Stepping Stones (Founding of the Federation Short Stories Book 1)

by Chris Hechtl

  Jack snorted. “True,” he agreed, then turned a look to Barbie. He was tired so he propped his head up with his right fist. “Now what?”

  “You don't like to do interviews, I get that. But if you did a couple, you'd be an instant hit with all the media outlets, and it would dominate the discussion. It would, however, make a few of the cynics believe rightly that we're trotting out the big guns because we have something to hide,” Barbie warned.

  “We don't. Well, we do, but not a lot. What about the dolphins? Has there been any question about them?” Trey asked.

  “Not yet. We've been lucky and kept them under wraps for now,” Barbie said. “Per standing orders to do so,” she said, looking expectantly at Jack. “We're going to have to come out about them soon,” she said.

  “But not yet?” Trey asked.

  “I'm not sure about the timing. Are you suggesting changing the subject? Or upping the ante? Dumping the dolphin story into what, the Friday trash news cycle? It could blow up in our face,” Jack mused.

  “It is a risk.”

  “Run the numbers. We are going to have to come out about them, but my knee jerk reaction is the timing is off. I think we should stay the course,” Trey said, looking at Jack. “If anything maybe get some people who have worked on ships before to talk. Or we can release some more data about the ship.”

  “Roman will have a fit about that,” Jack said, rubbing his mouth as he closed his eyes and straightened up. Finally he clasped his hands together and looked down at the tablet on his blotter in front of him. “I don't think we're going to gain a consensus now. We need to balance too much information with not enough. That part I agree with. I'll make myself available for one or two interviews.” He held up a restraining hand and looked up and into Barbie's blue eyes. “Video ones. Short ones,” he warned. She sighed theatrically but nodded her understanding and agreement. “You know I hate talking to the public, and I don't like getting caught out. That last interview with Farhad sucked.”

  “True,” Trey said with a wince and glance towards Barbie. She pursed her lips in annoyance. Farhad had been a bit of a disaster, but she'd expected a slugging match. She just hadn't expected Jack to react so defensively and for Farhad to come out swinging as he had.

  “Can we do a tour of the ship? Maybe a virtual tour?” Trey suggested?”

  “No, we've done that. People are wondering about the bridge layout by the way,” Barbie said.

  “We're not explaining now. Dump some stock footage of the crews training. Maybe a couple distance shots of the ship under construction.”

  “Oh, can we set up a live feed?” Barbie asked, eyes lighting. She looked at her tablet she had been holding in her lap. “I just got the idea from one of my people in a text.”

  “A live … video feed?” Trey asked, tasting the idea. He wasn't sure if he liked it.

  “I'm not sure if Roman would like it or not. It is a security breech. It would allow a potential terrorist real time intelligence of the building slip. It would also be a major headache if an accident happened on camera. If it was a fatality …,” Jack shook his head.

  Barbie's face fell. She grimaced. “True.”

  “We can consider it though. Perhaps a daily update? A series of images? Didn't they do that with a ship? No, shuttle. Or tried to. I think I remember it from a history file I looked into. Something Star,” Trey said.

  “Ancient history,” Jack said with a grimace. “And I know what you are talking about. The Venture Star. Also known as the X-33. And yes, it was a mess and scandal. They did have a good PR campaign though. You may want to look into it and take some notes,” he said, looking at Barbie.

  She nodded as she looked down to her tablet and made a note.

  “Check with my personal assistant bot or Athena for holes in my schedule next week so you can do the interview. Video, audio, or text. I know, I know,” he held up a restraining hand. “You don't like text since it can be faked. Got it. But a Q and A session might help or one on camera, I don't know.”

  “A viewer question forum? We could look into that for the ship's crew too. If the builders could do it …”

  “They are tired and overworked as it is. Asking them to get involved is asking for trouble. Charlie is in serious need of a vacation,” Trey said, shaking his head.

  “So …”

  “He won't go. This is his baby; he's dreamed of building a starship his entire life. He made it clear he's not going anywhere until she's out of the slip and on her builder’s trials.”

  “Builder’s trials. Great,” Jack said, rubbing his temple. “You would remind me of those,” he grumbled.

  “Um … refresh my memory …,” Barbie wrinkled her pert nose in confusion.

  “After a ship is constructed, it goes through a series of steps. Fitting out, taking on stores, tests to make sure everything functions, and then she's commissioned. She then goes out to a safe zone and does working-up trials. They are also called builder’s trials since the first time a ship leaves a yard a mixed crew of engineers and yard dogs are on board. They check the ship's functions, fix anything they can, and look for flaws. They run the ship and crew ragged.”

  “And that is different from a what, you said a working-up trial?”

  “That is when a ship leaves dock or a slip after a lengthy time and needs to get the bugs out of her crew to settle down. The same for equipment. It's also called a shakedown cruise.”

  “This is all getting confusing,” Barbie sighed.

  “Welcome to ships 101. Maybe we should arrange an intro course for you,” Trey teased. She wrinkled her nose at him. “Or you can look it up.”

  “I'll look it up, thanks,” she said, brandishing her tablet. He nodded.

  “Did you get the memo about the terraforming worlds? Specifically Venus?” Barbie asked cautiously.

  “You mean the one about the scams?” Jack asked.

  “I wouldn't call it scams. Real estate though is at a premium due to speculation,” Barbie responded slowly. She looked down at her tablet and pulled up her notes on the subject. “There is public concern over the three megacorps involved getting the planet.”

  “You don't think we shouldn't be compensated for our efforts? We've invested billions into terraforming each planet!” Trey said in disgust.

  Barbie frowned, eying him. “It's not me; it's the public backed by the people involved with the real estate. I'm not sure how it started. I know someone is selling real estate, and it's a scam. Unfortunately, it's getting all tangled up in knots. My staff picked up a couple blog posts about the UN General Assembly taking a look at the problem. The One Earth crowd is pushing for the United Nations to assert jurisdiction in the name of the human race and …,” She looked down at her tablet again, “quote: ‘… to make the process of terraforming and colonizing our neighboring world’s fair and open to all and not controlled by greedy corporations only out for profit.’” She looked up to Jack.

  “When it never rains, it pours, I suppose,” Trey said from the sideline. Jack nodded.

  “We're one of the three. Us, Mars Tek, and Green Men Terraforming,” Jack said. He ignored the Venus coalition. They'd been a crowd-funded, pie-in-the-sky group that hadn't contributed a dime to the terraforming process.

  “What were we planning to get out of the process again?”

  “Another world for humanity. I sold it to the board that way with the assurance that we'd divvy up the real estate. But since someone else is laying claim …,” Jack shook his head.

  “Can they even do that? I mean, they aren't there on the planet.”

  “If they tie it up in court, they can slow or stop us. Investors will get jittery and pull out. We may end up pulling out; we're getting overextended with the starship program,” Jack said, exhaling noisily.

  “Crap,” Trey said. “And I can't dump my stock in any of the companies since that's insider trading.”

  “Pretty much,” Barbie said, giving him another look.

  Ja
ck waved an airy hand. “We'll figure out something. I'll talk to … um, what's her name. Sorry, brain fart. Anyway, we'll sort it out. Don't worry about it now. One thing at a time.”

  “The problem is they are adding up. A drip here and there is starting to turn into a cloud of rain,” Barbie reminded him. She crossed her hands on top of her tablet.

  “Clouds pass. The sun will come out eventually,” Jack said tartly.

  “We've been selling this to the public and our people from day one. I … they had to wait until now to pull this shit?” Trey demanded.

  Jack eyed him. “I'm taking it as a blessing. We're halfway through the terraforming process on Venus. If they piss us off enough to pull the plug, they can pick up the pieces or watch it slip helplessly into ruin and back to what it was.”

  “We spent what, billions moving a planet? Terraforming it? For nothing?” Trey asked. “Dude, that's got to hurt,” he said, looking at his boss.

  “No, we learned a lot about the process,” Jack said slowly. “Yeah, it'll hurt, but we won't be alone. The other two companies will be pissed too. But like I said, we've learned a lot.” He frowned thoughtfully and then nodded, eyes gleaming. “Which we'll apply to other worlds. Worlds they don't have the jurisdiction on,” he said, eyes flashing as his tone hardened. “They aren't touching Mars, are they?” He glanced at Barbie. She shook her head. He nodded in return. “Yeah, thought so. Mars declared independence from Earth over seventy years ago. They can't touch them; they have the rule of law on their side. Like I said, we'll deal with it, later.”

  “Okay, well, I can look into stuff we're planning to release. I … think we can do a few things. What about a recommended college course list for people interested in crewing a starship?” Trey asked. “Think that will inspire a few people?”

  “It might … as long as you are serious about it. But my understanding is the first crew has been selected, right?” Barbie asked slowly. He nodded. “Then we would be building up a false front. Unless we made it clear it was for future ships.” She frowned thoughtfully as she tapped her fingers.

  Jack saw a note on his tablet and frowned. He tapped it and his frown deepened into a scowl as he read about the latest freeze. The reasoning was enough to make him want to bang his head. He sighed, making his guests glance at him. “Great.”

  “What?”

  “Another damn freeze,” he said simply, sitting back in his chair in disgust as Trey groaned.

  ~V~

  “Adding a moon to Venus altered the planet in many ways. It introduced tidal stresses to the planet while also creating an additional sun shield. I admit, I am but a humble historian, not a science major or a terraforming expert. From the discussions I've had with a few of our students exploring the concepts, they have told me that adding the moon, even a small 100-kilometer-sized one like the Venus project did, created a device, an additional means to mix up the atmosphere, sort of like someone stirring it up but from a distance.” Doctor Wilks grimaced. “It also had some impact on the magnetosphere, but if you are interested in such things, do please look them up on your own time. Our time here is limited as it is. Moving on.”

  “With the movement of the planet came stresses from other sources. The project backers were a bit too successful it seems; they were besieged by lawsuits and terrorist threats due to the hysteria of the planets colliding. It took some time to disabuse this meme and for the real facts to sink into the mainstream media and public.”

  “Those lawsuits and the misgivings of some in the scientific community certainly had some sort of psychological toll on the backers of the project. That and the long-term investment realization. They were still at least a century away from a habitable surface, while Mars was much closer to that realization.”

  Behind Professor Wilks a hologram formed of the solar system. The two-dimensional screen to his right showed it as well. The image plotted out the movement of the planets with dotted lines. “In truth Lagroose and the other terraformers had been very careful in plotting out the movements. They were moving Venus outward, while moving Mars inward. I am still in doubt of the 0.258 AU movement referenced in other works. That is to say, I have noted it but have not noted material that supports that statement so it might be in error. Moving Venus out further than Earth's orbit seems excessive.”

  The professor shrugged. “As I said before, I'm far from an expert on the field, so we'll leave that for them to debate for now. Moving on.” He looked down at his tablet on the podium top to check his notes, then up. “The other companies had constant issues with keeping the solar shades and mirrors aligned. Solar winds were pushing them away like solar sails, and of course the movement of the planet wasn't helping the situation. The mirrors and shades were eventually abandoned.”

  “Some of you may have noted the number of rocks and comets used to impact the planet. This is a report from the Encyclopedia Galactica. I point out two references, the entry on Venus as well as on the process of terraforming Venus like worlds.”

  “One thing we don't have a hard number on is the number of rocks that missed, either intentionally or accidentally.” There was a stir of consternation and amusement over that statement. He smiled. “Every process has mistakes inherent into it. This one is no different. A movement can be botched if the mass is miscalculated even slightly. Or an outgassing or slight impact while in transit could throw the movement off. Or so I've been told,” the professor said then harrumphed to get himself back on track.

  “As I was saying, some of the intentional misses were to skim the atmosphere off in a form of ram scoop method. These misses were directed to industrial plants near the L-5 colonies near Earth's Moon. They could and probably did need the atmospheric materials that the scoops picked up.”

  “In the 2170'th decade, things came to a head with the political side of the equation. The real estate scam on Earth sparked protests as some people realized they had been hoodwinked. I can understand their feelings, though venting it at the backers of the Venus project was obviously misplaced and a grave injustice.”

  “Many were taken in by the promise of large lots of land in which to build a future home. Some bought vast tracks early on, then subdivided them and sold the subdivisions to others over the years. Attempts by the corporations to educate the people of the scam fell on apparent deaf ears for many years. It continued to do so even after the project's collapse in 2181.”

  ~V~

  Jack glared at the media report. “Barbie …”

  “I'm sorry, Jack; it's the way it is. The United Nations has become involved. Enough people have been scammed by it for it to impact some of the economy despite everything we've tried to do to get control of it. And LGM's attempt to buy into the scam in order to end it didn't help any. It gave the situation legitimacy. Now people believe that we are behind it,” Barbie stated, shaking her head.

  “Wonder-fracking-full,” Jack muttered.

  “We've had some sabotage attempts as well,” Roman reported. Jack eyed him. “Nothing too serious, they haven't gotten to the rocks. But they have gotten into some of Mars Tek's labs and destroyed a few things. And apparently some of the people involved in the terraforming project also bought into the land scheme, so now that they've realized they have been bilked.”

  “I heard something about that,” Barbie said, adjusting herself in the chair. “I am having trouble believing it. I sent memo after memo …”

  “Oh, believe it. People will do the stupidest things. They thought we were going to pay them in bonuses with land grants and such,” Roman sighed.

  “Frack,” Jack grunted. He had planned such a thing at one time.

  “A federal investigation has been launched. Again. Apparently One Earth and Earth First do not have the ability to squash it this time, or they are pushing it,” Barbie stated. “The United Nations has a proposal in committee about seizing the terraforming project as well as the one on Titan.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  “It will, and we
can't stop it. And if we get in the way of it, we'll be run over Jack,” Barbie stated stubbornly, meeting his eyes with her own. “Trust me on this. You do not want to be on the wrong side of public opinion on this Jack. Not now.”

  “I've been there before. I'm still here.”

  “Jack, don't be an ass. It's not going to happen,” Barbie sighed. “LGM and Mars Tek are already shaky. LGM is holding its ground because they think they can salvage something, but Mars Tek is looking for a way out.”

  “And with them goes the perception that we're falling apart. That we're giving in. They see retreat and they will rush in.”

  “So, what do you propose?”

  “I don't know. Staying the course, hunkering down, it's not going to work. Yes,” Barbie held up a restraining hand. “They are down there, and we're up here. But there is a sentiment, a tide of resentment growing over our handling of this and of corporate greed in general.”

  “Again …”

  “I don't know.”

  Jack sighed. “We're overextended on other projects. I'm not just going to give the damn thing to them, though I'm tempted.”

  Roman eyed him. He knew his boss; he knew his past. “Ethiopia all over again, isn't it?”

  Jack stilled. He frowned, turning away. “Maybe. Just … maybe. Without the scorched Earth.”

  Barbie winced but nodded slowly. She didn't like the idea any better than the others, but if they had to …. She exhaled slowly. She'd have to do some quiet warning, some spade work to help some of their investors get out from under what was coming if Jack jumped the way she was expecting.

  “The board won't like it, but they will like it even less if we give in totally to the United Nations' demands later or have to deal with squatters. Imagine that sort of public relations nightmare!” Roman said. “I can send the boys and girls in, but it'd get ugly. Very ugly. We don't want that.”

  “No, no we don't.”

  ~V~