Chapter Thirteen
Spaceship plans
A computer screen fills with the first projected engineer drawings of the new space ship that will be built and copies of the actual blueprints. An interested group in Harry’s office is looking at it for the first time.
"It will look like a long black worm in space," Harry OpDyke thinks aloud about the artist drawings of different views of the Mars Project Spaceship. Harry is meeting with German Woodin, Millisen Algrin, Emmert, Breen, and Bakman. Everyone is standing, except Harry who sits in his hover-chair, and studying a wall full of view-screens. Each screen shows a different view, a different section of the planned space vehicle.
"How did you get these? They look classified," A grinning Emmert asks as he walks over and puts his finger on the cover page screen and the word "Classified."
"I paid for them. The condition of my gift was to see the plans. I promised they would not leave this building and no one that does not live or work inside this building would ever see them."
Everyone in the room nods, and then Bakman takes charge of the meeting by ordering, "German and Millisen. You've both had a chance to study these. Tell us about them."
Major Commander Millisen Algrin, a tall retired woman with salt and pepper graying black hair and wide shoulders, still a slender athletic woman pushing fifty-nine steps forward with a laser pointer. In a sharp military voice of a retired space pilot use to giving orders and speeches, Algrin charges into her prepared presentation.
"When all five sections are joined together it will be 2,780 feet long. Each section is five hundred and fifty-six feet in length. Just a little more than two-hundred feet wide, a radius of 218 feet, with usable space divided into thirty-one levels. Each level has seven-foot tall ceilings. The outside of the main parts the ship has nineteen rotating bands for artificial gravity and anti-gravity power. Battery storage units start it. Small nuclear and large ion engines provide most of the power in long distance flight, and conventional thrust engines for short duration burns to gain speed or slow down. Weak magnetic bands can assist with power and steering. In the void magnetic power will not be of value, nuclear power reduced to minimum, and travel only with ion engines assisting and guiding. View ports are between bands.” Pauses a moment to see if there are any questions and hearing none continues.
“Each of three passenger sections has a front section with four shuttles, fuel, and repair parts. Final plans call for a maneuver to reverse the craft and use the main motors to slow the vehicle down to orbit speed, when separated individual section motors can do this as well, and the four shuttles per section can each take up to twenty passengers down to Mars. Individual sections can be detached and remain in orbit over different parts of Mars or Earth, or be dropped off at different docking stations here and there for loading and unloading. The shuttles can be refueled on the Mars surface. They can land, be lifted or tilted upright on the ground for take-off, and can achieve orbit again. Mars is building facilities to do this.” Again Millisen Algrin pauses and waits for questions. Does not hear any and starts again.
“In front of the three passenger sections is a first section, a cargo section with ten-foot high levels for larger cargo containers. This forward section the engineers call ‘the cone.’ Each first section is designed to allow loading and off-loading at a space docking station too and can operate as a separate emergency unit. The rear section also has ten-foot tall ceilings in its compartments and a slightly longer motor section at the rear, but not any shuttles. The first and fifth sections are where all the supplies, tools, and spare parts that allow the colonist to survive and thrive will be stored.”
“Each section’s back-up generating system is nuclear powered and shielded. Each section will have the ability to land on Mars in an emergency. Neither the front cargo cone nor the rear motor sections have any shuttles but the rear section does stock a long list of shuttle replacement parts. Enough to make four shuttles out of parts.”
Algrin paused a moment to see if any one has a question—hears none. “In final planning stage are plans to build over the next decade three more passenger sections and another front cargo section. In the final plan, the spacecraft will go to Mars, drop the three middle loaded sections into orbit to be unloaded, and then the first and rear sections, picks up empties now loaded with raw materials and returns to earth.”
“In their future plans are three docking stations around Mars. Maag and his crew finally have something to work with and are busy with our crew to adapt our needs to these specs. Lieutenant General Plath Galo heads their project." Again Millisen Algrin pauses to see if there are any questions. When she does not hear any she charges ahead.
"It will be the largest spaceship ever built. They will construct each section on the lunar surface, lift them into obit with rocket assist, join sections together at Lunar Orbit Station Number Six, and Complete all inside work there. After Completion, they will fly the finished vehicle to Earth Docking Station Number Two and as we speak construction crews are enlarging that docking station just for this vehicle.”
Another Algrin pause passes without a question and she continues. “The first flight, its shake down voyage back to earth, will have a crew of returning workers on board to repair any problems. Once docked and the crew of construction workers returned to earth, the docking station personnel will then load all goods and supplies. There is an advantage to allowing material to be stockpiled in space ahead of time. After that, passenger flights will arrive at the Number Two Assembly Area near New Louisville. Passengers will be loaded on shuttles, take flights up to Earth Docking Station Number Two, and this spaceship will be loaded with colonists. After last minute supplies, the spaceship will drift away, start its engines, and head toward Mars.”
Millisen Algrin pauses before her conclusion, but hears not a single question. “Anything that we want loaded will have to go through Earth Docking Station Number Two Assembly Area, loaded on shuttles, flown up to the space station in advance, be stack, and be loaded later. Completion date is June 3230, but the government never gets things done on time. The first cost estimates are at present some forty billion dollars over and numerous suppliers are making noise about non-payment. Members in the U.N. assembly are grumbling about spending the extra money and that might delay it. No one knows how long they might put the project on hold? Do you have any questions?"
"Thank you Millisen for an excellent report. We have several issues it seems," Bakman points out. "The delays may drag out for a long time, maybe a year. The cost overruns may also delay the start or completion dates of all other related projects, such as enlarging the space docking station. And, how do we get our cargo aboard? How do we build our cargo containers to make it look like something else? How do we start the ship on its way? How do we guide it? Where do we send it?"
Emmert smiles as he adds, "It looks like we'll have more than one meeting trying to solve every issue on that list."
"I think so," answers Bakman.
"I think German, Millisen, and Maag need to study the ground loading point, shipping into space, and keep in mind our cargo may wait in space for an extended time—months or even several years," Breen comments.
"You’re right, Breen," replies Harry. "See to it that Maag and his people get a disk of this meeting."
Breen nods.
Bakman's fingers work on a panel. The first pages disappear and a detailed drawing of the expanded Earth Docking Station Two appears.
The group gathers around the screens and look more closely at everything as the formal part of the meeting ends.
The Centauri Conspiracy Page 15