by Bob Blanton
“Anything else, Herr Pfeifer?”
“I have completed the document approving the technology sharing for your daughter’s company. It will be ready for your signature today,” Herr Pfeifer said. “I also recommend that you spin off Vancouver Integrated.”
“Spin them off, why?”
“It would create more diversity, less concentration of control. That will make Delphi more attractive to other investors and other companies. Currently, MacKenzie Discoveries only consumes ten percent of their production.”
“I didn’t realize it was that small,” Marc said.
“But we cannot allow that technology outside of our control,” Catie said.
“I see, but then why don’t you separate that part of the business out, and spin the rest off?” Herr Pfeifer suggested.
“We need Vancouver Integrated to handle the manufacturing of those components,” Marc said.
“No we don’t,” Catie said. “We needed them to set up the manufacturing and start the production. But now that it’s running, we just need a few key engineers and scientists to stay with MacKenzies. Otherwise, they don’t really interact that much. And that will give us the capability to introduce new computer technologies.”
“Okay, Herr Pfeifer, come up with a plan, and we’ll do it. Fred, can you come up with someone to work with Herr Pfeifer?” Marc asked. “This might also help with our plans to give the Russians a lab and manufacturing facility on Delphi Station.”
“I’ll talk to the CEO,” Fred said. “I’m sure he can handle it with a little oversight from ADI.”
“What about someone to run the new company?” Blake asked.
“There’s a hotshot on their staff that would be perfect,” Fred said. “They’re too small for all the horsepower they have right now. The CEO told me that he expected this guy to jump ship and try to start up his own company.”
“Sounds perfect,” Marc said. “I’ll leave it to you to handle. Now, Catie, how is your guy doing on the jumpdrive?”
“As far as I can tell, based on what he’s having Ajda build for him, he’s on track. I’ll know more after we get back and I can actually meet with him.”
Marc raised his eyebrows at Catie’s lack of response over the ‘your guy’ comment, but decided to ignore the fact that she had ignored his jibe.
“Admiral Michaels, what’s the status of our Academy?” Marc asked.
“We’ve completed the first phase of the construction. We’re ready to handle basic training this summer. Cadets will start to arrive by the end of next week.”
“Okay, we all have critical issues to address, please keep me informed of any issue,” Marc said. “Admiral Michaels, anything you hear on the Novosibirsk, call me immediately. Everyone, let’s get back to work.”
Chapter 20
Who Are All These People?
On Thursday, Marc got a surprise call from the prime minister.
“Hello, Prime Minister. How may I help you?”
“We have an incident at the Paradise Hotel. They were overbooked, and to everyone’s amazement, all the bookings showed up. The lobby is full of guests having heated arguments about who is entitled to the room. The constables were called in and they have managed to quiet everything down, but we’re still faced with what to do with all the extra people.”
“I assume that the Four Seasons is full; otherwise, you wouldn’t be calling me.”
“You are correct. I’m afraid they will be having the same problem; they are also completely full and overbooked. They are working hard to placate the people in the lobby while they try to come up with a solution. I wonder if MacKenzies doesn’t have some empty condos they could use.”
“I appreciate the problem, but it does seem a bit below your pay grade, doesn’t it?”
“My minister of housing was trying to deal with it, but ran into a wall when she inquired about the condos,” Fatiha said.
“Her minister was quite rude,” ADI said on a private channel with Marc. “Jessica got mad and hung up on her.”
“I’m sure tensions are high right now, and some people might be forgetting their manners,” Marc replied to both the prime minister and ADI. “I’m sure we have plenty of empty condos available. I’ll call our manager and ask her to help out.”
“Thank you,” the prime minister said.
“Of course, I’m sorry it took your time to solve this.”
“Don’t worry about it. I think it a wonderful problem to have. Good day.”
“Good day.”
“ADI . . .”
“I have already messaged Jessica. I’ve identified all the condos that are ready for occupation and sent the list to the hotels. I’ve asked them to charge the same rate as they would for the rooms that were reserved.”
“How mercenary of you.”
“Herr Pfeifer does not abide leaving money on the table,” ADI replied.
“He is pretty piratical,” Marc said with a laugh. “Thank you, ADI.”
“My pleasure, Captain.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Kapitan, there appears to be a fleet of ships in the ocean south of Australia,” the sonar operator announced.
“Move closer to Antarctica,” the kapitan ordered. “We will find a thermocline there to hide under.”
“Why would there be a fleet of ships in this area?” Commander Kerensky asked.
“I believe there were war games scheduled between the Australians and the Americans,” the kapitan lied.
“Thank you, sir,” Commander Kerensky said. He knew it was a lie. Besides the kapitan’s obvious tell, he had reviewed all the intelligence about American operations before they had sailed, as he always did. “Why is he lying? What is he hiding, and why haven’t I seen our orders?”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Captain,” ADI pinged Marc on Friday morning.
“Yes, ADI.”
“There is an incident at the docks you might be interested in.”
“Did someone hit the Mea Huli?!” Marc asked; that was the only thing he could imagine that warranted ADI calling him to deal with.
“No, it is at the ferry terminal.” ADI put the scene up on Marc’s HUD. The terminal was packed with people who had just exited a ferry. At least a hundred families were crowded around the immigration gate after disembarking from the ferry, which Marc could see was now heading back toward Rarotonga.
“Why is the ferry already leaving?”
“It is not the usual ferry,” ADI replied. “The ferry company had so many reservations that they sent a special ferry out with these people.”
“And who are all these people?”
“All of them are saying that they’ve come to Delphi City for a vacation, but it doesn’t seem likely. None of them have reservations at any of the hotels.”
“I see the constables are there keeping order, what are the people telling them?”
“Just that they are coming to Delphi City for vacation,” ADI said.
“Kal!”
“What’s up, Boss?” Kal asked when he answered his Comm.
“There’s something going on, we’ve got all these people down at the ferry landing showing up claiming they’re here to vacation, plus the issue of the hotels being overbooked. Get some of your people to find out why they’re really here.”
“Sure, I’ll send a few out,” Kal said. “I’m sure they’ll enjoy a live exercise.”
“And inform Chief Nawal and keep her in the loop.”
“Of course. I’ll let you know as soon as we learn something.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Marc,” Kal pinged. It was Saturday morning, and he was standing outside the door to Marc’s condo. He rang the doorbell also.
“Kal, what an unexpected pleasure,” Samantha said as she answered the door. “Come in.”
Marc looked up from the kitchen stove where he was cooking eggs. “Is this serious?”
“No, I just didn’t think a Comm link could convey the total gestalt of your reac
tion to the situation, and I don’t want to miss anything good,” Kal said.
“Oh, now you have piqued my interest,” Samantha said. “Do you want to join us for breakfast?”
“I think we should go over this before anyone is eating or drinking,” Kal said. “Not that the image of Marc shooting eggs out his nose wouldn’t be fun.”
“Okay, you’ve got our attention, spill!” Marc said as he set the eggs aside to be salvaged or recycled later.
“These people are really good,” Kal said. “It took a whole day before my team could ferret out what they’re up to. In the end, it was one of the kids who spilled the beans.”
“And?”
“They’re all here to volunteer as colonists for Artemis.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, they heard your speech to the U.N. on the news, and they all want to be part of the first colony.”
“So why all the secrecy?”
Kal laughed, “They don’t want anyone else to know. They’re afraid all the slots might be taken. So even though they all know what the others are up to, nobody is talking.”
“Oh, great, all we need is a refugee crisis on Artemis.”
“Hey, these people aren’t refugees,” Kal said. “Based on our quick survey, most of them are highly qualified to be colonists.”
“Captain, I have collected the statistics on them,” ADI said. “Of the families, there are: thirty that are farmers, twenty-two that are teachers, sixty that have some form of engineering degree in the family, twenty-three are doctors, sixty are nurses, eighteen have some other scientific degrees, forty have some form of business degree or experience, and eighty are from the construction industry. For those traveling alone, there are: seventy-two college students, one hundred twelve are young adults from family farms, fifty-six have construction jobs, thirty-two are from the banking and real estate businesses, seventeen are doctors, forty-four are nurses.”
“Okay, so they are eminently qualified,” Marc said.
“Well, except for passing the psych test,” Kal said.
“Do we have room for all these people?” Samantha asked, ignoring Kal’s comment.
“Not in Delphi City,” ADI said. “We can accommodate about seventy-percent of them. If necessary, we could put the rest in the unfinished condos we have. However, we have more than enough room on Delphi Station.”
“Dr. Metra,” Marc pinged.
“Yes, Captain, what can I do for you?” Dr. Metra replied.
“We have a gaggle of would-be colonists who have descended on Delphi City. Do you have any recommendations?”
“If you really want to take them, then you’ll need to quarantine them,” Dr. Metra said. “We don’t want to start a colony with a bunch of sick people.”
“Should we test them before we quarantine them?”
“Yes, use the same test Kal’s team uses with the refugees,” Dr. Metra suggested. “If they’re healthy, then segregate them from the others. Those who are sick or are carrying something we need to eliminate will need to be put into quarantine until they’re healthy. Once they’re cleared, they can join the others.”
“Thank you. Kal, let’s test them. Send the healthy ones up to Delphi Station. For the others, pick a floor on the condo building that ADI is using and sequester them there. If they object, tell them to go home now or after they finish their vacation.”
“This is not as much fun as I thought it would be,” Kal said.
“That’s because you cannot see me mentally pulling out all my hair,” Marc said.
“Darn, I would really have liked to see that.”
“Make sure they know that this in no way assures that they are being selected for the colony. And tell the prime minister.”
“I already told the prime minister. She had a good laugh,” Kal said over his shoulder as he headed for the door.
“Great. ADI, give me the criteria that the Paraxeans use to select their colonists.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Well, that certainly is exciting,” Samantha said.
“If you say so. All I see is a mountain of paperwork that is now even more urgent.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Do you want to do it?” Marc asked.
Samantha gave him a look as she thought about it, “Actually, I do.”
“Do you have the time?”
“I would if I gave up the job as foreign minister.”
“You’d give that up?”
“In a heartbeat. I never wanted it; you just bestowed it upon me.”
“Who would we get to replace you?”
“Margaret,” Samantha suggested.
“Why don’t you suggest it to the prime minister when you tell her you would like to resign.”
“You want her to select your foreign minister?”
“I would like her to feel complete ownership for the cabinet,” Marc said.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“It’s a secret,” Marc said as he pulled Samantha toward him. “I’ll tell you when I’ve made my decision.”
“What decision?”
“It’s a secret,” Marc said. Then he kissed her before she could ask another question.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Captain Blake, we have received a transmission from the alien starship,” ADI informed Blake.
“We have? Let Catie and Liz know, and we’ll watch it.”
Catie and Liz came rushing to Blake’s day cabin. “We got an answer?!” Catie asked. She was slightly out of breath from racing from the bridge.
“I hope you left someone in charge!” Blake said.
“Kasper’s there,” Catie said. “He’s been wanting to have the bridge to himself since we started, so he was excited when I handed it over to him.”
“ADI, please play the message on my display.”
“Here, it is. Do you want me to provide the translation?”
“Oh, they sent it in their language. Of course, they would,” Blake said. “How long is it?”
“It runs four point two minutes,” ADI said.
“Yours was four minutes,” Liz said. “Do you think he’s making sure his is bigger?”
Catie laughed, “Really?”
“We’ll have to see,” Blake said. “Play it without translation.”
The scene came up. There was a big man sitting in what one would assume was the captain’s chair on the bridge of the starship. Flanking him behind were two large men.
“Pause it,” Blake said. “Okay, the captain, and what?”
“Well, with those swords on their belts, I’d say they are his security detail,” Liz suggested.
“Swords?”
“Well, it kind of does make sense,” Liz said. “You don’t want to be shooting off any weapons inside a spaceship. So, a very big sword does make for a deterrent and a useful weapon.”
“Very bright uniforms,” Catie said. The captain was dressed in a blood-red tunic that had broad shoulder pads, or at least they thought they were pads. It had a slight taper to his waist. There were lots of showy ribbons on his chest. The two aliens, Catie thought of them as men, standing behind the captain were wearing the same kind of tunic, but without any ribbons. You could see the sword of the man on the right as it was on his left hip. “The captain sure has a lot of ribbons.”
“I think that answers the question about comparing sizes,” Blake said. “He’s obviously dressed to impress us. It’s hard to imagine someone wearing that while actually working on a starship.”
“How big are these guys?” Liz asked.
“I can’t tell,” Catie said. “We don’t have a frame of reference. ADI, do you know?”
“No, Cer Catie. As you said, we don’t have a common frame of reference, so we cannot assess their size.”
“So they could be dwarves, like in The Hobbit,” Catie said.
“Or giants,” Liz said.
“Why shave their heads, but wear a beard?” Catie asked. All thr
ee men had shaved heads, but also wore closely trimmed beards.
“To look more intimidating,” Liz suggested. The aliens had a blue tint to their skin as had been observed from the entertainment videos the crew had intercepted. They looked mostly human, with a more prominent brow line above their eyes. Their noses were very flat and broad.
“Are you intimidated?” Catie asked.
“Not sure. I wouldn’t want them to bite me with those big jaws,” Liz said. “Did you notice all those consoles behind them? And there’s some kind of big emblem on the door back there, too.”
“Okay, play it some more,” Blake ordered.
The captain smiled and then started talking. The language was very guttural, reminding everyone of German. The captain’s eyes were locked on the camera with a steely gaze.
“Do we get to see anything else?” Blake asked. “Other parts of the ship?”
“No, Captain Blake. He gives his entire speech from that chair,” ADI replied.
“Okay, let’s go back and have you translate for us while we watch.”
The video restarted. The camera zoomed in on the alien captain. He just stared into the lens for ten seconds before he smiled.
“He sure shows a lot of teeth with that smile,” Liz said.
“More intimidation,” Catie whispered.
“Greetings, I am Captain Shakaban, of the Starship Mortarka. . . . I hope that the language files we included in this message will be sufficient for you to decode our language. I send you greetings from the Fazulla Empire. We are surprised to see you on Zagawani. Our probes have been exploring it and its star system for many years. They have not detected your presence during any of those explorations.
“We are now on our way to establish a forward base for our colony ship that will arrive shortly after we do.”
“He’s lying,” Catie whispered.
“How can you tell?” Liz asked.
“Pause the video!” Blake said.
“Sorry, but he’s lying.”
“How can you possibly know that?” Blake asked.
“For one, we would have detected a probe. It would still be transmitting to them, and the Fox is between the planet and their starship. Second, the guard on the left twitched when he said empire, and he twitched again when he mentioned the probe. I don’t think they rehearsed this, at least not with the guards.”