yes, but we only needed to find an S-type since they’re mostly iron; now we’re looking for ones that have a lot of other elements.”
“I see,” Paul said. “But if we find one with lots of that platinum group stuff in it, we could bring it to Earth, couldn’t we?”
“Of course, but we can’t plan on finding one like that; we have to plan on finding a bunch of small asteroids with what we want on them.”
“Okay, so we’re prospecting and have to plan on staying out a long time to find what we want,” Paul said.
“Right, based on what ADI tells me, we’ll probably wind up grinding the asteroid into dust to extract the material we want. We’ll separate out the iron and fuse it into a big ball, and leave it there until we need it. The platinum group metals we’ll collect in smaller balls and plan on shipping them to Earth when we have enough to justify an Oryx making the trip,” Catie said.
“How do we find the ones we want?”
“We can make a few probes that will scan for them, but the probe has to be right on top of the asteroid to detect the platinum groups. There are a lot of asteroids spread out over a huge volume of space, so it’ll be slow.”
“So, you send your probes out, when they find a good one, we go out, set up a base, and start mining it. Meanwhile, your probe does a detailed survey of that region; with a base established, we can afford to mine asteroids with marginal deposits. We’ll work out a formula on what to use to pick them once we figure out how much work it is,” Paul said.
“That will be way more efficient,” Catie said. “I was thinking of one of you guys flying in a Lynx, prospecting the belt.”
“That doesn’t sound like much fun,” Paul said. “Machines are good at doing dull stuff; always assign a job to a machine when you can.”
“Good advice. So, once we find a place to start, how big a crew will we need to send?” Catie asked.
“How fast do we have to work?”
“We’re not desperate yet; we should focus on efficiency,” Catie said. “We can send additional crews to other areas if we need to extract material faster.”
“We should plan on crews of four miners per shift, three shifts per day, four on, two off. We would need to run three crews per shift to be able to have two crews active per shift. That means forty-eight miners plus support personnel. Where are we going to put all those people?” Paul asked. “And how often do they get to come home?”
“It can take up to one and a half weeks just to get home,” Catie said. “What do you think we should do?”
“You need to set it up so they don’t want to come home that often,” Paul said. “So that means family needs to go with them. Now you’re talking about two or three hundred people to set up. What are we going to do about gravity?”
“We’ll just have the ship fly in a big circle, that will give you gravity. I calculated that a nine-kilometer radius works about right, the gravity drives can handle that without using too much power, and a Lynx with gravity drives can sync up and land in the flight bay without too much trouble. The autopilot will be able to manage the maneuver, so the pilots won’t have to worry too much.”
“Where are you going to co
me up with a ship?” Natalia asked.
“We can reconfigure the Sakira, use one of the carriers, or build a new one,” Catie said. “I’ll ask Daddy and Uncle Blake, which they prefer.”
“How would you reconfigure the Sakira?”
“Change Flight Bay One into crew quarters and some additional rec areas, and whatever else we need,” Catie said. “Flight Bay Two would be able to handle the Lynxes and some Hyraxes we would want to have available.”
“How about ore processing?” Paul asked.
“We take what we need so we can build a smelter from the iron and carbon we find on the asteroid. Park it in the belt, then move it when we change base locations,” Catie said. “Do you think we’ll be able to find enough miners?”
“We could start with fewer than the forty-eight,” Paul said. “We’ve only got fifty-two out here now. I’ll check in with everyone to see if they know of someone that would want to come out. How many do you want to keep working on the asteroids here?”
“We should keep it the same if possible; if we can get the experienced ones to go to the belt, we could backfill with the new guys,” Natalia suggested.
“I read that there are a lot of British coal miners out of work; we can probably recruit from there if you can’t find enough back in the U.S.,” Catie said.
“Well, they sort of speak English,” Paul said. “We could probably figure them out. I’ll let you know later how many we think we can recruit from home. Delphi’s got a good image right now after the war, but the president was bad-mouthing us so much before it might be hard to get Americans miners to move here.”
“Nattie, do you and Paul want to go?” Catie asked. “You could run the ship’s environment and steward systems. I think Uncle Blake is going to want a military captain to run the ship.”
“We’re going to have to say no,” Natalia said. “We have some commitments with Paul’s family this spring.”
“Too bad,” Catie said, “maybe next time.”
◆ ◆ ◆
By three o’clock, Catie was in Delphi City for a meeting with Dr. Metra; she’d hitched a ride on one of the Oryxes dropping cargo. She was waiting in Dr. Metra’s office while the doctor finished up with a patient. Catie was trying to figure out how to best ask Dr. Metra for what she wanted. Finally, she gave up and decided to just ask.
“Hello, Catie, are there any problems with your cosmetic changes?” Dr. Metra asked.
“No problems,” Catie said. “I have something else I wanted to talk about.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve read in science fiction books how people have electronics embedded in their brains so they can communicate with their Comms without having to have an external interface.”
“We’ve tried that,” Dr. Metra said. “It tends to become problematic over time. The interface has problems, never good to have too much RF energy inside your brain.”
“That’s what some of the books say. It does seem risky to have electronics wired directly to your brains,” Catie said.
“It is, an EMP would fry the circuits and most of your brain,” Dr. Metra said.
“Ooh, that would be bad. I thought of another way to do it, or at least to make it easier,” Catie said.
“Let’s hear it.”
“My friend was showing me how she uses a simple code to get into bars; she uses her fingers positions to essentially type out a code. Since we have ten fingers, that means we can have one thousand twenty-four unique symbols if we encode two positions for each finger.”
“Makes sense.”
“So, if I had pressure sensors in my fingers, I could just type based on the ten-bit code instead of having to use the projected keyboard. I wouldn’t have to move my fingers or have my hands in a particular position.”
“So, what are you trying to accomplish?” Dr. Metra asked.
“Two things: first, I think it will be faster than typing; second, I’ve found that I can’t get away with trying to secretly communicate with my Comm when I’m with people. Using my eyes only works for very short or simple button presses. My Comm can provide me all the data I want if I can just find a way to ask it.”
“I see,” Dr. Metra said. “I think there is a better way to accomplish what you want.”
“What’s that?”
“The human body and the Paraxean body both have what are called vestigial muscles, muscles that were once important but have been rendered obsolete by evolution.”
“Like we used to have a tail?” Catie said.
“Yes, and you’re actually born with one now, but it fuses into your coccyx after you’re born. There are muscles that would control that tail, and some nerves that used to extend into the tail. We can see what you have and then put nanite sensors at the nerve ends. By stimulating your brain, I can teach you to use the nerves.”
“But what about EMP?”
“The nanites are too small to be affected; they have some shielding, but their dimensions are the best defense against EMP,” Dr. Metra explained.
“Cool, then how many can I have?”
“Ten to twenty shouldn’t be a problem. They don’t have to be the same muscle set, but it would probably be best; your brain will do a better job of coordinating muscles that are parts of sets. Jump up here on the examining table, and I’ll see what you have.”
Catie hopped up on the table and lay down. “How will we train my brain to start using the nerves again?”
“We’ll put the nanites on them and one in your pituitary gland, then have your Comm make it release endorphins whenever the nerves are stimulated. We’ll only need to do that for a little while, so the risk of creating a problem with the RF will be minimal, about the same as when you sit next to someone using their cell phone,” Dr. Metra said.
“Then, once your brain associates getting rewarded with the use of those nerves, you’ll be able to train yourself to use them,” Dr. Metra continued. “Then it’s just a matter of practice.”
“Cool.”
“You’ve got sixteen good vestigial nerves associated with your old tail. Eight for each side. Do you want to put nanites on all of them?”
“Sure, more is better, I can always just ignore the extras if I don’t need them.”
After Dr. Metra finished implanting the nanites, Catie spent thirty minutes having that area of her brain stimulated. Every few seconds, she would get a jolt of pleasure as her brain accidentally triggered the nanites. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be by accident soon.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Wei,” Catie greeted her roommate when she finally made it home.
“Hi, Keala. How was your visit with your parents?”
“Fine, they’re having a blast working on the space station,” Catie said. “I’m not sure I would want to live up there.”
“Why not? It sounds pretty neat.”
“I’d be nervous about a hull breach,” Catie said. “I kinda like breathing.”
“I bet they have some kind of auto-sealing stuff to deal with hull breaches,” Wei said. “Lots of people live up there, doesn’t the president live up there too?”
“I think so. Do you want to go out to dinner? I’m kind of late.”
“Pizza?”
“Sounds perfect,” Catie said.
◆ ◆ ◆
They went to Giorgio's pizza, one of Catie’s favorite places. She caught herself just in time before she blew her cover by greeting the owner. They were early, so they managed to get a table in the back corner.
Once they were seated and Wei had her glass of wine, Catie decided to make her pitch.
“Wei, while I was on Delphi Station, I saw something you might be interested in.”
“What, a good-looking guy?”
“There were a few of those, but I didn’t get any contact info,” Catie said. “I was in one of the new units they were converting into a shop. There was a technician who was installing fixtures and stuff. Anyway, he had an automated step. He called it Jimmy Step. Wheneve
r he needed it, he would say ‘Jimmy Step, here!’ Then he would tap his foot where he wanted it to be. The step would come over and set up there. When he stepped on it, he could tell it to go up or down in height.”
“That sounds interesting,” Wei said. “How high can it go?”
“Anywhere from ten to thirty-five centimeters, or four to fourteen inches,” Catie said. “It can support up to two hundred fifty pounds.”
“How big is it?”
“When it’s parked, it’s twenty-two centimeters tall, and only ten centimeters wide. The platform tilts when it parks, so it doesn’t take up too much space. The platform is twenty centimeters by forty-five when it’s in use.”
“I could use something like that,” Wei said. “How much is it?”
“He said he got it for four hundred dollars,” Catie said. “It links up to his Comm, so that’s what actually controls it and provides the voice command. I looked it up; you can preprogram locations for it and name them. Since it’s your Comm, there’s no issue with voice recognition.”
“I want one, do you have the ordering information?”
“Sure,” Catie said. She was excited to have made her first sale. She’d designed the step on her way to Delphi station, and refined it after she had dinner with Natalia. She was hoping she could sell a bunch of them; she wouldn’t be making any money on the first few since she was going to have them printed.
“Thanks,” Wei said. “Now, for your information, a couple of real cute guys just moved in down the hall from us.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Catie spent her afternoons and evenings figuring out what she needed to know to design a new jetliner. She decided to use the Boeing 777 and the Airbus 350 as her models. They were currently serving the market that her father wanted to go after.
She had an engineering team modeling the size of the jet. Since it was going to be supersonic and needed to have shock suppressors to avoid a sonic boom, the basic shape of the jet was limited. Their experiments with the Oryx and Dr. McDowell’s new equations had only allowed it to reach Mach 1.8 before it created a shockwave; it wasn’t the most aerodynamic of jets, being designed to maximize cargo space.
Catie was reading about the interior design for jets of that class. It was frustrating; everyone had a different opinion. The flight attendants complained about every one of the various layouts; she mentally tossed the document she was reading off of her HUD.