Another Word for Magic

by Mackey Chandler

  “Perhaps, but I don’t want to just be an administrator and lose the hands-on part of the research. What kind of changes do you want to add all at once? Born asked.

  “I’d like to go straight to four tapered high-speed rotors with fixed intermediate plates. And a high dielectric coating on the non-rotating plates that separate them,” Musical said.

  Born considered that carefully. “We know more speed will help. The geometry seems a minor change. The only objection I have to the dielectric is we should have a deliberate failure point where it will be expected to discharge first so it doesn’t do damage elsewhere with unknown consequences.”

  “Can we send the changes to a couple of shops in the morning so we can coat the rotors, assemble and test it the next morning? That may allow us a test run before we have to switch back to the drive project.”

  “Sure, I was just going to totally waste tonight sleeping,” Born joked.

  “I already have a couple of preliminary drawings and numbers,” Musical said.

  “Then we may get to sleep before dawn. Show me,” Born demanded.

  * * *

  Mel managed to get five rooms on long-term leases at the Old Hotel. Only one was a suite and the manager refused to consider tying up more long term. He insisted they did not want to change the nature of the business to apartments and stop offering rooms by the day. Mel couldn’t blame him. Those day rate rooms always returned a better price, even if they did cost more in services. The place must already have a decent occupancy rate, and with the incoming flood of Homies, he predicted they would be full every night. If he bullied the fellow into more, he could easily resent it later, thinking Mel took advantage of him from inside knowledge. It wouldn’t do to slick one over on a local first thing. People noticed that and could hold it against you and talk it around. Mel wasn’t sure about local business ethics yet, but that kind of dealing didn’t fly on Home.

  He did need some local advisors on the ethics of this culture, what services were available, relative scarcities, and hard black letter law. Mel visited the hotel dining room and ordered, then started searching the local data net while he waited. The bank would come next, but he doubted they would do everything he required. Searching businesses, there didn’t appear to be many aimed strictly at Humans. There were two clinics, one of which featured dentistry and the other had psychological services. Most listings were Derf businesses that made a point of saying they served Humans too, especially restaurants. A furniture store said they carried Human furniture and housewares. A construction company advertised experience at dual-species architecture. There was no listing for lawyers, although there were several guard services and private investigators.

  Looking for counselors, there were several churches and spiritual advisors. Financial advisors and even personal trainers. One looked promising. Burnstein and King had an entire page instead of just a com listing. They promised cultural counseling, business referrals, drafting of contracts, and advice for dealing with foreign agencies and legal systems. Maybe tomorrow he decided. By the time he dealt with the bank he’d be done for the day. The truth was he was tired already.

  * * *

  Heather was jolted awake by her com’s priority alarm. Nobody had awakened her in the middle of the night in several years. She called out to the house for low lights and called to the com, “Audio only, open the mic. I’m coming.” A robe quickly snatched allowed her to talk face to face. She didn’t bother with slippers or combing her hair.

  “Open video,” she allowed once she was decent. One look at Johnson’s face kept her from complaining about being rousted from her bed. “OK, what kind of bad news is this?” Heather demanded.

  That must not have been the question he expected. He took a deep breath and a slow blink. Johnson was never contemplative. Three seconds was a long pause for him.

  “It’s both political, military, and bad, but possibly more dangerous in a matter of hours or days than immediately. The North American Congress was in a dual session with the president addressing them. Many important members of his administration were there and they were bombarded. They are all dead.”

  “Are we involved? Was it somehow by our hand?” Heather demanded.

  “Not any of my people,” Johnson said. “I don’t think any Spacers were involved. The weapons were sub-launched hypersonics. Three were launched from deep water just out past the continental shelf. They all maneuvered evasively and dropped low by the time they crossed the coast. Two got through and one was stopped by close-in defenses. The shock wave from the low altitude approach and the defense did a lot of collateral damage.”

  “Nukes?” Heather asked.

  “No, not even a mini. One was a strictly kinetic weapon that divided into guided submunitions. It probably was aimed at defenses. The other was an oversized conventional bomb. It was an advanced metallic explosive by the flash, equivalent to eight or ten tons of H-6. It was still sufficient to obliterate the new capital building.”

  “I expect they’ll still blame us. How loud are they yelling?” Heather wondered.

  “I was calling you not a minute after the detonation. They haven’t had time to type out a headline and get clearance from an editor to interrupt programming with a bulletin. If you want to get ahead of it, I doubt if you have more than five minutes.”

  “No, I think denials, before anybody accuses us, smells of deception. I’ll let them speak first and regret it at leisure,” Heather decided.

  “Do you want me to strike any particular systems with which they might respond?”

  Heather shook her head no. “Once again, switching to different targets would make it appear that was coordinated with the strike. I assume you already were hitting those sorts of targets since so many are space-based. Fixed location nuclear weapons are mostly obsolete and decommissioned. You may continue to degrade their space assets without any pause or change in your targeting choices. I’m sure I’m going to have some inquiries from the news services. I’m going to stay up and be ready for that. You may forward anything you don’t think will make the news services. I’ll be checking them after breakfast. I do appreciate having some time to think about what I’ll say.”

  “Thank you, My Lady,” he said and disconnected. He didn’t show it but he was relieved he did the right thing in waking her.

  * * *

  “I just talked to Chen and Jan,” April informed Jeff. “They both expect Heather to request they come back to Central to help her with Earth intelligence. Chen is agreeable to returning in principle. It’ll be easier to transfer if she sends a ship for him and some of the others who got unexpectedly whisked away. The next four shuttles coming down from Derfhome station are all booked up. The bigger lift company that has two vehicles is adding a fifty percent surcharge because they are needing to return empty or near so. The other carrier is selling down leg seats by English auction right up until the hatch closes. Jan is coming down to check out Derfhome. He’s uncertain he ever wants to go back to the Solar System.”

  “That’s happening more and more. I can’t blame them,” Jeff said.

  “I know,” April agreed. “I can see Central becoming a hardship post that requires premium pay to get somebody to serve there in not too many years. Gunny was also caught in the transfer of Home. I assured him I doubt any serious enemies know where I am or have access to me. However, he’s bored and asked if he should come work alongside Strangelove just to keep a hand in. I told him it’s a mess trying to get transport down and to just stay there for now. He’s as bad as Garrett, seeing assassins everywhere. Just not as pushy about it.”

  “Maybe the Moon will lose a lot of people,” Jeff said reluctantly, “but I can’t ever see us abandoning the Moon. We’re going to need to keep an eye on the Earth for a long time. You do need to find something for Gunny to do or he’ll feel he’s mooching. Which makes me wonder what Jan and Papa-san are going to do if they don’t work for us? With no Earth nearby to watch we won’t need to give them much wo
rk. I’m not generous enough to carry their annual retainers to just be on standby. I guess that’s their choice, their problem, not mine.”

  “I wouldn’t worry so much about Papa-san,” April said. “I suspect I don’t have a clue about the depth of his assets.”

  * * *

  Born and Musical took most of the day to put the active material on the rotors from the prototype shop, then assemble the new rotor in the small centrifuge case. It had to be assembled layer by layer with the interspaced plates attached to the inside of the housing after each rotor was added. Then after the whole internal assembly was built up the top bearing was dropped over the end. That was OK for a prototype but a production machine would have to be much easier to assemble. At least they did it right on the scale so Born didn’t have to lift it. It was near supper time before they were through.

  “Do you think it may have enough thrust to lift itself?” Musical wondered.

  “If it does that creates all sorts of other problems,” Born said. “We’d have to tether it or build some guide rails to restrain it. It isn’t balanced and might drift off-center if it does rise. We don’t need it tumbling and smashing something if it comes down crooked. I’m certainly not going to hang onto it to try to keep it from sideslipping or rotating. Neither do I want to take time to switch the brackets around for the power supplies to flip it over again.”

  “OK, pushing down on the scale was the right choice, even if it’s boring,” Musical agreed. “Do you want to do a half-speed run up first?”

  “No, I expect us to switch to the drive project in the morning. I’d like to go home and to sleep at a decent hour tonight. Let’s spin this baby up and shut down for the day.” He was already putting the batteries in their mounts and plugging the cables in.

  “Did you remember to charge the batteries?” Musical asked.

  “You’re starting to sound a lot like my mother,” Born complained.

  “I admit I’m a worrier. What happens if the push on the scale exceeds the capacity?”

  “It just reads a full ton for anything over. I don’t think it has any way to indicate it is over the nominal load range,” Born said. “I didn’t think to ask for that in the specs. The support points with the strain gauges are far too beefy to damage.”

  “By your leave?” Musical asked, picking up the remote.

  “It’s your turn,” Born said.

  The scale started registering thrust down on it, the rate increasing as before but faster. They never saw it register a ton because the display was an unreadable blur. Then the frame rails holding the egg-shaped housing buckled and the egg drove itself down a meter into the middle of the scale platen with a thud like a drop-forge. Three of the frame rails were now splayed outward around the main housing. The diamond-patterned plate steel platform of the scale was punched down with a big dent in the middle. The main housing was now sitting in the dent on the newly concave plate somewhat crookedly. It appeared the concrete floor under the scale limited its motion.

  Musical belatedly turned the power off.

  “I’m pretty sure that indicates out of load range,” Musical said pointing.

  Chapter 6

  Jan got off the shuttle carefully, gripping the handrail which was too fat for his hand and higher than he expected. The steps down were Derf-sized and a stretch for Humans. They needed to alter them to a happy medium. He stepped to the side looking around before he followed everyone else through the quaint terminal. Nobody paid any attention to him or hustled him along. He was used to that since he didn’t stand out and he had a relaxed sleepy-eyed look that put others at ease. If he stood very still, he blended into the background for any but the most observant.

  As far as he could see there wasn’t a high-security fence surrounding the port and there were no security notices plastered on the half dozen doors facing the field. The public entry was obvious with double doors propped open to a pleasant day and glass window walls on both sides. The trees in the distance were a shade of green that wouldn’t have surprised him at any Earth port and the sky, if a bit pale, was definitely blue. It smelled good which was something pretty rare now near any Earth city.

  Inside there was no line for any sort of customs or entry registration. The perfunctory customs inspection in orbit was apparently all he’d need to pass. In fact, if you had no business in the terminal it was a straight shot across to the open exit doors. That was refreshing. There was a mob around a car rental. Jan thought it foolishness to rent a car before seeing what the local roads and drivers were like. He didn’t know the local license laws, which side of the road they drove on, or if they favored taking their half out of the middle like seemed to be the frightening custom he’d experienced in Italy.

  He’d been pleased to find his spex could be configured for the local net without buying new and he had them set to feed him English first before Derf or machine translations. An inquiry got him the information cars should be available outside the terminal. Alas, outside the doors there was a sign at the curb indicating the head of the auto-car queue, but no queue. They were all hired. Three Derf stood politely to the side with fliers for local restaurants. They didn’t even try to talk over each other.

  “Are any of your places within walking distance?” he inquired. He wasn’t sure his English would be understood or if their spiels were memorized.

  They all understood and gravely shook their heads no. It surprised Jan the Human gesture was so common here already.

  “Everything is in town,” one volunteered. “There normally isn’t enough traffic out here to support a business. It’s just jammed right now because of the new hab. Are you from there?” he asked politely.

  “I am. I would be happy to hire a local guide if you’d like an easier job with more pay. What do they pay to hand out fliers?” Jan asked. “I’ll better it.”

  “I’m contracted for the day and pre-paid. If I break my contract it will be noted in the public records. All contracts are on the public net. Even one bad mark will hurt your future opportunities. I have a young nephew, however, who can do that for you. He’ll be able to get a car in town easier than here and you won’t have to stand at the curb there to be guaranteed a car. They will take care of the local fares in town before sending a car as far as the port empty so it may be a wait otherwise.”

  “Done,” Jan agreed. “What would you consider a fair day wage for a guide?” Jan asked the other shills.

  “A dollar Ceres,” one answered easily.

  “Yeah, a day job doing anything is pretty much worth a dollar,” the other agreed. “If it involves really hard labor or special skills then expect to pay more.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Jan said, so the fellow offering pulled out a phone and called his nephew. Jan didn’t say how good that sounded to him. Day work on Home paid a lot more. He’d take the bargain.

  “I’ll take a flyer from each of you, but I’ll try your place first,” he told the Derf with the nephew. “How long for him to get here from the city?”

  “About three-tenths. Call it twenty-five of your minutes.”

  And there was another thing to learn so he wasn’t always converting in his head, Jan thought. He checked his spex to see if its clock was set for local time or Earth units.

  Jan flipped the flier to the English side and read.

  The Old Hotel offers pre-contact charm and architecture with modern updates in the heart of Derfhome. Human amenities are available in all rooms and our award-winning Golden Glow restaurant is illuminated by pre-contact carbon lamps. Full Derf and Human menus available as well as local and Earth liquors. Ask your server for adventures in native cuisine.

  That sounded like just the ticket to Jan. Maybe they’d have a vacancy too.

  * * *

  “We had another small accident,” Born admitted as soon as Lee answered. Lee was getting better all the time at reading the full range of Derf expressions and Born was deeply flustered and embarrassed.

  “Oh really,” She
looked over her shoulder dramatically. “Yet the pictures are still on the wall and the vase with flowers isn’t smashed on the floor.”

  “It was much more… localized this time. Musical made me call because I was the one in a rush and insisted on a quick run at full power. Here, I’ll take a picture with my pad and show you. We got rather more down thrust than anticipated.

  Lee let off a long whistle that faded away. “I’m impressed. You got some serious punch out of that sucker.”

  Born grimaced harder on punch.

  “Don’t be upset. Nobody got hurt, did they?” Lee realized she should have asked that first. OK, Born should have said that first but he was rattled.

  “No, although our neighbor down the hall came and looked in the door. I guess it was an impressive thump clear down in his lab. Thankfully, he checked to see we were both vertical before calling emergency services. I hate getting another report in our response file.”

  “Yeah, that’s a reputation you don’t want,” Lee agreed. “I know you are hoping to start assembling a prototype drive tomorrow. When you get a break from the drive will you try to figure out what sort of thrust that generated?”

  “Certainly. We’re rather curious ourselves. We figure from the way it tilted coming down that one of the frame rails failed first and then the other three followed quickly. Still, it takes a significant end thrust to get a fifty by fifty-millimeter angle channel to buckle. Is there anything else you want to be investigated when we get back to it?” He was just relieved it was still their project.

  Lee thought about it. “When you design the next one, go for lightweight as much as possible. Maybe use aluminum or magnesium alloy for the housing. I’m going to need at least four of them, maybe more once you have the design tested without a crash or failure. The same size is probably going to be fine, but if we have the design, we can just adjust it at need a little bigger or smaller. They should have a side mounting plate to go on a boom and have a ballistic shield on the mounting side. Probably some sort of composite. It can be integral to the housing.”