“We’ll need you and me, Liz Mosby and all of our alphas that are available. Call Claude Applebee and see if he’s available to come with us. Let me know when you’ve got that set up.”
Chapter 17
(200th dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
Laketa Godeswanger, Alizar el Shelamus, Claude Applebee, Elizabeth “Liz” Mosby, Paul Snyder and Walter Karnaugh board the beautiful Gulfstream 650. They are greeted by “Sary” Johnson, the Flight Attendant, “Good morning Mr. Karnaugh and ladies and gentlemen. Have a seat and we’ll be underway shortly. Mr. Karnaugh, the captain would like to see you on the flight deck.”
“Good morning, Captain Hanson, are we prepared for our little journey.’
“Absolutely, Mr. Karnaugh, we’re flying to San Francisco where we’ll overnight. Paul thought you would like to take in the sights there. From there we fly to the Marshall Islands. I understand you’ll be met there by the Captain of their supply ship and taken out to the mining operations.”
“Thanks, Captain, I’ll go settle in and you can get this show on the road.”
***
In San Francisco the whole gang dined at the Top of the Mark. The maître d’ had a problem seating the cats but that problem was solved when Walter slipped him a $50 bill.
***
The landing in the Marshall Islands was smooth as usual. They were greeted by Captain Bob Retundi as they deplaned.
“Good Morning, Mr. Karnaugh, I’m Captain Bob Retundi. I’ll be taking you to our supply ship for a two-day trip out to our mining operations.” Waiting on the tarmac were two Chevy Tahoes. The trip to the harbor was uneventful.
[Alizar, it’s Walter. You and Laketa be careful aboard ship. I don’t want you to fall overboard,]
[Walter, it’s Alizar, don’t worry. This is not my first shipboard experience. The pharaoh used to take me on his ship for trips up the Nile.]
The two-day trip to the mining operations were delightful. The Captain explained that the supply ship makes about two trips a week from the Marshall Islands to the mining ships.
***
Claude and Walter were enjoying the trip in deck chairs provided by the ship’s purser. They were also holding glasses of what the purser called Hawaiian Margaritas. “So, Claude, what have you found out about the metal salvage and recycling business? Have you found a company we could buy?”
“What I found, Walter, is that the recycling business is highly fragmented. There are small companies that operate locally, some regional operations, a great many government entities that engage in recycling. There are scrap yards in every town in America. It’s a maze. I did find a company that buys metals from all of these after it’s been separated. It’s called National Metal Recycling. They buy all kinds of metals including rare earths. So, I bought the company. I bought 30% for you. I’m Chairman. You’re on the board. I found a beta to manage the company. His name is Rick Fugate. He’s got extensive experience in metal salvage and recycling. He’s the president and CEO. His charge is to expand nationally in reality and not just in name. We’re going to have to develop an outlet for the metals that are not the rare earths that we want to send to the Home World. We’re going to also have to develop some refining capability for some of the materials that they’re buying. So that operation is up and running. We’ll send any rare earth metals that we get to Montana for shipment to the Home World. What have you found out about asteroid mining?”
“There are a couple of groups looking at asteroid mining as an academic exercise but nobody that I’ve been able to locate that’s prepared to go further. I think we need to set up our own company.”
Claude thinks for a minute. “Ok, I’ll put that in motion. I’ll also see if we can find someone to run it. Maybe Ralph Steinmark knows someone[O3].”
“That’s a good idea, Claude. I’ll also keep in mind the idea that we might get the Home World to give us someone who knows the design of the star drives. That would give us an advantage if we started to mine the asteroids.”
***
The mining operations consisted of two ships. The party was ferried from the supply ship to the mining ship in Zodiacs, where they were greeted by Captain James Nemo.
They had not been on the mining ship for very long when Alizar fell overboard.
[Help! Help! I’ve fallen in the water. It’s Alizar. Help!]
“Captain, my furry friend has fallen overboard. Can you launch one of your Zodiacs to see if we can rescue him?”
[Help! Help! It’s Alizar]
[Alizar, it’s Moozooka, calm yourself. I’ll rescue you. You certainly are a noisy alpha!]
As Alizar paddles furiously in the calm Pacific waters, he suddenly feels something solid under his paws. Solid ground comes up from the ocean to meet him.
[Alizar, it’s Moozooka, dig your claws into my skin. You can’t hurt me and it will help you hold on until that boat I see approaching can pull you off.]
[Walter, it’s Alizar. I’m being rescued. This is Moozooka,]
In the Zodiac headed for the swimming Alizar Walter suddenly saw a 65-foot-long white sperm whale majestically but slowly rise out of the depths and provide a solid beach for Alizar to land on.
[Moozooka, I’m Walter Karnaugh. Thanks for the rescue of Alizar! Who are you?]
[Walter, I am Moozooka XXIX. I’m a delta. I rule this watery place. What are you doing on the strange alien ship with the long appendage?]
[Moozooka, it’s Karnaugh. I am chairman of the high council and we’re here looking at these operations. I’m trying to find out if operations such as this can help us acquire the metals that we need to send to the Home World.]
[Walter, it’s Moozooka. I understand. I wondered why these ships were sucking minerals from the sea bottom. I don’t taste any of the metals that the Home World needs here. The metals here are mostly 26 and 29. So you’re the chairman of the high council meeting. I don’t remember being invited to a high council meeting.]
[Moozooka, it’s Walter. Interesting. Not inviting you must have been a gross oversight. The aliens call those elements iron and copper. Are there places where the metals we need could be found on the sea bed?]
[Walter, it’s Moozooka. Certainly. I could lead you to those.]
[Moozooka, it’s Walter. Could you hang around for a few dawnings while I learn about these operations?]
[Walter, it’s Moozooka. I can. My wives and I will be in this area for several dawnings.]
Karnaugh walks to the bridge and greets the captain. “Thanks for the rescue of my furry friend.”
“You’re welcome. But I think it was mostly the whale that did that job. I’ve never seen anything like that in all my years at sea. That’s also the biggest sperm whale that I’ve ever seen. Let me get on with the review of our operations.”
“That would be great.”
The conversation is interrupted by an alarm bell. “We’ll have to wait while I deal with a minor crisis. Something is clogging the inlet to our suction line.”
[Moozooka, it’s Walter. Too bad you can’t dive deep enough to see what’s happening. Something is clogging the input to the suction line down on the sea bed. I think that’s deeper than you can dive.]
[Walter, it’s Moozooka. A lot you know about deltas. Give me a short time and I’ll see what’s going on.]
“Captain, does this happen often?”
“Not often but it does happen. What we do is stop the suction and shake the line for a few minutes. Usually, that will clean things up. If not, we have to haul the line up and repair the end.”
[Walter, it’s Moozooka. I’m down near the bottom. A giant squid has fallen in love with the ships appendage. Tell them to stop the suction.]
“Captain, do you know what causes this?”
“No, not for sure. I believe that we’ve sucked some sea creature into the inlet.”
[Walter, it’s Moozooka. I’ve got him. Squid are very tasty. They put up quite a fight but I always win in the
end. I’ll bring him to the surface to let you see.]
A few minutes later there’s a commotion in the sea off the bow of the ship. “Walter, look at that. The whale has surfaced and it looks like he’s fighting a giant squid.”
“Amazing. Does that confirm your theory about sea creatures clogging the suction inlet?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think sperm whales can dive as deep as our suction inlet.”
As they watch, the squid disappears into the maw of the whale.
[Moozooka, it’s Walter. The ship captain doesn’t believe you can dive deep enough to get to the bottom at these depths.]
[Walter, it’s Moozooka. Well, ship’s captains don’t know anything about deltas either. See what you can find out from these aliens. I’ll be around here. Don’t forget to invite me to the next high council meeting.]
[Moozooka, OK and thanks again for the rescue of Alizar.]
“Captain, give me a minute to check on my furry friend and we can continue our discussion of your operations.
***
“Well, Walter, how is your cat?”
“Alizar is fine and seems none the worse for wear. Is your suction device back in operation?”
“Yes, it is. As I was telling you before we were so rudely interrupted, we suck the nodules up from the sea bed. In addition to the nodules we, of course, suck up a lot of sand and other debris. We separate out the nodules and dump the rest of the stuff back into the sea. Periodically we pass the nodules to the transfer ship. The ship takes the harvested nodules to the processing plant on an island near where you joined our supply ship. That ship makes about one trip a week depending on the volume of our mining harvest.”
“That’s fascinating. And your processing plant separates out the iron and copper? What happens to the tailings from that processing?”
“That’s correct. We separate out the copper and iron. We find it’s not economical to do further processing to get out the other minerals that are contained in these tailings. We have a huge dump where we store the tailings.”
“I’m wondering if a scavenger operation would be worthwhile on those tailings. Does your company have any recent assays?”
“I don’t know. I’ll send an email to the supervisor of the processing plant and get him to take some samples and send them to you. That way you can do your own assay.”
Chapter 18
(203rd dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
“Walter, I’m distressed about Alizar falling overboard. We should have thought about this before. We should have gotten PFD’s for our furry friends. I was able to go on line and order cat friendly PFDs. I had them FedExed to the mine company office at the port. I ordered several styles and in an assortment of sizes. The supply ship will bring them out on the next run. I spoke with the captain and they get shipments like this regularly. “
“That’s wonderful, Liz. You think of everything. Meanwhile we’ll keep an eye on our furry friends. So much for Alizar and his ‘I used to travel with the Pharaoh on the Nile’.”
Chapter 19
(203rd dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
The mining ship isn’t a passenger ship but it is home to the mining personnel for months on end. Therefore, there are accommodations for passengers. Walter and Claude are learning to enjoy an after-dinner drink in the lounge as part of the mining ship experience.
“This seabed mining operation is interesting. Even more interesting is the interaction I had with a delta this afternoon. Did you see the delta?” Walter asked.
“I saw a huge sperm whale. Was that a delta? Now that’s really interesting! Did you converse with him?”
“I did and he complained that he wasn’t invited to the high council meeting.”
“I hope you promised to invite him to the next one. Do you think seabed mining has promise?”
“Yes, it does but not a solution for our immediate problem. They are mostly mining 26 and 29. But our delta says he knows of places where we can find the metals we want. They also have a huge pile of tailings on an island in the Marshalls that they use to process the nodules. We could ship those tailings to another processing operation and extract the minerals and metals that we want. They’re going to send me samples from the tailings. If the assay of those samples looks promising, we’ll send our own engineer to take additional samples. We could either ship the tailings to our processing plant or build a processing plant on the island next to the mining company’s plant. Have you had any progress on the Polycorp project?”
“I’ve spoken to several members of their board and I’ve been having a number of betas start buying stock. Their board would be amenable to a takeover. They don’t see much hope in starting operations again soon. The selling price of the metals would have to increase by about 16% to make them profitable. I think we could easily swing that. I’ve asked that Ganymede start shipping some of their stockpiled elements 47 and 79. We’ll sell that to pay a higher price.”
“Yes, some ingots of gold and silver will be very helpful. OK let’s go ahead and make an offer for the company. If we own the company, the price we’re paying will be private and that won’t disrupt the world market pricing of the metals.”
Chapter 20
(205th dawning of the 3,687th orbit)
3rd Planet
Ku Chang and Meng Li excitedly watched out the window as their long flight was ending with a landing in Perth, Australia. “This is going to be a new adventure for us, Chang.”
“Yes, it is.”
Deplaning was only the beginning of the tedious trip through customs. Traveling on a China passport had made getting visas for entry into Australia easier since trade with China was being encouraged. Ku Chang was also an agent for an American company which had caused some confusion but was ultimately accepted.
After clearing customs and immigration, they taxied to their hotel, the Pan Pacific Perth. “Let’s settle into our hotel and rest after our trip. My appointment with the Lynas Corporation technical office isn’t until tomorrow.”
The next morning, they taxied to the offices of the Lynas Corporation. “Good morning, I’m Ku Chang. I have an appointment with Mr. Charles Thromdown.”
The reception area was well appointed and modern. “Welcome to Lynas Corporation, Mr. Ku. I’ll tell Mr. Thromdown that you’ve arrived.”
Thromdown appeared momentarily. He was an athletic looking young man in perhaps his early thirties. He wore tan slacks and a green polo shirt with the Lynas logo. “I’m Charles Thromdown. Mr. Ku, please call me Charlie.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Charlie. This is my wife, Li. Please call me Chang.”
“How was your trip? I understand you’ve come from Inner Mongolia.”
“Yes, that’s right. Well, our trip was long. We took most of yesterday to rest up. Fortunately, there’s no time zone changes to get used to.”
“Well I hope you get a chance to see the sights in Perth.”
“We certainly will. My company has asked us to relocate to Australia.”
“Well, welcome to you, mate, as we say! What is your company’s business that brings you here?”
“My company is Jupiter Mining. Our head office is in Montana in the United States. We mine and distribute rare earth minerals and metals. Since our mining operations don’t produce sufficient quantities to satisfy our distribution needs we must purchase additional quantities. Here’s a list of the metals we’re interested in purchasing.”
Element
Atomic Number
Annual Quantity (KG.)
Yttrium [Y]
39
1,000
Neodymium [Nd]
60
1,500
Europium [Eu]
61
900
Terbium [Tb]
65
500
Dysprosium [Dy]
66
1,000
“Of course, if you’re capable of delivering
larger qualities, my company would be interested in knowing this. As opportunities present themselves, we like to be prepared.”
“Where have you been getting these metals in the past?”
“Primarily from Inner Mongolia. The political situation there has become so extreme that we can’t depend on those sources. Which is why the company sent me here to find more reliable supplies.”
“What are you using these metals for?”
“That of course, must remain confidential. Our customers, of course, don’t want us revealing their business.”
“I understand. The reason I ask, I was interested in the technical specifications for the metals we would supply to you.”
“In that regard, if you could let me know your capabilities, we can work with just about any range of specifications. We have a limited refining capability ourselves. We would take delivery here in Australia and I would be responsible for shipping to the States.”
“Why don’t we set up a sample order for metals and minerals in various ranges of specification, and you can send them to your home office for analysis? We can deliver the mineral samples here. The refined metals will come from our refinery near Kuantan, Malaysia.”
“That’s a great idea. Can you arrange for us to tour the mining facilities?”
“I’m going out to the mines myself in two days’ time and I’ll give you the fifty-cent tour.”
***
“That went well, don’t you think, Li?”
“Yes, it did. We have a meeting tomorrow with Arafura Resources, LTD. And we’ll see what they have to say. We’ll spend the rest of today seeing the sights in Perth.”
“I have a better idea. Let’s go to the beach. We’ll first have to go shopping for a bikini that I could never wear in China and then we can spend the afternoon at the beach.”
Alizar and the Crisis: An Alizar Adventure (The Adventures of Alizar Book 2) Page 5
