Homeward: The Ship Series // Book Three

by Jerry Aubin

  “Not a problem at all. In fact, I’m glad we ran into each other this way. I haven’t seen you in more than a week. I was starting to worry that perhaps you’ve been choosing to avoid me.”

  The Boss’s cheek muscles clenched as he gnawed his cigar. Imair suppressed a grin about the man unconsciously revealing his stress yet again.

  “The only thing I’ve been avoiding, ma’am, is sleep. And that isn’t by choice. I’m never comfortable when the Ship is sitting around for more than a couple of days. I know we’ve had a lot of repairs to make so I absolutely understand why, but I still feel stir crazy. I’ve convinced myself that if I work a few extra hours a day, it will make all the difference in us moving again.”

  “I admire your work ethic, Boss. All the same, once we begin our new journey, I’d like to be certain we don’t go that long without checking in with each other. Let’s plan on meeting one-on-one at least every few days. The more opportunities we have to get comfortable with each other, the more effective this relationship is going to be.”

  “By all means, ma’am.”

  The Boss moved to enter the compartment as if he was trying to escape from Imair as quickly as possible. What better time to catch the man off guard?

  “One last thing. I’ve gone back and reviewed the video from the brig. There was something the Captain said near the end that’s been bothering me. She was pretty agitated at the notion the Ship’s AI instigated her removal. I’ve tried to get more details about the Order Sixty-Six protocol and its history directly from Alpha, but every time I broach the subject the AI deflects it. Can you help me understand?”

  The Boss paused before turning back to Imair. His outward appearance was 99 percent calm and composed, but his face bore the barest hint of agitation.

  “I don’t know how much more there is to understand, ma’am, beyond what happened on the vid. The Captain knew what was coming. When people are about to die, they’ll do whatever they can to prolong the inevitable. She picked that topic thinking it would keep me talking. She was wrong. We can chat further about it during those one-on-one meetings you suggested, but shouldn’t we get into this meeting? You’ve got a lot of busy people sitting around in there waiting for us.”

  Yet another deflection around the topic. Imair was certain there was something odd at play, but the Boss was clearly not going to give it up easily. She nodded and gestured for the man to proceed inside. She followed and the compartment went silent as she entered.

  Once again the room was overcrowded, but this time the group had arranged themselves with a fair bit of integration. More than one team, Crew and civilians alike, were mixed together. Rege remained the oddball as he stood off to the side with no one else nearby. The hollowness of his cheeks was starting to fill out, and he was even developing the slightest paunch. It was amazing what a few weeks of high quality food accomplished after a lifetime of deprivation.

  “Sorry I’m late, everyone. The Boss just chided me, ever so politely, about how busy all of you are, so let’s jump right in. First, give me an update on all of the repairs and modifications to the Ship.”

  A civilian stood and listed a dozen compartments that had been rebuilt following extensive bomb damage during the Revolution.

  “OK. What about the modifications we wanted to make? For example, the worker safety improvements in the sewage treatment cavern?”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am.” The civilian speaking was clearly uncomfortable and shuffled back and forth on her feet. “We haven’t been able to tackle any of those yet. We’re working as fast as we can, but you said we needed to get ready for travel again ASAP. We’ve put all of our resources into the work that’s most critical. We’ll redirect the teams to those improvements as they have time, but we’ve still got weeks of effort just to fix the remaining workspaces that are more important.”

  “What about resource leveling and redistribution? How are those efforts going?”

  Once again the civilian gave the impression she wanted to be anywhere else in the universe rather than giving her update. “Similar story, ma’am. The good news is that we’ve arranged for all critical civilians to have access to Crew mess halls, so all of our most important staff are getting the food they need. The bad news is that we can’t just fling the doors open to everyone else because it would be chaos. We’ve got teams identified who will evaluate different solutions and eventually make sure all ten million civilians get access to better food, but we need more time for the task to reach the top of their priority list.”

  Imair’s increasing frustration approached the boiling point. Even more so when she witnessed the trace of a self-satisfied smile on the Boss. He had once railed at her about the need to make difficult choices as a leader, and here she was confounded by those same choices. She had to do better by the ten million civilians. She had to give them a better life. It started with locating the other space-faring humans, though, and solving how to get everyone off this Ship and into a sustainable future. With that as the goal, a few more weeks of the status quo wasn’t going to make a difference. They were making tough choices, but they were the right choices. Her agitation waned as she sighed and then spoke.

  “I’m not happy, but I understand. It took millennia for the Ship’s society to get into the state which led to the Revolution, so we shouldn’t be upset if undoing that damage takes a little longer than hoped. Thank you for the update. I’ll look forward to putting all of this behind us given a few more weeks’ effort.” Imair turned to the Boss. “Flight Boss—can you please give us an update on the planning and preparations for the journey back toward Earth.”

  The Boss stood. “Ma’am—we’ve studied the Scan records and identified the best paths that meet the goals you’ve laid out. We understand you want to head toward Earth on a routing that lets us visit as many of our colonies as possible. With over 20,000 colonies spread far and wide in our wake, we’ve assumed you intend to visit a small percentage of them. We’ve generated two possible courses. The first will have us visit recent colonies within weeks and puts us within easy reach of a larger number of colonies overall. Choosing this path takes us off the optimal line back to Earth and therefore incurs an additional five years of travel if that becomes our final destination.

  “The second option not only postpones contact with any former colonies for six months but also puts us within easy reach of fewer overall. This routing is far more efficient about delivering us to Earth, though, and gets us there in a little more than twelve years.”

  “Thank you, Boss. How does this process work? What happens next?”

  “The choice is yours, Madam President. You decide which path you want to take and give us the order. We’ll announce the first Transit and be under way before the end of the day.”

  Imair deliberated. She wanted to visit their colonies sooner than six months, but a longer delay before any action might actually be in their best interests. It would provide sufficient breathing room for all of the teams to complete the work needed to fix the Ship’s broken society. If that same routing also returned them to Earth that much faster, then all the better. There really was no choice to make.

  “Thank you, Boss. I want us to make best possible speed homeward. Let’s get some stories on the newsvid that provide everyone with an overview of the plan and explain why we won’t make Landfall for six months. Most people will probably be disappointed by that delay like I am, but we can help them understand why it’s for the best. Let’s get started!”

  11

  Take it or leave it.

  The three small steps had appeared to Adan nearly as insurmountable as Everest, so he wasn’t surprised when he lost his footing between the second and third. Markev was in far better condition and steadied him before he toppled to the ground. Thankfully, this private entrance to the Chancery was hidden from the press, and there wouldn’t be any prying lenses to capture Adan’s moment of weakness. He had no business traveling within twenty-four hours of returning to Earth after such a
long time spent in zero-g, but the Chancellor’s aides had made it clear their invitation was really a non-negotiable summons.

  Markev checked his firearm at the door and, once they passed an unobtrusive security screening, they were escorted back to an anteroom. As famous as Adan had already been, it was generally in name only. Very few people recognized him in public. It was obvious that situation had changed as the head of every staffer whipped around with some mixture of shock and awe as he walked through the crowded hallways. Apparently, once you’ve shocked the world’s governments by navigating a few billion tons of space rock into low-Earth orbit, the news media will feature your face nonstop. On the bright side, recruiting for the mission wouldn’t need nearly as big a marketing budget given all the free news coverage.

  The door opened and a young male aide stepped out and signaled for them to enter. Adan had briefly met the Chancellor at an event years earlier but had never visited the Chancery. The building with its white facade was hundreds of years old, and in that time many world-altering orders had emanated from the relatively small, oval office where the most powerful leaders in humanity had long resided. For the past fifty years, the office’s occupant had held dominion over 10 percent of the Earth’s citizens collectively known as the West, and the current Chancellor had ruled for nearly half of that period. The woman sitting behind the desk had an outward appearance which reflected her advanced age, though almost all who dealt with her agreed that her mental capacity and overall tenacity was that of someone two-thirds younger. She was not to be trifled with. Adan approached and extended his hand in greeting.

  “Good morning, Madam Chancellor. I appreciate the invitation to visit the Chancery as I’ve only ever seen it on the news. How may I be of service?”

  “Cut the crap, Adan. You know full well why you’re here.”

  The strident voice behind Adan belonged to the Chancellor’s Chief of Staff. Jania had recently inherited the position from her father, and all of the resultant press coverage suggested the daughter was even more intense than he had been. She glared at Adan for a good long moment to make sure he understood who was really in charge in this room, and then she gestured for him to sit on the sofa opposite her. Markev took up a standing position behind his boss. The Chancellor walked over and sat next to Jania. She leaned forward with her hands clasped and her elbows across the thighs of her navy-blue pantsuit. She couldn’t have presented more like a sweet grandmother if she tried, though Adan recognized a visage far different when he focused on her eyes while she spoke.

  “Thanks for coming, Adan. I know it was a lot to ask given that you’ve just returned from such a long journey. You have to understand, though, that you’ve created quite the situation for us here. You raised holy hell when sensors detected that asteroid coming toward us and we hadn’t yet received your transmission explaining it was under your control. Going radio silent rather than responding to our requests for more information only served to make things worse. I had all kinds of military and security advisors crawling up my ass demanding that we make an example of you on the grounds of national security risk. I think the most commonly used expression suggested throwing you into a deep, dark hole somewhere.”

  The Chancellor smiled throughout her introduction. Jania, on the other hand, exuded more and more agitation. Adan mentally chalked the young advisor up as a likely leader of the ‘deep dark hole’ faction as the older woman continued to speak.

  “So today, we’re going to explore in great detail exactly why it is that you’ve done what you’ve done and what you plan to do next. I don’t want any games. Give us the complete truth about what you’re planning, and then we’ll figure out what we’re going to do about it. If I sense any prevarication, then I’m going to be forced to listen to some of the dissenting opinions among my advisors about how we handle you. Do we understand each other?”

  Adan was being given a valuable lesson in the difference between power and influence. His wealth and prestige allowed him to strongly influence the thoughts and actions of almost everyone he came into contact with. These two women had the power to make him disappear. Forever. Big difference. He took a deep breath and dove in.

  “My pleasure, Madam Chancellor. We all know that Earth’s climate has passed a tipping point from which it will absolutely not recover. With all due respect, what exactly are you doing about it? What is humanity doing about it? The East has established successful outposts in the belt and the outer ring, but those will never become more than small islands of life. Yes—they’re also terraforming Mars, but I’ve studied the data at length and it’s abundantly clear that meaningful results are 10,000 years away. Meanwhile, it’s obvious to anyone with a pulse that this planet’s ability to sustain our species is certainly measured in tens of years rather than thousands.

  “I’m building an ark. My new asteroid will serve as its bedrock and all of its titanium ore will be the material for towers that ascend kilometers high. This lifeboat cannot rescue all of humanity, but it will save enough of the best to ensure the long-term survival of our species. Never again will humankind place all of its bets on one single home world. We will spend the next hundred years scattering ourselves across the universe. Some of these new colonies will die off, but most will thrive. Together they will ensure that humanity’s shining light does not get extinguished but instead illuminates every corner of the universe for the next million years.”

  Adan sat back and waited. The Chancellor continued to stare at him while Jania glared out the window. The two women finally made eye contact and the younger one nodded. The Chancellor turned back to Adan.

  “I had thought this was somehow just another of your money-making schemes. Jania tried to convince me you had a bigger vision, but frankly the one time we met you struck me as disinterested in the rest of the human race. Here you are spending all of this time and money trying to actually save it. You surprise me, sir. What can we do to help?”

  “Well, Madam Chancellor, there are two ways in which you can be of service. The first is you can stay the hell out of my way. Nothing against you personally, but every time I’ve seen your bureaucrats get involved in something it takes forever and ends poorly. I want this to move incredibly fast and the only way that can happen is if it moves my way. You can try to tie me up with regulations and lawsuits, but then I’ll just pull the rock out of orbit and do this elsewhere. Maybe the East would be interested in having me do the work with their people out in Mars orbit instead.”

  The Chancellor raised an eyebrow at Adan’s mention of the East. He was jumping into a dangerous game making demands and threats, but he had to establish early on that he was playing for keeps and was not going to be pushed around. His views were well publicized enough they all knew he would never actually use the East as leverage, but he had to make everyone aware the option was available to him nonetheless.

  “I understand my second request is trickier, but it’s critical and non-negotiable. Are you familiar with Sirius B, Madam Chancellor?”

  The Chancellor shook her head and her reaction came across as entirely genuine. Jania, on the other hand, betrayed some knowledge with a nearly imperceptible widening of her eyes. Adan explained.

  “Forty-five years ago your predecessor approved the launch of a small space probe to Sirius B. The mission was intended to validate a secret new propulsion system. That engine was never able to scale up any larger than drone size which is why it has never been put to further use, but the original probe averaged one half the speed of light over the course of its journey. Five years ago it returned.

  “Sirius B is the closest white dwarf star to Earth. The purpose of the probe was to return with a sample of the degenerate gas it emits. Our scientists have long believed that degenerate gas would make a tremendous weapon. They are right, and if they had enough time they would crack the puzzle and develop just such a weapon. They don’t have enough time, and I have a much better use for that matter. I need you to give all of it to me as fuel for the
faster-than-light engine that I have developed. I spent our trip to the belt finalizing the design, and as soon I can secure the gas I will be ready to test it out.”

  Jania had gotten progressively more agitated as Adan spoke. She leaned in further and further and her knuckles became whiter and whiter. The Chancellor, on the other hand, leaned back until she was fully reclined against the cushions with a bemused expression on her face.

  “Well, sir, you know more about what our government is up to than even I do. I’ve never heard of this program, but based on Jania’s reaction it clearly exists.”

  “Ma’am—”

  “Shut-up, Jania. I don’t care. I’m sure this is but one of a thousand black programs that I don’t need to know about, so you haven’t shared them. I’m immediately clearing Adan and his bodyguard into whatever security level is required to discuss this matter. Do you understand?”

  Jania nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “OK. With that out of the way, do you mind sharing what you know about this program?”

  “Not much more than what Adan has already described, ma’am. This is among the top five most highly protected secrets in the history of mankind, so I’m at a complete loss as to how he knows what he does. Regardless—he’s got it all correct. The only thing I can add is that our scientists don’t share Adan’s confidence they will ever crack the code and weaponize the gas. They’ve concluded it’s a dead end and will probably be thrilled to be removed from this operation and let someone else deal with maintaining the gas storage.”

  The Chancellor smiled. “Well, I can think of two or three others that might round out your top five secret programs, and when our guests have left we should take a few minutes to be sure I understand the complete list. If any of them might be relevant for Adan’s project, then we’re going to need to get him cleared into those as well.”