The Sol System Renegades Quadrilogy: Books 1-4 of the Space Opera Thriller Series
Page 134
The recycling they picked up from remote colonies, as a rule, was split between e-waste, radioactive waste such as spent fuel pellets, and empty food and drink pouches. No matter how far from civilization they lived—or maybe, because they lived so far from civilization—asteroid colonists seldom attempted to grow all their own food. They depended on nutritionally fortified prepackaged foods to round out their diet. The Kharbage Collector’s Cargo Bay 1 was chock-a-block with that stuff. The company made bank on the markup.
The radioactive waste was self-explanatory: this far from the sun, you couldn’t make do with solar energy alone. You needed some kind of reactor-based supplement.
Then there was the e-waste. The colony on 159848 Redmayne had mining bots, agricultural bots, medibots, and a smart hub whose mechanical intelligence monitored their air quality, mineral toxicity, and other crucial life-support metrics. They also had comms, games, and screens. But modern electronic gizmos were designed to be disposable. Their crystal processors never stood up for long to the cosmic ray bombardment that was part and parcel of living in space. So, when colonists needed their bots and tools to function outside, they often rad-hardened them by replacing their crystals with DIY circuit boards that harkened back to the dawn of the space age. Hence Petruzzelli’s comment to the 159848 Redmayne settlers about printing integrated circuit components.
She watched Michael carry crisped electronics to the Gravimetric Upcycler. A smaller version of the units used in big recycling facilities, it could granulate and separate metals from plastics. They generally used it for making print-on-demand machine parts for sale to settlers. Michael dumped the e-waste into the hopper, lowered the lid, and punched a series of buttons. The Upcycler chattered and shook. After several minutes, its array of nozzles spewed granules as fine as sand into labeled containers. Michael left the metals, which contained lanthanides worth a lot of money, and took a container full of multicolored plastic granules over to his Metamaker printer. Petruzzelli figured he was going to fab replacements for the connectors he’d messed up on the bridge. He was a conscientious kid, in his way.
“If those colonists had an upcycler like this,” he said, “they could recycle their own stuff. Most of it, anyway.”
“Hey, good idea.” She was being ironic. “You should suggest it to your dad.”
“But then we wouldn’t make as much money.”
So, she wasn’t going to miss him that much.
★
Back on Ceres, Petruzzelli had a face-to-face interview with Adnan Kharbage. He questioned her about her reasons for wanting to join Star Force, and shook his head pityingly at her insistence that she wanted to serve. The conversation devolved into an argument about Kharbage, LLC’s predatory business model.
“Your son is starting to notice things,” Petruzzelli said. “He pointed out recently that if the colonists had upcyclers and multimaterial 3D printers, our role in their lives would be greatly reduced.”
“That equipment is far too expensive for them to even consider purchasing,” Adnan said. “They are all stony broke.”
“And whose fault is that? Anyway, you could sell it to them on layaway with astronomical interest.”
“Teach a man to fish,” Adnan said, “and he will not buy any fish from you in the future.”
“I don’t think you’ve got that quote right,” Petruzzelli replied dryly.
It was kind of fun speaking honestly to her boss. She was also enjoying the well-scrubbed air of Ceres, blowing cold and moist off the salt lake in front of the Kharbages’ villa. She accepted a refill of arak.
“About Michael,” she said. “Why did you send him out with me?”
“Maybe I wanted to teach him to fish,” Adnan said.
“Ha, ha. In that case, he should be in school.”
“As you know, he has been expelled from every school on Ceres.” When Adnan said every school he meant the top private schools. A free UN education was no education at all, in his opinion.
“And I’m supposed to be the next best option? All I’ve taught him is how to beat the Fuglies in Existential Threat.”
“He has also learned about spaceships and their operation. That’s important if he will join the company someday.”
“He didn’t need much teaching there,” Petruzzelli admitted. “He’s a whiz with mechanical systems. Pretty damn good with IT, too.”
“I know!” Adnan glowed. “My boy is a prodigy.”
“Still, I’d rather have had a crew.”
“Our margins are very, very slim.”
“Not that slim,” Petruzzelli said thoughtlessly, gesturing at the deluxe spread behind them. Adnan Kharbage’s ski chalet stood on stilts at the edge of a viridian expanse of planktonic seaweed, the largest body of liquid water on the surface of Ceres. Near the deck where they were sitting, sea otters frolicked, leaving black wakes in the sargassum. The sound of safety bells drifted from the slopes to the east of the lake, where people were skiing moguls. Clouds of snow rose like explosions. An oversized, rectangular ‘sun’ shone upon this mash-up of an Alpine lake and an Antarctic nature preserve. Most Ceresites never got to see the horizon from one year’s end to the next, but Adnan lived in an asteroid-belt paradise. He was doing nicely for himself—at the expense of Belter pioneers who made a living by running filthy, poisonous He3 factories.
His brows drew together; he was clearly remembering why he had fired her. She stuck her arms into the sleeves of her coat. “But about Mikey. Why? Really, sir, why? I mean, if there’s something I was meant to teach him, and didn’t, I would feel bad about that.”
Adnan Kharbage sagged like a sack of trash. “Ms. Petruzzelli, I hoped you would teach my son something he has not learned at home or at school: how to be a good person. Whether you succeeded or not remains to be seen.”
★
The next day, Petruzzelli got on a flight back to Earth. UNSA, the UN’s commercial spaceflight regulator, was commandeering private passenger ferries to redistribute personnel and equipment throughout the solar system in support of the coming war effort. Berths were scarce. Petruzzelli spent nearly all her severance pay on a first-class ticket, and still ended up sharing her cabin with two geologists who had suddenly received job offers from Star Force. She shared her black-market tequila with them and tried to suppress pangs of envy. At least they had job offers. What if, after all this, Star Force didn’t take her? What if she’d thrown her career away to chase a hopeless dream? That would be almost as humiliating as throwing everything away for a man.
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THE PHOBOS MANEUVER
BOOK 5 OF THE SOL SYSTEM RENEGADES SERIES!
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THE SOL SYSTEM RENEGADES SERIES
Near-Future Hard Science Fiction
A genocidal AI is devouring our solar system. Can a few brave men and women save humanity?
In the year 2288, humanity stands at a crossroads between space colonization and extinction. Packed with excitement, heartbreak, and unforgettable characters, the Sol System Renegades series tells a sweeping tale of struggle and deliverance.
Keep Off The Grass (short origin story)
Crapkiller (prequel novella, subscriber exclusive)
1. The Venus Assault
2. The Vesta Conspiracy
3. The Mercury Rebellion
A Very Merry Zero-Gravity Christmas (short story)
4. The Luna Deception
5. The Phobos Maneuver
6. The Mars Shock
7. The Callisto Gambit
EXTINCTION PROTOCOL
Hard Science Fiction With a Chilling Twist
Humanity has reached out into t
he stars - and found a ruthless enemy.
It took us two hundred years to establish fifteen colonies on the closest habitable planets to Earth. It took the Ghosts only 20 years to destroy them. Navy pilot Colm Mackenzie is no stranger to the Ghosts. He has witnessed first-hand the mayhem and tragedy they leave in their wake. No one knows where they came from, or how they travel, or what they want. They know only one thing for sure:
Ghosts leave no survivors.
Save From Wrath (short story, subscriber exclusive)
The Chemical Mage
The Nuclear Druid
A CAULDRON OF STARS
Space Opera Adventure
Far in the future, in the distant Messier 4 cluster, humanity coexists with the legalistic Ekschelatan Empire, a host of lesser alien species ... and an age-old mystery that could shatter the balance of power. The long, uneasy peace is about to boil over into war.
A foiled terrorist incident on a backwater planet lights the fuse ... and drags freighter captain Mike Starrunner and his crew into an intrigue spanning thousands of light years, with all the wealth and power of the Cluster at stake.
Lethal Cargo
Dirty Job
Beast Mode
EARTH’S LAST GAMBIT
A Quartet of Present-Day Science Fiction Technothrillers
Ripped from the headlines: an alien spaceship is orbiting Europa. Relying only on existing technology, a handful of elite astronauts must confront the threat to Earth’s future, on their own, millions of miles from home.
Can the chosen few overcome technological limitations and their own weaknesses and flaws? Will Earth’s Last Gambit win survival for the human race?
Freefall
Lifeboat
Shiplord
Killshot
THE RELUCTANT ADVENTURES OF FLETCHER CONNOLLY ON THE INTERSTELLAR RAILROAD
Near-Future Non-Hard Science Fiction
An Irishman in space. Untold hoards of alien technological relics waiting to be discovered. What could possibly go wrong?
Skint Idjit
Intergalactic Bogtrotter
Banjaxed Ceili
Supermassive Blackguard
VOID DRAGON HUNTERS
Military Sci-Fi with Space Dragons
In 2160, a Void Dragon ate the sun.
In 2322, eight-year-old Jay Scattergood found a Void Dragon egg in his garden.
Humanity survived the death of the sun, but now we're under attack by the Offense. These intelligent, aggressive aliens also lost their sun to a Void Dragon. They lost their home planet, too. Earth, now orbiting Jupiter, is still habitable - though much colder than it once was. The Offense will do whatever it takes to destroy humanity and take Earth for themselves.
Our last hope against the alien aggressors is Jay Scattergood ... and his baby Void Dragon, Tancred.
Guardians of Jupiter
Protectors of Earth
Soldiers of Callisto
Exiles of the Belt
Knights of Saturn