A Hop, Skip and a Jump (Family Law Book 4)

by Mackey Chandler

  "Flavious, are you by any chance processing a paper on brown dwarf formation by Ernie Goddard?" Born inquired.

  "Ah yes, Earnest Goddard," he corrected. "Informality is all well and good for musicians and air car racers, but higher education should maintain some veneer of formality. It's a marvelous paper," he said, despite the fuss over names. "He draws some very interesting extensions of his ideas for us without falling into the error of stating them as facts."

  "But you haven't posted it as published?" Bacon asked.

  "No, it had several typos, a sentence that wasn't at all clear, and a phrase with a common homonym I suspect is a joke. I'd really like to discourage him from doing that. It not only lacks somber scholarly tone, but in a hundred years it may be puzzling to a new generation with different usage. It doesn't even translate directly to Derf. I generally hold off from publishing until I can resolve any issues with the author. I've published with editor's notes before but I find it upsets people. I'm willing to let him speak for the co-author too since he isn't available."

  "There's a co-author?" Born said. "Does anyone know anything about him?"

  Ambrose and Bacon both shook their heads no.

  "He is John Burris, who is obviously a shipmate," Flavious said. "He hasn't been co-author on any of Goddard's' other papers in the University net."

  "He has other astrophysics papers of which I wasn't aware?" Ambrose said, distressed.

  "No, he has papers with co-authors that deal with planetary formation, xeno-archeology of alien mega-artifacts, and a number of lesser reports. Though I have to admit they tend to the economy of touching on several fields in one paper instead of breaking them up."

  "So, the man isn't actually an astrophysicist?" Ambrose demanded. He seemed upset.

  "Formally educated as one? Not to my knowledge," Flavious agreed. "But then neither was he schooled in archeology or planetary formation." Flavious seemed amused at Ambrose and Born hoped the Human couldn't read that, but then Flavious went ahead and made it obvious with his next observation.

  "He seems to have been too busy schooling us to have sat at anyone's knee himself."

  "We would never publish dabbling dilettantes and amateurs," Ambrose said. "That opens your journal to ridicule. My people would as soon publish scholarly papers from an engineer."

  Born had never seen that expression on Musical. The dipped eyelids, dimpled muzzle and tips of the incisors just showing didn't look friendly however. He's been taking it all in but silently. Born held his breath, hoping that held.

  Bacon rose quickly, thrusting a true hand out for Ambrose to shake. "I'm so sorry you had such a long trip for what turned out to be a dead-end." When Ambrose took his true hand, Bacon gave it a couple short pumps, and then without letting go pulled him to his feet. Born and Musical, Flavious even, still on com, watched in wonder as Bacon walked him to the door, hand still clasped in a true hand and his heavier lower arm around the man's shoulders propelling him irresistibly.

  Bacon massed over half a ton, so Ambrose was going wherever he walked him. He kept up a constant babble of nonsense about how he commiserated with his wasted time and trip, never giving the man a chance to speak. At the door he handed him off to his secretary and closed the door before the man could even turn around to protest. Born heard the lock bolt slide home too, just in case the idiot tried to come back in the room to protest. It wasn't quite a bum's rush.

  Born's housekeeper appeared at the door from his quarters, looking amused but expectant.

  "Now, we'll have some lunch, Norman," Bacon instructed. Norman nodded, smiling. He obviously anticipated that.

  The tables turned out to be built to rise to a comfortable height for dining, and Norman came back with a cart to load the side board.

  "Serve yourselves. I prefer a casual meal over a stuffy formal one with everything appearing over your shoulder. Everything is safe for you," Bacon assured Musical.

  "Thank you for your restraint when Mr. Ambrose insulted your profession," Bacon told Musical.

  "Doctor Ambrose," Musical said haughtily. They all cracked up laughing.

  "That's as much humor as I can take for a day," Flavious said from the screen and signed off, but he was smiling when he did so. They'd quite forgotten about him.

  "I wouldn't have wanted to dissuade him," Musical explained. "When we came here from Far Away, Gordon the Fleet Master encouraged us to make a side trip, outside the cone of ownership ceded to the Little Fleet. We used Ernie Goddard's charts based on his theories to locate a brown dwarf system worth trillions of your dollars. Why should I encourage that jackass to take a second look at such a powerful tool? I'm happy to keep it for ourselves, the Derf, and much more reasonable Humans like Miss Anderson and the Fargoers.

  "I'll drink to that," Bacon said. "I recommend the dark beer in the short thicker bottle."

  They all relaxed and ate for a moment.

  "If you do find some answers for your patron Miss Anderson," Bacon said told the two of them. "I stand ready to make the College of Practical Applications, the Engineers in plain English, available to design and fabricate such mechanisms as needed to test your theories."

  Born looked a question at Musical and got no objection.

  "We'll certainly make that kind offer to her when she returns from the Earth system."

  Bacon nodded, satisfied.

  Chapter 22

  "I've been thinking," Lee said. The phrase was becoming a mannerism as an opener.

  "Oh dear, not again," Gordon said, and laughed at his own joke.

  They were both back at the flight deck jump seats now as they got closer to Earth, and critical things might happen.

  Lee ignored Gordon's humor. "I disliked having a picket ship go ahead of us into the Sol system last visit and basically get us permission to enter," Lee said. "We are known to Central now and I'd rather speak to them directly and not have anything to do with the Claims Commission. It smells too much of them acting like system police. It's a bit of an overreach and I frankly don't understand why Central puts up with it. The Commission separated themselves from having anything to do with us by refusing to administer our claims. I'd rather not even speak to them, but if we have to announce to system scan on entry then let's simply tell them what we are going to do, not meekly ask permission. I feel we don't have any business with them now, so why should they interrogate us?"

  "You may be borrowing trouble," Gordon warned. "They said they had to follow orders and run to jump because we had an alien ship with us. Maybe they'll say, 'Hello, we know you.' And wave as we pass through this time."

  "Maybe. When we left they weren't overtly hostile, but it sure didn't feel friendly either," Lee insisted. "I suspect the Commission may tag us as a possible hazard."

  "North America certainly might. And they are the tail nation that wags the commission dog. I'm not so sure of the others. And if we enter the Sol system unannounced, and then Central refuses you the same landing rights they extended before?" Gordon asked.

  "Then we'll blast through and jump out the other side on whatever vector is an easy jump to another system without a lot of military presence. Nobody is going to intercept us if we don't slow down. Especially if we come in hot. And we'll know we're not as well regarded as I thought. But I really don't expect that. How hard would it be to get ahead of their picket? Keeping in mind we don't want to kill Sally."

  "Not very hard at all," Gordon said. "The Indians ran for jump as soon as our wave-front hit them, last time, and still felt compelled to pull three G to be sure of beating us out. Assuming they told the truth about jumping before our reply could reach them. That was with us doing a normal entry. If we jump deep, delay announcing ourselves until they inquire, and boost out hard we'd beat them to jump unless they are a courier already starting their run. I can do that and never pull over two G. But they might think we are a military strike.

  "There is an unfortunate history with the Sharp Claws, isn't there?" Lee said, and sat silent thinking
about it. "On the other hand, that makes it even more worth doing."

  "It does? You may not be aware of it, but the Earth powers have had a long custom of continually testing each other. They approach each other's territory and see how close they can get before the other is forced to respond. They crowd each other on the oceans and in the air. So much so they sometimes make a mistake and ram the other fellow. It seems a very dangerous game for us to start playing. Look up on your pad 'playing chicken' please."

  Lee frowned and searched their web fraction. Gordon couldn't see the screen but he hear the sound of roaring engines and then just as Lee's eyebrows went up a horrendous crash. She happened to pick a good example and Gordon had to smile.

  "We wouldn't do it that way," Lee insisted. "They won't know we are coming to line up nose to nose like that. It's not a valid comparison. It's good they know we can still enter their system without any advance warning. I think their sending ships to Derfhome says some of them haven't learned anything. It's time to make them think again."

  "The ones who think probably don't need the lesson," Gordon insisted. But he sat and considered that, and his eyes narrowed. "But you're right, they are apparently not the commanders or are in a minority, or they wouldn't be trying to intimidate the Derf with ship visits. Let's talk to Frost. I'm inclined to do it."

  "Certainly," Frost agreed after consulting the computer. "We can do that within our performance envelope. We'd emerge well inside Jupiter's orbit and have to swing close around the Sun and do a chasing intercept on the Earth-Moon system."

  "And if we are waved off and have to go through and jump out?" Gordon asked.

  "We'd have a choice of three targets the other side with minimal vector change," Frost said. Putting the routing on the screen for them, "but we'd need to fuel there or risk being stranded after all these extreme maneuvers."

  "What are the three targets?" Lee asked.

  "Survey systems 3, 8, and 22. Number 3 is of interest to scientists mostly. It's a low metal, low body density system. It has no economic importance. But the two gas giants have open mining rights. System 8 is a mining system with fuel claims and moderate traffic. It has no planet that is worth using the surface, so it has a couple stations with moderate populations to support the mining. The last one is a former French colony world that has fairly good relations now, after being estranged from the mother nation for awhile, because they didn't want them to self govern.

  "It's the most ambitious Terraforming project anybody has undertaken. The system and the planet were named Opportunity, and it's still pretty much a future opportunity. They will be dropping ice on the planet for another hundred years before they can start thinking about introducing organisms. The charter for the place requires a set percentage of the mining income from the system be used to maintain the snowball bombardment."

  "But there is a pretty good sized population?" Lee asked.

  "About five thousand in a dozen habitats and a number of smaller ones," Frost said. "The system grew early, before there were any other living worlds found or worlds that looked like they could be Terraformed much easier."

  "Then why didn't they move on once better places were found?" Gordon wondered.

  "After you'd spent everything you had to built the habitat you're living in?" Frost asked. "And the system is still viable for mining? I can see why they stopped getting new people when there were better opportunities, but the ones already invested there wouldn't abandon everything to go off elsewhere and start from scratch. And the other discoveries eclipsed them after they had a second generation started here. I imagine it was home to them by then. That's a powerful factor. Even if the Terraforming doesn't pan out they are just one jump from Earth. All it would take would be one big discovery beyond them to get an influx of newcomers and increased traffic running through."

  "Like being an Earth town back when they were building railroads," Gordon said, nodding. "That could make a town. The expression then was to put it on the map."

  "I have to read more history for stuff like that. But about the target, I think we should set it as our alternative," Lee said.

  "Why?" Frost asked, genuinely puzzled, not insubordinate. "We'll have to buy fuel there."

  "Witnesses," Lee insisted. "If anybody would follow us and give us a hard time for making a passage of the Solar System it would likely be North America or China. If they get aggressive with us we want to have it documented we didn't initiate it. The people at Survey System 22 aren't subject to anybody likely to follow us. If we show up, and want to buy fuel, anybody coming to chase after us will be interfering with local business. By the time they can assemble a force and pursuit we'd be at a local facility being fueled. It would be very awkward to make threats while we are sitting hooked to local infrastructure. Well worth the cost to fuel up."

  "Do you think public opinion on Earth would be swayed by that?" Frost asked.

  "I'm not at all sure the public on Earth would ever be permitted to know about it. But it's the public opinion on Derfhome and Fargone I worry about more," Lee explained.

  "Add New Japan and our new allies to that list," Gordon said. "We don't want a reputation as aggressors. But consider we might get pursued very quickly if they happen to have a ship ready to boost after us."

  "I don't think you have any idea of your reputation. They're scared of you. Look at how the Fargoers treated you, and they never even had to fight you," Lee reminded Gordon.

  "If there's a military ship ready to depart, or early in their run so they could divert, they will just order them to pursue us. Doesn't matter what they think of the Sharp Claws or me."

  "There are sort of technical difficulties that can plague a ship ordered to do something stupid," Frost said. "I've heard a few of them. Power feeds can be suddenly shorted by a screwdriver or something, mysteriously jarred loose in the cable gallery after the ship is years from being built. Environmental can suddenly have a leak vent all their reserve air. The less imaginative can apply a hammer or just shoot a vital piece of equipment."

  Gordon looked at him hard. "Would you do that if I ordered you to do something stupid?"

  "Certainly not, I'm not under military discipline, so I can tell you I quit, and go back to my cabin to pack my duffle. You can't put me up against a wall and shoot me. I mean, it might get very awkward for you if you did. I doubt the crew would consider it motivational."

  "Fair enough," Gordon agreed. "I'd appreciate if you tell me something is stupid before you quit. If I'm stubborn and insist on my way then you can quit."

  "Seems like a sound approach," Frost agreed.

  * * *

  It was almost three hours after emergence before they heard, "Unidentified vessel making a hot entry, please identify yourself." It would have been longer if the system station hadn't happened to be on their side of the system, and they entered unusually deep. The voice had a worried edge to it. That was to the good. The Sharp Claws came in deep and fast, pinged the path ahead of them hard with military grade radar at full power, and then a repeated a wider scan at full power to cover the local station in stellar orbit. They didn't slow down at all. By the time they were hailed they were near the halfway point of their transit and already vectoring for their exit.

  "This is the Nation of Red Tree Destroyer Sharp Claws, Captain Frost speaking. We are on a diplomatic mission to the Kingdom of Central on the Moon. You might have expedited things by identifying yourself and your authority before asking the same of us. We are making a fast transit and do not anticipate coming anywhere near your traffic areas. Indeed if you want us to hear in time to make a second reply you better speak quickly, because we're exiting the other side under boost."

  Two hours and a bit later the reply came. "This authority runs system scan from the local station for the Earth Claims Commission. We are charged with sending word ahead of vessels seeking Earth entry. Please decelerate to remain in this system until a picket vessel or drone can announce your intended arrival. Derf vessels are
on the list to be stopped, identified, and have passage granted from Earth."

  Gordon looked across from his jump seat and gave Lee sitting opposite a nod to acknowledge she was right. The Claims Commission did regard them as hostiles. The two of them were observing, but not interfering with Captain Frost or his crew.

  "Negative, System 17 scan. We note you do not identify as traffic control. We do not see Survey System 17 listed as having a local government. Unless you have had one organized since our star chart was updated seventeen days ago this system is open for free passage. We have no business with the Claims Commission, and refuse to credit it as a sovereign government. We do not intend to enter the L1 zone upon entering the Sol system. Neither do we acknowledge their authority to demand a diplomatic vessel stop and beg passage anywhere. I am under orders from my nation to deliver my passengers to Central on the Moon. Any attempt to interfere with that will be met with lethal force. Your system picket, which we observed on radar leaving your station at four and a half G, cannot catch us before jump. If your command is crazy enough to endanger their crew to get within missile range of us, we will fire first. I should warn you that we have Fargone and New Japan weapons systems which outrange yours. It would be a tragically pointless sacrifice."

  "What does the picket appear to be?" Gordon wondered.

  Frost tapped something on his screen. "They probably would call it a frigate. But you could as easily call it a cutter. A few independent star systems keep one as a customs vessel. They are jump capable, but lack the ability to venture far from a supply base. They aren't radiating. They can see us of course. And they may be getting tight beam updates from the station. They will hear our warning before the station.

  In another twenty minutes some lines changed on Frost's screen.