Delphi Exploration

Delphi in Space

Book Seven

Bob Blanton

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Opportunity

Chapter 2 Cabinet Meeting – March 1st

Chapter 3 Changes

Chapter 4 Propositions

Chapter 5 Mission Planning

Chapter 6 To the Stars

Chapter 7 Landfall

Chapter 8 Cabinet Meeting April 5th

Chapter 9 Tyger, Tyger

Chapter 10 I Feel Old

Chapter 11 Terraforming

Chapter 12 Board Meeting – May 3rd

Chapter 13 A Deal with the Devil

Chapter 14 Guests?

Chapter 15 Pass the SALT

Chapter 16 Run Silent

Chapter 17 Welcome, Please Stop by for Tea

Chapter 18 Do We Want the Stars

Chapter 19 Board Meeting – June 7th

Chapter 20 Who Are All These People?

Chapter 21 Get That Sub

Chapter 22 A Home in the Stars

Acknowledgments

Afterword

Delphi Publishing

Copyright © 2020 Robert D. Blanton

Cover by Momir Borocki

momir.borocki@gmail.com

All rights reserved.  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.  Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2020. 

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

https://www.facebook.com/StarshipSakira/

Chapter 1

Opportunity?

“Didn’t you feed those reporters before the briefing,” Marc said after the conference finished.

Marc had just finished a press conference where he had announced the formation of the Delphi Federation, an alliance between Delphi, Ukraine, the Republic of Kuban, Moldova, and Georgia.  They had formed it after Delphi Nation had forced Russia to withdraw its military from the region, tacitly accepting the formation of the Kuban Republic, which covered the area of Russia between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.

“No, we chummed the waters,” Blake said.  “We all know how much you like a challenge.”

Marc threw his tie at Blake.  “Thanks a lot.”

“Hey, what are brothers for.”

“You did good, Daddy,” Catie said.  Catie, Marc’s daughter, was on the Sakira, the starship Marc and Blake had discovered off the coast of Hawaii back in 2018.  Right now, she and a team were establishing a space station in the asteroid belt that would act as the base for their mining operations there.  She was connected to the conference via video link.

“Thanks, Sweetie,” Marc said.  “Hopefully, we will be able to take a break now.”

“Um,” Samantha interrupted, “we have twelve countries asking to join the new Federation.”  Samantha was the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Delphi Nation.

“Oh, brother,” Marc said.  “Any more good news?”

“Yes!” Catie squealed.  “We’ve found two planets.”

“I think that’s too much good news,” Blake said.  Blake was the head of Delphi Nation’s military.

“Yes it is,” Marc said.  “Sam, I don’t think we want to add more countries to the Federation at this time.  That was just a way to get the Russians to move on the Ukrainian situation, and we just told the world that we want to work through the U.N.”

“I agree, but I don’t think we want to just turn them down,” Samantha said.

“Why don’t we tell them that we want to see the U.N. step up and represent and protect each and every nation.  But if they don’t, we’ll consider having them join the Federation or find a way to force the issue.”

“I’ll work on a statement,” Samantha said, who, in addition to being the minister of foreign affairs was also Marc’s girlfriend.  Delphi Nation is truly a family affair.

“What about the planets!” Catie shouted.  MacKenzie Discoveries, the company Marc had formed to harvest the technology from the Sakira, had launched probes to search for other habitable planets earlier that year.

“Define what you mean by ‘we found two planets’,” Marc said.

“They are both in the habitable zone of their star; both stars are within ten percent of Sol’s mass and brightness.  The planets both mass approximately the same as Earth; one planet has a single moon; the other has one large moon and a smaller moon.  There’s plenty of water and no sign of intelligent life.  But we have to survey the actual planets to determine that for sure,” Catie said.

“So, both are good candidates for the Paraxeans?” Marc asked.  The Paraxeans were the aliens that had sent the starship to survey Earth.  Marc had found it in a dormant state, and now controlled it and its technology.  They had recently defeated a Paraxean colony fleet that was coming to colonize Earth after losing the ability to colonize a wild planet.  Their move was in violation of Paraxean law, but that wasn’t any help to Earth when they arrived.  After their defeat, Delphi Nation had assumed control of the Paraxean ships, so they now had control over even more of their technology.

“Yes, one for the Paraxeans and one for us,” Catie said.

“For us?” Blake asked.

“Yes, we should start an Earth colony on the other planet,” Catie answered.

“That might help to energize the countries on Earth to pull together,” Samantha said.

“It might, but first, we have to determine if either or both are truly viable candidates,” Marc said.

“To do that, we have to finish my scout ship,” Catie said.

“Your scout ship,” Blake said, giving Catie a hard stare over the video link.

“Well, I designed it,” Catie said.

“But who built it?”

“Okay, our scout ship.”

“Catie, what’s the status of your mission?” Marc asked.  Catie had been tapped to lead the mission to build a space station in the asteroid belt.  Not necessarily because she was the most qualified, but she was qualified and a member of the inner circle of MacKenzie Discoveries.  Marc was holding as many cards as he could close to his chest.

“The station should be ready to start the build-out next week,” Catie said.  “We should be able to spin the station up early next week.  Then, after a month of construction, we should have enough of the habitat ring finished so people can move into it.”

“Okay, that sounds like you’ve accomplished what we sent you there for.  Plan on coming home next week so we can address how we want to deal with these new planets,” Marc said.  “We’ll find someone to replace you.”

“Great,” Catie said, pumping her fist.

“Have you named the station yet?” Blake asked.

“I didn’t realize I got to pick the name,” Catie said.

“Do you have a suggestion?” Marc asked.

“Gemini Station?”

Marc nodded his head.  “Works for me.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Blake, who do you recommend to replace Catie?” Marc asked.  He and Blake were having a beer in Blake’s condo later that evening.

“I was thinking of Commander Desjardins.”

“How do you think Captain Clements, Commander Frankham, and Commander Fitzgerald will feel about your old XO getting the job?”

“I’ve talked to all of them.  Only Desjardins wants to work for MacKenzie Discoveries.  The others want to stay on active duty with the Delphi Defense Force.  I don’t think they like having to deal with civilians,” Blake said.

“Then go ahead and set it up,” Marc said.

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie watched with trepidation as Nolan and his crew aligned the ring of Gemini Station with its hub.  It didn’t look as complex as threading a needle, but they were really big objects to be moving around.  The spokes that would connect them and provide the lifts between them were floating close by, ready to be attached.  In two days, the station would be ready to spin up, and Nolan would have earned his case of scotch and his crew the thirty percent bonus for getting the station spun up before the six-week deadline.  Of course, Nolan had figured out how to give them a five-day jump on the schedule.

“It was worth it,” Catie thought.  She had been worried that the lure of a big bonus might compromise the quality, but she trusted Nolan’s pride in his work, and he hadn’t let her down.  Everyone had worked hard and been diligent.  There had not been any quality issues found in the numerous inspections that they had carried out.

The Oryx that would be taking her back to Earth was due tomorrow, which meant that she wouldn’t be there to see the station spin up.  “Oh, well,”  Catie thought.  “Like Daddy said, I accomplished what I came here to do.”

“It’s looking good, Captain,” Morgan, her bodyguard, said as she walked up to stand beside Catie.

“Yes it is,” Catie replied.

“Sophia is waiting for her interview,” Morgan informed her.  Sophia was a teenage friend of Catie’s.  She was sixteen-years-old to Catie’s fifteen, but Delphi Nation being less than two-years-old created opportunities for everyone regardless of age.  Sophia was the owner/publisher of the Delphi Gazette, Delphi City’s first, and still only, newspaper.  Sophia was happy to use her friendship with Catie, the President’s daughter, to get the inside scoop.

“Very well, I guess I’m ready.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hello, Sophia.”

“Hi, Captain,” Sophia said.

“Catie,” Catie suggested.

“Sure, Catie.  So, you’re leaving tomorrow?”

“Yes, did you decide if you’re coming with me?”

“Yes I did, and no I’m not.  I’m going to stay here until they actually move us into the station.  Nolan says that will only be another four weeks,” Sophia said.  “It’s kind of strange that they can build the whole thing in six or seven weeks, but then it takes six months to finish out the interior.”

“Well, since we can extrude the shell for both the hub and the ring, those processes are mostly automated and go fast.  The interior is a lot of labor and piece work.  All those floors to install and doors and walls to build, then all the plumbing and wiring has to be put in.”

Chaz Murillo, Sophia’s cameraman and boyfriend, was quietly filming their discussion.  Catie assumed that allowing Chaz to accompany Sophia on the mission was the main reason she hadn’t seen much of Sophia; they’d only spent a few evenings together in the entire two months that they had been on the Sakira.

“Why aren’t you staying until after they at least spin the station up?” Sophia asked.

“It wouldn’t be fair to Captain Desjardins,” Catie said.  “It becomes his mission as soon as he gets here.  I wouldn’t want the last captain hanging around after I took over.”

Catie had actually argued with her uncle that she should be allowed to stay.  But he’d told her what she’d just told Sophia.  It was just bad luck that there had been a problem with the thrusters, which had delayed moving the ring into place.  Blake had reminded Catie that there could be another problem when they were attaching the spokes, so how long did she think she should plan to hang around?  And there were the other people scheduled to return on the Oryx with her, and they weren’t going to be interested in waiting until Catie could have her moment of glory.

“I suppose so,” Sophia said.  “What are you going to be doing when you get home?”

“I’ll be working on some projects,” Catie said.  “I’ll probably help out on the jetliner too.”

“Has it flown yet?”

“Yesterday,” Catie said.  “Fred said that it had a pretty good test flight.”

“So, you missed out on that, too.”

Catie turned so Chaz wouldn’t have a view of her face.  “Can’t win them all,” she said, then pouted.

Sophia pointed to the specs she was wearing, reminding Catie that they were also filming the interview.

“You’d better not.”

“We’ll see,” Sophia said.

“I’ll get even,” Catie threatened.

“Still recording.”

“Hey, I haven’t seen you around much,” Catie said.  “What have you and Chaz been doing?”  Catie knew that Sophia’s mother had been less than happy to allow Chaz to accompany Sophia on the mission, and she was hoping that bringing that up would give her some quick leverage over Sophia.

“I’m writing a book,” Sophia said.  “Chaz has been helping Nolan out.  He says he’s learning a lot about construction and that it should help him with his engineering courses when he gets back to Delphi City.”

“You’re writing a book!  What’s it about?”

“It’s a secret.  So, how do you think your mission has gone?” Sophia asked, quickly changing the subject.

“I think it’s gone pretty well,” Catie said.  “We delivered critical material back to Delphi, which helped them win that spat with Russia about Ukraine.  We’re slightly ahead of schedule.  The station’s going to spin up in a couple of days.  And nobody’s been hurt.”

“Except for Morgan,” Sophia said with a snicker.

“Sophia, I’m staying behind,” Morgan said in a low, threatening tone.

“Oh, you mean you’re not going back with Catie?”

“No, I’m here for the full six months.  And I have friends back at Delphi City.”

“Okay, I’ll edit that part out.”  Sophia’s comment referred to the time that Morgan’s girlfriend had slugged her during a bar fight that Morgan was trying to break up.  Morgan had pulled her away from the guy she was whaling on.  She had turned around, looked at Morgan, and slugged her.  Morgan had a black eye for a week, even after the doctor treated her.  “There’s no way I can avoid Morgan for four weeks,” Sophia thought.

“You’re pretty smart for a sixteen-year-old,” Morgan said.

“Hey, I’m almost seventeen!”

“Not so smart then.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Mr. Payne, please join me in my day cabin,” Catie said.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Have a seat.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Lieutenant Payne said.

“This is my last day as captain,” Catie said.  “I wanted to tell you how much I’ve appreciated all your efforts as my first mate.”

“It has been an honor to serve you, Captain.”

“I’m sure you’ve had your challenges dealing with such an inexperienced captain, but you’ve taught me a lot.”

“And I’ve learned a lot from you.”

“Thanks, Derek.  I wanted to recognize your efforts.  If you’re willing, I’d like to share some information with you.  Only a very few people outside of the MacKenzie board of directors are aware of this information.  If I tell you, you have to swear to keep the secret.”

“Oh, so you’re going to tell me the truth about the Sakira,” Lieutenant Payne said.  It had only taken him a couple of weeks to figure out that there was something unique about the Sakira compared to the Delphi-built space carrier he’d served on during the Paraxean war.

“Maybe.  Do you swear?”

“Yes, I give you my solemn oath as an officer and a gentleman that I will not divulge what you tell me without your permission or the permission of someone from the MacKenzie board of directors,” Derek said.

“Thank you.  You are correct; the Sakira is much older than a few months.  In fact, she is over three hundred years old.”

Catie winced as Lieutenant Payne let out a shrill whistle.  “That’s pretty old.”

“I beg your pardon!” ADI interjected.

“Mr. Payne, meet ADI, the Digital Intelligence we found with the Sakira,” Catie said.

“Hi, ADI,” Lieutenant Payne said.  “Sorry if I insulted you.”

ADI gave a light chuckle over the Comm.

“I think she was just yanking your chain,” Catie said.  “We’ve been working on humor.”

“Oh, great.  She seems different than the DI we had on the Enterprise.  Does that mean she’s sentient?”  Lieutenant Payne didn’t realize that ADI was the same DI as the one on the Enterprise, but she’d been careful to sound more like a simple computer back then.

“Yes, I am!” ADI said.

“She is, and she also listens in on most conversations unless they’re explicitly defined as private.”

“How do you define a private conversation?”

“I use the same definition that the U.S. courts use for a person’s expectation of privacy,” ADI explained.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to her jumping into your conversations.  But you have to hide it better.  People are not supposed to know she’s so omnipresent.”

“Okay, so what else are you going to share with me?”

“The Sakira had over one hundred forty-five crew aboard her when my father found her.  Including Dr. Metra.”

“Dr. Metra is a Paraxean?!”

“Yes.  That’s why she always wears a headscarf, to hide her ears,” Catie said.  The Paraxeans had larger ears than humans and could articulate them like a cat.

“We used the ruse of capturing a Paraxean advance base on Ganymede as a way to explain all the Paraxean crew we brought out of stasis to help us in the war.  But Dad brought Dr. Metra out before we founded Delphi City.”

Lieutenant Payne let off another whistle.  “That is a big secret!”

“Yes, and now that you know, ADI will be able to help you if something happens.  She has a lot of experience.”

“Over three hundred years,” ADI added.

Lieutenant Payne laughed.  “How do you avoid tripping up when she interjects?”

“She’s just having fun.  She’ll be much more discreet when you’re in front of people who shouldn’t know about her.”

“Okay.  Anything else I should know?”

“Not right now.  Everything else is pretty much the way we’ve laid it out.  The Paraxean colony ship was attacked and lost its cargo ship; their military leaders decided to come take over Earth since they couldn’t continue on to the original planet without the cargo ship,” Catie explained.

“But there’s more, isn’t there?”

“There’s always more,” Catie said.  “I wanted someone on the Sakira to be aware of everything.  You’ve already figured out the stasis chambers.  Oh, and I guess you should know about the antimatter reactor.  We’ve let everyone believe that it’s just a big fusion reactor.  Mr. Kermag is the engineer who keeps it running.”

“An antimatter reactor?!”

“ADI will explain it to you.  The gravity drives take a lot more power than people realize.  A fusion reactor would have a hard time keeping up with the power demand while moving something as massive as the Sakira, much less something as big as our space carriers.  And you’d really need to carry a lot of fuel to feed the reactors.”

“Oh, ADI, we’re going to need to spend a lot of time together,” Lieutenant Payne said.

“Quality, intimate time.  I’m so looking forward to it,” ADI purred.

Catie and Lieutenant Payne both broke into laughter.

“Good one, ADI,” Catie said.

Chapter 2

Cabinet Meeting – March 1st

“Catie, are things good on your end?” Marc asked.

“I’m good; hi, everybody,” Catie said.  She was attending the meeting via video link from the Sakira.

“I call this meeting to order,” Marc said.  “I’d like to start by introducing our new CFO, Jonas Pfeifer.  You’ve all read his résumé.  Jonas, you should recognize everyone here from your briefing earlier.”

“I do,” Jonas said, “and I want to tell all of you what a pleasure it is to join you.”

“We also have a new prime minister,” Marc said.  “She emigrated to Delphi City during our first year.  She came in with the first group of Syrian refugees.  She has been a key leader in the community from the first day she arrived.  Please join me in welcoming Prime Minister Fatiha Nazeri.”

At that announcement, Masina, Marc’s admin, escorted Prime Minister Nazeri into the cabinet chamber.  She was greeted by applause from everyone in the room.  She gave a nod to them all and then took the seat next to Marc.

“The Prime Minister will help us to tease apart the government functions from those of MacKenzie Discoveries.  And as part of her efforts, she has already informed me that I make too many decisions without proper consultation,” Marc said.  He gave a small laugh to let everyone know that he wasn’t offended.  “I’ve told her that I will endeavor to mend my ways.”

“Now to business, Herr Hausmann, you wanted to talk about the economy.”

“Thank you, and welcome Prime Minister Nazeri,” Herr Hausmann said, giving the prime minister a slight bow.  “I’ve finished calculating the GNP for Delphi.  I was quite shocked by the numbers.  Delphi’s GNP over the last twelve months was over 700 billion dollars.  I am using GNP instead of GDP because the military and government expenditures are so intertwined with the expenditures from MacKenzie Discoveries.  I am still not clear on which assets belong to whom.”

“How can it be that high?” Blake asked.  “I’ve seen our cash flow numbers.”

“Ah, but you have been ignoring the volume of trade you do via material exchange.  Those asteroids are assets; you’ve been mining them and producing products which you still own, the space station being a significant one.  When you factor the value of the material you’ve extracted and still control, as well as the value of the products you’ve made and kept, the numbers are very believable.”

“Ah, I never thought of that,” Blake said.

“And that’s why you needed to hire Herr Pfeifer,” Herr Hausmann said.  “He would never have ignored those transactions.”

Jonas nodded vigorously to acknowledge the point.

“I’m glad you’ve been able to give us a better perspective on our economic situation.  I can appreciate your problem separating the assets,” Marc said.  “Currently, most assets belong to MacKenzie Discoveries.  We do plan to transfer certain ones to the Delphi government but did not want to do that until we had a working government to administer them.  I’m sure that you and the prime minister will be able to come up with recommendations as to which assets to transfer as well as the proper timing for the transfer.”

“I’m sure we’ll be most happy to do that,” Herr Hausmann said.  “And that brings up another issue.”

Marc nodded for him to continue.

“Currently, over seventy percent of your GNP is generated by MacKenzie Discoveries.  That is not generally a very healthy position for a country.”

“Hmm,” Marc mused.  “I look forward to suggestions on how to bring more diversity to the economy.  Anything else?”

“I think the rest of my report can wait until I’ve had a chance to brief the prime minister.”

“Very well.  Next, Samantha.”

“Thank you, and I’d also like to extend my welcome to Prime Minister Nazeri,” Samantha said, giving a nod of recognition to the prime minister.  “Now to business; the U.S. Ambassador has informed me that their FBI has determined that Russia conducted several hacking operations in order to interfere with their 2020 election.  Most of the attempts were thwarted, but the usual social media campaigns were impossible to stop completely.  They also tried to hack the computer systems of both national parties.  He indicated that you had reached some sort of agreement with Senator Novak before the election.”

“Yes, I did.  Let me explain, and this is probably one of those decisions that the prime minister feels I should consult on.  From the founding of MacKenzie Discoveries and our development of manufacturing on Manuae and eventually here on Delphi City, the Russians, along with several other countries, have been continually trying to hack into our computer network.  We created a very sophisticated firewall to prevent such hacking, and, as a consequence, we actually have the ability to reach into the systems and networks that initiated the hacking attempts, basically to hack them back.”

“That’s very interesting,” Admiral Michaels said.  “I am not aware of any similar capability.”  Admiral Michaels was the former head of U.S. Naval Intelligence.

“We’re confident that there is not anything like it yet.  We developed this firewall using the technology we harvested from the Paraxean starship,” Marc said.  “We have also developed some very sophisticated viruses that we can inject into those systems.  Many of them are the same viruses that everyone uses, but some are much more capable.  The bottom line is we can reach out and destroy the computers within any of the networks that tried to hack us.  In fact, we can actually reach out beyond just the local networks where the hackers were working.”

“What about data access?” Admiral Michaels asked.  The spook in him was very curious.

“We do have some ability to access data,” Marc said.  “What Senator Novak, now President Novak, and I discussed, was that if Russia did try to hack their election, Delphi might conduct such an attack on the Russian systems as a punitive measure and allow the U.S. to take credit for it.”

“Do we really want to antagonize the Russians again?” Samantha asked.

“What is the status of the SALT III talks?” Marc asked.

“The Russians and Chinese are still bickering, and the U.S. isn’t really helping that much,” Samantha said.

“So the talks are essentially stalled.”

“Yes.”

“If you did this and it was discovered that Delphi was responsible, that could cause serious harm to the nation,” Prime Minister Nazeri said.

“If we do this, there will be no doubt in many minds that it was Delphi,” Admiral Michaels said.

“Probably, but what can they do, it’s hard to bitch about being punished for breaking the law,” Fred said.  “It would be nice to send a no-hacking message to the world.  The economic damage caused by all the stolen secrets is immeasurable.  Having a secure internet is critical to bring the world into the next age.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Thirty minutes later, Marc stopped the discussion.  “I think we’ve had enough debate.  I’ll take your input under advisement.”

“You’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you,” Samantha said.

“Not firmly,” Marc defended himself.

“If you’ve made up your mind, why waste our time?” Prime Minister Nazeri asked.  “This is what I meant about not taking advice.”

“I am seeking your advice.  I may not necessarily follow it, but I will listen to it.  If I didn’t want it, I wouldn’t ask,” Marc said.

“That’s right,” Samantha said.  “And he does occasionally change his mind.”

“Moving on,” Marc said.  “Catie, please give everyone an update on our new station.”

“We’ve finished the hub and the ring.  If things continue to go well, they should be able to spin it up next week,” Catie said.  “It will take a few weeks after that before everyone can move in, but things are still on schedule.”

“Good, and how is the asteroid they’re mining holding up?” Marc asked.

“It has about six weeks of mining left in it before it’s played out.  We’ve found a couple of smaller ones that we’ll move over next to the station.  They should give them another four or five weeks of mining, then we’ll need to move the station.”

“Do they know where they want to move it to?” Fred asked.

“Yes, the probes have found several more asteroids that are good candidates for mining.  There are several in this quadrant that are close enough that we can move the station next to them without losing any time with the mining operation.”

“Why move the station?” Admiral Michaels asked.

“Commute time for the miners,” Catie said.  “It’s more efficient to move the station than to send them on long trips to whichever asteroid we happen to be mining.  And it’s also easier to move the station than it is to keep moving the asteroids over to the station.  The station is designed to be moved.”

“That has always been our plan,” Marc said.  “Any other issues?”

“I’ve had them restart work on the scout ship,” Catie said.

“I noticed,” Marc said.  “Do you have a timeline for it to be finished?”

“Two weeks if somebody doesn’t steal my gravity drives, . . . again.”

Marc ignored Catie’s dig.  “Next item.  Fred.”

“Production is on target,” Fred said.  “The jetliner is looking good; we’re on track to submit it for certification by the end of summer.”

“Excellent.”

“Catie did most of it, but I’m happy to take the credit,” Fred said.  “Also, I have a proposal about the platinum group metals.”

“Go on.”

“The market for them is still very hot.  Even though we haven’t been buying any for the last month, others have been, and they’re still being hoarded.  That creates an opportunity.”

“What kind of opportunity?” Jonas asked.

“I am still in contact with the agents I was using to buy the metals before we started getting shipments from Catie.  We could turn around and slowly sell our surplus.  It would make us a bundle of money, a few hundred million at least, and it will eventually cool the market down,” Fred said.

“Do it,” Marc said, “and you keep the profits.  Pay MacKenzies back for the metals you sell at the price that they settle to after two months.”

“Ahem,” Prime Minister Nazeri coughed.

“That was a private decision for MacKenzie Discoveries,” Marc said.

“It still highlights my point.”

“Acknowledged.  Fred, go ahead.”

“You’ve got it,” Fred said, gleefully rubbing his hands together.  He loved trading, and now he was going to be able to get rich doing it.

Herr Pfeifer swallowed hard as he realized that Marc had just given Fred a few hundred million dollars off of MacKenzie Discoveries’ bottom line.  Samantha reached over and patted his hand.

“Blake, what’s the status of the armed forces?” Marc asked.

“We’re recovering from the recall.  The U.S. has agreed to release five hundred of the pilots that served in the alliance if we pay for their education cost, about one million per pilot,” Blake said.  “If we do that, they’ll return to the alliance and be directly under our control, no U.S. military liaison.”

Marc looked at Admiral Michaels and then the Prime Minister.  “Thoughts?”

“Do you really want them?” Prime Minister Nazeri asked.

“Yes, it seems like an obvious decision to me, but I’ll defer to Admiral Michaels, and I assume the two of you will be able to reach a consensus,” Marc said.

“I would like some time to discuss it,” Prime Minister Nazeri said.  “It does seem obvious, but I’d like to understand the background better.”

“I’ll leave the decision to the two of you, let me know what you decide,” Marc said.  “Blake, how is the academy shaping up?”

“We’ve identified two candidates for the commandant,” Blake said.  “Do you want to interview them?”

“No.”

“Then Admiral Michaels and I will let you know when we’ve made our decision.  We are planning to accept cadets this summer.  In fact, we have already been recruiting.  We’ll be accepting candidates for all four classes, and fitting them into the structure.  We’ll conduct separate summer boot camps for each class to familiarize the new cadets with their roles and acclimate them to military life.  We’ll use cadets who have military experience or are coming from a military academy to act as the cadets’ leadership team.”

“Are you going to have enough to cover those roles?” Marc asked.

“Yes, we’re getting a large influx from the military colleges like VMI and the Citadel.  Those cadets don’t have military obligations, so it is easier for them to switch.  We have a few academies actually releasing cadets to attend.  And we are accepting exchange students from other academies.  They’ll go to Delphi Academy, then return to their nation’s military services to fulfill their obligation.  That will get us close; we’ll fill in using NCOs and our existing officers to make the experience real.”

“Good.  Admiral Michaels, what do you have?” Marc prompted.

“We are continuing with the modification of the cargo ships to carriers,” Admiral Michaels said.  “As I’ve said, the first should be ready this month.  We’ve taken delivery of the frigates.  We need to crew them and get them to sea.  I’ll brief the prime minister later this week on the full status of our military plans.”

“Thank you,” the prime minister said.

“Anything else?”

“Nothing noteworthy.”

“Kal?”

“We have started running all current members of our forces through the new training program.  It’s an accelerated program for the experienced people; new people will go through a full ten-week training course,” Kal said.

“How accelerated?” Liz asked.

“Everyone will have two weeks of classroom work to start that will take four hours per day, and they can fit that around their existing schedule.  Then they’ll do two weeks of full-time, on-the-ground training in Guatemala.  That will be followed by six weeks of part-time training here in Delphi City or on Delphi Station.  We’ll also be able to work around their schedules for that.”

“Guatemala?” the prime minister asked.

“We have a training facility in Guatemala that we share with their new special forces division.  We help train their people and provide some special equipment, and in exchange, we get free use of the facility,” Kal explained.

The prime minister nodded her head in acknowledgment of the explanation.

“Thank you,” Marc said.  “That concludes the meeting.  Liz, Blake, Catie, and Nikola, please stay behind.”

“That’s it?” Prime Minister Nazeri asked.

“You can see why he needs you,” Samantha said.

The prime minister shook her head and followed Samantha out of the Cabinet Chamber.

◆ ◆ ◆

“What is the status of our jumpdrive?” Marc asked once everyone except members of the MacKenzie board had left the room.

“Dr. McDowell is still running tests,” Catie said.  “He’s characterizing how to increase the size of the wormhole.  Obviously, we all want to come up with a way to take the Paraxeans’ asteroid through in one piece.”

“That would be convenient,” Blake jested.

“Will he succeed?” Marc asked.

“He’s making progress,” Catie said.  “I have an idea that might help.  I’ll talk to him about it when I get there.”

“Why not talk to him via your Comm?” Marc asked.

Nikola unsuccessfully tried to stifle a laugh; it came out as a snort.

“He’s not very good with communication of any type,” Catie said.  “Face to face works better.”

“Why don’t you tell Nikola and then she can talk to him?” Blake asked.

“Dr. McDowell is more receptive to ideas from Catie,” Nikola said.  “She’ll be here soon, and he has plenty of work to do in the meantime.  I suggest we wait.”

“Alright,” Marc acquiesced.  “I want all of you to start planning a survey mission for the two planets,” Marc said.  “Keep me in the loop, but don’t wait on me.”

“We can do that,” Blake said with a big smile.

Marc just shook his head.

Chapter 3

Changes

“Here’s to old times when life was simpler,” Blake said as he clinked beer bottles with Kal.  They were in Aces Up, a bar on Delphi’s airport that catered to the pilots flying the Oryxes up to Delphi Station.

“Which old times are you referring to, the time when I was an ex-Marine without any legs, and you were an ex-fighter pilot with a scarred-up face?  Or maybe when we were dating those two spies?” Kal asked.  Kal had wound up dating Sasha, a Russian spy who was trying to gather intel on Delphi City and MacKenzie Discoveries while Blake had wound up dating the Chinese spy, who was trying to do the same thing.

“The spies were cool,” Blake said.  “Those were simpler times and a lot of fun.  Even after you got your legs, and I got my face fixed, it was simpler.”

“Yeah, I kind of miss Sasha,” Kal said.  “Then, I made the mistake of letting Marc make me an officer.”

“A general no less,” Blake said.  “That look on your face when he introduced you as General Kealoha was priceless.”

“I was just getting used to being a colonel,” Kal said.  “Then, all of a sudden, he just makes me a general.  He didn’t say anything; he just introduced me as General Kealoha.”

“Well, he couldn’t have that old American outrank you,” Blake said.  The old general Blake was referring to was General McFarland.  He was a veteran of the Iraq war, and since he was an expert in tank warfare, Admiral Michaels had brought him in to help with the Ukrainian situation that Delphi Nation had helped out with.

“So, you really miss those days?”

“Yeah, mainly I miss being able to just head out for a few days without having to check-in.”

“You don’t have to check-in; ADI will let you know when you’re needed.”

“Yeah, and that can get embarrassing,” Blake said.  “I take my earwig out when I’m off the clock and rely on my specs.  That way, when I take them off for some intimate time, I don’t have some other woman buzzing in my ear.”

“I am not just some other woman!” ADI said.

“See,” Blake said, pointing to his ear.  “At least when your Comm starts buzzing, it makes sense to your date.”

Kal started laughing.  “You know once when I was in bed with Sasha, we were asleep, and ADI pinged me.  I’m still half asleep, and I go, ‘yes, ADI,’ and then after ADI gave me the message, I go ‘thank you, ADI.’  I can tell you Sasha was not pleased to be called ADI.  I had to make up a story about dreaming and say ADI was my aunt’s name.”

“Did she believe you?”

“Probably not.  She’s a trained spy; she probably can detect a lie from a thousand meters.”

“Yeah, I got myself into trouble with Ying Yue a few times, too.”

“Hey, speaking of women, what’s the story with you and Jackie?” Kal asked.

“I met her in Hawaii before we formed MacKenzies,” Blake said.  “Actually, Catie set me up.”

“What, Catie!  What was she, twelve then?”

“Yeah,” Blake laughed.  “Jackie was a flight attendant; she escorted Catie to Hawaii.  I guess they struck up a friendship.  Catie told Jackie that I would take her and her friends out on the Mea Huli.”

“So she took you up on it?”

“Yep.”

“And you didn’t think to invite your old friend Kal?”

“We were going diving,” Blake said.  “Back then, I didn’t know you could dive with your artificial legs.”

“Still, I could have tended bar.”

“Wouldn’t have done you any good.  One of them was married, the other was a Navy Lieutenant, not your type.”

“So, Jackie?”

“Well, we hit it off, dated quite a bit until she had to go back to work.”

“And now she mysteriously shows up on Catie’s jetliner project.”

“Yeah, Catie remembered her when she was trying to come up with someone to run the flight services department.”

“And?”

“We’re dating again.”

“Is it serious?”

“Might be getting there,” Blake said.  “I’ve got this mission coming up; after that, Jackie and I are going to try living together.”

“Oh, really serious.”

“Enough about me, what’s up with you?  Do you have some sweet honey in Guatemala that I don’t know about?”

“No.  But I am dating the new events manager at the Four Seasons.”

“I haven’t met her, what does she look like?”

ADI put a series of pictures of Kal’s new flame up on Blake’s HUD.

“Thanks, ADI.  Hey, she is nice looking.  And she must be pretty smart to be running events for the Four Seasons.  Are you sure she’s not out of your league?”

“If anyone is out of their league, it’s you,” Kal said.

“You wish.  Have you taken her out on the Mea Huli yet?”

“No!  It’s been reserved by someone for the last few months.”

The Mea Huli was Marc’s 35-meter yacht.  He let the MacKenzie board members use it whenever they wanted.  They just had to reserve it.  It only got used a few times a month.  The problem was that they all seemed to have free time on the same days, so it was a competition to realize when you would be free and reserve it before someone else did.

“Oh, I guess it has.  I was going to use it this weekend, but I’m slammed with this mission prep.  You want to take my slot?  It’s all stocked up,” Blake said.

“You bet!  I take back all the things I said about you.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Sandra Bishop and Kal took an extra day off and headed out on the Mea Huli on Friday at ten o’clock.

“Wow, when you said you could borrow a yacht, I didn’t realize you really meant a yacht,” Sandra said as they reached the Mea Huli’s slip at the Delphi City Marina.

“It is nice, isn’t it?”

“Do you know how to drive it?”

“Yes, I’ve driven it a few times,” Kal said.  “Now, let’s get on board and get out of here before someone else decides they should join us.”

“You do have permission, don’t you?”

“Yes, yes.  But the owner’s brother is a real joker, so we should get out of here before he thinks up one.”  Kal grabbed Sandra’s suitcase and carried it on board.

“Are you sure everything we need is on board?”

“Not really, but if we need something, we can stop in Rarotonga; that’d be safer.  We can do a quick inventory after we set sail.”  Kal motioned for one of the dock workers to cast off for him.

“This is really nice,” Sandra said when she made it up to the sundeck where Kal was at the helm, finishing up the pre-sail check.

“Was the galley stocked?”

“Yes, we could stay out for a month with all the food down there.  And there’s enough booze to throw a party every night.”

“So he wasn’t yanking my chain.”

“What?”

“My friend.  He told me it was stocked, but he’s so cheap that I wasn’t sure whether to believe him.”

“He has a yacht like this, and he’s cheap?!”

“It’s his brother’s yacht.  But he could afford one.  He’s generous about big things but cheap about the small stuff.  He’d do anything to get you to buy the beer, but then he’ll donate a million bucks to the senior center on Rarotonga.  I think it’s more of a competition thing for him.”

“Sure, I can see that,” Sandra said.

Kal gunned the Mea Huli’s engines as he cleared the slow zone.  The Mea Huli’s slip was at the end, so it hadn’t taken long to clear the zone.

“Do you want to drive it?” he asked Sandra.

“Can I?”

“Sure, you’d have to search for something out here to hit, so it’s the perfect place to learn.”

◆ ◆ ◆

At two o’clock, Kal laid out a thin mat on the deck and got ready to lie in the sun.

“Hey, who’s driving the boat?” Sandra asked as she came out on the front deck.

“Autopilot,” Kal said.

“Do you trust it?”

“It’s an excellent autopilot,” Kal said.

“I certainly am,” ADI said.

Kal pressed on his earwig for eight seconds.  It turned off and released itself so he could take it out.  He slipped it into the pouch with his Comm and specs, and grabbed a regular pair of sunglasses to wear.

ADI gunned the Mea Huli’s engines for a second to let Kal know he was a spoilsport.

Kal stretched out in the sun.  Sandra sat next to him and started to put suntan lotion on.

“Do you want any?”

“No, I’ll put some lotion on after I shower, when my skin wants the moisture.  I’m good with the sun.”

“I wish I had a natural tan like yours,” Sandra said.

“Why don’t you ask the doctors to give you one?”

“What?!”

“Ask the doctors to adjust your melanin levels.”

“They can do that?”

“Yeah, it’s a new thing, but they can.  Tell them Kal sent you and they’ll take care of you.”

“Are you some kind of bigwig?”

“No, but I know a few,” Kal said.

“Who did you say owned this yacht?”

“I didn’t, but it belongs to Marc.”

“Not Marc McCormack, the president?”  Sandra’s eyes went big as saucers.

“Yeah, that one.”

“So that makes you who?”

“Just Kal, same guy I was a minute ago.”

“Then, your friend must be Admiral Blake McCormack, the head of the Delphi Defense Force.”

“Yep, that’s him.”

“That also means that you must know Princess Catie.”

“Catie, yeah.  She doesn’t like the princess title.  And we generally give her a hard time if she starts acting like one.”

Sandra lay down with her head in the small of Kal’s back.

“That means you must know all of the bigwigs.”

“Well, in Delphi.  Why are you so interested in all this?”

“Well, since I know you, I’m assuming I’ll get an invitation to the next royal ball.”

“If you play your cards right.”

“My cards or my . . .”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Do you want the Hawaiian Rice or the Jamaican Jerk Chicken for dinner?” Kal asked.

“The Hawaiian Rice,” Sandra said.  “Does that mean you’re from Hawaii?”

“Not necessarily.  But I am.  I grew up on the North Shore of Oahu.”

“Is your family still there?”

“Yes, my parents and my sister still live there.  I’ve tried to convince my parents to move to Delphi City, but no dice.”

“What about your sister?”

“I think she’s going to move here next year.  She still has a year of high school to finish.”

“What does she want to do?”

“She’s seventeen; she’s vacillating between being a teacher and being a fighter pilot.”

“Kind of a wide spectrum there.”

“I told you she was seventeen.”

“Does it make any difference as to whether she comes here?”

“I don’t think so.  Delphi University will be open next year, so if she wants to be a teacher, she can go there.  If she really wants to be a pilot, she can apply to Delphi Academy.”

“Does she have the grades to get into the Academy?”

“Surprisingly, yes she does.”

“Why do you say surprisingly?”

“My brother and I just barely graduated,” Kal said.

“Obviously, you’re smarter than that.”

“Well, surfing every morning before school probably didn’t help.”

“Why would that make a difference?”

“If the surf was good, we didn’t always make it to school,” Kal said wistfully.  “So how about you, did you always want to be a business manager at a hotel?”

“No.  I wanted to be an Olympic Dressage Champion.”

“And?”

“I could never make it past Nationals.”

“Why?”

“Not enough money to buy a good enough horse, or at least that’s what I tell myself.”

“Oh, I guess that is an expensive sport.  What got you interested in riding?”

“I grew up on a ranch in Wyoming.  I’ve ridden horses all my life.”

“Do you miss it?”

“More than you could imagine.”

“You could go riding on Rarotonga.”

“When you’ve ridden really good horses, you can’t step down to the ones they have on Rarotonga,” Sandra said.

“I’ll check with Catie, she might be willing to make one of the new parks a horse park,” Kal said.  “She’ll bring in high-quality horses.  I’ll tell her to come to you for advice.”

“Really?!”

“Sure, it would probably be good for tourism, and you’re probably not the only one who misses horseback riding.”

“Wow, a man who can cook, knows a princess, and can make a girl’s dream come true.  You’re quite a catch.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Ma’am, you are relieved,” Commander Desjardins said.

“I stand relieved,” Catie replied, concluding her part in the change of command ceremony for the Sakira.  She was now no longer the captain of the Sakira; in fact, she was now just a passenger.  “Good luck, Captain.”

“Thank you.”

Catie left the platform so that Captain Desjardins could give his welcoming address to his crew.  She worked her way to the back of the hangar where she could see Liz.

“Hey, Liz.  Fancy meeting you here?”

“I volunteered to fly this trip,” Liz said.  “You know, it’s hard to keep all the Oryxes flying right now.  So many of our pilots are on active duty, and most of the Oryx flights are for civilian flights for MacKenzies, so we have to use civilian pilots.”

“That’s weird.  Why are we keeping so many of them on active duty?” Catie asked.

“They want to stay on active duty.  With all the changes, Blake is trying to keep them all happy, and we really don’t have that many pilots after so many of them returned to their home countries.  We have new pilots in training; they should be qualifying soon, and that will fix the shortage.”

“I hope so.  We’re going to need pilots for the jetliners soon,” Catie said.

“We’ll be able to recruit them from the other airlines,” Liz said.  “That’s where we’re getting most of the Oryx pilots we’re training.”

“When do we leave?”

“In two hours, are you ready?”

“I guess so.”

“Do you want to copilot on the way home?”

“Why not.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Everyone loaded into the Lynx.  The pilot flew the Lynx from the Sakira flight bay to the station’s new docking ring.  Then everyone was able to transfer to the Oryx that was also attached to the docking ring, saving them from having to do an EVA to get into the Oryx.  An Oryx was just too big to fit into the Sakira’s flight bay.

“We need a small shuttle so we can fly it right into the Oryx cargo bay,” Catie said.

“An Oryx isn’t really the right ship to be using for this,” Liz said.  “We need a custom cargo hauler for this job.”

“Oh, I’ve seen some designs in a couple of the science fiction books I’ve been reading.  I’ve been thinking we could leverage one of those.”

“You’re reading science fiction?”

“Sure, science fiction writers are the only ones who are imagining the things we need now.  The Paraxeans weren’t particularly inventive, and none of the civilizations that ADI has data on have done that much real space stuff, they’re all system bound.”

“I guess that makes sense.  So, what will this ship look like?”

“It looks like a big fish skeleton, a big head and a tail, then between those, there’s a spine with ribs that allow you to attach a bunch of cargo modules.  I don’t know why they always show the modules only on the bottom.  I think they’re still stuck in gravity-based thinking,” Catie said.  “We would put cargo pods in groups of four, two on top and two on bottom, all the way down the spine.  And we could add a big, enclosed shuttle bay and an enclosed cargo bay as well.  Engines and reactors in the rear section, although we might need to have a center section for the jumpdrive.  I would have to work that out with Dr. McDowell.”

“Apparently, you’ve already been thinking about this.  Do you think you can make it work with the jumpdrive?” Liz asked.

“Sure.  We’ve characterized it, you just have to stay within the dimensions, and since it seems to be mass-independent, that’s perfect for hauling cargo.  And this design works really well with the jumpdrive since the girth of the ship is the critical dimension.”

“We could open our own business,” Liz said.

“We could.  They said they want to diversify,” Catie said with a laugh.

“Hey, I’m not joking; your father probably just made Fred a billionaire,” Liz said.  She sounded a little jealous.

“It was his idea,” Catie said.

“And this one’s ours.”

“Cool, partners then.”

“Partners.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Stand by for push back,” Liz announced over the intercom.  . . . “Pushing back.”

They used the thrusters to move the Oryx out of the safety zone that surrounded the station; once they were far enough away, Liz announced, “Prepare for gravity.”

“It looks nice,” Catie said as she looked at the station through the viewscreen.

“It does,” Liz said, ignoring the tears on Catie’s face.  “It’s always hard to leave your first big command.”

“I guess so,” Catie said.  “Well, on to bigger and better things, Partner.”

“You’ve got it!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“I think it’s time you take a day off,” Samantha said as she took Marc’s specs off and sat in his lap.

“I take days off?”

“No, I mean really take a day off.  One where you don’t answer your Comm, or read your messages, where we lounge around and read books and talk to each other.”

“Do you want to have someone come in and give us a massage?”

“Oh, a couple’s massage, I like that.”

“The Mookini sisters are available in an hour,” ADI announced over the house speaker.

Marc looked at Samantha and raised his eyebrows.

“Let’s do it.”

“Book . . .”

“I’ve booked them and canceled your three o’clock meeting,” ADI said.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Captain.”

“Now, what brought this on?” Marc asked.

“I don’t know,” Samantha said.  “Don’t you ever get tired of the grind?  That feeling that you just have to keep pushing every minute.”

“I do.”

“Do you think we’ll ever get off of it?”

“Do you want to take a break?”

“I mean get off of it; not a vacation.  Being in a place where you can go weeks without having to deal with an emergency.”

“Is there such a place?”

“There must be.  I remember taking a six-week tour through Europe after college,” Samantha said.  “It was great.  We only had a Eurail pass; we stayed in youth hostels, ate when we felt like it.”

“Do you really want to not have any responsibilities?”

“Probably not, but something different.  Where what you do has an immediate impact, not this long chess match we’re in.”

“That would be nice,” Marc said as he nuzzled Samantha’s neck.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Nattie, I think it’s time we got married,” Paul said.  “You’re not Catie’s bodyguard anymore.  You’ve got a nice, quiet job here on the space station running the environmental department.  I think it’s time.”

“Was that your proposal?” Natalia asked.

“I proposed to you a year ago; I’m just telling you it’s time.”

“I think you might be right,” Natalia said.

“Does that mean yes?”

“I already said yes, we just need to set a date.”

“So!”

“What about March 15th?  Catie will be back so she can be my maid of honor.”

“Are we having a big wedding?”

“No!  Just family and close friends.  I can fly my mom and my sister out.  Your parents already live in Delphi City.”

“Do you think we can get ready in time?”

“With ADI’s help, it’ll be a snap.”

“Oh, boy!  A wedding!” ADI chirped over their Comms.

Chapter 4

Propositions

As soon as they got back to Delphi Station, Catie went to see Dr. McDowell.  She’d been cooped up for four days on the return flight and was itching to talk over her ideas.

“Dr. McDowell.”

Dr. McDowell was working at his whiteboard on some equations; He didn’t even flinch; it was as if he hadn’t heard her.  He was completely ignoring her presence.

“How can such a young guy act like such a crotchety old man,” Catie thought.  “Dr. McDowell!”  Dr. McDowell was only twenty-nine-years old.  Catie had read a paper by him on gravity waves.  ADI had said that his theory was close to reality, but his colleagues had rejected the paper.  Marc hadn’t had any trouble recruiting him to come and work for MacKenzie Discoveries.

“Oh, hi, Catie.”

“I wanted to talk about the jumpdrive.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Dr. McDowell said without turning away from the equation he was working on.

“With you!” Catie said.

“Oh, okay.  What do you need to know?”

“I was wondering how you were doing on your efforts to increase the size of the wormhole so that it could accommodate a larger ship, or the Paraxeans’ asteroid?”

“Still getting bigger, but those gravity drives take so long to make, I’m only up to two hundred meters.  And it’s taking a lot of power.  We need to make a bigger capacitor bank.  Your engineers don’t like that.”

“I can imagine,” Catie said.  “I have an idea that might help.  That is, if it works.”

“What?  . . . Oh, an idea.”

“Yes, could we put each of the gravity drives on a separate ship, then have the ships arrange themselves around the object we want to transport?”

“Then how would the gravity drives push against each other?”

“Are they pushing against each other, or are they just manipulating the gravimetric waves in opposition?” Catie asked.

“Same thing, . . . Oh!  . . . No, it isn’t!” Dr. McDowell said.  He quickly moved to a blank section of the whiteboard and started writing equations.  “If I model the gravimetric waves like this.  . . . Hmm, that might change things,” he said to himself.  He furiously started writing new equations on the board.

Catie left him.  Once he started talking to himself and writing out equations like that, it was impossible to get his attention.  “At least he looks like he’s working on my idea,” Catie thought.  She’d check back in a few days.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Daddy,” Catie said as she walked into Marc’s office.

“What’s up?”

“I’ve got Dr. McDowell working on an idea that might make it easier to move the asteroid.  I’ll check back in with him after he’s had time to work on it.”

“Thanks for doing that.  Governor Paratar keeps pestering me about coming up with a solution for the Paraxeans.”

“You can’t blame him.  It must feel horrible to have all your people in stasis and no idea when you can bring them out.”

“I’m sure it is,” Marc said.  “Is there something else?  You didn’t walk over here just to tell me about Dr. McDowell, did you?”

“No, Liz and I have an idea for a new company, and I wanted to see if you’d be okay with us starting it up.”

“A new company?  What about your robostep company?”

“It’s just getting started, and it’s really small,” Catie said.  “This one is a really big company.”

“How big?”

“Big.  We want to make a cargo vessel that is specifically designed to carry lots of cargo in space.  Something that would be lots more efficient than using an Oryx and would work well with the new jumpdrive.”

“And what cargo are you thinking it would carry?”

“We thought we’d take care of moving stuff to and from Gemini Station, especially the metal ores you want shipped back.  Eventually, we can make shipments between Earth and our new planets.  The colonies will need lots of cargo.  We might even be able to start trading with Paraxea.”

“And how would you build this ship?”

“Pretty much the same way we’ve built all the others, but we would pay for the material ourselves.”

“Designers and crew?”

“We’d have to use the same designers and ADI; we’d pay for their time.  And we’d hire the crew and some managers to run the company.”

“You’re not going to run it yourself?”

“Sure, but someone has to do all the paperwork.  We want to outsource that.”

“Don’t we all,” Marc said.  “You'll need to get the approval of the Mackenzie board to use the technology.  But since you and I own over half the shares, you can go ahead and get started.”

“Thanks, Daddy.”

“We’ll see if you thank me after you’ve had a few months of putting up with all the headaches that come with owning a big company.”

“Don’t worry,” Catie said.  “We’ll figure it out.”

“I’m sure you will.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Artie,” Catie said as she caught him at the school lounge.  The school provided a large lounge and library area for the students who were homeschooled.  Artie had finally persuaded his parents, who were both teachers, to let him finish up his schooling in a self-directed program.  He was now just a few credits away from graduation and had over thirty college credits as well.

“Hey, Catie.  Are you slumming?”

“No, I came to talk to you.”

“So, you are slumming.”

Catie smacked Artie on the shoulder, then sat next to him on the sofa.  He was using a flat board on his lap to project a keyboard onto so he could type.

“Hey, before we talk about my business, I want to show you something,” Catie said.

“Sure.”

“I need to link with your Comm,” Catie said.  She sent him a link request.

“Link accepted,” Artie said.

“Okay, watch.”  Catie brought up a blank document and proceeded to type.

“How are you doing that?”

“I’m just typing,” Catie said, trying to hide her grin.

“I can see that, but how?  There’s no way you can type that fast in your HUD.  What, . . . is this some kind of trick?  Did you already have the document ready and just . . .”

When Artie realized that Catie was typing what he was saying, he abandoned his argument.

“So, how?” he asked.

“I have some nanites around my tailbone, I’m using the nerves there to type,” Catie said.  “Talk to Dr. Metra, and she can set you up.”

“Whoa, that is so cool.  My sister will be so jealous.”

“It takes a couple of months to get good at it, so you should keep it a secret until you’ve practiced,” Catie said.

“I’ll have to ask my parents for permission.  I’m sure they’ll be cool about me getting them.  And they think it’s funny when I keep things from Amelia.  Is there any reason they can’t have it done, too?”

“Not at all.  It’s cheap.  Tell Dr. Metra I’ll pay.  I guess we’ll have to come up with a policy about it.  I’ll bring it up at the next board meeting.”

“Cool.  So, why do you want to talk to me?”

“I need some help setting up the manufacturing for my new robostep design.”

“Robostep?”

“Here, look,” Catie said as she threw the design documents up on Artie’s HUD.  “It will move to wherever you tell it to.  It uses your Comm as its brain.  Then, once you step onto it, you can have it crank the height up to thirty centimeters.  When you’re done, you tell it to go home.”

“How are you making these now?”

“I’m printing them.”

“That’s crazy, that must cost thousands per unit.”

“It does.  But it’s a new design; I was trying to see if people would like it.  But now I need to have it manufactured properly.  You’ve been taking some manufacturing classes; can you help me?”

“I can work on it.  I’m working at the prototype lab under Ajda, so I have access to all the tools and software.”

“So, you can do it?”

“I might need to get a little help from one of the engineers; I’d have to pay him.”

“Don’t worry; I’ll pay.”

“What about me?”

“How long will it take you to do it?”

“Four months or so,” Artie answered.  “I can only work on it part-time.”

“That’s okay; I’m not in a hurry.  I’m not advertising or anything, so sales are low.  I’ll pay you fifty percent of an engineering grade two salary while you’re working on it.”

“Seventy percent,” Artie countered.

“Sixty . . . whatever, seventy,” Catie agreed.

“Deal.  I’ll work hard and do a good job,” Artie said.

“I know you will, that’s why I came to you.  How’s your shipping company doing?”

“Not as well as it would if you guys hadn’t opened that site to auction off the excess lift capacity.”

“We had to; it wasn’t fair to keep it secret.”

“I know.  I’m doing okay.  I build up a backlog of people who want to send stuff up.  I stage all the stuff and send it up when I can.  I grab slots that show up suddenly when someone misses their shipment deadline, and that really increases my profit margin.  And of course, I’m shipping up the stuff that I sell.”

“How do your parents feel about having a mercenary capitalist in the family?”

“They’re getting used to it,” Artie said.  “They kind of think of it like I’m taking a business class; that way they can ignore the fact that I’m making money.”

Catie laughed, “Your parents are weird.”

“You’re telling me.  I have to live with them.”

“See you.”

“Bye.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Liz, I got the green light to form our new company,” Catie said when she got home that night.  “Oh, and this is Julia, my new bodyguard.  She’s been briefed, so we can talk about stuff like Sakira and ADI.”

“That’s good.  Hi, Julia,” Liz said.

“Hello, Ma’am,” Julia said.

“It’s Liz,” Liz said.  “We’re pretty informal, at least when we can be.  Relax and make yourself at home.  When you’re in the condo, you can count on your two shadows out there to cover things.  It’ll give you a chance to shake off all that tension.”

“Liz used to be my bodyguard,” Catie said.  “And she’s right.  In fact, I’m in for the night, so you can hang around or go out and have some fun.  Liz will cover me until 0700 tomorrow.  We do a workout together in the morning.  You can pick me up at the gym.”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to stick around for a bit.  Get used to you and your routines.  I still need to get a feel for this job,” Julia said.

“Sure, but you’re off-duty, so you can grab a beer or a glass of wine if you like.”

“Thank you, I’m good.”

“Suit yourself.  Now, Liz, our new company,” Catie said.

“Just like that, he said okay?”

“Yes.  He said I have to get the board’s approval, but that between us, we control a majority of the shares; actually, he controls over fifty percent, so that’s a given.”

“Then we need to set up a corporation, pick a name, and design the ship,” Liz said.  “Do you want to go fifty-fifty on it?”

“Sure,” Catie said.  “I think we need about four hundred million to build the first ship.”

Liz gulped, “Four hundred million?”

“Yes, I’m sure you have at least two hundred million in MacKenzies.”

“Barely,” Liz said.

“I’ll loan you the money against your shares,” Catie said.  “One percent interest.”

“That’s pretty generous.”

“Hey, I owe you so much, what’s a few points against that?  Besides, we’ll make it back in no time.  Especially if we’re the ones shipping stuff to the colony planets.”

“That would be sweet,” Liz said.  “Just imagine all the cargo the Paraxeans are going to need hauled out to them.”

“But how are they going to pay for it, and what will we haul back?”

“Probably more platinum metals.  But maybe there will be something really different on the planet that people here will want,” Liz said.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Liz, I was thinking about your money,” Catie said the next morning during their workout.

“If you want to change your mind about loaning me the money, I’ll understand.”

“No, it’s not that,” Catie said.  “But you might be able to make the extra money you need before we need it.”

“How?”

“Talk to Fred,” Catie said.  “He’s going to be playing the futures market on his platinum group scam.  He has less money than you do.  Daddy only said he could trade the metals on credit.  He’s going to have to use his own money to play the commodities market.”

“So?”

“So, he’ll probably be fine if you play it too.  Maybe you can form a partnership,” Catie said.

“I’ll talk to him today,” Liz said.  “Thanks, but why aren’t you talking to him?”

“ADI does all my investments; she’ll probably be playing the market anyway.”

“I will,” ADI said, “but I’ll make sure not to undermine Fred’s investments.”

“Nice of you, ADI,” Liz said.

“I like to be helpful,” ADI replied.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Dr. Zelbar,” Catie announced herself as she entered his lab on Delphi Station.

“Oh, hello, Catie.”

“I have an idea I thought you might want to work on.”

“Well, spit it out,” Dr. Zelbar said.

“He acts like a crotchety old man, but at least he is an old man.  And he’s willing to talk,” Catie thought.  “You know that one of the problems we have on our spaceships is having to decompress the cargo bay when we want to move cargo or spaceplanes in and out of them.”

“Of course I do.”

“I have an idea to get around that.”

“Not some damn force field, I hope.”

“No, I haven’t been able to imagine how a force field would work.”

“That’s because they won’t.”

“I’ll take your word for it.  But my idea is to use polysteel, but flexible, like the polysteel you designed for our armor.”

“How’s that going to help?”

“If we arrange it like an iris, you know, like in a camera.”

“I’m not five years old!”

Catie ignored his little outburst.  “Anyway, with lots of narrow strips leading to the center, and put micromagnets along the edge, then it would seal up.”

“Probably.”

“If a shuttle or cargo pod were shaped right, then the polysteel would spread apart, letting the ship pass, but still maintain a seal.”

“You might maintain a seal, but I’m sure it would leak.”

“We can afford leaks; we just want to avoid a full decompression,” Catie said.  “Ten to twelve pounds or around one hundred thousand pascals isn’t that much pressure.  I think the magnets can seal that.”

“They might.  So, you want me to work on that?”

“Yes, but for me, not MacKenzies,” Catie said.

“Oh, striking out on your own, are you?”

“Just a little,” Catie said.  “I’ll pay you.”

“Bah, we already have more money than we know what to do with!”

“Still, I’ll pay you.”

“Talk to Nikola.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Ajda, how is the scout ship doing?” Catie asked as she entered Ajda Jamali’s office.  She was the aerospace engineer who had led the design for the carriers before the war with the Paraxeans.  She had also designed the probes that Catie and Dr. McDowell used for the jumpdrive testing.  She was now designing the scout ship that they planned to use when they explored the new planets they had discovered.

“We’ve just finished installing the gravity drives, again,” Ajda said.

“I know, I’m sorry, but we needed them.  But now that we’re past our material shortage issues, I promise not to raid your projects.”

“Thanks.  You know, it’s kind of lucky you stole them.”

“Why?”

“You know that mad scientist, Dr. McDowell, has been having us make bigger and bigger grav drives for his experiments.”

“Yes.  I know.  He’s doing it for us.”

“Sure, sure.  But it’s insane to try to put that big a drive into a probe.  We had this big screaming match about how crazy it was.  So anyway, he went back and finished the work he was doing on drive efficiency, and he came back with a drive design that was twenty percent more efficient.”

“That’s cool; I hadn’t heard about that yet.”

“Yep, of course it means that I can’t yell at him when he asks for a bigger drive next time.  But if he asks for a bigger one after that, I’m going to pitch another fit.  Who knows, he might come back with another major design improvement.”

“Hey, whatever works,” Catie said.  “Can we go over the scout now?”

“Sure.  First, the flight bays; you know it’s going to be a tight fit getting four Foxes and two Lynxes into that flight bay.”

“Yes, but we’ll only be operating the scout in space, so we’ll be able to raise them up, spin them around, and drop them into place since we’ll be in microgravity.  If we decide to take her into the atmosphere, we’ll just drop two of the Foxes off.”

“That will work, I just wanted to make sure you understood the implications.”

“I do.  What are the final crew accommodations?”

“You have room for four officers, with separate cabins; four small, two-berth cabins; and ten quad-berth cabins for crew.”

“Great, so you were able to fit in the extra two crew cabins,” Catie said.

“It was pretty easy; we just stole a little bit from the captain’s cabin.  It’s still huge, what with his day cabin and its big dining table.”

“And do the officer cabins have the extra upper berth?”

“Yes, we added that last week.  I should have thought of that since we did it on the carriers.”

“Me too.  But we’ve been moving so fast.  Cargo bay?”

“About a third of the ship is cargo; you could always add more crew space down there if you need it.”

“No, I’m sure we’ll need all the cargo space.  And we’ll need to use it for manufacturing space once we unload some of the cargo.”

“Oh, right.  Well, you’ll have plenty of space,” Ajda said.  “You have about half the missiles that Sakira carries, so hopefully, you don’t get into any shooting matches out there.”

“There shouldn’t be anyone where we’re going, but Uncle Blake doesn’t like going anywhere without some way to make his point,” Catie said.

“You have plenty of missiles for your Foxes.  I put the armory in the back section of environmental so you can access the missiles from the flight bay.  You have an elevator there to bring them down, or send them up to stow them.”

“Good, good.  So, when can we take it out to test the jumpdrive?”

“We can finish things up in a couple of days,” Ajda said.  “Who’s going to fly it for the jumps?”

“ADI for the first few; then we’ll have Seamore, our spider monkey, make a couple; then Liz and I will make the final test jumps.”

“Brave of you.”

“Hey, if Seamore can take it, so can we,” Catie said.  “Besides, he’s our first jump pilot, so he’s already qualified.”

“Do you care who pilots it out to the fringe?”

“I want to, but I’m stuck here,” Catie said.  “You can send it on autopilot, or you can fly it if you want.”

“Thanks, I might,” Ajda said.  “I’ll keep you posted.”

“Alright, bye.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Marcie, do you have some time?” Catie asked.  Marcie was the sales rep for MacKenzie Discoveries.  She spent quite a bit of time on the road, attending trade shows and visiting key tech companies that were using products produced by MacKenzies.  Catie was surprised to find that she was in Delphi City.

“Sure, Catie.  What’s up?”

“I’m starting a business, and I wanted to get some advice.”

“What kind of business?”

“Right now, it’s making robotic step stools.  I got the idea when I was rooming with a woman who’s kind of short.”

“That sounds interesting; how are sales?”  Marcie asked.  She got up and moved to the sofa in the corner of her office.

“I’ve sold five,” Catie said, “but I’m just getting started and need some advice.”

“Come and sit down, and we’ll talk.”  Marcie sat down and patted a spot on the sofa next to her.  “Now, what do you want to accomplish with this company?”

“I’m not sure.  I just have some ideas about different products, and I want to sell them,” Catie said.

“Then why not just do it through MacKenzies?”

“I guess that since they’re my ideas, I want it to be mine,” Catie said.  “Besides, Herr Hausmann says we should diversify.”

“Okay.  I know you have plenty of money to start a company, so what’s the problem?”

“I want to design the stuff,” Catie said.  “I’m not that interested in doing the sales and marketing part.”

“Why not?”

“It doesn’t seem like much fun to me,” Catie said.  “I’m not that good at meeting people and being persuasive.”

“But you could practice.”

“Sure, but I’d rather work on another design.  Besides, I still have projects I have to do for MacKenzies and some private projects that I’m working on.  The design work is easy to fit in whenever I can, but the marketing and sales seem like they need to be more full time, or at least more consistent.”

“That’s correct.  But you can hire people to do that for you.”

“I know; that’s why I’m here; I’m looking for advice on how to find the right people.”

“So, this step stool, is that your main product?”

“No, I’ve got a mini-Comm I’ve designed.  And a viewer for it.”

“A mini-Comm?”

“Yes, here it is,” Catie said.  She removed the Comm she had strapped on her arm and showed it to Marcie.

“Oh, this is small.  With it being so small, how do you use it?”

“Well, I have a special interface that lets me type directly.  But you would just use your specs to project a keyboard and type.”

“Oh yes, I’ve seen Sam doing that.  You wear it on your arm.”

“It’s too big for a woman’s watch, so I either wear it as an armband, or I wear it on a chain like a pendant.”

“That’s nice; it looks a bit like black onyx.  But what would be really nice is if you could make it more colorful.  Maybe even put jewel inlays on it.”

“I’ll talk to Nikola about that.  I’m sure we could work something out; we might even be able to do some custom designs.”

“And what else do you have, you said something about a viewer?”

“Yeah, if you don’t want to use your specs to view things, maybe you want to share, or you’re someplace where you shouldn’t wear specs, you can use this viewer.”  Catie pulled a seventy-five by one hundred fifty-millimeter sheet out of the side pocket of her shipsuit.  “It’s about the same size as an iPhone, but it’s thinner and way lighter.  But like your specs, it lasts for one day if you’re not doing very much.  But if you view a lot of color videos, then you’ll need to recharge it after a couple of hours.”

“I know about that charge limit with my specs.  It can be frustrating at times.”

“Then you might like my mini-recharger,” Catie said.  “It’s a battery with an inductive couple on it.  You can recharge your specs up to four times from it.  And it only takes one minute to recharge them.”  Catie pulled a small forty-millimeter square block that was about twenty-five millimeters thick from the same pocket she’d had the viewer in.

“I like that.  Can I get one?” Marcie asked as she held the small recharger.  “See, you can be persuasive.”

“Ha, ha.  You can have that one if you like.  You just put it on your charging pad to recharge it.”

“Do you have anything else?”

“Not yet; I keep coming up with ideas, but until now, I didn’t really have any reason to pursue most of them.  Now I want to make them real.”

“That’s good,” Marcie said.  “I really think these will be successful.  It could be a lucrative business if you come up with a few more ideas like this.”

“Good, so do you know someone I could hire to help me?”

“I’ll tell you what, send me the info, and I’ll get things started for you.  I’ll work on it part-time until it’s too much for me.  Then we’ll talk.  If I’m having fun, maybe I’ll let you hire me.  I can probably afford to work part-time for a year or so.  And I’d like to cut back on my travel.  MacKenzies is starting to be too much work for me.  I miss my kids and want to spend more time with them.  Now that they’re older, I can’t take them with me as often, so the travel doesn’t work as well.”

“Oh, that would be so cool.  I’d make you a partner and guarantee your salary for a couple of years,” Catie said.

“Oh, you don’t want to saddle your startup with a lot of overhead,” Marcie said.  Then looking at Catie rolling her eyes, she realized that a few hundred thousand dollars didn’t really mean that much to a fifteen-year-old billionaire.  “Let’s see what happens after I get things rolling, then we’ll talk.”

“Sure!  And thanks, Marcie.”

“No, thank you.  This will be fun.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hi, Nikola,” Catie said as she met her in her Delphi City lab.  “Why are you hanging out down here in Delphi City?”

“Leo’s being difficult,” Nikola said.  “I thought some time apart would be nice.  Besides, I like to be able to go outside and sit in the sun.”  Nikola and Leo Zelbar were two of the first residents of Delphi Station.  Many of their experiments could only be done in the microgravity labs up there, so they spent most of their time there.

“He did seem grouchy when I talked to him,” Catie said.

“Well, he’s always grouchy, but it’s usually more of an act.  But right now, it’s real.  He must be struggling with his latest experiments, that always puts him in a bad mood.  So, what brings you here?”

“I’ve asked him to work on a project for me.  It’s private, so I have to pay.  He told me to talk to you.”

“He’s lazy; he always makes me handle all the business stuff.  Anyway, we just charge by the hour for consulting work.  I’ll make sure I capture his hours and bill you.”

“Thanks, that works for me.”

“What are you having him work on?”

“An iris so you can enter and exit a cargo bay without having to decompress it.”

“That sounds interesting; maybe working on it will put him in a better mood.”

“I hope so.”

“Is that all you need?”

“I have one other request.  You know the mini-Comm I showed you guys in December?”

“Yes, wasn’t I supposed to get one?”

“Oops, I don’t remember you asking for one.  I’ll have one delivered today.”

“Hmm, maybe I didn’t ask.  With Kal and your uncle demanding all of the ones from the print run, I may have kept quiet.”

“I’ve got a few from my previous run, so I’ll take care of you.”

“Thank you.  Now, what did you want again?”

“I was talking to Marcie about selling them, and she suggests they would sell better if they were decorated, like having inlaid jewels on them.”

“That would be pretty,” Nikola said.  “Let’s see; we could use a foam blank to make a well, then put some inlay in it and cover it all with polyglass.  I’ll work on it and let you know.”

“Don’t forget to charge me.”

“Can I have a percent instead?”

“A percent of the profits or of the company?”

“What company?”

“I’m forming a company to make these and some other products I came up with,” Catie said.  “I’m going to start selling them soon.”

“Then, a percent of the company if you’re offering.”

“Sure, talk to Marcie about it.  I’ll let her know we’ve talked; she’s setting the company up for me.  And for the manufacturing, Artie is working on another project for me, so if you want to hand off some of the work, you can use him.”

“That will be perfect.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“President Novak, President McCormack is on the line.”

“President McCormack, thank you for returning my call,” President Novak said.

“It is my pleasure.”

“As you know, I called to follow up on our conversation at the inaugural ball.  The FBI has completed its investigation and has compelling evidence that the Russians tried to hack the election.  They were only mildly successful and had no impact on the outcome.  However, we feel that this violation cannot go unanswered.”

“I can appreciate your position,” Marc said.

“I would like to know if you are willing to make good on your offer to release a virus into the Russian systems that would make it abundantly clear that such hacking will not be tolerated?” President Novak asked.

“I am, if you’re willing to make a public statement to the effect that the U.S. is going to retaliate and, in general, take credit for the attack after we unleash it.”

“We are.”

“I also want assurances that you will introduce measures at the U.N. to protect internet security.  Something that forms an international body to govern and police it.”

“I would be very happy to do that.”

“Then, once you make the statements, we’ll unleash our virus,” Marc said.

“Thank you.  I will be holding a press conference tonight.”

“I’ll be watching.”

“Good day.”

“Good day.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“He agreed?” Director Lassiter asked.  The Director of the CIA was one of the few holdovers from the previous administration.

“He did,” President Novak said.

“Will you authorize us to follow his virus and attempt to infiltrate the Russian systems?”

“Yes, as we discussed.”

“Thank you, Madam President,” Director Lassiter said.  “It presents an opportunity to get some critical information from the Russians.  Hopefully, the Delphineans will tear a big enough hole in their systems that we can extract some valuable data.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“ADI, release the virus in two hours,” Marc said at the conclusion of President Novak’s press conference that night.  She had made it abundantly clear that the U.S. was angry and would retaliate against Russia.

“Yes, Captain,” ADI said.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Samantha asked.

“I’m as sure as I can be.”

“It’s a risky move.”

“I know, but what can they do?  The U.S. is saying they’re going to fight fire with fire.  Are they really going to turn around and point a finger at us?  And even if they do, everyone knows the Russians are in the wrong.  We should have enough public and international support to weather any blowback.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Two hours later, ADI unleashed the virus.  It snaked into the Russian systems, starting with the computers that had been used to try to hack into Delphi City’s systems.  Once it had control over those computers, it infected Russia’s entire government network.  By the next day, every Russian government computer was infected.  The virus then selectively pushed information from various computers out onto the Internet.  Most of the information was associated with government kickbacks and bribes paid to government officials by the big Russian corporations.

All the foreign bank accounts held by Russian government officials and the big oligarchs were posted, along with the transaction records showing money flowing from government accounts into the offshore accounts.  All the records of the wholesale robbery of the Russian people by the wealthy and power elites of Russia were now public information.  Once the information was posted, the virus erased massive blocks of critical data from the Russian systems; then, it had the CPUs on the computers lock themselves into a high-frequency loop and overheat themselves until they burned out.  By nightfall, over seventy percent of the government computers in Russia were useless blocks of hardware.

During this time, ADI also sent the virus into the other networks that had been trying to hack the Delphi systems.  While the virus did not propagate itself beyond those computers, it did bury itself into the networks, finding places to hide, like the very code that controlled the internet switches.  Once the networks were infected, the virus destroyed the computers that were used to conduct the hacking operations for the various agencies.  At the end of the day, China, Iran, the UK, France, Germany, the U.S., and most other major nations found that their intelligence agencies had thousands of useless computers smoldering in their hidden facilities.

◆ ◆ ◆

“President Novak’s aide is on the line.  She wants to talk with you,” Messina told Marc.

“Tell her I’m not available,” Marc said.

“Her aide wants to know when she can reach you?  She says it’s critical.”

“Tell her I’m unavailable right now.  Say you think I’ll be free in two hours and you’ll block out the time.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you think it’s wise to make her wait?” Samantha asked.

“I don’t want her to think that I’m afraid of her, or that I work for her,” Marc said.

◆ ◆ ◆

“President Novak, I’m sorry I wasn’t available earlier,” Marc said.

“I’m sure you are!  Can you explain what the hell happened?!”

“Can you explain what you’re talking about?”

“The NSA and CIA are reporting that many of their systems were destroyed during that attack on Russia!  You were supposed to attack their computer systems, not ours.”

“That’s what we did.  I’ll have to have our people look into this issue.  Are you sure it wasn’t the Russians trying to retaliate?”

“No . . . I’ll have my people verify that, but they were pretty confident it was your virus.”

“I can’t imagine how they would know that,” Marc said.

“The timing is too much of a coincidence.”

“I’ll give you that,” Marc said.  “I can’t imagine why the virus would have traveled outside of the Russian systems.  I’ll have my team get back with you as soon as we know.  Do you have someone you want us to call instead of bothering you?”

“No!  I’ll handle the call personally.  Goodbye!”  President Novak shut down the call.

“How long are you going to make her wait?” Samantha asked.

“I think it will take at least eighteen hours to analyze what happened,” Marc said.  “I want her to reflect on how guilty they are.  A few more hours of discussions with their experts should help.”

“Who’s going to make the call?”

“Don’t look at me,” Admiral Michaels held his hands up as if to ward off an attack.

“I’ll make it,” Marc said.  “ADI can back me up.”

“What are you going to tell her?” Samantha asked.

“That the virus started backtracing the hacking attempts by the Russian systems, and when it expanded its reach to their full network, it backtraced other hacking attempts made against the Russians and included those as part of the system it was targeting,” Marc said.

“What about all the Russian information that was made public?”

“I’ll blame that on Russian activists.  We know the Americans were trying to extract data from the systems, riding on the coattails of our virus, so why couldn’t the activists have done the same thing?”

“What do you think she’ll do?” Samantha asked.

“I don’t think she will have a choice,” Admiral Michaels said.  “The U.S. is going to have to claim credit and say that they’re sending the message to all the countries that are trying to hack into each other’s systems.  She’ll have to say that such attempts will no longer be tolerated.  I would expect the U.S. to move quickly and do what Marc asked.  They’ll introduce a resolution at the U.N. to try to govern and police such activities within the week.”

“Yes, and we left enough evidence behind that they should be able to patch most of the holes that each of them has been exploiting to hack each other’s systems,” Marc said.  “They should be busy for the next year upgrading their security protocols and their hardware.”

Chapter 5

Mission Planning

“Time to do some planning,” Blake said as he hugged Catie and kissed her on the top of her head.

“Hey!” Catie slugged her uncle on the shoulder.

“You’re still my niece, and Liz is the only one here,” Blake said, rubbing his shoulder.

“But I’m fifteen.”

“What does age have to do with it?” Blake asked.  “I don’t think a simple handshake is a proper greeting for my favorite niece.”

“I’m your only niece, and what’s wrong with a hug?”

“I gave you a hug.”

“But you kissed me on the top of my head.”

“Catie, be quiet, you’re only encouraging him,” Liz said.  “Now, both of you behave.  Dr. Magor and the others should be here shortly.”

“Here they come,” Catie said as the door opened, and four Paraxeans entered the Cabinet Chamber they were using for the meeting.

“G'day,” Dr. Magor said.  For some reason, Dr. Magor had decided to emulate the Australians when he learned English.

“Hello,” Catie replied.

“Let me introduce me mates.  Dr. Qamar is our geologist; he’ll be able to tell us whether the planet is stable, and keep us from setting up camp on top of a bloody volcano.  Dr. Pramar here is our xenobiologist; his job is to make sure we don’t get eaten by any bleeding plants.  Dr. Teltar here is our xenozoologist; he’ll tell us which animals would like to ‘ave us for lunch,” Dr. Magor said.

“Where’s the xenoarchaeologist?” Blake asked.

“He said he would be bloody useless since you’re looking for a world without a sentient species, so he went off to debate religion with the rabbi.”

“I’m sure we’ll manage without him,” Catie said.

“Fine.  Now let's talk about what we need to do on this mission.  Can you explain how you would normally start a colony?” Blake asked.

“Yes, although we haven’t started that many, just two others, we have done a lot of research on the subject,” Dr. Pramar said.  “The first thing we would do is pick a site for a base camp.  Then we would build a fence around it and erect a few buildings.”

“How big and how many?” Blake asked.

“We use a circle since it’s easier to set up.  We would make it big enough to land a few FX9s inside it plus the cargo pods from the colony’s supply ship.  We always have four entrances, each ninety degrees apart, so we can’t get trapped inside.”

“I read that you make the fence three meters tall,” Catie said.

“At least, four is better.  Some animals can jump surprisingly high,” Dr. Teltar said.

“Ah, I see.”

“Okay, Catie, you work out how to set up the basecamps,” Blake said.  “Now, what about environmental suits?”

“The guideline is to wear armored spacesuits for the first two or three weeks, at least until our doctor and xenobiologist say it’s safe to breathe the air.”

“And we’re sure that no bacteria or viruses are in the environment waiting to feast on your flesh,” Dr. Magor said.

“How do you determine that?” Liz asked.

“For viruses, we take a sample of the DNA from a few plants and animals,” Dr. Pramar explained.  “We sequence it and determine if there are enough similarities between our DNA and theirs that virus mutations would be able to attack our DNA.  We’ve colonized two worlds and studied five, and haven’t had to fight off a virus yet; our DNA is similar in structure, but it’s like it is written in a different language.  So far, viruses only speak the local language.  And viruses are usually not virulent enough to jump species without close contact, and we avoid the animals until we’ve got control over this situation.”

“Cross-species viruses are relatively rare here on Earth,” Catie said.  “It takes living in close proximity before it happens.  Although the coronavirus in 2020 was scary.”

“You are correct about the cross-species issue.  But once you get a virus that can jump, you keep having to look out for mutations of it to come back.  I think the coronavirus was transmitted via a bat acting as the intermediary host.  I don’t recall if they ever figured out which species it originally came from.  But once it happens, that virus can keep mutating every year or so, like your swine flu.   We’ll have to stay diligent and work on a vaccine as soon as we detect one that can transfer.  Now, bacteria are a different matter,” Dr. Pramar said.  “They just eat you.  To figure that out, we collect samples.  We put out some meat and wait for the bacteria to attack it to get our first samples.  We also gather samples from the local carnivores.  What we’re looking for is whether we have enough in our arsenal of antibacterials to combat them.  Eventually, we’ll be able to find the right phages to keep them in check.”

“I thought phage was a disease?” Liz said.

“That’s because you watch too much Star Trek,” Catie said.

“Yes, they did use the term for a disease on that show,” Dr. Pramar said.  “But phages are simply viruses that feed on bacteria.  Everything that has DNA has a set of viruses that like to feed on it.  The secret is to find them.  Phages are fragile, so they can be difficult to harvest and reproduce.”

“Why don’t you just use nanites?” Blake asked.

“We do; we can program nanites to seek out the bacteria and destroy it, but that takes time and is expensive,” Dr. Magor said.  “We prefer to knock down the infection first, then use nanites to clean up only if absolutely necessary.”

“Why the armored spacesuits?” Liz asked.

“You don’t want to be wearing just a ship suit when some big animal attacks you,” Dr. Teltar said.  “Once we have the perimeter up, we relax that as long as we’re inside the fence.”

“How do you capture the animals?” Liz asked.

“For the smaller ones, we use traps or use trained animals to capture them, and stunners for the larger ones,” Dr. Teltar said.

“The stunners work?”

“So far, the nervous systems are surprisingly similar.  Of course, you do run into the odd creature that has such thick skin that they won’t work, or they just antagonize them.  That can be quite exciting when it happens.”  Dr. Teltar laughed, “Quite exciting.”

“What else?” Blake asked.

“We set up at least three sites, each on an independent landmass,” Dr. Pramar said.  “We try to put the last one where we predict it would be best for the colony.  Once we are sure which one, we start building.”

They spent the next hour going over various specifics about setting up a colony.  The Paraxeans had a long list of rules and procedures.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Now, we need to decide on the crew.  How many can we carry?” Blake asked Catie after closing the discussion about setting up the colony.

“Four officers, eight specialists, and forty crew.”  Blake had reviewed the design, but one never knew whether Catie had snuck in a change, and she had.

“You squeezed in another two cabins, good.  How many spaceplanes?”  Blake asked

“Four Foxes and two Lynxes.”

“So, a captain, first and second mates, and an engineer for the officers,” Blake said,  “eight pilots, these guys, and two nurses.”

“We should also take the environmental scientist and the agricultural dude,” Catie said.

Dr. Pramar laughed.  “Yes, he will be quite useful.  And I would suggest we take the climatologist; we will want to get a good understanding of the weather.”

“That lets each of them have a room with only one roommate,” Catie said.

“What if they’re opposite sexes?” Liz asked.

“We don’t care about that,” Dr. Magor said.  “We’re not shy.”

“If they do care, they can mix and match.  Or they can trade off with one of the Terran crew members on the mission,” Catie said.

“Okay, now the rest of the crew,” Blake said.

“Six ground crew for the spaceplanes,” Liz added.

“I think engineering will need a crew of six,” Catie said.

“That’s twenty,” Blake said.  “Maintenance?”

“Six, two Paraxeans and four Terrans,” Catie said.

“Okay, and they’ll need at least eight Marines for the security team.”

“Thirty-four.”

“So, six stewards?”

“No, one cook, four stewards, and a cargo specialist,” Catie said.

“That sounds about right.  They can cross-train, and we’ll have access to ADI, so we’ll have her do extra training to help fill any gaps,” Blake said.

“Alright, Liz, I want you to plan the security detail.  Get with Kal and figure out who and what.”

“Got it.”

◆ ◆ ◆

ADI and Natalia decided that the wedding would be on the Mea Huli.  There were only fourteen guests, and with some minor modifications, the sundeck would be able to accommodate everyone.  Marc would officiate the wedding.  As the captain of the Mea Huli and the Monarch of Delphi, he was doubly qualified.

Natalia wore a beautiful gown.  It had a white, off-the-shoulder, fitted bodice with sleeves covered in lace and seed pearls.  The white color of the gown made a nice contrast to Natalia’s deep tan skin tone.  The tulle skirt came down to the floor and was gathered at the waist with a dip to echo the neckline.

“ADI, you did a great job on the gown,” Catie whispered.

“Thank you,” ADI replied.  “I think it makes Natalia so beautiful.”

“It does.”

Natalia and Paul walked down the aisle together, meeting Marc at the front.  They turned to each other and held hands as Marc started to guide the ceremony.

The one thing you always had to give Paul, was that he was never intimidated by Natalia’s height.  She was wearing three-inch heels, so she towered over him by six inches.  All you could see in his eyes as he looked up at his bride was love and admiration.

Marc kept the ceremony short and sweet.  After he pronounced them husband and wife, Natalia laid a big kiss on Paul, bending him over as if he were the bride.  The guests hooted and hollered their encouragement.

The stewards came up and moved the chairs away to make room for dancing.  The DJ set up under the flybridge and played the first dance.  Paul snuggled up to Natalia, placing his head on her bust as they slow danced around the deck.

For the next song, he sped things up.  Natalia kicked off her heels and used the lace ties on her dress to hike it up, so the hem was above her ankles.  Marc grabbed the next dance, followed by each of the male guests.  By the time Natalia had danced with all of them, she was looking pretty warm.  Paul enjoyed dancing with all the women guests.  He was really enjoying himself with Liz when Natalia cut in, deciding he was having a bit too much fun.

◆ ◆ ◆

“So, Nattie, you guys can keep the yacht for as long as you like.  When you get tired of being on the water, Daddy has set it up so you can use his private Lynx to fly around to other places,” Catie explained the arrangements to Natalia.

“That’s too much,” Natalia said.  “The yacht is more than enough; we don’t need to fly off anywhere.”

“Yes you do,” Samantha butted in.  “We expect you two to be gone for at least six weeks.  So have fun.  It’s a great time of year to check out a few places in Europe.  The French Riviera is especially nice right now.”

“But . . .”

“No buts,” Catie said.  “If I have to, I’ll tell Kal to block your entry to Delphi City until May.”

ADI drove the Mea Huli back to her slip so that everyone could disembark.  There was a small crowd there to see the bride and groom off.  Natalia and Paul went onto the dock and gave everyone a chance to shake Paul’s hand and kiss the bride.  Then they returned to the Mea Huli and started out on their honeymoon.

“Watch,” Catie said as the Mea Huli started to build up speed.  “ADI, now!”

ADI pulled the trigger, and a small parachute was ejected from the rear locker of the Mea Huli, unfurled and filled with air.  It was weighted to drag just behind the yacht, with ‘Just Married’ stenciled across it.

“Clever,” Liz said as she gave Catie a hug while they both waved goodbye.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Blake, Liz, can you join Catie and me in my office,” Marc said over the Comm.

“Be right there,” Blake replied.

“On my way,” Liz echoed.

Two minutes later, when they both had made it to his office, Marc said, “Catie tells me that the scout ship is ready and that it’s already heading for the fringe.”

“Great,” Blake said.  “When are we testing the jumpdrive?”

“When the scout ship reaches the fringe, ADI will have it make a few jumps, then the Enterprise will send Seamore over, and he’ll make a few jumps,” Catie said.

“Seamore?” Liz asked.

“One of the spider monkeys.  He’s one of the pair we used for the initial test.  He’s still out there.  Since he already made a few jumps in the pod, he’ll make a good control reference,” Catie said.  “After that, I assume that Liz and I will make the final test jumps.”

Marc grimaced at that, “Why you two?”

“It should be safe,” Catie said.  “And what kind of cowards would we be if we sent someone else on the first human test jump.”

“I’m sure you could get a volunteer,” Marc said.

“Yeah, but then I’d never be able to look anyone in the eye again.”

“I’ll concede,” Marc said while shaking his head.  “Just don’t tell your mother.”

“Sounds like we have a plan,” Blake said.

“I’m glad you approve, Captain,” Marc said.

Catie bit back the disappointment as she realized that her father had just given Blake the mission.  She’d hoped she would get to be the captain, but wasn’t totally surprised that her father had decided otherwise.

“Not Catie?” Blake asked.

“A pretty big crew for her, and with all the unknowns, I think we want an experienced person in charge,” Marc said.

“First mate?”

“Your choice,” Marc said.

“It should be Liz,” Catie said.  “She outranks me, and if we’re going to do this right, we should do all of it right.”

“Okay, so you’ll be the second mate and backup engineer.”

“Sure.”

“When do we leave?” Liz asked.

“As soon as you assemble the crew,” Marc said.  “We have time, but there is no reason to wait.”

“Then we should be shipping out in two or three days.  We’ll catch up with the scout ship about the same time as it reaches the Enterprise.  Do we have a name for the scout ship?” Blake asked.

“The Roebuck?” Catie suggested.

After she got a blank look from Blake, Catie added, “First ship to explore Australia.”

“I like it.  Are we going to hold a formal christening?”

“I’d like to keep this quiet.  As far as anyone else knows, you’re on a shakedown cruise,” Marc said.  “For now, I don’t want anyone to know that we have a jumpdrive.”

“Okay, what do we tell the crew?”

“Once you’re sure they’re volunteering, tell them the truth.  If someone backs out, we’ll deal with it.”

When they had left Marc’s office and were alone, Liz asked, “Are you okay not being the captain?”

“I was hoping I’d get it,” Catie said.  “But after being Captain of the Sakira for the last few months, I’m not surprised Daddy decided Uncle Blake should be it.  It’s a lot of work.  I’ll probably have more fun this way.”

“Good attitude.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie, with Blake’s approval, offered the engineering job to Ajda.  Ajda turned her down, saying she liked to design ships but didn’t want to live on one.  So Catie turned to Chief O’Donnell, who had been the engineering chief on the Enterprise and had helped her plan the asteroid mission.  They would have to pull him from the Sakira, but he was approaching the end of his tour there.

JoAnn Rasmussen from the miner’s camp volunteered to be the cook.  She had matured quite a bit since she came to Delphi City.  She had gotten a two-year college degree in business management and had been keeping the books for the miners’ consortium.  She was even still cooking for the miners on the Oryx that was stationed next to the asteroids they had in Earth’s orbit.  She asked to bring along Jaylee and Devon to be ship stewards.  They had both finished high school and were looking to do something besides mining.

Blake had Liz select the pilots, and Catie had already identified the rest of the crew.  Nobody backed out.  In fact, most of them moved up to Delphi Station to make sure that nothing would happen that might get in the way of their making the mission.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Arrr,” Catie groaned.

“What’s wrong?” Liz asked.

“You know.  You and Uncle Blake stuck me with ordering all the stores for the mission.”

“Oh, why didn’t you hand that off to the third mate?  Oh, right, we don’t have a third mate,” Liz said.

“I am so going to get even!”

“Aren’t you having ADI help?”

“I tried, but Daddy has told her to quit helping me so much.”

“So you should be mad at him, not me.”

“I’m mad at both of you.”

“Well, you can complain, or you can finish up the job,” Liz said.  “We need it by tomorrow so we can load it up and send it out on an Oryx.”

“I know!”

“It’s a good thing that we can send it out on an uncrewed Oryx, so it can catch up with us.”

“It won’t have to accelerate that hard,” Catie said.  “We’ll be two days testing the jumpdrive and recharging the capacitors.”

“See, if you can think of little things like that, a list of provisions shouldn’t be too hard.  Just make sure we don’t run out of chocolate.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Uncle Blake.”

“Yes, Catie?”

“We’re using a lot of quantum relays for this mission.”

“I’d expect so; we’re going to be in the middle of nowhere.”

“But we’re running out of them.  Even with all the ones the Paraxean colony fleet had, there just aren’t that many.”

“Can’t we make some more?”

“No.  We don’t know how.  The Paraxeans guard that secret, and that knowledge never leaves their homeworld.”

“Let’s get Marc in on this,” Blake said.

“Hello, ADI tells me you guys need to talk,” Marc said.

“Yes, we were just going to call you.  Catie, go ahead and explain the situation.”

“Daddy, we’re running out of quantum relays,” Catie said.

“I kind of expected that,” Marc said.  “We keep finding more uses for them and have been reallocating them since the beginning.”

“We should figure out how to make them ourselves,” Catie said.

“Oh, you think so, do you?”

“Why not?”

“I guess you never know until you ask.  I’ll get one of our physicists working on it; who knows, they might surprise us and figure it out right away.”

“How many can we take on the mission?”

“Leave us at least fifty pairs,” Marc said.

“I think I can make that work.  I sure hope we figure out how to make them.”

“We might need to send a delegation to Paraxea to buy some more,” Marc said.

“Oh, I guess we’re talking to each other now,” Catie said.  “We should find out what they would want in trade.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“What is that?” Blake asked as he found Catie holding a cat when he boarded the Oryx that would be taking them out to the Roebuck.

“A cat,” Catie said.

“I know that!  What’s it doing here?”

“His name is Sapphire; he’s a Blue Russian,” Catie explained.  “We’ve got two of them, and two Shih Tzus, and two Basenjis.  Dr. Magor wanted them as part of his process to verify that the worlds are safe.  He says he can keep them under observation easier than one of the crew, and they won’t complain all the time.  There are also a bunch of rats in the lab for testing.”

“A Blue Russian, are you sure we can trust him?  The Russians aren’t too happy with us right now,” Blake said.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Catie said.  “He’s pretty easy going.  He does really well in microgravity.”

“What about a spacesuit?”

“We have pressurized carriers,” Catie said.  “He’s completely housebroken; he even uses a toilet to do his business.  Is it okay if I keep him out of his cage when we’re on the Roebuck?”

Blake rolled his eyes, “As long as he doesn’t cause problems.”

“He won’t.  And neither will Topaz, the other one.”

“You’re pushing it, Second Mate,” Blake said.

“Dr. Magor says that it’s good for the crew to have pets around.  They reduce stress.”

“He’s not reducing my stress right now.”

“Come onnnn,” Catie said in her little girl voice.

“We’ll try it.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Dr. Nakahara,” Marc said as he knocked on the door jamb to Dr. Nakahara’s lab.

“Dr. McCormack, so nice of you to visit.”  Most of the scientists called Marc, doctor instead of president; apparently, they felt that was the more prestigious title.

“I wondered if you had time for another project?”

“I should take a break from this one,” Dr. Nakahara said.  “This antimatter converter is giving me a headache.”

“Antimatter converter.  I thought you were working on the reactor?”

“I am, but the reactor is child’s play; you form a magnetic bottle and send in an atom of matter and an atom of antimatter and repeat.  The secret is coming up with the antimatter.”

“And how do we do that?”

“We convert hydrogen atoms to antihydrogen atoms,” Dr. Nakahara said.

“Oh, that does sound complex.”

“It is.  You have to break them down into quarks, then convert them and build them back up into antimatter.  The beauty of it is that you never have to carry around any antimatter.  The conversion takes place just before it is injected into the reactor.”

“I guess we wouldn’t want any matter-antimatter accidents,” Marc said.

“Yes, it only would take a few … to destroy your ship.  Now, you have another project?”

“Yes.  Are you familiar with our quantum relays?”

“I have heard of them.  I assume they use quantum entanglement to create the relay.”

“Yes, and that’s about all we know.  We have a limited supply, and we’re running out.  My daughter suggests we figure out how to make them.”

“Interesting.  I remember reading a paper about a new metal that was teeming with quantum entangled atoms.  I’ll do some research and get back with you.”

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you.  This is just the kind of project I need to clear my mind.”

◆ ◆ ◆

It took them six days to make it to the DSS Enterprise and the DSS Roebuck using Catie’s trick of cutting the acceleration for half a second every two seconds.  That allowed them to accelerate at 15Gs.  When they reached the fringe, the two starships were sailing in formation.  The DSS Victory was two hundred kilometers behind the Enterprise, guarding the two Paraxean Carriers and the Paraxean asteroid, which was carrying the 1.2 million Paraxean colonists in stasis pods.

Catie, Liz, and Dr. Magor immediately boarded a Lynx along with the six pets.  They would make a micro-jump along the edge of the solar system, then Dr. Magor would rescan each crew member and each pet and verify there were no deviations in their scans.  They would then make a big jump to another star and back.  If all the scans still came back normal, the rest of the crew would join them, and they would set off on their mission.

“Everyone ready?” Catie asked.  They were all gathered on the bridge.  Catie had Sapphire in her lap.

“We’re ready,” Liz replied.

“Okay, here goes,” Catie said as she pushed the button to initiate the jump.

“Nothing happened,” Liz said.

“Yes it did, we jumped three ten-thousandths of a light-year along our orbital path.  Look at the instrument panel,” Catie said.

“It sure felt like nothing happened,” Liz said.  “But you’re right; we’re three ten-thousandths of a light-year from the Enterprise.”

“Okay, everyone to sickbay so I can do my scans,” Dr. Magor said.  He was carrying Topaz.  The other animals were in their carriers, which were loaded on a cargo bot.

◆ ◆ ◆

“They’re back,” Blake said as the Roebuck reappeared off the port bow of the Enterprise.

“How did you call that before they appeared?” Kasper asked.

“Energy spike on the sensors,” Blake answered.  “A little birdie told me to watch for them.”

“I see.”

“So, is that it?” Kasper asked.

“I hope not.  They haven’t made the big jump yet.”

“There they go, or went,” Kasper said.  “How long will this series take?”

“Four hours, they have to recharge the capacitors after a big jump,” Blake said.  “Why don’t you grab us some coffee while we wait.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“And there they are,” Blake said as the Roebuck reappeared off the Enterprise.  This time it was at least twenty kilometers away.  “Everyone, we should be ready to depart in eight hours.”

There was a small going away party in the lower hangar.  A third of the crew for the Roebuck was coming from the Enterprise’s squadron.  Everyone on the ship wanted to wish the explorers good luck, and there were a few who were leaving spouses or lovers behind.

Blake had the four Foxes hover outside the Roebuck to facilitate the transportation.  Using the two Lynxes from the Roebuck and two from the Enterprise, they were able to move the full crew over and only have to recompress the flight bay once.

“People, get settled in, we are departing in one hour,” Blake ordered.

Chapter 6

To the Stars

Dr. Magor had rescanned and checked his eight patients in the other star system while waiting for the Roebuck’s capacitors to recharge.  To speed up their departure, Catie and Liz skipped the bon voyage party on the Enterprise.  They were in sickbay as Dr. Magor did a quick reverification while they waited for the capacitors to recharge for the first mission jump.

“I feel fine,” Liz said.

“You look fine,” Catie said.

“Ah, I didn’t know you cared.”

Catie threw a box of nanite patches at Liz.  “Doctor, are we good?”

“Yes, you two sheilas are just fine,” Dr. Magor said.  “You should get some rest before we need to depart.”

“I’m going to finish unpacking,” Liz said.

“How much crap did you bring?”

“It’s not crap.  I just have a few pictures to hang, things like that.”

“Oh, so do I,” Catie said.  “I have to have Mommy’s picture on my desk for when I call her.  She wants to make sure I miss her.”

“Well let’s go.  This place will be crawling with crew in a few hours.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Everyone was aboard, and the bridge crew was settling in at their stations.

“Do you have a course?” Blake asked his navigator, Catie.

“Yes sir.  Course is plotted and laid in,” Catie said.

“How many jumps?”

“It will take eight jumps to reach the first planet,” Catie said.

“Eight?!”

“We might be able to do it in six, but the cost of making an error is days, not the few hours it takes to make the extra two jumps.”

“You’re the navigator.  If we’re ready, then engage.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Wow, that is weird,” Blake said.  Everyone on the bridge was happy he’d said it because they all felt the same way.  That is except for Liz and Catie.

“Well, you get that rollercoaster feeling when we cut the acceleration,” Catie explained.  “No gravity, then we have to rotate the ship before we jump.”

“I don’t understand,” ship pilot Goss said.

“The jump takes all of our power, so we have to cut acceleration.  The ship is set up for acceleration along its short axis, that makes for the best use of space.  But we have to go through the wormhole with our longest dimension pointing the way,” Catie explained.  “So we cut acceleration and rotate ninety degrees before the jump.”

“Makes sense.  Are we really in a different star system?” Goss asked.

“We’re just outside it,” Catie replied.  “Look at your navigation chart; you’ll see the stars labeled.”

“What’s our status?” Blake asked.

“We can make another jump before we need to recharge,” Catie said.

“Is the jump mapped?” Blake asked.

“It is.”

“Then engage.”

“Can we give everyone a little gravity?” Liz asked after they completed the jump, some of the newer crew members were looking a little green around the gills.

“We could provide about 0.3Gs,” Catie said.  “There’s not enough gravity out here to do more than that.”

“I’m okay with that, lay in a course,” Blake said.

“Course laid in,” Catie replied.

“Helm, give us 0.3Gs of acceleration.”

“Aye-aye, sir,” Helm responded.  He rotated the ship and started accelerating.

“First Officer, please scan the system.  We might as well learn as much as we can while we are here,” Blake said.

“Aye-aye, sir,” Liz replied.  “Scans started as soon as we jumped in.”

“Now that we have a little gravity, I’d like some coffee,” Blake said.

“Me too,” Catie added.

Jaylee, the duty steward on the bridge, came in carrying a tray.  It had a thermos of coffee on it and mugs for everyone on the bridge.  The mugs were all designed for microgravity, with a spring-loaded lid that would only lift up if you pressed it against your lip.  The interior had a plunger that pushed the contents toward the lid.  After giving Blake his coffee, she dispensed the rest by order of rank, Liz, Catie, the helm, and the sensor operators.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Before we leave, anything interesting in the system?” Blake asked.

“No, sir,” Liz said.  “Three gas giants, and one rock planet that’s too close to the sun for habitation.  It does have a big asteroid belt, so we should make a point to bring an asteroid probe out next time and have it prospect it for us.”

“Darn it.  I should have brought some,” Catie said.

“Can’t think of everything.  And we’re pretty busy mining Sol’s asteroid belt right now,” Blake said.  “Are we ready to leave?”

“Jump laid in,” Catie said.

“Engage.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Eight-hour recharge,” Catie announced after another jump.

“Second Mate, how much gravity can you give us?” Blake asked.

“Same as before, 1/3G,” Catie replied.

“Make it so.”

“Aye-aye, Captain Picard,” Catie said under her breath.  “Course laid in.”

“I’m sure someone said that before him,” Blake whispered back.

“Sorry, didn’t realize I said that out loud.”

“Everyone, take a break,” Blake ordered.  “I’ll stand first watch with Mario; Liz, you’ll take the second with Catie.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

“Catie, let’s go work out first.  Then we can have a bite to eat before we take a nap.”

“Right behind you.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Catie and Liz made it to the gym just in time to grab the last two stair climbers.  Since the machines had to work in microgravity, they were a bit different than the usual stair climber.

They mounted the climbers and adjusted the shoulder stops so that they were against their shoulders.  Then they set the baseline resistance and selected the routine for their workout.  As they started climbing, their shoulders pressed into the stops.  They had to exert enough pressure to overcome that resistance.  As they pushed, the shoulder stops created compression along their spine and leg bones.  The compression was critical since it would help prevent any bone loss associated with being in microgravity for extended periods of time.

“Do you think Uncle Blake was mad about the Picard comment?” Catie asked.

“Nah, I’m sure he thought it was funny.  He probably has gone over what he can say that doesn’t sound like he’s on Star Trek.  That show kind of usurped all the good lines.”

“Yeah, like ‘engage’.”

“I was surprised you didn’t make a comment about that one.”

“I was going to, but then I realized that I used it when I was in command of the Sakira.  I’m sure Uncle Blake knows that.”

Liz chuckled.  “You three are really a team.”

“Three?”

“Your father, Blake, and you.  You’re always trying to needle each other.”

“Same with the five of us,” Catie said.

“Oh, I guess Kal and I jump in a little.”

“Especially Kal.”

“Yeah, but he’s mostly trying to get under Blake’s skin.”

“Yeah, they do seem to always be competing.”

“Right, like their bet about dating, then they both wound up dating the spies.”

“That was funny,” Catie said.  “And they kept dating them even after they knew they were spies.”

“No surprise there,” Liz said.  “I wonder what happened to the two women.”

“I think they were both recalled when we declared independence.  They weren’t making any progress.  What about Logan?”

“Hey, we’re dishing on Blake and Kal, leave me out of it.”

“Did you know that Blake and Kal work out together?”

“Sure.  Kal’s teaching Blake Aikido.  I offered to teach him some Krav Maga, but he turned me down.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think his ego can take it.”

“Getting beat up by a girl?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty cool, but I don’t think he wants to have to look up at me after I’ve thrown his ass on the ground.”

“You think he’s going to go eight weeks without a workout?”

“No, but one of the pilots is a black belt in Kung Fu, so I’m sure they’ll work out together.”

“Which one?”

“Why do you want to know?  Are you thinking of trying to get some moves you can use on me?”

“Maybe.  Here comes a hill!”

Both women had to give up talking while they focused on their breathing as their workout routine ramped up.

After twenty minutes on the stair climber, Liz grabbed one of the rowing machines.

“I hate rowing,” Catie said.

“Why?  It covers a bunch of muscle groups at the same time,” Liz said.  “It’s efficient.”

“I’d rather do this.” Catie strapped herself into a set of straps.  There was one at the end of each limb and a belt around her waist with two straps going to the floor.  Catie started the exercise routine.  It was a modified version of Tai Chi, where she made slow movements against the straps, simulating strikes and blocks.

“You have your favorite source of pain; I have mine,” Liz said.

◆ ◆ ◆

“So, have you thought about our company?” Liz asked Catie as they grabbed a table in the cafeteria.  They’d just finished their showers, and after the workout, they were famished.

“Sure,” Catie said.  “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yes, how we are going to structure it and how we are going to run it,” Liz said.

“I haven’t thought about much except designing the ship and flying it,” Catie said.

“Well, someone has to find loads to carry, schedule flights, figure out insurance, and things like that.”

“Yuck.”

“It’s not that bad.  Finding loads is like what Artie does for his cargo business between Delphi City and Delphi Station.”

“That’s not that difficult.  He advertises in the gazette and then waits until he can buy a slot to ship it in.  He watches the board like a hawk, picking up late openings real cheap.”

“I’ve seen that,” Liz said.  “He’s fast; I almost never beat him to one of those late slots.  You remember that he also buys and ships his own stuff that he sells on the station.”

“We could do that,” Catie said.

“It’s speculative.  We would have to have a way to know what they need and what they’re willing to pay for it.”

“Sure, when we start dealing with outer systems.  But at first, we’ll just be carrying the cargo that MacKenzies wants to move around.”

“I don’t think we have to wait.  We can probably make a lot by doing what Artie does.  People on that mining station in the asteroid belt are going to be anxious for things from Earth.  Things that they’ll start missing after a few months out there.”

“Ohh, like fresh fruit.”

“Right!  How long will it take to make the trip?”

“Depends on where it is in its orbit relative to Earth and what kind of acceleration profile we can use,” Catie said.  “If we’re lined up and we use a three-G profile, it’s just under four days.  If the station’s on the other side of the sun, we’re talking,” Catie's eyes rolled up as she calculated the time in her head, “almost six days.  Huh, that’s not as long as I had expected.”

“That constant acceleration really takes out the time in the middle,” Liz said.

“I guess; we more than doubled the distance, but the time only went up by fifty percent.”

“Power of the square root in that formula,” Liz said.  “Did you do the calculation, or did you have ADI do it?”

“I did it,” Catie said.  “With the time being only four to five days, we can deliver lots of perishable items without having to freeze them.”

“Right, but you have to account for the time it takes to get them to Delphi City where we can lift them.”

“Sure, but if it’s worth it, we could lift them directly from wherever,” Catie added.

“You mean a whole Oryx load?”

“Or a Lynx,” Catie said.  “I guess we should buy a few of those.”

“Wait, aren’t you spending a lot of money we don’t have yet?”

“We can wait to buy them,” Catie said.  “We have to learn as we go.”

“Smart, now who’s going to run things?”

“We should look for a cargo manager.  We could ask Nattie if she knows someone.  She was a cargo specialist in the Marines.”

“Okay, I think having a military type in that role will work.  What about a finance guy, a CFO?”

“Do you think we need someone as high powered as Jonas?”

“No, but we do want someone with experience.”

“We could pull Daddy’s trick; find some old, retired CFO with Alzheimer’s or other health issues, and offer to fix them up if they take the job.”

“We could, or we could just hire someone.  If we pay a good salary and offer a performance bonus, it would be an attractive job.  What accountant wouldn’t want to get in on the ground floor of the first interplanetary cargo company?  And Delphi City is becoming the place to be right now.”

“That’s true.  I could ask Marcie if she’d help with the search,” Catie said.

“That’s a good idea.  Maybe Marcie would want to run the company.”

“Umm, I already have her looking into running my other company.”

“What other company?!  You holding out on me?” Liz asked.

“It’s small,” Catie said.  “I’m going to sell those mini-Comms and that robostep I designed.”

“And you didn’t think I’d want in on that?!”

“Sorry, . . .”

“Hey, I’m just yanking your chain,” Liz said.  “But asking Marcie is a good idea.  She’ll know how to recruit someone for us.”

“Should we message her now?”

“No hurry.  Maybe tomorrow, during the next recharge cycle.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“First Mate, Second Mate, my day cabin,” Blake said when they completed their sixth jump.

“Aye-aye, sir,” came the echoed replies.

“How long will it take us to reach the planet once we get to our system?” Blake asked.

“Six days,” Catie said.

“That long?” Liz asked.

“Yes, just like in Sol’s system.  It’s a long way from the fringe to the habitable zone.  Plus, we didn’t have any momentum when we started, so we’ve had to start from almost zero velocity.  Based on my calculations, the big gas giants are on the other side of the system from our planet, so we’re stuck with only the sun’s gravity,” Catie explained.

“That’s faster than I expected,” Blake said.  “What am I missing?”

“Oh, I’ve been saving the velocity from our recharge times,” Catie said.  “That means we’ll be entering the system with a higher velocity than originally planned.”

“Explain?”

“Well, since we want gravity when we’ve got that eight-hour recharge wait, you’ve had us accelerate.  Instead of flipping halfway and killing our velocity before we jump, I’ve been letting it build.  I vector into the next star system so that we cut across its gravity well when we make the next jump.  And ta-da!  We have momentum.”

“That is something I would like to be informed about before you do it,” Blake said in a very stern tone.

“Sorry, I thought you knew,” Catie said.  “On every jump, we have to compensate for our velocity since we’re never standing still.  I just didn’t waste it.  If we hadn’t had to stop at Sol’s fringe, we would have had lots of velocity, and the trip in-system would only take five days.”

“Still, changes in our schedule from what we discussed should be reviewed with the captain.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Enough said, let’s move on.  I wanted to discuss whether we should pull a page out of your book on the asteroid mission and send a Lynx ahead.”

“That was Nolan,” Catie said.  “And sure, we could send a Lynx ahead.”

“What do you want to accomplish?” Liz asked.

“Just to accelerate our mission a little.  I don’t see why we should wait eight, now six, days before we begin the planet survey,” Blake said.

“Are they going to land?” Catie asked quietly; she was still smarting from the reprimand and didn’t like the reminder.

“They’ll be there two days before we arrive, right?” Blake asked.

“Close enough,” Catie said.

“Then, no, I don’t think they need to land.  They can launch the survey satellites we brought and do close surveys of the landmasses,” Blake said.

“Boring,” Catie said.  “Who do you want to punish?”

“It won’t be that boring,” Blake said, “and I should punish you for being a smartass.”

“Better than a dumbass,” Catie replied.

“You really want to go on this mission, don’t you?” Blake threatened.

“You should send at least four people so they can run shifts flying.  The Lynxes both have quantum relays, so ADI can fly them, but you’ll want a pilot paying attention so they can adjust based on what’s interesting,” Liz said.

“You two flip a coin,” Blake said.  “Winner gets to fly the mission.  Pick your crew and be ready to depart when we reach the system.”  He got up and left them in his cabin as he made his way back to the bridge.

“Are you okay?” Liz asked Catie.

“I guess.  I don’t see why he’s ticked off.  I didn’t do anything risky.”

“No, but you can’t know everything the captain is planning or worried about.  So you have to keep him informed.”

“I was updating the schedule; all he had to do was look.”

“But he shouldn’t have to, it’s your job to keep him informed,” Liz said.  “What if we were meeting someone and being early would be a problem, or worse yet, being late.”

“I guess,” Catie sighed.

“Think about it.  Now the mission, do you want it?” Liz asked Catie.

“I don’t know.  I guess the winner gets to be the first person to visit a planet in another solar system,” Catie said.  “But since they’re not landing, I can go either way.”

“Okay, then Roshambo, since we don’t have a coin.”

“Sure, one . . . two . . . three,” Catie called out.  “Paper, rock, you win.”

“Does that mean I can make you fly it?” Liz asked.

“The captain said the winner flies,” Catie said with a laugh.  “You’re stuck, have fun.”

“Well, you’re going to have to put up with Blake while you spend six days flying into the system.  He’s going to get impatient.”

“Yeah, and he’s mad at me.”

“He’s not mad.  He was just making a point.  Now, do you want to go work out?  We’ve got seven more hours to kill.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Have fun,” Catie messaged Liz as she flew the Lynx out of the Roebuck’s hangar bay.

“Oh, yeah, my idea of fun.  Cooped up in a small plane with a couple of yahoos,” Liz said.

“Who are you calling a yahoo?” Gary, the second pilot, demanded.

“You and your buddy,” Liz said.  “Now, be quiet!”

“They’re clear, Captain,” Catie reported once Liz had started accelerating away from the Roebuck and toward the planet.

“Then it’s our turn,” Blake said.  “Make the announcement.”

“Crew, rig for hyper-acceleration,” Catie announced.  “All hands, rig for hyper-acceleration, the axis is horizontal.  I repeat the axis is horizontal.”

With the axis horizontal, everyone needed to be sitting or standing against a bulkhead.  The acceleration would be along the long axis of the ship, but what was important was that it was perpendicular to the body of someone sitting or standing.

“How come we can take more Gs like this than the pilots can in their jets?” Joey, the helm operator, asked.

“Even though we’re seated like a pilot in a jet, when they experience high Gs, it’s from turning, so most of the force is still directed toward their feet.  Here, all of the force is directed toward the rear, so it looks like our feet are slightly elevated, and our heart and brain are on the same plane,” Catie explained.  “We’ll be taking a break every four hours to allow everyone to move around.”

“How’s the crew standing midwatch going to get any sleep?”

“We’ve got them rigged with vertical beds,” Catie said.  “Twice a day, we’ll drop the acceleration profile to three Gs so people can sleep.”

“Three Gs doesn’t sound too restful.”

“Trust me, it works,” Catie said.  “I’ve done two trips this way, and I never had any trouble sleeping.”

◆ ◆ ◆

That night they rotated the ship so that the axis of acceleration was vertical.  This allowed most of the crew to get into their bunks and sleep.  The watch stations’ chairs extended like lounge chairs, and the consoles rotated, so they were accessible by the crewperson lying on the lounge.

The next day, Blake had to order the pilots to stop competing on who could stand the acceleration the longest.  They were actually lying down with their feet against the bulkhead since the acceleration was horizontal.  One of the pilots passed out and wrenched his shoulder when he hit the bulkhead at 9Gs.

“You are a bunch of idiots!” Blake yelled.  “Now get him to sickbay.  The next person I find playing this game will be cleaning the heads for the rest of the trip.”

Chapter 7

Landfall

“It’s beautiful,” Catie said.

She sat with Blake on the bridge of the Roebuck, watching as they approached the new planet.  They could see the two moons above it; the small one was trailing the big one in a higher orbit.  It looked like a small dog on a leash trying to check out the trees beside the path.

“It’s very blue.”

“Lots of water.”

“Clouds,” Blake added.

“Probably rains there,” Catie said with a smile.

“Har, har.  I don’t remember Liz flying through any rain,” Blake said.

“She’s a good pilot; she probably avoided it.”

“Probably.  Helm, put us in orbit two hundred kilometers up,” Blake ordered.

“Sir, that’s a decaying orbit,” Helm replied.

“Use the grav drives to compensate.  That should give us about one-quarter of a G.”

“Aye-aye, sir.  Two-hundred-kilometer orbit.”

“Nice job,” Catie said.  “A smooth transition from our decel into the orbit.”

“Thanks, Ma’am,” Helm replied.

◆ ◆ ◆

“My day cabin,” Blake ordered after Liz returned to the Roebuck.

“Can’t you wait until I’ve had time to get in a run?  I’ve been stuck on that Lynx for six days,” Liz said.

“Alright, go ahead and run,” Blake said.  “You’ve kept us updated, so I just want to recap and talk about what’s next.”

“Thirty minutes,” Liz said.  “Catie, do you want to run with me?”

“Sure, I haven’t run yet,” Catie said.  “I’ll just grab my running shoes and meet you in the gym.”

They actually met in the passageway outside their cabins and made their way to the gym together.

“Twenty laps?”  A lap on the treadmill was the equivalent to two hundred meters with a few hills thrown in.

“Sure, that leaves us time for a shower,” Catie said as she leaned into the shoulder pads and started running.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Liz, review what we know about the planet,” Blake said.  Blake, Catie, Liz, Dr. Qamar, the geologist; Dr. Pramar, the xenobiologist; and Dr. Teltar, the xenozoologist, were meeting in Blake’s day cabin, essentially his office aboard the ship.

“As we all know, the planet has two moons.  We haven’t had enough time to observe the effect the second moon has on the tides, but it’s small and in a distant orbit, so the expectation is that its effect will be small,” Liz said.

“There are three separate landmasses, one large one, similar to Asia, and two smaller ones that form a triangle on the east side of the large one.  Unlike Earth, there is only the big continent separating the oceans; I don’t know what effect that might have,” Liz continued.

“We need to study the currents before we will know that,” Dr. Qamar said.  “It might make for some very big storms.”

“There are ice caps on both poles, no land under them.  All three continents have animal life.  We’ve recorded images of them.  On one, there are large herbivores that are similar to the bison of North America.  The largest continent seems to have antelope-like animals of various sizes, predominantly.”

“Where are the six-legged animals?” Catie asked.  “The flying dragons and things like that.  This sounds boring.”

“I don’t think we’ll be finding any six-legged animals; insects will have six or eight legs but not reptiles or mammals,” Dr. Teltar said.

“Why not?”

“Evolution will have eliminated any extraneous limbs,” Dr. Teltar explained.  “Any limbs over four require unnecessary energy to sustain, that takes a toll on the animal’s chances of survival.  The exception is a tail since a tail provides sufficient benefit to offset the added cost of having to supply energy to it.  Typically, they are small relative to the size of the other limbs, your kangaroo being a notable exception.”

“Yeah, how did the kangaroo manage to keep such a big tail?” Liz asked.  “It makes sense on a fish or an alligator, but a kangaroo?”

“Your scholars speculate that it is due to the significant amount of propulsion that they get from the tail.  They are able to reach much higher speeds than they would with a small tail and their legs.  It seems they actually use the tail to push off the ground when running, or I guess you would say hopping.”

“Let’s get back to the issue at hand,” Blake said.

“We have not observed any fires except what we’ve been able to trace to lightning strikes,” Liz continued.  “So that’s one strike against there being a sentient species here.”

“What are the alpha predators?” Dr. Teltar asked.

“Similar to Earth.  We’ve seen large animals like wolves and large cat-like animals.  They would be close to Earth’s lions, tigers, and panthers.”

“No bears?” Catie asked with a smirk.

“I believe we’ve seen something you would call a bear,” Liz said, ignoring Catie’s little joke.  “In the oceans, we’ve detected shark-like fish and some whales that are probably the alpha predators there.”

“What volcanic activity have you detected?”

“Nothing has erupted since we’ve been here.  We do see a few active volcanos, but we don’t see signs of any recent violent eruptions.  There is not very much ash in the atmosphere.”

“So, what is our next step?” Blake asked.

“Based on its size and the general diversity of animals, I believe that the large continent is the ground zero of land-based evolution,” Dr. Teltar said.  “I suggest we land there and start collecting samples and running a few tests.”

“Any particular location?”

“Somewhere close to the coast and the equator,” Dr. Teltar said.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Catie, you planned this, so lay it out for everyone,” Blake ordered.  They were gathered for the final review before they launched the Lynx and began setting up the base camp.

“Aye-aye.  We’ll have two Foxes, one to fly cover, the other will ferry the cargo pod to the landing site, then it will join the first Fox and provide cover as well.  The away team will take the two Lynxes to the site.  Our security team will provide protection while the rest of us raise the fence around the Lynxes.  We’re setting up a three-hundred-meter perimeter for this site.  The fence will be electrified, so try to avoid it once it’s up.  We’ll all be wearing exosuits; we need the armor since we don’t know what we may find down there.”

“Do not breathe the air from the planet until I say it’s okay, so no popping your helmet off while you rest,” Dr. Pramar said.  “And that will take at least three weeks of testing.”

“Right,” Catie agreed.  “The cargo pod will also carry what it takes to build a small structure to house our lab and some apartments and living spaces.  Once the perimeter is up, we’ll assemble that.  The building will be environmentally sealed with an algae tank to convert the CO2 to oxygen.  Once we get it up and charge the air, it will be a place where you can take off your spacesuits, shower, and rest.  If you’re inside the perimeter, you can dispense with the exosuit.

“Kasper, I want you to fly the Fox that hauls the cargo pod.  It won’t be very aerodynamic, so you’ll have to rely on the grav drives to steer it.”  Two of their Foxes had the new grav drives developed by Dr. McDowell.  The new drives had enough power to allow the Fox to transport the heavy cargo container down to the planet.  It wouldn’t be able to bring a full one back up, but they weren’t planning to do that.

“Oh joy,” Kasper replied.

“Captain, are you coming with us?” Catie asked.

“I’ll let you get it set up first,” Blake replied.

“Okay, then Liz, you fly Lynx one, I’ll fly Lynx two.  Georgie, you take the second Fox.  Once we have the perimeter established, Liz will fly Lynx one back up to get the captain and our scientists.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Our landing site is three klicks in from the ocean,” Catie announced.  “Kasper, the location should be marked on your map.  You go in first and drop the cargo pod.”

“Thanks, I feel like I’m flying a blimp,” Kasper replied.  Everyone was giving him a wide berth.  He was handling the Fox-pod combo well, but it just didn’t look like it could fly.  The cargo pod was bigger than the Fox, so better safe than sorry was the watch phrase for the other three pilots.

The landing site that Dr. Qamar had selected was a flat plain three kilometers from the ocean and about one kilometer from the jungle that covered most of the area.  It was covered in a high grass that they would need to remove to avoid having various creatures be able to sneak up on them.  This area of the coast was flat as a pancake, with just a slight rise between the ocean and the jungle.

Kasper dropped the cargo pod, then sent his jet screaming into the sky to take up his guard position.

“That’s better,” he said, reveling in the power and maneuverability of the Fox once he’d shed the cargo pod.

The two Lynxes immediately landed on each side of the cargo pod, leaving fifty meters for unloading and maneuvering.  Catie and Liz had arranged to step off their Lynxes at the same time, thereby both being the first humans to step on a planet orbiting a different sun than Earth.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Explain to me why we’re going to be driving the fence posts?” Liz asked.

“Because I don’t want to have to wrestle the fencing,” Catie said.

“Have you ever driven a fence post?”

“No.”  Catie grabbed the end of the first post and tilted it up; it was five meters long, so even though it was made of lightweight polysteel, it was heavy and unwieldy.  The first half-meter of it was tapered to a point.  Catie put a box on the other end then tilted the post until it was mostly straight up and down.

Catie let go of the post and stepped back.  The post righted itself and made a few adjustments until it was perfectly vertical, then it sank into the ground one meter.  Catie used a stick to pop the box off the top of the post.  At four meters high, it was well above her reach.  She caught the box as it floated down to her and moved to the next post.

“How did you do that?!” Liz asked.

“Mini gravity drives,” Catie said.  “It levels the post, then drives it to the depth you set.  I’ve got this one set for one meter.”

“Clever.”

“Daddy thought of it,” Catie said.  “He did a lot of research on how to explore in the wilderness.  A lot of his research came from old explorations of Africa and South America.  He used the stuff we read about how the Paraxeans set up a colony, too.”

“When does that man sleep?” Liz asked.

“Not much,” Catie said.  “He never needed much, but since he found the Sakira, it seems he can get by on just a few hours a day.  He sometimes will go two or three days with just a nap here and there.”

“And I thought you were a freak, needing only four to five hours a night,” Liz said.

“That’s not very nice of you!”

“An adorable freak,” Liz corrected.

“Grab the next post.”

It only took Liz and Catie an hour to put up all the posts; they had to stop and recharge the post driver twice.  They had one of the crews spacing them out in front of them, so they just had to walk up behind and drive them into place.  The team rolling the fence out was keeping ahead of them, but the team lifting the fence into place and tying it to the post was not even keeping up.  Eventually, the crew laying the posts out finished and went back to help them.

“I thought you were crazy volunteering to drive the posts,” Gary said.  “Then I saw you using that gizmo and thought that the rest of us were robbed.”  Gary was the crew chief for the maintenance team on the Roebuck.  Everyone was gathered in the Lynxes to rest up and eat lunch.

“Hey, it was just good planning,” Catie said.

“I think sneaky planning,” Gary shot back.

“Catie always has a good plan,” JoAnn said from the galley, where she was finishing up the lunch for the away team.

“What job did you pick for yourself when we were putting the building up?” Gary asked.

“I blew that one,” Catie said.  “I should have assigned myself the flight back to pick up the captain and scientists.  I don’t know what I was thinking when I gave that to Liz.”

“You were thinking that we have Krav Maga practice tomorrow morning,” Liz said.

“Oh, maybe that’s why,” Catie said with a laugh.  Liz was Catie’s martial arts trainer and was known to take her frustrations out by tossing Catie on her butt a few times during sparring.  Once the building was up, they’d be able to practice inside it and have the benefit of the planet’s 0.95Gs.

“Anyway, I should head out,” Liz said.  “The captain is probably anxious to get down here and see what’s going on.”  Liz got up and headed for the airlock.

“I noticed that he scheduled his arrival for after all the work was done,” Gary said.

“He’s herding that gaggle of scientists,” Catie said.  “I’d rather do the work, but I’ll let him know you’re interested in a more administrative role.”

“Oh, please don’t.  I hate paperwork, and I hate herding cats,” Gary said.  “I promise to work extra hard; I’d even take a flogging over that, Ma’am.”

“I forgot about floggings,” Catie said with an evil grin.  “I’ll have to put that on my list of disciplinary methods.  I’m sure I’ll get a quicker response to my orders after the first two or three.”

“Gary, can’t you keep your mouth shut!” Mary shouted as she threw a bread roll at him.  “Now we got us a second mate with aspirations of being a right tartar,” Mary was using her best imitation of a cockney accent.

“Thanks for the roll,” Gary said as both he and Mary burst out laughing.

◆ ◆ ◆

“I think that’s the captain,” Gary said as they heard the sound of a Lynx landing.

“And we’re still sitting here resting,” Mary said.  “We’d better get moving before the second mate decides to start flogging us.  She told us not to tarry.”

They quickly got up and put on their exosuits and prepared to exit the Lynx.  Catie had left a few minutes before, after admonishing them that they didn’t have much time before the captain arrived.

“Welcome, Captain,” Catie said as Blake exited the Lynx.

“You’ve made a lot of progress,” Blake said.

“Yes, we should have the building up in another two hours.  We just finished our lunch break.”

“Fence is electrified!” was announced over everybody’s Comm.

“Oh good,” Catie said.  “Now the security detail can rotate through for lunch.”

“Hi, Liz.  I assume you’ve brought our probes.”

“Yes, they’re loaded in the back.  Dr. Teltar is checking them out now.”

“Hello, Catie,” Dr. Pramar said once he’d exited the Lynx.  “I’d like to collect some soil samples now.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Catie said.

“I need to exit the perimeter.”

“Why?”

“You will have contaminated this area; I need to gather samples at least one hundred meters away.  I’ll also need to gather samples from the jungle.”

Catie sighed, “Can’t you wait?  The security team hasn’t had a break since we landed.”

“Oh, I can just go by myself,” Dr. Pramar said.

“Nope, anybody exiting the perimeter has to have two security guards with them.  I’m not losing someone on our first away mission,” Catie said, but she was really thinking ‘my’ first away mission.

“I can go with them,” Mary said.  “I’ve trained as backup security.”

“I’ll go as the second guard,” Liz said.  “I ate while they were loading the Lynx, and I’ve just been sitting around.”

“Okay, we’ve got the laser rifles over in the cargo pod,” Catie said.

“Do you have anything better than a laser rifle?” Mary asked.

“The laser rifles are an M4 with the laser attached.  You can flip a switch if you need more firepower.  But the lasers have more range,” Catie explained.

“Oh, right, I remember now,” Mary said.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Kasper, the cargo pod is almost empty, are you ready to come pick it up?” Catie asked as night approached.

“If I have to.”

“You have to,” Catie said with a chuckle.  “We have to get it loaded so we can start setting up the next basecamp in two days.”

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

“You heard that, get the rest of that stuff out of the cargo pod,” Catie ordered the crew that was still unloading the pod.

“Aye-aye,” echoed across the compound.

“So, what’s on deck for tomorrow?” Blake asked.  He’d been wandering around checking out the various jobs being performed, trying to encourage the hard-working crew.  He’d even managed to be of help a time or two.

“Hunting,” Catie said.  “Dr. Teltar has launched his probes.  Once he has the videos back, he’ll be able to identify the animals that he’s interested in getting samples from.  So tomorrow we have to go catch them.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“It should be,” Catie said.

“And for tonight?”

“We’re setting up the surveillance cameras and the relay station.  Then we’re all heading back to the Roebuck.”

“You’re not planning to leave anyone down here?”

“Seems like an unnecessary risk,” Catie said.  “The fence should keep any animals out, and if it doesn’t, I think we’d rather deal with that tomorrow than in the middle of the night.”

“Good thinking,” Blake said.

◆ ◆ ◆

Kasper hovered over the cargo pod while everyone jeered at him.  His Fox looked like a hummingbird trying to sit on an ostrich egg.  Everyone except him thought it was funny.

“Can you hurry and attach the damn thing!” Kasper snapped.

“We’re working on it; don’t get your feathers ruffled!” Gary said.

“Very funny!”

“I thought so.  You’re hooked on; let me get down, and then you’re clear to go,” Gary said.

Kasper used the security camera on the new building to watch Gary as he crawled off of the pod.  Just as he was getting ready to hop onto the ground, Kasper had the Fox lift up quickly, spilling Gary from the pod.

“Hey, that’s not funny,” Gary said.

“I thought it was!” Kasper replied as he continued to accelerate into the sky.

Two hours later, the last Lynx lifted off from the compound and started to make its way to the Roebuck.

“Good job,” Blake told Catie.

“Thanks.  I hope everything stays safe tonight.”

“Why don’t you have a Fox hover over the compound.  You can switch them every four hours.  They should be able to drive off anything that the automatic defenses can’t handle.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Catie said.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Where are the dinosaurs?” Catie asked after they had finished reviewing the images that the probes had taken of the animals last night.

“You know we didn’t see any when we were doing the flying survey,” Liz said.

“Yes, but I figured they were just hiding in the jungle.  Maybe they don’t like sunlight,” Catie said.  She was clearly disappointed.  “I can’t believe we don’t have some dinosaurs or at least some really cool looking animals.”

“It’s vampires that don’t like sunlight,” Liz said.

“I’d take a vampire.”

“I’m pretty sure we won’t be finding any vampires.  And we’re unlikely to find any dinosaurs either,” Dr. Magor said.

“This planet is just coming out of an ice age,” Dr. Teltar added.  “Large reptiles don’t do too well with big climate changes.  It is doubtful that any of the large lizards you call dinosaurs survived the planet’s entry into an ice age, much less its transition out of it.”

“I would think they would like the climate getting warmer,” Catie said.

“Cold-blooded animals don’t handle any kind of climate change.  And once you had small mammals and snakes, they probably were struggling to survive anyway.”

“Why’s that?”

“Dinosaurs evolved in a world of plenty; they never really had to worry too much about survival, that’s why they grew so large.  But once there was competition, they had already spent the evolutionary capital, so to speak.  The small mammals and snakes would have feasted on their eggs, and since they didn’t evolve very good techniques to protect them, that would have been devastating.  And when the foliage started to change, they would have starved.  It takes a lot to keep a big body fed, and when they couldn’t find their usual food, they would have starved before they could adapt to what was now growing, or move to a better environment.”

“What about the carnivores?”

“With the big herbivores dying, they would have had a hard time finding enough to eat.  Sure, they did well in the short term, but when they were forced to hunt a larger area for their food, they weren’t equipped for long, arduous hunts,” Dr. Teltar said.  “No, mammals would not have taken long to emerge as the dominant class of animals.”

“So, it’s going to be just like Earth?” Catie asked.

“Not exactly, but carbon-based life tends to fall into a limited spectrum,” Dr. Teltar said.  “Bipeds, quadrupeds, snakes, fish, and birds.  It’s all about efficiency, so like I said before, no six-legged animals.”

“But we might find a unicorn,” Catie said.

“A single horn, it does occur.  Almost all animals are symmetrical.  On Earth, you have what you call sponges that don’t have any symmetry.  They’re not very advanced.  But of course, you can have symmetry around a single horn like you do around your nose.”

“The twins are going to be so disappointed,” Catie said.  “I promised them I’d bring back pictures of dinosaurs.”

“We still have another planet,” Liz said.  “Plus, two more continents on this one, so who knows, we might find something interesting.  Who’s going hunting?”

“Captain’s prerogative,” Catie said as she smiled at her Uncle Blake.

“Is my jeep ready?” Blake asked.

“Loaded up and ready to go, sir,” Catie replied.

“Do you want to come?” Blake asked.

“No, I’ll stay here and finish setting up.  We want to be able to move on to the next continent tomorrow.”

“How big a team are we leaving behind?” Liz asked.

“The Paraxean specialists will be staying, plus enough support staff to protect and take care of them,” Catie said.  “They should finish up here about the time we have the next camp prepared.”

“Sounds like they’re getting the easy end of the deal,” Liz said.

“Well, they did get those fancy degrees and all,” Catie replied.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Dr. Teltar, is this cat really worth all this effort?” Blake asked.  They were climbing up a rocky hillside, following the tracks of a big cat.  It was a steep hill, and with the rough terrain, Blake was getting tired.

“Yes, it’s important to get samples from the big predators,” Dr. Teltar said.  “And it seems that around here, they all have their dens in these cliffs, so we just have to keep climbing.”

Blake shook his head and slung his rifle over his shoulder so he could use his hands to help himself up the rocky hillside.  Hopefully, the drone flying overhead would warn them before one of the big cats decided to demonstrate how unwelcome they were.

The roar of a big cat echoed down the hill.  “There he is,” Dr. Teltar said, pointing across the ravine they were traversing.  “Can you get him from here?”

“Not with the stunner,” Blake said.  “I could kill it with the M4, but the stun setting doesn’t have that kind of range.”

“We don’t want to kill it,” Dr. Teltar said.

“Okay, that means we have to keep climbing,” Blake said.  By now, he was regretting his ‘captain’s prerogative’ of claiming the hunt.  “We should have armed one of the drones with a stun gun, and let it do all the work,” Blake thought, “but we would still have to climb up here to get the samples.  Oh, well.”

“We need to be careful now,” Dr. Teltar said.

“I know, we’re getting close.  We should be in range soon.”

“That’s true, but the one thing you need to know about big cats is, once you get close to them, they start hunting you.”

“Now you tell me.”

“It might be better if we just find a good position and wait for it to come to us.”

“How do you know this cat will behave like ones from other worlds?”

“Because he didn’t run when we saw him,” Dr. Teltar said.  “He saw us first and roared, now he’s hunting us.  Wolves and dog-like predators either face you down right away or run off.”

“Better and better,” Blake thought.  “Here is a good position.  It’s defensible, and there’s not too much shrubbery for the cat to use as cover.”  He found a nice rock to sit on and unslung his rifle.  “I’m definitely having the drones modified.”

Blake was staring at the side of the hill, wondering when the big cat would show up.  They’d been waiting for over an hour.  “Come on, you lazy feline,” he thought.  Suddenly, his Comm beeped a warning.  The drone had spotted something.  Examining his HUD, he realized that the cat must be close.  “Switch to infrared, moron.”

Once he turned the infrared mode on, he realized that he’d been staring at the cat as it approached him one slow step at a time.  He watched as it continued to stalk him.  It would move one paw, stretching it ahead and placing it down so slowly that it was like watching a stop-animation film in slow motion.  He was amazed at the cat’s patience.

“Okay, so you’re not so lazy,” Blake whispered as he slowly brought his rifle to his shoulder.  The cat froze as it detected the motion.  Blake continued to bring the rifle to bear, slowly, ever so slowly.  Finally, he had the big cat in his sights.  “I do apologize for this,” he whispered as he pulled the trigger.

The cat flinched when it heard the pop of the rifle shoot the stunner round; then, it howled when the stunner hit it and activated.  The cat jumped but immediately fell to the ground as the stunner pulsed through its nervous system.

“You got him,” Dr. Teltar yelled.  “I’m surprised you let him get so close.”

“I’m tired of walking,” Blake lied.  He wasn’t going to admit that the cat had snuck that close without his realizing it.

Once Dr. Teltar got his samples, they made their way down the mountain.  The hair on the back of Blake’s neck kept standing up as he worried about the cougar waking up and sneaking up on them.

“Gawd, I hate cats.”

Chapter 8

Cabinet Meeting April 5th

“Now that everyone is here, I call this meeting to order,” Marc said.  “Prime Minister, would you like to start.”

“Thank you,” Prime Minister Nazeri said.  “I do not have very much since I am still learning.  On my action items from last week, Defense Minister Michaels and I agreed that we should go forward with acquiring the pilots from the U.S.  He will develop his list and present it to you for approval.  You also spoke last week about your military academy, but did not mention the university that you are also promising.  I wonder why.”

“You’re correct, we’ve started the construction of the buildings for the university and Sam is looking for a president, but everyone has been busy,” Marc said.

“I haven’t made much progress,” Samantha admitted.

“Then I would propose that I take over that effort,” the prime minister said.

Samantha nodded her agreement.

“Seeing no objections, it’s yours,” Marc said.  “Please let us know what you need.”

“We need to establish a budget for the university,” the prime minister said.

“Submit a proposal,” Marc said.  “I’m sure we can take care of it.  MacKenzies will contribute if necessary.”

“Corporate support of universities is a good tradition,” the prime minister said.  “I would also like to appoint a Minister of Education.  The work done by Mrs. Kaanapu as the principal is exemplary, but what she does extends far beyond what a principal should be responsible for, and I feel we should formalize the situation.”

“I take it that you’re proposing that she be appointed the Minister of Education,” Marc said.

“That is correct.”

“I have no objections.”

“Then I will inform her after the meeting.”

Catie rolled her eyes at Liz, and after silencing her Comm said, “This is getting really boring.”

“I think your father plans to push this stuff off on the prime minister.  Hopefully, we can skip out on this part in the future.”

“You two, be quiet,” Blake whispered.

“Anything else?” Marc asked.

“That’s it for now,” the prime minister said.

“Sam, what are you hearing from our friends in the U.S.?” Marc asked.

“They’re furious,” Samantha said, “but of course you expected that.  The president cannot complain about the damage to the CIA and NSA hacking systems without looking foolish.  As you requested, they are planning to submit proposals to the U.N. for more aggressively policing the internet.  It will be interesting to see what they come up with.”

“And our Chinese friends?” Marc asked.

“They’ve privately complained to the U.S., but are making no public statements.  They don’t want to publicly acknowledge they were hacking, and they definitely don’t want to admit that they got hacked so badly.”

“The Russians?”

“They are in a mess.  There are protests all across the country, especially against the oligarchs and government officials that have now been outed for stealing from the government.  A few of them managed to get out of the country right after the news broke; the ones who didn’t make it out have been arrested.  The government has seized any of their assets that were still in the country.  It’s hurt the president, but he’s weathering the storm, especially since none of the documents released implicated him.  He’s promising to recover the money for the Russian people.”

“That’s nice of him since he’s the one who let them steal it in the first place,” Admiral Michaels said.

“There is also some noise about independence from some of the republics,” Samantha continued.  “With two of the top generals fleeing the country and several being arrested for embezzlement, the Russian military is in a bit of disarray.”

“That won’t last.  Some colonel will step into the vacuum,” Admiral Michaels said.

“I’m sure someone will,” Samantha said.  “But it is slowing down their response to these issues.”

“Mr. President, I am wondering if you are getting the response you hoped for?” the prime minister asked.

“Call me Marc.  And as far as the response, it’s close to what I wanted, but it’s still early,” Marc said.  “Admiral, how is our surface fleet coming?”

“We have minimal crews on the frigates, we’re recruiting and training aggressively,” Admiral Michaels said.  “We should have them up to their full complement of two hundred each in two or three months.  We’ll position them in the same locations we plan to place the carriers.  They will complement each other.”

“Good, do you need anything?”

“Just time.”

“Okay, Fred, how is your commodities program going?”

“It’s going well,” Fred said.  “Right now, I’m selling futures for the metals; there’s room for others to participate if you wish, just coordinate with me.”

“I’ll probably take you up on that,” Admiral Michaels said.

The prime minister turned to Marc looking very uncomfortable.

“Crossover from MacKenzies,” Marc said.  “My bad, I should have had this part of the discussion in a private meeting.  But the good thing is that Delphi will get some good tax revenue from the trades.”

The prime minister just swallowed hard and turned back to the table.

“On a more traditional note,” Fred said with a small grimace, “the new jetliner had her second test flight yesterday.  The engineers identified some minor issues that need fixing.  We’ll take care of that soon, then we’ll start setting up the manufacturing process so we can submit for certification.”

“Excellent,” Marc said.  “How about our other manufacturing?”

“Everything is on track.  There is a slight sag in the solar panel market, the Chinese haven’t bought as many arrays as they usually do,” Fred said.

“That’s interesting,” Admiral Michaels said.  “Any idea why?”

Herr Hausmann leaned forward, “I think it’s a cash issue.  They’ve been aggressive with the fusion reactors, and I think they’re taking a breather to build up more cash without pulling too much out of the American bond market.”

“You think they’re being that nice?”

“I don’t think they want to antagonize the U.S. at this time, and any disruption to the American economy would impact their holdings in the U.S. as well.  They are heavily invested in the U.S. economy doing well.”

“I think that’s a good sign,” Marc said.  “Did you guys pick a commandant yet?”

“We’re scheduling interviews now,” Blake said.  “If I’m not back from this shakedown cruise, I’ll do mine remotely.”

“Shakedown cruise?” the prime minister asked.

“Yes, Admiral Blake, Commander Farmer, and my daughter are testing out a new class of starship,” Marc said.  “They’re going outside the solar system to test how its engines perform when they’re out of the sun’s gravity well.”

“But they sound so close.”

“We’re not that far away yet,” Blake said.  “Our next meeting will be more problematic with the delay.  Possibly we should skip it and just send in written reports.”

Catie and Liz did a high-five over Blake’s head.

“That might be necessary,” Marc said.  “Captain Desjardins, how is our new space station coming along?”

“It is now spun up, and we’ve moved all the personnel over to it.  I am releasing the Sakira to return to Earth on Friday,” Captain Desjardins said.

“How are the accommodations?” Samantha asked.

“Everyone is very happy to be able to spread out.  And it is much more convenient for the miners.  Nolan’s crew still has several months of work to build out the rest of the ring, but for now, we are all happy.”

“Excellent,” Marc said.  “I have two more agenda items.  First: Prime Minister, are you ready to hold your own cabinet meetings and just bring issues here that you feel require our input?  Of course, Admiral Michaels, Minister Newman, and Herr Hausmann are part of your cabinet; however, Admiral Michaels and Minister Newman are also part of my security council, so would need to attend both meetings.”

Catie and Liz both got up and did a happy dance at that announcement; Blake just shook his head.

“I am ready to try,” the prime minister said.

“Very good.  Feel free to contact me for any assistance,” Marc said.  “And second: this is MacKenzie business, but I think it’s important that everyone here be aware of it.  Catie and Liz have put forward a proposal to form a new company that will build a new class of ship specifically designed to haul cargo.  To accomplish this, they would need to use some of the technology that MacKenzie Discoveries is holding as proprietary.”

“What technology?” the prime minister asked.

“Specifically, the gravity drives and the powerplant for the space ship,” Marc said.

“Well, I certainly don’t have an objection,” Admiral Michaels said.  “And it does create a little bit of the economic diversity that Herr Hausmann was talking about.”

“That is not exactly what I had in mind,” Herr Hausmann said, not thinking another family business would help with the diversity issue.

“I don’t have an objection,” Fred said.  “It’s really up to you and Catie; you have the shares to decide.”

“We know, but we wanted everyone’s input,” Marc explained.

“I want to know if I can invest in it,” Samantha said.

“You’ll have to talk with Catie and Liz,” Marc said.  “Catie, you have approval to go forward.  Please inform us if there are resource conflicts.”

“We will,” Catie replied, getting a big thumbs-up from Liz.

◆ ◆ ◆

Once everyone except Samantha and Kal had left the Cabinet Chamber, Marc opened the discussion about the exploration mission.

“Blake, how is the mission going?”

“Fine,” Blake said.  “We’re just establishing the base on the second continent.  So far everything looks good.  Dr. Pramar hasn’t found any issues with viruses or bacteria that can’t be overcome.”

“You are being careful?” Samantha asked.

“Yes, Catie and Dr. Pramar have us living in our suits when we’re planetside.  We are not breathing the air down there yet nor exposing ourselves to the environment.  We even have to do decontamination whenever we go through an airlock.”

“Good.”

“What about resources?” Marc asked.

“Dr. Qamar has found deposits of all the key metals.  Iron, copper, bauxite, and the others are in sufficient quantities to allow for an industrialized world.”

“What about petroleum or coal?” Marc asked.

“We’re still looking,” Blake replied.  “He’s confident we’ll find plenty.  It’s just buried deeper.  We’ll be checking out some of the mountains for coal deposits once we finish setting up this camp.”

“How’s the wildlife out there?” Kal asked.

“Uncle Blake bagged a cougar,” Catie said.

“You did?”

“You didn’t kill it, did you?!” Samantha gasped.

“No, we used a stunner on it.  Dr. Pramar took scrapings from its teeth and a blood sample, then we let it go.”

“Did you manage to bag any other big game?” Kal asked.

“There are some big bison here, but Dr. Pramar wasn’t interested in them.  He says he can get what he needs from their scat.  He’s looking for the carnivores since their diet attracts bacteria.”

“So?”

“A couple of wolves, and I guess what you’d call a hyena,” Blake said.  “Dr. Pramar was especially interested in that since it’s a scavenger.”

“What about birds?”

“We trapped a couple of vultures and some smaller birds,” Catie said.

“But no dinosaurs?” Samantha asked.

“No.”

“That’s too bad; the twins will be disappointed.”

“I’m hoping we find something exotic here,” Catie said.  “I still have my fingers crossed that we’ll find something to make them happy.”

“What’s it like seeing two moons?” Samantha asked.

“We haven’t spent a night on the planet yet,” Liz said.  “You can barely see the small one during the day; it’s too small and far away.  I think we’ll get to spend a few nights starting next week.”

“We sent pictures,” Catie said.

“We got them, but it’s not the same,” Samantha said.

“Fish?” Marc asked.

“Dr. Teltar told us that he caught some yesterday,” Blake said.  “He seemed happy about them.”

“So, you think you’ve found a home for the Paraxeans?”

“It’s looking like it,” Blake said.  “We still have a little over a week before we finish the survey.”

“Then I’ll let you get back to it,” Marc said.  “Catie, call your mother tonight.”

“Oops.  I will,” Catie replied.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hi, Mommy,” Catie said that night when she finally called her mother.

“Hi, Sweetie, it’s nice of you to call,” Linda said, dishing out a little guilt because Catie hadn’t called her yet.

“I’m sorry.  I should have called earlier; it’s just been so hectic.”

“I’m sure it has,” Linda said, “but I still miss talking to my daughter.”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“So where are you?”

“You know it’s a secret,” Catie said.

“Yes, and I can keep one.”

“Okay, we’re on a planet in another solar system.  It is looking like it will be perfect for the Paraxeans.”

“On another planet?!”

“Shush, it’s a secret!”

“How could you be on another planet?”

“We have this cool jumpdrive that lets us travel huge distances in a split-second.”

“Oh my, this is nerve-wracking.  I’ll never get used to you doing all these dangerous things.”

“Mommy, they’re not that dangerous.”

“Like I can believe you.  I saw the reports about what you did against that battleship.  They even gave you a medal.”

“Mommy, none of us got hurt on that mission.”

“But others did.  How many pilots died that day?”

“Mommy!”

“Okay, okay.  We’ll talk about something else.  I have a question for you.”

“Sure,” Catie said, happy to have the subject change.

“I heard that you’re starting your own company.”

“Yes . . .”

“Do you think your father would object if I started one?”

“I don’t see why,” Catie said.  “What kind of company are you thinking about starting?”

“A medical company.”

“Medical?”

“Well, I guess you’d actually call it a pharmaceutical company, but they have such a bad name.”

“Not all of them.  What kind of pharmaceutical would you sell?”

“You know that since I’ve been here, there hasn’t been much need for a brain surgeon.  The Paraxeans almost never open up a patient’s skull anyway.  So any good doctor can do brain surgery.”

“I guess I knew that.”

“Well, so I started studying how they treat diseases.  And they have some wonderful technology for that.  Anyway, working with Dr. Metra, I’ve enhanced some of their techniques so that I can produce a plasma treatment faster than any other company I know of.  In a few weeks instead of months.  We can also develop a vaccine and test it against human DNA and organs without having to use human patients.  That will allow us to qualify a vaccine for phase IV testing in weeks instead of months.”

“That’s cool, how do you do that?”

“By growing the plasma in vats like you do your meat, we can produce thousands of doses of it in short order.  Once we have the virus, we grow human tissues we need, similar to the way we grow new limbs for patients.  Then once we’ve produced an immune response, we switch to producing plasma.  That provides a treatment while we continue to focus on a vaccine.”

“Why don’t you just use the nanites?”

“Because it takes tens of millions of the virus to make one dose,” Linda said.  “This way, we only need a few million nanites to make as many doses of the plasma as we want.  Until we develop a vaccine, the plasma treatment will minimize the loss of life.”

“Well, I think that sounds really cool.  I’m sure Daddy won’t have a problem with it.”

“I don’t know.  He has these weird ideas about not extending the life expectancy too much.”

“Well, the birthrate is coming down; he’s gotta start letting some of this technology out to help more people soon,” Catie said.  “Do you want me to talk to him?”

“No, I’ll do it.  I just wanted to hear what it sounded like to talk about it out loud,” Linda said.  “I’m sure he’ll be okay with it.”

Chapter 9

Tyger, Tyger

The Paraxean specialists commuted to the new camp, once it was set up.  Dr. Pramar immediately began taking samples of the soil.  He and Dr. Teltar assured everyone that it would only be a few more days until they would be able to take off their helmets.  All the tests were indicating that the environment was not going to be harmful to Paraxeans or Terrans.

“There goes Kasper,” Liz said as Kasper rocketed his Fox back into the sky.  He was making his second delivery of the pod to the compound.

“Flying around with that cargo pod strapped to his belly sure puts him in a foul mood,” Catie said with a giggle.

“It is kind of mean to make him do all the deliveries,” Liz said.

“Hey, it’s either him or one of us,” Catie said.  “The other pilots don’t have enough experience to handle that monstrosity.”

“Ohh, I think it’s good for him, it builds character,” Liz said.  She definitely didn’t want to be the one flying with that ostrich egg strapped to her Fox.

“That’s what I think,” Catie said.

“Here comes the big Bwana,” Liz said, pointing at Blake as he came out of the command office.

“Hey, remember you’re supposed to bag me a dinosaur!” Catie yelled.

Blake scoffed at her.  “I’m hunting what Dr. Teltar tells me to, and he doesn’t have a dinosaur on the list.”

“That’s because there are no dinosaurs on this planet,” Dr. Teltar said.

Suddenly they all heard a lot of yelling coming from the front gate.

“Watch out; he’s coming this way!”

“Back up!  Close the gate!”

Catie, Blake, and Liz rushed over to the gate to see what was going on.

Dr. Pramar and his two security guards were running for their lives as some big animal was snorting and bellowing behind them.

“I didn’t think that guy could run that fast,” Liz said.  Dr. Teltar was outpacing his security detail by twenty meters as he ran for safety.  He had to dodge around the jeep that was just coming out of the compound before he could make it to the gate.

“A Triceratops!” Catie yelled.

“It does have three horns, but I can assure you it is not a dinosaur!” Dr. Teltar gasped.

“Who cares!  ADI, make sure to get good pictures,” Catie said.  They were all looking at an animal that was as big as a truck and had three horns, one on its nose and two out of the top of its head.

“I am recording from four cameras,” ADI said.  “I also have summoned one of the probes to the area to get closeups from overhead.”

“Thanks, ADI.”

Once Dr. Pramar and the security detail were in the compound, the jeep driver spun the wheels as he gunned the engine to get the jeep back into the compound and, hopefully, to safety.  Two security guards slammed the gate shut as soon as the jeep was inside.  Everybody moved back from the fence, eyeing the beast nervously.

“I’m not sure we have a gun big enough to take that thing down,” Liz said.

“We might have to use the Fox,” Blake said.  “Let’s wait and see if it will settle down and leave.”

“What’s got it so riled up?” Mary asked.

“It came charging out of the forest as soon as they drove the jeep out of the compound,” Gary said.

“Maybe it thinks the jeep is a competitor?” Catie said.

“Or a lost mate; he doesn’t seem to see very well,” Liz said.  “Maybe he’s mad that we’re keeping his girlfriend in the compound.”

“Jenkins, are you in position to get this thing?” Blake asked the Fox pilot who was on overwatch, hovering above the compound.

“I’m hovering just south of it,” Jenkins replied.  “Just say the word, and Catie can try out some triceratops steaks tonight.”

“It’s charging!”

The beast charged at the gate and the jeep, but pulled up twenty meters from the gate.

“He’s bluffing,” Liz said.

“Do you think the electric fence will stop him?” Catie asked.

“Only if he stops before he plows through it,” Blake said.  “If he sniffs it, the electric shock might discourage him.  I’m not sure he can see it, so he might just run right through it before he feels the shock.”

“Doesn’t look like he can see it,” Liz said as the beast made another charge, this time stopping just five meters from the gate.

“Jenkins, don’t kill it unless it threatens someone,” Blake ordered.  “Let’s see if it’ll just keep bluffing and then leave when the jeep doesn’t respond.”

“Fine by me, I’m pretty safe up here,” Jenkins replied.

The beast made another charge, but this time it didn’t stop until it hit the fence.  When it realized that the fence was there, it tried to turn to avoid it but crashed into it anyway.  It roared as the electrical current hit its body.  Then it tried to get free of the fence as the current continued to surge through its body.

“Damn, it’s tearing down the fence!” Catie yelled.

The beast had turned and was running parallel to the fence, knocking down fence post after fence post.  It took out thirty meters of fence before it fell to the ground, its body jerking as the electricity continued to surge through it.

“Cut the power to the fence!  Then cut away the fence that he knocked down.  Get the power back up as soon as you can!” Blake yelled, pointing to the forty or so meters of fence lying on the ground on both sides of the beast.  He started walking toward the beast, cautiously looking to see if it would get back up.

“Once the power’s down, I think we can drag it back out with the jeep.  That will let us repair the fence.  When it finally wakes up, he’ll probably be happy to run back into the forest,” Blake said.

“Power’s down!”

Blake finally reached the animal.  It was still jerking its limbs as though it was being shocked, but its spasms were becoming less violent, and its breathing was starting to calm down.

“I think it passed out!”

“Be careful!”

Blake stepped around the beast.  He was evaluating how best to tie onto it so they could pull it from the compound.  He stood up and put his hands on his hips as he considered the problem.  Then suddenly, he was knocked to the ground.

“Oh no!” Catie screamed as she saw a giant tiger-like animal leap out of the grass and land on Blake.

The tiger grabbed Blake around his middle and started to drag him back toward the forest.  It was so huge that its jaws could actually close around Blake’s waist, even with him wearing his exosuit.

“Shoot this thing!” Blake yelled.

“No!  It’s a tiger; they’re endangered!” Catie yelled.

“On Earth, not here!” Blake yelled back.

“Everybody, stand down!  I’ve got it!” Liz yelled as she leveled her laser rifle at the tiger.

She pulled the trigger.  The tiger didn’t even flinch.

“Shoot it!” Blake yelled.

“Hold on, I’m taking care of it,” Liz said as she fired off another blast.  Again, it didn’t seem to bother the tiger.

“What are you shooting at?” Catie asked.  She was anxiously bouncing on her toes, worried about her uncle.  She was starting to think about grabbing a rifle herself.

“One more shot,” Liz said, firing off another blast of the laser.

The tiger dropped Blake and turned and slowly made its way back toward the forest.  It looked over its shoulder as if to say, ‘I’m leaving, but only because I want to.’

Two security guards rushed to Blake, picked him up, and dragged him back into the compound.

“Damn, what did you do?!” Blake demanded.

“I saved you from becoming that tiger’s pet,” Liz said.  “It probably wouldn’t have been able to break through your exosuit, but I’ll bet it would have kept trying for a while, although for the life of me, I can’t see what it saw in you.  We’d better get him into the building so we can get that suit off of him and let Dr. Magor look at him.”

Catie and Liz followed the two security guards as they carried Blake into the building in the center of the compound.  It took a minute for everyone to cycle through the airlock and go through the decontamination cycle.  By the time Catie was inside, Blake already had the top of his exosuit off, and Dr. Magor was examining him.

“You have second degree burns here on your ribs,” Dr. Magor said.  “This should take care of the pain.  I’ll mix up some new skin for you, and by morning you’ll be fit as a mallee bull.”

“How did he get burned?!” Catie asked as she watched Dr. Magor put a salve on the burns.  “And what is a mallee bull?”

“Liz is a lousy shot,” Blake said, glowering at Liz.

“I hit exactly what I was aiming for,” Liz said.  “And that’s how Aussies say fit as a fiddle.”

“If you hit what you were aiming at, then how did I get burned?!” Blake demanded.

“I was aiming for your exosuit,” Liz said.  “I wanted to heat it up enough that the tiger would let go.”

“Couldn’t you just shoot it?!”

“Hey, you were the one who went outside the fence without a security team,” Liz said.  “It was your mistake; the tiger was just following instinct.  I didn’t think it was fair to punish him for your screwup.”

“You really are asking for it,” Blake continued to glower at Liz.

Catie started laughing.

“What?!” Blake demanded.

“’Tyger, tyger, burning bright, in the forests of the night.’  That’s by William Blake.”

“Oh, great!” Blake said.

“At least we didn’t have to dig him out of a bunch of foam,” Liz said.  “You sure do find ways to leave your mark on every expedition.”

“I do not want to hear another word about this or that damn foam!” Blake snapped.

“Okay, we’ll make sure to tell anyone we tell the stories to that they are not to mention them to you,” Liz said just before she and Catie finally lost it and had a fit of the giggles.

“What foam did you dig him out of?” Mary asked.

“We have to tell you later when Blake is not around,” Liz said as she struggled to bring her giggling under control.

“I’m going to keelhaul both of you!” Blake hissed.

“We’d better get out of here,” Catie said.  “Besides, we have to get that triceratops out of the compound and the fence back up.”

The beast was still out, so Catie had ADI take pictures of her and Liz standing next to it, on it, and in various poses with it.  Then she had the team drag it about fifty meters beyond the fence.  By the time they were finished, the fence had been repaired.  It took another thirty minutes before the beast woke up, which gave Dr. Teltar plenty of time to take some samples from it.  It snorted a few times while facing the compound and then turned and walked back into the forest.

It took a while before all the hubbub about the triceratops died down and for everyone to get back to work.  Even then, various work teams were playing up the incident.  Gary had his Comm on the open channel and was reciting the age-old limerick:

“There was a young lad from Niger
Who smiled as he rode on a tiger;
They returned from the ride
With the lad inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger.”

“Oh, Blake is going to hate that,” Catie said.

“What about that?” Liz pointed to Gary doing a rendition of Eye of the Tiger by Survivor:

“It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival”

“Hey, he’s pretty good,” Catie said.

“If Blake gets ahold of him, he won’t be able to sing for a week, much less prance around like that.”

“ADI, are you getting a good recording of this?” Catie asked.

“Of course, Cer Catie.  It is historic,” ADI said.

“Ooh, you’re a bad girl.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“I guess Blake will have to go hunting tomorrow,” Liz said as she and Catie were inspecting the fence.

“We’ll see,” Catie said.  “He may decide to swear off hunting.”

“We should ask Dr. Teltar to tell him that he wants him to bag that tiger.”

“Oh, you are so mean.”

“Hey, it would give him a chance to get even with it.”

The team unloading the cargo pod was singing a modified version of Tame My Tiger by T. Rex.  They had their Comms blasting out the music over the open channel:

“Mister mister
Won't you tame my tiger
Mister mister
Won't you tame my tiger
Won't you give it your love
he’s real wild”

“Oh, Blake is going to hate that one too,” Liz said.

Chapter 10

I Feel Old

“So, you’ve decided to have the implants,” Dr. Metra said.

“I decided I was going to get them as soon as Catie told me about them,” Samantha said.  “This is just the first chance I’ve had to come to see you.”  They were referring to the implants at the nerves around the tailbone.  Catie and Dr. Metra had determined that there were sixteen unused nerves there that used to control the tail before evolution dispensed with the unnecessary appendage.  Catie had wanted a way to type without having to use the keyboard on her Comm, or the one projected by her specs.

“Hop up on the table, and I’ll inject the nanites and direct them to the nerves,” Dr. Metra said.  “I assume Catie explained the process to you.”

“Yes.  You’ll stimulate my brain in the area that controls those nerves, and it will eventually trigger one of the nerves.  Whenever it does, the nanite at the end of the nerve will provide endorphins as a reward.  Eventually, I’ll learn to consciously trigger the nerves.”

“Correct.  It will take about four visits before you develop some control over them,  then a few months of diligent practice before you have enough control to use them,” Dr. Metra said.  “Can I count on you being diligent?”

“Yes.  I’ll set time aside in the morning and evenings to practice,” Samantha said.  “Marc might not like it, but he’ll have to deal with it.”

“Why doesn’t he get the implants?”

“He says he’s planning to, but right now, he doesn’t think he’ll have the time to be diligent,” Samantha said.

“He does stay busy.”

“Yes!  And he’s making me feel old,” Samantha said.  “How can he have so much energy?  He’s four years older than I, and he seems to have as much energy as an eighteen-year-old.”

“I assume it’s the youth treatment I gave him.”

“Youth treatment!  What’s that?!”

“We usually administer it when a patient is fifty years old, or forty in Terran years.  Your years are longer than ours.  I haven’t administered it to anyone else.  The captain gave me explicit instructions to not utilize any unnecessary medical treatments outside the parameters of the ones we’ve discussed.  Something about minimizing the impact on population growth.”

“What does the treatment do?”

“We repair all the damage that living does to your body: things like arthritis, scar tissue, minor muscle tears, osteoporosis; things like that.  Then we clean out the waste that your body doesn’t expel, like plaque in the arteries and the brain; there’s a lot of work to be done in the GI tract.  And finally, we force the cells that don’t regenerate on their own to do so.  I repair any severe damage in my older patients, but I don’t do any of the regeneration.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Samantha whispered.

“Please don’t make more work for me,” Dr. Metra said.  She gave Samantha a little laugh, acknowledging that it had been a joke, or at least she thought it was.

Samantha laughed.  “Don’t worry, I won’t do any permanent damage.  Can you give me the treatment?”

“Of course.  You just need to set aside two days so we can administer it.”

“Two days!  Can’t you break it down into shorter visits?  I could come and stay overnight?”

“MADI, can the regenerative treatment be broken into eight-hour segments?”  Dr. Metra asked.  MADI was the medical DI from the Sakira.  She wasn’t nearly as powerful as ADI, but was very efficient.

“Dr. Metra, the treatment can be divided into three eight-hour sessions and one ten-hour session,” MADI replied.

“Perfect,” Samantha said.  “When can we start?”

“I’ll take a scan now,” Dr. Metra said.  “I should have the nanites ready in two days. Now, lie back and we’ll do the scan and get those implants in place.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Why didn’t you tell me that Dr. Metra gave you a youth treatment?!” Samantha demanded as she stormed into Marc’s office.

“What are you talking about?” Marc said, looking up at Samantha, bewildered.

“A youth treatment, regenerative treatment, whatever, the treatment that makes you younger!”

“I was not aware that she gave me one.”

“She said she gave you one!”

“I don’t remember it.  She just fixed up my old injuries when she was repairing the gunshot wound,” Marc said.

“What gunshot wound?!”

“The one I gave myself so ADI would wake the doctor up,” Marc said.  He was happy to go down this path of discussion since the other one was looking fraught with danger.

“What?!”

“Dr. Metra was in stasis.  She had placed everyone on the Sakira into a quarantine stasis when she found out that Commander Centag had killed the captain.  She wasn’t scheduled to wake up for another eighteen years.  And even then, she would have had to go right back into stasis.  The only way to get her out was to create a medical emergency that required she be brought out of stasis.  Once that happened, I could declare her critical to the mission and keep her from going back in.”

“And the only way you could figure out how to do that was to shoot yourself?!”

“It’s the only idea I came up with that ADI gave a high probability of success.”

“What about you dying?”

“ADI said that the medical bots would be able to stabilize me until the doctor was brought out of stasis.  Then the doctor would be able to take care of the wound.”

“I said that there was a high probability that the bots would be able to stabilize you,” ADI interjected.

“If you don’t mind, ADI, we’re having an argument here,” Samantha said.

“Sorry, just trying to keep the record straight,” ADI replied.

“A gunshot wound, that was stupid . . . and brave,” Samantha said.  “Wait a minute; I’m mad at you for not telling me about the youth treatment.”

“I have to assume that Dr. Metra administered it as part of the treatments she gave me at that time.  She did say she had taken care of some age-related things while she was treating me.”

“I’m not sure I should let you off the hook.  She said you told her not to give anyone any special treatments.”

“I told her no unnecessary treatments,” Marc said.  “We couldn’t and still can’t afford to expose exactly how advanced our medical capabilities are.  First, we couldn’t provide it to everyone, and second, we don’t want to affect the life expectancy that much until we get the population growth under control.”

“You don’t need to keep my life expectancy under control!”

“And I wouldn’t want to,” Marc said.  “I’m sorry; tell me my penalty, and I’ll gladly pay it.”

“And how can you be so cruel as to allow unnecessary deaths, just to keep the population growth under control?”

“Would it be less cruel to release the treatment and then turn around and watch millions starve because their country doesn’t have the resources to feed them?  Or to provide the treatment to countries with the resources and further increase the resentment between wealthy and poor, both people and countries?”

“I’m sorry, I know you’re shouldering a lot of responsibility,” Samantha said.  “But I’m not letting you off the hook.”

“I assume you’ve scheduled yourself for a treatment.”

“You bet I have.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“What’s this appointment with Linda about?” Marc asked his admin, Masina, when he got to the office.

“She wouldn’t say anything specific, just that it was about medications,” Masina said.

“Oh no, I hope she hasn’t found out about the regeneration treatments, too,” Marc thought.  He was still smarting from Samantha spending two days reminding him that he should have taken care of her.  “Okay, show her in as soon as she gets here.”  He figured that having her wait before the appointment would be counterproductive.

“Hello, Marc,” Linda said as she entered his office.  “I’m early, but Masina told me to come right in, I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course, come in, have a seat,” Marc said as he rose from his desk and pointed to the two chairs by the window.  “So Masina says you want to talk about medications.”

“Yes, I’d like to start up a company that will offer immunizations to people living in other countries.”

“Okay . . .”

“Let me explain.  I’ve come up with a way that will allow me to produce a plasma treatment within a few weeks of the outbreak of a viral infection like the coronavirus.  Right now, scientists have to wait for someone to recover from the virus and then extract plasma from them.  My new approach also accelerates the ability to test a virus by allowing us to conduct the first three phases of testing on human tissue instead of people.  For the flu, the testing time forces everyone to guess what the likely viruses will be and to immunize the population with their best guess.  The vaccines are effective, but not nearly as effective as one which is produced based on the actual virus in the outbreak.”

“Okay, that sounds good,” Marc said.  “What do you need from me?”

“Your permission,” Linda said.  “I’m using Paraxean technology to make the vaccines.  Plus, you’ve made it clear that you want to gradually introduce the medical enhancements.”

“I have.  I think this falls outside of my concern.  I assume the vaccines will target the general population, so that will not create a bigger divide between the have and have-nots.”

“It should actually decrease the divide since the have-nots are the ones who can least afford to get sick.  Even a few days of a minor flu that you can get after the current vaccine can be more than they can afford.”

“I assume you’ll manufacture the vaccine here or on Delphi Station,” Marc said, “so that should eliminate the risk of exposing the technology unless the vaccine has nanites in it.”

“It doesn’t.  The only exposure is that it will make it clear that we can sequence DNA faster and more accurately than others.  Plus, they will wonder how we can create so much of the vaccine as quickly as we can.”

“They’ve probably already guessed about the DNA based on the treatments we’re currently offering at our clinics.  And producing the vaccine faster doesn’t expose very much,” Marc said.  “What else do you need?  Do you need some startup capital to get it going?”

“Dr. Metra said she would help,” Linda said, “but it would make it easier.”

“I’ll let Herr Pfeifer know that we want to spin up your company,” Marc said.  “He will arrange a line of credit for you that will give you two years to repay the loan.  I’ll tell him to make it a no-interest loan since this is in line with our goals to enhance Earth’s social equity.  And then you should talk to Fred; he’s our key manufacturing guy.  He’ll help you or put you in contact with someone who can get your manufacturing and distribution process going.  Don’t be afraid to pay them well; you’ll thank yourself later when you realize how much a talented manager will make your life easier.”

“Oh, I never expected you would be this helpful.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It’s just . . .  did Catie talk to you?”

“Not about this,” Marc said.  “Did you ask her to?”

“I told her not to.  I ran the idea by her; she said you wouldn’t have a problem with it, but . . .”

“Linda, I would have done the same for any member of MacKenzies who came here with this idea.  Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad that it is you.  I think we’ve moved beyond the divorce and can be colleagues and friends.”

“Thank you.  Zane says that you’re treating him well.  He was a bit worried at first.”

“Why shouldn't I respect the man who is making the mother of my child happy again?”

“You are such a wonderful man,” Linda said.  “Thank you.  I should be going; I’ve taken up enough of your time.”

“By the way, Dr. Metra has started to administer a regeneration treatment to some of her patients,” Marc said.  “It offsets a lot of the effects of aging.  You should talk to her about it.  . . . Not to say you’re aging, but it will give you more energy.”  Marc crossed his fingers, hoping he hadn’t just stepped in it.

“That’s interesting,” Linda said.  “I didn’t realize we had treatments like that.  I’ll certainly ask her about it.”

“Whew,” Marc thought.  “And do let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.”

Chapter 11

Terraforming

For the last site they would survey, Dr. Pramar selected an inland location in the northern hemisphere.

“Why there?” Catie asked.

“I selected the location that would be the best place to start a colony,” Dr. Pramar said.

“What makes this place special?”

“Grain,” Dr. Pramar said.  “The one resource that limits a colony’s growth is the ability to grow carbohydrates.  That location has the best climate for growing grains.”

“Why don’t you just grow them in a greenhouse?” Liz asked.

“Because we need volume,” Dr. Pramar said.  “A greenhouse is great for vegetables and even fruits, but grains take up a lot of space, and Paraxeans and Terrans consume a lot of carbohydrates.  It’s just not economical to grow them in a greenhouse.”

“How did you know this planet would be so suitable based on the data from our probe?  In fact, how did you know the planet you were targeting before would be suitable?” Blake asked.

“We didn’t,” Dr. Pramar said.  “We knew that it had a good atmosphere and that the temperature was probably in the range that would sustain a colony.  We wouldn’t have known how suitable it was until we got there; just like we didn’t know how suitable this planet was until now.”

“How could you risk sending a colony ship with over a million colonists on it to a planet that you didn’t know was suitable?” Catie asked.

“Because the question wasn’t whether it was suitable, but how long it would take to make it suitable,” Dr. Pramar said.  “When we select a planet, we know that it has an oxygen atmosphere and that its orbit is within the habitable zone for the star; that means we calculate that its temperature will be acceptable.  Then once we arrive at a new planet, we start what you call terraforming; we call it Paraxeaforming.”

“But if it wasn’t suitable, wouldn’t you have problems supporting all your colonists?”

“We would, but we don’t bring them all out of stasis at the same time.  We start with just some specialists and workers to begin the process.  Then, we slowly wake more colonists from stasis as our food production and housing will accommodate them.  Of course, we wake them based on our need for their particular skills.”

“That sounds like it could take a long time,” Catie said.

“It can.  It takes years to wake everyone from stasis.  Even on a planet as suitable as this, it will take up to five years before we have everyone out of stasis, depending on how quickly we can gather supplies to expand our infrastructure.  If we get this planet, we will probably only bring two thousand colonists out over the first month; by the end of the first year, we might have as many as one hundred thousand colonists.  We never wake any children up until the second year.”

“That has to be hard on the parents,” Liz said.

“It is.  We generally wait to bring colonists with children out of stasis, but sometimes we don’t have a choice.  My wife and children are still in stasis and won’t be awakened until the second year.”

“Wow, that sounds tough, and lonely.”

“Not as tough as having to watch them struggle to adapt in a primitive environment.  It is only a year, and I’ll be extremely busy; if they were around, I would hardly see them anyway.”

“What happens if the planet is really inhospitable?” Catie asked.

“We have to spend more time terraforming.  The last planet Paraxea colonized was very harsh; essentially, the entire planet was a desert.  The colonists started bringing in ice asteroids right away to increase the atmospheric water and change the weather.  They selected an area around a depression in the planet’s surface and created a large freshwater lake.”

“That sounds like a major undertaking,” Blake said.

“It is, they’re probably still at it one hundred years later.  That is the planet where Commodore Warlmag got the battleship from.  The difficulty of eking out an existence on that planet is probably why he was able to convince its captain to join him.  They even brought along another three hundred thousand colonists--crammed their stasis pods into the battleship.”

“How would they have rendezvoused with your fleet?” Blake asked.

“We were pretty slow once we lost the colony ship,” Dr. Pramar said.  “They just put everyone in stasis and did a high-G acceleration out of the star system.  They used up a lot of reaction mass, but our fleet was able to replenish that for them once they joined up.”

“How do you know so much about it?” Blake asked.

“I have a great-nephew who was serving on the battleship.  He told me the whole story, or at least the part of it that he knew.”

Catie had been bouncing her leg while Dr. Pramar talked about the battleship.  As soon as there was an opening, she pounced, “How did they bring the water down to the lake?  Wouldn’t it have evaporated in the atmosphere during re-entry, or made a big mess when it collided?”

“It would if you just let it fall from orbit,” Dr. Pramar said.  “But they were able to bring it down under low velocity.  That’s the beauty of gravity drives.  . . .  wait, why did this Comm translate that as beauty?”

Dr. Pramar’s English wasn’t that good yet, so he used the translation function of his Comm unless he was in a social situation.

“I’m sure that was the correct translation, it made perfect sense to us,” Blake said.  “It would mean the solution to the problem was both elegant and simple.”

“If I called my wife both elegant and simple, she would grab me by my ear and beat me,” Dr. Pramar said.

Blake laughed, “I think most women on Earth would do the same, but in that context, it was about the problem.”

“This English language of yours is so difficult!  You use the same words for completely different things; then you have so many words that mean the same thing.  No wonder you have so many wars.”

“English is hard, but that’s because it has stolen . . . no, adopted words from so many other languages,” Catie said.  “It’s actually a Germanic language, but it has adopted a lot of words from Latin and then more from the Latin languages.”

“That from the girl who leaves her English and literature homework until the last minute,” Blake said.

“How do you know?”

“Your grandmother tells me,” Blake said.

“Oh!  It’s bad enough that she reviews all my papers,” Catie said.  “She should at least keep my secrets.”

“Not much of a secret when you’re grumbling about it for the entire week before it’s due,” Blake said.

“That’s because she makes me rewrite every paper at least two times!”

“She must be getting soft in her old age,” Blake said.  “She made your father and me rewrite ours at least three times.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“So, what is this one going to be again?” Catie asked as she and Dr. Pramar inspected the slab that had just been laid.  It was a twenty-meter by sixty-meter slab of a concrete-like substance that they had poured the day before.

She looked up as Kasper went roaring into the sky in his Fox.  He had dropped the cargo pod off for the third time, and was really grumpy about having to fly the ‘blimp’ as he called it.

“All of these are isolation houses, greenhouses that also provide for complete isolation from the environment,” Dr. Pramar said.  “It’s important that we don’t impact the local environment until we understand what that impact will be.”

“I understand,” Catie said.  “So, which one is this?”

“This first building will grow grains and plants from Paraxea; it will get unfiltered air and water from the local area.  Water will be collected as it runs down from the roof when it rains.  Depending on the plant, it will either just get sprayed with the water as if it were out in the rain; or it will be irrigated with it according to a schedule.  That allows us to maintain the isolation yet simulate both greenhouse plants and cultivation.”

“So, you want to figure out how the environment here will impact the plants.”

“Correct.  Now the second building will be the same, except it will have grains and plants from Earth.  It’s possible that plants from your planet will be more compatible with the environment here.  Paraxeans seem to do well eating the animals and vegetation from Earth.”

“That’s a good thing.  It makes it easier to have you guys hanging around.”

“We actually enjoy the Earth food more than our Paraxean diet.  I think our genetic engineering has made our plants very hardy, but not very tasty.”

“We should avoid that.”

“You should.  Now, this third building will have grains and plants from both Paraxea and this planet.  It will tell us if they will interact with each other.  The next one is the same, but with Earth plants.”

“Okay.  So, it verifies if we can plant our crops here without having a devastating effect on the native plant life.”

“Right, and the fifth will be just grains and plants from this planet; we call it the control group.  It will serve as a reference that we can compare the other results to.”

Catie rolled her eyes at having someone explain to her what a control group was.

“How are you going to have the plants tended to?” she asked.  “We won’t be here long enough to learn anything.”

“We’ve brought some bots that will do the gardening, take samples at each stage of the plants’ development, and monitor their progress.  We’ll be able to control the entire greenhouse operation remotely via the communication station you’re setting up.”

“And the other buildings?” Catie prompted.

“They are replicas of the first set, except everything is filtered before it enters the building—another control group.”

“Why don’t you have robots?” Catie asked.

“Paraxeans, how do you say it, freak out when they see a mechanical version of themselves,” Dr. Pramar said.  “We’ve had them in the past, but they were very expensive to build and maintain, and as I said, people don’t like them.  It’s much more efficient to have a few special-purpose bots; most of those do two or three things.  They’re easier to maintain and much easier to program and control.”

“But wouldn’t it be easier to program a robot to do some new task that you hadn’t thought of when you started?” Catie asked.

“Possibly, but then you would have to have a much bigger onboard computer system to control it.  And you still might find that you were missing some ability.  It is almost impossible to mimic the dexterity of a Paraxean hand, or a Human one,” Dr. Pramar said.

“I guess that makes sense,” Catie said.  “But a robot would be cool.”

“Apparently it wears off,” Dr. Pramar said.  “Some of the wealthy people used to have them, but after a few years, when they needed to go in for repairs, most opted to have them scrapped for parts and replace them with bots.  A least, that was what happened when I was on Paraxea eighty years ago.”

“My records show it hasn’t changed,” ADI replied.  “I have been given access to the Paraxean databases now that we’re in contact with them.”

“Thanks, ADI.”

“You’re welcome, Cer Catie.  Or should I say, Second Mate?”

“Catie’s fine.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Finally, we can get some sun,” Liz said when Dr. Magor gave the all-clear on the planet’s atmosphere.

“I brought my shorts,” Catie said.  “I’m going to sit on top of one of the greenhouses.”

“I’m right behind you,” Liz said.  A few of the men had already tied the arms of their shipsuits around their waist while they continued to work.  Even a few of the women had brought sports bras down with them so they could do the same thing.

Eye of the Tiger was blaring again over the speakers from the command building, and Gary was prancing around singing.

“Blake is going to have a fit if he hears the song again,” Liz said.

“He’s going to have to get used to it,” Catie said.  “It is a really cool song.  I’ve added it to my playlist.”

“You didn’t!”

“I did.  Like I said, it’s a really good song!”

“You like to live dangerously,” Liz said.

“Hey, he’s my uncle, what’s he going to do,” Catie said with a laugh as she ducked into the bathroom to change.

“I bet he does something.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“How are we supposed to lie on this dome?” Liz asked.

“By planning ahead,” Catie said, showing Liz the pack she was carrying.  It looked like one that a folding chair was carried in.  Catie removed the device from it and stretched it out.  It was like a canvas table; the four legs held the canvas top just above the top of the dome so they could lie on it without having their bodies touch the dome.

“Good planning, when did you have it made?”

“Last night,” Catie said.

They laid their pads down on the canvas table and sat down and stretched out in the sun.

“I like this planet,” Catie said.  “Nice weather.”

“Dr. Bremer says they will get some wicked storms in the winter.”

“Will they get snow?”

“Lots of it.”

“Then I could learn to ski.”

“And freeze.”

◆ ◆ ◆

They’d been sunning for about twenty minutes when Catie heard a sharp bark.

“Oh, Dr. Teltar must be letting the dogs out for a run,” Catie said as she scrambled off of the roof, sliding down the dome.  “Come here, boy, come here.  Who’s a good boy.”  Catie rubbed the dog’s head and gave him a kiss.

“Catie, do not distract my hunter,” Dr. Teltar said.

“Your hunter?”

“Yes, he’s trained to capture small animals like your squirrels and rabbits,” Dr. Teltar said.

“Capture?”

“Yes, capture.  I want them alive.”

“I don’t think there are going to be any of them here inside the compound,” Catie said.

“I was just giving him a chance to do his business before I send him and his friend outside,” Dr. Teltar said.  He came around the corner carrying one of the Shih Tzus.  A bot followed him with the carriers for Sapphire and Topaz and the other Shih Tzu.

“Are you going to let the cats out?”

“Yes, as soon as the dogs are outside the compound, I’ll let them out.”

“The dogs won’t attack them, will they?”

“No, but they will distract them.  The cats are supposed to hunt for mice, and small animals that I’m sure are running around here.”

“Will they kill them?”

“No, they’ve been trained to bring them to me alive,” Dr. Teltar said.  “Cats like to keep their prey alive so they can play with them.  When they capture one, I just give them a small toy to play with in exchange for it.  It’s programmed to try to escape at random times.  They love them.”

“And what is he trained to capture?” Catie asked, pointing to the dog in Dr. Teltar’s arm.

“Oh, this baby, he’s trained to be good company,” Dr. Teltar said.  “Being adorable is his only skill.”

“Ohh, I didn’t realize you were such a softie,” Catie cooed.

“I’m just getting him acclimated to the environment,” Dr. Teltar said.  He was bristling at being called a softie.  “I’m sure that once he’s acclimated, some of the crew will appreciate his company.”

“Do you want me to acclimate the other one?” Catie asked.

“Go ahead.”

Catie got the other Shih Tzu from his cage.  “They are fun to hold,” she said as she snuggled her face against the dog.  He started to lick her face.

“You do know, you’ll need to disinfect your face,” Dr. Teltar said with a grimace.

“Oh, he’s worth it.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Look at him go!” Catie squealed as she and Liz watched one of the Basenjis chase after a rabbit.  The other dog helped by cutting off the rabbit’s escape route.

“Those dogs are really fast,” Liz whooped.  “We should hold dog races.”

“This is better,” Catie said.  “Yes, he caught it.”

The Basenji carried the rabbit over to Dr. Teltar.  He handed it over, and Dr. Teltar put it in the cage that was on the bot he was standing next to.  Then he gave both dogs a treat.  He ordered them to sit while he viewed the video from the probe hovering overhead.  It took several minutes before another animal poked its head up.  This time it looked like a squirrel.  Dr. Teltar pointed it out to the dogs, and the chase was on.

“Those dogs are well trained,” Catie said, “aren’t they,” she said to Genghis, the Shih Tzu she was holding.

“Yes, I’m amazed he could teach them not to kill the animals,” Liz said.

“I don’t know why.  Puppies are always playing with each other.  They look ferocious, but they don’t hurt their littermates.”

“Oh, that makes sense.  I’ve never had a dog.”

“We did when we lived in Boston,” Catie said.  “But after the divorce, Mom gave it to her parents when we moved.”

“Oh, that had to suck.”

“Yes, but who was going to take care of it when she was working all the time?  I had to go to school.”

“There it goes, it’s running for the tree!” Liz shouted, changing the subject.

“The other guy cut it off!  Smart dog.  Is he as smart as you, Genghis, is he?  I don’t think so.”

“Well, look who’s running around and who’s sitting in someone’s lap,” Liz said.

Chapter 12

Board Meeting – May 3rd

“Okay, we’re all here,” Marc said.  “I want to go back to calling these board meetings.  We’ll discuss some issues related to Delphi Security, but we should focus on MacKenzie Discoveries more and only provide support to the prime minister when she asks for it.”

“Why isn’t the prime minister here?” Admiral Michaels asked.

“I’ll meet with her separately.  Other than foreign affairs and national security, I want her to be in charge.”

“Are you really going to let go of that much?” Samantha asked.

“I’m going to try,” Marc said.

“Why is it that much?” Catie asked.  “He’s still the president.”

“Haven’t you read the Delphi Constitution?” Marc asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t really study it,” Catie said.

“Well, based on the constitution and the parliamentary form of government, the prime minister is really the head of government,” Marc said.  “The president is the head of state, and mostly deals with foreign affairs.”

“Sounds perfect,” Catie said.  “The rest of that stuff is boring.”

“How are you going to deal with the proprietary technology Delphi controls?” Admiral Michaels asked.  “You’ve been keeping a tight rein on that.”

“Almost all of it is controlled through MacKenzie Discoveries,” Marc said.  “The Paraxeans work for MacKenzies, the scientists we’ve brought here all work for MacKenzies and are under non-disclosure, and ADI, the best source of technology information, is part of MacKenzies.”

“What about that battleship and the two carriers we captured?  They all have DIs, right?”

“Owned by MacKenzie Discoveries,” Samantha said.  “It was a very deft piece of negotiations if I say so myself.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize that,” the Admiral said.

“Now to business.  Delphi and Russia have both been invited to the G7 summit at Fort William, Scotland, next week,” Marc said.

“They invited Russia?”

“I think Prime Minister Woodward is trying to get us into the same room in hopes of calming down tensions,” Marc said.

“That’s the sense I got when their ambassador called me,” Samantha said.  “I recommend we go.”

“Do you think the Russian President will show up?” Blake asked.

“I’m sure he’ll show up,” Marc said.  “Whether he’ll be in the mood to talk is another question.”

“I’m pretty sure he’ll talk,” Samantha said.  “He’ll at least want to know what you might give him.”

“We’ll see how things stack up once we get there.  I’m hopeful,” Marc said.  “Now, Blake, what’s the status of our new planet?”

“Haven’t you been reading the reports?” Blake said.  “We’re on our way to the second one now.  The first one looks good.  We’ve left some experiments running, satellites in orbit, and some drones at each base camp to continue logging the indigenous species.”

“I’ve read the reports; I was hoping you might have more insight now that you’ve had time to reflect on your discoveries,” Marc said.

“Hey, what’s this I hear about you getting eaten by a tiger?” Kal asked.

“Obviously I was not eaten!” Blake snapped.  “It was a minor incident that was not supposed to be reported!”

“It wasn’t reported, per se,” Kal said.  “I just happened to stumble across the video of it when I was checking the security feeds.”

“Just happened to stumble across it!” Blake said while he turned and gave Liz and Catie a murderous glare.  Both of them were struggling to suppress laughter.

A video of Blake and the tiger came up on the display, with The Eye of the Tiger blaring over the Comms.

“Enough,” Marc said.  “We need to move on.”

“Thanks,” Blake said.

“Sam and I will invite Kal over tonight to watch the video over some wine,” Marc deadpanned.

“You . . .”

“Catie, the twins loved the pictures of the triceratops,” Samantha interrupted, trying to avert a squabble between the two brothers.  “They didn’t care that it wasn’t really a dinosaur.”

“Yeah, that was cool,” Kal said.  “Too bad it had to tear down all that fence.”

“Moving on!  Blake, do you have any insights?” Marc asked.

Blake let out an exasperated sigh.  “Sure.  I think it will be an excellent planet.  The system has a healthy asteroid belt that will probably prove useful in the future.  We’ve found all the necessary elements for a technological civilization to form.  It will not need very much terraforming, which will be especially helpful to the Paraxeans.  We were able to eat the local plants, and the local wildlife might provide a source of protein.”

“The Paraxeans grow all their meat,” Catie said.  “They only keep animals as pets.”

“But will they be able to do that while they’re establishing the colony?” Kal asked.  “Those vats take a lot of maintenance, and you have to provide all the minerals.”

“I don’t know; I’ll have to ask Dr. Teltar,” Catie said.

“What about the weather?” Marc asked.

“Dr. Bremer says the climate will generate some extreme storms in the winters, but they should be manageable.  Especially if they start out close to the equator.”

“Good, maybe we have a home for the Paraxeans and they can move on,” Marc said.  “We should start planning when and how to transport them to it.  Catie, any word from Dr. McDowell?”

“Hardly,” Catie said, “but he is working hard on it.  He’s ordered some probes designed and built based on the new concept, so I think he’ll be testing it later this month.”

“Do you want to share with us exactly what this new concept is?” Marc asked.

“You won’t get bored?”

“If we get bored, we’ll go back to the video of the tiger.”

“I will get even!” Blake said.

“You always say that,” Marc said.  “Now, Catie.”

“Okay, you asked for it.  The jumpdrive works by forcing a gravity void to develop between the four engines.  You might think that there are lots of gravity voids, but that’s not true.  There is gravity everywhere, the effects of far-off stars and even far-off galaxies can be felt everywhere.  So the drives have to be tuned to adjust for all that until there isn’t any gravity. When it creates the void, a wormhole forms.  The other end of the wormhole jumps to an area of space where there is another gravity void, or extremely low gravity, that matches the vibrations in the end we form.  If there is enough energy to expand it so that it encompasses all the mass in the vicinity, then the wormhole grows from a microscopic size to one big enough for all the mass to move through it.

“At first, we thought the space between the engines couldn’t have any mass in it, but that didn’t make sense since there were parts of the drives in that general area, and how would the wormhole grow if it had to pass through all that mass.  So, I thought that we could put each engine on a separate ship or probe and then form the wormhole around the mass we wanted to transport.  That would allow us to set the drives symmetrically around the mass we wanted to move, like the asteroid.”

“And you thought this up by yourself?” Samantha asked.

“Well, I really just thought about how I wished it would work,” Catie said.  “Having to put the four engines on one side of the asteroid meant we needed to form an even bigger wormhole.  It would be so much more convenient if we could place them around the asteroid.  Then since it’s not a sphere, I thought ships would be better.  Then that made me realize how cool it would be to have four ships that you could use to move another ship or object through the wormhole.  Then we wouldn’t need to put those big drives in every ship.”

“Okay, okay, now go back to where you’re putting them on separate ships, and Dr. McDowell,” Marc said.

“Well, that’s mostly it.  I went to ask him about it, and at first, he said it wouldn’t work, then he immediately saw something, and he’s been working on it since.”

“So how long before we know?” Marc asked.

“First, he has to figure out whether it will work.  After that, we’ll have to go through the same set of tests,” Catie said, “so, two months, plus maybe a month for him to finish his analysis.  Of course, that all assumes my idea actually works.”

“Are you going to tell the U.N. about the planets?” Admiral Michaels asked.

“I’d like to know about the second planet first,” Marc said.  “Just solving the Paraxean problem isn’t going to change much at the U.N.”

“I didn’t realize we were a problem,” Dr. Metra snapped.

“Sorry, I should have said the Paraxeans’ problem,” Marc apologized as he wondered why that had drawn such a strong reaction from Dr. Metra.  He filed it away as something to discuss with Samantha.

“Thank you,” Dr. Metra said.

“Do you think that having a colony planet for Earth will make that much difference?” Admiral Michaels asked.

“It’s not just a colony planet,” Marc said.  “With the jumpdrive, we will be able to trade with it, and the Paraxeans’ colony as well.  It also opens the door to trading with the other spacefaring civilizations out there.  Nobody is going to want to lose out on that opportunity.”

“But you risk starting another round of competition that could lead to war,” Kal said.

“That’s why we have to do it very carefully,” Marc said.  “And as long as we create the engines and drive, we can dictate the terms of the trading relationships.”

“As long as we can keep control,” Admiral Michaels said.

“That brings us back to security.  Kal, how is our recruitment and training for the security forces going?”

“We’re doing well,” Kal said.  “But with this latest development, I am wondering if we should step it up.  Ten-thousand Marines isn’t very many if you’re talking about multiple planets and a fleet to protect them.”

“I agree,” Admiral Michaels said.  “We should grow as fast as Kal can manage; we should shoot for fifty thousand in the first two years.  We might want to look into purchasing a few more frigates for here on Earth.  Ideally you would have two or three per carrier.”

“I wish we could purchase them from the U.S.,” Marc said.  “But they’re not relaxing their posture as of now.  Spend what you have to.”

“And how do you think the prime minister will feel about that?” Samantha asked.

“Start stepping up the recruitment,” Marc said.  “I’ll find a way to discuss it with the prime minister.”

“Will do!”

“I think the same will be true for pilots,” Marc added.

“We have a bit of an advantage there,” Blake said.  “The military pilots have not been especially interested in joining the MacKenzie pilot pool.  That has forced us to recruit civilian pilots to fly the Oryx fleet.  If Catie comes up with her new ship, we won’t need so many of those, and we can convert them to military pilots, and continue to recruit civilians to pilot the jetliners.”

“And our academy?”

“We’ve selected a commandant,” Admiral Michaels said.

“Who?”

“Admiral Savanah Lewis,” Admiral Michaels said.  “She ran the Naval War College before she retired.”

“Running a War College is a lot different than an academy,” Samantha said.  “With the war college you are dealing with adults, the academy is going to be full of teenagers.”

“I didn’t realize you wanted to participate in the selection process,” Admiral Michaels said in an icy tone.  “But to your point, she’s commanded a carrier before, and I can assure you that one of those is full of teenagers.”

“Now children!” Dr. Metra said.

“I am not a child!” Admiral Michaels snapped.

“Then quit acting like one.  Sam made a good point; you answered it well if we ignore the sarcasm.  We should move on.”

“Thank you, Dr. Metra,” Marc said, shocked at Dr. Metra’s tone.  She usually ignored the squabbles that occurred during these meetings.  “So, when will she arrive?”

“In three weeks,” Admiral Michaels said.

“Anything special that she’ll need?”

“No,” Admiral Michaels said.

“She wants to get a trip to Delphi Station, and to qualify on the Fox and the Lynx,” Blake said.  “I think that’s what sold her on the job.”

“Oh, so she wants to have a little fun,” Samantha said.  “That sounds good.”

“She has been known to party in her younger days,” Admiral Michaels said.  “We were at the academy together.”

“Oh, does Pam know you’re bringing in an old flame?”

“She is not an old flame!” Admiral Michaels said.  “The only flame involved was when she set fire to some jerk upper-class cadet’s uniforms.”

“And why did she do that?”

“He thought it would be funny to have her do the obstacle course in her dress whites.”

“Did he know who did it?”

“I’m sure he did, but he couldn’t prove it.  Their unit was on an exercise out in the woods somewhere.”

“She didn’t tell me that,” Blake said.  “Now, I like her even more.”

“Moving on,” Marc said.  “What’s the status of the construction?”

“We have the dorms ready for the cadets we have coming in this summer,” Fred said.  “We’ll add more for next year when we bring in a bigger freshman class.  The main classroom building is ready.  We still need to figure out how much class space we need.  Are we going to conduct classes like a typical college, or are we going to do more remote teaching?”

“We’ll have to do some remote teaching since we won’t have enough professors,” Admiral Michaels said.  “But even then, I think we want to have a traditional classroom setting.  We want these cadets to get used to structure, coordinated activities, and discipline.”

“Then we’ll have to push hard to finish up the second building.  I can have it ready by fall.”

“That should work,” Blake said.  “There won’t be that much classroom instruction over the summer.”

“Okay, now are there any issues with our manufacturing?” Marc asked.

“No, we’re good.  Jonas has put together a detailed status report that makes it easy to see where everything is.  You should read it.”

“I will.  How are the platinum group metals doing?”

“We’re starting to feed the actual metals into the market,” Fred said.  “Sam, last chance to join in selling futures.  The price is going to start falling in another week, two at the most.”

“Since ADI manages my money, I assume I’m already selling futures,” Samantha said.

“And you’ve done quite well,” ADI said.

“Thank you.”

“Why isn’t ADI managing my money?” Fred asked.

“Did you ask her to?”

“No, but . . .”

“Well, there you go,” Samantha said.  “She’s not a mind reader.”

“I try,” ADI said.

“Okay, so when do you think we can announce that we’re mining the asteroid belt?” Marc asked.

“ADI?”

“I predict that prices will stabilize in three weeks,” ADI said.  “Once you announce that you’re mining in the asteroid belt, they will drop another thirty percent.”

“Good, that should coincide with completing the survey of the second planet,” Marc said.  “One last item I want to announce.  Catie’s mother, Linda, has asked to open a pharmaceutical company here in Delphi City.  She plans to use the Paraxean technology to produce vaccines for viral outbreaks.  She has a process to isolate the virus and produce a plasma treatment in just a few weeks.  She then has a process to shorten testing of potential vaccines to a few months.  I’ve given her the approval.”

“She extended their technology and invented some new techniques,” Catie said.

“Oh, she didn’t mention that,” Marc said.

“She’s already contacted me about setting up a manufacturing plant,” Fred said.

“Good, I just want to inform everyone, so we stay on the same page.  You can contact Jonas if you want more details about the arrangement.”

“This is more of what I am looking for,” Herr Hausmann said.  “It is unfortunate that her name is McCormack, but having a company that is totally independent of MacKenzie Discoveries will help.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Catie, a moment if you please,” Marc messaged Catie after he closed the meeting.

“Sure, Daddy, I’m glad you approved Mommy’s proposal.”

“Did you have any doubts?”

“Not really.”

“Good.  But now, can you explain to me what you and Marcie are doing?” Marc asked after everyone except Samantha had left.

“She’s helping me with my company,” Catie said.

“Which company?”

“The one I formed to sell my robosteps and mini-Comms,” Catie said.

“I see.  And deciding to poach Marcie from us, you didn’t think you should talk to me about that?”

“I didn’t poach her,” Catie said.  “I went to her for advice; she said she’d help get things rolling for me, then she’d help me find someone to run it.”

“She’s telling me that she’s going to run it,” Marc said.

“Oh, she did say she might want to do it herself, but I thought she was just kidding.”

“Well, apparently she wasn’t.  Something about you guaranteeing her a salary for a couple of years.”

“I did say that.  I wanted her to be able to make a choice without worrying about money.”

“I see.  Have you been poaching any more of my employees?”

“Uh . . . I did offer Nikola a part of the company for some help she’s giving me on a design.  But I’m sure that she won’t be leaving MacKenzies.”

“I see, anyone else?”

“Well, Sam said she wanted to invest in the cargo ship.”

“Do you think you might try recruiting from someplace else besides MacKenzies?”

“We will.  Liz and I decided we would hire someone from outside to run the cargo business.  We’re thinking of a retired military cargo master.”

“That’s nice of you,” Marc said.

“Be nice,” Samantha said as she smacked Marc on the shoulder.  “Catie, you’re doing just fine.  Don’t let him intimidate you.”

“I’m not intimidating her!” Marc yelped.  “I’m just treating her like any adult employee of a multinational company.  One who’s decided to strike out on her own but is still utilizing the resources of the company.”

“Just like any other entrepreneur,” Samantha said.  “Catie, you’re doing just fine.  Don’t change anything.”

“That from one of her investors!” Marc cried out in mock protest.

“Daddy, do you want to invest?”

“Get out!  Back to work, both of you!” Marc shouted, waving his hands at them.  He was laughing a bit, but it wasn’t obvious if that was because he was joking, or because Samantha was throwing things at him.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister,” Samantha said as she joined Prime Minister Nazeri for lunch in her office.

“Ms. Newman, please call me Fatiha.”

“Only if you call me Sam.”

“Of course, Sam,” Prime Minister Nazeri said.  She seemed to have trouble saying Sam, giving a small grimace as she did.

“Well, Fatiha, how are you settling into your new role?”

“I am doing well.  I’m learning so much about Delphi that I didn’t realize before.”

“Like what?”

“We have a very robust underground economy.”

Samantha shook her head in surprise, “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, everyone knows about the market, but there are all kinds of services provided that are not so obvious.”

“Such as?”

“Did you know you can get your shoes polished by just sending a message and then leaving them in the delivery box of your condo?”  All the condos had a small door that accessed a box inside the condo, where people could receive deliveries when they weren’t home.  The door was keyed to the various delivery people who provided services.

“No, I didn’t,” Samantha said.

“Well, you can.  You put them in the box, and within a few hours, a young child comes by to collect them.  They are polished and returned to you that night.  If you are in a big hurry, you can pay extra, and someone picks them up and returns them within an hour.”

“And they use young children for this?”

“Yes, the ones who are too young to get a regular job after school, but still want to make money.  I’ve talked to a few of them, and they really love it,” the prime minister said.

“Who polishes the shoes?”

“They take them to one of the shoe stores to be polished.  And if they notice a bit of wear, they put a little note in your shoe telling you what it will cost to repair it.  If there’s a big problem, they’ll message you.”

“That sounds nice; I’ll have to start using it.  What other things have you found?”

“You can get anything delivered.  Generally by the same children, but sometimes by an older teen or adult.  You can shop remotely.  They’ll pick up your list of items, and even use a video link when they pick out the fruit and vegetables so that you’re sure you’re getting what you want.”

“Sounds like people never have to leave home,” Samantha said.

“They don’t unless they have to for work.  So many of our citizens work from home by telecommuting.  That means that unless you work in a factory or plant, it’s easy to avoid any kind of commute.”

“Wouldn’t that get lonely?”

“I thought so, but then as I’ve gone around and met them, I realized that they are just as sociable as the people who go to the plant or an office.  They schedule lunch with friends and coworkers.  They will even schedule work-days in someone’s condo.  Sometimes it is to facilitate working on a project, but other times it's just to be in the same room with their coworkers.  Everyone takes a break and goes outside for a walk in a park, or to do some shopping.  But they are able to operate on their own schedule.”

“That does sound exciting.”

“I’m going to recommend that MacKenzies expand the work area in the condo buildings — people like to be around other people when they’re working.  The socialization of having workmates is important.

“What else have you learned?”

“I think there are far more design firms working here than Herr Hausmann realizes.  There are lots of little startups that are designing some new application or device.  There is even one that is selling these little robot stepstools that you can command with your voice.  They make putting groceries away so much easier.”

“That’s Catie’s company,” Samantha said.

“It is?  I thought she designed ships.”

“She designs whatever her brain comes up with,” Samantha said.  “Do you think these design firms are avoiding taxes?”

“No, but Herr Hausmann has yet to amass all the income tax data.  And it’s only for last year; and as fast as things are growing, that data is out of date by now, so it won’t be very useful for projections, our history is so short.”

“I’m sure Marc was excited to hear that.”

“I’m sure he will be,” the prime minister said, making it clear to Samantha that she was sharing with her first.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Hi, Liz,” Catie greeted as Liz joined her at the cafeteria table with her tray.

“Hi, what are you working on?  Our ship, I hope.”

“No, I sent the files for the preliminary design to Ajda.  She’s going to have the design team work through them and run a few simulations.  I should hear back from her in a couple of weeks.”

“Okay, I guess.  So what are you working on?”

“A golf course.”

“What?!”

“A golf course.”

“Where are you going to put it?” Liz asked.

“In Delphi City,” Catie said.

“Are you crazy, that would take up a full section.”

“A regular one would, but this is a cool design, it fits in a single quad,” Catie said.

“How in the world do you make that work?”

“First, you wear specs while playing the course.  So you feel like you’re playing a normal big course.  You see the surrounding hills and big fairways, just like you’re on the course, like Pebble Beach, for instance.  Then I have it set up so that when you tee off, a drone maps its flight and then captures your ball.  It then deposits it in the fairway where it would have landed, but it skips the middle of the flight saving over one hundred meters.  Then when you hit it again, the drone captures it and either drops it on the green or the second section of the fairway,” Catie explained.  “That means you can fit a three-hundred-meter fairway in one hundred fifty meters.  And I can simulate doglegs and curves without having to use all that space.”

“So that means you cut out how much?”

“I fit a hole into one hundred eighty meters,” Catie said.  “I can make it anything between a par three and a par five.  And women and men tee off from the same spot.”

“What do you do if they slice it?”

“There are three drones hovering overhead to capture the ball.  If you slice it or hook it out of play, they drop it on the fairway and assess a stroke penalty.”

“And you’re doing this because?”

“My grandpa pa said that if we had a golf course, he’d spend more time in Delphi City.”

“Oh, and coming up with a way to make one fit was just enough of a challenge to stir your juices.”

“Yep.  I’ve got eighteen holes, and you can redefine the golf course to match any golf course in the world.  I’ve got two greens on each end of the fairways so you can reconfigure it quickly.”

“Are you really going to build it?”

“Sure, if we don’t like it, we can turn it into a regular park,” Catie said.  “And if it works, the hotels will get extra bookings; people like to be able to play golf on their vacations.  We might even be able to hold a golf tournament.”

“Crazy, just don’t let it get in the way of getting our ship designed.”

“Don’t worry.”

“By the way, we’re getting close to the next planet.  I think since I did it last time, it’s your turn to fly the Lynx and get the early survey done,” Liz said with an evil grin.

“Nuh-uh.  We’ve saved all of our velocity from the exit from the last system, so the Lynx could only get there a day ahead of the Roebuck.  I convinced Uncle Blake that it wasn’t worth it.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Nope.  Why add all that hassle just to save one day.”

“How come every time I bet with you, it feels like it’s fixed?”

“Because I’m good?” Catie said, hopefully.

“I think it’s because you’re a witch.”

“Bwah-ha-ha,” Catie cackled.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Are we ready to jump?” Blake asked.

“Yes sir, jump is plotted and course laid in,” Catie reported.

“Then let’s jump.  Engage.”

“Jumping!”

“What the hell!” Blake shouted as an alarm started blaring.

“Proximity alarm!” the sensor operator shouted.

“Forward plasma cannon, automatic targeting, fire!” Blake shouted

“But . . .”

“Fire!”

“Yes, sir,” the weapons operator replied as he engaged the plasma cannon.

“Full power to the cannon!” Blake ordered.

“Full power, aye!”

Suddenly the alarm stopped.

“What was that?!” Catie asked.

“I think it was a small asteroid,” the sensor operator reported.  “I’m examining the sensor logs now.”

“What are the odds?” Catie asked.

“Apparently not long enough,” Blake replied.  “Helm, give us some gravity.  One half G.”

“One half G, aye.”

“So what do we do to avoid this in the future?” Blake asked.

“It’s a million to one that the wormhole would open close to a small asteroid,” Liz said.

“Yeah, and it would slide away from a bigger one,” Catie added.

“I don’t care about the odds, I’d rather not roll the dice on our lives,” Blake said.

“We could leave a probe here that we could have scan the area where we’re going to open the wormhole.  With the quantum relay, we’d know before we jumped,” Catie said.

“What about when we’re jumping into a new system?” Liz asked.

“Could we push a probe through before us?” Blake asked.

“I think we could,” Catie said.  “I’ll run the model on it.  I’ll need to contact Dr. McDowell to confirm.”

“Do it, we’ll just stay here until you give me an answer,” Blake said.

“What if we can’t push a probe through?” Liz asked.

“We’ll go through with the plasma cannons armed and ready to fire.  We might even start firing them right away,” Blake replied.

“I’ll have an answer by the time the capacitors are charged,” Catie said.

◆ ◆ ◆

As they approached the second planet, Liz and Catie joined Blake on the bridge to watch their approach.

“How big is the moon?” Liz asked.

“A little under fifteen hundred kilometers,” Catie said.  “Smaller than the Earth’s moon.”

“So this planet won’t have tides as big as we have on Earth?”

“No, this moon’s smaller but denser,” Catie said.  “Analysis of its orbit says it is twenty percent heavier than Earth’s moon, so bigger tides.”

“Interesting.  How many landmasses?”

“Five, one on the bottom like Antarctica, and that big one we’re approaching.  It’s probably made up of several continental plates.  Then another big one below it, kind of like Africa.  And on the other side there’s a good sized one in the northern hemisphere and a small one south of it.

“How did you decide which way was north?” Liz asked.

“Rotation, sun rises in the east.”

“Smart.  So we’re putting down on the big landmass first?”

“Yes,” Blake answered.  “Dr. Qamar and Dr. Teltar want to start there.  We’ll do it, the one below it, then the big one on the other side.”

“Why are they betting on that one for the colony to start?” Liz asked.

“Smallest isolated landmass that isn’t too small,” Blake said.  “They joked that if we messed it up, we would still have the other two big ones to try.  At least I think it was a joke.”

“Not many clouds,” Liz observed.

“Yeah, I’m guessing the whole place is a bit arid,” Blake said.

“If it is, we can bring in ice asteroids to add moisture,” Catie said.

“I don’t know, that might disrupt the ecosystem too much,” Blake said.

“It is blue,” Catie said, “but I don’t see many inland lakes, at least not big ones.”

“Probably because it’s so dry.”

“Okay, first location is at the equator on the east side of the big landmass,” Blake said.  “Fortunately, close to the coast; I think it’s going to be hot.”

“This system has a big asteroid belt,” Liz said.  “We should be able to find plenty of ice asteroids if we need them.  It’ll make for good mining later.”

“Hundreds of years later,” Blake said.

“Not hundreds, but decades,” Catie countered.

“You two should get ready, we’ll finish the survey in an hour,” Blake said.

“Same process as last time?” Liz asked.

“Worked once,” Blake said.

Chapter 13

A Deal with the Devil

“I think you two have some things to discuss,” the British Prime Minister said.  She had arranged a private meeting between Marc and the Russian president.  She had led them to the billiard room where they would be able to have a private meeting.  There was a table with two wingback chairs set up by the window.  A Waterford pitcher and two glasses sat on the table; the pitcher was full of ice water.

“Thank you, Madam Prime Minister,” Marc said.

“Spasibo,” the Russian president said.

Marc nodded at the president’s translator.

“I am here to translate for the president,” the translator said, then repeated what he said in Russian even though it was obvious that the president had understood him.

“I can handle the translations,” Marc said.  He then had ADI repeat what he said in Russian via his Comm.

“Are you sure?  Russian can be very complex to translate, especially when you’re dealing with difficult issues,” the translator said.

ADI translated his statement into Russian before he could.

“I am absolutely sure,” Marc said.  “And we may wish to discuss some things that should only be between us.”

“Da,” the Russian president said.  “Leave us,” he added in English.  He took a seat in the chair on the left.  Marc sat in the chair on the right.

“This device will translate for us.  I will receive the translations via my earwig,” Marc pointed to his right ear.  “I will make no recording or any other record of the conversation other than my own memory.”

“How do I know you are telling the truth?”

“You have to trust me,” Marc said.  “And you have my statement recorded on that device in your jacket pocket.  You may want to turn it off now.”

The Russian president’s eyes went wide as he realized that Marc had somehow detected his recording device, and where it was located.  It was very small, and until now had not been detected by anyone else.

“I will trust for now,” the president said as he reached into his jacket and took the device out.  He made a show of turning it off and setting it on the table.

“Thank you,” Marc said.  “It’s been an interesting conference so far.”

“Da, the West is very arrogant.  G7, bah, they don’t include Russia, India, or China, yet they say they represent the top economies of the world.”

“Well, Russia is only eleventh,” Marc said.

“Only because you do not measure correctly.”

“I am not responsible for the measurement.  But, let’s move on to other matters.  Our two nations seem to be at an impasse.”

“Of course, you bomb us and steal our land.”

“We can argue about that, or we can talk about how to move forward.”

“How do we move forward when you are trying to destroy Russia?!  You are trying to split her into smaller countries!”

“I can assure you that is not our intention.  We have refused to provide aid or even discuss the possibility with other separatist factions in Russia.  As I have said before, we are envisioning a world where the country you live in only defines the culture you live in.  That your personal economics and freedom are independent of where you live.”

“A fairy tale.”

“Why?  With virtually free energy and low-cost transportation, your location is not as important as it once was.”

“Yes, and your virtually free energy is harming the Russian economy.  The price of oil has suffered since you started selling your fusion reactors.”

“The price will recover as more products shift to polysteel and polyglass.”

“But it will never be the same.  That will never replace the consumption driven by fuel.”

“So, you need to adapt.  Shift your economy away from oil.”

“To do that, you must sell your machines, technology, and services to the world.  You must be able to create new jobs.”

“Yes, and that is one of the reasons we are talking right now.  If the world can ensure internet security, then jobs become much more mobile.  The hacking by China and the other major powers drives companies to cloister their resources to protect their intellectual property.”

“So, you think that by destroying the Russian internet, you will accomplish this?  Don’t deny it; we know it was you.  The Americans don’t have the technology to do what you did.”  The president pointed to the Comm sitting on the table.  “That is the technology that was used, and you are keeping it to yourself.”

“That technology belongs to MacKenzie Discoveries.  And as a private company, we are protecting our market advantage and selling the devices we manufacture.”

“Like I said.  You are trying to become the masters of the world.  Your economy is becoming more dominant as you introduce new technology and keep it to yourself.”

“We are willing to share,” Marc said.  “Russia is too dependent on the export of raw materials to succeed in the new world.”

“Because you put trade sanctions on us!”

“I have nothing to do with those sanctions,” Marc said.  “We were not even part of the U.N. when they were imposed.”

“But you are following them.”

“We haven’t been impacted by them,” Marc said.  “We have not come across anything produced in Russia that we needed.”

“Because of those sanctions, we are not allowed to compete, so we are not developing new things.”

“I have a proposal that can help there,” Marc said.  “I would consider allowing Russia to put labs on Delphi Station.  That Comm is so powerful because its electronics are miniaturized far beyond what other companies can achieve.  That is because we are manufacturing it in microgravity.  I’m sure there are lots of other products that can only be manufactured in microgravity.”

“Yes, but you already know of them from the technology you stole from that starship.  And now the technology you steal from the fleet that Earth defeated.”

“There is some truth in that,” Marc said, “but we’ve found that the Paraxeans were not that innovative.  Our scientists have improved upon their technology and come up with new applications for it and new derivatives of it.”

“I like this idea, but it is too slow.  It takes years to bring such technology to market.  And jobs will not be the best for our labor force.  We need jobs in heavy industries.”

“What would you propose?” Marc asked.

“You put fusion reactors in your starships and your spaceplanes.  We could use those reactors for our ships.”

Marc smiled to himself.  Clearly, the Russian president had come prepared to make a deal.  He’d come with specific things he wanted that would help the Russian economy.

“It is possible we could make some kind of deal,” Marc said.

“Yes, and we could make trains with such power plants.  Russia is so vast that we must rely on trains for much of our transportation.”

“I could consider that,” Marc said.

“In exchange for what?”

“We want you to agree to nuclear disarmament via the SALT III talks.  We want you to hold to your agreement to not interfere in your neighbors’ affairs.”

“What else?”

“Support the internet security proposal at the U.N., and abide by the new laws that it develops.”

“What will you do about China, Iran, and the others?”

“We’ve made it clear that we can overwhelm their systems.  We will help to enforce those rules by the same means we’ve just displayed,” Marc said.

“What else?”

“You need to stop exporting bullets,” Marc said.

The Russian president looked at Marc, confused.  He looked at the Comm, but he had understood the English words, so the translation was correct.  Then he laughed.

“You make joke,” he said as he pointed his finger at Marc like a revolver and made like he was shooting.

“A small joke,” Marc said, “but it was not only a joke.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“How was it?” Samantha asked Marc when he joined her for dinner in the red dining room.

“He’s a hard man,” Marc said.

“One would have to be to survive as long as he has.”

“He also came better prepared to discuss options than I had expected.”

“Such as?”

“He’s asking for small fusion reactors to put into ships and locomotives.  It would be a big boost to their economy since their operating cost would be dramatically cheaper.  The ships would be able to haul more cargo since they wouldn’t have to also carry huge fuel tanks.”

“Do you think he’s been playing us?”

“I don’t know.  Clearly, he wanted Crimea and Southern Ukraine both as a buffer between Russia and the West, as well as for the economic advantages the ice-free ports would provide.”

“And now?” Samantha asked.

“He’s been difficult in order to create maximum leverage.  The Russians are masters at the long game, and he’s a master among Russians.  He knows he has to create a manufacturing industry that exports significant value.”

“Ships and trains, that will make a big difference.  What did he think about the Delphi Station proposal?”

“He played it cool.  Pointed out that it was a long game, that he didn’t think they could wait that long.  The ships and locomotives nicely dovetail into their existing manufacturing.  It would create a lot of jobs and reduce their negative trade balance.”

“Are you going to give it to him?”

“We’ll see,” Marc said.  “Now tell me, how was your day?”

“Spa with the other ladies,” Samantha said.  “Very relaxing.”

◆ ◆ ◆

A week later, Marc and the Russian president held a press conference on the front lawn of the castle.

“First, I would like to thank Prime Minister Woodward for arranging the meeting between the Russian president and me,” Marc said.  “It was a courageous move.

“Second, I would like to announce that Delphi’s MacKenzie Discoveries has created a partnership with Russia’s shipbuilding and locomotive industries.  MacKenzie Discoveries will be supplying small fusion reactors, and Russia’s companies will incorporate those reactors into their ships and locomotives.”

“Why did you select Russia for those concessions?” a reporter shouted.

“Delphi is not in a position to manufacture ships nor locomotives.  Russia already has a strong industry that produces those products.  By partnering, we bring those critical products to market sooner, advancing Delphi’s goal of curbing global warming.”

“Won’t your giving them exclusive rights to the fusion reactor for ships lead to a Russian monopoly on shipping?”

“Russia has agreed to sell seventy percent of the ships it manufactures to foreign companies,” Marc said.  “That should distribute the benefit and increase the rate at which we can introduce those products to market.  The deal runs for three years, after which time we will be opening up the offer to more countries.”

“Why not open it up now?”

“Russia has the resources we need to make the reactors, and they have the capacity to shift their industries.  By starting out with one country, it simplifies the logistics of design and coordination.”

“Aren’t you rewarding Russia for its aggression?”

“No, Russia and the world have resolved that issue,” Marc said.  “We don’t believe in extending punishment once the problem is solved.  That just leads to more problems.”

“What about the trade sanctions?”

“I expect those sanctions to be lifted.  They’ve accomplished their goals,” Marc said.  He motioned the Russian president to step forward.

“Russia would also like to announce that we are supporting the American resolution to form a governing body to regulate internet security.  We are also looking forward to the continuation of the SALT III discussion; we firmly believe that nuclear disarmament will help the economies of all countries.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Why didn’t you announce the deal about Delphi Station?” Samantha asked.

“He asked me not to.  I suspect he hopes to get a jump on the competition,” Marc said.  “Just a few months could make a big difference.”

“What did you get for that?”

“Syria,” Marc said.

“What?”

“He’s going to force Syria to have free elections.”

“Will he live up to the deal?”

“I think so.  With the drop in oil prices, the Middle East is not as important.  And their aid to Syria is costing them a fortune.  I agreed to pay the cost of their eventual withdrawal.”

“Generous of you.”

“Nothing’s free, especially when you’re dealing with Russians.”

Chapter 14

Guests?

Catie sat on the jeep, taking a break while she watched the team assemble the building.  They were close to completing the second base camp.  This one wasn’t as nice as the first one that was by the equator.  Much of this planet was arid desert.  Dr. Qamar said that they would need to bring ice asteroids in to moderate the temperature and bring the oxygen level up.  She was wondering if Earth should keep the first planet and let the Paraxeans have this one.  “That would be selfish; Earth has plenty of time to wait while this one gets some terraforming.  The Paraxeans need a place they could move into right away.”

Catie cringed as the wall that was supposed to be the east side of the building came crashing down.

“You idiot,” yelled the crew chief.  “What are you doing stumbling around knocking our braces down?!”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Don’t call me sir!”

“Sorry, Chief.  I didn’t see it.  I was carrying all this wire.”

“And that is the problem.  Never carry too much.  You could hurt yourself, or worse, you could hurt me!  Now put some of that down and come back for it when you’ve delivered the rest!”

“Boy, Chief sure can yell,” Catie thought.

“Cer Catie!” ADI pinged.

“Yes, ADI?”

“I have detected a starship approaching this system.”

“What?!  A starship!”

“Yes, it is approximately 0.4 light-years away.”

“Have you told Uncle Blake?”

“He is sleeping, so I thought I’d start with you,” ADI replied.

“What about Liz?”

“She is engaged in a meeting.”

“Okay, so it’s a long way off.  How fast is it traveling?”

“It is too soon to tell,” ADI said.  “I will need to take another reading in approximately five days to get a reliable measure of its speed.”

“If it’s visible, then it is traveling below the speed of light,” Catie said.  “That means we have at least four months before it gets here, probably more like a year.”

“I surmise that you are correct,” ADI said.  “My best estimate is it is traveling around one quarter the speed of light.”

“Get me Chief Bayless,” Catie requested.

It was only a minute before the chief was on the Comm.  “Catie, what can I do for you?”

“I need you to prep one of the stellar probes,” Catie said.  “Actually, go ahead and prep two.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the chief said.  “Can you tell me what this is about?”

“I have to wait until I’ve informed the captain first,” Catie said.  “I think he’ll want those probes ready as soon as I tell him.”

“I’ll get right on it.”

“ADI, tell Liz to contact me as soon as she’s available,” Catie said.  “And put a message on the captain’s Comm telling him about the starship.”

“Yes, Cer Catie.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“What’s up, Girl?” Liz asked.  It had taken about ten minutes for her to finish her meeting.

“We’ve got company heading this way,” Catie said.

“Huh?  Did you invite someone to dine with us?”

“No.  There’s a starship heading toward this system.”

“Ohh, that kind of company!  How far away are they?” Liz asked.

“Four tenths of a light-year.  So we’ve got lots of time, but we should come up with a plan so we can be ready when they arrive.”

“Have you told Blake yet?”

“He’s napping.  I had ADI leave a message on his Comm.”

“Well, you should get up here, so we can meet when he wakes up,” Liz said.

“Okay, on my way,” Catie said.  “Fox two, can you land?  I need a ride to the Roebuck.”

“Yes, ma’am.  Fox two, requesting permission to land.”

◆ ◆ ◆

By the time Catie made it to the Roebuck, Blake was awake, and he and Liz were waiting for her in his day cabin.

“Okay, I guess this is semi-urgent,” Blake said, “but what can we do now?”

“We can send a probe out to check on it,” Catie said.

“Won’t we risk exposing ourselves and the fact that we have a jumpdrive if we do?” Liz asked.

“If we jump in and then jump right out, I don’t think they’ll be able to detect it.  And if they do, they’ll just assume it’s an anomaly or something like that.”

“Will we get enough information if we’re there for that short a time?” Blake asked.

“We’ll get some.  Once we analyze it, we’ll know enough to decide if we want to send a second probe out.  We’ll know if they’re making active sweeps of the space around them.  With that information, we can decide where we should place the second probe if we decide to send one out.  That one can drop a passive drone to record for a longer period.  Then we’ll send another probe out to collect the drone when we want it back.  Since we’ll be using quantum relays for communication, we can do passive scans, and they’ll never realize we’re there gathering all that information.”

“How long will it take the probes to get back here?” Liz asked.  “There’s not going to be enough gravity to power the jumpdrive for a regular jump out by that ship.”

“I know; we’ll have to make a bunch of mini jumps to get back to this system.  That means it will take about two days to get back to us.  Then it will be three days for the Fox to bring it back from the fringe.”

“Then we should be able to get them back before we need to leave.  Let’s go ahead and get them prepped,” Blake said.

“They’re already prepped and waiting for your orders,” Catie replied.

“I should take more naps,” Blake said.  “Go ahead and send one.  I assume that you have enough quantum relays to make it work.”

“Yep.”

◆ ◆ ◆

They mounted the probes on a Fox, then set the Fox blasting for the fringe of the solar system.  Without a pilot, it was able to do 30Gs by using its grav drives and its space engines to accelerate.  Catie had it overshoot the fringe; it dropped the probe at 60AUs, then continued the process of decelerating so it could turn back toward the fringe.  Then she had it take a more normal profile back to 60AUs to set up for launching the second probe.

The probe winked into space about two light-seconds in front of the approaching starship, then it jumped a light month away from the starship, along a cross vector to its course.  That put the probe out of the path of the starship, and hopefully away from where they could be analyzing the space.

“Okay, here we have it,” Catie said as the sensor data came in from the probe.

They put it up on the display in Blake’s day cabin.

“It looks to be about twice as big as the Roebuck,” Catie said.

“How can you tell the size?” Liz asked.

“These little ruler marks there,” Catie said, pointing to the edge of the display.  “The probe calibrated the distance, so we can extrapolate the size.”

“I know that, I just didn’t see the rulers,” Liz said as she punched Catie on the shoulder.

“Ouch, I’m reporting you to the captain for abusive behavior.”

“I’m going to punch both of you if you don’t stop horsing around and get back to this,” Blake said.

“Sorry.  We don’t have a long enough feed to tell its speed, but we can do that with the next probe.  It looks like it’s just the one ship — nothing special to note, except that its shape is more like a cylinder.  I wonder if they’re spinning it to give them gravity.”

“Obviously they didn’t care about aerodynamics,” Blake said, “so, it’s probably not capable of atmospheric flight.  It doesn’t look like there’s any active propulsion right now.”

“I agree,” Liz said.  “That means they’re at their cruising speed.  I wonder how many years they have been traveling and where they’re coming from?”

“I’m not sure we can figure that out.  We do have some communication chatter from them.  ADI will analyze that, but she’ll probably need more before she can make sense of it.”

“That is if it’s not encrypted,” Blake said.  “Okay, what do we want to do with the second probe?”

“I was thinking that we should drop the passive drone so that it is paralleling the ship’s course and about ten light-minutes ahead of it,” Catie said.

“A, how?  And B, why?” Blake asked.

“A, if we send the probe to this star behind the ship, we can dive into the gravity well for half a day.  Then we can accelerate out of it and make the jump.  If we throw lots of reaction mass, we can match the ship’s velocity before the jump.”

“Okay, that’s how, but now why?”

“Then we can watch it for a longer time,” Catie said.

“I knew that, but I also know you have another reason,” Blake said.

“We can fake communication.”

“Fake?”

“Yes, we can start sending light-speed communication toward the ship.  That will make it look like we spotted it four or five months ago.  If they reply, we’ll know what they say right away, and we might be able to hear what they say about our communication on some other channel.”

“To do that, we would need to have a probe behind it,” Blake said.  “I would assume they’ll direct any communication to their homeworld with a narrow-beam.”

“That makes sense,” Catie said.  “That means we should drop another passive drone behind them on a matching vector.”

“I assume both probes are carrying one,” Blake said.

“Yes, they are.”

“Then take care of it.  Have ADI keep us apprised of what we learn.  Until we know more, we should all get back to work,” Blake said.

“Yes, sir.”

◆ ◆ ◆

It took four days to get both probes in place.  During that time, the team focused on completing the second base camp.  Blake had allowed Chief Bayless to do the hunting since he said he was an old desert rat.  The chief was especially proud that he’d bagged a big cat, it was more like a bobcat, Blake thought.

Once they had both probes in place, Blake had called a meeting to discuss options.

“Hey, Bro,” Blake said as Marc joined their conference.

“Hello, Blake,” Marc said.  “Hi, Catie, Liz.”

“Hi, Daddy.  Hi, Sam.”

“Marc, I assume you’ve read the report about our impending visitors,” Blake said.

“Of course,” Marc said.  “It’s an interesting situation we find ourselves in.”

“To say the least.  Now, let’s discuss our options,” Blake said.  “We’ve been able to pick up some communication chatter that is not encrypted, ADI believes it’s entertainment.”

“I am very confident it is entertainment,” ADI said.  “It appears to be something like the radio and television shows you have on Earth.”

“Why would they be broadcasting that?” Catie asked.

“It is a weak signal, so I would surmise they are broadcasting it within the ship for the crew to listen to or watch on their HUDs,” ADI explained.

“Have you been able to learn their language?” Marc asked.

“Not yet,” ADI said.  “It will take approximately twelve more hours of analysis.  I have ANDI working on it.”

“You’re not doing it yourself?”

“ANDI is perfectly capable of doing this, and I am busy,” ADI said.  “I have him devoting ninety percent of his capacity to it.  Being the DI of the Sakira is not taking very much of his bandwidth since she is only orbiting Earth at this time.”

“Okay, so twelve hours.  Where are you on decoding their encrypted communication?”

“I don’t believe it will be possible to decode it,” ADI said.  “It is very sophisticated.”

“But you decoded the U.S. encryption,” Catie said.

“I did not, I broke into their communication network behind their encryption,” ADI said.

“Oh, right.”

“Enough.  Let’s talk options,” Blake said.  “Catie suggested that we send a signal to them to tell them that we’re aware of their approach.  By using the probe, we can make it look like we sent that signal four months ago.”

“What good will that do?” Samantha asked.

“If they respond, we’ll also have a four-month lead time on that,” Catie said.

“Oh, that could be useful,” Samantha said.  “Although a four-month delay will make for an awkward conversation.”

“But we’ll be able to see what their answers are before they know it.  Then we could send another message, pretending not to know what they replied, but tailor it based on what we learn,” Catie said.

“That makes sense,” Samantha said.  “But we should at least wait until ANDI has learned the language.  We also might learn more about their culture from the shows or whatever they are broadcasting.”

“I agree, patience is what we need,” Marc said.  “We don’t have a time constraint on our side.  With the probes in place, we can execute our plan even after you return to Earth.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Dr. Qamar rushed up to Blake as he prepared to head back to the Roebuck after an inspection tour.  It was the fastest that Blake had ever seen the Paraxean move.

“Captain, I have some news,” Dr. Qamar gushed.

“Relax,” Blake said.  “I’m sure it can wait until you catch your breath.”  They were still in shipsuits with helmets since Dr. Magor had not blessed the planet’s atmosphere yet.

“Of course, but I wanted to deliver it in person,” Dr. Qamar said.  “This is so exciting; I wanted to see your reaction.”

“Okay,” Blake waved Catie over.  She was scheduled to fly him back in the Lynx and was waiting for him at the landing strip.  “Let’s wait for Catie, that’ll let you catch your breath.”

“What’s up?” Catie asked as she jogged over to them.

“Dr. Qamar has some exciting news.”

Catie turned to Dr. Qamar, crossed her arms, and stood waiting.  Her body conveying the ‘well spit it out’ message that she didn’t want to verbalize.

“I’m sure you are aware that earlier I reported that this planet seemed to be rich in metals.”

“I do remember that,” Blake said, trying to be encouraging.

“Well, after further analysis, I find that it is extremely rich in the platinum group metals.  It is quite unusual for any planet to be so rich.”

“I guess that’s good news?” Blake said.  “It will certainly help the colony if it can start exporting those metals.”

“Wait!  Would you be able to detect how rich the planet is from a few light-years away?” Catie asked.

“I don’t think so,” Dr. Qamar said.  “But if the planet is this rich, the asteroid belt is likely to be rich as well.  If it is, that might be detectable.”

“I assume you want to send a Fox out there to find out,” Blake said.

“I think we should.  ADI can fly it.  It’ll take three days to fly there and run some tests.  Then we’ll know if our alien friends out there might already know how rich the system is.”

“ADI.”

“I will be happy to fly the Fox,” ADI said.  “It would be interesting to determine how one could detect the presence of platinum group metals from such a distance.  Our sensors have to be relatively close to detect them.”

“I’ll do some research on that,” Dr. Qamar said.  “If the metal is exposed, then it is likely that spectrography would detect it.  If the asteroids are as rich as the planet, it is also likely that they have exposed seams of the metals.”

“Please do that,” Blake said.  “We’ll be on the Roebuck if you need us.”

“Yes, Captain.  I’ll start working on it right away,” Dr. Qamar said.  He turned and started back toward his lab, muttering to himself.

“What makes you think our new friends might know how rich the system is?” Blake asked.

“It seems like too much of a coincidence.  They must be from a very long distance away, and they’re only sending one ship.”

“We only sent one ship.”

“But we would have made it here in two weeks.  With the quantum relays, we have plenty of time to decide what we want to do with this system.  They’re still at least a year away, and who knows how long they’ve been journeying.”

“That all makes sense.  I’m sure it will affect any discussions we have with them, and it will definitely impact how willing they might be to fight for this place.”

“Since they’re not coming to colonize with that ship, are they an advance party for a colonization fleet, or are they coming to do some prospecting?”

“Hmm, we’ll have to see.”

◆ ◆ ◆

They had just finished the fencing and the main building for the third compound.  It was farther north, so was cooler than the second one, since it was winter in the northern hemisphere.  The Paraxeans had selected a location about eighty kilometers inland from the sea, wanting to make sure that they were above sea level should they decide to add a lot of water.  For the same reason, they were about ten kilometers from the river.

Everyone was a bit tired and shooting the Paraxeans dirty looks.  They all wanted to get out of their suits and enjoy some breeze, but the Paraxeans were holding steadfast to their timetable.

Catie was laying out the sites for the greenhouses when Liz showed up.

“Hey, Girl.”

“Oh, hi, Liz,” Catie replied.

“Where’s your security detail?”

Catie pointed at the jeep.  “They’re sitting in the shade, relying on the drone to let them know if anything approaches.  There aren’t any trees close by and the grass is short.”

“So why did the Paraxeans pick this location?”

“They always focus on grain production,” Catie said.  “This is nice and flat, no trees to dig out when they put the field in.  The river is close enough to pump water, but far enough that they don’t have to worry about floods.”

“Do you think it floods?”

“Maybe, those mountains look like they have snow on them,” Catie said, pointing to the mountain range off to the west.

“I guess they do.  “When are they letting us out of these suits?”

“It’ll be a while; five days last I heard.”

“Ouch.  Well, I’m heading back to the Roebuck; I’ll see you when you come back tonight.”

Chapter 15

Pass the SALT

“You and the Russian president must have really hit it off,” Samantha said after entering Marc’s office.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because they just agreed in principle to the SALT III treaty.”  Samantha used air quotes around ‘in principle.’

“That is good,” Marc said.  He sat back in his chair and removed his specs.  “Very good.”

“It is.  You’ve been playing these cards close to your chest for the last three years; I think it’s time that you put some of them on the table.”

“What cards?”

“You know what I mean.  How do you envision all this playing out?  Are we going to have world peace?”

“That seems unlikely,” Marc said.  “But if you look at where the risks of major conflicts are, this certainly helps.”

“How?”

“Currently there are three areas of potential conflict that could erupt into a widespread war,” Marc said.  “Russia’s attempt to regain parts of the Soviet Union, China’s pressure on asserting control over resources in Africa and East Asia, and the Middle East.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because after the Korean unification, those are the only areas with sufficient concentrations of arms and wealth to drag the rest of the world into war.  With Russia accepting the SALT III agreements, that takes the pressure off China.  They’ve already tacitly agreed to rely on economic competition when they agreed to the fusion power plants and the beginnings of nuclear disarmament.  With their power needs resolved, and with the greenhouses and meat-growing technology we’ve introduced, they are able to support their population with internal resources; at least enough that they don’t feel threatened by a cut-off of trade.”

“But what about all the machinations that they’re pulling in Africa?”

“Scurrying for control over resources.  Fred’s little play in the platinum group metals coupled with the upcoming announcement that we are mining in the asteroid belt will make it clear that we’re not limited by Earth-side resources.”

“But that won’t stop the competition,” Samantha said.

“Of course not.  But it should take enough pressure off that it’s unlikely to erupt into a global war.”

“Okay, but what about the Middle East?”

“If Russia and the U.S. stop fighting proxy wars there, that should help.  Plus, the U.N. now has the ability to clamp down on their source of cash.  Coal is back on the table since its use in the production of polysteel is non-polluting.  So, an embargo on Iran’s oil will actually work.  Who’s going to take the risk of sanctions by buying oil from Iran, when it’s relatively cheap on the open market.  The Saudis will see the writing on the wall, and without the world in fear of Saudi oil being pulled from the market, it will be easier to apply pressure on them.”

“What about Turkey?” Samantha said.  “None of those arguments seems to apply to them.”

“Not directly,” Marc said.  “But they’re the gateway to the Middle East.  If you lower the significance of the Middle East, you make it easier to contain Turkey.”

“But the Armenians and the Kurds?”

“That is a problem.  But without the other conflicts in the area, it’s harder for Turkey to take advantage of that situation to exert more control over them.  The world can restrict those conflicts to the region, and wait it out.”

“What about Israel?”

“And, getting rid of the proxy wars, with better containment of Iran and the Saudis, it’s possible that diplomacy might actually work.  Israel isn’t going anywhere, so if we can turn down the heat, they might actually figure a way to work things out.”

“And global terrorism?”

“It takes money.  The U.N. can starve Iran and the other bad actors into submission; again, it’s about containment.”

“And Africa?”

“Conflicts there are either petty border conflicts or wars over resources.  If you stop the major powers from funding those wars to gain access to the resources, the temperature will come down.  If we start bringing in material from the asteroid belt, it makes it less attractive to manipulate the situation in Africa for those same resources.  The U.N. will have some maneuvering room to start to deal with the poverty and starvation.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s always going to be some warlord who thinks he can make a power grab, but remove the funding, and it’s less likely to escalate beyond the local area.  Who knows, we might get rid of most armed conflicts in ten years.”

“That sounds too Pollyannaish,” Samantha said.

“Maybe, but I think most of the conflicts in Africa will shift into something resembling organized crime.  They will still exist, but the impact on the local population won’t be as devastating, and it might give the governments the room they need so that they can actually start to function like real governments.”

“Tell that to Mexico.”

“They’re getting a handle on it.  Look at Guatemala now.  They’ve gotten the cartels to stop fighting in the streets.  They’re still trafficking drugs, growing opium, cocaine, and other illegal activities, but they’re trying to stay off the radar.  I predict that in another five years, Guatemala will become a lot more like Costa Rica.  With a solid economy and acceptable rule of law.”

“And all it takes to make this happen is for Russia to sign the SALT III Accords.”

“That, and for the U.N. to finally step up and become a governing body for the world.  They have to be able to react to these regional conflicts with authority, not tiptoe around the members of the Security Council and only issue proclamations.”

“I hope you’re right,” Samantha said.

Marc stood up and moved around the desk until he was standing next to her.  “It doesn’t sound good when the foreign minister doubts the foreign policy of her president,” he said as he pulled Samantha into a hug.  “I might need to administer some discipline.”

“I think some gentle persuasion might work better.”

ADI locked the doors and told Messina to cancel Marc’s next two appointments and not to disturb him for an hour.

◆ ◆ ◆

“How goes the survey?” Marc asked as he and Samantha joined the conference.

“We’re setting up the third camp.  We’ll be here at least a week while Dr. Pramar does his tests.  We’re close to the arid region now.  It’s pretty hot and dry,” Blake said.

“So how much of the planet is desert?” Samantha asked.

“Over sixty percent of the land is desert,” Blake replied.

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not so bad,” Catie interjected.  “Dr. Qamar says the planet just came out of a really deep ice age.  Its plant diversity wasn’t enough to survive the changes, which resulted in a lot of extra desertification.  But that also means we wouldn’t have much competition for introducing the plants from Earth that we might want to grow here.”

“But deserts aren’t the best places to grow plants,” Samantha said.

“No, but we can bring in ice asteroids for a few years and shift the climate.  They’ll also provide plenty of water for irrigation,” Catie said.  “The area around the equator is nice, so you just need to be patient.”

“How many years is a few?”

“Two or three,” Catie said.  “It really depends on how big a hurry you’re in.  You can always throw resources at it.  Build more gravity drives, so you can move more asteroids.”

“Are there enough?”

“Sure, the belt is rich.  Lots of ice asteroids out past the first gas giant.”

“The good news is that we’ve gotten the data back from our survey of the asteroid belt,” Blake said.  “Like the planet, it is loaded with platinum group metals.  This place is literally a gold mine.”

“But, Dr. Qamar also says that there is enough exposed metal ore that it can be detected from light-years away,” Liz said.  “It might be why that starship is heading this way.”

“There’s a good chance that they are already aware of how rich the asteroid belt is,” Blake said.

“Maybe,” Marc said.  “Did ANDI figure out the language?”

“Yes, he did,” ADI said.  “We are now analyzing the signals from their internal television and radio broadcasts.”

“And what have we learned?”

“Their skin has a blueish tone to it,” Catie said.  “They look pretty big and bulky.  Their TV shows are really violent, lots of shows about space pirates and war.  Their pirates look like Klingons.”

“That’s not ideal,” Marc said.  “They wouldn’t happen to be speaking Klingon?” he joked.

“NO!” Catie groaned.

“The question is, are we willing to fight to hold this planet?” Blake asked.

“Let’s not go there yet,” Marc said.  “We shouldn’t read too much from their television.  Earth’s television isn’t much different than what Catie described.”

“It’s not, but what do you think would happen if a U.S. exploration ship happened upon a planet this rich that was just being claimed by another country or world?” Blake asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, I bet we would try to convince the other ship to leave.  We’d tell them how long we were watching the planet; we might even claim that we’d been there before to survey it and that it was ours,” Blake said.

“So, what do you propose?”

“We put a presence here now.  Make it significant, and do what Catie suggested: start talking to them now, using the time lag to imply we’ve been here for over six months, maybe even a year; that we just now happened to notice their starship approaching.”

“What kind of presence?” Kal asked.

“I’d station the Victory here with a couple of Hyrax squadrons.”

“What about the planet?” Samantha asked.

“Build a settlement here at the edge of the desert.  Dr. Pramar says this location is ideal for a large grain operation.  Throw it up fast, so it’s established before they arrive.”

“And when will that be?” Marc asked.

“They are traveling at 0.45 times the speed of light,” ADI said.  “That means that they will arrive in this solar system in approximately thirteen months.”

“We don’t know if they’re capable of accelerating to a higher speed,” Catie said.  “They might be able to get here faster if they’re motivated, but probably not much.  But odds are it would only speed up their arrival by a month or two.  Who would waste time in transit unless they couldn’t go faster or couldn’t afford to?”

“Are we confident that we can colonize it?” Marc asked.

“Definitely; the only question is how much terraforming we have to do,” Blake said.

“What about the air?”

“We need to up the oxygen content,” Blake said.  “Other than that, it should be fine.”

“What does that mean?” Samantha asked.

“It’s like living in Denver, Colorado,” Blake said.  “A little thin, but you’ll get used to it.”

“But I see you’re still in your suits,” Marc said.

“Dr. Pramar and Dr. Magor are being extremely cautious.  They’re asking for another two days before they let us out of the suits,” Blake said.  “But all of their tests indicate that the air’s fine, no bad stuff.”

“Okay, let’s plan on poking the bear once you’re clear to breathe the air.  Having you talking from the surface without any protective gear would enhance your position,” Marc said.

“Okay, we’ll set it up,” Blake replied.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Alright, what location would provide the best backdrop to say, ‘We own this place’?” Blake asked as he led everyone out to the center of the compound.

“There’s a site about fifty klicks that way where you’d have the mountains in the background,” Gary said.

“Hmm, that sounds nice.  Let’s go look at it.  Catie, you want to come?”

“Sure, what are you going to build there?”

“Let’s see what it looks like first,” Blake said.

“You know, we can review the video instead of going out there, it would save a lot of time.”

“There’s nothing like standing there and looking around.  Come on, let’s go.”

“Jeep or Lynx?”

“Lynx.  Liz, you coming?”

◆ ◆ ◆

“This is perfect,” Blake said.  “Those mountains look great.  Now, what should we build here?”

“What’s the effect you’re going for?” Liz asked.

“I want to look settled in, like I’m running a big, well-established colony.”

“Governor McCormack,” Liz teased.

“Exactly, but with a little more respect next time,” Blake said.

“This spot makes sense for a base,” Catie said.  “There’s a river over there, it’s pretty low right now, but Dr. Bremer, our climatologist, says we’re in the dry season.”

“Chief Bayless, what can you put up in two days?” Blake asked.

“I can put a treehouse up over there,” Chief Bayless said, pointing to the big tree behind Blake.

“Come on, this is important,” Blake said.

“Everything is important with you officers,” Chief Bayless said.  “My team has been working full out for two weeks.  Now you want us to accomplish a miracle in two days.”

“Not a miracle, just a little magic,” Blake said.

“It’s all for video,” Catie said.  “We can fake anything the camera isn’t going to be looking at.”

“Now you want me to be a Hollywood set designer!”

“Come on, Chief, you can do it,” Catie encouraged.

“Do you care what it costs?” Chief Bayless asked.

“Not really,” Blake said, wondering where this was going.  “We’re not spending any money here, so what kind of cost do you have in mind?”

“We’ll need printer time,” Chief Bayless said.  “We could print up a nice façade for you in a day.  Then as long as you just film from one side, it’ll be perfect.  We can put some side walls up, so it doesn’t look fake.”

“I like that and don’t have a problem allocating the printer time,” Blake said.  “What else?”

“We can build an office for ya, just the one room with a door and a window that looks out on those mountains.”

“With a wood desk?”

“Yeah, yeah, if you authorize the printer time.  We don’t have time to be chopping down any trees and making lumber.”

“Okay, and?”

“You can bring your fancy chair down from the Roebuck, and some of the small furniture you have there.  But I tell you it’s going to cost.”

“I already authorized the printer time,” Blake said.  “What else do you need?”

“That case of scotch you have stashed in your cabin,” Chief Bayless said.

“What, you want my scotch!” Blake yelped.  He was also wondering how Chief Bayless knew about it.  “Who did he have stow the scotch?” Blake wondered.  “It had to be that person who had ratted him out to the chief.”

“I have to motivate the team.  This is going to take a strong, coordinated effort.  If you want it done right, you have to put that scotch on the table.”

“Come on, Uncle Blake.  I think Liz has a little scotch stashed away that she’ll share with you.”

“Hey, don’t go giving away my scotch!”

“The case minus one bottle,” Blake said.  He figured he could stretch a bottle for the next three weeks.  He did have that case of Irish whiskey that the chief must not know about.

“Done!”

Chapter 16

Run Silent

“Admiral Petrosky, what a pleasure,” Kapitan Rokossovsky said as he greeted the vice-admiral of the northern submarine fleet at the gangway to the Novosibirsk, the newest attack submarine in the Russian Navy.

“It is my pleasure, Valentin,” Admiral Petrosky said.

“What can I do for you, Admiral?”  Kapitan Rokossovsky asked.  He was a bit surprised at the admiral’s use of his first name.  They had a long history together, and he owed much of his success to the admiral, but they weren’t exactly friends.

“I need some help, let’s talk in your cabin.”

“Of course, we can toast our friendship.”

Kapitan Rokossovsky led the admiral into the Novosibirsk and down to his cabin.  The admiral had to suffer the formal salutes of the various submariners they encountered.  The presence of the admiral required that such formalities be conducted.

“Here we are,” Kapitan Rokossovsky said.  He immediately went to the sideboard and grabbed two glasses and poured vodka into each.

“To our friendship!” the admiral said, raising the glass.

“To our friendship!” Kapitan Rokossovsky replied, and the two submariners tossed the vodka down.  “Now, what can I do for you, Admiral?”

“Did you hear about the new treaty?”

“I heard that our president had agreed to the SALT III treaty,” Kapitan Rokossovsky replied with obvious disgust.

“Yes, he is abandoning our goals of restoring Russia to her place as one of the elite world powers.”

“Why do you say that?”

“After the humiliation in Ukraine, now signing the SALT III treaty, next he will be agreeing to cut back on the military.  He has already agreed to decommission all our ballistic submarines.  And these will be next.”

“Surely we will still need our attack submarines!”

“We will, but he will surrender them.  Our economy cannot support our military unless we expand our trade, increase the number of countries in the EAEU.  Without the nuclear threat to back it up, how will our military keep the members from straying.  I will bet that Belarus will join the EU within the year.”

“Ach, what can we do?!” Kapitan Rokossovsky asked.

“That is why I came to you.  All this is because of that Delphi Nation.  I want to wipe it off the map as we should have done during the Ukraine incident.”

“I’m sure there are many world leaders who would like to do that.”

“Then let’s do it.”

“What?”

“Let’s wipe it from the map.”

“How?  It would shoot down any missiles we fired at it.”

“I have a plan.  Will you help me?”

“You mean to use the Novosibirsk?”

“Yes!  We need to leave today.  Then we can make for that pissant floating city and destroy it.”

“How?”

“I said I have a plan.  You must trust me.  Do you trust me?”

“I owe you my life.  But what will happen after we do?”

“We will be heroes.  The president will reverse his position.  And Russia will step forward and demand the respect she deserves.”

“But what about their space station?”

“Once we show them that we can and will strike at them, they will be too afraid to strike back.  Other countries will join us and put them in their place.”

“So, what now?”

“We must leave port.  Are you ready to sail?”

“We are supposed to sail tomorrow, so everything is ready.  But we have to wait for permission.”

“We must sail today, now.”

“I . . .”

“I will clear the way.  I am not the admiral of the submarine fleet for nothing.”

◆ ◆ ◆

The Novosibirsk made its way out Zapadnaya Litsa naval base, traversing the Litsa Fjord to the Motovsky Fjord.  It finally reached the Barents Sea one hour after setting sail.  No one questioned the admiral’s orders that they be allowed to sail.

“Rig for silent running,” Kapitan Rokossovsky ordered.

“Aye-aye, Captain,” the helm replied.

“What are our orders?” Commander Kerensky, the XO of the Novosibirsk, asked.

“They are sealed,” the captain replied.

“But I am supposed to confirm them,” the commander said.

“I am here to confirm them!” the admiral snapped.  “Now back to your post!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Why did the Novosibirsk leave early?!” Admiral Demichev, the admiral of the Russian Northern Fleet, demanded.

“It was under orders from Admiral Petrosky, sir.”

“I am not aware of any such orders?  Call them!”

“I cannot, sir.  They have gone silent.”

“Already!”  The admiral slammed his phone down.  He picked up the message that had been delivered to him, announcing that the Novosibirsk had left port a day early.  He had his spies in Naval Intelligence tracking anything unusual or out of the ordinary.  They were to report to him immediately.  But this report hadn’t come until over an hour after the Novosibirsk had sailed.  “Heads will roll.”

Shaking his head, Admiral Demichev surrendered to the inevitable and picked up the phone.  “Give me the Minister of Defense.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Yes, Minister.”

“No, Minister.”

“I do not know why Admiral Petrosky is on the sub.”

“Yes, Minister,” Admiral Demichev said.  He stared at the phone.  “Yes, find that sub.  I’ll get to that right away, you old dragon,” he said to the now silent phone before slamming it down.

“Petrosky, when we find you, I will cut out your eyes and shove them down your throat before I slit it!”  Admiral Demichev yelled.  Then tossed back the vodka that he’d poured himself before calling the minister.  In a fit of pique, he threw the glass against the wall.

“Come in here and clean up that mess!” he yelled at his aide.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Kapitan, there are Russian frigates above us running active sonar!”

Kapitan Rokossovsky looked at Admiral Petrosky.

“Yes, there were reports of an American submarine entering the Barents Sea; that is why we had to leave early,” Admiral Petrosky said.

“Let’s not confuse our comrades on the surface,” Kapitan Rokossovsky said.  “Dive below the thermocline.  Make sure we don’t bump into that American submarine.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Mr. President, the Novosibirsk left port a day early.  Admiral Petrosky was aboard her,” the defense minister said once the president’s secretary finally let him into the president’s office.

“When did this happen?!”

“Two days ago,” the defense minister said.

“Why am I only finding out about this now?!” the president yelled as he stood up and slammed his fist onto the desk.

“We have been looking for it.”

“Looking for it.  If it left early with the admiral aboard, it will not be sitting somewhere for you to find it!”

“We have had a squadron of frigates searching using sonar.”

“Two days you wait before you tell me!  Get out of here before I shoot you!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Marc, the President of Russia is on the phone,” Messina said.

“Hello, Mr. President.”

“I have some serious news for you, my friend.”

“What?”

“One of our cruise missile submarines has, how do you say it, gone rogue.”

“That does sound serious.  Why are you calling me?”

“Because one of our admirals has gone rogue with it.  Admiral Petrosky is a great Russian patriot.  He, like myself, would like to see Russia return to the glory and power of the days of the Soviet Union.”

“And?”

“During the crisis in Ukraine, he proposed that we take a submarine and destroy Delphi City.”

“Now I see why you’re calling me.  I assume you’re trying to find him.”

“We are, but the Novosibirsk is one of our newer submarines, very fast, very quiet.”

“This is serious.  I would suggest you inform the U.N.”

“Our ambassador is informing the Security Council now.  I wanted to personally inform you.”

“Thank you, Mr. President.  We will take immediate measures to deal with this.”

“I must also inform you that when Admiral Petrosky suggested we destroy Delphi City, the defense minister asked him how.  He told Admiral Petrosky that your technology would detect and destroy any missile that we fired at you.  Admiral Petrosky said he had a plan.”

Marc gave a deep sigh.  “Thank you.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must meet with my team.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“ADI, get Blake and Admiral Michaels for me.”

“Hello, Marc,” Blake said as his video link connected.

“Hello, Daddy.”

“Catie, I . . . never mind.  Admiral Michaels has just arrived.”

“Hello, Admiral,” Blake said.

“Hello.  What is this about?”

“I just had a call from the Russian President.  He tells me that one of their subs has gone rogue and that he believes the intent of the admiral who boarded her before she left port is to destroy Delphi City.”

“Oh, brother!”

“Where was the sub?” Admiral Michaels asked.

“Damn, I didn’t . . .”

“Captain, the Novosibirsk was at Zapadnaya Litsa naval base, which is thirty-two kilometers from the Barents Sea,” ADI informed everyone.

“Thank you, ADI.”

“So how will it make its way here?” Blake asked.

“Zapadnaya Litsa naval base is eighteen to twenty days from Delphi City if you travel around Cape Horn.  Twenty to twenty-two if you travel around the Cape of Good Hope,” ADI replied.

“Why wouldn’t he go under the North Pole?” Catie asked.  “It would be faster.”

“Then he would have to traverse the Bering Strait,” Admiral Michaels said.  “He has to know that the Russian Navy is looking for him.  That’s a narrow chokepoint; he’ll want to avoid it.”

“I think the same is true for Cape Horn,” Blake said.  “It wouldn’t take that many frigates to block that off.”

“So we search, but it’s unlikely anyone is going to find him,” Marc said.

“I don’t know; the U.S. submarines are excellent at tracking Russian subs.  Especially now that they are using Hyperion,” the admiral said.

“Ah, the start of all this,” Marc said.  “Back when all I wanted in life was to develop my new sonar, live in Hawaii, and run our new company.”

“That certainly was a long time ago,” Blake said.  “Now, how do we get the U.S. to help?”

“The Russians are informing the U.N. security council now,” Marc replied.  “Hopefully, the Americans will send their subs out to search for it.”

“They might already have one tracking it,” Admiral Michaels said.  “We typically try to track all Russian submarines as they leave port.”

“One can wish,” Marc whispered.

“If we don’t find it, we’ll just have to shoot down its missiles,” Catie said.

“The president said that the admiral has a plan for that,” Marc said.

“Great!” Blake said.

“Admiral Michaels, collect what you need and come up with a plan,” Marc said.  “Keep me informed.”

“Yes, sir,” the admiral said; he didn’t look very happy to be getting this particular assignment.

“Do you want us to come back?” Blake asked.

“No, we’ll have to figure this out ourselves.  You’re in communication, so that’s just as good as being here,” Marc said.  “Stay focused on your mission.  I would like to inform the U.N. of the discovery of both planets next week.”

“You’ve got it.  Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.”

“I will,” Marc said with a sigh.

“ADI told me about the submarine,” Samantha said as she walked into Marc’s office.

“What do you think?”

“I think Admiral Michaels will come up with a plan,” Samantha said.

“I hope we have enough time.”

“I’m sure we do.”

“It’s hard enough running this fast without having all these hurdles thrown up in our way.”

“Is there a finish line?”

“I can just see it,” Marc said.  “But then I worry it’s a mirage.”

Samantha walked around Marc and gave him a hug from behind, “It’s not a mirage, it might be further away than you want, but I’m sure it’s there.”

Chapter 17

Welcome, Please Stop by for Tea

On Monday, Dr. Magor finally blessed the air, and everyone celebrated by changing to shorts and tee-shirts and running around in the fresh air.  Of course, they had to do all that running inside the compound.

Chief Bayless and his crew had earned their case of scotch.  The façade was up, and from within twenty degrees of its centerline, you could not tell that it wasn’t a complete house.  It looked like a very big house, befitting the governor of the colony.  Dr. Pramar had even gathered some flowering plants to place along the front to give it a homey look.

Blake had them set up a camera in front of the house and one in the office behind the façade.  As promised, the office had a window which looked out on the mountains that framed the house.  A large wooden desk had been printed with a pattern that matched the wood for one of the local trees.

Blake wore a modified version of his admiral’s uniform that looked official without looking too militaristic.  He wanted to convey the image of an established civilian governor.  He had called on ten people from the crew, each wearing a similarly modified uniform, to play his staff.  They practiced the routine three times before he decided they were good enough to actually play it out for the cameras.

“Okay, people, this is Take One!” Liz, the self-appointed director, shouted.  “And . . . Action!”

“Hello, I’m Governor McCormack of the Earth Colony Artemis,” Blake said.  “I hope that the files we included on our language have allowed you to decode my words adequately.”  He was seated at the desk, with a large painting of the building façade and the mountains in the background hanging behind him.  Off to the side, you could see the mountains through the large window where a small conference table was sitting.

“We have detected your starship, and after months of observation, have determined that you are heading toward our star system.  We haven’t detected any distress signals, so we don’t believe you are experiencing any difficulties.  If you are, please let us know.  We have the ability to range outside our system for some distance.  I know that given the distance you’re traveling, it is not much, but we will do what we can.”

“Governor, I need you to approve this.”  The camera cut off just as the datapad was handed to Blake.

“Sorry about that, work never ceases around here.  Where was I?  Oh, yes, if you need assistance.  Once you reach our system, we can provide water and fuel so you will be able to continue your mission.  We do have some foodstuffs that we’re producing locally, so we may be able to replenish your stores if our diets are compatible.  If you can communicate your needs, we can be prepared when you arrive.

“If you’re looking to trade with us, again, letting us know what you’re interested in will help us be prepared for your arrival.  We are mainly focused on terraforming this world, adapting it to be more like our homeworld so that it better suits our needs, but we could afford to spend some time collecting the resources that you seek.

“Governor, we have a . . .”  The video cut out, then started up again.

“Again, sorry about the interruption.  Now, as governor, I’d like to brag a little about our colony and our successes,” Blake said as he stood up from the desk.  “Let’s go outside so you can get a better view of the landscape.”

The video cut to the outside camera, which caught Blake just as he exited the front door of the house.  A member of the crew was tending to the flowerbeds that were next to the door.

“We are just putting in the crop for this year,” Blake continued.  “It’s very dry right now, but the rainy season is just ahead of us.  We are looking forward to releasing some of our native animals into the environment here.  We think it will be perfect grazing for our cattle.” . . . At this point, Catie let out a loud squeal, doing her best to sound like a six-year-old.

“Ah, children.  We love our children,” Blake said.  “Although sometimes they can wear on our nerves.”  At this time, several people rushed into the house as though on urgent business as Blake continued to walk toward the camera.

“When you reach the fringe of our system, we’ll meet you with a few of our fighters.  They will escort you through your deceleration, facilitating your flight through our defenses.  Once you decelerate enough to maneuver within our system, they will lead you to the planet.  Please be prepared to communicate with them so there are no misunderstandings,” Blake said as four of the pilots walked past him wearing their exosuits and carrying their helmets.

"We have quite the colony here, several thousand families now call Artemis home.  We are expecting another colony ship to arrive with more colonists sometime this year, and we are furiously working to build up our infrastructure for their arrival.

“Again, if you let us know your dietary needs, we’ll have some refreshments prepared for your visit,” Blake said as he concluded his speech.

“And cut!” Liz yelled.  “ADI how was that?”

“Excellent, Liz.  You may have a career in show business waiting for you when you tire of flying.”

“Jokes aside, do we need to redo anything?” Blake asked.

“I can make the necessary adjustments,” ADI said.  “Would you like to view it on the display in the office or in your HUDs?”

“On the display,” Liz said.  “Based on the videos we saw, that’s how our guests will be viewing it.”

“Then, by the time you are in the office, I’ll have it ready to play,” ADI said.

“Well, what do you think?” Blake asked after they had finished viewing the video.

“I think you were great, Uncle Blake,” Catie said.

“I think it’s good,” Liz said.  “ADI, I’d like to adjust . . .”

It took Liz five minutes to work through a few minor changes with ADI, changes that in Blake’s opinion were totally unnecessary.

“Have Marc review it,” Blake ordered.  “If he approves, then send it.”

“Do you think it’ll work?” Catie asked.

“I think it’ll get a response,” Blake said.  “But as to what that response will be, who knows.”

“Well, we’ll see in a day or so,” Catie said.

“I think it will take them at least a week to respond,” Blake said.  “Now everyone back to work.  We have a week to finish up before we head back to Earth!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Kapitan, we are detecting several sonar signals.  They are far away, but they are coming from multiple sources.”

“Put their vectors up on the display,” Kapitan Rokossovsky said.  After looking at the map and vectors he ordered, “change course five degrees south, dive to four hundred meters.  We will follow this trench for a few hours.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Okay, anything we should do before we head home?” Blake asked.

“Everyone should get a chance to come down and relax, maybe run around.  We’re going to be cooped up for over two weeks and not really have any chance to do anything but sit around.”

“It’s only going to be twelve days,” Catie said.  “That is if I’m allowed to save all of our momentum.”

“Explain that again?” Blake asked.

“We’ll accelerate all the way to the fringe.  Then jump into each star system as we go.  Then when we get to Sol, we just decelerate all the way back home.  I’ll adjust the acceleration and deceleration in the various star systems, so we arrive with the right velocity that will have us reaching Earth at the end of our deceleration profile,” Catie explained.

“I’m all for that,” Liz said.  “Saving six days is really nice.”

“Okay, plan it out that way.  I’ll let your father know when to expect us.  I’m also considering whether we should leave the Foxes here,” Blake said.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Catie said.  “We can use them in case our friends surprise us and arrive early, or there is a probe or something coming in ahead of them.”

“I agree,” Liz said.

“Alright, then if Marc doesn’t object, we’ll leave them.  The Lynxes should be able to cover us for any issue on the trip back.”

Chapter 18

Do We Want the Stars?

Marc took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.  This was his first time to address the entire U.N. Assembly.  He looked at the sea of ambassadors, eagerly awaiting his speech.  One hundred ninety-seven.  He made eye contact with Margaret, the Delphi Ambassador, and she gave him a reassuring nod.  He was nervous about how his news would be received.

“Ambassadors, I thank you for allowing me to address this august body.  I bring exciting news, but news that will require us to reexamine our goals as a world.”

There was a general stirring in the Assembly as the ambassadors shifted in their seats and made comments or asked questions of their neighbors.  Marc gave them a minute to settle down.

“MacKenzie Discoveries has found two planets which are suitable for habitation by humans and Paraxeans.”

The Assembly really stirred at that.  It took several minutes for them to settle back down.

“One of the planets has already been designated for the Paraxean colonists, and they will begin their journey to it shortly.”

Marc shook his head as the buzzing got extremely loud after his last statement.  Several ambassadors indicated that they wished to ask questions.

“Please hold your questions,” Marc said.  “Since MacKenzie Discoveries is so indebted to the Paraxeans for the technology we have harvested from their starship, we felt it was only right that we help them complete their quest to find a planet to colonize.  Now, the second planet is also very suitable; however, before we can decide its fate, there are several things that we must address.

“First: The Outer Space Treaty does not provide for the realistic governance necessary for an interstellar civilization, one that recognizes that it is not the only race traveling among the stars.  It does not provide the financial assurances for private companies like MacKenzie Discoveries to take advantage of their discoveries and to recoup their investment.  We propose that the U.N. must rewrite the treaty to more accurately represent the realities of space exploration and colonization.”

“What right do you have?!”

“We have every right!” Marc’s voice boomed over the sound system.  “If we do not come up with an acceptable version of the treaty, then MacKenzie Discoveries will be forced to also assign the second planet to the Paraxeans and work out trade and immigration deals with them.”

The Assembly exploded at this point.  Ambassadors jumped to their feet, yelling.

“MacKenzie Discoveries and Delphi Nation have a proposal!” Marc said.  “We propose that the ownership of a planet by a single entity or government continue to be banned!”

That pronouncement settled the Assembly down.  Now they were actually interested in what Marc was going to say.

“We strongly suggest that the ownership of an asteroid that is less than one hundred kilometers in any dimension be allowed.  It is the only way that we will open up space for exploration and mining.  Those asteroids are not habitable, and some will cease to exist after extensive mining.  And let me point out that the total mass of all the asteroids in our solar system is less than three percent of the moon’s mass.”

Marc paused while a few delegates used their phones to verify his statement.  He assumed they were Googling it, or calling staff to look it up.

“And we would like to announce that we now have a mining station in the asteroid belt.  It is focused on extracting some of the rare earth metals that we need for our production.  Those metals have become difficult to source here on Earth.  The actions of MacKenzie Discoveries as to the mining of asteroids is in line with the present wording of the Outer Space Treaty.

“Since we believe that any colony will start out as either a commercial venture or as a scientific venture, we propose that a colony be considered a commercial enterprise, governed by the rules of the company that founds it and the rules of the nation that company is headquartered in.  However, . . .”

Marc again had to wait until the ambassadors settled.

“However, once the population of the colony, to be defined as the total population of all habitats on the celestial body, exceeds thirty thousand, we propose that it be granted independence and become an independent nation, joining this body as a voting member.  The company or government that initially claims the planet can only own thirty percent of the landmass.  The rest of the land to be held in trust for the colony to disperse once it has become independent.”

The chamber fell silent for a moment as the ambassadors considered the implication of that, then it seemed that every ambassador was requesting recognition so they could ask a question.

“Now, I will be happy to answer any questions,” Marc said.

“How far away are these planets?!”

“They are both approximately one hundred light-years from Earth and approximately eighty light-years from each other.”

“Then this discussion is meaningless.  How do you propose that we get there?”

“We have already been there,” Marc said.  He brought up a picture of Blake and about thirty of the crewmembers of the Roebuck on the display.  It was a late evening shot and showed the two moons of Perseus in the background.

“That’s a fake!”

Marc shook his head.  “No, it is not.  We have developed a new jumpdrive, which will allow a ship to travel tens of light-years in less than a second.  We have the ability to move the human race out among the stars.  The question is, do we have the courage and strength of character as a civilization to take advantage of it?  Is Earth ready to move out of our system and join the other races who are already moving among the stars?!”

“How long does it take to get to one of those planets?”

“It took our exploration ship two weeks to reach the first planet.  It is now on its way back from the second planet, and that trip is projected to take twelve days.

“Now, there is another complexity that we must consider,” Marc said, “and it affects the timing of our decision process.  The second planet is being approached by another starship from another civilization.  It is approximately thirteen months away from the planet.  If we wish to colonize that planet, we must move quickly.  It is necessary that we have a well-established colony before they arrive if we want to assert our claim to the planet.”

“Are you suggesting that we should fight this ship?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Marc said.  “It is a small ship, only about twice the size as the explorer ship that we sent out.  It is traveling at less than half the speed of light, so it is unlikely that they will have the resources to engage an established colony.  But we want to discourage any further probing of the system by them and make our claim to the star system abundantly clear.  So, we intend to establish a colony there that will be thriving before they arrive.  The question is, will it be an Earth colony or a Paraxean colony.

“With that, I will leave you to discuss the path forward.  Ambassador Hannaford has all the information we’ve learned about the planet, as well as the authority to represent MacKenzie Discoveries.”

Marc exited the chamber and quickly made his way to the building’s lobby.  Kal and Samantha were waiting for him with a security team by the doors.

“How did it go?” Samantha asked.

“I don’t know.  We’ll have to wait,” Marc said.  “I feel sorry for Maggie.”

“She’s a big girl,” Samantha said.  “She’ll handle it just fine.  Let’s go to dinner; we have reservations at Per Se in Manhattan.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Seconds after they exited the building, they were mobbed by reporters.  The security team formed a corridor, and Kal ushered Marc and Samantha into the back of one of the six limousines that were parked out front.  Members of the security team got into two of the others; then, all six limousines drove off.

“Six limousines?” Marc asked.

“Hey, do you want to have a nice dinner, or do you want to hold a press conference?” Kal asked.

“Dinner, but how are you going to lose them?”

“Just watch.”

The limousines turned the corner, and three other limousines joined the convoy.  At the next corner, four cars blocked the intersection as soon as the limousines passed through.  Then around the next corner, their limousine and two others drove up the driveway to a large hotel and joined a bank of limousines waiting there.  Their limousine circled through the loop and picked up two people that Marc immediately recognized as part of Kal’s team.

When they exited the hotel driveway, they turned left and drove by the convoy of reporters that had been following them.

“Why are at least some of them turning around and following us?” Marc asked.

“Different color.”

“What?”

“This limousine is now gray,” Kal said.

“How did you pull that off?”

“Hey, Catie’s not the only one who can work with ADI to solve problems.  We invented some polysteel with some small extras.  We can go from black to grey, to dark blue.  We then made a few limos.”

“I think you’re very clever,” Samantha told Kal.  “And now we need to fix you up,” she added, turning to Marc.

Samantha had him change his jacket, brushed his hair forward so that it didn’t show his usual part, and then smeared something on his face.

“Hey what’s that?” Marc demanded as he tried to wipe it off.

Samantha slapped his hand down.  “It’ll make you look like you have a five-o’clock shadow,” she said.  “It’ll give you that George Clooney look, very sexy.”

◆ ◆ ◆

As they were enjoying their appetizers, Samantha’s Comm gave a distinctive ping.  She touched her ear to activate the Comm.

“Hey, you yell at me when I do that,” Marc teased.

“It’s Maggie,” Samantha said.  “She just messaged me that she plans to shoot you the next time she sees you.  She was mobbed by reporters and had to retreat back into the U.N.  Kal is heading back over there to get her.”

“Better her than me.”

“You’d better not let her hear you say that, or she’ll do more than threaten to shoot you.”

Marc and Samantha spent the rest of the evening at the restaurant.  Nobody bothered them, except the waiter coming by to make sure everything was perfect.  It was one of the few quiet dinners in a restaurant they’d had in a long time.  It was nice to be out on the town together.  Marc could tell that Samantha was really enjoying herself.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Governor Paratar, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” the governor said.

“I’m here to report that we have found a planet that we believe will be suitable for you and your colonists.”

That got the governor’s attention.  He immediately perked up.  “I am relieved to hear the news!  How far away is it?”

“I think it’s about one hundred light-years from Earth,” Marc said.

“So far,” the governor sighed.

“I don’t think that will be a problem.  Your Dr. Pramar and Dr. Teltar seem to think it will be perfect for you.”

“How would they know enough about it to make that call?”

“They’ve been there,” Marc said.  He eyed the governor, waiting to see how long it would take for reality to sink in.

“They’ve been there!  How could they?!”

“We have a jumpdrive that can get there in about two weeks,” Marc said.

“Will it be able to move our asteroid?”

“We’re hoping it will.”

“Then I must start planning for what we will need!” Governor Paratar said.  “I need to wake up more of my staff.  Without our cargo ship, it will be difficult, but . . . This is so exciting!  I now have a real purpose again.”

“Keep in mind that with the jumpdrive, we will be able to provide more supplies.  We might not have something as large as the cargo ship you lost, but we can make multiple trips.”

“Excellent.  Then I can wake my wife and children?”

“Of course; you’ll be able to take them with you or leave them here on Earth for a few months until things are more settled.  Once you have your plan in place, you can decide.”

“Oh, I don’t know how to thank you.  And after all that Commodore Warlmag tried to do to you, what my people tried to do.”

“Your people were lied to by Commodore Warlmag and his staff.  They can’t be blamed.  We’ll deal with the commodore later.  Let me know what you need.  Also, we have a planet we believe will be compatible for an Earth colony, so we can collaborate on setting up the mission.”

“Yes, certainly,” the governor said.  He was already lost in thought, planning the next steps for his people.

Chapter 19

Board Meeting – June 7th

“I call this meeting to order,” Marc proclaimed.  “How are our explorers doing?”

“We’re doing just fine,” Blake replied.  “We should be home in two weeks.”

“It will be good to see . . . Catie and Liz again,” Marc said.

“It will come around,” Blake threatened.

“Now to business.  Sam, how has Margaret been doing at the U.N.?”

“She is still threatening to shoot you,” Samantha said.  “But she says that they have agreed to amend The Outer Space Treaty.  It sounds like they are settling on something similar to your suggestions.”

“That’s better than I thought,” Marc said.

“You weren’t going to accept less, were you?”

“No, but I thought I would have to threaten them again,” Marc said.

“Where are you going to come up with enough colonists?” Blake asked.  “To make this gambit work, we’re going to need at least ten thousand.  That’s almost one-third of Delphi’s population.”

“I know, we’ll cross that bridge when we have to.  First, we’ll need to organize a mission to build the colony.  I assume we’ll send the Victory as you suggested,” Marc said.  “And I assume you’re already planning the mission.”

“I’m planning it, but I’m not sure I want to lead it,” Blake said.

“Don’t worry about that.  Just lay out the plan.  I have a rough framework laid out if you want to use it.  Just ask ADI for it.”

“Sure.”

“Next, Admiral Michaels, what is the status of our rogue submarine?”

“They have the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet and the submarine fleets from both the U.S. and Russia looking for it.  There have been several reported contacts, but nothing has been confirmed.  It is doing a very good job of hiding.”

“Why aren’t they using the Chinese submarines to help?” Catie asked.

“I don’t think anyone wants to trust the Chinese that much,” Marc said.

“Oh!”

“Do we have an idea as to what Admiral Petrosky’s plan is?”

“Nobody is saying, but I believe I can predict what his plan is.”

“Please enlighten us.”

“He knows that we can shoot down any missile he fires at Delphi City, especially since it’s a predictable target.  Therefore, he needs an indirect target, one that we are not defending, or that would be hard to defend.”

“That makes sense.”

“If he were to target an island to the east or southeast of Delphi City with a nuclear weapon, then the radiation cloud from that strike would wash over us and probably make the city uninhabitable,” the admiral said.

“That is unconscionable!” Nikola gasped.

“Yes, but we know his stated purpose is to wipe Delphi City off the map.  I don’t think the man has a conscience.”

“And if that’s his plan?”

“Then there are three islands that are good candidates,” Admiral Michaels said.  “Areora, Atai, and Ma'uke.  All three of them are to our southeast, and with the prevailing winds, any fallout would cross over Delphi City.”

“Then we just have to defend three islands,” Catie said.

“It is worse than you think,” Admiral Michaels said.  “He can target them from any direction, and if he’s desperate enough, he can essentially target them at point-blank range.”

“But two Hover Foxes on each island would be able to take out any missiles.  And if he wants to target them at point-blank range, we should be able to put in a sonar net that would detect his submarine.  Then we could sink it,” Catie said.

“And if he realizes that and overloads the sub’s reactor?”

“To do that, he has to get the crew to agree,” Blake said.  “I’m not sure a Russian crew is going to commit mass suicide to help a lunatic admiral destroy Delphi City.”

“We can only hope so.  We need more data on the missiles he’s carrying and how he might be able to modify them.”

“Sam . . .”

“I’ll call the Russian ambassador,” Samantha replied.  “I’m sure they’re willing to help.”

“Thank you.”

“Should we evacuate the city?” Samantha asked.

“I don’t want to start a panic,” Marc said.  “We need to continue under the assumption that we’ll be able to stop him.  How long would we have if he succeeded?”

“We can treat for radiation poisoning,” Dr. Metra said.  “As long as we’re out of the blast radius, everyone should be fine.  Some might be sick for a few days, but they’ll recover.”

“That’s good news.”

“Yes, especially since, for the first time in our history, both of our hotels are overbooked,” Fred said.

“That’s unusual.  Is there some event I’m not aware of?” Marc asked.

“No, it’s mostly families,” Fred said.

“Where are they from?”

“No particular pattern, other than mostly from Europe, North America, or Japan.  We also have a big influx of young people; it looks like spring break out there.”

“How is our prime minister doing?” Blake asked.  “I don’t see her here.”

“She’s doing fine,” Samantha said.  “She’s gotten things organized.  She’s appointed a full cabinet, adding an attorney general, ministers of commerce, labor, interior, health and human services, housing and urban development, transportation, energy, and security.”

“My, she has been busy, how did she find that many people, much less enough for their staffs?” Blake asked.

“Some of them are doubling up, covering two departments,” Samantha said.  “All told, she has a cabinet of ten, including the admiral and myself.”

“Is she happy with the office space we’ve allocated?” Marc asked.

“She is.  I’m sure you would have heard from her if she wasn’t.”

“You’re right about that.  She’s definitely not shy,” Marc said.  “Kal, how’s all this working for you?”

“We still have a few details to work out to separate the civil police functions from the military functions,” Kal said.  “We’ve always kept them mostly separated.  The main issue is the S.W.A.T. teams.  So far they seem happy to leave the S.W.A.T. responses to us, not that we have many of those.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Marc said.  “She’s probably most uncomfortable with our military organization since she doesn’t have much control of that.”

“I can tell,” Kal said.  Admiral Michaels gave a nod of agreement.

“Marc, you are keeping up with her, aren’t you?” Liz asked.

“Oh, yes, we have lunch twice a week to go over her agenda,” Marc said.  “A nice, two-hour lunch.”

Catie and Liz bumped fists at that, as they realized they were going to get their wish and avoid having to listen to all the government reports.

“Fred, how is our jetliner doing?”

“It’s ready for its certification flights, and the factory is ready for inspection.  I’m not sure how all that is going to go.  Most of the technology is beyond the FAA’s experience or the experience of their counterparts in other countries.”

“Just keep pushing it,” Marc said.  “And the status of our other manufacturing?”

“Things are going well,” Herr Pfeifer said.  “We are now adding more to the coffers as Fred pays for all the platinum group metals he is selling.”

“Isn’t it early to pay for it?” Marc asked.

“Jonas and I settle on a price.  I’m paying that, and we’ll make up the difference once the market settles,” Fred said.  “He didn’t think it was fair to have MacKenzies extend that much credit.  And it works for me.”

“So are you rich?” Catie asked.

“As if you don’t know,” Fred said.  “I think most of us have done well with this market play.”

“Are the prices coming down?”

“Yes, they’ve been dropping pretty fast, especially after your announcement at the U.N.,” Fred said.  “I think all of our futures are looking pretty good.  ADI is advising that we get out soon, so we don’t get caught in the bounce.”

“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 reaction 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 three 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.”

“That’s probably true,” Liz said.  “Why bother, they just have to stand there and look tough.”

“Okay, now in the future, if you want to make an observation that can’t wait until the end, tell ADI to pause the video.”

“Yes, sir.”

“ADI, please rewind to the part before Catie added her commentary.”

The video started playing again.

“We discovered Zagawani, the planet you call Artemis, over one hundred of your years ago, before we had the ability to travel into space.  Now that we are ready to expand our empire again, we have decided to bring it into the fold.  As I’m sure you know, the system is very rich in certain elements around atomic number seventy-eight.  Those materials are somewhat rare on most worlds.  We intend to set up a mining operation to supply the empire with those metals.”  The captain gave another tooth-filled smile.

“It is possible that we could share the system with you.  Since we are mostly interested in the metals, possibly we could confine ourselves to the asteroid belt and one of the large moons of the big gas giant in the system.  Another planet just to house people is not of much interest to us.  We do not spend much effort on what you call terraforming.  We are a hardy race, and we enjoy the challenge of surviving in hostile environments.  The star system is not too far for us to travel to, so it is not too critical for us to establish a colony there.

“We would like to come to some arrangement to allow our people to visit the planet.  Our people like to hunt, and we hope to find suitable prey on the planet.  If not, we would consider bringing some of our more interesting prey from our homeworld.  You might enjoy hunting with us.  We prefer to use the methods of our forefathers from eons ago.

“We appreciate your offer of an escort to the planet.  Please hail us as you approach our ship, we wouldn’t want one of our weapons officers mistaking your ships for some enemy and destroying them,” the captain said with yet another toothy smile.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Well, he certainly thinks his is bigger,” Liz said.

“Very threatening in a mildly threatening way,” Blake added.  “I don’t think he paid much attention when they taught diplomacy.”

“And they might be interested in sharing, but what if we don’t want to share?!” Catie said.  “He’s trying to scare us.”

“Definitely,” Blake said.  “He’s implying that they own the star system and might let us continue to stay here.  But I’m sure that wouldn’t turn out well.”

“He’s implying that they’re closer to the system than we are, so they would be able to resupply and reinforce their side faster than we can,” Liz said.

“That won’t work out for them,” Catie said.  “I still can’t figure out where they come from.  When you look at the stars in the region they’re coming from, there aren’t any that look like they would have evolved life.”

“Maybe they’re coming from another colony instead of their homeworld,” Liz suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Catie said.  “I told you he was lying about that empire thing.  They probably don’t have that many colonies, if any.”

“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Blake said.

“I agree with Catie,” ADI interjected.  “The entertainment we’ve analyzed does not contain the references one would expect from a world that had multiple colonies.  But they do reference space pirates and mining outposts on planets both inside and outside their star system.”

“How sure are you?”

“Eighty-two percent confidence,” AID replied.

“What more can we do?” Blake asked.

“I think we should send them packing,” Catie said.  “Once they head back toward their world, we should follow them by jumping in behind them and leaving a probe.  We’ll be able to figure out where they come from, and the probes will provide an early warning system for when they return.”

“I think we should back up a bit.  We’ve got a year to figure that part out,” Blake said.  “I was asking if we should do any more analysis before we bring Marc in.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“So, what do you think?” Blake asked Marc and Samantha after they had reviewed the video.

“He certainly wants to intimidate us,” Marc said.

“I think he’s a bully,” Samantha said.  “He’s used to pushing people around.”

“That’s obvious,” Blake said.  “The question is, is it just him who’s the bully, or is that the way his government expects him to operate.”

“He has to have a lot of autonomy,” Marc said.  “Unless they have quantum relays, he’s basically out of touch with his world.”

“I don’t think they have quantum relays.  We detected a narrow-beam laser transmission being sent from the ship after our message,” Catie said.  “They wouldn’t need to do that if they had quantum relays.”

“Probably not,” Marc said.  “Well, if we’re going to be out among the stars, we’ll eventually run into this race again.  We might as well face them early while we clearly have an advantage with the jumpdrive.”

“Yes!” Catie said, pumping her fist.

“She says she wants to send them packing,” Blake said to explain the outburst.

“I agree,” Samantha said.  “Now, do we want to respond?”

“A real response would be six months from now,” Catie said.

“That’s true.  What else can we do to prepare for them, besides listening in on the entertainment channel?” Samantha asked.

“We could lob an asteroid at them,” Catie suggested.

“What?”

“Lob an asteroid at them.  There are lots of asteroids around; if we lobbed one in their path, we would be able to observe what they do about it, how soon they detect it, and whether they go around it or destroy it.”

“Sounds good to me,” Blake said.  “How big an asteroid?”

“It has to be small enough that they wouldn’t have detected it.”

“Okay, lob away,” Marc said.  “Keep me posted.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Dr. Metra, do you have a moment?” Marc asked as he knocked on her door jamb.

“Captain, what a pleasant surprise,” Dr. Metra said.  “Are you the mysterious MM in my appointment book?”

“I am.  I have to admit to being a bit of a coward.  I didn’t want to start this discussion until I was completely prepared.”

“That sounds a bit ominous,” Dr. Metra said.  “Please continue.”

Marc sat down in the chair in front of Dr. Metra’s desk, the one reserved for patients.  He knew he was giving her the power position; he hoped that it would make it easier for her to answer his questions.  Of course, she had never been reluctant to share her opinions before.

“I’ve noticed that you’ve been a little more on edge during the board meetings; I wonder if you could tell me why?”

“Oh, you mean like my comments to Admiral Michaels?”

“Yes, that and a little sensitivity around my comments about solving the Paraxeans’ problem.”

“I see,” Dr. Metra said.

“Can you help me understand what’s bothering you?”

“Certainly.  I guess the best way to say it is to repeat what I said to Admiral Michaels.  We have to stop behaving like children.”

“Like children?”

“There has always been some petty squabbling between board members,” Dr. Metra said.  “I’ve ignored it before.  But now I find that it bothers me.”

“You do realize that most of it is pressure release,” Marc said.  “We enjoy teasing each other, and it helps to normalize the power difference between our positions.”

“Hmm, I’ve never thought of it that way.  That makes some of the squabbling my children continued to do after they were adults make more sense.”

“You didn’t squabble with your siblings?”

“I grew up as an only child, as do most Paraxeans.  My parents had my brother twenty years before they had me, which is typical except for those on a colony planet where they are trying to expand the population.  Since Paraxean women can have children well into their hundreds, they tend to space them out.  And the Paraxean government is still encouraging a modest decline in our population.  There were over twelve billion Paraxeans on the planet before we entered our enlightened age.  It has been gradually declining.  Right now, ADI tells me the population is around six billion.”

“Do they have a target?” Marc asked.

“Yes, the general hope is to bring the population down to around two billion,” Dr. Metra said.  “Many still hope that we will be able to expand our colonization efforts to help achieve that.  But only one-third of Paraxean women decide to have children, so it might not require more colonization.”

“That’s interesting,” Marc said.  “I wonder how Earth will handle it if that percentage of our women decide to forego motherhood.”

“Already you have fifteen percent of the women in your first world nations choosing not to have children,” Dr. Metra said.  “Add that to the fact that about fifteen percent also elect to have a single child, and you can see that you’re heading toward a gradual population decline.  As the other nations allow women control over their reproductive rights, that trend will become worldwide.”

“Interesting.  I’ve been studying the population trends, but more from a macro view.  This will help me.  But back to my question.”

“Oh, the squabbling,” Dr. Metra said.  “Well, frankly, you and your board are probably the most powerful people in your world, possibly the galaxy.  With the invention of the jumpdrive, you will define how sentient races move out among the stars.  I just think you should act more mature and serious about it.  You have to weigh your decisions against not only the wellbeing of Delphi Nation, or even Earth, but against the wellbeing of everyone in the galaxy.”

“You can’t be serious!”

“Oh, but I am.  Unless someone else has something like a jumpdrive, it will be you who decides which star system the various races will be allowed to expand to.  You may do it by ignoring certain systems that are within reach of civilizations like Paraxea, or you may actively encourage or discourage expansion into various star systems by races other than yours.”

“And you worry that we will favor Earth over say, Paraxea?”

“Yes.  It is inevitable that Earth will expand faster than any other race since you have the jumpdrive.  But will you even make the effort to allow other races to expand?”

“I can assure you that I don’t desire an exclusive Earth-based expansion,” Marc said.  “But you’re right, we have to consider how we share that expansion with other races.”

“I suspect you will not be sharing the jumpdrive technology,” Dr. Metra said.

“I don’t expect to share that technology outside of MacKenzie Discoveries,” Marc said.  “I certainly don’t think I want to share it with another civilization.  Of course, if we discovered it, others might also.”

“Paraxea hasn’t, and they’ve had gravity drives for over two hundred years.”

Marc nodded his head as he thought.  “Please feel free to come to me to continue this discussion.  I don’t know the answer, but I do find your viewpoint helpful.”

“Certainly, Captain.”

Chapter 21

Get That Sub

“Prime Minister, thank you for joining us,” Marc said.  He had gathered his security council to discuss the situation with the rogue submarine.

“If everyone will bear with me, I’ll bring the prime minister up to speed.

“Two weeks ago, Russia reported that one of their cruise missile submarines left port early carrying one of their admirals.  It subsequently disappeared from the communication net.  All attempts to reach it have been unsuccessful.”

“What does that have to do with us?” the prime minister asked.

“I’m getting to that.  The submarine disappeared three days after Russia agreed to the SALT III accords, essentially agreeing to nuclear disarmament and the subsequent dismantling of their ballistic submarine fleet.”

The prime minister gave Marc an ‘AND’ look, wanting him to get to the point.

“The admiral who boarded the submarine just before it left port is a well-known hawk in the Russian military.  He expressed strong opposition to the SALT III treaty throughout the negotiations, and also expressed his opinion that the only reason Russia was considering the treaty was because of Delphi Nation.”

“How can he blame us for advocating for peace?” Prime Minister Nazeri asked.

“He longs for the days of Soviet power.”

“So, what is he trying to do?”

“During the Ukraine crisis, he was heard advocating the destruction of Delphi City.”

“No!” the prime minister gasped.

“We are confident we can defend the city,” Marc said.  “Based on Admiral Michaels’ analysis, we suspect that he actually intends to launch a nuclear strike against one of the small islands southeast of here.  By doing that, he hopes that the nuclear fallout will make Delphi City uninhabitable.”

“We must evacuate the city!”

“Prime Minister, we will be able to deal with any radiation poisoning,” Dr. Metra assured the prime minister.

“Are you sure?”

“Quite sure.”

“Oh, good.  But shouldn’t we still evacuate the city?  The pain the people will suffer before they’re treated.  The children!”

“Attempting to evacuate the city will cause other stress and problems.  Also, if we evacuate the city, it is likely that he will learn about it and redirect his attack to someplace else.  Someplace where we are not waiting for him.”

“So, what are you doing?”

“We know his destination, and his likely targets,” Marc said.  “We have defenses in place to protect the city and the islands against a traditional missile strike.”

“Then we’re safe?”

“Not necessarily.  What we can’t handle is if he launches his strike at point-blank range, essentially sacrificing his submarine in order to deliver the nuclear missiles.

“The American, Russian, British, and Australian navies are searching for the sub.  Given that they know the general area he has to traverse to reach his targets, they’ve been setting up search patterns.”

“But it’s been two weeks!” the prime minister exclaimed.

“Correct; they’ve had some contacts that they believe are the submarine, but so far, it has eluded them.  We’re here to review the plans Admiral Michaels has put in place and to look for alternatives and options.”

“Thank you for inviting me,” Prime Minister Nazeri said.  She swallowed hard, indicating she wasn’t so sure she should be thanking Marc.

“Admiral, you have the floor.”

“Blake, are you guys getting this?”

“We are,” Blake said.

“Okay, let’s cover our defenses.

“First: Kal has erected a sonar net around the three islands.  It goes out ten kilometers from each island.  Unfortunately, that’s all we could manage in this short amount of time.  We already have a sonar net around Delphi City that extends for fifty kilometers.

“Second: we have installed laser batteries on each island.  They should be able to shoot down any missile that approaches from outside of one kilometer.”

“What about the Cook Islands government?” Prime Minister Nazeri asked.

“They were informed of the situation at the U.N., and we’ve privately discussed our concerns.  The islands are small, with few inhabitants.  They have quietly relocated the residents to other islands until the crisis is over.”

“Good.”

“Third: we have Foxes flying, or I should say hovering, over each island to strike the submarine as soon as it surfaces, if it surfaces.

“Fourth: We’re here meeting with you to explore other options.”

“You should put Foxes in the water,” Catie said.  “They’re going to be faster and more maneuverable than submarines.  You can mount torpedoes instead of missiles.”

“That’s a good idea,” Admiral Michaels said.

“The pilots are going to hate you,” Blake said, giving Catie a poke in the ribs.

“I have a concern,” Kal said.  “The submarine will have antitorpedo torpedoes, as well as ECMs; once they know they’ve been detected, they’re going to start launching everything they have.”

“Hmm,” Catie mused.

“We . . .”  Admiral Michaels leaned forward.

“Wait!” Samantha ordered, “Wait!”

“Once the submarine is detected, we could hit it from the air using that Oryx railgun you designed for the Ukraine thing,” Catie said.

“How would that work?” Kal asked, looking worried.  “It would have to get into position to fire, and the submarine will be submerged.”

“How deep can it be and still fire its missiles?” Catie asked.

“Fifty meters is considered the maximum depth,” Admiral Michaels said.

“Then that won’t be a problem.  If you keep a series of Oryxes flying in a pattern at high altitude, say three hundred thousand meters, then they can strike the submarine with their railgun.  One Oryx can cover the entire area, but it needs to be flying fast, at two hundred kilometers per hour, so you need to have several in the pattern.”

“Won’t the submarine be moving?  How would we hit it from that distance?” Fred asked.

“From that altitude and at the velocity the railgun fires, it will only take about ten seconds for the slug to strike the submarine,” Catie said.  “I don’t think it will be moving very far in ten seconds.”

“I agree, we should do that,” Admiral Michaels said.  “How many Oryxes do we need, and how many do we have?”

“I can take care of that,” Fred said.  “We can modify a few more and get them flying in two days.”

“More reason for the pilots to love you,” Blake whispered to Catie.

“We should contact the Americans and Russians to let them know what we’re planning,” Samantha suggested.

“I’ll have Margaret talk to the administrations,” Prime Minister Nazeri said.  “Admiral Michaels, will you take care of talking to the military people in charge of the search?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are the Russians trying to communicate with the submarine?” Blake asked.

“They are, but it’s maintaining radio silence.”

“There must be some other way to get a message to the crew.  If they knew what was going on, it’s likely that they would stop the admiral,” Blake said.

“I’ll bring it up with the searchers,” Admiral Michaels said.  “They should get some experienced submariners together to brainstorm ideas.  If there is a way, they should be able to figure it out.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Kapitan, the sonar pings are pinging in Morse code,” the sonar operator declared.

Commander Kerensky moved toward the sonar operator to study the data, but the kapitan pushed him out of the way.  Since the Novosibirsk had left port, either Kapitan Rokossovsky or Admiral Petrosky had been in the control room, never leaving the XO alone with the control room crew.

“What do you mean, Morse code?” the kapitan demanded.

“The pings are spaced out like Morse code, see,” the sonar operator said.  He started writing down the transmission.

“Do not decode it,” the kapitan ordered, “just write it down for me.”

Commander Kerensky retreated to the cabin he now shared with the ship’s third officer.  Picking up a wooden spoon he had grabbed from the galley on his way, he placed it against the hull of the submarine and against his ear.  He could hear the pinging of the sonar.  It wasn’t as clear as it would be through a headset, but it was unmistakable.  He started jotting down the message.

When he had the complete message written down, he slowly decoded it.  His Morse code was a bit rusty, and he had to refresh his memory from the manual, but after twenty minutes, he had the message decoded.

‘Novosibirsk, this is Admiral Demichev, commander of the Northern Fleet.  You are ordered to surrender.  If you don’t surrender, you will be destroyed when you surface.  I order you to surrender yourselves and surface immediately.  A Russian ship will be close and come to take you under tow.  We are working with the Americans to find you.  Repeat, you are ordered to surrender.’

Then there was a long section that followed.  It appeared to be complete nonsense.

‘My dearest Stepan.  School was so easy for you.  We have been struggling . . .’

It continued with seemingly idiotic sentences, like a teenage love letter.  But they weren’t nonsense to Commander Leonid Kerensky.  ‘My dearest Stepan’ was the code phrase his wife used when she was sending him a message.  It wasn’t his name or even his middle name; it was the male character in Anna Karenina.  The first line after dearest Stepan was the clue to which chapter to use; after that, the words provided a numeric code pointing to which page and which word on the page was the next one in the message.  He took his copy of Anna Karenina down, an identical copy to the one his wife had and started flipping through the chapters.  Chapter five began, ‘Stepan Arkadyevitch had learned easily at school.’  “Ah, chapter five,” he said to himself as he started counting lines and words.

The code had used letter substitution to fill out some of the words that couldn’t be found in Anna Karenina, so it took a little longer to decode than usual.  Still, it only took a few minutes before he had fully decoded it.  When he was finished, it read,

‘Leonid, Admiral Petrosky is a traitor.  He intends to destroy Delphi City to undermine our president’s decision to sign the SALT III treaty.  You must stop him.  The Americans are trying to help, but they cannot find the Novosibirsk.  Admiral Demichev has given you full authority to do what is necessary.  Love Elena.’

Commander Kerensky sat back.  “How am I to stop him?  He and the kapitan are obviously collaborating on this insane mission.”

He stood up and returned to the control room.  “Were you able to decode the message?” he asked the kapitan, who was still commanding the control room.  The admiral was nowhere to be seen.

“It was nonsense,” the kapitan said.  “I think the sonar operators on those frigates are bored.”

“That is strange,” the commander said.  “I’ve never heard of anyone using sonar to send Morse code.”

“Yes, a lark.  Maybe he wishes to get into the Guinness Book of World Records.”

“Perhaps.”

“Do we have a Stepan in the crew?” the kapitan asked.

Commander Kerensky had been expecting a question like this, so he wasn’t surprised, he didn’t blink.  Instead, he stroked his chin and mused.  “I think there is one in the torpedo room.  . . . Yes, I’m sure there is one.  Do you want me to summon him to the bridge?”

“That is not necessary,” the kapitan said.  “I heard someone mention a Stepan and wondered if he was in the crew.”

“As you wish.  Would you like me to stand the rest of the watch?”

“No, I will stand it.  Go to your cabin and rest.  You will need to stand the middle watch with the admiral.”

“Yes, sir.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Commander Kerensky dug though his gear until he found the stiletto that he kept hidden in it.  He always kept it with him.  One never knew when a silent weapon would be needed.  He took it and the whetstone and sat on his bunk and started sharpening the stiletto.  He used the slow rhythm of running the stiletto over the stone to calm himself so that he could think.

After an hour of sharpening the stiletto and thinking about what he should do, he lay down and tried to get some sleep.  The middle watch started at 0000 and went to 0400.  It was a boring and tedious watch since everyone’s body wanted to be asleep at that time.  “Perfect,” he thought.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Admiral,” Commander Kerensky said as the admiral came into the control room.  Commander Kerensky was waiting for him to arrive.  He had made sure that he would be there before the admiral so he could prepare a few things.

“Commander, Kapitan,” the admiral greeted the two officers.

The admiral and the kapitan went through an abbreviated change of watch, and then the kapitan headed to his cabin.  The two older men had been maintaining all the watches since they had left port.  It was a grueling ordeal to stand watch-and-watch, four hours on, four hours off; that alone confirmed for Commander Kerensky that the message he’d received was the truth.

The middle watch was one of the hardest to stand.  Your body was expecting to be asleep at midnight, and this would be especially true for the admiral, who, until he boarded the Novosibirsk, probably hadn’t stood a watch for ten years.  The submarine was on Moscow time, the same as their homeport, so this was actually midnight for the admiral too.

By two-thirty, the admiral was starting to yawn.  He stifled it and started walking around the control room.  After a few minutes, he returned to the OOD station and sat down.  Commander Kerensky immediately went to the galley and grabbed a cup of coffee.  He’d made sure that the coffee urn in the control room was empty before the admiral showed up.  Now, as he returned to the control room with the coffee, he was confident that the admiral would accept it.

“Admiral, how about some coffee?  I find a cup always makes these middle watches pass faster.”

“Thank you, Commander,” the admiral said, turning in his chair to accept the cup of coffee.

Commander Kerensky slipped the stiletto into his right hand and then set the hand on the back of the admiral’s chair while he handed him the cup with his left hand.  Just as the admiral was grasping the cup, Commander Kerensky dropped it.

“Idiot!” the admiral snapped as he automatically bent forward in an attempt to catch the cup before it hit the deck.  Kerensky rested his hand on the admiral’s back; he quickly glanced at the stiletto so he could guide it, and slipped it into the back of the admiral’s skull, twisting it to ensure that the strike was lethal.  He knew there would be little to no blood from the wound and with the bridge staff on their consoles, nobody would notice anything so long as there wasn’t blood to give him away; it was a favorite from the commando academy he’d attended in his youth.

“Admiral, are you okay?!” Commander Kerensky shouted as the coffee cup hit the deck.  The admiral slumped forward without making another sound.

Commander Kerensky used his left hand to push the admiral back upright and into the chair.

“Call the doctor!” he ordered.  “You, help me move the admiral to his cabin.”

“Should I call the kapitan?”

“No, let’s not embarrass the admiral any more than he already is.  He seems to have passed out.  Too many late watches, I think.”

Commander Kerensky slipped the stiletto back up his sleeve as he put the admiral’s arm across his shoulder and lifted him up.  “No, no!  Just get the hatch for me.”

Commander Kerensky half-carried, half-dragged the admiral to his cabin.  He laid him on the bed then leaned against the wall by the hatch, and waited for the doctor.

“What is the problem?” the doctor called out after he rapped on the hatch.

“The admiral has fainted,” Commander Kerensky said as he opened the hatch to let the doctor in.  He then quietly closed the hatch behind the doctor.  He followed the doctor to the bunk, and when the doctor leaned down to examine the admiral, he used a heavy bookend he’d placed in a handy location on the desk to knock him out.  He laid the doctor on the deck next to the bunk then quietly exited the cabin, closing the hatch behind him.

“The doctor said it looks like exhaustion,” Commander Kerensky said as he walked back to the control room.  “Krylov, you have the watch; I’ll go inform the kapitan.”

“Yes, sir, I have the watch,” Lieutenant Krylov said.

Commander Kerensky went to the kapitan’s cabin and knocked on the hatch.

“Kapitan, there is a problem with the admiral,” he announced through the hatch.  He could hear the kapitan stirring in his bunk.  Then finally, he heard him get out of his bunk.  He waited patiently.

“What did you say?” the kapitan asked after he finally made it to the hatch.  He was clearly annoyed at being disturbed.

“There is a problem with the admiral; he fainted.  The doctor says that it is exhaustion.”

“Ach,” the kapitan gasped.  He immediately started to open the hatch.  As soon as the hatch cracked open, Commander Kerensky forced it in and pushed the kapitan to the floor.  After closing the hatch behind him, the commander flicked the stiletto into his hand and leaned against the hatch.

“Now, kapitan, what will it be?  Shall I kill you like I did the admiral, or do you wish to give up this charade?”

“What do you mean?  You killed him!  I’ll have you arrested; I’ll have you shot!”

“I don’t think so, Kapitan.  You see, I can decode Morse code as well as you, and it was easy to pick up the signal off the hull.”

“It was a fake from the Americans to trick us.”

“No, it was not.  The message included a message from my wife.  All that nonsense that followed ‘My dearest Stepan’ was in our private code.  The Americans would not have access to that, and my wife would not share it with anyone except Admiral Demichev, the minister of defense, or our president.  So, what shall it be?”

The kapitan’s face fell.  “It was the admiral; he ordered me to leave early, to sail here,” Kapitan Rokossovsky said.

“I’m sure that is true, but why haven’t you done anything to verify his orders or to stop him?  You could have confided in me.  Together we could have stopped him.”

“I wanted to, but he threatened my family, my wife!”

“We’ll have to let Admiral Demichev sort all of this out.”  Commander Kerensky reached back to open the hatch.  “Until then, you are confined to your quarters.”

As he turned to exit the cabin, the kapitan rushed him.  It was a foolish, halfhearted attempt.  Kerensky turned back to him and drove the stiletto up under his ribs and into his heart.  This time there was a significant flow of blood, and the commander had to move quickly to avoid being covered in it.  He pushed the kapitan to the back of the cabin, against the wall, and let him fall to the floor.  Then he checked himself out.  There was blood on his tunic, but it seemed that his pants had been spared.  He wiped the blood off on the sheet from the kapitan’s bunk.  Then using the small washbasin, he cleaned his hands.  Then he removed his tunic and pulled all of his insignia off of it.  He found another tunic in the kapitan’s closet.  After carefully exchanging his insignia for the kapitan’s, he put the tunic on.  It was only a little too big.

“It should be close enough to get me through the next hour,” the commander thought.  Checking that there were no other signs of the struggle or blood on him or his uniform, he calmly exited the cabin.

Returning to the control room, he relieved Lieutenant Krylov.  “Communication, release a communications buoy!” he ordered.

“Sir, the kapitan has ordered complete radio silence!”

“The kapitan has been relieved, now release the communications buoy!” Commander Kerensky snapped.  “Or do you wish to be relieved also?!”

“Aye-aye, sir.  Communications buoy released.”

“Get me Northern Fleet Headquarters.”

“Aye-aye.”

Commander Kerensky could hear the reply coming in before the communication officer turned to him.  “Sir, it is Admiral Demichev!” he said.  He was shocked that the admiral who was in charge of the entire Northern Fleet was on the channel, answering their communication.

“Admiral Demichev, how nice of you to personally answer my call.  This is Commander Kerensky; I have temporarily assumed command of the Novosibirsk.  Kapitan Rokossovsky and Admiral Petrosky are both feeling ill.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Admiral Demichev said.  “I hope it is not too serious.”

“I’m afraid it is, sir.  I believe we will need to pause our mission so they may both be evacuated and taken back to Russia to receive medical treatment.”

“I will make the necessary arrangements.”

“We currently find ourselves in the middle of maneuvers by the American and Australian navies.”

“Ah, I was informed of that.  Please proceed to these coordinates; we have a Russian destroyer watching the maneuvers.  The Americans will not interfere with you.”  The admiral read off a set of coordinates, and Commander Kerensky and the navigator wrote them down.

“Will you need any special assistance with the admiral?” Admiral Demichev asked.

“No, I think two stretchers will be sufficient,” Commander Kerensky said.  “We might need to replace the doctor; I think Dr. Makarov would like to accompany his patients.”

“Ah, I understand.  Thank you, Commander.  We will have the doctor from the destroyer replace Doctor Makarov.  I want to thank you for your diligence to your duty.”

“I serve Mother Russia,” Commander Kerensky said.

◆ ◆ ◆

Four hours later, the Novosibirsk was floating next to a Russian destroyer.  A tender had been sent with a team of medics to transport the admiral and kapitan to the destroyer.  Admiral Demichev had clearly understood Commander Kerensky’s meaning as the medics were not surprised to find both men dead.

The doctor was still in the kapitan’s cabin rubbing his head where Commander Kerensky had hit him.  He’d been convinced that he should wait until he was on the destroyer before voicing any concerns.  He nervously followed the medics to the tender.  Commander Kerensky wondered if the doctor would be allowed to live.  He hadn’t done anything wrong, except become a witness to the fact that the kapitan and the admiral had been killed.

It took just over an hour to complete the transfer.

When the Novosibirsk was finally free of the destroyer, Commander Kerensky returned to the control room.  “Enough of this foolishness, let us complete our mission.  We are too far south.  Navigator set a course to take us back into the Atlantic.  Let’s see if we can lose these annoying Americans.  Prepare to dive!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Marc, the Russian president is on the line,” Messina messaged Marc.

“Thank you, Messina; I’ll take it right away,” Marc said.  He ordered his Comm to pick up the call.  “Hello, Mr. President.”

“I am calling to tell you that our submarine has decided to return home.”

“That is excellent news.  What did it take?”

“A Russian patriot.”

“Of course, I will stand down our search and our overwatch,” Marc said.  “I’m sure everyone will be relieved to hear the news.”

“What news?  Nobody will care that a Russian submarine lost communication.”

“I’m sure you’re right.  It’s an unfortunate breakdown.  I’m sure your engineers will figure out what was wrong with the systems.”

“They already have; the key systems were, how do you say it, rebooted.”

“I understand.  Thank you for calling to let me know.”

“I will talk to you later when you will give me a tour of the space station.”

“Anytime you’re ready.”

Chapter 22

A Home in the Stars

“How is my favorite monarch?” Samantha asked Marc as she gave him a hug.

“I’m good.  Give me another hug, and I’ll be even better.”

“Down, Boy.  We have work to do today.”

“I thought you were going to resign?”

“I did.  Prime Minister Nazeri was excited to have Margaret replace me as her foreign minister.  They worked together when they were both at the refugee camp before she came here.”

“Oh, that worked out nicely.  So, you should have lots of time.”

“Au contraire, my King.  I have all those aspiring colonists to deal with.”

“How’s that coming?”

“I’m getting them organized.  I’ve got them all on a strict exercise program.  I think that should weed out the light-weights.”

“I’m sure that went over well.”

“Not as bad as you might think.  Most of them recognized the importance of being fit if they were going to be in a semi-hostile environment.  So I didn’t get too many complaints.  Reminding them that we’d be happy to send them home, shut most of them up.  The real whiners washed out within a week.  And they can’t complain because it was their choice.”

“Good, what else are you having them do?”

“Training: self-defense, basic weapons, first aid.  Then I’m having them all cross-train in other disciplines, especially farming.”

“What are you teaching them about farming?”

“I don’t know.  I have one of the agricultural engineers doing that.  He tells me there is a lot to know.”

“What about the children?”

“Oh, they’re all doing the training too.  And of course, going to school as well.”

“What a task-master you are.  Even making little kids train that hard.”

“They love it, especially when they’re in a session with their parents and do better.  Nothing like having your child lord it over you to motivate you to work harder.”

“Don’t I know,” Marc commiserated.  “Catie has always been my best motivator.”

“Hah, I’m sure.  And what are you doing?”

“Reviewing the draft of the revised Outer Space Treaty.”

“How is it?”

“Well, it hinges on your definition of outer space.  The original treaty left that a little vague.  Here, they’re making it clear that that means the void between planets.  They’ve extended the provision for space stations to include private ones like Delphi Station.”

“That’s good, but what about planets and asteroids?”

“The original treaty said that celestial bodies shall only be used for peaceful purposes, so that has never really prohibited someone or some country from claiming a planet or asteroid.  But now they’ve adapted it to the reality that we will occupy other solar systems along with other races.  Now it says that the solar system is the providence of the first sentient species to develop within it or to settle it.”

“What about your recommendation on independence?”

“They’ve accepted that; they changed the number to one hundred thousand settlers and added ‘of any species’ to it.”

“And what about weapons?”

“They changed it to no weapons without the approval of the governing body of the solar system.”

“So that means that we can make the second planet an Earth colony.”

“That is their intent.”

“Good, so what’s your problem?”

“Deciding who goes,” Marc said.

“I thought that was my problem?”

“Oh, I’m happy to hand it off to you.  I’m talking about which countries can add whom to the mission.”

“No thank you.  I think that should remain your problem.  But I’m willing to help.  What are they offering?”

“China is offering to provide ten thousand colonists, all highly trained.”

“Nice of them,” Samantha said.

“Sure, and what do you think would happen when they were on the new planet?”

“I’m sure they would try to declare some form of Chinese control.  That’s probably why the U.N. raised the number of inhabitants before a colony could declare independence to one hundred thousand.”

“Probably.  Smart of them to see the problem.  I don’t want the percentage of Chinese to be too high.  I don’t think you can trust the Chinese government.  They’re too insular and it’s too easy for them to handpick their colonists.”

“Yep, they are always promoting a China first policy.  What about the Russians?”

“Oh, they immediately matched the Chinese offer.”

“So, what do you want?”

“I’d rather see more like what you have.  People who want to go for the adventure and to further humanity.  People who are not thinking about national affiliation.”

“Then advertise a little and sort out the government agents from the volunteers,” Samantha said.

“I guess ADI can administer a test that is difficult to game.”

“I can, or MANDI can,” ADI interjected.

“Thank you, ADI.”

“Okay, how many do you want to send?” Samantha asked.

“With mods to the Sakira, she can carry four to six thousand colonists.  That will work for the first year or so.  We can bring them out as we build the infrastructure we need.  Catie’s new cargo ship will be a big help.  But eventually, we’ll have to design something that can carry a lot more people.”

“Why don’t you convert one of those space carriers?”

“I think we’ll want them as carriers,” Marc said.  “We still have this issue of that other alien race heading toward the planet.”

“Okay, so you need to build something.  I’m sure Catie would love to design it.”

“I’m not sure Catie will have time.”

“Why wouldn’t she have time?”

“You’ll see.”

“What do you mean, I’ll see?”

“I’ve discussed it with her mother and need to talk to Blake about it.  I think Catie should be the next to know.”

“Interesting.  Is she going to be happy?”

“I’m not sure.  I think she’ll figure out it’s the best move, but you never know with teenagers.”

“I have to get ready to go,” Samantha said.  “Are you coming with me to Delphi Station?  You know the Roebuck will be in tomorrow, and you have to be there for the welcome home ceremony.”

“Sure.  I can worry about interstellar affairs from anyplace,” Marc said.  “I can only enjoy your company when I’m next to you.”

“Aren’t you becoming the romantic.”

◆ ◆ ◆

Marc followed Samantha around for the whole day.  She had appropriated a section of the station that had not been built out yet.  She had a forty-meter by two-hundred-meter area sectioned off for the training.

She went around checking on the trainers, asking how things were going, what could be done to improve the training, and if there were any new issues that she needed to address.

She stopped and talked to the trainees, checking on their progress, and asking if they had any input she should consider.  She especially spent time with the children, offering advice and encouragement.  She even participated in a few drills and exercises.

By the end of the day, Marc knew he was making the right choice.

◆ ◆ ◆

The Roebuck was under low acceleration at waypoint two as its recharged its capacitors for another jump.

“How’s our asteroid pitcher doing?” Blake asked, referring to the probe they were modifying to lob an asteroid at the alien starship.

“I’ve found one; now I’ve got a Fox giving it and the probe some velocity before the probe jumps,” Catie replied.

“Why did it take so long to find an asteroid?”

“I wanted one that would be as dark as possible, something they would have been unlikely to notice, and one that wouldn’t necessarily have come from this system.”

“Which probe are you using?”

“The one that was covering the rear.  I figure they’ve sent all the messages they’re planning to, and if they’re using a narrow-beam laser for communication, we’re not going to be able to intercept it anyway, at least not from as close as we want to be right now.”

“Okay, so how long?”

“I’ll be ready to launch it in an hour.  Once it jumps, the probe will accelerate off at ninety degrees and travel a few hundred kilometers before it jumps out.  That way, they won’t pick it up on their scans if they notice the asteroid before it’s ready to jump.”

“How fast is the asteroid going to be traveling?”

“One hundred kilometers per second,” Catie said.

“How is that going to hit that ship then?”

“I have it coming almost straight at them, only 0.2 degrees off their course.  To them, it’s essentially standing still.”

“Call me when you’re ready.”

“Aye-aye.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“The probe will be ready to jump in one minute,” Catie announced.

Blake and Liz both moved over to Catie’s station on the bridge.

“Let the show begin,” Blake said.

“Here it goes.”

They started watching the feed from the probe that was leading the alien starship.

“They should see it in a few seconds,” Catie said.

Two minutes later, a plasma blast erupted from the starship and vaporized the asteroid.

“It was fifteen hundred meters away when they blasted it,” Catie announced.

“Power?”

“Twelve gigajoules.”

“That was cutting it pretty close,” Liz said.

“Well, a plasma cannon only has a two- or three-kilometer range in space because the beam spreads out pretty fast.  I suspect that was the optimal distance.  I would have used a missile and taken it out farther away.”

“So either they’re very confident in their plasma cannon, don’t have any missiles, or they are a little incompetent,” Blake said.

“Why incompetent?”

“Maybe they didn’t have missiles loaded in their launchers?” Blake said.  “If not, they wouldn’t have had time to load them.”

“That would be incompetent,” Liz said.  “Any bets on which one it is?”

“I think arrogant,” Catie said.

“Same thing as incompetent,” Blake replied.

◆ ◆ ◆

The next day the DSS Roebuck made it back to Earth, docking at Delphi Station.  Samantha had set up a big, welcome home event.  She may have resigned as foreign minister, but she still viewed herself as the chief publicist for Delphi Nation.

The reception was in the main ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel on Delphi Station.  The press had been invited to interview them and get video of their arrival.  The event was being carried live on all the major world networks.

“Are you guys ready for this?” Blake asked as he, Liz, and Catie prepared to make their entrance.  They were all wearing the civilian versions of the starship officers’ uniforms.  The five Paraxean scientists were with them, so between them, they represented the key leadership of the mission.

“Hey, you’re the captain,” Catie said.  “We just have to stand around and look pretty.”

“You wish.”

They entered the ballroom to a roaring cheer.  It seemed like flashbulbs were going off every millisecond.  “I think Sam outdid herself,” Catie whispered over the Comm.

“You think!” Liz hissed back.

There was the expected horde of reporters and behind them, the locals and tourists who had come up to see the return of Earth’s first interstellar mission.  What was unusual was the high percentage of teenagers in the crowd.

Marc was there to welcome them as President of Delphi Nation.  He gave a short speech, then turned the podium over to Blake.

Blake gave an elegant speech thanking the key members of the mission, going over the facts of the planets.

“The boring stuff,” Catie thought.

“I’ll now open it up for questions,” Blake announced.

“Catie, why didn’t you lead the mission?” one of the reporters asked.

“Uh, . . . The complexities of the mission required an experienced captain,” Catie said.  “Captain McCormack was instrumental in the mission’s success.”

“But you’ve led other missions; surely Captain McCormack was more of a figurehead.”

“I can assure you that’s not true,” Catie said.  “Where are these questions coming from?”

“Catie, before you went on this mission, you led the mission to establish the space station in the asteroid belt.  What was that like?”

“We can address questions like that at a later time,” Catie said.

Samantha rushed up to cut off any further questions.  “Our interstellar explorers are tired.  They’ll be happy to reply to any questions you submit.  For now, on behalf of His Excellency, President McCormack, I want to extend the thanks of Delphi and of Earth for their brave efforts.  Now, we’ll let them get some rest.”

As Samantha ushered everyone toward the exit, screams of “Sign my book!” . . . “Princess Catie, please sign my book!” were heard from the teenagers who were now pushing up against the security team that was struggling to hold them back.

When they realized that Catie would be exiting the room without stopping for them, they started to throw their books over the security team.  “Please sign my book.  My name’s in it!”

Catie bent down and picked one up.  The cover was a picture of her at the reception held after they had returned from the Paraxean battle.  The title was The Behind The Scenes Story of Princess Catie.

“I’m going to kill Sophia,” Catie hissed.

◆ ◆ ◆

Finally, they managed to get out of the ballroom and back to Marc’s cabin.

“What was that all about?” Liz asked.

“This book!” Catie said, showing the book to everyone.

“How did she manage to publish this without any of us knowing about it?” Samantha asked.

“I knew,” ADI said.

“And why didn’t you tell us?”

“Sophia asked me not to.  And since it doesn’t impact state security, I complied,” ADI said.

“Great, what’s in the book?” Marc asked, looking at Catie, who was skimming it.

“Everything!” Catie said.

“Oh no!”

“Captain, I’m sorry to inform you that Catie’s mother has just exited the elevator and is coming this way with, I think the phrase you use is, steam coming out her ears,” ADI said.

“Has she read the book?”

“She is carrying a copy,” ADI replied.

“Oh no!” Catie gasped.  “Damn, these cabins don’t have a back door!”

“We can hide in my room,” Samantha said.  She and Catie quickly exited the community room and went into Samantha’s bedroom.

“ADI, is there a way to get out of this cabin?”

“The door you entered through,” ADI replied.

“I know that, but another way.  There must be an access panel to the utility areas above or below.”

“Of course there is.  The access panel to the utility space is above the vanity in the bathroom.  You have to slide the recessed locks to open it.”

“Catie, are you crazy, we’ll be okay in here,” Samantha said.

“You can stay here, I’m getting as far away from here as I can,” Catie said.  “Mommy will be screaming any second.”

“She already knows most of the stuff, doesn’t she?”

“Not about the kidnapping!”

“Oh no!  Get up there and unlock that panel!”  Samantha knew just enough about the incident where Catie had been kidnapped by a Moroccan crime boss when she was twelve to know that she did not want to be there when Linda arrived.

They were just replacing the panel when they heard Linda scream, “Marc, how could you?!  She was only twelve!”

“Move!” Catie hissed as she replaced the panel.

“Why the hurry, we’re safe.”

“Daddy might rat us out!  Now go!”

The space they were in was about four feet tall.  There were beams they could walk on, and if they avoided the beam above them, they had about three feet to crouch down and scamper away.

“Why in the world did you tell Sophia about the kidnapping?” Samantha asked.

“I thought she already knew,” Catie said.  “I think she figured it out when we were in Morocco.  We stayed with Ayyour Dahmani, and a few things he said probably made her curious.  When we were on the Sakira, she asked how I felt during it, acting like she already knew everything.  I assumed her father had said something or maybe Liz.  Anyway, she probably pulled the same trick with Liz.”

“You’ve got to admire her sneakiness.”

“She’s going to find out what sneaky is all about when I get a chance.”

They had to maneuver over a few pipes and conduits before they could continue, being careful to stay on the ceiling beams.

“What is all this stuff?”

“Those big pipes up there are the sewer lines for the cabins above us.  Then you can see the waterlines and all the electrical conduits.  These big pipes down here are the air-conditioning vents, supply and return air,” Catie explained.

“So, there’s a space like this between every floor?”

“Yes.  They all need utilities.”

“I guess so,” Samantha said as she kept scampering along in front of Catie.  “I feel like a teenager hiding from my parents.”

“I am a teenager hiding from my parents.”

“Do you think it will do any good?”

“Mommy always blows up big, but then it’s over.  She’ll still be mad, but not furious.”

“You don’t feel a little remorse sacrificing your father?”

“Daddy’s used to it.  He just lets her blow off steam.  It just washes over him.  When she’s done screaming, he lets her pound on his chest for a bit, then it gets better.”

“What happens when he’s not around?”

“It takes a lot longer for her to blow off all that steam.  That’s why I don’t mind leaving him behind.”

“Oh, so you caught some of that after the divorce.”

“Yeah, sometimes.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad.  She never pounded on my chest,” Catie said with a laugh.  “But my ears would ring for hours afterward.”

“What are you ladies doing up here?” a man asked.  He was on a beam two meters to their left.

“Hi, Benny.  I’m just showing Sam the infrastructure up here.  Where did you come up?  We’d rather not have to crawl all the way back.”

“I used the utility closet next to lift eight,” Benny said.  “It’s just about fifty meters that way.  Can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.”

“See you around,” Benny said.  He shook his head as he scooted along on a small shuttle that was attached to the beam he was on.

◆ ◆ ◆

“ADI, where is Sophia?” Catie asked after she and Samantha finally made it to Marc’s office, where they planned to hide out until Linda calmed down.

“I do not know,” ADI said.

“Don’t know or can’t tell?”

“I do not know.  She left Delphi City yesterday on a flight to Wellington.  One might assume she is still there.”

“Where is her Comm?”

“It appears to be switched off.”

“I didn’t know you could switch them off,” Samantha said.

“You can put them in airplane mode,” Catie said.  “Blocks the ability to track them.”

“So, Sophia is hiding from you.”

“That’s my guess,” Catie said.

“I do have a recording from her that she asked me to give you after you learned of the book,” ADI said.

“Why didn’t you say so before?”

“I was instructed to only give it to you after you inquired about her whereabouts,” ADI explained.

“Play it on the display,” Catie said as she sat in her father’s chair.

Sophia’s image came up on the display.

“Catie, I know you hate me right now, but please let me explain.  I was approached to do the book last year by a major publishing company.  They wanted to have me write it quickly and promised to have it printed and distributed in only one month after I finished it.

“It wasn’t the money; well, it was partially the money.  But you know that if I didn’t agree to write it, they would have found someone else.  Someone who didn’t know you or care about you as much as I do.  ADI verified all the facts for me, so I know I was accurate.  I don’t know how that woman can get so much done.

“Anyway, if you read it, you’ll see that it’s complimentary and I think quite good.  I’m sorry to miss your welcome home party, but as you can tell, I’m afraid of you.  I know you’ll be mad, really mad.  But once you have time to digest it all, I’ll come back, and you can get even any way you want.

“You know I love you.  Don’t stay mad too long.  Bye.”

“Coward!” Catie snapped.

“Hey, she really must be afraid of you.  Can you imagine how hard it must have been for her not to be here to cover the homecoming for the Gazette,” Samantha said.

“Ooooh, I could just strangle her!”

“It sounds like you have a bit of your mother’s temper,” Samantha said.  “I’ve never seen you blow up like this.  You’re usually more controlled, logical with your anger.”

The reference to blowing up like her mother set Catie back on her heels.  “I don’t blow up like my mother,” Catie said.  “But-- but she betrayed me!”

“Did she?  Like she said, someone was going to write it.  Who would you rather have written it, Sophia or someone like Barbara Kerr?”

Catie’s nose wrinkled at the mention of Barbara.  “Gawd, that would have been awful.  Barbara acts like she lives in a soap opera.”

“See, some people would say that Sophia did you a favor.”

“Alright, I won’t strangle her.”

“But you’re still going to get even.”

“Of course, Sophia will understand that I can’t break character.”

Samantha and Catie broke into giggles.  “Be sure to tell her that after you get even!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Blake, I’d like your assessment of Catie,” Marc said.

“Sure, what do you want me to assess?”

“How did she do on the mission?”

“She did fine,” Blake said.

“What would you say if she’d been leading it?  I need an honest assessment.”

“She’s still young,” Blake said.

“Ignore that!”

“She doesn’t really understand the concept of chain of command,” Blake said.  “Oh, she understands it, but it’s not burned into her like it is with our military pilots.  She modified the scheduled arrival time to the first planet without consulting me.”

Marc nodded his head, digesting the input, “And?”

“She doesn’t yet plan deep enough.  She comes up with a good plan but doesn’t go through enough contingencies, what-ifs.  It didn’t occur to her to have a Fox guard the compound at night after we had the fence up.  She had everyone go back to the ship, which was smart, but was counting on the fence being enough.”

“What about the issue during the Russian mission?” Marc asked.

“I guess she sees the answer so clearly, that she can get overconfident.  She’s so smart and so quick, she’s used to making adjustments on the fly.  That’s not necessarily a bad trait, as long as you don’t count on it too much.”

“Would a year or two at the Academy fix that?”

“It would, but you can’t seriously be thinking of having her go.”

“Why not?”

“She’s your daughter, the heir.  I can’t imagine how that would go over.”

“But if she were in disguise, like when she did the undercover report?”

“I guess that would work,” Blake said as he stroked his chin.  “But she’s still only fifteen.”

“She’ll be sixteen in the fall.  And we can’t wait.  If we don’t send her now, it’ll be too late.  She’s already got that cargo company starting up.  She won’t have time and won’t mentally be able to step down to the level of a cadet.  It’s now or never.”

“You think she can handle being treated like a cadet now?”

“If properly motivated, I think so.”

“What’s going to motivate her?”

“The requirement that anyone in the chain of command of a starship be an Academy graduate.”

“Of our academy?” Blake asked.

“I assume we’ll accept equivalency from other academies,” Marc said.  “But I’m sure you’ll come up with some short training regimen that will bring them up to our standards.”

“You’re going to require me to take some classes?!”

“Just like Kal’s fast-track training.”

“Oh, alright, it does make sense.  There’s a lot of technology in those starships that is totally new, besides the whole fighting in space thing with the need to really think three-dimensionally.  But what about private ships?”

“Any starship has to be part of the reserve fleet, so all officers aboard her have to be military reserve.”

“I like that.  It will keep some rich idiot from getting a starship and running it into a space station,” Blake said.  “Do you really think Catie will be able to handle the Academy?”

“Oh yeah, the question is, will the Academy be able to handle Catie.”

“There is that.  Who are you going to tell?”

“Nobody,” Marc said.

“Isn’t that risky?”

“ADI will know.”

“And Liz,” Blake said.  “You know she’ll kill herself looking for Catie if Catie drops off the map.  And Kal, he’ll need to know to deal with the security, besides you have to tell him something when you pull her bodyguards.”

“Sure, besides, Catie will tell them anyway.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Catie, could you join us in my cabin,” Marc messaged the next morning.

“Sure, is Mommy there?”

“No, you’ve managed to avoid that storm.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

Blake, Samantha, and Marc were waiting for Catie when she entered Marc’s cabin.

“Oh no, am I in trouble?” Catie asked.

“Not at all,” Marc said.  “I wanted to talk about what’s next for you.”

“Cool.”

“What do you want to do?” Marc asked.

“I’m not sure,” Catie said.  “I’ve got my cargo ship to design, but I’d be interested in going on another planetary exploration mission too.”

“In what capacity?”

“The same, I guess.  I would like to be the captain someday, but it was fun being the second mate.”

“What if I told you that any officer on a starship has to be a graduate of the Academy?”

“You can’t be serious!”

“I am.”

“But I almost have two degrees.  I’ve flown dozens of missions in a Fox; I commanded the Sakira for two months; I’m still the best pilot.”

“We know,” Blake said.

“So why?!”

“You still need some training, some seasoning,” Blake said.  “The type that you only get at the Academy.”

“Other militaries have an OCS thing, why couldn’t I go to that?”

“That wouldn’t be enough,” Blake said.

“Why not?  Why is it good enough for others, but not good enough for me?!”

“Because you’ll step into a much higher role than those others would.  You’re already a lieutenant, so you’re not going to get the seasoning from being an ensign and then a Lt. JG.”

“But, doesn’t my experience count for something?”

“It does, and that’s why after a couple of years at the Academy, you’ll be able to step into a Lieutenant- or Lt. Commander-slot.  But you need this Catie,” Blake said.

“What if I only want to fly civilian starships?”

“All starships have to be in the reserve fleet.  And all officers on them have to be reserve officers, with academy experience,” Marc said.

“What about Uncle Blake?”

“He’ll go through an abbreviated OCS training,” Marc said.  “Even you have to admit that he’s got the skills already, he just needs to tune them up for space-based operations.”

“Yeah, but how can I be a cadet?  Everyone will hate me!”

“You’ll go in as Keala, or someone like her,” Marc said.

“So, nobody will know who I am?”

“Right.  So, it’s your choice.”

“It’s not a choice!”

“It’s a choice, even if it’s a tough one.  Besides, I’d like to know where you are while I’m away,” Marc said.

Catie stopped short, “Where are you going?” she asked, worried that she didn’t know anything about this.

“Artemis.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Samantha squealed as she pulled Marc into a hug and started kissing him.

Afterword

Thanks for reading Delphi Exploration!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the seventh book in the Delphi in Space series.  If you would like to join my newsletter group, click here, Delphi in Space News.  The newsletter provides interesting science facts for SciFi fans, book recommendations based on books I truly loved reading, and notification of when the next book in my series is available.

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﻿Acknowledgments

It is impossible to say how much I am indebted to my beta readers and copy editors.  Without them, you would not be able to read my books due to all the grammar and spelling errors.  I have always subscribed to Andrew Jackson’s opinion that “It is a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.”

So special thanks to:

My copy editor Ann Clark, who also happens to be my wife.

My beta reader and editor, Theresa Holmes.

My beta reader and cheerleader, Roger Blanton, who happens to be my brother.

OTHER BOOKS BY Bob Blanton

Delphi in Space

Sakira

Delphi City

Delphi Station

Delphi Nation

Delphi Alliance

Delphi Federation

Delphi Exploration

Delphi Colony

Delphi League

Delphi Embassy

Delphi Diversion

Delphi Forge -- coming soon

Matthew and the Stone

Matthew and the Stone

Stone Ranger

Stone Undercover

Stone Detective