Chapter 5

Thursday morning, I just did some swimming early and fished off the dock before showering in the garage. Dad was up when I got out and went out to shower right afterward. Everyone was ready before eight and we drove into town with three vehicles. I did a walk around, sub-vocalizing with Base to ensure everything looked neat and tidy while the lines still worked at full speed. Base and his robots even had mock ups of every probe with the outer skins missing to show the innards. That included the new deep space probes and the three versions of the interceptor probes. Finally, he had mocked up the new designs of the lasers and the rail guns and had a working model of the laser attached to the smallest AIPS power supply and had it pointed to a block of 6-inch steel with another backstop of three-inch titanium in front of a mirror that looked like it would deflect it skyward through the roof if it got that far.

‘Have you tested it already?’ I asked.

‘Yes, and it burned through four inches of steel in a second,’ Base replied. ‘We’ll have to be very careful with these as they won’t stop unless there is a mirror to deflect it in a harmless direction.’

‘So, they will actually work on asteroids and meteors?” I inquired.

‘Yes, they will certainly do the trick if they have enough time and power,’ Base answered.

‘I suppose we could send refill ships or large probes with the interceptor probes to replenish the Addlerium,’ I mused.

‘That is an excellent idea,’ Base responded. ‘The response to an incursion into the solar system could be a ship with a fleet of probes that could replenish as they work on a large object while the ship shadows it.’

‘Okay, let me go work on modifying the plan yet again,’ I said with a sigh.

‘At least it gets better with every iteration,’ Base responded.

‘True,’ I agreed as I walked back into the offices and up the stairs.

After grabbing my laptop, I pulled in Riley and we grabbed a design of an AddlerFour cargo ship and threw in racks for interceptor probes as well as storage for Addlerium and spare components for the probes, rail guns and lasers. There was even storage for warheads when we got that far. We modified the presentation yet again and had it ready to present just before nine when people started arriving. The conference room was soon filled so we quickly brought in more chairs and tables to put at either end of the main table. When we were all settled, we had over fifty people around all the tables.

I stood up from my seat at the middle of the main table.

“Good morning and welcome to Addler Enterprises, here in Dryden Ontario,” I began. “I’m Ben Addler, the President of the company, though because of age restrictions, my parents Chris and Moira Addler are in legal charge. Everyone is here to discuss the next steps to developing a space port next to the existing Dryden airport, hence the Federal, Provincial and local government representation as well as people from the Transport Ministry and the Canadian Space Agency. I welcome everyone to what we hope is the beginning of a partnership that will open the solar system to the people of earth through Canada. We have space ships that have already gone to the moon and back, we have designs ready to build to get people onto the moon, Mars and beyond. We have systems designed and components built to establish a solar system wide detection system for asteroids, meteors and other objects that will be located here in the new buildings. We even have an interception system designed and prototypes to deal with whatever the detection system finds. This is the real deal; we’ve proved out our capabilities. Now we need a base to operate from. We have a few presentations on Addler Enterprises, our design for the new space port, the new space ships and the new detections and interceptions systems. Here is Reece Owens who will start us off.”

For the next half hour, we went through each presentation and asked for questions after each. Dad presented the new firefighting ships to much surprise and appreciation from everyone. When Riley was done on the last interceptor presentation I stood back up.

“Alright, now is a good time for a quick break and then we’ll have a tour of our facilities and then come back to hear from the governments and the agencies,” I said. “We have coffee, tea, cold drinks, pastries, muffins and more along the walls, so help yourselves. Let’s meet back here in fifteen before going down to see our shops.”

Everyone scrambled for the washrooms or the tables while I left the room to use the washroom in my office. Riley was waiting to use it when I was done and Reece was right after. We all went back to the conference room and were immediately approached by people wanting to know more about various topics. We had to let them know we would explain more after we heard from the various governments.

At ten-fifteen, I stood up and said, “Alright, if you’ll follow me, we’ll all move down to the main floor and see some of our lines assembling our inventions and prototypes of our next generation products.”

I led the way down the stairs and out into the factory floor. I waited just inside the doors until everyone was close by.

“Alright, stay close and walk on the green paths please, there are production lines and robots assembling product,” I said. “First, we have a line making our robot surgery units; revolutionary systems that can operate more precisely and at a much more microscopic level than any human or human controlled robot. We have built hundreds of these and are shipping them around the world as fast as we can to save lives that would have otherwise been lost. The plan is to get every hospital in the world outfitted with one and then add to them as we build another line to produce more.”

I answered a few questions and moved on.

“Next, we’re making pollution scrubbers here, more for institutions to test and improve on, as we already have production partners for these,” I continued. “Soon, every car, truck, semi-truck, tractor, smoke stack or other outlet pipe will have one of these and we’ll eliminate ninety percent of the pollution coming out of them. This device will clean up every city’s air in less than a year and it’s already been proved out. It’s now mandatory on every vehicle in California and in Europe so we’re particularly proud of this invention.”

There was actually a round of applause for that and I smiled before moving on. I showed them robots making robots, limb replacements, unique batteries, AIPS power sources, AIPS of various sizes and then the detection probes.

“Like I mentioned upstairs, we now have the ability to make these probes, which were first used to provide collision avoidance and close detection capabilities for our space ships,” I said. “We’ve increased their detection abilities so that they can go out into the solar system in all directions and warn us of incoming asteroids, meteors, comets and anything else that may come knocking. These probes, with the software system to send the signals back to earth and map out all the trajectories in the solar system, is new and ready to be installed in the space port. We’ll keep building the probes and will launch them from the new vertical pad or elsewhere as soon as possible to get the Addler Asteroid & Meteor Detection System (AMDS) up and running.”

I moved on to the display for the interceptor probes.

“So, what does earth do, should the AMDS detect an asteroid coming straight to earth?” I asked. “Right now, we have nothing that would stop a midsized one let alone a large one. The movies with shuttles racing up to detonate nuclear warheads make for good entertainment but were unrealistic. So, we designed our own Asteroid & Meteor Interception system (AMIS). We have three types of interceptor probes: Laser, Rail Gun and Warhead. We’ve improved the lasers and rail guns from what was currently available and we have a prototype of each. We tested the laser last night and it went through a four-inch piece of hardened steel in less than a second. Let’s see what it does to a six-inch steel and a backing three-inch titanium block.”

I motioned to the robot to hit the button on and off and a narrow beam quickly cut through the two blocks and the deflected up through the roof.

“That was less than a second and through both blocks and out into the air,” I said. “With our Addlerium energy source and the AIPS power systems, we can quickly cut through portions of an Asteroid or Meteor. Place a few of those around the object and focused properly, we should have a good shot of cutting it up into smaller chucks to deflect it from it’s path or be small enough to burn up in the atmosphere.”

“Next are improved rail guns which will fire up to five-pound projectiles towards an object to do the same thing,” I continued. “Finally, if something is too big, the other two probes create a weak spot or an actual hole in the object and the probe with a warhead self detonates at the weak spot to hopefully create a crack. The nice thing is that all three types of probes can work together far away from earth with enough time to deal with the object. Simply load up a bunch of them on a special made AddlerFour cargo ship, fly towards the object, parallel it and let the probes have at it. When they run low on Addlerium or projectiles, they come back to the ship and get replenished.”

“You didn’t mention any of this down in Florida,” the prime minister noted.

“No, none of this was even a thought two weeks ago,” I replied.

“You did all of this in two weeks?” he inquired, looking amazed.

“Yes, it’s something we’ll need as we make colonies on the moon, Mars and other planets,” I responded. “It’s just an offshoot of our anti-collision system for detection for our ships but the interception is new. We don’t want a space station, which can’t move quickly, to be hit by even a small object.”

“True,” he agreed.

“Alright, let’s go over to our other building where we built our first two space ships,” I said, leading the way out the door and across the parking lot.

When everyone was inside, we approached the ship, even more complete since I saw her yesterday. They had coated it in black to make it look sleek and dangerous.

“This is AddlerFive, a two-seater atmospheric or space capable craft,” I introduced it to them. “It’s a multi-use craft, capable of carrying probes or being outfitted with rail guns and lasers and can carry one larger probe inside. Right now, it’s unarmed but it could be used in defense against missile attacks, other fighters or bombers or to just patrol. In space, a carrier could haul twenty or more of these to protect a fleet of ships. This will be ready for test flights in less than a month.”

“Are you making these to sell?” asked someone.

“None of my space craft are for sale,” I said. “Our company will fly the ships, like any current airline, wherever people want to go. I’m not in the business of selling space ships or fighter craft. We’re not going to colonize the moon or Mars. All we’re going to do is put in a space port on the moon and Mars and provide transportation to whoever wants to go there or somewhere else. Our space station will eventually be the focal point of space missions with room for twelve to twenty craft to dock.”

Everyone walked around and even took the ladder up to see the cockpit. I stopped the show-and-tell after fifteen minutes.

“Alright, let’s go back, get another drink and let you do the talking,” I shouted before leading the way back.

I led the way back over and up to the conference room and grabbed a water and a tart before sitting down. I let everyone grab something and use the restrooms if they had to before we settled in.

From my chair, I spoke up, “So, you now you know what Addler Enterprises has done, is doing and will do in the very near future. Our next steps is to build the AddlerThree to have humans travel to the moon and Mars, build AddlerFours, the cargo ships to support the build for the space station and space ports on the moon and Mars, and build one or two AddlerSeven firefighting craft to put an end to all the destructive forest fires in the country and the world. Two of those can dump enough water or fire retardant to put out the most stubborn fires at a fraction of the cost the old 747s that are out of commission. We need a base to build them at and fly out of. We’d like it to be here. We’ll even pay for the land, the runway, the buildings and the vertical launch pad. We just need buy-in from everyone, keeping the red tape and obstacles to a minimum. I’ll let the federal government go first.”

The prime minister stood up and spoke up, “Ben, thank you for the presentations, the tour and the demonstrations this morning. You have an impressive facility and are an extraordinary individual. We are proud of what you’ve done in such a short time and are very happy that you want to continue to promote Canada and work from here. The Federal government has no issues with you establishing the world’s first real space port here in Dryden and will work with all levels of government to help with the procurement of the land, the certifications to allow flights, both atmospheric and to and from space, and we have instructed both Transport Canada and the CSA to get on board to establish the flight control system necessary for your craft to fly in our airspace alongside all other aircraft. There is to be no unnecessary impediments to the immediate building of the space port from any government. Obviously, there are provincial and local government regulations to adhere to and roads to move and some houses to relocate, but these should be minor issues to overcome, especially as you have already offered full compensation and a new location for the few houses affected. Furthermore, we will set up a task force to liaison with Addler Enterprises, the Ontario Government, the town of Dryden, the Transport Ministry and the CSA to streamline and coordinate all activities in an expedient manner. So, in conclusion, the Canadian government is fully on board and is happy to partner with Addler Enterprises on this and many more projects in the future.”

Everyone clapped and I stood up and shook his hand while pictures were taken. He sat down and I turned to the premier.

“I call on the Ontario government next,” I said before sitting down.

He stood up and started, “Ladies and gentlemen, I came up here with a lot of skepticism about this plan but, after watching the ships orbit the moon before landing in Winnipeg and seeing what you’re doing here in your shops, I’ve changed my mind. Addler Enterprises has already changed the world for the better, all from this small town in Northern Ontario. Less pollution, intelligent robots, better batteries, robot limbs and surgical units are all making their presence felt in the world. Add in these amazing ships already built and more on the way, we need to partner and do everything we can to help your company be at the forefront of space travel and the protection of the forests and the planet.”