Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (83 page)

"What?"
the Major asked picking up a tablet on the desk.

"His
politics later on were... " he shrugged. "He wanted to replace all
armed forces with genetically engineered cyborg super soldiers," Irons
explained. “It was near the end of his career.” The Major frowned.

"He
even managed to get a small test batch of commandos together as a demonstration
using black funds," he said grimly, scowling. He remembered the incident
well, he'd been one of the people sent in to clean up the mess.

"What
happened?" the Major asked after a moment.

"Our
military, our Federation is a volunteer democracy. Having genetically
engineered super soldier slaves didn't go over well when word leaked,"
Irons shrugged.

"We
had fights in the military and in the senate. Riots in some of the major
cities. He was forced to retire early. The super soldiers became a problem 
however," he looked bleak. "They had been trained... more programmed
than educated, since they were in the womb. Trying to break that and instill
initiative and free will had its consequences." He looked away.

"Bad?"
the Major asked quietly. Irons nodded.

"As
bad as it gets. They went insane. They went on a rampage in the veteran
hospital station they were in. Marines, and commandos were sent in to stop
them. They charged powered armor in hospital briefs," he shook his head.
"One got to the reactors, we're not sure how, but he somehow over rode the
governors and got it to explode."

The
Major whistled softly. "Nine million casualties. Not to mention
fragmentation damage to other stations and the ground. And we didn't get them
all." Irons sat down heavily. "Three got out in a search and rescue
shuttle. They went on a rampage until they were pinned down and taken out one
by one. After that well, McGrath ended his political run and disappeared into
retirement."

Irons
shook his head. "A year later he was killed by an angry woman who had lost
her entire family when the station went up." Irons sat back studying the
Major.

"I
didn't know that," he said quietly.

"It's
not in the tactical or strategic database. You'll find the news link in the library
history section or in Knox's journalism class," Irons shrugged. "I
can upload my meeting with him if you'd like." He looked at the Major who
shook his head then paused as if to reconsider then reluctantly nodded.

"He
was a pain in the ass. We crossed paths just after I received these," he
hefted his arm. "He came on strong. He thought I'd be gung ho about the
project and would support him. He was wrong." Irons shook his head.
"I'll let you draw your own conclusions," he shrugged. "It's
history now anyway. I have no intention of repeating that or allowing anyone
else to," he said firmly getting up. The Major came to attention.

"Carry
on Major," Irons nodded and left. He had an appointment with a
congressional committee to get to.

The
council room was quiet as the representative made his presentation. "So
you see, with focused gravity waves at strategic points we can force the belt
in onto itself to reform into a planet," he looked enthused. Irons smiled
as he sat back.

"Just
what sort of investment would this take?" another Representative asked.
The presenter hemmed and hawed for a few moments then told the group to hold
the questions until the end of the presentation.

At
the end of the presentation he folded his pointer and looked at the group
nervously. "Back to my original question. what is this going to
cost??" the rep asked. Irons chuckled softly. The representatives looked
at him. "Admiral? You have something to add here?"

Irons
nodded. "I am not a planetary engineer but I do have some limited experience.
To answer your question, quite a lot. You would need a series of gravity
emitters each the size of the Anvil space station." The others murmured at
this. "You would need massive power plants to power those same emitters.
Most likely a star tap. You would also need a dozen smart AI's with a planetary
class computer network and some strong communications links." He shrugged
as the babble doubled.

Judge
Farley stood raising his hands. "All right ladies and gentlemen, let’s
keep it down. I know Mr. Genshi's proposal is a bit much to take in all at
once." Genshi's face went to stone. "But that doesn't say we
shouldn't try to look at this objectively," Farley ended diplomatically.

"One's
reach should always exceed ones grasp," Irons murmured into the ensuing
quiet. Again they turned to him.

"What
do you order Admiral?" a rep asked, leaning forward to see him. Irons
frowned.

"I
am not here to order anything Mr. Brown, I am here as an observer and
consultant. I do have some intermediary suggestions for you to consider if you
would like to hear them." Irons sat back as several people nodded then
turned back to him. He stood. "All right the first is a series of O'Neill
colonies. These can be any size. You can build them in the traditional cylinder
format, or a spherical one." Sprite fed the images to

the
holo emitter. The lights dimmed and he waited for each of them to watch it.

"And
just how much would these cost?" Genshi asked snidely.

"A
lot. About as much as Anvil. But each would house from ten to one hundred
thousand people depending upon how they were built and could be occupied right
away. We, that is the navy, is working on a more limited project.” A holo of
the trans-habs was shown. “Each of these are cheap and quick to make, and can
house up to a hundred people depending on their size, but they have limited
shielding and are easily breached. They are at best temporary quarters. On a
change of subject,  your reformed planet would take four centuries to make and
would take up to another two centuries to cool before it could be terraformed
and occupied." The babble of voices started once more. Genshi fidgeted a
little in discomfort as dark looks were shot his way.

"Ahem."
The group quieted. "I believe we didn't see the long view there. Continue
if you will Admiral," Farley smiled to the Admiral. Irons nodded.

"Correct,
there are no shortcuts, no quick fixes,” Irons said nodding. “But that doesn't
mean it's not a worthwhile project to explore for those down the road.” He
nodded politely to Genshi then turned back to the room at large.

“There
are four other habitat ideas. The first is to expand the lava tubes and
underground caverns in the moons to house people. The second is a micro Dyson
sphere." He nodded as the holo changed to an asteroid. "Precision, clean
nuclear charges detonate on the inside and outside. The inside charges blows
the material outward expanding the crust while the outside charges compresses
it and places a spin on the body at the same time. This would form a hollowed
sphere like the O'Neill colony.”

“After
a few months of cooling in the shade you could go in cut locks and set up
shop." He waited as several representatives made notes or pointed and
talked with their colleagues.

“For
your information we, the navy that is,” he turned and nodded to them then back
to the holo projection. “are taking a different approach.” A few looked up
curious at that. He smiled a little. “The Navy is currently finishing the
ground work for the first micro Dyson sphere. We packed a four kilometer wide
asteroid with about half of a comet then sealed it, started it spinning on one
axis, and then super heated it with the weapons of Firefly.” The holo changed
to show a potato shaped rock slowly drifting in space. The scene lit as
Firefly's weapons played over the asteroid. They could just make out shuttles
around the asteroid stabilizing it's rotation.

 “The
crust melted in about two hours with a wide beam. When the heat hit the center
it superheated the volatile gases inside. When they flash boiled they expanded
rapidly pushing the crust out. This is called ballooning. It is also used in
solar mining. When it finished expanding it had begun to cool in the shade we
constructed. We've now got an eight and a half kilometer hollow sphere to use.
It will take about a year to cool if we can keep it in the shade. Once we cut
the door it will be used for a base and training ground as well as housing for
Naval personnel and their dependents.” That brought another round of
consternation and muttering from the committee.

“I
should point out that this was used to make the first battle planetoids in the
Sol system.” He watched a few of the reps frown, while others looked surprised.
“They were great for their time, but lacked shields, a drive, and other things.
And even though they are large and their armor is thick, it can be breached
with a petawatt graser, antimatter, or a gravity weapon. Crack it hard enough
and it comes apart,” he shrugged.

“Another
idea is to locate and then terraform a suitable moon in this system. I am not
sure which would be the right choice, an extensive survey would be needed.
There are various means to go about this, like using solar mirrors to heat an
atmosphere, comet impacts, or moving the moon to a more desirable orbit.” A few
of the reps snorted in derision at that idea so he moved on.

"The
last is even more ambitious than Mr. Genshi's proposal." Genshi looked up
startled as Irons turned to him with a smile. "That is a full Dyson
sphere. Only one has been built in the Federation. It is an artificial sphere
that encompasses the entire star at about 1 AU out." The holo changed and
several people gasped. "Needless to say it would be a herculean task even
in the old Federation." He shrugged and sat down.

"And
which do you favor?" a rep asked.

"As
I said before, I am here as an observer and consultant only. It is up to you to
decide." He sat back.

"But
which is the easiest?" the rep persisted.

"The
caverns of course," another answered. "But the lunar terraforming and
the micro Dyson spheres are intriguing." She looked at Irons who nodded.
She turned to Genshi. "Mr. Genshi did you look these up as well?"

Genshi
stood and shook his head. "I was focusing on the planet. I have spent
decades learning about every facet of terraforming in the hopes of restoring our
home world." He sat down abruptly. The rep turned her attention to the
Admiral.

Irons
smiled a closed mouth smile. “A man's view and reach should always exceed his
grasp. But when your trying to do something, it is best to start with goals you
can achieve and build on them.” A few nodded at this. "I would suggest you
start small, with what would give you the greatest bang for your buck, then
allocate, research, and lay the ground work to focus on larger projects as time
and resources permit," Irons said. “You can watch how we build the fleet
housing base and then decide if you'd like to do it as well,” he finished. She
nodded.

"Very
well, I agree," Judge Farley nodded as well. The burble of debate started
up once more.

One
of the reps turned to the admiral. “Just what is the navy's plans for the
future. I don't remember seeing that in any broadcast.”

“Well,
we are going to expand the growing repair base into a full base and then into a
shipyard. The station I mentioned earlier will be one of our habitats. We are
currently working on an academy syllabus and training facilities. Some of which
will be in the sphere,” he shrugged. “Beyond that we are laying the ground work
to build a factory ship and escorts which will visit the systems around Pyrax
and help them rebuild so they can be better trading partners and better
prepared against pirate attacks.” This received a few narrow looks and only a
few nods. “Those are our short term projects. You'll see the details in the
budget proposals after the final election this year.”

“Ah.
Just so,” the rep nodded looking at the others. “Do keep us in the loop.”

“Of
course,” he nodded.

"Admiral
you have a two o'clock meeting," Sprite reminded him as debate raged
around the table.

"If
you'll excuse me, I have another meeting to attend. I have uploaded the data I
have and my notes into the database. Have a good day." He got up as the
babble died out and made his way to the exit.

"That
is going to be interesting," Sprite said as he made his way down the hall.

"Very,"
he shook his head.

"Which
do you think they will go for?" she asked.

"Most
likely the caverns and micro Dyson spheres, maybe the O'Neill colonies. Start
small," he shrugged. "That is their problem, not mine."

"Yeah
right, guess who they will come too to make it work, whatever they
decide?" she teased. Irons grunted.

"Way
to ruin a guy's day Sprite," he chuckled softly.

The
clink of ice cubes in glass woke the judge out of his reverie. "Long
day?" the Admiral asked hours later as he poured himself a drink.

Farley
chuckled. "You could say that. All thanks to Genshi dreaming big and not
doing his homework. That's ricocheting all over both houses. Well, I do seem to
recall you had a hand in it as well," he eyed the Admiral as he sat down
chuckling.

"Just
presenting alternatives," he shrugged.