Gnaga answered: “We have. However, any actual experimentation is quite a ways away.”
Jeff said, “We’re working over the formulas and how they tie in with what we had before, namely relativity. It’s the old problem of a unified field theory that still escapes us. We do have a few significant formulaic ideas to study, though. And we have a good team assembled for that task.”
Mace nodded. “What are you up to now, twenty-five scientists?”
“We have thirty-two of the most brilliant minds on this planet working with us. These are people who survived the Great Deception.”
Mace crossed his arms. “The what?”
Jeff leaned against a counter. “The world bodies have designated the assault on Earth with the electromagnetic waves as the Great Deception.”
Mace chuckled. “Well, I guess it had to have a name, and that’s as good as any. We still don’t know who the originator of those waves was, do we?”
Jeff frowned. “I’m afraid not. No one has or wants to accept responsibility for it. We haven’t been able to identify any of the species who would have had the ability to conduct such an attack. Those waves were far more powerful than anything the members of Galactic Union were capable of generating.”
Mace half scowled. “Interesting. Tell me this: if it were to happen again, would we be able to handle it?”
Jeff pursed his lips. “Yes and no. The reactors that now bring us power would remain functional, but the electronics we are rebuilding would remain susceptible. As would most of our communications.”
Mace pulled back slightly. “Comm? I didn’t think our comms relied on any of our old tech. You’re saying they do?”
“We rely on a hybrid system here on Earth. It makes us unique and extremely difficult for the other Union members to tap into or decode. It also makes our channels susceptible to blocking.”
Mace stroked his newly-grown goatee. “Hmm. You are just full of good news today, Doc. Has any progress been made with reversing the sterilization of our womenfolk?”
Jeff frowned. “I’m afraid not. Had they only harvested late stage egg cells, we would have been in good shape. However, as it stands we have a system going worldwide in a few months that will hopefully resolve much of this. And I say resolve only with meaning how we plan to deal with this issue.”
“What do we have? Something like four hundred million embryos?”
Jeff frowned. “That number is down to two hundred fifty million and dropping. Even frozen, most are only viable for another five years at most. What we’ve done is set up a sort of lottery system. For those individuals who are the natural parents and plan to make use of their embryos, they of course get first crack. However, unless they choose to make use of all of those created from them, the excess go into a pool for those who have no embryos available. Anyway, we expect to have another two hundred fifty million births over the next five years. Those individuals will be fully capable of having offspring of their own.”
Mace winced. “Gonna be a strange world going forward, Doc.”
Jeff replied, “Genetically, yes. However, I believe our system will alleviate any issues of perceived adoption. Embryonic parental records will be discarded once they go in the pool. And once in the pool, matches will be made that are as close as possible to the new parents. In fact, we expect to inject a significant portion of DNA from the new father using methods Jasper’s Targarians have provided. This process will also allow a very limited set to come from the new mother, such as eye color, hair color, or skin tone. The child will be as close to the new birth parents as can be done given the current science.”
The discussions continued for several hours before Mace made his way to Johnny’s weapons lab.
Mace stood in the doorway. “What’s new in the land of Johnny?”
“It’s cold, that’s what. Close that door!”
Mace laughed as he stepped through into the room, allowing the door to quickly close. “Got it. Just came from over at Jeff’s.”
“Oh yeah? He tell you he and Nancy were taking one of the embryos?”
“Nancy? I didn’t even know they were still together.”
Johnny nodded. “Tied the knot last month in a private ceremony.”
Mace frowned. “You’d have thought they might have invited me.”
Johnny shrugged. “Who knows. Some people just like being private. Not me of course, but some. And of course there was some talk of you and Nancy.”
Mace frowned. “We never even went out. We only ever talked a few times. She seemed taken with Jeff from the get-go. Don’t know why she and I would have been an issue.”
Johnny picked up a pistol. “Wanna try out the latest?”
Mace smiled. “That’s why I’m here.”
“This is the Thunder II. We managed to increase efficiency by 12 percent and finally… it lost its fatness. Check it out. Now that’s a slick little firearm.”
Mace held it at arm’s length. “Still light. Good balance. Anything else new?”
Johnny grinned. “We added an electronic mode to it that offers the slightest of kickbacks. It’s great without it, but I felt it needed something other than the visual impact at the end to let you know it fired. I’ve been playing with it all week, making adjustments, and I think I’ve found the sweet-spot. I even picked up Jane’s approval with it. It now shoots as fast as a semi-auto, and a power-cell gives over twenty-two hundred full power bursts.”
Johnny walked over to the small indoor target range. “Come take a few shots.”
Mace followed. “Kind of hard to miss with this thing, isn’t it?”
Johnny nodded. “We tightened the impact area a bit, but still, if you can hit something with a shotgun you can hit it with this. Your spread at about fifteen meters can be as wide as half a meter. And it’s adjustable.”
Mace said, “Wait, we aren’t shooting at a point?”
Johnny shook his head. “With this you have options. Set the field wide and, as I said, your impact area widens to about a half meter. You lose some of the punch, but you’ll still be taking the target down. I would recommend that setting for close combat. If you’re going out to fifty meters, set the little dial to position two. That will give you a spread of about 10 centimeters at the target. Set it to three if you want a distance shot. It will hold to two centimeters at a kilometer. Of course it’s a pistol and you won’t be hitting jack at that range.”
Mace fired off a couple rounds. “Hmm. I see what you’re talking about with the feedback. Anyone who’s shot firearms will like this.”
Johnny moved over to a table, picking up a glove and pulling it onto his right hand. “This one I’ve been working on with the king. It essentially takes that pistol and molds it into a battlesuit glove.”
Johnny held out the glove, squeezing off a round. A target at twenty meters rumbled from the impact.
“I have a few kinks to work out with the triggering, but I should have those ironed out in the next few weeks. Adds about a quarter kilogram weight to the glove.”
Mace asked, “How’d you manage that?”
Johnny again grinned. “We wired the power for it into the suit. No power-cell needed.”
Mace frowned. “That gonna drain your suit power faster?”
Johnny nodded. “It will. But I don’t think it’s significant. I ran the numbers and that firefight you had with the hildabrigs on Hardy, well, it would have knocked about 35 percent off your suit power. I know that sounds significant, but you have to admit, even if storming a ship, you wouldn’t be using that many shots. That was a unique situation.
“And besides, I’m working on a solution. At the moment, that solution would be a slot in your suit that’s just up under your arm. It’s a space that isn’t used at the moment. You slip in a power-cell and bang, you have the same power you did before. We could even add a second slot under the other arm for a second power-cell.”
Mace thought for a moment. “Spare cells are a plus. Learned that
first hand on… Hardy.”
Johnny laughed. “So how’s it feel to have your own planet?”
Mace shook his head. “They could have come up with something better than that.”
Johnny scratched the side of his face. “I suggested Tretcher, but the committee would have none of it.”
Mace slapped him on the back. “Buck up. There’s still time for a Johnny planet. Lots of galaxy still to be explored.”
Mace glanced over toward a crumpled metal table. “What happened over there?”
Johnny chuckled. “That’s the triggering problem I said I still needed to work out. Thing went off when I wasn’t expecting it to. Just about gave me a heart attack. Geerok went running out the front door.”
Johnny removed the glove. “What are you doing for lunch? You eaten yet?”
Mace shook his head. “Nope.”
Johnny put his hand on Mace’s shoulder. “Then I’m buying. Tres opened a restaurant in Ronceverte. Has traditional meals as well as a few he cooked up while on the Rogers. Also has some interesting fare from Canto that he’s been trading for.”
Mace nodded. “Sounds good. I’ve been wanting to see him and Vanessa.”
Johnny headed for the door. “What you been doing up on that ship anyway?”
Mace shrugged. “Just some reading. It’s a habit Jasper has fallen into as well. Our universe has gotten a lot bigger of late. There’s a wealth of knowledge out there that needs to be absorbed. I was always a slacker in school, but now I find it all too fascinating.”
Johnny replied, “I know what you mean. I’ve been doing a lot of that myself. Kind of scary when you get out there in a fight or exploring a world, and you have to rely on the smarts of others.”
Mace sighed. “That’s my issue exactly. My problem is I have a single core processor and limited memory. I can understand well enough, so the programming is good, but I can’t multitask. And on the memory side, I say limited, because it seems if I pick up something new I gotta dump out something old in order to make room.”
Johnny laughed. “Mace Hardy using a PC metaphor… that’s you and me both, by the way. Only that forgetting the old stuff, that’s more a function of getting old.”
Mace frowned. “Can’t buy that one. We’re still a couple a spring chickens on the Human age scale. Give it twenty years and we can use that excuse. Nobody’s gonna buy that today.”
Mace and Johnny walked into the newly renovated building just across from the community center. Three people were seated for lunch.
Tres came up with a grin. “Awesome. My first intergalactic travelers of the day.”
“I believe that’s intragalactic,” said Johnny. “We haven’t left this galaxy yet.”
Tres replied, “Well, I guess that’ll have to do. How’s this table?”
Johnny asked, “What’s wrong with that table?”
Tres gestured: “Would you like to sit over there?”
Johnny shook his head. “Nope. Just wanted to know what was wrong with that table.”
Tres faked a smile. “Same old Johnny. Anyway, here are the new menus. We have cuisines from Canto, a Mawga page, a Targarian page in honor of King Collins, and then plain old Human food on the last two pages. I’ll give you a minute to make a decision. In the meantime, can I get you gentlemen a drink?”
Johnny said, “A Mangrove Dark Ale, please.”
Tres half frowned. “Sorry, fresh out. Hoping for that delivery truck any day now.”
Johnny nodded. “You and me both. I see you have beer on the Canto page. I’ll have one of those.”
“Excellent choice. Mr. Hardy…?”
Mace glanced over the menu. “Milk sounds good. Chocolate milk.”
Tres scowled. “You sure you don’t want to sample something else. Maybe one of the Targarian wines?”
Mace shook his head. “Nope. Chocolate milk.”
Tres smiled. “I’ll be right back.”
Johnny laughed. “Adventurous, aren’t you?”
Mace replied, “I saw it and for whatever reason that’s what I want. I haven’t had that in a long time, so I’m gonna enjoy it.”
Johnny turned to the menu. “OK, well, there’s always the food. Hmm. The Targarian squalor sounds good. Or maybe the Canto diagra and beans… soft shell of course.”
Tres returned with the drinks.
Johnny asked, “How’s the squalor?”
Tres smiled. “Excellent. It’s similar to gator tail and comes in a brown sauce that has just a little kick to it. And it will match up well with your beer.”
Johnny nodded. “Sounds like the plan.”
Tres turned to Mace. “And you, sir?”
Mace stroked his goatee. “I’ll try the chicken fingers with a honey mustard. Mashed potatoes and broccoli for the sides.”
The air went out of Tres’ smile. “Really? Out of all the treats I’ve lined up, you’re going with that?”
Mace said, “If you didn’t want to serve it, why’d you put it on the menu?”
Tres rolled his eyes. “Chicken tender platter it is.”
Mace chuckled as Tres walked away. “Some of that does look pretty good.”
Johnny squinted his eyes. “Then why’d you order the same ol’ stuff?”
Mace shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe I’ve been around you too long.”
Johnny laughed. “That does sound like me.”
Johnny sampled the beer. “Hmm. Canto needs to work on their brewing skills. Tastes kind of chalky.”
Mace sipped his chocolate milk. “Ah. I’d forgot how much I loved that.”
Johnny looked at the chocolaty drink. “Don’t suppose you’d want to try a Canto beer, would you?”
Mace smiled. “Not a chance.”
Lunch was had with kudos going to the chef. Vanessa stopped by with the girls. At only a year of age they were the size of an average three year old, with the intelligence of a kid twice that age. And as triplets who were all born at the same time, like thousands of others at the Ronceverte center, there was no shortage of friends to play with. It was one more item on a long list of items that said Earth was fully recovering. It seemed mankind was not on the way out.
Chapter 25
*
They sat in conference room C on the Rogers. Jasper had lifted his ban on starships.
“This is the design of our latest ship factory. The components will all be manufactured on planet, with the assembly done at this factory in space. I’ll be sending through the assemblies needed for the component factories first. You’ll be making your own reactors, weapons, and gravity drives. I would suggest following the design of our new Collins class ship, but you can build whatever you like. Just tell me where you want it all dropped.”
Mace nodded. “I was thinking right here in the valley. We have the land. Most of the people are gone. Some will have to be relocated, but I don’t see that as a big issue right now. There’s plenty of property to go round.”
Jasper said, “These component factories are only partially automated. You’ll need eight to ten thousand workers when you have them all up and running. The space dock will take another two thousand. If the Ronceverte building has room, I’d suggest putting out the word for manufacturing laborers. Now, have you thought about how you’ll pay them?”
Mace shrugged. “That’s all the minutia we have to work out. We may have to do a delayed credit system or something where we provide food and housing and a small amount of pay with a promised pay coming once trade income starts flowing in. I almost want to build transports first and warships later, but with the number of hostiles still out there, we can’t chance it.”
“A wise move,” said Jasper. “I do have a suggestion for you that might help bridge the gap. If you took the Collins design and lengthened it with a cargo section in the middle, you could get dual use out of your first tranche of ships. When you’re ready to build transports, you could have those sections removed.”
Mace stroked his goatee. �
�I like that idea. Gives us built-in pirate protection as well.”
Jasper pulled up an image of a Collins. “Of course, you may run into trade issues, as most colonies aren’t gonna want warships from another empire docking at their worlds. Wouldn’t be a problem between here and my kingdom. Or to Canto. The other old Union species… they won’t like it one bit. And neither will the UF or the Hoorka.”
“Well, we’ll just have to ramp up any deals with them later. At the moment, trade between your worlds, Canto, and Earth is about all we can handle.”
The first factory parts arrived two days later. A hundred acres of farmland was cleared. Two hundred workers were hired. With the exosuits, both men and women were well suited to the physical labor of construction. The Ronceverte community provided all the workers initially needed.
The first section of the foundation for the forty-acre reactor production building was laid in an afternoon, with the full outline ready in three days’ time. Over the next week, walls were erected and a roof put on. Following that, water and power were plumbed. Two weeks after the land clearing, the forty-acre building was ready for the guts that would give it purpose.
Milling machines, drill presses, and lathes soon populated the machinists’ lab. Next came the assembly stations, where the smaller components would take shape. The assembly lines were then put in place where the minor components would be pieced together. The last stage, the testing lab, received the jigs, computers, and other equipment needed to test out the major components. Full assembly would take place at the installation site.
Mace stood on the raised deck of a supervisor’s station, overlooking the assembly floor. “I can’t believe how quickly this has come together.”
Johnny replied, “Gonna be nice to be producing our own reactors. When does phase two start?”
Mace half frowned. “At least two months. I’d almost like to move that up, but Jasper’s people don’t have the components yet. When that comes online, we’ll be able to cover the full gambit of reactors, excluding power-cells and the like. Those come with phase three.”
Johnny said, “I went by the drive building this morning. The walls are going up already. We get this, that, and the weapons factory up and running, we can start making upgrades to our little fleet of cruisers. Should make the Earth Force people happy. You knew they came up with a name, right?”
HADRON Resurgent Page 23
