“Fleet Commander Hector is probably competent in many aspects of calculation, which aids his ability to use Méridien-designed controllers and navigate, but he is a SADE,” Henry explained, “and you, Admiral, well ... you’re human.”
Ellie couldn’t help smiling. Unfortunately for Henry, it wasn’t a pleasant smile. She started to pace and realized the similarity to Alex’s maneuver when he was thinking.
“Who gave Hector the responsibility for the fleet?” Ellie asked, after she stopped pacing and stood eye to eye with Henry.
While Henry outmassed Ellie by nearly twice, he’d never felt smaller than when the admiral’s eyes bored into his.
“Alex Racine,” Henry managed to reply.
“What level of responsibility do you think Alex gave Hector?” Ellie asked.
“Total, I would think,” Henry replied.
“Total is correct, Captain,” Ellie said sternly. “Although, I would have preferred to hear you say absolute. If Hector gave me an order, what do you think I would do?”
“Obey it?” Henry queried.
“You wonder whether I should obey it?” Ellie challenged.
“What if he’d made a mistake?” Henry questioned.
“So we’re back to that, are we?” Ellie said, relenting and stepping away from Henry.
“Captain, I requested a dedicated Trident in the event that I have to leave my accompanying command at Talus, and Hector assigned your ship to me. Of all the Tridents in the fleet, why do you think he chose your ship?” Ellie asked.
“Unsure,” Henry replied.
“If that’s your answer, then I think you need to be dismissed from service to Omnia Ships,” Ellie replied. “I suggest you think on my question and try again.”
“We haven’t any exemplary service,” Henry replied, appealing to Ellie. “Other than destroying an errant battleship headed toward Toral, we haven’t fired our beams.”
“True,” Ellie said. “Keep going.”
“There’s nothing else to distinguish us,” Henry said. “Most of my days consist of crew maintenance procedures and communicating with other New Terran captains.”
Ellie’s eyebrows rose to hint to Henry where she wanted his thoughts to go.
Despite some of Henry’s xenophobic views about digital entities, he was a bright young man, and he immediately understood Ellie’s implication.
“But ship-to-ship communications are capable with controllers alone,” Henry objected. “They don’t require SADEs to be in the loop.”
“SADEs don’t need to be, but they’re always listening,” Ellie replied quietly.
“Doesn’t that bother you, Admiral?” Henry asked. He was torn between embarrassment about the errant remarks he’d shared with other captains and aghast at the lack of privacy. However, now that he thought about it, he couldn’t recall the other captains agreeing with his sentiments. Nor did they warn him off from expressing his views about a SADE fleet commander.
“I consider SADEs’ gifts to humankind to be treasured. Why are you bothered by them, Captain?” Ellie asked. When Henry struggled to find an answer, she said, “Never mind, Captain. You and I will have plenty of time to investigate your concerns. At the end of our time together, I’ll make a decision about your service to Omnia Ships.”
“Understood, Admiral,” Henry said, relieved to have the immediate interrogation end but dreading the future with the admiral.
“You have Hector’s directives, Captain,” Ellie said. “Execute them. I’ve three SADEs waiting in a bay. Communicate with them. I’ll be in the commander’s suite.”
Before Henry could reply or salute, Ellie whirled and strode through the swiftly opening cabin door.
Henry leaned against the back of a chair. He felt as if he had gone ten rounds of hand-to-hand combat training. Then he quickly straightened and relayed instructions to the lieutenant who waited with the SADEs. It was a small departure from the admiral’s instructions, and he winced after recognizing that he’d chosen to communicate through a subordinate rather than directly to a SADE.
5: Mickey On-Site
Regarding dome investigation, Mickey had enough of playing remote viewer. He stood on the platform deck of the dome that had been considered target two. The new gate, the third in the dome, had been used incessantly since its installation and had performed flawlessly.
“Seems to work fine,” Mickey commented, as he stepped off the platform after journeying from dome one. He was greeted by Kasie’s derisive laughter.
“Mickey, when are you going to accept that the Messinants didn’t make engineering mistakes?” Kasie charged. “The only things we have to discover are the means of activating their processes. Then they’ll work fine every time.”
“You’ll have to excuse me, Kasie,” Mickey replied, with a self-effacing chuckle. “I’ve been an engineer all my adult life. I’m used to things working ... well, but not perfectly. And, while the SADEs can design impeccable tolerances, reality intrudes even on their work.”
Mickey turned to eye Luther and Minimalist. “What’s the consensus?”
“Explain,” Mickey requested.
“Insufficient information, Mickey,” Minimalist replied.
Pia regarded Mickey sympathetically. She knew the onus that Alex had placed on her partner’s shoulders before he’d sailed.
“We’re unable to discover how to separate the various parts of the dome’s underpinnings, especially the power sources, to investigate them,” Edmas explained.
“The console is an intricate part of the dome’s workings,” Jodlyne added. “How are we supposed to replicate something that we can’t even understand how the components are created?”
“I didn’t think it would be easy,” Mickey replied, but he was disappointed to hear that his best investigators were no further than when they’d installed the consortium’s new gates. “Well, take me on a detailed tour,” he requested. “I can see and understand better in person than through the eyes of others.”
The tour lasted two days. Mickey thoroughly questioned the SADEs and the humans about every detail. In the end, he was as perplexed about how to proceed as everyone else.
In the evening, sitting around the simple tables of a dorm room and eating Messinant paste, Mickey bemoaned the lack of progress.
“I don’t understand,” Kasie said. “Why are you doing it this way?”
“What way?” Mickey inquired.
“You’re trying to reengineer the Messinant domes. That’s the right word, reengineer, isn’t it?” Kasie asked. She’d heard Edmas and Jodlyne repeatedly use the word.
“Yes, that’s our intention,” Mickey said. He was careful to pay attention to Kasie. Jess had frequently warned him that, while Kasie might not seem to make sense, her intuitive leaps were often valuable.
“But why?” Kasie pursued.
“Do you have an alternative method for us?” Luther inquired.
“Of course,” Kasie replied, as if she couldn’t believe the roomful of engineers hadn’t thought of it.
“What method, Kasie?” Pia encouraged.
“Move the whole thing,” Kasie replied.
“The entire dome?” Minimalist asked, seeking to ensure he understood.
“Of course,” Kasie reiterated. “Luther, aren’t there a number of domes like this one that sit at the end of a line, and they’re based near planets that are failing?”
“There are many domes along terminal lines,” Luther agreed. “A portion of those reside over planets that are habitable, but sentient species aren’t developing.”
“So there are plenty of extra domes to select,” Kasie said. “There you go,” she pronounced with a flourish.
“Kasie, what makes you think that moving a dome would work?” Jodlyne asked.
“That’s the way Messinant engineering works,” Kasie explained. “Domes are built to repair themselves.”
<Kas
ie’s right about that,> Jess sent. He’d been riding a link with Luther to monitor the conversation. <Pyreans failed to discover the Triton dome for many decades after having achieved space travel and mining the inner belt for ores and gases.>
<Why was that?> Mickey sent through the newly formed conference link.
<The console’s power was disconnected, which shut down the dome,> Jess explained.
<So no blue light to call attention to it,> Edmas surmised.
<Exactly,> Jess replied.
<How does this support Kasie’s idea of moving the dome?> Mickey asked.
<Because of how the dome was restored,> Kasie replied. <A small group of spacers, with Captain Cinders and Aurelia Garmenti, explored what they thought was the site of an ancient civilization. A tech found what appeared to be an empty conduit, and he noticed that it looked like it had been sheared from the console’s rear. He checked to see if the two faces of the conduit matched. When he connected them, the conduit sealed, the console powered, and the dome was energized.>
<There’s much more to the story,> Jess added, <including the fact that the spacers were trapped inside the dome without communication. By the way, this is acknowledged as the first use of sign language between spacers. After that, the technique became common among them.>
<There’s another example of this capability of self-repair, perhaps even self-assembly, Mickey,> Lucia sent. <After a fierce fight in a dome’s lower corridor, we noticed the walls were marred. Later, a SADE brought to our attention the changes in the walls. Slowly, the surfaces, including the glyphs, were reforming.>
<There is some sort of overall engineering plan, Mickey, that a dome’s structure must conform to at all times,> Jess sent.
<This idea of a primary template has support,> Luther sent. <There’s consensus about SADE observations. There are no indications of wear or damage at any dome.>
<That sounds impossible,> Mickey commented.
<As improbable as it might seem, Mickey, those are the facts,> Minimalist sent. <No damage by solar winds or meteors.>
<How did the Triton dome’s console get damaged?> Mickey asked.
<It was a fight,> Jess sent. <The original race on Pyre sought to overtake the Jatouche, who fought back. During a sustained battle on Triton, the console’s power was cut.>
<That would have sucked the occupants into space,> Mickey guessed.
<It might have, except their magnetic boots kept them pinned in place,> Kasie sent. <That’s what the spacers found. The bodies of two different alien species, enclosed in space suits, lying on the platform deck.>
<That’s a hellacious first contact,> Jodlyne commented.
Mickey regarded the SADEs.
<We’ve no means of discovering how to reengineer the parts of a Messinant dome within an annual,> Luther sent.
<Wait! Why the time limit?> Jess asked.
<Alex’s request,> Mickey said, and he waited for the fallout. However, none came.
<Tough burden, Mickey,> Lucia commented. <It would have been easier on you to have shared with us.>
<You had enough to do with the Tsargit and the consortium,> Mickey replied. <I didn’t want to add to your load.>
<What about Kasie’s idea?> Pia asked, and she eyed the SADEs, as Mickey had done.
<The recitations about the repairs of the conduit and the glyph walls give credence to a dome’s self-assembly,> Minimalist replied. <However, the transport of an entire dome would be a mammoth undertaking.>
<Where would you start? How would you start?> Jess sent.
<Start with this one,> Kasie sent. <Shut it down, and move it a few hundred meters.>
<We needn’t move the entire complex, Mickey,> Edmas interjected. <I would be interested to see if we could move the dome without the lower corridors and dorm rooms. After all, the Messinants probably didn’t wait until the entire complex was complete before they powered it.>
Mickey nodded thoughtfully at the proposal. <How would we shut the dome down?> he asked the SADEs.
<We don’t how the Messinants would have done it,> Luther sent, <but we do have one technique.> He made a clipping motion with two fingers and winked at Kasie.
<Crude, but probably effective,> Mickey commented. <The difficulty will be in locating the seams of various assemblies.>
<Maybe and maybe not, Mickey,> Lucia sent. <What if where you cut doesn’t matter?>
<Oh, right,> Mickey sent, catching on. <The domes are akin to a complex form of nanites-based assemblies, which must follow preset patterns.> He gazed around, and heads nodded in agreement.
<We should get some sleep,> Pia advised. <In the morning, we need to scope out a new site for this dome. We’ve an annual to prove this can work.>
* * * * *
Ensconced in environment suits, the team walked the moon’s surface. The dome was built on a small plateau, and there was room on the plateau to move the dome a few hundred meters.
Overhead, the traveler imaged the site for the SADEs to plan the new installation.
After returning to the dome, a conference link was established with the previous participants. This time, Miriam was added to the call.
<Without the Our People, we’re short for equipment and bodies,> Mickey began.
The conference link heard Jess’s laughter.
<Mickey,> Jess sent. <This is alliance space. Equipment and bodies are the least of our worries. Let the SADEs tell us what they need, and the outpost will get it for you.>
<Transport might be a challenge,> Mickey added.
<Negative, Mickey,> Lucia said. <The troop training for the recent carrier delivery hasn’t even begun. You’ve a carrier at your disposal.>
<What of the Tripper, Mickey?> Miriam volunteered.
<The modules will hold equipment and supplies,> Mickey agreed.
<Accepted,> Miriam sent, <but I was thinking of the drone.>
<In what way?> Mickey asked.
<The Elvians used drones to power their domes,> Miriam explained. <We have Julien’s records of the process by which drone power was channeled through the cradles into the domes. Perhaps, we could make use of the Tripper’s drone to power our machinery on the moon’s surface.>
<This could be tested on another moon outward of the system to test feasibility,> Minimalist offered.
<Let’s keep the idea in mind,> Mickey sent. <What are the top concerns?>
<Excavation of the new site, deconstruction of the existing dome, transport of the parts, and assembly of the dome,> Luther enumerated. <These steps will require significant investments in ships, equipment, supplies, power sources, engineers, and techs.>
<Jess, how can the outpost help us?> Mickey asked hopefully. For the first time, he saw the possibility of success in reaching Alex’s daunting goal.
<Time seems to be of the essence,> Jess remarked. <How much budget can you afford?>
It was Mickey’s turn to laugh uproariously. <Commander, Omnia Ships has been leasing ship technology for three decades. I doubt you could produce a project that the company couldn’t afford.>
<With that in mind, I would suggest we hire Pyrean spacers,> Jess sent. <Transport them and their excavating equipment to the new site via the carrier.>
<What else?> Mickey asked eagerly.
<You’ll want Crocian engineers and their equipment,> Jess replied. <They’re known for contracting and executing the more massive projects. They can work with the SADEs in deconstructing, moving, and reassembling the dome.>
<Can we get enough of them?> Mickey asked.
<If you have enough credits, you could probably hire the entire adult working population of Crocia,> Jess said. <You might not know this, but the females are engineers too.>
<Miriam, delegate your immediate responsibilities to others,> Mickey ordered. <I want the Tripper in this system. Set up a test on a distant moon. I want to utilize the drone’s power via the cradle to run some disposal machinery. You and the freighter aren’t to be anywhere near the moon when you make the final con
nection.>
<Understood, Mickey,> Miriam replied.
<Jess can make arrangements with the spacers,> Lucia interjected. <I’ll have the carrier sail to Pyre to load the spacer crews and supplies. What’s the offer?>
<Mickey, Hermione has recently visited Pyre and has been engaged to head several infrastructure projects for the government,> Luther sent. <I would suggest that she can effectively determine the spacer captain’s expenses and profits.>
<Fine,> Mickey replied. <You work with her, Luther, to determine the number of crews that we need for the excavation project. After Hermione determines a fair offer for the captains or owners, add a bonus of fifty percent. Ensure the owners get only one-fifth of the bonuses. The rest goes to the captains and crews.>
<Acknowledged, Mickey,> Luther replied.
<Minimalist, you manage the Crocians,> Mickey sent. <Jess will make the offer, but you’ll need to supply him with the number and type of individuals you need. After the carrier transports the Pyrean spacers, it can sail to Crocia to pick up the engineers and techs.>
For a moment, there was quiet, while everyone considered the undertaking and any immediate needs.
<I’ve only one thing to add,> Kasie sent. <Luther, Minimalist, you do know how to close the deck’s ramp, right?>
<We have those records,> Minimalist sent. <Rest assured, Kasie, we’ll be careful, as if we were SADEs.>
Pia, Edmas, and Jodlyne laughed and clapped their hands. Kasie was a little confused by the jest, but Minimalist’s wink mollified her.
<SADEs, what’s our project’s timeline?> Mickey sent.
<There are a great many variables, Mickey,> Miriam sent, <but it would be reasonable to expect the excavation could start within ...>
<Three weeks,> Jess interjected. <I checked the board in the Miner’s Pit. There are more than enough mining ships with crews on downtime to fulfill our needs.>
<If we think of the dome as a cut-and-transport project,> Miriam continued, <I would estimate six to nine weeks to complete that part of the process.>