Méridien (The Silver Ships Book 3) (48 page)
Read Méridien (The Silver Ships Book 3) Online
Authors: S. H. Jucha
Tags: #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Science Fiction, #Alien Invasion, #First Contact, #Space Opera
“To what extent are we curtailing ice asteroid delivery, Mr. President?”
“That’s up to you Minister Diaz,” Alex replied. “Ore production is the priority. Meet those goals and whatever resources you have remaining you may apply to ice asteroid delivery. Whatever you do, don’t start throwing rock asteroids at Haraken.”
Simone stared at Alex for the briefest of moments—horrified. When Ben burst out laughing and said, “I’ll be careful not to mix them up, Mr. President,” she was mollified, saving the exchange later for Ben’s interpretation.
“Mickey, you’re up,” Alex said, and Mickey began walking Ben through the information that he had transferred to Z—ore production totals, refined metals in kilotons, and a delivery timeline, including the final destinations and intended usage details.
While Mickey and Ben talked, Alex connected with Z.
Z halted hundreds of secondary applications. Z held his virtual breath. His speech analysis programs reviewed Alex’s statement twenty-one times while he waited the ticks until Alex answered.
Z ventured.
Alex was silent, but the comm stayed open.
Z desperately wished to begin running analysis programs on his research to define the proposal, but the lessons of Cordelia and Julien had risen higher and higher in his program hierarchy. He was reminded of the broader circumstances of Alex’s request.
Alex closed the comm, satisfied with the conversation.
Harakens are going to have to be a very flexible people
, Alex thought. Having accepted the Swei Swee, he hoped the Harakens would accept the SADEs walking amongst them.
Alex assembled an odd assortment of people in a small conference room aboard the
Freedom
. Sitting at the table were Mickey, Lazlo, Alex’s father, Duggan, and two other pioneers.
One of the pioneers was Leonard Breslen, a shuttle manufacturer who had uprooted his family from New Terra. He was a close friend of Duggan, whose story of Alex’s acquisition of the grav-driven travelers and his intentions to duplicate them gave the struggling company owner the idea to gamble his family’s future by immigrating to Haraken. Leo had closely monitored the traveler fabrication processes and the test flights. Then he had approached Duggan, Mickey, and Lazlo to interest them in forming a shuttle manufacturing company.
The third pioneer was the son of a comms manufacturer. The father had built many of New Terra’s satellites, but the introduction of the FTL networks was bankrupting the company, and the son decided to venture into unexplored territory as a pioneer.
There was one key individual missing from the meeting … Julien. Several times a day for the first few days after Julien had left, Alex had to halt the start of a comm request to Julien. He badly missed his friend’s advice.
Alex’s long workdays were stringing together, and it showed in his growing impatience. He sat down heavily in a conference room chair. “Sers, the report from our Ambassadors is that President Gonzalez has accepted our invitation,” Alex began. “The
Rêveur
is on its way to Méridien, and we hope to generate some interest there. But I have questions that must be answered before this conference of leaders takes place. What’s the price for a traveler … with or without beam weaponry? Do we even allow beam weaponry and to whom? What’s the price for a gravity drive? Do we only sell ships or should we also license the technology? Is the price the same for both societies or are they related to an exchange rate of credits? Should we only accept credits or should we barter as well … trading for things we need? And what do we need?” Alex droned on for several more minutes before he realized he had overwhelmed his audience. “Sorry,” he said. He sent them a file with his list of questions and concerns.
“Mr. President,” Duggan said gently, recognizing the extent of Alex’s exhaustion. “Would you like to hear our suggestions now or should we take some time to organize our responses?”
Looking around the table, Alex realized how quickly he had destroyed the meeting’s effectiveness. “Ser Breslen, as the most experienced individual in the shuttle construction business, I would be grateful if you would lead this group. Please manage the responses and contact whomever you need to help you.”
Leo Breslen hadn’t finished his statement of appreciation before Alex perfunctorily rose up from the table, said “Good night” to everyone, and left the conference room, Étienne right behind him. Alex was intending to return to his quarters planetside to be with Renée, but she met him in the corridor outside the conference room. She linked arms with him, and Etienne melted away for a late-night rendezvous with Ellie Thompson.
Renée led Alex to a vacant cabin two decks up. Once inside, she helped him strip out of his clothes and put him to bed. In moments, Alex was fast asleep. Without Julien, Renée left to appeal to Cordelia. But unlike the previous occasion when Cordelia had refused to violate her protocols to intervene on Alex’s behalf, Renée found a willing partner.
Renée replied.
That Cordelia was referring to a decision she had made only a half-year ago made Renée smile.
So many changes so fast
, Renée thought, recognizing she had echoed Eric Stroheim’s often-made lament.
* * *
Cordelia considered whether to divulge Alex’s location since coincidentally Mickey was a mere fifty meters away from the cabin, probably focused on Étienne’s implant. The escort had taken up the position in the corridor outside the President’s door just a half-hour earlier when Cordelia had informed him the President was stirring. Julien had been her teacher as well as Z’s on the intricacy of human interactions. Borrowing from Julien’s lessons, she transferred Mickey’s comm to Étienne.
<Étienne, I need the President now if he’s available,> Mickey said.
Étienne deadpanned.
“Very funny, Étienne,” Mickey replied as he rounded the corner a few meters away.
When Alex and Renée emerged from the cabin later, they found Étienne on duty and Mickey sitting on the deck, leaning back against the bulkhead and sound asleep.
“Chief Brandon was very anxious to speak to you earlier, Ser President,” Étienne said. “I believe he might still wish a conversation with you.”
When Alex shook Mickey’s shoulder, the engineer awoke with a start, recognized Alex, and jumped up, grabbing his forearms. “Alex—I mean, Mr. President, I have a great idea. We need to talk now!”
“Join us for morning meal, Mickey,” Alex replied. “We can talk over food.”
Alex had to calm Mickey several times before they reached a meal room. Alex was in desperate need of a few cups of hot thé in the manner Terese had first prepared it for him, hot and a little sweet. “So tell me about your idea, Mickey,” Alex said after his third cup of thé. Both he and Mickey had been making the most of the serving dishes the staff had begun supplying their table.
“Right, Mr. President. We know that we can duplicate a traveler from the crystals up. Good for us! So is there any reason we can’t make use of those two frames aboard this city-ship?”
“I don’t know, Mickey. Is there any reason we can’t make use of those two frames?” Alex returned.
“That’s just it, Mr. President. I don’t know. From the hardware point of view, I can’t think of any reason.”
“Are you worried if we employ a dark traveler frame, it will result in some action or comm that you can’t control?”
“That’s it exactly. We may not know until it’s too late,” Mickey said, setting his utensil down and wringing his big hands before picking up his cup of thé.
Alex thought through the ramifications of Mickey’s concern. On a signal from Renée, the staff retreated so as not to disturb the table.
Where’s Julien when you need him?
René thought.
“I don’t think we have to worry about it, Mickey,” Alex finally said. “The Nua’ll wouldn’t have enabled the dark travelers to comm outside a system, so hidden comms won’t broadcast anywhere that we need to worry about. And as for any hidden actions, that’s a negative as well. If the dark travelers could have been directly controlled by the Nua’ll, then the Swei Swee couldn’t have attacked the Nua’ll ringed-ships.”
“That was the reason I needed to speak to you, Mr. President. I needed your logic on the question,” Mickey said with a satisfied air, sipping on his cup.
“Then what about all those frames on Libre?” Renée asked.
Alex and Mickey turned to stare at Renée. Either of them might have had the same thought later in the day, but that Renée had directed staff traffic, followed their conversation, and leapt ahead of them, had surprised both men. Chuckling, Alex leaned over and kissed Renée on the temple.
“Well, Mickey?” Alex asked.
Mickey sat thinking for a few moments. “I’ll need a few things, Mr. President,” Mickey replied. “A city-ship, our traveler, some pilots, some engineers, some techs …” Mickey’s voice faded into silence as he switched to comm, involving Cordelia and Z in his planning.
Renée felt Alex’s arm drape companionably around her shoulders. She was tempted to climb into his lap. For many days, Alex hadn’t been much of a partner in the evening, too tired to do anything but fall into bed.
Alex continued to enjoy his thé while staff began serving dishes again.
Fortune … we’ll have half-a-hundred ready-made frames if this works
, Alex thought.
After breakfast, Alex and Mickey, with Étienne close behind, hurried down to the bay where the two dark travelers sat. As opposed to Alex’s last visit, the bay was deserted. All the work stations, equipment, and personnel had transferred planetside as new facilities were completed. The frames stood naked in the center of the bay. Over time, the shells had continued to crumble, and the floor around the grav-lifts had required constant cleaning by the bots.
Very carefully, Alex and Mickey studied the frames for a quarter-hour, climbing over and under equipment, control panels, and drives.
“Mickey, you find anything?” Alex asked.
“Nothing, Mr. President,” Mickey responded. “I can’t find any corrosion or deterioration. It’s like they came out of the fabrication facilities yesterday.
Standing on the decks of their open frames, the two men shared grins of delight. The infamous Nua’ll technology, which had destroyed so many worlds, was about to help save one.
* * *
Mickey hurried to design a lift mechanism for their Haraken traveler. Rather than attempting to use tethering beams, which would have required extensive reworking of the vessel, Mickey chose a simpler approach and designed a fixed carrier harness.
The SADEs had calculated their traveler could manage the mass of a Nua’ll frame, but Mickey, ever the engineer, wanted a real-life test. Sheila and Ellie piloted the traveler, complete with its new harness, to a position outside the
Freedom
while Mickey and a team of engineers and techs readied a dark traveler frame. EVA crew floated the frame outside the bay and into the harness, locking it in place.
Sheila and Ellie successfully landed the frame at the shell construction site, setting it down on a second grav-lift cradle. Then they made a return trip to the
Freedom
for the second frame.
Now that Mickey had done his part, Alex organized another mission to Libre, one in which he wouldn’t be taking part. He had Cordelia organize the conference comm and started with Lazlo.
to Lieutenant Durak. You’re heading a mission for me.>