Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (97 page)

“Ah.”

“I
think I'm in love.”

“I
saw her first,” the chief growled.

“Carry
on chief,” Sergio said shaking his head at the byplay.

“Aye
aye sir. She's got four micro fusion reactors to power her fusion and force
drives.”

“Why
fusion? That will limit what we can do in them,” a voice asked. The green
haired youth popped his head around to look at the chief.

“Well,
we don't have the infrastructure for that antimatter stuff yet. And I dunno
about you, but playing with dark matter or a quantum tap is hard enough without
trying to do it in a one hundred centimeter cube.”

“Oh.”

“Why
not?” a voice asked. Sergio couldn't place the voice. It might have been one of
the other techs.

“You
kinda have to take all sorts of safety interlocks out. No room.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway,
as I was saying, four fusion drives for sub light thrust. Also a wedge, but you
gotta be mighty careful when and where you use it.”

“We
know chief,” Sergio said nodding.

“Right.
Shields, 1 terra rated for about ah...” he accessed his implant RAM. “About a 
thousand kilo's of force per square centimeter. It sounds like a lot but it
won’t help if you get a nuke or something like a petawatt laser right on top of
you.”

“Good
to know.”

“And
it'll get ripped to shreds by a gravity round.”

“Chief...”
Sergio said patiently.

“Huh?”
the chief blinked. “Oh. Ah, external and internal hard points...”

“Why
wings?” Sergio asked.

“So
it can be a multipurpose craft. Also wings can serve as extra storage space for
fuel, and a place to hang externals off of,” the chief said absently. He
touched a wing surface.

“Speaking
of which, this is the wing surface. She's got micro-actuators in each wing to
let it articulate for control in an atmo. This here... he ran his hands over
the fine mesh in front of the drive pods. “This is your bussard ram scoop. It's
got micro tractors along the rim to suck in interstellar hydrogen and materials
to supplement your fuel supply. You can also use it in atmo to refuel if need
be.”

He
ran his hands over the underside of the wing root and side of the fuselage. The
nanotech skin flowed away and panels popped open. Looking inside they could see
another rail gun.

“Smart
rail gun, used to fire the internal ordinance. You carry thirty six nuclear
tipped rounds. The rounds are smart rounds, and can be pre-programmed for
course and variable yield along with targeting criteria.”

“That's
it, now I really know I'm in love,” a voice quipped. Sergio sighed.

“You'd
better be. These things were a bitch and a half to get right. Five months of work
went into this before we got it right. Blood, sweat, and tears for them. We've
got twenty of them, with another sixteen in the works and a warehouse for parts
and supplies. You so much as think about dinging them and the Admiral will clip
your wings fast.” The chief glared at them all. “That is if he gets his hands
on you before I do,” he growled. A mechanic behind him nodded, tapping a wrench
in her hand.

“Thanks
chief,” Sergio said, suddenly sober. He looked at his crew. “We'll do our
best.”

“Just
bring them back in one piece. You, hell you are optional.”

The
crew chuckled at that.

Sergio
shook his head laughing. “All right, we get the message.”

“No
problem. Let me show you the cockpit,” the chief said waving back the way they
came. They turned to see a robotic stair case come over and extend itself.
“Now, she's got the same basic controls as the other fighters, so you should be
familiar with them...”

Enrique
shook his head at Logan. “Is he serious?”

“As
a heart attack,” Logan shrugged.

“But
a plasma tap? On a sun?” Enrique blinked. “On
our
sun?”

“It's
not like it'll hurt it,” Logan said snorting. “It's not even new. The technique
has been used for over a thousand years.”

“Oh,”
Enrique blinked as he sat back. “Why..”

“In
a word? Antimatter,” Logan grimaced. “There are two different means to make it.
You need a power supply and a particle accelerator for the first. For the
second you need to find a pocket of antimatter out there in the void. Good luck
with that,” he snorted.

“Yeah,
okay.”

“The
power supply is the big thing. We can build accelerators easily. But to power
them... Well, that's a tricky thing. You need lots and lots of energy. And the
cheaper the energy the better.”

“Okay,
why not use fusion?”

“Oh
we can, but a tap is cheaper.”Obviously Enrique was still getting used to all
the new things going on. The new technology. The kid was playing catch up.
Technically he wasn't a kid, he was forty something, but he'd always be a kid
to Logan.

“Doesn't
sound like it. Tapping the sun? Isn't that going to take energy? Shielding?”

“Oh
scads. Energy shielding and armor. The initial outlay will be extensive. But in
the long term the costs will amortize themselves and we'll be in the clear.”

“You
said there is another method?”

“A
QT. A quantum tap. Also known as a hyperspace shunt. Basically we put a
platform in hyperspace near a gravitational rift. The flow of natural energy
can then be tapped and used to power the accelerators.”

“That...
sounds complicated.”

“Extremely.
You have to get the shunt built to spec, get it into position, and get it to
stay in position. For long, long periods of time. Then of course you have to
dock with the station to get the antimatter off. Another fun thing.”

“Okay.”

“Let's
just say docking in real space is one thing, docking in hyperspace takes a hell
of a pilot. Ssislli.”

“Oh.
So that's why he's behind the resurrection projects.”

“No,
that's just human decency at work,” Logan shook his head. “They deserve a
second chance. If we get them back, any benefit they provide is gravy.”

Enrique
scratched his head. “I sometimes forget the Admiral is a decent man.”

“You've
been hanging out with too many politicians again then Enrique,” Logan teased,
smiling.

Enrique
laughed. “Yes, entirely too true. But you say the plasma tap is easier?”

“For
us. We set up a platform on the edge of the photosphere that's heavily
shielded. Then it bores down into the sun with a siphon. Basically a
gravitational tractor.”

“Oh,”
Enrique blinked.

“It
ah, sounds dangerous sir,” a tech said behind them. Logan turned.

“That
is because it is,” Logan frowned. “You have to balance the gravitational pull
of the star to keep the platform from falling in. Add the tractor to the
mix...”

“I
was thinking about possible solar storms. Imagine one directly under the
platform?”

“That
is also a problem. Fortunately there is a solution. Two of them. The first is
that you suck the storm dry destabilizing it before it pops. Or,  you move the
platform when you see one coming.”

“Oh.”

“So
this siphon sucks up plasma?”

“Yes.
It acts as a straw pulling the plasma up from the suns photosphere. We then
process it on the platform and either beam the energy to waiting receptors,
ship the plasma off, or have the accelerators right there built into it.”

“Cool,”
the tech said smiling.

“Damn
hot if you ask me,” Smithy said. Logan chuckled.

“Pretty
much,” Enrique said nodding in agreement. “And you say the Navy is going to
build one of these platforms?”

“Oh
not right away. Hell, most likely not for a couple years. Once we get
Prometheus out we'll start putting the pieces together. We're starting to
stockpile them now. It'll take that long to get enough going before it's
worthwhile to have a dockyard to assemble them.”

“Oh,”
Enrique shrugged. “So,  I take it the assembly need not concern itself?” He held
up his hands. “That's the lieutenant governor in me speaking.”

“I
didn't say that,” Logan frowned. “It is their star system after all. But they
can help subsidize the work for a share of the energy if they would like to do
so.”

Enrique
rubbed his chin. Smithy cocked his head at him. “Is the assembly as forward
thinking as that? Can they really plan that far ahead? Right now it is pretty
chaotic. They bumped that conference again at the last minute. I heard it
caused quite a scheduling mess with a lot of people who were already en route.”

“I
know. The Admiral was one of those people. Let's just say he wasn't happy about
it,” Logan said frowning. “I'm not sure why they are insisting he attend it,”
he shrugged. “Not my problem anyway. But yeah, they do need to start focusing
on the future and not short term political games.” Enrique winced.

“It's
never too late to start planning for the future,” Enrique answered. “I'll put a
bug in some ears. Thanks commander,” He nodded to Logan.

“Sure
thing,” Logan said getting up and walking out.

There
was a knock on the frame of his door startling him. The Admiral looked up in
surprise. "Angie?" She came in biting her lip.

"Admiral
can I speak to you for a moment?" When she got closer he could see that
her eyes were puffy and there was a hand print on her face.

"What's
wrong? What happened?" he asked suddenly wary.

"I
want to transfer to the navy sir," she came to stand in front of his desk.
He steepled his fingers.

"What
brought this change of heart? The hand print on your face?" She blushed.

"Yes
sir."

"It
is quite a doozy. Tell me about it Angie. But first," he pointed to the
chair. "Sit." He turned. "Chief..." The steward stuck her
head out of her hatch.

"Yes
sir?"

"Get
miss Angie a drink. Beer?" he asked turning to her.

"Do
you have anything stronger sir? It's been one of those days," she said
shakily as she lowered herself into the chair. He nodded.

"I've
got just the thing coming right up."

A
moment later the chief set a drink in front of Angie and a bottle. "Thanks
chief," she said taking a sip then pouring another. The chief patted her
shoulder then nodded to the admiral and left.

"Feel
better?" the Admiral asked.

"No,
now I feel like my throats on fire too," she chuckled.

He
smiled. "So what happened?"

"Uh..."
she sighed sitting back with the drink. There is a ball tonight. A group of
representatives have been after me to make jewelry for them and their partners
before some ball or something or other," her voice dripped disgust.

“I
wonder if that was why that conference got bumped,” he muttered. She looked
over to him. He waved. “Never mind, continue.”

"Like
I would drop everything to make jewelry for those idiots," she snarled
drinking the drink.

"So
you turned them down?" She nodded.

"One
showed up in replicator one. She tried to reprogram it to make her a diamond
and pearl necklace." She held her fist up. “Fricken diamond the size of my
fist. Bloody stupid.” The Admiral winced.

"Right,
I see you know the problem. The replicators can't make artificial diamonds, that
takes immense pressure, time and a plasma field... not to mention a seed,"
she said caustically. She had slapped her hands and then rubbed her temples. He
gave her a curious look. She shrugged. "Logan taught me," she
explained. He nodded in understanding. Most people were still coming to grips
with the changes. Logan had told him about the conversation about the plasma
tap with Enrique over a beer the other day. They'd both had a laugh at it.

"So
you tried to explain it to her?"  he asked. She nodded. "After I
found out she screwed up the replicator and the tray of plasma injectors it was
making. It's going to need a rebuild Admiral. Sucker locked up tighter than a
straight guy's ass at a gay bar."

He
groaned softly. "Great. Now I know why you're pissed."

She
shook her head. "That's not the half of it. She slapped me, ordered me to
do it. I picked up a wrench, she left." She ran a shaky hand through her
hair. "She's damn lucky she ran, I was pissed." She shook her head.
“I would have embedded it in her fricken forehead,” she snarled then sipped
again.

The
Admiral nodded. "What happened after that?"

"Enrique
called me to his office. An aide to the representative was there. He spent
twenty minutes bawling me out. I quit." The Admiral grimaced as she took
another drink and downed it.

"Damn,"
he sighed in sympathy. "I'll talk to him."