by Bob Blanton
“And how do you think the prime minister will feel about that?” Samantha asked.
“Start stepping up the recruitment,” Marc said. “I’ll find a way to discuss it with the prime minister.”
“Will do!”
“I think the same will be true for pilots,” Marc added.
“We have a bit of an advantage there,” Blake said. “The military pilots have not been especially interested in joining the MacKenzie pilot pool. That has forced us to recruit civilian pilots to fly the Oryx fleet. If Catie comes up with her new ship, we won’t need so many of those, and we can convert them to military pilots, and continue to recruit civilians to pilot the jetliners.”
“And our academy?”
“We’ve selected a commandant,” Admiral Michaels said.
“Who?”
“Admiral Savanah Lewis,” Admiral Michaels said. “She ran the Naval War College before she retired.”
“Running a War College is a lot different than an academy,” Samantha said. “With the war college you are dealing with adults, the academy is going to be full of teenagers.”
“I didn’t realize you wanted to participate in the selection process,” Admiral Michaels said in an icy tone. “But to your point, she’s commanded a carrier before, and I can assure you that one of those is full of teenagers.”
“Now children!” Dr. Metra said.
“I am not a child!” Admiral Michaels snapped.
“Then quit acting like one. Sam made a good point; you answered it well if we ignore the sarcasm. We should move on.”
“Thank you, Dr. Metra,” Marc said, shocked at Dr. Metra’s tone. She usually ignored the squabbles that occurred during these meetings. “So, when will she arrive?”
“In three weeks,” Admiral Michaels said.
“Anything special that she’ll need?”
“No,” Admiral Michaels said.
“She wants to get a trip to Delphi Station, and to qualify on the Fox and the Lynx,” Blake said. “I think that’s what sold her on the job.”
“Oh, so she wants to have a little fun,” Samantha said. “That sounds good.”
“She has been known to party in her younger days,” Admiral Michaels said. “We were at the academy together.”
“Oh, does Pam know you’re bringing in an old flame?”
“She is not an old flame!” Admiral Michaels said. “The only flame involved was when she set fire to some jerk upper-class cadet’s uniforms.”
“And why did she do that?”
“He thought it would be funny to have her do the obstacle course in her dress whites.”
“Did he know who did it?”
“I’m sure he did, but he couldn’t prove it. Their unit was on an exercise out in the woods somewhere.”
“She didn’t tell me that,” Blake said. “Now, I like her even more.”
“Moving on,” Marc said. “What’s the status of the construction?”
“We have the dorms ready for the cadets we have coming in this summer,” Fred said. “We’ll add more for next year when we bring in a bigger freshman class. The main classroom building is ready. We still need to figure out how much class space we need. Are we going to conduct classes like a typical college, or are we going to do more remote teaching?”
“We’ll have to do some remote teaching since we won’t have enough professors,” Admiral Michaels said. “But even then, I think we want to have a traditional classroom setting. We want these cadets to get used to structure, coordinated activities, and discipline.”
“Then we’ll have to push hard to finish up the second building. I can have it ready by fall.”
“That should work,” Blake said. “There won’t be that much classroom instruction over the summer.”
“Okay, now are there any issues with our manufacturing?” Marc asked.
“No, we’re good. Jonas has put together a detailed status report that makes it easy to see where everything is. You should read it.”
“I will. How are the platinum group metals doing?”
“We’re starting to feed the actual metals into the market,” Fred said. “Sam, last chance to join in selling futures. The price is going to start falling in another week, two at the most.”
“Since ADI manages my money, I assume I’m already selling futures,” Samantha said.
“And you’ve done quite well,” ADI said.
“Thank you.”
“Why isn’t ADI managing my money?” Fred asked.
“Did you ask her to?”
“No, but . . .”
“Well, there you go,” Samantha said. “She’s not a mind reader.”
“I try,” ADI said.
“Okay, so when do you think we can announce that we’re mining the asteroid belt?” Marc asked.
“ADI?”
“I predict that prices will stabilize in three weeks,” ADI said. “Once you announce that you’re mining in the asteroid belt, they will drop another thirty percent.”
“Good, that should coincide with completing the survey of the second planet,” Marc said. “One last item I want to announce. Catie’s mother, Linda, has asked to open a pharmaceutical company here in Delphi City. She plans to use the Paraxean technology to produce vaccines for viral outbreaks. She has a process to isolate the virus and produce a plasma treatment in just a few weeks. She then has a process to shorten testing of potential vaccines to a few months. I’ve given her the approval.”
“She extended their technology and invented some new techniques,” Catie said.
“Oh, she didn’t mention that,” Marc said.
“She’s already contacted me about setting up a manufacturing plant,” Fred said.
“Good, I just want to inform everyone, so we stay on the same page. You can contact Jonas if you want more details about the arrangement.”
“This is more of what I am looking for,” Herr Hausmann said. “It is unfortunate that her name is McCormack, but having a company that is totally independent of MacKenzie Discoveries will help.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Catie, a moment if you please,” Marc messaged Catie after he closed the meeting.
“Sure, Daddy, I’m glad you approved Mommy’s proposal.”
“Did you have any doubts?”
“Not really.”
“Good. But now, can you explain to me what you and Marcie are doing?” Marc asked after everyone except Samantha had left.
“She’s helping me with my company,” Catie said.
“Which company?”
“The one I formed to sell my robosteps and mini-Comms,” Catie said.
“I see. And deciding to poach Marcie from us, you didn’t think you should talk to me about that?”
“I didn’t poach her,” Catie said. “I went to her for advice; she said she’d help get things rolling for me, then she’d help me find someone to run it.”
“She’s telling me that she’s going to run it,” Marc said.
“Oh, she did say she might want to do it herself, but I thought she was just kidding.”
“Well, apparently she wasn’t. Something about you guaranteeing her a salary for a couple of years.”
“I did say that. I wanted her to be able to make a choice without worrying about money.”
“I see. Have you been poaching any more of my employees?”
“Uh . . . I did offer Nikola a part of the company for some help she’s giving me on a design. But I’m sure that she won’t be leaving MacKenzies.”
“I see, anyone else?”
“Well, Sam said she wanted to invest in the cargo ship.”
“Do you think you might try recruiting from someplace else besides MacKenzies?”
“We will. Liz and I decided we would hire someone from outside to run the cargo business. We’re thinking of a retired military cargo master.”
“That’s nice of you,” Marc said.
“Be nice,” Samantha said as she smacked Marc on the shoulder. “C
atie, you’re doing just fine. Don’t let him intimidate you.”
“I’m not intimidating her!” Marc yelped. “I’m just treating her like any adult employee of a multinational company. One who’s decided to strike out on her own but is still utilizing the resources of the company.”
“Just like any other entrepreneur,” Samantha said. “Catie, you’re doing just fine. Don’t change anything.”
“That from one of her investors!” Marc cried out in mock protest.
“Daddy, do you want to invest?”
“Get out! Back to work, both of you!” Marc shouted, waving his hands at them. He was laughing a bit, but it wasn’t obvious if that was because he was joking, or because Samantha was throwing things at him.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Good afternoon, Prime Minister,” Samantha said as she joined Prime Minister Nazeri for lunch in her office.
“Ms. Newman, please call me Fatiha.”
“Only if you call me Sam.”
“Of course, Sam,” Prime Minister Nazeri said. She seemed to have trouble saying Sam, giving a small grimace as she did.
“Well, Fatiha, how are you settling into your new role?”
“I am doing well. I’m learning so much about Delphi that I didn’t realize before.”
“Like what?”
“We have a very robust underground economy.”
Samantha shook her head in surprise, “What do you mean by that?”
“Well, everyone knows about the market, but there are all kinds of services provided that are not so obvious.”
“Such as?”
“Did you know you can get your shoes polished by just sending a message and then leaving them in the delivery box of your condo?” All the condos had a small door that accessed a box inside the condo, where people could receive deliveries when they weren’t home. The door was keyed to the various delivery people who provided services.
“No, I didn’t,” Samantha said.
“Well, you can. You put them in the box, and within a few hours, a young child comes by to collect them. They are polished and returned to you that night. If you are in a big hurry, you can pay extra, and someone picks them up and returns them within an hour.”
“And they use young children for this?”
“Yes, the ones who are too young to get a regular job after school, but still want to make money. I’ve talked to a few of them, and they really love it,” the prime minister said.
“Who polishes the shoes?”
“They take them to one of the shoe stores to be polished. And if they notice a bit of wear, they put a little note in your shoe telling you what it will cost to repair it. If there’s a big problem, they’ll message you.”
“That sounds nice; I’ll have to start using it. What other things have you found?”
“You can get anything delivered. Generally by the same children, but sometimes by an older teen or adult. You can shop remotely. They’ll pick up your list of items, and even use a video link when they pick out the fruit and vegetables so that you’re sure you’re getting what you want.”
“Sounds like people never have to leave home,” Samantha said.
“They don’t unless they have to for work. So many of our citizens work from home by telecommuting. That means that unless you work in a factory or plant, it’s easy to avoid any kind of commute.”
“Wouldn’t that get lonely?”
“I thought so, but then as I’ve gone around and met them, I realized that they are just as sociable as the people who go to the plant or an office. They schedule lunch with friends and coworkers. They will even schedule work-days in someone’s condo. Sometimes it is to facilitate working on a project, but other times it just to be in the same room with their coworkers. Everyone takes a break and goes outside for a walk in a park, or to do some shopping. But they are able to operate on their own schedule.”
“That does sound exciting.”
“I’m going to recommend that MacKenzies expand the work area in the condo buildings — people like to be around other people when they’re working. The socialization of having workmates is important.
“What else have you learned?”
“I think there are far more design firms working here than Herr Hausmann realizes. There are lots of little startups that are designing some new application or device. There is even one that is selling these little robot stepstools that you can command with your voice. They make putting groceries away so much easier.”
“That’s Catie’s company,” Samantha said.
“It is? I thought she designed ships.”
“She designs whatever her brain comes up with,” Samantha said. “Do you think these design firms are avoiding taxes?”
“No, but Herr Hausmann has yet to amass all the income tax data. And it’s only for last year; and as fast as things are growing, that data is out of date by now, so it won’t be very useful for projections, our history is so short.”
“I’m sure Marc was excited to hear that.”
“I’m sure he will be,” the prime minister said, making it clear to Samantha that she was sharing with her first.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Liz,” Catie greeted as Liz joined her at the cafeteria table with her tray.
“Hi, what are you working on? Our ship, I hope.”
“No, I sent the files for the preliminary design to Ajda. She’s going to have the design team work through them and run a few simulations. I should hear back from her in a couple of weeks.”
“Okay, I guess. So what are you working on?”
“A golf course.”
“What?!”
“A golf course.”
“Where are you going to put it?” Liz asked.
“In Delphi City,” Catie said.
“Are you crazy, that would take up a full section.”
“A regular one would, but this is a cool design, it fits in a single quad,” Catie said.
“How in the world do you make that work?”
“First, you wear specs while playing the course. So you feel like you’re playing a normal big course. You see the surrounding hills and big fairways, just like you’re on the course, like Pebble Beach, for instance. Then I have it set up so that when you tee off, a drone maps its flight and then captures your ball. It then deposits it in the fairway where it would have landed, but it skips the middle of the flight saving over one hundred meters. Then when you hit it again, the drone captures it and either drops it on the green or the second section of the fairway,” Catie explained. “That means you can fit a three-hundred-meter fairway in one hundred fifty meters. And I can simulate doglegs and curves without having to use all that space.”
“So that means you cut out how much?”
“I fit a hole into one hundred eighty meters,” Catie said. “I can make it anything between a par three and a par five. And women and men tee off from the same spot.”
“What do you do if they slice it?”
“There are three drones hovering overhead to capture the ball. If you slice it or hook it out of play, they drop it on the fairway and assess a stroke penalty.”
“And you’re doing this because?”
“My grandpa pa said that if we had a golf course, he’d spend more time in Delphi City.”
“Oh, and coming up with a way to make one fit was just enough of a challenge to stir your juices.”
“Yep. I’ve got eighteen holes, and you can redefine the golf course to match any golf course in the world. I’ve got two greens on each end of the fairways so you can reconfigure it quickly.”
“Are you really going to build it?”
“Sure, if we don’t like it, we can turn it into a regular park,” Catie said. “And if it works, the hotels will get extra bookings; people like to be able to play golf on their vacations. We might even be able to hold a golf tournament.”
“Crazy, just don’t let it get in the way of getting our ship designed.”
“Don’t worr
y.”
“By the way, we’re getting close to the next planet. I think since I did it last time, it’s your turn to fly the Lynx and get the early survey done,” Liz said with an evil grin.
“Nuh-uh. We’ve saved all of our velocity from the exit from the last system, so the Lynx could only get there a day ahead of the Roebuck. I convinced Uncle Blake that it wasn’t worth it.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope. Why add all that hassle just to save one day.”
“How come every time I bet with you, it feels like it’s fixed?”
“Because I’m good?” Catie said, hopefully.
“I think it’s because you’re a witch.”
“Bwah-ha-ha,” Catie cackled.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Are we ready to jump?” Blake asked.
“Yes sir, jump is plotted and course laid in,” Catie reported.
“Then let’s jump. Engage.”
“Jumping!”
“What the hell!” Blake shouted as an alarm started blaring.
“Proximity alarm!” the sensor operator shouted.
“Forward plasma cannon, automatic targeting, fire!” Blake shouted
“But . . .”
“Fire!”
“Yes, sir,” the weapons operated replied as he engaged the plasma cannon.
“Full power to the cannon!” Blake ordered.
“Full power, aye!”
Suddenly the alarm stopped.
“What was that?!” Catie asked.
“I think it was a small asteroid,” the sensor operator reported. “I’m examining the senor logs now.”
“What are the odds?” Catie asked.
“Apparently not long enough,” Blake replied. “Helm, give us some gravity. One half G.”
“One half G, aye.”
“So what do we do to avoid this in the future?” Blake asked.
“It’s a million to one that the wormhole would open close to a small asteroid,” Liz said.
“Yeah, and it would slide away from a bigger one,” Catie added.
“I don’t care about the odds, I’d rather not roll the dice on our lives,” Blake said.
“We could leave a probe here that we could have scan the area where we’re going to open the wormhole. With the quantum relay, we’d know before we jumped,” Catie said.
“What about when we’re jumping into a new system?” Liz asked.
