by Bob Blanton
“Thanks for telling me,” Natalia said. “And I do want to hear about the two kills, but maybe we can get Catie to tell that story.”
◆ ◆ ◆
The next day they managed to rotate the Lynx cabin without any issues. They left it in the vertical configuration, everyone strapped in, and Catie had ADI rotate the Lynx so it was sitting on its tail in the water.
“Oh, that feels weird,” Samantha said as the Lynx rotated.
The twins were giggling as they looked around.
“Okay, everyone, look around, get your head oriented to the position of things. You can stand on the bulkhead that is now under your feet, but it’s a drop all the way to the back of the cabin if you step off and don’t grab the ladder.”
“You need to look both ways before you get on the ladder,” Natalia said. “You don’t want to step on someone’s head, and you don’t want someone stepping on your head.”
“No way!” the twins yelled, putting their hands on their heads.
“ADI,” Catie said, “can you put an alert on everybody’s specs whenever somebody is on the ladder?”
“Yes, Cer Catie,” ADI replied. “There will be a ladder in the corner of your HUDs, it will be red whenever someone is on the ladder.”
“Thanks, ADI.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Nattie, you seem to know ladder etiquette, can you give us some rules?”
“Sure. The person going up has the right of way. You should step off the ladder if you can, otherwise slide over to the left side until they pass. DO NOT try to pass while you’re both moving. The person coming down stops and gets out of the way,” Natalia said.
The twins both nodded solemnly to Natalia.
“Do not get on the ladder when someone is already on it, and they are going to pass you, wait for them to pass first. If they’re going to get off below you, then you can start down, but it’s still better if you can wait.”
“Those rules make sense,” Catie said. “Anyone think of something else?”
“One more thing,” Natalia said. “If we’re going to be in this mode long term, we should get a few backpacks so we can carry things up and down the ladder without using our hands. You need both hands free whenever you’re on the ladder.”
“Good idea, and we can have some lines in the cabin, so we can haul things up or lower them down. That will save a lot of time and hassle,” Liz said.
“Okay,” Catie said. “Sam, what’s for lunch?”
“We’re having Salade Nicoise,” Sam said. “With French bread.”
◆ ◆ ◆
That night they decided to run three three-hour shifts. Catie would take the first since she usually stayed up that late anyway, Nattie would take the second shift since after her years as a Marine she could wake up, do a three-hour shift, and go back to sleep without a problem; Liz would do the third shift since she usually got up early anyway. They decided that Samantha needed her beauty sleep. She took the jab at her age with aplomb since it meant she got to sleep the whole night.
Natalia used part of one of the crates in the cargo hold to make a sideboard for the twin’s cubicle. It created a one-foot barrier above the height of their couch that would keep them from rolling out or wandering out without thinking.
The twins figured out that they could lie next to each other on their own couches and hold hands and hug their stuffed animals. So, they quickly drifted off to sleep.
Catie started reviewing her Oryx plans while everyone else strapped in and slept.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Wakey, wakey, time is flying by,” Liz called out when it was 07:00, the agreed-to start time for their day. “Come on, Catie, you’re our leader, you need to set a good example.”
Catie groaned but rolled off her couch and headed back to the head. The twins just sobbed and covered their heads with their sheets.
Since there would be a line at the bathroom, Liz ignored them until the other three had at least gotten a chance to pee and brush their teeth.
When Samantha came out of the head, their time was up. “Okay, you two, up and at ‘em. Time’s awasting.”
“Get up, you two,” Catie hollered, “if I have to hear one more cheery wakeup saying, I’m going to barf.”
“Okay,” the twins sighed. They crawled off of their couches, and headed down toward the head. They had figured that since they were going down, they could just hold the rails and use their boots to control their speed. The handrail made the entire span without any additional supports, so it was a smooth ride.
“Okay, showers?” Samantha asked.
“Why don’t you go first since you’re making breakfast,” Catie said, “then Natalia, Liz, me, and we’ll save the twins for last.”
“No argument from me,” Samantha said. She grabbed a fresh shipsuit and headed down to the shower.
“Any problems last night?” Catie asked Liz and Natalia.
“Not that I saw,” Natalia said. “The twins slept like babies. Sam got up to pee and seemed to remember she needed to use the ladder. Other than that, nothing happened.”
“All was quiet on my watch,” Liz said.
“Mine too,” Catie said. “I still want to keep watch for a bit longer until we’re sure about the twins. After that, we might let ADI keep watch for us.”
“I would be happy to Cers,” ADI said.
Samantha came back up looking refreshed, her hair was still damp. “That is a nice shower,” she said. “How long does the suit refresher run?” she asked.
“Fifteen minutes or so, it depends on how much cleaning the suit needs,” Catie said.
“Then I would suggest you put your suit in the refresher, wear a towel while you use the toilet, then when you’re done with your shower, your suit will be clean and you can bring it back with you, or just wear it again.”
“Good logistics,” Natalia said. “Saves having to strip out of this thing twice,” she said as she headed for her turn through the facilities.
“Why the towel?” Liz asked.
“Some of us still have a sense of modesty,” Samantha said as she slapped Liz on the butt. “Now, help me get breakfast started.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Catie had to physically drag the twins out of the shower. She scolded them sharply but really couldn’t blame them. It was a nice shower.
After breakfast, they did a few exercises moving things around using one of their kit bags as a backpack. After an hour of it, Catie called a halt.
“Okay, I think we’re good for now. We really can’t practice working in microgravity until we can get into it. Dad doesn’t want us to take the Lynx up just to practice, so we’ll do that on our way out. So, everyone, get your stuff together and finish up whatever you need to do. We’ll leave the first part of next week. I want to do one more overnight next Thursday, then we’ll pick up the last gravity drives from the Sakira on Friday, and we’ll be ready to go.”
“I think we need to have another team building dinner at the Flambé,” Natalia said.
“I like the way you think,” Samantha said. “I second the motion.”
“I’m in as long as Catie’s buying,” Liz said.
“Yes!” the twins added.
“I guess I’m outvoted no matter what I think,” Catie said. “I’ll see if Fred will fly us over. We might have to invite him.”
“Fred’s okay,” Samantha said. “We’ll let him eat with us.”
Chapter 8
Board Meeting – May 27th
“This meeting is called to order,” Marc said.
“You’re getting more efficient,” Blake joked.
“I try,” Marc said. “Sam, any updates?”
“The Chinese want their submarine back,” Samantha laughed. “The US Navy rendered assistance this morning. Seems it was about to sink, so they towed it to Guam to effect repairs. I suspect it will be a slow process.” Samantha laughed again. “It seems the admiral kept his word, nothing in the press or on channels ADI is
listening to mention Delphi City or MacKenzie Discoveries in connection to the accident.”
“That’s good.”
“We’re cleared to start building the airport,” Samantha continued. “The Cook Islanders want access to it, I assured them we wouldn’t have a problem with that.”
“Can’t see why we’d care or why they’d want access. It’s kind of out of the way for them.”
“Thinking of the future, probably. They’ve signed off on bringing in more refugees; we’re good up to ten thousand. They’re also asking us to help resettle any Cook Islanders who want to move back to the islands from New Zealand. I said we’d be happy to help. They are delighted with the economic stimulus we’re generating. We’ve also got three doctors and four more nurses coming over during the next three weeks to augment Dr. Metra’s staff. Johansson is producing cars as we speak.”
“I hate to say this, but I think we need to accelerate our plans for the space station and the city,” Marc said. “The commando raid just shows how vulnerable we are.”
“How will the space station help?” Samantha asked.
“It gives us a completely secure location as well as the high ground,” Marc said.
“High ground?” Liz asked.
“With a presence in orbit, it’s more difficult for someone to force our hand; we wouldn’t be completely dependent on Delphi City. I’m sure we could acquire landing rights in several other countries if necessary,” Marc said.
“I see what you’re thinking,” Samantha said. “More options, less value in seizing Delphi City.”
“Correct,” Marc said. “Kal, how’s our labor situation coming?”
“We’ve brought in three hundred refugees so far. Only seventy-five of those are adults. Dr. Sharmila has helped them to organize a day-care center for the children. We’ll need to build a school and start staffing that.”
Marc looked at Blake, “It’s on my list,” he said.
“Fifty of the workers are semi-skilled, and we’re working them in to replace the islanders who want to stay ashore. Language gap is a hassle, but they’re handling it. Catie and ADI have come up with a language training regimen that seems to be helping them pick up English pretty fast. Lono Marsters, one of the guys who’s been on the crew since we started, has really stepped up and is handling the training of the new people. We’ll see if we can keep him long term. He seems happy with the schedule.”
“Where are we getting the refugees from?” Liz asked.
“We’re pulling refugees from camps in Greece. They’re mostly from Syria and Lebanon. We’re also picking up a lot of people from the Caribbean who have been displaced by hurricanes and are happy to move.”
“How are you deciding who to take?” Catie asked.
“We’re prioritizing whole families and then mothers with children. It may sound cruel, but I’m avoiding single males. I don’t know how to separate the trouble makers and criminals out of that lot.”
Marc grimaced, “Yeah, it’s too bad, they would give us a higher percentage of workers, but I’m good with focusing on families.”
“Are you accepting children accompanying a family who they are related to, like aunts and uncles?” Liz asked.
“Yeah, as long as the family has at least one child of their own, we don’t pay much attention to where the other children come from. But we are getting a higher ratio of children that way,” Kal said.
“I don’t care,” Catie said.
“I’m okay with that. Let’s really put some effort into getting the school started,” Marc said.
“Oh, it’s started. The mothers are teaching the children as much as they can. Most of the refugees don’t have that high of an education, but we do have a few school teachers in the group. The trouble is, the ones with the highest education are the ones we want to work in the manufacturing plant.”
“I understand,” Marc said. “Just make it work. Let me know what you need. How’s our security detail going?”
“We held a service for Katelyn yesterday, she’s the one who was killed during the raid. Everyone is really upset about losing her. We’re going through procedures and teaming people up from now on to avoid a repeat. I’m working with ADI to increase her ability to surveil the area. We’re also expanding our passive sonar array, so we don’t have anyone sneaking up on us again.”
“Recruiting?”
“Going great, I’m bringing them in as fast as Dr. Metra can handle them. We’re up to sixty-two, no sixty-one, since Catie poached one.”
Catie stuck her tongue out at Kal, “Cry baby.”
Kal laughed at Catie. “Next up, I’ve got a proposal to review with you and Blake: I want to set up a command structure. We’re big enough now that I think we need another layer between the team leaders and me.”
“Go over it with Blake,” Marc said. “I’ll sign off on whatever you propose.”
“I’m happy to go over it with you if you want my input, but I’m with Marc. Whatever you want to do, I’ll sign off,” Blake said.
“If you don’t mind, I’d at least like to talk it through with someone,” Kal said.
“No problem, talk to my admin,” Blake laughed.
“Cers, I’ve put it on his calendar,” ADI announced.
“Okay, Blake, you’re up, or should I just ask your admin for the update?” Marc asked.
“You wish,” Blake said. “We’ve completed quad two’s infrastructure and top deck. All it needs is some buildings and gardens. Quad three is in place up to the subdeck; we’ll start adding infrastructure tomorrow. Quad four has pontoons and beams in place, we’ll be adding subdecking soon. We’ll put the first pontoons for the first quad of section two in this week. I’m going to focus on getting the strip on the south side complete, so we can actually land the G650 or a Lynx on it. I think that an Oryx might even be able to take off and land.”
“Yep,” Catie said. “Fourteen hundred meters.”
“Hey, isn’t that longer than a C17 needs,” Liz asked.
“Yeah, but we have to have a smaller wingspan to handle the supersonic speeds, so we need a longer runway to get airborne.”
“Anything else?”
“The school building is at the top of my priority list; we start construction tomorrow; it’ll only take two weeks to finish. We’re going to need teachers fast.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Samantha said.
“We’re continuing to crank out columns and pontoons for the airport. We’ll be able to start construction on it in about one month. As soon as we have section four finished out to the subdeck, we’ll be able to start making plates for the airport.”
“Good to hear. Okay, Catie. How’s our Oryx coming?”
“Design is ready, just waiting on production capacity. It’s designed to reach an altitude of thirty thousand meters on just atmosphere and the fusion reactor. Then it goes ballistic and starts burning hydrogen and oxygen. She’s at Mach ten at that altitude. Then she needs to double her speed and gain another three hundred thousand meters in altitude to reach orbit, which she does in about twenty minutes at two-G acceleration, and uses about seventy liters of water.”
“How about reentry?” Marc asked.
“We have enough superconductor mesh to build three Oryxes. Since we didn’t build them in space, they’re not as efficient at absorbing the energy through the superconductor matrices. Since we have plenty of fuel, we’ll actively slow the Oryx down before we hit the atmosphere so there won’t be as much heat from reentry. That means they’ll work okay. During reentry, an Oryx will hit her cruising altitude of thirty kilometers at just over Mach fourteen. Atmosphere has to slow her from there.”
“Okay, what else?” Marc asked.
“Once we have manufacturing capacity in microgravity, we’ll need to bring the equipment from the Sakira to build more superconductor matrices. We can build them on an Oryx while it’s in orbit, but that’s just logistics,” Catie said.
“The Lynx has passed the first pa
rt of its certification with New Zealand, now they want to inspect the production facilities. They keep saying we’re crazy to bring a functional jet to them instead of bringing them in at the design phase, but they haven’t found any problems yet,” Catie added.
“How long before we can legally fly one?” Blake asked.
“Probably another three to six months,” Catie said. “They are really slow.”
“Slow or cautious?” Marc asked.
“I think it’s slow, they just take a long time to figure the engineering out. The Kiwis really want us to give them more on the sonic shockwave suppression, but I’ve said no. They say that means they’ll have to certify each jet individually. I don’t think that’s a problem; it’s not like we’re going to be building hundreds of them, at least not for a while.”
“When are you and your asteroid crew heading out?” Marc asked.
“Early next week,” Catie said. “We’re waiting on ADI to manufacture a couple of things we need. Apparently, some things are slow to make, even for her.”
“Do you need anything?”
“We’ve finished the main part of the training I had planned. We’ll keep that up until we have the parts, then we’ll be ready to go.”
“We’re finished,” Marc said. “Blake and Catie, can you stay behind, I have a couple of items I need to go over with you.”
“What’s up?” Blake asked after everyone else had left.
“Part of accelerating our timeline is getting more satellite coverage,” Marc said.
“You mean with the Paraxean satellites?” Catie asked.
“Yes, there are only twenty-two of them up there now,” Marc said. “ADI and I calculate that we need twenty-five hundred to give us full coverage of earth for communication and GPS.”
“Why do we want to cover communication and GPS?” Blake asked.
“If we get into a big conflict with the major powers, I think we’ll want to eliminate all satellites in orbit except ours,” Marc said.
“Won’t that just piss them off more?” Blake asked.
“Yes, but what are they going to do about it? We can take satellites out faster than they can replace them. If we replace the critical services, we can blind them by taking out the spy satellites, and if they’re dependent on us for GPS, then we have a lot of leverage,” Marc said.