Chapter 20: Space and the Effects on Humans

May 10^th

“General, can you spare a moment?” Asked the unsure newly promoted Captain of the Device based research group, DSI, formally headed by Colonel Vega.

“I have to be at the Hill by ten. What’s up Captain?”

“I’d like you to see this, Sir.” The newly promoted officer handed his personal laptop to his commander. “This is a video of the fight between Drake, Eagle, and Soyuz.”

“I watched it on the news last night. What am I looking for?”

“At the 08:36 Sir when one of Eagle’s arrows hit Soyuz’s shoulder.”

The general replayed the ten second video a few times before looking up. “Explain.”

“I think it’s a localized EMP strike. Quite a powerful one at that. Soyuz froze in midair and if you look closely, you can see tiny blue sparks dance all over his armor while he crashes into the ground. I haven’t seen the autopsy yet, but I am willing to bet that he died from the impact not from shock or anything else.”

“Get that armor and a copy of the autopsy.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Drake and Eagle must know. That and whoever made the arrow for her. Eagle isn’t proficient enough to create something like this. It has to be a true Device which means one of ten people worldwide.”

“That arrow barely grazed Soyuz’s shoulder. Was anything behind him effected?”

“Soyuz was in air at the time. From my reconstruction of the battle scene, I don’t believe that anything else could have been affected, except for that ambulance that might have been sixty feet away when the EMP went off.”

“Was the ambulance affected by the blast?”

“I don’t see how it couldn’t have been, given the strength that Soyuz was hit with. I’m surprised that everything within fifty meters wasn’t fried.”

“Send a team there. Notify the FBI, and question Eagle, and Drake. Subpoena both if you need to. I want a name.”

“Yes, Sir ... Sir?”

“What else, Captain?”

“I was thinking. Why did no one taking pictures complain that their camera phones didn’t die? There were hundreds of witnesses, yet no one said one word about nonfunctioning electronics. Phones would be the first to be effected.”

“When you find that out Captain, let me know.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“General, it’s time to go,” interrupted his aide.

“Keep me posted, Captain Collingsworth.”

“That is a thing of beauty,” stated the woman from her usual seat while heading to a week of torture in D.C.

“What is, Lady?” asked one of her ubiquitous bodyguards.

“Have you seen Soyuz’s fight on Saturday?”

“Yes, we discussed it yesterday and couldn’t make heads or tails of what we saw.”

“What did you see?”

“Soyuz was winning until Eagle got a lucky shot off when Drake distracted him.”

“Do you believe that a ‘lucky strike’ at his shoulder would knock out Soyuz’s power source? Even causing the redundant to not kick in? He was bricked at fifty feet.”

“No, Lady. That is why we couldn’t understand it. Would you tell us what happened?” asked their group leader.

“E.M.P.”

“From where? We didn’t see anyone else involved.” Spoke up the quietest of the quad, her soft voice carrying.

“Eagle’s attack. That trick arrow is an EMP warhead. Small but obscenely powerful.” Insider knowledge sometimes helped to boost her mystique.

“What defense do we have against that?”

“So far only Eagle has access to them. They are extremely rare and she will be out of commission for at least eight months to a year.”

“And after?”

“Let’s see what happens to the good Heroine first. You aren’t the only ones to notice. Others will too and the questions will mount fast and harsh.”

“Lady, did you make those for Eagle to entrap her?”

“Hehehe. No Sonya, although I now wish I had. Someone else made those little gems.” Looking up at the eager faces, she gave in and told the quad the identity of the creator, knowing their loyalty had been proven numerous times. They had earned her loyalty to them too.

“A little KittyCat is learning how to fly. We must keep her sheltered until she earns her wings.”

“Yes, Lady,” they chorused. All four knew of Catherine Larkin’s net nickname.

“We are about to land, please make sure your tables are in their upright position and your porn is stowed,” called out the pilot of Strife’s personal shuttle, to the usual derogatory chuckles and innuendos.

“How are you feeling?” asked Drake while eating his subordinate’s bonbons. She couldn’t reach them because her leg was in a half body cast up past her hips and elevated.

“Fucking sore. Quit eating those, those are mine.”

“Sorry, doc says no sugar for you for a couple months. I’m doing you a favor.”

“Ass.” the wounded Heroine complained.

“Well, your new toys saved our asses. Soyuz was out for blood. Yours. Any clue why?”

“No, I haven’t seen him in a couple years. And I am not working on anything concerning him. I can’t imagine Sersi dealing with a poser in powered armor.”

“I think someone pointed him at you. It was the perfect opportunity for you to test your new arrows.”

“! ... OFF THE BED!” tears rimmed her eyes as the lazy bastard rested his feet on the side of her bed, jarring her leg.

“Sorry.” The immobilized Heroine would have willingly shot him numerous times even with that lame apology.

“Send a nurse in, you ass. I need meds.”

“I’ll look into it.” Something was fishy to him. Completely ignoring his friend’s request for meds to help with the pain, Drake exited the private room and placed a call to his assistant in New York...

“God, it’s gorgeous here.”

“Shoo, go swim. I want a nap.”

It was my first time in Australia. The Great Reef was a sight to behold from the air. Even at water level when we passed over it, I marveled at the earth’s largest living creature. It was perfect for our needs. I liked that Ausse was only a few hours ahead. We could mostly keep to the same schedule unlike our winter’s vacation other side of the world’s messed up time.

Catherine needed a good place to hide for a couple weeks. We would see how Eagle reacted when the feds caught up with her and asked her about her new Devices. I didn’t expect that she would give Cat away just yet, but that didn’t preclude someone else from doing so.

A good thing about exclusive hotel resorts was that even as recognizable as Cat had become, no one would mention it since only celebs and the truly wealthy visited this place. 50+ palatial rooms were plenty for this exclusive little corner of Queensland.

“I thought you said ‘no work’ allowed’?” My companion snagged the towel from under my feet and dried off while copiously dripping on my legs.

I showed her the screen of my tablet. “The hearings? Why are you watching that? It’s just dumb politicians being greedy and politician-y.”

“They haven’t started yet. I was reviewing the opposing side.”

“Snorkeling tomorrow?” she asked.

“Yes, and every other day besides Wednesday if you want.”

“You brought the Imager, right?” I gave her the look, or attempted to. “Good.” she plopped down next to me and ordered a Mint Julep in a pineapple shell. I cringed at the taste combination, but I wasn’t the one drinking it. Cat discovered them on New Year’s Day with the recommendation of the Franco Ambassador. Oddly, I think she still communicated with him weekly, along with a few others. She had even mentioned Saif Saif last month when distracted.

I looked him up and discovered that he was the Persian ambassador, another one of her New Year’s visitors.

Her list of intriguing contacts kept growing.

Sipping on her oversweet beverage, Cat brought out the extra-large tablet that she preferred to sketch and map Circuits on. I was curious what she was going to work on since I forbade any work on her next year’s project.

“Master,” two hours later and enough alcohol to make my student more than tipsy.

“Yes?”

“I have an idea, but it will be expensive,” she giggled.

“How expensive is expensive?”

“We will need a new clean room and NanoSheet Fabricator or three.” She blushed before continuing. Knowing she was about to ask a lot, yet pushed ahead, “and we kinda have to turn it into a 3D Printer.”

“Continue.”

“By utilizing three different sheets of notepaper, I think I can make a reallllllly good micro supercell capacitor. Really good.” She was tapping her thumb running the numbers in her head. “There are two I will definitely need in the future and I am already limited by the current technology. I won’t be able to make the power supplies I need later.”

“Explain.”

She started rambling off numbers, constants, and outputs. The minx digressed into power equations, causing the two men on the other side of her to question her sanity. One of them could almost follow where she was going and how she got there. Interesting....

“Cat ... Catherine...”

“Sorry, I kinda got carried away.”

“Write it up, price it out and we will discuss it later.”

“Excuse me, Miss?” the balding Germanic man to the left of Cat waited until our conversation finished before interrupting.

“Hmm?” As she slurped from her straw, more than a little giggly. This might be amusing, I thought.

“I’m Helmut Whurer from BMW. I couldn’t help but overhear you speculate on micro supercapacitors.”

“Yeah, mine burn out too fast. The energy requirement for the last Device was too steep. It got sucked dry.” Slurp.

Suddenly, he wasn’t sure if he was being pranked or not. “What were you using as a power source and how were you able to overdraw the capacitor?” His English had a definite Germania engineer lilt.

“Well ... she wanted...” I coughed, making sure that Cat kept it for public consumption. “Jerk, I wasn’t going to tell everything,” Then she went on and almost told everything ... including power outputs and wave type conversions. Just not what type wave or output she achieved.

The stars in Helmut’s eyes twinkled. “Miss. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Catherine Larkin. As I was saying...” I definitely struggled to withhold my grin. The man knew he heard the name before, just not where.

“Miss, would you be interested in working for BMW’s EV division? We would pay any and all moving expenses and triple whatever salary you are getting now.” Mr. Whurer’s associate was shocked at his companion’s offer.

“Heheh, that would not be hard. Since I am still learning. I’m just a sophomore, that Jerk over there says.” All three looked at me with vastly different attitudes. Drunk and giggly, curious, and lastly, considering.

“What school are you attending Fraulein Larkin?” He was not going to give up without learning more, even if he needed to wait a couple years. This man was no fool.

“Master Jerk’s school of Device making.” she giggled. Cat would have a lovely hangover later. The mortification from this afternoon’s conversation after her nap would be worth watching. Helmut’s friend recognized her suddenly with that comment. She gave out too many clues with my introduction.

“Smith,” He nodded after coming to the correct realization. “My apologies Miss Larkin. I had no idea who you were,” the older engineer sighed. “But if you ever do get your 3D nano sheet fabricator working. I would be more than willing to purchase your capacitors from you.”

“How many would you want?”

“As many as you can make. All of them hopefully.”

“Well. I’m not sure how long it will take to build. Do you have a card or something? It will be a couple months I guess.” Herr Whurer handed her a card which she inserted in her carry case. I flagged over the waitress for a pitcher of ice water.

“A couple of months?”

“Yeah, it’s kinda complicated. So, it should take longer. Sorry.” I was laughing in my hand trying not to disturb their negotiations.

“What is your output expected?”

“1 MeV. Give or take, unless I can make it sustainable and keep the stupid things from melting all the time. Might have to consider nano graphene sheets. Stupid rare earth metals make it expensive though. Might save that for my gun.”

“Gun?”

“It’s my sophomore project. I’m required to make something just for me. Protection. Force fields are dumb since Master is the best ever at those. I can steal one of his if I need. Moria made that super amazing armor, besides that would take forever to learn how to make. So that’s out. I thought a gun like Master’s steampunk Device would be fun to make.”

“Cat drink some water, you’ll get dehydrated.”

“Okay.” My vacationing, overserved student, continued to entertain the two gentlemen for the next hour, until I dragged her away for lunch. They were assured that we would meet again and soon. They were too keen.

We enjoyed a light lunch of lemon board baked shark before I escorted the drooping teen back to our room for a long Cat nap. After feeding her a few aspirins and another glass of water, she collapsed, in my bed.

After setting the wards, I found an open poolside seat and reviewed the hearing.

“Moria O’Shannan, aka Lady Strife ... Now do you have any opening words?”

“Blueprints for Arachnid are 25 Billion UF dollars, Blueprints for Starfare Propulsion are 15 Billion UF Dollars, Blueprints for Starfare power source are 10 Billion UF Dollars.” ... and the crowd goes wild, at least in Senate Investigative Hearings terms.

“Miss O’Shannan, do you expect the UF government to pay fifty billion dollars for ‘Project Starfare’?”

“Not unless you are a complete idiot Senator Mills. There are other countries in the world to partner with and share the costs.” The audience liked her wording. The panel of politicians didn’t.

“What is the purpose of Project Starfare?”

“Mine Psyche and build a space station.”

“Do you plan also to build spacecraft?”

“Not for years. The space station comes first.”

“But you do plan on building spacecraft sometime in the near future?”

“Define near future Senator.”

“Less than ten years.”

“I do.”

“What do you intend on doing with the spacecraft you are going to build?”

“Imagine walking on Io, Titan, Mars, or flying through the rings of Saturn. Aren’t you at all interested in that? Think of the things we can learn.” Moria O’Shannan’s eyes sparkled with delight.

“Space tourism? Is that the sole reason for a multi-billion dollar endeavor?”

“Sole. No. But reason enough for me. How many people out there would be willing to sacrifice a good part of their life savings to get an up close and personal look at Saturn’s rings?”

“What other reasons do you have?” not a friendly question.

“There is too much unknown about our little corner of this galaxy. We need to step out sometime and explore. I hope that this will be a good second step.”

“Second? In your opinion, what was first?”

“We have put men on the moon. If that’s not first, I don’t know what is. No slighting to the great Yuri.” Senator Mills questioning remained focused on the disbelief of her supposed tourism claims...

“Time.”

... political rhetoric...

“Miss O’Shannan, if the Project was so expensive, why did you not ask for financial assistance?”

“I didn’t want any.”

“So, you wanted all the glory and credit for yourself?”

“My effort, my credit. Is there anything wrong with that?”

“I find it hard to believe that no one helped you design and build a spacecraft capable to go to the asteroid belt in less than 40 days.”

“Sucks to be you then.” Bang.

“I remind you that you are under oath.”

“And?”

“Did anyone assist you in designing and building Project Starfare?”

“My client does not have to answer that question,” interrupted Strife’s Lawyer.

“The question is relevant. What or who are you trying to hide Lady Strife?”

“That sounded like a political question with an agenda. Sorry. Not answering. Next question.” The lady senator from Florida spouted her political agenda wasting everyone’s time.

“Time.”

“What is Arachnid?”

“Arachnid is a triple redundant constructor bot, bot system.”

“In English please.”

“It’s a nanobot builder. It makes little Lego like robots, which make more who make more and so on until you have trillions. They then go out and mine tiny bits of iron, nickel, and other elements from the asteroid and return them to momma bot to assemble into girders. Full details were given to you in appendix B. Remember the old erector sets Senator Bloom?”

“Yes, I had one as a child.”

“The momma bots assemble the girders based off the blueprints embedded in their memories.”