Eye of the Needle: A Paradisi Short

by Bill Patterson

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Preface

  EYE OF THE NEEDLE

  Credits

  Want more?

  Dedications

  Acknowledgements

  Live Wire Excerpt

  About the Author

  EYE OF THE NEEDLE:

  The Paradisi Chronicles

  by Bill Patterson

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This story is set in the world of Paradisi Chronicles, an open-source scifi universe. Find out more at https://paradisichronicles.wordpress.com/

  EYE OF THE NEEDLE

  Copyright © 2017 by Bill Patterson

  All rights reserved.

  Cover image © 2017 Greg Bulmer

  All rights reserved.

  Cover typography © 2017 Christian Bentulam

  All rights reserved.

  Preface

  In the last decades of the twenty-first century, ten families seeking to escape an increasingly devastated Earth focus their power and wealth on constructing spaceships that will allow a select few to leave Earth and colonize the world they call New Eden. Their stories make up the Paradisi Chronicles, a science fiction adventure through time, space and generations, brought to life through the creativity of multiple authors.

  Everything comes at a cost...

  No stranger to the dangers that come with his profession, space construction worker August Reach has no problems admitting he has had his fair share of trials. With the contract for Shigeru Nakata and the Founders' Mars Colonization firmly in hand, Gus is ready to settle into his new environment- managing on-orbit and on-ground projects.

  But when orders force him to allow Yuai Nakata, his bosses daughter, to participate in the capture of a descending orbital cable, Gus realizes that keeping himself out of danger will be the least of his concerns. Torn between her insistence she accompany him and the sharp rise of complex feelings about the matter, Gus has no choice but to battle the merciless forces of nature to complete the project while keeping them both out of harm's way. But can he manage to keep everyone on his crew safe? Or will he have to face the biggest test he has ever endured?

  Will Gus obey his boss and endanger Yuai Nakata? Or will he listen to his emotions and keep her safe, no matter the repercussions?

  From science mastermind of Earth’s Last Gambit, Eye of the Needle is a brand new hard sci-fi adventure that will have you wanting more! If you like the work of Larry Niven or Allen Steele then you will love this new edition to Bill Patterson’s Paradisi Series!

  It's really hard to slam a fiberglass door, thought August Reach. But Yuai somehow managed it. Keeping his face completely neutral, he turned to face the rest of the compartment.

  “Where are we on the countdown?” he asked. Gus (only the boss called him Augustus) knew within the minute where they were, but be wanted the crew to refocus on the task at hand. Reach Corporation had to succeed on this mission, fulfilling the contract with Seizora Kabushikigaisha (True Sky Corporation). It might convince old man Nakata's buddies to consider Reach Corporation for other work in space.

  “T minus seventy-two hours, fifty-seven minutes, sir,” said the helmswoman, Mai Izumi, a diminutive woman with a most amazing talent—absolute direction. Spin her around in one of those three-axis chairs, seated on an airplane doing random maneuvers at night, over the ocean, and she could point within five degrees of true north. Nobody knew how she did it, but Gus fought to get Mai on the Kishizuna.

  “Cryostat status?” he asked.

  “Nominal. Chill down set to begin at T minus forty hours, sir.” Benny Rabaull was genius in the care and feeding of supercold materials, and Gus was lucky to have him. His systems were critical if they were going to complete this mission—the first ever connection of an Earth-to-orbit elevator cable. It wasn't the final act, not by a long shot. But if he failed, then it might be another year before they could try again. Reach Corporation's name would be mud, and the fines for noncompliance would wreck the company's financials.

  Three days, thought Gus, and we'll see if I'm right. In the meantime, better call up the boss and see what I should do about his daughter. If only I didn't love her so much.

  * * *

  “Augustus, I thought I made myself clear,” said Shigeru Nakata. “Yuai has been thoroughly qualified. She passed all of the same tests that every other astronaut has to go through. She even took the classes that you required, and passed them all, bringing honor to our family.”

  “But…” began Gus, but Shigeru overrode him.

  “I know what you're going to say—everyone knew she was my daughter. You have not thought this through, Augustus. She was away from Japan for her training. Most of the astronautics testing was small classes, the attendees selected far in advance. There was no way to get bodyguards close enough to protect her.”

  “Nobody was going to shoot her,” said Gus. This call, encrypted as were all calls to the boss, took place in his secured office. Gus was alone with the image of Nakata on his screen.

  “How do you know?” said Nakata. “It's not just my enemies. Terrorists could have kidnapped her, held her for ransom. Worse, they could have ruined her mind through drugs. No, the only way for her to complete her training was for her to do it under an alias, 'Satoko Miwa'“

  Gus chuckled. “She had you wrapped around her finger.”

  The elder Nakata peered closely at Gus's image on his screen. “Hardly. She's an important part of our entire project.”

  “All the more reason she should not be Topside during cable capture!” said Gus, his voice rising. “The number of ways to get hurt or killed Topside is incredible.”

  “I know, you've briefed me on them. Still, someone has to do it, and who better than Yuai?” He held up a hand. “I know, Augustus, you'd rather be up there yourself. But consider—she will have to command men in space in the future. Can she do that without doing her share of dangerous missions?”

  “Everyone Topside is someone I'd trust with my life. To them, Yuai is a rookie. Well trained, smart, sure, but still a rookie.”

  “Women have progressed far in Japanese society, but there's still nothing like having done the difficult, the dirty, and the dangerous to make other people respect you. I would rather have them respect her for her deeds than fear her because she's a Nakata.”

  Gus's face worked. The old man had valid points. “But she's just a kid!”

  Nakata smiled for the first time. “She's a beautiful woman of twenty-five, you mean to say. I suspect you're a bit taken with our Yuai, Augustus. But she can hold her own with men, as I suspect she already has, otherwise you wouldn't be calling me.” The elder looked down at something out of the camera's view. When he looked up, his eyes were steady.

  “Augustus, my orders stand. Yuai is to be a part of the Topside crew. Her need for experience in these operations is paramount.” His voice softened. “I appreciate your concern, Augustus. Truly I do. She is a blessing to me, and I know you will take care of her. If something should go wrong...but of course it won't...I will not reproach you. Good luck, Augustus, and thank you for caring so much for Yuai. Discon.”

  Gus waited until the connection dissolved before he dropped his head into his hands. He had a sick foreboding about Yuai. Something dark, something dreadful, was going to happen, and he was helpless to prevent it.

  * * *

  He gave himself two minutes, exactly, for self-pity, then he roused, checked
the mission status page, spared a glance at his face in the imager, and punched for Yuai.

  “Satoko Miwa, please report to my office,” he said. His use of her alias was a subtle reminder that, regardless of her family connections, she was still under his command.

  She acknowledged the summons and knocked on his door soon thereafter.

  “Ms. Nakata. I have been in discussions with your father,” he said.

  “That's why I couldn't reach him,” she said, her voice trembling with repressed emotion.

  “Do not interrupt me,” said Gus. “The first thing your father and I have agreed is that I am, indeed, in charge of this mission. I know you are a Nakata; you never tire of reminding me. Ask yourself this: suppose you were leading a construction crew on the next sky elevator, and you had someone hotlining back to your father, questioning your decisions. Would you like it?”

  “No,” Yuai said.

  Gus continued to look at her, not saying anything. Out of the corner of his eye, a screen strobed a yellow outline for attention. His eyes remained on Yuai, waiting for her to realize she was forgetting something.

  “I'm sorry, sir,” she said at last.

  “That's better. The second thing that your father and I have discussed is your desire to work Topside at cable capture. Do you understand why I don't want you up there?”

  “It's where the glory is,” she said. At Gus's frown, she added, “And you don't want me in danger.”

  Gus held his frown for a few beats, then sighed. “I would say 'action' instead of 'glory', personally. Frankly, if I wanted you out of danger, I would ship your ass back to Osaka right now. In my opinion, being anywhere near this devil cable is fantastically dangerous. It's only after we get it anchored that it becomes useful. Tell me why there's so much danger.”

  Yuai grimaced. “The cable is made of carbon nanotubes. CN cable is extremely strong. It's like those wire cheese slicers, only a thousand times thinner.”

  “Good so far. Go on.”

  “It's under tension and moving around. It will cut through anything and anyone Topside without slowing down.”

  “Right. Suppose one of your crew gets an arm in the way, loses a few fingers. Then what?”

  “Decompression. We'll be hovering at forty kilometers in altitude, and there's almost no atmosphere up that high. We have to heat hydrogen up to a couple of hundred degrees just to have enough lift to get there. Unless we can patch the crewman's suit or get them to the airlock, they're dead in two minutes.”

  “How do we mitigate the danger?”

  “The cable is attached to a thruster package wrapped around a large slab of asteroidal metal. A Topsider controlling the thrusters brings the cable to a near stop relative to the Kishizuna. We attach the orbital cable to a similar cable we are lofting from the ground station. Just like threading a needle, and we're at the eye of the needle to help out. After the cables are connected, Solix Ground will start reeling us all down to the surface.”

  Gus nodded and stood up from behind his desk. “You have put in for the job of controller. You have been tested and certified with very high scores. That is why you are on this ship. Not because you are a Nakata. You try to pull any of this 'do you know who my father is?' crap again while you are on my ship, and you will be operating the bow thrusters on a tourist tugboat in the Galapagos. Are we crystal clear on this, Ms. Satoko Miwa?”

  Yuai stiffened. “Clear, sir.”

  “Good. Have a seat.”

  “I'd rather stand,” she said.

  “It's not a suggestion,” said Gus. “Sit down.” Yuai sat down, still radiating defiance.

  “I know you're wondering what I have against you. I've heard the rumors: nepotism, or I'm a woman hater, or I'm secretly in love with you.”

  Yuai looked at him suddenly. “Are you?” she asked.

  Gus put up his hand. “The only thing that matters for the next three days is the mission. Frankly, I'd far rather have Michael Shorter on the controls, despite your higher scores.”

  “But he's never done this before. None of us have,” she said.

  “But Mike has been on high-risk, high-reward operations where failure just could not be tolerated. You haven't. Sure, you can secure the cable just fine—two misses in one hundred simulations. But it's different when you're there for real, and not just in a simulator, no matter how realistic. Sit in the cab of a tower crane a mile in the sky, and feel it sway in the slightest breeze. You haven't done that. Mike has. That's why I'd rather have him on the controls.”

  “You've set up an impossible situation! You won't let me operate because I have no experience. How am I supposed to get experience without the chance to operate anything?”

  “Exactly. Against my better judgment, I will be placing you on the primary controls, and Mike on the secondary ones. Your father demands that you be Topside. His dreams for you reach far beyond this particular mission.”

  “I know,” she said. For a moment she looked forlorn. Gus watched her master herself, the smooth façade of professionalism locking down over that momentary glimpse of loneliness.

  It's gotta suck, he thought, to have your life planned out for you, down to the last detail.

  “You know what the project means, don't you? To yourself, your family, humanity?” he asked.

  For a moment, her control faltered and anger flared from her eyes. “Are we through, sir?” she ground out.

  Gus nodded. “We will be running simulations during the ascent,” he said. “But you already know that. Dismissed.”

  * * *

  The border around the screen was strobing red when Gus looked back at his desk. Trouble.

  “Kishizuna here, Captain Reach.”

  “Solix Ground Control. We've just had an X15 flare cut loose on the Sun.”

  “Spot 43591?”

  “Yeah. Solix GEO is buttoned up tight, but we're a little worried about you guys.”

  “No kidding. Forty klicks up, we might as well be naked.” The amount of energy kicked out of an X-class flare was incredible. Earth's atmosphere shielded surface life from harmful radiation, but they were operating above that protecting blanket of air. “CME?”

  “Full halo. NOAA predicts arrival in thirty-four hours, plus or minus two.”

  “Maybe we can slot it,” said Gus. “Ascend after the X-rays die down, get back down before the ion wavefront arrives.”

  “We're thinking the same thing. There will be some electron buildup and associated static discharge, so be careful. Clearing with Home right now, but you'll have to speed up the countdown a little bit.”

  “No problem. We can cut out some of the built-in holds, start the chill-down earlier.”

  “Agreed. Work on that while we confer with Home.”

  “Roger. Kishizuna out.”

  * * *

  “T minus sixty minutes,” said Mai Izumi. “Gangways retracted, jacks on automatic, awaiting the inflation order.”

  “Stores?” Gus asked.

  “All tanks full,” said Hiroshi Yamada, the quartermaster. N2 ice shield at spec. O2 at one-oh-five percent and holding. Thruster peroxide maxed. We're ready to go, Captain.”

  Gus nodded. “Engineering. Report.”

  “Thorium reactor online at ninety-eight percent. Heat exchanger throughput optimal. Peltier converters maxed. She's itching to go.” Koji Hirano was the only one senior enough to get away with levity on the count.

  “Where's the junior?” Gus asked. Yuai rose from her crash couch, marched smartly to stand in front of Gus, and saluted.

  “Junior officer Miwa reporting,” she said.

  Gus shook his head. “Satoko Miwa is not on the manifest. Try again.”

  Yuai nodded gravely, stepped backwards one step and bowed from the waist, a thirty degree angle. “Junior officer Yuai Nakata reporting, sir.”

  “Command the inflation.”

  Yuai turned to face the crew on the Command Bridge. Everyone’s eyes were on her. She looked from face to face. Some, s
he knew, were rooting for her to succeed. Others, mostly old veterans, were more reserved. Nobody, she was surprised to see, expressed any hostility towards her, although she knew that had to be some.

  “Mission Control. Airship Kishizuna is ready to begin inflation!”

  “Copy, Kishizuna, inflate at will.”

  She nodded at Shohei Nishikawa, manning the communications board. “Engineering, please,” she ordered.

  “Engineering, Hirano here.”

  “This is Ensign Nakata. Begin inflation.”

  “Roger. Let 'er rip, boys!”

  * * *

  Airship Kishizuna was unique in the annals of aviation. It was, in essence, a balloon trailing a very long string—40 kilometers long. High altitude balloons had been perfected for over a hundred years. Kishizuna had two major differences to the 'bag of helium with a basket' configuration all of the others used: first, a woven nanotube box, sporting a deck one hundred meters square on its roof, sat on top of the inflated balloon, and second, a small but very powerful nuclear reactor slung underneath the bag where the basket would normally be.

  Engineering, the reactor, and tanks of liquefied gasses filled the lower capsule, while the Control Bridge, with Topside at its apex, rode atop the balloon.

  Floating above all but the faintest wisps of atmosphere, Kishizuna's mission was to snag the carbon nanotube cable of the Solix Sky space elevator as it was lowered from orbit and tie it to that long string—an identical nanotube cable anchored to the Earth.

  When joined, the two cables would form a link between the surface of the Earth and a satellite in geostationary orbit nearly thirty-six thousand kilometers directly above. Attach a cabcar on the cable and you could send anything into space for the price of the electricity to drive the cabcar up the cable. It was the dream of a hundred years of science fiction writers and quite a few engineers. And a nightmare.