Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance Read online

  Reinforcing the structure of the planetesimal to withstand the gravitational forces involved with multiple passes through deep gravity wells required the Esss to breed a new class of engineer to handle the higher-level mathematics, but the Esss were driven by their biological need. What was required would be provided.

  Several unsuccessful attempts were made over the millennia involved in this massive undertaking. The containment of the crèche birth waters during the multiple gravitational accelerations was particularly difficult. Each failure, however, added to their knowledge. Each attempt got them closer to their goal. They would not be denied.

  By the time their galaxy made one complete rotation, they were ready. Six planetesimal ships were prepared. Each ship was over 300 kilometers in diameter, with the crèche imbedded in the core. The ships contained enough consumables in their bowels to support a caretaker nursery staff of 2,000. Each ship also contained the parts necessary to construct six interstellar ships that would be required upon arrival. They would be needed to begin the search for the home of their first nursery planet.

  The six inter-galactic ships would be released at intervals that would allow them to arrive at the new galaxy far enough apart that their expansion would not encroach on the others for a long period of time. Also, the redundancy of sending six increased the chances that at least one would make the journey successfully.

  Chapter 22 – Transition

  It had been exactly one week since Sted’s interviews at AMC and Lockheed. His exit interview with Vice Admiral Bunting had been quick and painless. He had palmed his signature on four different forms on the vice admiral’s desktop station, the most important one being his recognition of the Navy’s right to recall him to service in case of an emergency.

  His goodbyes with Emily and Alice were much more difficult. He had established a strong bond with each during the months of his recovery and considered both to be special friends. Without them, he would have probably died in his own self-pity. Now he was making a fresh start with a bright outlook. How could he ever repay the debt he owed these consummate professionals?

  All of this was playing through his mind on the shuttle ride from Tranquility Base over to the AMC Headquarters facility in the walls of the Shackleton Crater near the lunar south pole. With a shrug, Sted tried to change his focus from the past to the future. He had to compartmentalize his emotions and concentrate on his upcoming meeting with Cam Dunston and his staff.

  As the shuttle rose over the rim of the crater, Sted saw the lights from the landing field at the edge of the crater floor, about four kilometers below the rim. The landing field was in perpetual darkness, just as the heights were in almost perpetual sunlight.

  “If you look up and to your left, you can see the corporate tower rising above the crater rim,” the shuttle steward said as he sat down next to Sted and strapped in for the landing. “Mr. Dunston’s office is on the top floor of the tower, where he gets sunlight into those beautiful windows almost ninety percent of the lunar month.”

  “How do I get there from the landing field?” Sted asked. “I have an appointment with Mr. Dunston as soon as I arrive.”

  “Don’t worry. Mr. Dunston will have someone waiting at the shuttle station to take you directly to his office. I have given instructions for your gear to be moved directly to one of the corporate apartments high on the crater rim and facing outward. The windows in those apartments have a beautiful view looking directly toward Shoemaker Crater.”

  As the shuttle settled onto the lighted landing pad, Sted noted a much larger cargo loading area half a kilometer away. Shipping cranes were unloading large containers and placing them on what looked like railroad flatbed carriages. The tracks led into a large, open passageway in the wall of the crater. It looked like an efficient way to bring in parts and supplies for building the assay ships as well as consumable supplies for the local population.

  “Does AMC have any mining operations nearby?” Sted asked.

  The steward nodded. “Definitely. This location started as a mining operation and only became AMC’s headquarters after the discovery of the platinum group metals in abundance from the asteroid impact that formed this crater. In fact, this discovery was the reason for organizing AMC in the first place. The revenue from the original mining operation funded the entire corporate startup that became Asteroid Mining Company. If we found this many valuable metals in what was left in the impact crater, imagine what we might find in some of the asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.”

  Just then, the pilot turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, and the steward got up to prepare for the departure of the passengers into the ground shuttle just pulling up alongside.

  “If everyone will wait in their seats for just a moment, I will verify the seal of the docking tube to the ground shuttle, and then you can all be on your way,” the steward announced.

  “Good morning Mr. Richardson,” said a young woman with her hand out in greeting. Sted had just gotten off of the ground shuttle and hadn’t even had time to look around the small terminal area.

  “I’m Lisa Calderon, and I work in Mr. Dunston’s office up in the tower. He sent me down to guide you up there for your meeting.”

  “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Calderon,” Sted replied as he shook her hand and bowed in acknowledgement.

  Lisa had a slight build with short, silver-blond hair that crept over the collar of her lime green single-suit. She had a bright smile and seemed genuinely happy to meet him.

  As they released each other’s hands, Lisa pointed to a corridor off to her left. “If you’ll come this way, we have a short walk to the main elevator bank up to the tower.”

  The elevator ride was unlike any Sted had ever taken. The elevator cab was circular in shape and could hold five or six people comfortably. Once the doors closed, the cab lifted on a cushion of air and accelerated up the four-kilometer tubular elevator shaft to the top of the crater wall.

  As the doors opened at the top floor, they stepped out into a typical corporate elevator lobby with a sign announcing “Office of the President.”

  “This way please,” Lisa said as she walked briskly toward the corporate reception area. “Have a seat right here, and I’ll check to see if Mr. Dunston is available.”

  Chapter 23 – Cam’s Office

  As Sted took a seat in front of Cam’s desk, he couldn’t help but be awestruck by the lunar landscape spread out before him. Cam’s office took up a full third of the top floor of the circular tower, and the entire outside wall was made of some kind of transparent material.

  “What a view!” Sted exclaimed.

  “I thought you might be impressed,” Cam said as he entered. “The two-inch thick transparent sapphire windows cost a small fortune, but I think the result is worth the price. My only reservation was the exposure to meteorite impact, and I’m sure you can understand why.”

  “Well, you can’t live your life in fear,” Sted replied. “I’m not completely over the trauma from the meteorite that killed my friends and took my legs, but to go back into space as the captain of my own ship again far outweighs any of my fears. I would bet that the chance of being killed by a high speed impact in the belt is more than a thousand times greater than here on the moon.”

  “Statistically, you’re being a little conservative. My insurance carrier tells me they didn’t even consider the risk of impact from a meteorite, because the chances of it happening were so infinitesimal. Just look at the rim of this crater, which has been here for over two billion years, and you can actually count the number of small impacts per square kilometer. It averages out to less than one impact per square kilometer every three thousand years.”

  Sted nodded. “That desk top looks almost identical to the windows. Is that transparent sapphire as well?”

  Cam thumped it with his knuckles. “Exactly. We ordered four extra glass panels in case of breakage during installation, and we got lucky. The construction crew only damaged on
e. The crane operator misjudged the momentum of the window panel as he was moving it into place, and it banged against the side of the tower. One corner of one panel was slightly damaged, so I decided to use it for my desktop. We just had the crew cut off thirty centimeters from the damaged end and then build a pedestal of nickel from the deposits left by the asteroid that formed this crater. Then our chief engineer designed my workstation to fit into the panel as seamlessly as possible.

  “Speaking of our chief engineer,” Cam continued, “I would like to introduce him to you as soon as possible. His name is Aidan McBride, and he is currently on the factory floor working on the Delta class prototype. I can’t think of a better way to get you up to speed on the project than to get your two heads together. I just need you to palm these two employment forms on my workstation, and then we can head down to the factory floor. Later this evening, the three of us can get together in my apartment for some dinner and talk some shop about where we want to go with this project. Do you have any questions or objections?”

  Sted shook his head. “I’m ready when you are.”

  He stood up and took one last look at the spectacular lunar landscape before palming the forms.

  Chapter 24 – Assembly Room

  Cam directed Sted back to the elevator lobby. “The elevator down from the tower actually extends four hundred meters below the level of the landing field, directly into the manufacturing facility, so we don’t have to change elevators on the way down.”

  Cam pushed the button for the factory floor. “Coming up in the elevator is much easier than going down. The floor of the elevator is covered with a plush carpet designed to adhere ever so slightly to the standard walking shoes everyone at AMC wears on a daily basis. Without those shoes, you might become airborne as the elevator accelerates downward. I’ll just put a hand on your shoulder as we begin our descent. We can’t have our newest employee injured the first day on the job.”

  On the extended ride down, Cam continued with his welcome talk. “We will supply you with appropriate shoes and clean room and assembly room uniforms this afternoon. You will have a locker in the executive changing room to hold the uniforms when you’re working in the plant. I also took the liberty of stocking the wardrobe in your new company apartment. You can discard or store all of your Navy-issued uniforms as you wish.”

  When they got to the lowest level, Sted stepped out onto the assembly room floor. He was awestruck again by what he saw. The AMC shipbuilding facility on Luna was nothing like Sted expected. He was so used to the austere naval shipyards orbiting both Earth and the moon that he expected to find a miniature version buried beneath the lunar surface. The expected bare walls were covered with pastel-colored lighting panels that gave off just enough light to eliminate all shadows. The room extended for almost half a kilometer to either side of the elevator lobby, and the ceiling was fifty meters above the floor.

  “We’re in the middle of the morning shift right now,” Cam pointed out. “As you can see, there is quite a bit of activity just to your right on our prototype Delta. Beyond the prototype on the right are the cradles for assembling four of the next five Deltas once we get Delta One up and running. To your left are five more cradles, allowing us to build ten Deltas simultaneously. Come over here and let me introduce you to Aidan.”

  “Good morning Aidan,” Cam said as he walked up behind what appeared to be a bystander overlooking the assembly of the ship. “Let me introduce you to Captain Richardson.”

  The tall, lanky Scotsman turned around with almost no expression on his face, as if he was lost in thought and had been disturbed prematurely before his thoughts were complete. Finally, he registered what was happening, but it was clear from his expression that he was annoyed as he was forced to catalog his thoughts before they escaped into the void.

  “Hello, Cam,” Aidan said as he held out his hand in greeting. He turned to Sted. “So this is the famous fly-boy, Captain Richardson. I hope you have something constructive to offer with the design of our defenses. We have never designed a ship for combat before, so your perspective will be helpful.”

  “I’ll certainly do my best, Aidan. Please call me Sted. I am no longer a captain in the Navy, and I won’t be ‘Captain Richardson’ again until we get this little masterpiece of yours up into space. I would love a tour of the ship when you get a chance. I‘ve reviewed the basic plans, but, as you must know, that doesn’t compare to getting your hands on the inner workings of such a complex piece of machinery.”

  “Certainly,” Aidan replied. “If you can hold on for another ten minutes, we can finish bolting on the engine cradle. I was just wondering if we should weld those seams around the bolt housing to reduce vibration or just leave them as they are for easier maintenance or replacement. I’m leaning toward welding, because the cradle will probably never need to be replaced. The engine, on the other hand, will slide in and out of the cradle with little effort.”

  “Do you mind if I have a look at the cradle?” Sted asked. “I know you’ve developed a miniaturized version of the fusion containment bottle, and I would love to see how the engine cradle was modified to handle the additional acceleration.”

  “So you’re an engineer and designer as well as a ship’s captain?” Aidan asked with a definite note of sarcasm. “Cam didn’t tell me about those qualifications.”

  Sted’s face darkened. “A Navy captain is responsible for the lives of everyone aboard his or her command, and the more the captain knows about how that equipment is put together and what kind of stresses it can withstand, the better the chance of everyone on board coming out of an engagement alive.”

  “Well then, by all means, have a good close look at the cradle and let me know what you think,” Aidan said, obviously not expecting any helpful advice.

  Sted walked over to the prototype and circled the engine cradle, examining the attachment point to the frame of the ship. He was particularly interested in how the engine was or was not protected with the double hull design.

  After careful consideration, he looked up at Aidan. “How do you intend to maintain the engine and cradle with your double hull design? From what I see, both will be inside of the sphere of protection but not accessible for exterior maintenance. What good is the double hull if the engine has a problem and can’t be repaired?”

  “I see your point,” Aidan conceded. “Who cares if the cradle is bolted or welded if the whole engine is not accessible from space? We are going to have to create an access panel in the outer hull and a way to drain the gel from between the two hulls at that point. I’m ashamed to say I did not consider that point when we enhanced the design, going from the Gamma class to the Delta class. There was no need to carry over the engine housing design at all. It should have been redesigned from scratch.”

  Aidan walked over to Sted and offered his hand. “I wish to offer my apologies for assuming you were a simple fly-boy. Welcome to the design team. We won’t be able to change the prototype, but we can certainly change the design for the ten production ships. You just set that project back a good three months, but the final design should be much better when we make the change.”

  Chapter 25 – Double Hull Design Problems

  The double hull design was great in theory but difficult to implement in practice. The outer hull had to be connected directly to the inner hull at enough points to maintain structural integrity during maximum acceleration, but each point of contact represented a bridge to the inner hull from an outside force.

  Every experiment Aidan performed in the specially designed test chamber failed to protect the inner hull at the contact points. As an engineer, he did not get frustrated easily, but time pressures on finishing the prototype design were mounting, and he had to make a go/no-go decision on the double hull soon.

  Over lunch in the factory cafeteria, Aidan expressed his concerns to Sted and asked for suggestions.

  “Would it be possible to make the contact struts into telescoping pins?” Sted asked. “Perhaps th
en the pins would collapse under the pressure of an external explosive force and the gel would absorb the majority of the force.”

  “If we did that, then we would have to create a way to shed the entire external shell after it was breached,” Aidan replied. “Perhaps the gel could be used to reflect the force off the interior hull and cause the entire outer shell to peel away. In fact, we could use the collapsing of the first pin to cause all pins to collapse simultaneously and detonate small skin-shedding explosions from the area of each of the pins. I think I’ll pass this idea to my engineering group and see what they can do with it!”

  “How do we mount the defensive lasers on the inner hull so they can remain intact after the outer hull sloughs off?” Sted asked. “We have to maintain defensive capability throughout any contact with an enemy.”