Alpha Centauri: The Return (T-Space Alpha Centauri Book 3)

by Alastair Mayer

  “I see you understand the problem.”

  “And they can spin it however they want. I’ve already seen editorials praising the Anderson crew as brave colonists establishing a foothold among the stars.” She took another drink of her wine. “I am getting cynical in my old age.”

  “Old? Hardly.” He thought she looked younger than he was, or at least, younger than he felt.

  “Flatterer. But back to squidberries. Yes, we’d like a return mission, the sooner the better. You didn’t need to come to me for that.”

  “How much is ‘sooner’ worth to you, or rather, to Skrellan Pharmaceuticals?”

  “Ah, here comes the shakedown. Took you long enough. What is it exactly that you want? Or should I say, how much?”

  “The details need to be worked out. But aside from not raising a stink about violating quarantine, let me tell you what else we can do.”

  “We?”

  “Aside from those of us who want to get our teammates back, or at least give them the option of coming back, there are a number of people and organizations who think we should be getting back out there as soon as possible. We know the Chinese are out there. They may have been frightened off by whatever they found at Epsilon Eridani, but that probably won’t last. They’ll want to establish their own footholds, and commercial advantages. Then there are those who think it worth doing simply for survival reasons. Humanity can’t take another Unholy War. We do need to send, what was it? ‘Brave colonists to establish a foothold among the stars.’” Drake shook his head. He was getting side-tracked. “Anyway, that’s the ‘we’, at least some of it. We have political contacts, some of whom would be helpful in, say, getting cooperative companies certain exclusivity arrangements, or greasing the FDA approval skids.”

  “I may be able to sell something like that to the CEO, and the Board. But you still haven’t mentioned a price.”

  “We want Skrellan to enter an exclusive licensing deal with the government, where you help finance the construction of additional starships and the first return expedition, in exchange for rights to squidberries and possibly other things of bio-pharmaceutical interest.”

  “Skrellan isn’t in the starship business.”

  “No, but several members of your board are also on the boards of companies who are. I won’t bore you with the details, but I can give you a list.”

  “You’ve done your homework.”

  “I want my people back.”

  “And you still haven’t put a number to it. We’ll need to run numbers to see if it’s worth it.”

  “Don’t forget to factor in what might happen to you, to Skrellan, and to your stock prices if word gets out that you violated a planetary quarantine. Why, it wouldn’t surprise me if the FDA were to take a second and third look at any products you might be trying to bring to market.”

  “I’m getting a bad feeling about how big this number is going to be.”

  “Eighteen billion dollars.”

  If Holmes had been drinking her wine, she would have choked on it. “How much?”

  “Eighteen billion, but not all at once. That covers additional research and development on new ship technology, which Skrellan would naturally own part of, although you might want to sell that off. It also covers an accelerated mission schedule. I’m sure you want to get those squidberries before somebody else does, or before the Chinese decide to finish their mission to Alpha Centauri. A ship of your own, subject to certain limitations. And, of course, the licensing arrangements.”

  “That... that’s still going to be a hard sell. It’s not like we’re buying another company.”

  “Skrellan can afford it. You don’t have to come up with it all up front. And we might be able to offer a leaseback on the ship. It will take at least a year to design and start fabricating the new ships.” In reality, the design had been in progress since Brenke’s experiments, and long lead items were already ordered, but none of that was public knowledge, nor would it be any time soon. Two could play the Chinese game. “I’m not happy about how long that will take, but there it is.”

  “Would it be cheaper to pay for a new refueling module?”

  “In theory, yes. But no faster. Part of the problem is that the reactor was designed for a particular fuel isotope that we don’t have any of, and reconfiguring existing reactors to breed it would itself take a significant investment in time and money. So that is a slower course. Don’t misunderstand me, Ms Holmes. I am not happy that you violated quarantine. We are all very lucky it didn’t have serious consequences. But since it didn’t, and since we have a mutual interest in a timely return to the Alpha Centauri system, I’m willing to let that go. As is Doctor Darwin.”

  “He knows?”

  “Certainly he does, but the number of others who do is very limited.”

  “I see.” She looked at her omni for the time. “Well, thank you, Commander Drake, this has been very, enlightening.” She stood up, and Drake did too. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stay for dinner, but I really do have another appointment. And then I need to decide what and how I break this to my boss.”

  “Very well. I look forward to your reply, Victoria. Perhaps we can do dinner another time?”

  “I’m sure we will be seeing more of each other. Good night, Franklin.” She turned and left the restaurant.

  Drake watched her go. He was reasonably confident in the outcome. He, Darwin, and others expert in such matters had done their own cost-benefit analysis as though they were in Skrellan’s shoes, then asked for just a bit more than they thought Skrellan would go for. The overlapping board members between Skrellan and several aerospace companies certainly would help. They just needed to structure it so that there was no obvious conflict of interest. But bureaucrats and captains of industry had been doing that for decades, if not centuries. He expected Holmes to come back with a low-ball counter-offer, but both of them would have a pretty good idea of what the price tag would ultimately be.

  The only thing Drake was disappointed by was just how long the whole process was going to take. He hoped Sawyer’s team was doing all right.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Drake had one more contact to make. Dmitri Tsibliev, one of the few people to have walked on Kakuloa and returned to Earth with him, owed Drake a favor. Drake had played up Tsibliev’s role both in both the Russian landing and, particularly, in rescuing Tyrell and Klaar after their plane crashed in the wilds halfway between the Krechet and the Chandrasekhar. Making him out as a hero had eased Russia’s criticism over the Krechet. Drake had no intention of spilling secrets to Tsibliev, but a few broad hints that the Russians might be interested in further cooperation in starship development couldn’t hurt. Besides, Tsibliev had left one of his own, Doctor Pavel Krysansky, behind at Alpha Centauri too. Drake knew Dmitri wouldn’t want the doctor abandoned any more than Drake would his own crew.

  They were both scheduled to attend a ceremony in Paris next month. It was to honor the Alpha Centauri returnees, and their own brave Roger Dejois who had remained behind to study the second Earth-like planet there. That would be the perfect opportunity.

  Chapter 23: Good news, bad news

  Office of Deep Space Exploration, Earth

  Franklin Drake was at his desk reviewing mundane personnel reports when a message window popped up on his screen. It was the admiral, his boss’s boss.

  “Commodore, I have some interesting news. Come on up to my office.”

  “Right away, sir. What’s this about?”

  “You’ll see when you get here.”

  A few minutes later, Frank Drake tapped on the frame of the admiral’s open door.

  “Enter.”

  “You wanted to see me, sir?” Drake stood somewhat stiffly. The admiral had said “come on up,” not “report to me”, so it probably wasn’t anything formal, but the admiral had never been t
he extremely casual sort.

  “Relax, Frank, have a seat.” The admiral gestured to a chair. “I understand you’re still pushing for a return mission to Alpha Centauri.”

  “Any way I can, sir. I don’t care if I go, but I left a crew there. They need to come home.”

  “Oh, I agree completely, they do. And we need to get out there again, keep exploring. In that vein, something interesting has come up.”

  “Interesting, sir? In what way?”

  “I don’t have all the details, and wouldn’t be at liberty to reveal them if I did, but it appears that your biologists brought back something of great interest to the bio-pharmaceutical companies. The Skrellan Pharmaceuticals company has even been suggesting they’d be willing to co-sponsor a mission in return for certain exclusive rights. At least one other drug company is making hints in the same direction. I don’t know if they’ve both discovered the same thing or each has discovered something different, but whatever it is, it’s valuable. The rumors I’m hearing are that if it works out, it could be worth more than what the original expedition and a return expedition cost.”

  Drake let out a low whistle. “Really? That is a surprise.” The admiral was, of course, unaware of his own involvement, and Drake hoped to keep it that way. He also wondered who the other drug company might be, and what they had found. Drake didn’t even know just what Skrellan had found in the squidberry yeast, just that it was worth a lot of money to them. Most major diseases, including cancers, already had treatments available. There were more to overcome, and there probably always would be, but market for rare disease cures was limited. The drug companies had either come up with a pill that could cure cancer, heart disease and liver failure all in one, or something equivalent. “What did they find?” Drake asked. “The fountain of youth?”

  “I guess that would be worth it, wouldn’t it?” the admiral said. “I honestly have no idea. Whatever it is isn’t a sure thing, or they might be willing to pay the whole shot. Or make a deal with the Chinese and already be on their way.”

  “I thought the Chinese had retreated from interstellar travel.” Apparently, whatever they’d found at Epsilon Eridani had scared the hell out of them, although as far as Drake knew they’d just found another terraformed planet. Come to think of it, though, that was scary enough.

  “Temporarily, anyway. They may just be regrouping or changing their ship designs, as we are. But I’m sure they’d be willing to charter one of their Dragon class ships if the price was right. We’re not going to let that happen, of course.”

  “Then we’re going to go back?”

  “There’s no official announcement yet, so keep it under your hat. There’s politics involved, of course. The President wants a return while he’s still in office.”

  Drake sat up sharply. The next election was just over a year away. “I’m all for that,” he said, “but I thought a replacement refueling pod would take over a year to complete and launch. And what about the maintenance on the Heinlein?” The reports Drake had seen were not optimistic.

  “You misunderstand. He fully expects a second term. I’m afraid the Heinlein may have flown her last interstellar mission. You’re aware that construction has already begun on a new class of ship?”

  Drake nodded. “Yes.”

  “The detailed design work on the Endeavour is being accelerated. The President wants to announce it before the election. There’s also talk of at least two sister ships.”

  “The Endeavour? That’s a fine name. I didn’t realize one had been chosen. But surely the Heinlein can be ready to go before it’s complete.”

  The admiral shook his head. “That’s not the point. The Endeavour class will be at least fifty percent faster, with longer range. We might be using the Heinlein as a training ship for a while, though.”

  “I don’t suppose....”

  “Sorry, Commodore. You’re not going back to Alpha Centauri. The court-martial was clear on that, and some on the panel didn’t think you should keep your rank. On paper, though, the Heinlein is still your ship, she’s still on Luna where she landed. Do you want to keep her?”

  “On training runs? That doesn’t exactly call for a commodore. But...I’ll have to think about it. Thank you.”

  “No rush, and don’t thank me. If it were just up to me, I’d give you the Endeavour. I know why you did what you did, and I agree completely with your decisions. But that’s above my pay grade. Sorry.”

  “Not your fault, no need to apologize. I’m just glad somebody will be going back for the Anderson crew. What is the schedule on that, anyway?”

  “It takes a long time to design and build a starship from scratch, although wherever we can we’re basing it on existing designs. And it’s a crash program.”

  Drake didn’t like the sound of that. “How long?”

  The admiral looked down at his desk, then up again at Drake. “Three years, minimum, if everything goes right and there are no show stoppers. More likely four. That still puts it in the President’s timeline.”

  “Four years!” Drake had been hoping for one, but knew that to be ridiculously optimistic. “How about the Heinlein does an extended training run before that? Geoff Tracey can command it, if he wants it.”

  “It’s not a matter of who commands it. The Heinlein needs a refit, and time spent on that will slow down work on the Endeavour. We don’t have an industrial base geared up for building starships. Yet.”

  “But—” Drake stopped at the admiral’s raised hand.

  “I’ll put the proposition forward. But to be honest, I don’t think it will get much traction. What would the Heinlein do when she got there, anyway? She can’t land, and we don’t have a spare refueling pod for the Anderson, assuming the Anderson would even be flight-worthy after all this time. All they could do is radio down and say ‘hi, we haven’t forgotten you, back in a couple of years.’”

  “At least they’d know they haven’t been forgotten.” Neither of them wanted to make the other obvious point, that there was no guarantee that anyone from the Anderson crew was still alive. There was a long tradition of not leaving anyone behind, alive or dead, if you could avoid it.

  “Again, I agree. I’ll see what I can do, but that may be nothing.”

  Drake nodded. “Of course, sir. I understand.”

  The admiral nodded. “One way or another, Drake, we will be going back. We’ll bring them home.”

  “Thank you. And, thank you for the news. It is good.” Drake felt a little guilty for having rained on the admiral’s parade. But, four years! Maybe there was something he could do. “Sir?”

  “Yes?”

  “I spent over a year expediting the original Centauri mission, including coordinating with our international partners and riding herd on the work to convert standard SSTOs into starships.”

  “I know that. I know you have a lot personally invested in this, but that—”

  “No, sir,” Drake interrupted. “With all due respect, you misunderstood me. I raised that to point out that I have relevant experience to expediting a mission that involves both new construction and multiple partners. Put me to use doing the same thing with the Endeavour. You know how motivated I am to get it done early, and done right. Give the Heinlein to someone else.”

  The admiral studied Drakes face for a moment, then leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful. “Are you after my job, Commodore?”

  Drake shook his head. “No sir. Whoever is in charge of the project—would that be you?—needs a good executive officer. Let me be that XO. I’ll get it done.”

  “I certainly believe you would give it your best. I’ll take it under advisement, but it isn’t just my decision. There’s always politics involved.”

  “Of course. Thank you for considering it. And thanks again for letting me know about the accelerated schedule on the Endeavour.”<
br />
  “No problem, Frank. You deserved to know. And now I have a meeting I need to be at. Carry on.”

  “Aye, sir.” Drake rose and returned to his office.

  Four years. Damn. On top of most of a year they’d been there already. The Shackleton Antarctic expedition had been stranded for only two years. At least Sawyer’s team had a far more hospitable climate. He wondered how they were doing, and if the Endeavour would make it there before the radio signal announcing the Heinlein’s return to Earth did.

  The Endeavour schedule had better not hit any roadblocks, Drake thought. And he might have a way to help that.

  Instead of returning to his office, he continued on out of the building. Outside, he took out his omni and tapped the screen. A moment later, his call was answered.

  “Skrellan Pharmaceuticals, Ms Holmes’ office. How may I help you?”

  “Victoria Holmes please. This is Frank Drake.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  “You want what?” Holmes asked. Again, they were meeting in a quiet restaurant.

  “It’s what you want,” Drake replied. “You want me to oversee the construction of the new starship Endeavour and others in its class.”

  “And why do I want that? Skrellan is already investing sixteen billion dollars—” bargained down from the original eighteen billion, as Drake had expected “—in this, uh, endeavor. Is this going to cost us more?”

  “Not a penny. And you want it because probably nobody else on the planet has more incentive than I do to get that ship finished and to Alpha Centauri as soon as possible.”

  “Sixteen billion is a lot of incentive.”

  “Point taken,” Drake nodded, “but my reasons are personal.”

  Holmes sighed. “I know you want to retrieve your crew, Frank, and I find that admirable. And yes, you’re probably qualified to be the director of the project—”

  “Assistant director. I’ll get more done.”