by Bob Blanton
Paul smiled at Natalia, “I knew . . .”
“There was a reason you married me,” Natalia finished.
◆ ◆ ◆
When they reached the asteroid belt, it only took a day to prototype the first asteroid pusher.
“It looks like a tripod,” Paul said.
“It does. ADI and I decided that we’d just make hard links between the drives so we could route power. It’s double-hinged so that it’ll be easier to find a good spot to anchor it down.”
“Doesn’t that make it harder to fly?”
“Cer Paul, I assure you that it will not be a problem for me to fly,” ADI said.
“But what about a miner flying it?”
“That’s the best part. With this thing, ADI says that she or ANDI can pick the asteroids out, attach the pusher, and send them toward Artemis. We won’t have to have the miners stay out here.”
“Don’t tell them that yet,” Paul said.
“Are they going to be upset?”
“No, they hate this assignment. I just want to make sure they adequately recognize what you’re doing for them.”
“Sure, whatever. Now let’s see if we can move a few asteroids.”
Natalia, with ADI’s help, flew the pusher to the next asteroid the miners had identified. She easily maneuvered it into position then had the grav drives anchor it.
“Okay, ADI, push it,” Natalia said as she released the controls.
“Pushing,” ADI said.
“How long to put it on course?” Paul asked.
“It is on course now,” ADI said.
“Great, so we can bring the pusher back and get another asteroid?”
“Yes,” ADI said.
“ADI, how long will the asteroid take to reach Artemis?” Natalia asked.
“Seven point three years,” ADI replied.
“Oh, I guess we need to push it a little longer,” Paul said.
“How long do we need to push it if we want it to arrive in one week?” Natalia asked.
“Approximately forty-eight hours.”
“Oh, that’s a bit long. What if we want it to get there in three weeks?”
“Approximately sixteen hours.”
“How hard are we pushing?” Natalia asked.
“I am pushing it at one gravity.”
“Can we push it any harder?”
“With this mass, I can have the gravity drives push it at 2.1 gravities.”
“Okay, so do that. How long will it take to get the module back here?”
“Six hours,” ADI replied.
“So, one asteroid every twenty-two hours or so depending on their size. So how many pushers do we need to make?”
“They can handle about ten a day,” Paul said. “Let’s make ten, Marc can figure out how to handle an extra one every now and then.”
“Okay, how many drives do we have?”
“Oops, just six more,” Paul said. “The rest are on the way to Artemis.”
“Are there at least twenty-one gravity drives in route?”
“I think so.”
“Cer Paul, there are twenty-four drives on asteroids between here and Artemis,” ADI said.
“Okay, we have plenty. So, do we leave a crew here to assemble the pushers as the drives come back?”
“No, we can do that at Artemis and let ADI fly them back.”
“Great, I’ll get the boys to make up two more, then we can all head home.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Men and ladies, I have some bad news,” Paul said.
“Oh, what now?” the crowd groaned.
“Well, these asteroid pushers that Natalia designed are going to change things out here. They take special handling and maintenance.”
“Damn, and I was hoping it would take fewer of us to manage them. That Oryx we’re living on is crowded.”
“I guess it is. And we need that Oryx back at Artemis,” Paul added.
“Where the hell do you expect us to live and work from?”
“That’s the point. With all the special care, we’ve decided to let the DIs manage pushing the asteroids. All you guys are out of a job.”
“Hallelujah!”
“You know you’ll have to go to work in the mines now.”
“Hell, that will seem like a vacation after this. Where’s Natalia? I want to buy that wife of yours a drink.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Ms. Michaels,” Chief Nawal said as Sophia joined her in her office. Sophia was hoping she was getting an exclusive interview. She’d been asking the police for one for days.
“Call me Sophia.”
“Ms. Michaels, we’ve been informed by the last two witnesses we’ve interviewed that they had just been interviewed by you.”
“So?”
“So, you know that it is against the law to interfere in a police investigation.”
“I’m a reporter, I’m investigating the news,” Sophia said.
“That may be, but you are interfering with our investigation. Your questioning of the witnesses is contaminating their interviews with the police. They have been able to prepare answers, and know more about the investigation than they should.”
“It’s not my fault that the police are too slow,” Sophia said.
“Nonetheless, you are interfering.”
“What do you expect me to do?”
“I expect you to clear your interviews with me first.”
“No! We have freedom of the press. I don’t have to do that.”
“If you continue to interfere in the investigations, I’ll have to arrest you.”
“You can’t do that!”
“I can. But before I do that, I will have a constable follow you everywhere. Whenever you approach a witness, the constable will be there to restrain your enthusiasm.”
“You don’t have enough constables to do that to all the reporters.”
“We don’t, but all the reporters are not causing us a problem.”
“So what do you mean by clear my interviews?” Sophia asked.
“Call the office, tell us who you’re going to interview, and we’ll let you know when we’ve finished interviewing them.”
“What if I come up with someone you didn’t know about?”
“Then we’ll consider whether we should offer you a job as a police detective, and then we’ll let you know if we want you to wait before we interview them.”
“Will you tell me who else you’re interviewing?”
“No, this is a one-way street.”
Chapter 11
Jump Ships
“Hey, how did you two score a private cabin on Delphi Station?” Miranda asked as they boarded the Lynx that would take them to Delphi Station.
“Alex has a friend who keeps a cabin up here. She’s on a starship heading out to one of the colonies and said we could use the cabin,” Yvette answered.
“Who’s this friend?” Miranda asked.
“Liz Farmer,” Yvette answered.
“The Liz Farmer?” Miranda asked, completely shocked. Catie just rolled her eyes as she kept them moving toward their seats.
“What do you mean by ‘The Liz Farmer’?”
“She’s one of the founders of Delphi City. Famous for her part in the Paraxean war and the Ukraine incident.”
“Oh là là,” Yvette said. “That is why she looks familiar. Alex why didn’t you tell me who she was?” Yvette smacked Catie on the arm.
“I did,” Catie said. “Not my problem if you’re not up on your Delphi history.”
“But you didn’t tell me she was famous.”
“Apparently, she’s not famous enough if you didn’t connect the name to the fame.”
“Alex, how do you know her?” Miranda asked.
“Yes, you never told me,” Yvette asked.
“We were on the same flight from Hawaii when I flew here last winter,” Catie said. “We chatted and hit it off. We kept running into each other last spring.”
“That’
s all? You just met her and became friends. Next, you’ll be telling us you have dinner with Princess Catie once a month,” Yvette said.
“Oh, I have dinner with the Princess all the time,” Catie said mockingly.
“You’re so full of it,” Miranda said.
Catie got them settled in the third row and just sat down when she was shocked by the sight of the Khanna twins coming down the Aisle.
“Hi, Alex,” they said as they stopped next to her.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“We’re going to Delphi Station, silly,” the twins said.
“I figured that. But why?”
“We’re going to teach some cadets how to run the microgravity obstacle course. Isn’t that why you’re going to Delphi Station, Cadet MacGregor?”
“I guess I’ll be one of those cadets. Yvette, Miranda, these are Prisha and Aisha Khanna. They’re my Academy Family. Prisha and Aisha, this is Yvette and Miranda.”
“Hi,” the twins said.
“Where are you staying while you’re on the station?”
“We get to stay in the president’s cabin,” the twins said, making it sound very important and mysterious.
“Well, la di dah,” Catie said. “Who’s going to stay with you?”
“Nikola.”
“Sounds nice. I’m sure you guys will have fun, you always do,” Catie said.
“We will. See you later,” the twins said as they moved to the back of the Lynx.
“Which one is which?” Miranda asked.
“I never know,” Catie said.
“And they’re going to teach the class on maneuvering in microgravity?”
“Apparently they’re the best,” Catie said. “I’ve been in the obstacle course with them and they’re really good. You should see them on film when they’re going against someone who’s good; it’s amazing.”
“You certainly have interesting friends,” Miranda said.
◆ ◆ ◆
Catie led Miranda and Yvette to the lift after they deplaned on Delphi Station. Neither of them had any microgravity experience, so Catie had to help them maneuver.
“Where did you learn to maneuver in microgravity?” Yvette asked.
“When I came up with those twins. You pick it up pretty fast,” Catie said.
“Just get me to the gravity section,” Miranda said. “My brain is really confused.”
It took them ten minutes to make it to the elevator, down to the gravity section, and to the lift. Then it was a short ride out to the third ring and Earth standard gravity.
“How do you know where we’re going?” Miranda asked Catie as she led them out of the lift and turned right without a pause.
“I’ve set our destination in my HUD; it’s highlighting the path for me,” Catie replied.
“Oh, I guess we all should have done that,” Yvette said.
“No worries. Now, it says the cabin is just down the corridor on this level.”
“On this level?”
“Yes, there are five residential levels. The main elevator only stops at level three. You have to take a different lift or the stairs to get to the other levels.”
“It makes sense that Commander Farmer would have a prime location,” Yvette said.
“Especially since she was one of the first one hundred people to get a cabin on Delphi Station,” Catie said. “Here it is. Liz told me that she registered our Comms so we should be able to go right in.”
Of course, the door to Catie’s and Liz’s cabin opened right up for Catie. “Liz’s room is the one on the left, I’ve got the roommate’s room,” Catie said as she carried her bag into her room. Since it was Yvette who had invited Miranda to bunk with them, they were sharing Liz’s room.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Alex,” the twins said as Catie was exiting the cabin with Yvette and Miranda.
“Oh, hi girls. This must be Nikola,” Catie said as she extended her hand to Nikola. “Alex MacGregor; the girls mentioned you would be keeping an eye on them.”
“Hi, Alex,” Nikola said, giving Catie a hard look. Then she smiled as she realized who Alex was. “Are you girls heading to dinner?”
“Yes, we’re going to The Four Seasons, I’ve been told their restaurant is excellent.”
“You can rest assured that it is,” Nikola said, giving Catie a wink. Catie immediately realized she’d been made. “Have fun.”
“Busted,” ADI whispered into Catie’s Comm.
“I thought they said they were staying in the president’s cabin,” Miranda said.
“They are. I think it’s just down the corridor,” Catie said, knowing full well that her father’s cabin was two doors down.
“Really?!” Yvette asked.
“Sure, where did you think it would be?”
“In someplace secure. I thought it might even have its own floor.”
“The McCormacks aren’t into all that,” Catie said. “Haven’t you read anything about Delphi?”
“Of course I have, but you can only believe so much of what you read.”
◆ ◆ ◆
At 0600, Catie exited her bedroom and met Yvette and Miranda in the common room. They were on their way to the orientation for the week’s training. It was being held in the hub, right after the arrival of the Lynx carrying the other cadets. The girls had come up the night before since they had such special accommodations.
“Are you ready for this?” Catie asked.
“I hope my brain is happier with the microgravity today,” Miranda said. “It took me most of last night to convince it that up was up.”
Catie laughed. “At least you didn’t vomit.”
“And you’d better not vomit today,” Yvette said. “It would totally undermine that hard-ass cadet commander thing you’ve got going.”
“I’ll try not to,” Miranda said. “Now lead on MacDuff, we don’t want to be late. That wouldn’t be good for my image either.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Okay, does everyone have a toehold or their boots locked to the deck?” Lieutenant Fiore asked. He was to be their host during the week. He would oversee their training and be available for questions or other help as needed.
Getting no responses, he continued. “The most important thing about microgravity is maintaining an awareness of where you are and your orientation to the surroundings. Without gravity to tell you which way is up, it’s easy to get confused. Keep cues in sight at all times. The wall pattern is top white, bottom blue. The location of chairs or furniture is a dead giveaway.” He got chuckles with that.
“Now if your boots are connected to the floor, you’re good. But if you want to move about quickly, walking in microgravity is slow and tedious. You want to push off and glide to where you want to get to.” As he said that one of the twins pushed off the floor from the back of the crowd; she flipped over, bounced off the ceiling, flipped over again, and landed next to him.
“As you can see, with a little training you can get about quite quickly, as Ms. Aalia has just demonstrated. If you find yourself in microgravity with the need to defend yourself, your maneuverability is your best weapon. A flying body is quite effective at knocking an opponent loose from their foothold. And if you can outmaneuver them, you can catch them, but they cannot catch you. Now Aalia and her sister Prisha will show you how to take advantage of the walls, various fixtures, and such to maneuver in microgravity. Later they’ll take you into the obstacle course and play some tag with you to give you a chance to practice what they teach. I’ll buy dinner for anyone who manages to tag one of them.”
The twins took the cadets through a series of exercises, showing them how to push off at an angle so they could aim themselves. They showed them the proper way to flip or rotate so that they could land on the wall or ceiling feet first.
Once everyone was familiar with the techniques, one of the twins led each person through the course. The cadet was supposed to mimic the twin’s move and try to keep up with her. By the fourt
h wall, almost every cadet was so focused on copying the last move, that they lost track of the twin they were supposed to be following.
“MacGregor, that was pretty impressive,” Lieutenant Fiore said. “You made it all the way through the course.”
“I’ve had a little practice; but I never got close to the little witch,” Catie responded. Prisha stuck her tongue out at her.
◆ ◆ ◆
“This next exercise is to teach you how to push off quickly at different angles. One of the twins will take up position in the corner of the course, essentially trapped. Or one might think so, but with three dimensions, you’ll be amazed at how hard it is to corner someone.”
“Does the dinner bet still stand?” one of the cadets asked.
“Sure,” Lieutenant Fiore said.
The twins had worn different shipsuits, so they were easy to tell apart. Aalia went first, moving to the corner of the room and taking a position against the wall. She waited until the cadet being tutored made it to the marked spot, then she bounced up and planted her feet on the wall. She juked back and forth, dancing around the wall, toward the ceiling, the floor, the other walls. She did this for about a minute, then she pushed off and sailed right by the cadet, far out of reach. His lunging grasp fell far short.
Catie watched as half the class went through the drill. “Oh, Prisha has a tell,” Catie realized. She watched a few more cadets go through the training. Each time, Prisha gave away the direction she planned to leap with just a small twist of her head. Aalia didn’t have a tell that Catie could spot, but Prisha did. Catie waited her turn, adjusting her place in line so that she would go against Prisha.
“Hi, Alex,” Prisha said as she set up in the corner.
“Hi, Prisha. You’re mine,” Catie said.
“As if,” Prisha said. “You ready?”
“Always!”
Prisha started her dance. Catie danced back, waiting for her tell. Then there it was, her head tilted left and up. Catie shifted the other way and Prisha kicked off. Catie bounced off the wall, pushing as hard as she could. She saw Prisha zooming by as she reached out toward her, stretching as far as she could. Catie’s hand brushed Prisha’s boot just before Catie slammed into the wall.