by Bob Blanton
“Do you have contacts in any of them?” Marc asked.
“France and Spain,” the admiral said. “I think you have Portugal covered.”
“I think I can get an audience,” Marc said with a laugh. “How many would it take to force the issue?”
“I think getting France or Germany is the key,” Admiral Michaels said. “It would be hard for the US not to go ahead and recognize you after that. I think New Zealand and Australia would follow France or Germany.”
“Anyone have a way to get to Germany?” Marc asked.
“Hey, they’re big proponents of solving Climate Change,” Catie said. “We should find someone to approach who’s big on that.”
“I’ll ask Herr Johansson,” Samantha said.
“Who else do we have who can handle these kinds of discussions?” Marc asked.
“Kevin Clark was pretty connected,” Fred said. “I’m sure he’s handled some complex situations, being a brigadier general tends to require some diplomacy.”
“Sam, can you check him out?” Marc asked. “We really need someone else to negotiate for us.”
“I will,” Samantha said. “But we’re still going to Paris.”
“What about Marcie?” Liz asked. “She’s got plenty of tact.”
“She’s here in Delphi City now,” Samantha said. “We could see if she wants to play diplomat. I think she’d be pretty good at it.”
“Okay, ask her,” Marc said. “That’s it for today. Communicate any ideas or concerns; we’ll work this out.”
Chapter 12
Hydroponics in Space
“Hello, Mrs. Michaels,” Catie said when Mrs. Michaels answered the door.
“Hello, Catie,” Mrs. Michaels said. “And call me Pam now that we’re working together.”
“Sure,” Catie said. “Hi, Sophia.” Catie waved at her friend.
“Hi, Catie. You’re coming to movie night, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Catie sighed.
“Don’t be that way,” Mrs. Michaels said. “You’ll enjoy yourself. Now let’s get going.”
“Bye, Sophia. I’ll see you Saturday,” Catie said as she and Mrs. Michaels headed out. Mrs. Michaels was wearing jeans and sneakers, which was a very unusual look for her, at least from Catie’s experience.
“Tell me when we’ll be somewhere that I can really quiz you,” Mrs. Michaels said. “I have a lot of questions.”
“Are they all about growing stuff?” Catie joked.
“No, they are not,” Mrs. Michaels said. “I cannot believe that Paul has kept all this a secret for so long. He should have gotten permission to read me in.”
“It’s not been that long,” Catie said. “He’s only known about things since the middle of August. We can talk as soon as we get to the grow house.”
“Grow house,” Mrs. Michaels said with a laugh. “That sounds like we’re growing pot. My kids will be teasing me every time I go to work.”
“Well, that’s what they’re called no matter what you’re growing in them,” Catie said. “Maybe you should make them help you. That would take some of the humor out of it.”
“Clever, but kind of mean,” Mrs. Michaels said. “Anyway, back to the space station and when Paul knew what. He told me he’d only known since mid-August, but I didn’t really believe him. He had to know something before we came here.”
“He knew we had really cool technology,” Catie said. “But he was shocked when he saw the pictures we have of the station.”
“He was, was he?”
“Here is our warehouse,” Catie said. “We’ve got everything set up in here.” Catie opened the door which her comm unlocked for her. “Nobody’s working in here right now, so we’re alone.”
“Oh good,” Mrs. Michaels said as she watched the door close. “Now, can I ask questions?”
“Sure,” Catie said.
“What kind of space station is this thing,” Mrs. Michaels said. “And how are you getting up there?”
“I can take you up anytime you want,” Catie said. “You’ve seen the Oryxes that were taking off from here before, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, those are our space shuttles. They carry cargo mostly, but passengers can hitch a ride anytime. Then the Lynx can reach it also, or at least the new ones can.”
“You mean those nice jets that land here all the time?” Mrs. Michaels asked. “I thought they were just bigger private jets.”
“They are, but they can do Mach four, and the new ones can reach orbit. You’ll like the Mach four bit. Daddy’s taking Sam to Paris this week, and the flight is going to be only about three and a half hours.” Catie didn’t mention that Marc was going to go the max speed and make the flight in less than three hours. He’d have the Delphi airport say he’d left an hour earlier than he actually did.
“Oh, I’ll have to talk to Paul about that. I haven’t been to Paris for a long time. Now tell me about the space station.”
“Why don’t we sit down here,” Catie said. “I’ll put the images up on your specs, but I don’t want you to walk into anything.”
“Good idea.”
“This first image is the space station with an Oryx docked. You can see how big it is.”
“Oh, my, it certainly is big.”
“It’s one hundred thirty meters tall. And the diameter of the hub is two hundred meters. Now here is what it will look like in a few weeks with the first ring in place.” Catie switched the image.
“First ring?” Mrs. Michaels queried suspiciously.
“Yes,” Catie said. “Here it is with all three rings.”
Mrs. Michaels gasped. “How many people are you planning on having up there?”
“Ten to twenty thousand, more one day.”
“Paul said something about gravity,” Mrs. Michaels said. “Can you explain?”
“Sure. Once we have a ring in place, we’ll be able to rotate that station so that the outer ring always has one-G. That means the same gravity as Earth.”
“What do you mean by the outer ring?”
“When you rotate things, the force that you feel isn’t actually gravity, but the force created by the floor keeping you from flying out into space, because the floor is constantly changing directions. That force is based on your speed, how fast the station rotates, and the radius that the floor is at,” Catie said.
“You’re explaining too much,” Mrs. Michaels said. “Give me the simple version.”
“Okay,” Catie said with a chuckle. “Basically, the bigger the radius, the higher the gravity is for the same rotational speed. So, the outer ring always has the most gravity. We can speed up the rotation so that the smaller rings have one-G, but we have to slow it down when we add another ring; otherwise, it would have too much gravity. Nobody wants to have to deal with weighing more than they’re used to. Or trying to move stuff that’s heavier than it should be.”
“Okay, that means that the inner rings and that hub thing will have less gravity.”
“Correct. The hub is in two parts, there is an inner hub that doesn’t spin, so it has zero gravity. The outer hub has some gravity; we’re spinning it at the same speed we need for the outer ring to have one-G, so it has one-fifth G.”
“And where are you planning to put your grow house?”
“We’re hoping in the first ring. It will only have a half-G, so we don’t think people will want to live there.”
“I don’t know, one-half-G sounds good to me, especially after a long day.”
“We’ll see,” Catie said. “All the rings have a space above and below the living space that’s rounded. You see, because the rings are ellipses, there is a bunch of space where the ceiling or floor is curved. Well, you can’t have a curved floor, so we’re going to use most of that for infrastructure. At the top, the space is pretty tall, seven meters deep with at least an eight-foot ceiling; that means we can put grow houses there and some offices or stores.”
“Okay, I think I have it now,”
Mrs. Michaels said. “Show me around this place.”
“Right this way,” Catie said. “This room is the bush vegetable garden, so vegetables that grow above ground. The plants are in trays that you can pull out. There’s a light panel above them that only emits the light they like to minimize energy usage and so we can increase the light intensity without burning the plants.”
Catie pulled out a tray that had tomato plants on it.
“Those are nice looking tomatoes,” Mrs. Michaels said. “And so many on one plant.”
“Yes, that’s because we give it exactly what it wants and there are no pests in here. So they really thrive. You can see their roots are growing through this membrane into the water. We circulate the water and add nutrients to it. The membrane is supposed to keep the water in place if we lose gravity for a while.”
“That makes sense. What about air?”
“We use concentrated CO2, and we let the plants rest in the dark for only four hours a day to maximize their growth. Then we increase the length of darkness to trigger the plant to start producing a crop. Each tray has a separate temperature control along with separate lighting controls.”
“Oh, very good,” Mrs. Michaels said. “How do you control it?”
“It’s all computer-controlled,” Catie said. “You can manage it all remotely and each tray independently. There are little video cameras in the trays that you can use to see what’s going on, but you have to set them on a timer too since you need to add white light during the filming.”
“Okay, now show me your root crops,” Mrs. Michaels said.
“Those are next door,” Catie said as she led Mrs. Michaels to the next room. “These trays are deeper because you have to allow for the plant and their big roots.” Catie pulled out a tray of potatoes.
“Oh, these are nice,” Mrs. Michaels said. “I like the way you have this set up. I wonder how these would do in low gravity.”
“You can find out. Just tell us what you want us to take up,” Catie said.
“I will. I’ll do some work tomorrow and make a list of experiments I want to run,” Mrs. Michaels said. “This is going to be fun. I haven’t done any of this since I finished my Master’s. I got married right after that.”
“Well, you’ve got lots of work now,” Catie said.
“I think I can do a PhD. on this.” Mrs. Michaels said. “I’ll have to contact my old Master’s adviser and see what he thinks. I’ll keep all the secret stuff out of it. I can’t wait until you announce the station. Then I can really get into the thick of it.”
“I’m glad you’re enthused,” Catie said. “I’ve updated the locks and computer codes so they’ll respond to your comm unit. I’ll send you a short tutorial on how to access all the information, and you can work through it when you have time. Let me know if you need anything. The staff will do whatever you ask them.”
“Good, what about staff up on the station?”
“We’d like to use JoAnn Rasmussen for anything we do in space. I’ll send you her contact information,” Catie said. “She’s just starting, but she’ll be working full time, so she’ll be lots of help for you.”
“Thanks, I think I have what I need for now. I’ll just head home. See you on Saturday.”
“Bye.”
Chapter 13
Movie Night
“Hi, Sophia,” Catie said as Sophia opened the door to the Michaels’ condo.
“Hey, Catie, you’re late,” Sophia scolded.
“Only thirty minutes,” Catie said. “And I’ll have you know that in Portugal that’s considered early.”
“Bragger,” Sophia said. “Come on in. You already know almost everybody.”
Catie entered the room and looked around; she recognized everyone but two. “Who is the blond guy over there?” she asked Sophia.
“That’s Frankie Phillips,” Sophia said. “His family just got here. Both parents are teachers. He must think you’re cute.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he’s looked over here twice since you came in,” Sophia said.
“He’s probably looking at you,” Catie said.
“I couldn’t get his attention before, and believe me, I tried,” Sophia said. “All of us have tried; he’s a real hunk.”
“Whatever,” Catie said. “And who is the redhead over there?” Catie asked as she nodded toward a young redheaded girl.
“Oh, that’s Crystal Tate,” Sophia said. “Everyone calls her Chris. Her family has been here a long time. They’re some kind of chemists who work for you guys. She’s only fourteen, but she’s in David’s class. Frankie’s in David’s class too, he’s sixteen.”
“Where’s Chaz?” Catie asked.
“He’s in Wellington,” Sophia said. “He’s doing something at the university there for school. Can you believe it, his family picks this weekend to go?”
“Is he avoiding you?”
“He’d better not be,” Sophia said. “No, they committed before Mom announced the day for the party. I tried to go with them, but Mom nixed it.”
Sophia took Catie over to Chris to introduce her, “Hey, Chris, this is Catie, Catie, Chris.”
“Hi Catie, I don’t remember seeing you around the school,” Chris said. “Are you new?”
“No,” Catie said. “I homeschool. It’s why my mom makes me come to these parties, so I get to meet other kids my age.”
“How old are you?” Chris asked.
“I’ll be fourteen next month,” Catie said.
“Cool, I’m fourteen too, my birthday’s in March,” Chris said. “What grade are you in?”
“I’m not really in a specific grade,” Catie said. “I do the material and advance at my own pace. If it’s science or math related, I’m doing senior- or college-level work. If it’s the other stuff, I’m generally doing junior- or senior-level work.”
“You sound like me,” Chris said. “I love science and math; it takes a stick to make me focus on the other stuff.”
“Me too. Unfortunately, my parents have big sticks,” Catie said.
“Hello, Catie,” Mrs. Michaels said. “When did you get here?”
“Just now,” Catie said. “Do you know Chris?”
“We’ve met before,” Mrs. Michaels said. “Did you get my proposal?”
“Yes,” Catie said. “I read it this morning.”
“What did you think?”
“It looks good,” Catie said. “Did you decide to use JoAnn?”
“Yes, I did. She’s a lovely young woman and a hard worker,” Mrs. Michaels said. “We’re going to get along just fine.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Catie said.
“You think I should just go ahead?” Mrs. Michaels asked.
“Oh, definitely,” Catie said. “You should have all the details in your email now. I sent them over about an hour ago.”
“Of course you did,” Mrs. Michaels said. “I’ve just been so busy getting this ready, I haven’t had a chance to check. You girls have fun.”
“You’re approving her proposal?” Chris asked with surprise.
“Not really,” Catie scoffed. “She’s taking over managing the hydroponics agriculture here. I’ve been involved with it, and had to send her the account information and stuff so she can start running things.”
“Oh,” Chris said doubtfully. She was pretty convinced that Mrs. Michaels was looking for Catie’s approval. Adults were never that solicitous of kids.
“Do you know Artie?” Catie asked as Artie Gillespie walked by.
“He was in my class last year,” Chris said. “I think he homeschools now.”
“Hey, Artie, come say hi,” Catie said.
“Hi, Catie,” Artie said as he walked up. “Hi, Chris.”
“So, you’re homeschooling?” Catie asked.
“Yes, thanks for helping convince my parents,” Artie said. “And my sister is going to the university in Wellington; she still wants to meet you.”
“Let me
know when she’s visiting, and we’ll go have pizza,” Catie said.
“Why does your sister want to meet Catie?” Chris asked.
“Be . . .”
“Because I’m a pilot,” Catie said. “She wants to learn to fly and wants to know what I think of it and get some pointers.” Catie did not want Artie to make a big deal out of the fact that she was the Catie McCormack.
“Yeah,” Artie said. “She wants Catie to take her up in an Oryx, and maybe let her fly it.”
“Can you do that?” Chris asked.
“I’ve finally gotten a special license from New Zealand that lets me fly by myself,” Catie said. “But I usually have a copilot anyway.”
“How long have you been flying?”
“Only a year,” Catie said, “but I’ve got lots of hours; and before that, I did a lot of hours on the simulator.”
“That Frankie guy is looking over here,” Chris said.
“Do you know him?” Catie asked.
“He just started last month at the start of the term,” Chris said. “He seems pretty smart and gets good grades on the exams, but he’s kind of a goof-off.”
“David says he’s a bit of a snob,” Artie said. “He doesn’t really spend time with the other kids.”
“Is that what he says about me?” Catie asked. “I don’t spend much time with the other kids either.”
“Oh, he would never say that about you. Sophia would make his life miserable if he insulted you,” Artie said with a laugh. “Besides, he’s heard you get even.”
“I’d only get even if he was being a real jerk about it,” Catie said.
“Good to know,” Artie said. “Hey, I wanted to ask you if you could help me get a job.”
“You have my contact info, why didn’t you just text me?” Catie asked.
“Well, I figured face-to-face would give me a better chance,” Artie said with a sheepish grin.
“I can check around,” Catie said. “What kind of job are you interested in, or do you already know one you want?”
