Tiona_a sequel to Vaz

by Laurence Dahners

  Vaz had been murmuring to his AI. Distractedly, he said, “Huh?”

  “This big disc with a fusion plant. How big are you thinking it needs to be?”

  “Oh… That’s why I was measuring the Johnson’s garage. It’s a huge three-car garage and it’ll hold a disc twenty-seven feet, or eight meters in diameter. They used to park an RV in it so it’s really tall too.”

  “Holy crap Dad! You aren’t thinking about building one that size in the Johnson’s garage are you?”

  “Umhmm,” he agreed, giving little attention to the conversation he was having with Tiona as he focused on his screens.

  “Dad!” Tiona said, grabbing his shoulder and giving it a little shake. This got little response, so she slowly started turning his chair around.

  For a moment, as she rotated his chair, his eyes and then his head rotated to stay fixed on his screens. When she had turned him far enough that he could no longer see his screens she had the impression that something snapped. For a moment he looked angry, then as his eyes focused on Tiona, his expression softened. “What?”

  “You’re really planning to build a disk big enough to fill the Johnson’s three-car garage?!”

  Vaz simply nodded.

  “And you’re planning to power this with one of your fusion plants?!”

  He nodded again.

  “And you’re going to use this disc to lift an experiment up into the stratosphere to do Dr. Weitzel’s test?” Tiona asked disbelievingly.

  Vaz tilted his head and gave a little shrug, “Well, that and other things.”

  Tiona drew her head back in dismay, “What other things?!”

  Vaz frowned, “It’ll be able to go well beyond the stratosphere you know?” His eyes lost focus for a moment, then he said, “Unless, of course, there’s a lot less dark matter up there and our theory about acceleration is wrong. Then we might not have enough thrust to get out to orbit.

  Wide eyed, Tiona stared at her father. She didn’t know what to say and when she didn’t say anything for a minute, Vaz turned slowly back to his screens. A couple of moments later he had resumed murmuring to his AI. Her eyes rose slowly to the screen.

  There was a flying saucer on it!

  Tiona stood there in stunned silence for several minutes watching her father manipulate elements on what appeared to be a CAD/CAM drawing. Several times she started to interrupt him, but remembered how angry he’d been when she’d interrupted him before. Finally she turned for the stairs and headed up; I think I’ll talk to Mom about this.

  Lisanne was working on baking some cranberry bread to pass out to the neighbors for Christmas when Tiona came in. “Mom! Did you know that dad has connected our house to the Johnson’s house through their basements? Oh, and that he says you guys own the Johnson’s house too? Essentially, Johnson’s house is just an extension of his lab?!”

  Lisanne looked at her daughter and tried to suppress a laugh. Nonetheless, a snicker slipped out.

  “You think this is funny?”

  “You just now noticed that your dad is a little different?”

  Lisanne saw her daughter’s eyes widen a little, then the struggle as Tiona tried to keep a straight face. Eventually she broke down and laughed with her mother. Lisanne stepped to her daughter and gave her a hug. Speaking into her ear, she said, “Actually, I didn’t know at the time he did it. Just like most of our neighbors, I found myself wondering when the new neighbors would move into the Johnson’s house. Then I started wondering why some men were digging up the Johnson’s yard between their house and ours.” Lisanne giggled a little, “Then I thought I heard your dad doing some construction in our basement! Wondering what the hell was going on I went downstairs and found a construction crew cutting a hole in the basement wall!”

  “He did all this without even talking to you?”

  Lisanne snorted, “Do you remember that he hid millions of dollars in separate savings accounts because he was afraid I’d want him to go on a Caribbean vacation?”

  “That wasn’t just a one-time thing?”

  Lisanne sat down and waved her daughter into a chair. “He says that he just didn’t realize I might object to buying Johnson’s house and didn’t want to bother me with the details. I suspect that down deep inside he knew I wouldn’t make too much of a fuss once it was done.”

  Tiona rolled her eyes; then focused seriously on her mother, “Did you know he’s planning to build a flying saucer?”

  Lisanne frowned, “He already built it. Remember, I was there with you when he was riding around on it.”

  “No, I mean a big one. Big enough for people to ride in…” Tiona glanced back towards the basement stairs, “What I don’t get, is that he doesn’t like to leave the house, certainly won’t go to the Caribbean, but he’s building a spaceship!”

  Lisanne’s eyes widened, “You think this big saucer will go all the way out to space?!”

  Tiona nodded slowly.

  Lisanne got a distant look in her eyes, then turned and refocused on her daughter. “I don’t really get it either. However, his big stressors have always been other people. Remember, when you were kids we used to go hiking? He was okay with that as long as we chose trails that weren’t likely to have very many people on them.” Lisanne turned and looked out the window, “And the other day when he went to visit your lab and Chapel Hill. His car took him there without him having to encounter anyone. And then I’ll bet you met him out at the street and took him to your lab without his having to deal with any strangers.”

  Tiona said, “He talked to the other grad student in my lab for a bit, and to my astonishment we all went out to lunch together.”

  Lisanne lifted an eyebrow, “Well, didn’t you have a banner day!”

  Tiona grinned, “I might have railroaded him into it.”

  Lisanne snorted, “Congratulations are in order. In my experience, your dad’s pretty facile when it comes to dodging any railroading.” She shrugged, “Anyway, there aren’t any people out in space. Just physics, and your dad’s comfortable with physics.”

  “But Mom! He’s talking about flying out into outer space. This is way more dangerous than… than… It’s dangerous! You’re not going to let him do this are you?”

  Lisanne put a hand on her daughter’s arm, “He built a fusion reactor in our basement.”

  Tiona leaned back and tilted her head, “Yeah but we didn’t know what he was doing that time.”

  “This time, I’ve got a smart daughter who knows physics and can make sure that whatever he builds will be safe.”

  “Mom! What if I miss something?!”

  Quietly Lisanne said, “Even if you miss it, your dad won’t. When you were a teenager, you once asked me why I married him…” Around the frog in her throat, Lisanne said, “Because he’s a freaking genius… weird, but amazing.”

  Tiona stared at her mother in disbelief for a while; then said, “I guess it doesn’t really matter, the FAA won’t let him fly it anyway.”

  Lisanne barked a laugh, “You don’t really think he’s going to ask them first, do you?”

  ***

  Ralph pulled himself along one of the “longitudinal” cables that he and Zack had installed on the Kadoma asteroid. It took him from the large bladder full of melted, filtered, and re-frozen ice at the front end of the asteroid, back to the big ion engine at the back end. The ion engine was actually an enormous cluster of small ion engines. Each one only generated about a pound of thrust, but there were 100 of them. A hundred pounds of thrust seemed pitiful for moving a 3600 metric ton asteroid, and in fact it only provided 0.12 mm/sec2 of acceleration. But ion engines could put out thrust for as long as they were provided something to ionize. After a little more than 3 months of thrust from the engine, it would have made about a kilometer per second change in the asteroid’s velocity. Another seven weeks of thrust would be required when it neared earth to bring it into orbit.

  Ralph and Zack’s mission, however, was just to make that first velocity c
hange of a little more than a kilometer per second. So far, things were going well. He and Zack were working alternate shifts with the “melter” as they called the large cone that melted the frozen gases of the asteroid so that they could use them to fill the bladder. The biggest problem they were having was that they had to change the filters much more often than they had expected. They didn’t want to stay on Kadoma for the entire three months that its orbit was being modified. But, if they were going to leave Kadoma while the engine was still running, the ice had to be melted, filtered, and stored in a relatively clean state that the ion engines could use.

  They had gotten ahead of the engine quite a ways. Tomorrow they were going to stop filling the bladder and fill the tanks on their Bellerphon module in preparation for their trip home.

  Back at the module, Ralph cycled through the airlock. Zack was up and ready to start his shift. “Hey Zack. No problems this shift. Do you want to start filling Bellerphon’s tank at the end of your shift or shall I do it at the start of mine tomorrow?”

  Zack didn’t respond to the question. Instead, he said, “Thrust is down to 449 Newtons.”

  “Four hundred fifty is spec,” Ralph said. Actually, 100 pounds of thrust as Ralph thought of the engines’ power would’ve been 445 Newtons, but the specifications had been set in the metric system rather than the pounds Ralph liked to think in. Initially, the thruster had actually produced 466 Newtons, or three and a half percent over spec. He didn’t see that 449 Newtons was anything to worry about, but Zack was a worrywart.

  Zack pivoted on the hand he was holding onto the control panel with. “We’ve lost over three percent thrust! That doesn’t worry you?”

  “No!” Ralph laughed, “I’m not worried about being almost exactly on spec for thrust!”

  Just then the chime sounded indicating that they had a call from Houston. Their screen lit and they saw Sophie’s face. “Sophie!” The two men said together.

  A few seconds passed as the message traveled back and forth; then Sophie smiled. “Merry Christmas boys! How are my two fiancés doing?”

  “Great!” Ralph said.

  At the same time, Zack said “A little worried.”

  After the obligatory wait, Sophie frowned, “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing,” Ralph said, but his cheerful protest was lost in the midst of a long-winded explanation from Zack about the diminished thrust from the ion engine.

  One of the scientists and a couple of engineers came on. Ralph’s Christmas cheer from Sophie was ruined by a lot of gloom and doom discussion between Zack and the engineers.

  Eventually they decided to wait to discuss it further the day after Christmas. The people on duty would make sure that the design team for the ion engine would be available. When they signed off, Sophie had long gone.

  ***

  Lisanne rang the doorbell at her brother’s house. Glancing back she saw Tiona, Dante, and Dante’s fiancée Rachel right behind her. She wasn’t surprised that Vaz had only made it about halfway up the sidewalk. As the door opened behind her, she waved peremptorily at him, trying to get him to move up and act politely. Tonight, it wasn’t just his normal reluctance to engage in any kind of social event that had his underwear in a twist. No, tonight he was really pissed because she had dragged him away from his saucer design project. I hope he doesn’t act like too much of an a-hole.

  Soon, everyone in the family began greeting one another. Thankfully, they didn’t have any drunken uncles or other hateful people to make these big family get-togethers something to be avoided. Lisanne’s sister-in-law had smoked a turkey and everyone else brought some kind of side dish. To everyone’s delight Dante’s fiancé Rachel had her guitar and played a few Christmas carols.

  Tiona and her cousins were gathered in one corner, heads down as they talked quietly amongst themselves, probably about someone’s love life. Lisanne had a warm and wonderful feeling, having her family together and everyone getting along so nicely. She looked around for Vaz, wanting to give him a hug and thank him for being there.

  Vaz was nowhere to be seen.

  With a sigh, Lisanne slowly wandered out the other side of the kitchen, through the living room and over to the room her brother had appropriated as his den/home-office. The door was closed, but Lisanne gently turned the knob and slowly pushed it open. Gritting her teeth, she thought, I could have slammed this door open without disturbing him! Vaz sat in her brother’s chair staring up at the screen as his AI slowly scrolled back and forth through cross-sections of his saucer.

  For a moment, Lisanne leaned her head against the doorframe, fuming with frustration. Then she thought to herself, You knew when you married him that this was the kind of person he was. Accept it, as you have before. It’s pointless to try to change him.

  Lisanne slowly closed the door and went back out to visit with the rest of her family. Maybe next Christmas he won’t have a project that he’s so fascinated with.

  ***

  Nolan and Susie got out of his car by Local 506. After he’d taken her to the Cat’s Cradle for the Ronnie Winters’ gig, he’d thought that he wouldn’t be asking her out again. Susie’d been so focused on Winters, she’d hardly noticed Nolan. Later, when he’d realized that the girl he’d actually been drooling over that entire evening was his lab partner Tiona, Susie had paled even further in comparison.

  Somehow, after that night he’d thought that he would be making a connection with Tiona and forget about Susie. But, he hadn’t been able to really strike up many conversations with Tiona as yet. She answered his questions, but no matter how much he wanted to, they didn’t really talk about anything but work. He had the distinct impression that she thought he was a complete dweeb and not someone she wanted to socialize with.

  When he’d seen that Winters was playing a New Year’s Eve party at Local 506 he’d wondered if perhaps Tiona might be there. He could go and “run into her.” However, he thought he’d feel like a complete loser if he went to a New Year’s party by himself. He knew Susie would be excited to go, and if they ran into Tiona he could introduce Tiona to Susie. He thought that if Tiona saw him there with another woman, it would improve his desirability in her eyes. As long as she doesn’t decide Susie and I have a committed relationship. Wouldn’t want her to think I’m unavailable.

  As the bar’s AI confirmed Nolan’s e-tickets for the New Year’s Eve party with a ration of drinks, a glass of champagne at midnight, and a party hat, Susie crowded ahead to peer around the corner. Nolan could already hear gentle guitar arpeggios, presumably coming from Winters as it sounded similar to the early part of the previous show Nolan had been to.

  Once they were approved to enter, Nolan started to bypass the selection of shiny plastic hats the bar had available for partygoers. He thought they looked silly and didn’t want to do anything to make himself look less masculine if Tiona actually happened to be there. However, Susie excitedly dragged him back to pick out a hat. Susie found an aluminized top hat for herself and, to his dismay, picked out a matching one for Nolan. Fortunately it was too small. Susie thought he could wear it anyway, simply perched on top of his head. Nolan refused, instead picking out a black visor that clamped to his head with a spring action thus obviating sizing issues.

  They walked on out into the club, Susie’s eyes going immediately to the stage to focus on her musical idol. Nolan’s eyes rapidly scanned the room, hoping to see Tiona. Susie grabbed at Nolan’s elbow, “Oh, we’re in for a good night! Ronnie looks a little wild.”

  Nolan’s eyes had found Tiona. To his astonishment she had on some stretchy, clingy pants that fit her like a glove. They belled out at the bottom so he couldn’t tell for sure, but he thought she might even be wearing heels. She wore a silky long sleeved blouse with a few spangles on it. Her hair, so short this summer when she’d started in the lab, had grown out a couple of inches and she had it standing spikily out from her head somehow. Described, it sounded weird, but on her at looked great. She looked… gorgeous!


  So different from how she looked in what she wore at work!

  Susie shook Nolan’s elbow, “Are you even listening to me?!”

  Startled, Nolan tried to replay whatever Susie had just said to him, but it wouldn’t come to mind. “Sorry,” he said loudly to be heard over the music, “thinking about something else. What did you say?”

  “We need to get a table! There aren’t very many left.”

  “Okay,” Nolan said, tearing his eyes off of Tiona. He looked around, saw an open table and started leading Susie to it.

  “No! We won’t be able to see Ronnie from over there!”

  Nolan grinned a little to himself as he realized that his criteria for choosing a table—that it would have a good side view of the open floor where Tiona was standing—wouldn’t jibe with Susie’s requirements. “Where?”

  Susie dragged him across the floor to a table more in the center, though a few rows back.

  As they walked that direction, they passed near Tiona. For a moment, Nolan thought she might see and recognize him. He tried to think of something to say, but then her glance slid over him and onward without any evidence that she even noticed him.

  Nolan suddenly realized that Tiona didn’t have one of the stupid party hats on. Turning only his eyes to the side to be sure Tiona wasn’t looking at him, he pulled off his visor and broke it, while trying to make it look like he was just trying to stretch it because it was pinching his head.

  “Oh!” Susie said, having glanced back at him to see the plastic visor in two pieces. She leaned back to him to be heard, “What happened?”

  “It was tight, pinching my head. I thought I could stretch it,” Nolan shrugged. “Guess not.”

  “Well, that’s no good!” She said, standing up, “I’ll go ask them if you can have another.”

  “No!” Nolan said restraining her with a hand on her forearm, “It’d just be tight too. I’ll be fine without one.”

  Susie made a disappointed face, “Okay.” She sat down and focused her attention on the band. Ronnie had been joined by someone playing percussion.