by Bob Blanton
“We’re just over a week out,” Liz said. “The Dutchman is scheduled to make orbit of Artemis by February 16th.”
“We look forward to having you over for dinner and showing you around,” Samantha said.
“I’ll be happy to have some of your cooking.”
“Fred, how is the company doing?” Marc asked, cutting off any further planning between Liz and Samantha.
“It’s doing well. We got some great positive press after Liz bought all that grain. Farmers are actually upbeat for once.”
“How come you got all the good press?” Catie asked. “We’re the ones buying the grain.”
“Yes, but MacKenzies is the one that opened trade with Paraxea,” Fred said. “We did throw you a bone.”
Catie immediately started whining. “Not much of one . . .”
“Moving on!” Marc interjected.
“The platinum metals market has stabilized,” Fred continued. “We’ve built our stockpile back up, so we have a reserve. We’re scaling back the mining on the asteroids to two shifts. That should match our consumption and still leave plenty for Liz and Catie to export.”
“That brings up a point,” Liz said. “Where should we buy our platinum metals from, Earth or Artemis?”
“I think we should buy them from whichever one we’re making a direct flight from to the consumer,” Catie said. “That will change depending on how we arrange our flights.”
“I agree,” Marc said. “We’ll endeavor to have a sufficient stockpile in both locations to take care of demand. Of course, you should focus on Artemis if you’re doing exclusive deliveries. Go on Fred.”
“We’ve released our batteries into the open market,” Fred said. “Demand immediately outstripped our supply, but we’re ramping it up.”
“Did that make President Novak happy?” Marc asked.
“It made everyone happy except Herr Johansson,” Fred said. “But he was mollified by the fact that we will meet his requirement first.”
“What about Tata?”
“They weren’t happy, but they’ve pretty much owned the truck market before the batteries, so they think they have a big enough edge that they’ll continue to maintain their market share.”
“Solar panels?” Marc asked.
“Eighty percent share,” Fred said. “We’re still scaling up production, the second hub is getting full.”
“Speaking of the second hub, what are the Russians doing up there?”
“Right now, they’re focusing on chemicals. They’ve developed a few drugs that can only be manufactured in microgravity. They say they have some promising chemicals that will be announced soon.”
“Good for them. Fuel cells?”
“We’re getting the recycling and recharging thing figured out. We’ll be opening that process up to the market soon.”
“And how do you like being president?” Samantha asked.
“Pretty well. Especially all those golf games I have to play with our clients and suppliers,” Fred said.
“How do you like the golf course?” Catie asked.
“Everyone loves it,” Fred said. “But eighteen holes goes by too fast. I’m back in the office too early.”
“Fred barely manages one game a week,” Blake said. “And it’s usually on Sunday.”
“But I have aspirations.”
“Yeah, and getting a score below par should be one of them,” Blake shot back.
“What, I thought high score won,” Fred chuckled. “I’ll let Sam cover the license agreements.”
“Yeah, are we rich after licensing the polysteel process?” Catie asked.
“You’re already rich, but the license deal didn’t help all that much,” Samantha said. “And before you cry foul, let me explain. First, we owed Paraxea for our unlicensed copying of their space carriers. We have also been freely using their designs for the Foxes and Lynxes.”
“Boo!” Catie said. “What about the fact that those designs are like one hundred years old?”
“That worked in our favor,” Samantha continued. “We agreed to cross-license the polysteel for all the Paraxean designs we’re using. I got them to agree to cross-license our use of their Comm design in exchange for a cross-license of your mini-Comm for Paraxean use only. I’ll send you the paperwork. Our guys made enough improvements to the fusion reactors that we did a cross-license for them as well.”
“What about the antimatter reactor?” Catie asked.
“Same thing, we’ve improved it enough that they agreed to a cross-license.”
“But didn’t they get that design from someone else?”
“Yes, but they did a broad technology exchange. No limits were placed,” Samantha said. “And, we’ve cross-licensed the Oryx design as compensation for the Foxes and Lynxes. They still don’t know how to scale the sonic suppressors.”
“Yay, Dr. McDowell,” Catie cheered. “By the way, is he rich now?”
“He’s got more money than he knows what to do with, and that’s before the two of you get your shares in the new jump drive company.”
“Catie’s getting part of the jump drive?!” Blake asked, crossing his arms and giving everyone a childish pout.
“Dr. McDowell said she was instrumental in his figuring it all out. He’s the one who insisted that he split it with her. We’re forming a separate company to keep things simpler. You’ll get a percentage based on your MacKenzie stock.”
“Wow!” Catie said.
“So where did we end up?” Kal asked.
“We ended up even, except for the license for the solar panels,” Samantha said.
“And that was a brilliant deal,” Fred said. “That license will make us a ton of money.”
“Thank you,” Samantha said.
“Anything else on the licensing?” Marc asked.
“Just that it assumes licensing from one system to the next. So our solar license will be recorded via the U.N. We’ll need them to set up a process for managing the licenses cross-system.”
“Blake, you get to handle that,” Marc said.
“No!” Blake howled, grabbing his head with both hands as though he were in pain.
“Next! Catie, what’s the status of our jump drives?” Marc asked, ignoring Blake’s antics.
“Dr. McDowell has finalized the design of the ships,” Catie said. “Ajda already has them built, they just need some minor changes then we’ll be ready to run some tests.”
“Good, I’m looking forward to the results. Kal, anything on security we need to know?”
“Nope, we’ve got the people we need, training is moving along,” Kal said.
“Are you staying busy?” Marc asked.
“Hey, I’m the one here without a college degree,” Kal said. “It’s harder for me to keep up. I didn’t even get to go surfing last week.”
“Poor Baby,” Liz said. She had no sympathy for Kal using the no-college card.
“Hey, you’re not even doing much for MacKenzies,” Kal shot back.
“Yes, and you should see what Fred did to my paycheck,” Liz said. “It looks like someone took an axe to it.”
“I’m sure Catie is making up the difference,” Fred said. “We only pay for what we get.”
“Catie . . .,” Liz said.
“We’ll talk,” Catie said. Catie earned enough money from her investments that she’d completely forgotten that Liz would need income when they set up StarMerchants.
“Last thing,” Marc said. “I’ve sent you all a copy of the script for our reply to the aliens; review it and send your feedback before the end of the month. Fred, good luck with the press conference. Bye everyone.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Thank you for joining us. I’m here to report that MacKenzie Discoveries is launching its newest venture, Peregrine Airlines,” Fred said to open the press conference. “The airline will use the new jetliners we’ve designed. They are being manufactured in Guatemala at a new factory we’ve built south of Guatemala City. The desi
gn has just been certified, and we have four jets that we will be putting into service today. The jets are rated for Mach 3.5 and will carry four hundred passengers.”
Fred waited for the reporters to settle down before continuing. “We will merge our current small luxury airline under its umbrella. The new jetliners will be based in four cities: Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Frankfurt. Each base will serve four different cities, the network will extend to service Paris, Singapore, Tokyo, and Bangalore, India, as well as flights between the four hubs. You’ll find a list of flights in your brochure. I’ll now take questions.”
“Aren’t you worried about hurting the existing airline business?”
“The airline business is very competitive. We feel we have a unique offering to make and expect the existing airlines to adjust. We don’t offer any unique value for flights under four hours, so we will not be competing there,” Fred answered.
“Why don’t you feel that you offer value for shorter flights?”
“The travel time is based on boarding, takeoff, landing, and the actual at-altitude flight time. It takes approximately thirty minutes to take off and reach altitude and approximately the same amount of time to land. We cannot improve on that. So, unless the flight is over four hours, we’re only cutting two hours out of the total time. We feel that is at the margin of the value for our service.”
“Why are you manufacturing the jets in Guatemala?”
“We have a special relationship with Guatemala, and we hope to stimulate their economy and improve the economy of its neighboring countries.”
“Aren’t you hurting other businesses like Boeing?”
“We only expect to manufacture twelve planes per year. Most of the components come from the existing supply chain used by Boeing and Airbus, so the disruption shouldn’t be too severe.”
“Will you sell your planes to other airlines?”
“Not at this time,” Fred replied. “In the future, we do expect to sell to other airlines.”
“Why aren’t you offering a coast-to-coast flight in the U.S.?”
“Because the FAA has restricted airspeed to below Mach 1 for flights that originate and terminate within the U.S. They are protecting the market for the existing airlines.” Fred didn’t mention that they were considering a touch-and-go airport in Mexico and Canada to get around that restriction.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hello, Samantha,” Dr. Metra said, after answering her Comm. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Are you talking about my marriage or the baby?”
“Marriages are neither here nor there, the baby of course.”
“I’ll be sure to let Marc know.”
“Good, he needs to know where he stands. Now, what can I do for you?”
“I wanted to talk about the pregnancy. I’d like to know what to expect.”
“You do know where babies come from,” Dr. Metra teased.
“Of course. But with the nanites, what’s changed?”
“You do know that you have a perfectly good doctor on Artemis, don’t you?”
“Yes, but she’s not my friend,” Samantha said.
“Okay. We’ve had quite a number of births here in Delphi City, so we have lots of data. The good news is that the first three months are a breeze, you’ll hardly know you’re pregnant,” Dr. Metra said. “The nanites will control your hormones so you won’t have morning sickness or anything like that. You’ll gain about three pounds.”
“Really, that’s a relief,” Samantha said.
“Now, for the next trimester you have to decide how much weight you want to gain.”
“Why do I have to decide?”
“Well, evolution has programmed your body to gain a lot of weight to protect against a sudden loss of food. Since that shouldn’t be a problem, you don’t need to gain a bunch of fat as a reserve. But some women like to anyway, they say it makes them feel more comfortable.”
“Oh, well I only want to do what’s best for the baby.”
“Then your Comm will make sure the nanites are set to manage your weight. You’ll gain about one pound per week, and it will all be part of the baby, placenta, amniotic fluid, and extra blood. Generally, women say they love the second trimester.”
“Oh, so now the bad news?”
“It’s not bad, you’re having a baby. But in the third trimester, which is really about fourteen weeks, you’ll really notice the weight gain. You won’t be gaining it any faster, but your body will have to start stretching to fit it all in. We’ve found that the women here in Delphi City tend to reach term at thirty-eight or thirty-nine weeks instead of forty. I think it’s because the baby develops so well with our health care that it wants to get out sooner.”
“You guys never developed an artificial womb?”
“Oh, we did. But that was a bad idea,” Dr. Metra said.
“Why?”
“Bonding between the baby and mother. After twenty weeks, your baby starts to hear your voice and sense your movements. The next twenty weeks are critical to its mental development. It needs to hear and feel you. We actually recommend that even after birth, you carry the baby in a sling for the next three months, so it’s close to you. The sling will support its head and allow you and baby to continue bonding.”
“Oh, what happened with the artificial wombs?”
“The children born that way had severe mental health problems. We could treat them, but they were never completely normal.”
“What do you do with premature babies?” Samantha asked.
“We don’t have many of those, but in the rare cases when we do, we put a sound pad in the incubator and use the mother’s Comm to transmit the sounds to the baby. It makes a huge difference, and we’ve found that the children develop almost normally.”
“That’s amazing.”
“It shouldn’t be. Do you know that when a baby is born, it can already understand the structure of your language? Multiple languages if you speak them. Although we recommend you stay to one or two languages when talking to your baby.”
“You mean after birth?”
“No, before birth. Your baby knows when you’re talking to it.”
“What about the birth itself?”
“Oh, it’s not too bad. We block the pain receptors so it’s not overly painful. We’re able to give localized muscle relaxers to minimize the problems. But you will need to push, and most women do display a colorful command of the language.”
“You don’t do cesarean sections?”
“Not if we can avoid it. It’s best if the mother is fully mobile after the birth; it’s easier on her and the baby.”
“I can’t tell you what a relief this is,” Samantha said.
“Good. Now don’t tell Marc, you still want to make him run around to take care of you. After all, he does have the easy part in all this.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Chapter 7
Artemis
The Dutchman made orbit half a day early. She slid into orbit right behind the Sakira, which was in geosync orbit above Orion City. Liz had them dump the cargo pods as soon as they matched speed with the Sakira. They immediately pulled the Oryxes out of their container and started ferrying colonists down to the planet. Although they were moving the pods with cabins down with the colonists still in them, they still had over five hundred colonists crowded into the passenger section of the Dutchman. Using the Oryxes as well as their Lynxes would significantly speed up the process.
Once that was running smoothly, she allowed half the crew to go on shore leave. The remainder stayed on to oversee the continued migration of colonists to the surface as well as support the Artemis pilots who were now using the Skylifter to take the cargo pods to the surface. Each trip would be one cargo pod down and one up. Working 25 hours per day, they would be able to make four trips per day; that meant it would take four days to exchange all the pods. They would use the Oryxes to unload the cargo bays once the colonists
were all down.
“Sam, will dinner be ready?” Liz asked as she prepared to leave her cabin.
“When have you ever known me to be late with dinner?” Samantha replied.
“Never, but that was when you had hot and cold running help,” Liz said.
“We have warm and cold running help here,” Samantha said with a chuckle. “Maybe by next year, we’ll have hot and cold. I’ve got a couple of young ladies helping me out.”
“Good, I’ll see you in two hours.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Marc. I’m supposed to catch a ride home with you,” Liz said as she leaned against the door jamb of Marc’s office.
“I’ll be just a minute,” Marc said as he turned back to his desktop to finish up what he was doing.
“Let’s go,” Marc said as he stood up. “We don’t want to be late or Sam will kill us both.”
“Hey, I was on time. Besides, we’ve still got twenty minutes.”
“Yeah, like that will matter to Sam. And we have a twenty-minute drive.”
“You’re not in the city?”
“No. We had to build that place that Blake dreamt up for the aliens. We just moved in last month.”
“Oh, as I remember, that’s a really nice location. Why don’t you work there?”
“Because it’s twenty minutes away. People here do not like to have their time wasted. They find it distasteful enough to have to deal with the governor.”
“They don’t like you?”
“Government, they don’t like government.”
“Ah, I see. Anyway, you’ve got a boatload more of them coming down.”
“Don’t I know. That’s what I was dealing with, making sure they all have accommodations for the night.”
“Didn’t you have plenty of notice?”
“Your early arrival messed that up,” Marc said. “We were expecting to be able to slide their cabins into the new building before they needed to go to bed. Everything is ready, and with a twelve-hour head start we thought we could keep up. Your arrival at nightfall instead of right at daybreak blew that plan out of the water. The guys will be working all night to get ahead of them.”
“They could have spent the night on the Dutchman.”