by Bob Blanton
“You are so young and enthusiastic,” Yvette said. “I will be able to fly an Oryx in the future, but there are only so many days when I can go to the spa.”
Catie shook her head, she couldn’t believe Yvette would pass up the opportunity for free training.
“Young and enthusiastic?” Freddy asked in a whisper.
“Alex is much younger than the rest of us,” Yvette said. “She skipped most of high school. So we try to watch out for her.”
“Oh, so you three are like her aunties,” Freddy said.
“I think our Freddy has a death wish,” Liz said as she slipped her hand over Freddy’s. He smiled as she caressed the webbing between his thumb and forefinger. Then his eyes went wide in pain and terror as Liz pressed on the pressure point there. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he used his right hand to steady himself.
“Ah . . . I . . . meant . . . older sisters,” he stammered.
Liz eased up on the pressure point, but only a little.
“Her beautiful and sexy older sisters,” Freddy added.
Liz looked at Freddy with a smile but didn’t ease up on the pressure point any.
“Waiter, please bring a round of drinks for the ladies,” Freddy said. A little extra pressure from Liz and he added, “And please put all their drinks for the night on my tab.”
Liz patted Freddy’s hand. “You are truly a generous man.”
Catie was struggling to suppress her giggles. She felt sorry for Freddy, she knew how much pain that pressure point delivered. She suspected that Freddy would find a way to avoid sitting next to Liz in the future. And he probably would be moving as soon as he could get away with it.
“Here comes the band,” Yvette announced.
The band made its way on stage. There was a bass player, a drummer, a guitarist, a sax player, and a trumpeter; a piano stood along the side, but there wasn’t anyone at it yet. The musicians played a few notes as they tuned their instruments. Then the sax player came to the microphone.
“It’s my pleasure to introduce Miguel Cordova.”
The crowd applauded as a tall man came out on stage. He was wearing a dark suit, and he had that two-day shadow look on his face. He smiled at the crowd as he grabbed the mic. He sang ‘Embraceable You’ in a low sultry voice.
“He sounds like Nat King Cole,” Liz whispered.
“Shhh!”
The band finished the set with ‘Route 66’. After the applause, Miguel walked over to their table. “Miranda, it was nice of you to come.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Guys, this is my cousin Miguel; Miguel these are my friends, Alex, Liz, Yvette, and Freddy.”
Freddy stood up and extended his hand. Miguel grasped it for a handshake, but Freddy held onto it just a bit longer, giving Miguel a bright smile.
Miguel laughed at Freddy. “Not me, but the bass player is looking for someone to show him around town.”
Freddy immediately excused himself and went to find the bass player.
“How was your trip?” Miranda asked.
“Nice, they brought us here on one of those supersonic private jets. Now that’s the way to travel,” Miguel said.
“How long are you here for?” Liz asked.
“Two weeks.”
Catie was smiling at Miguel and sighing to herself before Liz pinched her.
“Oh, where are you going after that?” Catie asked.
“Nothing’s booked yet.”
“Are you going to play on Delphi Station?”
“We weren’t booked for there, but that would be nice.”
“ADI,” Catie messaged.
“Cer Catie, would you like me to arrange a booking?”
“Yes.”
“They can play for four days after the end of their engagement here.”
“There’s a booking available right after you finish here,” Catie said.
“How do you know that?” Miguel asked.
“Oh, our Alex has her ways,” Miranda said. “Rest assured if she says there’s a booking available, there is. You will stay and play, won’t you?”
“I’d love to. How will we get there?”
“Alex will probably fly you there herself.”
“You’re booked, the hotel will make the arrangements,” Catie said.
“Hmm, you’re quite mysterious,” Miguel said. “What do you do?”
“Liz and I work for StarMerchants. We pilot their cargo ship.”
“More like captain it,” Miranda said.
“Interesting, you’ll have to tell me more. But right now, I think they want me on stage.”
Catie watched as Miguel walked away.
“Alex . . . Alex . . . Catie!” Liz hissed.
“Oh la la, the pheromones are just dripping off that man,” Yvette said.
“Huh,” Catie said, her face turning red. She had never had her body react to someone after just meeting them. She hoped her friends hadn’t noticed.
“It’s called having the hots for someone,” Yvette said, waving her hand in front of Catie like a fan. “I’m glad to see you’re not immune. I was beginning to worry about you.”
“Alex, don’t feel bad about it, I think Miranda was the only one immune to him,” Liz said.
“You guys, he’s my cousin!” Miranda said.
“That’s good, less competition,” Yvette said with a smirk.
Fortunately, the band started up. They began the set by playing ‘Fly Me to the Moon’.
◆ ◆ ◆
At the end of the set, Miguel came back to their table, and Freddy headed off again.
“Are you enjoying the show?” Miguel asked.
“Yes.”
“Immensely.”
“Good. So, Miranda, you have a couple of days off?”
“Yes. Since we came today instead of yesterday, I traded Friday duty with a friend, so I’m off until Tuesday.”
“The guys want to go fishing, any chance you know where we can charter a boat?”
“Doesn’t the hotel offer them?” Liz asked.
“Yes, but they’re full. Apparently, six guys is a big group for most of the charter boats they have available.”
“ADI?”
“Cer Catie, the Mea Huli is available,” ADI reported.
“I know a guy who can take you out,” Catie said.
“You do? You really are a miracle worker,” Miguel said.
“It’s a big yacht, you can even go overnight if you want. I’ll send you his contact information.”
“What will it cost?”
“Just pay for fuel.”
“Are you talking about the Mea Huli?” Liz asked.
“Yes.”
“Then fuel will be real cheap,” Liz said, alluding to the fact that since they had installed a fusion reactor in the Mea Huli last year, it didn’t use any fuel.
“Caesar will present you with a fuel bill. But like Liz says, it shouldn’t be too much,” Catie explained. “Caesar compensates himself for ‘free’ cruises by making up a modest fuel cost to be compensated by the guests.”
“That’s my kind of deal. What else should we bring?” Miguel asked.
“You’ll need to bring your own beer. The boat is stocked with food, so Caesar will be able to feed you. Caesar is the guy who manages the boat.”
“And he cooks?”
“He’s versatile. He lives on the Mea Huli. Of course, he gets kicked off once in a while when someone wants to take it out for a private cruise,” Catie explained.
“Will you come with us?” Miguel asked.
“I can’t, I’ve got things I have to do Sunday and Monday,” Catie said.
“And I’m flying to Gemini Station tomorrow,” Liz said.
“Miranda?”
“Sure, can Freddy come?”
“Why not. Will you guys come back for another show?” Miguel asked.
“We can probably come next Saturday,” Liz said.
“I’ll leave tickets for you at the desk.”
> “Tickets?” Miranda asked.
“Yes, we’re a big-deal band. They charge money for people to come in and see us. How’d you get in?”
“I just told them we were with Alex and they showed us to this table.”
“Hmm,” Miguel mused looking at Catie.
“I know the event manager, Sandra Bishop. She’s dating a friend of mine.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“What are you busy doing tomorrow?” Liz asked Catie as the two of them left the jazz club.
“Not being stuck on the Mea Huli with six jazz musicians that are trying to figure out how to fish while drinking beer.”
“What about Miranda and Freddy?”
“I don’t think Freddy’s going to be on deck that much, and Miguel is Miranda’s cousin, they’ll be able to talk about family.”
“You could have kept her company. And that Miguel is pretty hunky.”
“He is, but he’s too old for me. And Miranda is a big girl, she can manage it by herself.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Ajda,” Catie said as she walked into Ajda’s office on Delphi Station. The office was a big room with Ajda’s desk and models of various ships mounted on the wall. It had a big work table in the center where she was working.
“Don’t tell me. Marc wants the frigates sooner.”
“Good guess.”
“Not a guess. Doesn’t he understand that things take time?”
“He understands; he just doesn’t like it. I told him that we would spend some time looking at the process to see if we could come up with a way to speed things up.”
“I guess it can’t hurt to try. We might learn something.”
“What’s the bottleneck? Wait, don’t tell me, the gravity drives.”
“Yes. They’re so huge and they have to mount to the hull, so it’s hard to do anything. They have to fit snug against the hull, so you can’t spin the hull around them.”
“Can’t you just spin the girth, then slide each gravity drive into place and weld it there? Then you could spin up the rest of the hull with them in place.”
“Okay, let me map this out. We build the drives and reactors. There are four of each and they’re laid out in quadrants anyway; so we put the gravity drives in first, then build the reactors around them while we continue to spin the hull out. Doing it that way instead of printing the gravity drives in place will save four weeks, though it’ll cost a lot more since you’re adding work. But it does let you parallel a lot of it.”
“That sounds good. Can you do the same with the cabins and the bridge?” Catie asked.
“Sure, won’t save that much extra time since there are not that many cabins. Most of the ship consists of the three flight bays and the cargo hold.”
“I know, but every little bit helps.”
“Okay, let me send this off to the team and they can work out a detailed plan. I think we’ll just finish the hull we started while we do all this. Then we can push it aside while we make the next three. We’ll work on it as things allow, but it’ll probably be the last one done.”
“If we get the next one faster, it’ll be worth it.”
“You got it.”
“Okay, I’ll tell Daddy that you’re going to be nice and mess up your plan just for him.”
“Thanks. You sure you don’t want to come work here? You’ve turned into an exceptional engineer and project planner.”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure I’d be able to stay focused when things settle in. It was easy when it was all new to me, but now it seems . . .”
“Boring?”
“Not that exactly.”
“Hey, I know what you mean. You can only run a detailed stress map on a ship a few times before you want to pull your hair out. Fortunately, ANDI does a lot of the work for me, so I get to keep my hair.”
“How’s he doing?” Catie asked. ANDI was the DI they had built to replace ADI on the Sakira so they could move her to Delphi Station. He was now in Delphi City, having been replaced by an AI that wouldn’t become sentient. All the ships now had AI, since there was a high probability that becoming sentient would drive a DI insane.
“He does pretty good. He still requires very exact instructions, but hey, it’s way faster to set a problem up with him than with a computer.”
“What else are you working on?”
“I haven’t started the project yet, but the Four Seasons has asked us to figure a way to get passengers to Delphi Station without having to go through microgravity.”
“What?!”
“They have people that want to come up but do not want to have to deal with microgravity. Apparently, they are afraid to embarrass themselves by getting sick.”
“And that’s worth designing a new entry port?”
“Well, we have some cargo that people swear doesn’t like microgravity as well. And for small stuff, it would be more efficient.”
“So what are you thinking? Adding a docking port on the outside of ring three?”
“Yes, and that lets them on board without going through microgravity, but how do they get into orbit without the transition?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Catie said.
“If it’s so easy, then why don’t you explain it to me?”
“Design a shuttle with gravity drives, then it can take off, go to the north pole while still experiencing full gravity. Then it just starts circling at a two- or three-k radius, speeding up as it climbs out of the gravity well. It should be able to balance the speed and the gravity strength from Earth to maintain a constant internal gravity. Once it reaches the right altitude, then the pilot just starts to extend the orbit until it’s on the same orbital plane as the station. Balancing the Earth’s gravitational pull and the rotation shouldn’t be too difficult. Definitely not as complex as syncing up with the station’s rotation while in orbit. With the gravity drive, you don’t even have to actually set the shuttle down on the station. Just hover a few centimeters up, that way the station won’t have to deal with the big change in mass.”
“Oh, that is easy. We can use that iris you and Dr. Zelbar designed. Then the passengers can move from the shuttle into the station with a minimal wait and avoid using an airlock.”
“You could use a boarding gate like at the airport that seals against the shuttle and leads directly into the interior. That would give you an extra layer of safety against sudden decompression.”
“Nice. What made you think of this?”
“I’m thinking about a luxury liner to tour outer space. Avoiding microgravity seemed more important for something like that. The starship could cruise by the rings of Saturn, then bring you home. What do you think?”
“Do you want a partner?”
“Hmm. I’ll ask Liz. We should probably make it be a separate company from StarMerchants.”
“Definitely. You don’t want cargo to be associated with your cruise line in anyone’s mind. Not when you’re charging them up the wazoo for a cruise around the solar system.”
“I’ll let you know. We’ll probably look at doing something next year.”
“I’ll start saving my money,” Ajda said.
Chapter 9
Welcome to Delphi Station
Catie spent the next two days making sure things would be ready for the Aperanjens to arrive at Delphi Station. The last of the residents were moved out of ring six by Tuesday and they started to spin up the gravity on Wednesday. They rigged up a temporary docking port for the Aperanjens on the top of the hub for Section II. This would keep the aliens out of sight of the other residents on Delphi Station as well as shorten their transit into ring six.
On Wednesday, Catie met with Captain Clark and Ajda to review the design concept for the docking bay on the outer rings. Captain Clark approved the design phase for the project.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Catie, are you ready for us?” Liz asked. She and Catie were reviewing the status before the first Oryx of Aperanjens docked at Delphi Station.
“You’re sounding uncomfortable. What’s up?”
“Oh, I’m just worried about meeting them,” Catie said.
“Why?”
“They’re kind of ugly and I don’t want to offend them by reacting weird when I see them.”
Liz laughed.
“It’s not funny.”
“Sorry. I know what you mean, but here, look at this guy,” Liz said as she threw a video up so Catie could view it. It showed a little Aperanjen kid running away from his parents and the elevator at Gemini Station. His arms were pumping hard as he ran. He ducked under a rope and dove under some seats. His parents pinned him between them, and after trying to crawl away, he finally surrendered and allowed his parents to take him by the hand and lead him back to the elevator.
Catie laughed. “What was he running away from?”
“I don’t know, something about the elevator spooked him. But he’s so innocent, and isn’t he cute?”
“Yes.”
“Just remember every adult Aperanjen has a cute child just like that inside them. All races and species seem to have cute babies and tiny tots; you just have to visualize the little guys when you meet the adults until you get used to them.”
“Okay, I’ll try that,” Catie said. “See you in two hours.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Whew,” Catie let out a deep breath.
“Are you nervous?” Captain Clark asked. He and Catie were waiting in the gravity side of the hub to meet the leaders of the Aperanjens as they arrived at Delphi Station.
“Just a little. This is the first time I’ve greeted an alien dignitary.”
“But you met some of them on Gemini Station.”
“Yes, but then I was just Catie. This time I have to be Princess Catherine.”
“I’m sure they’re just as nervous as you,” Captain Clark said.
“I hope so.”
“Here they come.” The elevator door opened and the first six Aperanjens and Liz stepped off.
“Counselor Faroot, may I introduce Princess Catherine of Delphi Nation. Princess, this is the senior leader of the Aperanjens, Counselor Faroot.”
Counselor Faroot clasped his right hand into a fist and thumped it against his left pectoral in salute. He gave a slight bow of his head as he did so. “Thank you for having us.”
