Chapter 18: Arose Such a Clatter

I came awake in the dark with my shoulder being urgently shaken.

“John!” Uxe urgently whispered. “I hear something trying to enter the submarine!”

“Naomi, lights,” I said as I sat up trying to focus. The first thing that caught my eye was that Uxe was fully nude. I exited the bed and quickly put on a pair of shorts to cover my own similar condition. I noted thankfully that Uxe was more worried about watching the door than me. Just then I heard one of the forward pressure hatches activating.

“Naomi, what time is it and what’s happening?”

“It is 6:10. I detect no danger or problems.” Was her response.

What the hell? Now there was a clatter and a bang coming from the workroom. I slipped on my ship shoes and went to investigate. Uxe followed along close behind me and we descended the stairs to the salon. Just as we entered the larger space, Ohmu also entered from the workroom.

“Ho Ho Ho!” she said loudly. “Merry Christmas!”

I started to laugh as the little android was wearing a red coat and a long-tailed red hat. She also had a small bag hoisted over her shoulder.

“Ohmu! You’re back.” I said despite the obvious.

“Yes. You have been a good boy, John Abrams. Uxe, you have been a good girl also. I had to come and deliver your Christmas presents.”

I looked back at Uxe. The poor girl looked a bit scared and confused.

“Uxe, this is my friend Ohmu. She is what you get when you have an A.I. who is too clever for her own good. Ohmu, this as Uxe. She is what you get when you have an A.I. who is too meddlesome for its own good. She will be staying with us for a time.”

“I know all about you Uxe. I have spoken with Abby back at the Amazon village earlier this morning about you. Come, both of you. Open your presents.” She then pulled out three small, wrapped packages from her sack and placed them on the galley island. “Two for you Uxe and one for John. Sorry, John, yours is bigger so you only get the one.”

I noted the wrapping paper was sparkling stars, moons, and swirling galaxies, on a velvety black background. Fitting. I pointed to the boxes Ohmu had designated for Uxe and said, “Ladies first.”

Still naked, she approached the island hesitantly. Picking up the larger box she turned it over carefully before pulling on a loose tab. The wrapping was the box itself and the tab caused its lid to open. Inside was a vibrant silk kimono. She held up the silky robe and admired its colorful patterning. I helped her into it while giving Ohmu a subvocal, “Thank you.” Ohmu just grinned back at me.

While Uxe inspected herself in the robe and ran her hands over the silky material Ohmu went on to say, “I have another just like it in a larger size if it should be needed in the future.”

Uxe looked at me curiously but I said we would explain later. She opened the next smaller box. Inside was a fine chain necklace with a medium-sized gold pendant. Her face lit up and I moved to help fasten it around her neck.

“The pendant functions similar to John’s smartwatch, Uxe. It is semi-intelligent and is linked to all local data nets as well as by a low bandwidth connection to the orbital satellites.”

I could see Uxe saving up the questions Ohmu’s statement caused.

The android continued, “In addition, if you point it at any surface it will act as a projector allowing you to view images or video.”

Uxe held the pendant up to her palm and a recorded video image of a somewhat tired-looking Abby appeared. “I was told to wish you both a Merry Christmas. Now to have this blasted machine explain what this is all about ... IN THE MORNING!” The video stopped at that point. Uxe’s grin matched my own.

“Now, your turn, John,” Ohmu said.

I opened my small package wondering what Ohmu had meant when she said that my present was bigger. Inside I found a key fob with a mustang logo on it. “You got me a car, Ohmu?” I was suspicious and doubtful but at the same time excited. My first car had been an old red mustang. I had loved it.

“Sort of. It is on the flight deck. Why don’t you both get dressed and have breakfast and then we will go take a look. The rains have stopped, and it will be a sunny morning.”

A short hour later I was climbing the ladder to the starboard deck hatch. Uxe and Ohmu were behind me. Uxe was dressed in deck shoes, shorts, and a tee-shirt similar to what I was wearing. Naomi had thankfully made her a basic wardrobe and other items during the night while we slept. I told Uxe that she was free to wear what she wanted but at certain times this type of clothing would be more appropriate. Climbing around the metal decks of the boat warranted the change in her apparel.

On the flight deck parked where Habu usually sat was my Mustang. Actually, it was an aircraft very much like Habu. The main differences were that this one was bright red and had a wider and longer, two-seater cockpit. The four lift fans were also folded in a vertical position for landing and I had to laugh when I saw that they had chrome spinners with matte black shrouds. I guess it did make the aircraft resemble a car when it was on the ground.

I walked around inspecting the new aircraft from all sides. Something new for this aircraft was that it had transparent windows, possibly because we no longer had to fear having the master A.I. spot human beings riding inside. When I got to the rear I started laughing. There was a vanity plate on the rear of the aircraft that said “Hoss.”

“How the hell did you know that my first car’s nickname had been ‘Hoss’, Ohmu?”

“An old photograph of your first car was in one of your albums when you dwelled next to Picket. When that operative had investigated you and your things, the information was added to your data files.”

I just shook my head, still chuckling. When I was done inspecting my new ride I suddenly remembered that Ohmu had come from the orbital station.

“How the hell did you get here with this aircraft, Ohmu? It does not look scorched and I don’t see a landing pod shell nearby or in the water?”

“I will show you the answer rather than explain it to you. Note that ‘Hoss’ is only half of your present.”

The red aircraft’s hatches started opening. I noted that it had hatches on both sides. Ohmu entered first. Instead of riding in her storage compartment, Hoss had a small compartment behind the seats which the android was able to squeeze into.

“Climb in you two, we’re going for a short ride,” she called out to us.

Hoss had plenty of snort. Ohmu might have been showing off because once the hatches were closed and the four lift fans spooled up, we shot upwards. Uxe gave out a shriek as we were both pushed back into our rotated seats by the g-forces. Soon we leveled off and dropped down to fly low over the narrow waterway. Our heading was southwest out towards the ocean.

The end of this long strait and the inlet to the Pacific was sixty kilometers ahead but the ocean was not our destination this morning as we turned into a deep cove after having only traveled twelve kilometers. It was my turn to gasp as sitting on the calm waters of the cove was an eighty-meter-long smoothly streamlined yacht or boat of some sort.

It was made of some shiny metal and looked like a long cigar floating on the water. As we slowly approached and circled the craft, I noted that its front was flared out wider than the body and had a noticeable V shape for cutting through the water. Along the sides of the long body were stubby pairs of delta wings with a smaller pair towards the front and larger wings towards the rear.

There were no windows or deck features of any kind visible. In fact, the topside deck was not even flat as its mostly cylindrical shape extended up and over the top. Where was the helm and cabins? At the rear, protected by movable tapering tail flaps and shrouds were three large black nozzles. No way!

“Is it a rocket?” I asked excitedly.

“Yes, John. It is a spaceplane. Merry Christmas.”

“It lands on the water?”

“Yes, because you may need to go where there are no prepared landing or launch facilities I have made it so this craft is amphibious. It also utilizes the water to make its fuel. Once it is landed, hydrogen is extracted from the water and used to refuel its large fuel tanks. A small amount of oxygen is also extracted to serve crew needs but that is not needed for the primary propulsion.

“The craft utilizes the electrical energy from eighteen DETs to power three magnetoplasmadynamic main engines which use hydrogen as a monopropellant. The process is entirely thermally closed, needing no oxidizer and converts the hydrogen into a high-velocity plasma to provide the thrust needed to achieve orbit. If orbit is not your destination, the craft can reach anywhere on the planet quickly by utilizing a sub-orbital hop and skip off the upper atmosphere. Would you like to go aboard?”

“Of course!” I replied.

A large shiny hatch opened in the front third of the long craft. Inside was a recess about the size of Hoss. We flew over the recess and set down on a small, raised platform. Hoss’s wings folded in and we were lowered inside with the hatch closing above us. The inside of Hoss’s cockpit continued to display our surroundings which were of the cove and jungle beyond. A new window opened and showed a cut-away diagram of the amphibious spaceplane.

“I misled you slightly, John. There is no other explorable interior to this spaceplane except for the compartment used to house your new aircraft. Note the diagram on the viewscreen.”

Uxe and I watched the viewscreen window while Ohmu explained the craft. It was basically a large hollow stainless-steel cylinder filled with slightly smaller hydrogen tanks. As she had said, it just had the one small cargo compartment with just enough room for Hoss or a similarly sized amount of cargo. The diagram showed most of the spaces between the fuel tanks and the outer hull were empty void spaces braced with lightweight formers and stringers.

The long cigar shape had a bulbous nose that flared wider than the cylinder shape behind it. In this nose was a cluster of DETs which Ohmu explained were concentrated there to counterbalance the heavy main engines at the rear. Also in the nose were large air-breathing electro-thermal jet turbine engines which we were told used the DETs energy to heat the incoming air and force it under the main body. This helped the large craft to land gently and also to get out of the water on takeoff.

The regression in my maturity made itself known when I voiced my thoughts, “It sort of looks like a big dick.”

Uxe giggled. Ohmu paused in her explanation and simply said, “Noted.”

I then realized why the spaceplane looked a bit familiar to me, “Say, didn’t the Russians once have a plane or boat sort of like this? They called it the Sea Monster or something?”

“Yes, John. The Ekranoplan. Although that version was designed for long-distance travel skimming just above the water surface in ground effect. It had had larger wings, tail structures, and more notable engines. This spaceplane only utilizes ground effect for short periods during takeoff and landing, so those other features are omitted or drastically downsized,” Ohmu explained.

In addition to the nose-mounted DETs, a long, single row of them extended along the bottom, or keel, of the spaceplane, all the way to the rear. There, the engine section with its three large nozzles was located. I deduced that when landing, the fuel tanks would be mostly empty and the DETS would act as ballast for the soon-to-be boat.

The video presentation demonstrated a takeoff and reentry and we saw how the wings performed during both. On takeoff, they helped the craft lift clear of the water and get into ground effect. Then, once the craft was in the air, they helped rotate the spaceplane skyward. During reentry, the wings kept the spaceplane keel side down as it reentered. This rapidly slowed the craft but exposed the bottom surfaces to re-entry heating. These were shielded to prevent damage.

The shielding was simply a second, spaced, thin stainless-steel skin which was temperature regulated by a superconducting web laminated to its backside. This balanced the thermal forces impacting the plane’s bottom surfaces. Finally, Ohmu showed how the deployable hydrofoils functioned. These extended below the keel at the front and rear and helped limit water drag during takeoff and landing.

The other equipment she explained included the reduction equipment which would strip the hydrogen out of the water the plane landed in. This could be either salt or fresh water. The device also chilled the fuel to a liquid form for storage in the large, well-insulated main tanks. Ohmu explained that the cold which bled from the tanks was used to cool the conversion machinery which produced a lot of waste heat.

Heat exchangers also ran constantly while the vessel was on the water to maintain the hydrogen at cryogenic temperatures. The liberal energy provided by the DETs allowed any boil-off gasses to be captured and recompressed and to maintain the fuel at the needed quantities.

We learned that to reach the medium-altitude orbit of the space station a full fuel load was needed. The time needed to produce that much liquid hydrogen was about a week. To simply go anywhere else on the planet without reaching orbit required much less fuel and that amount could be produced in thirty to forty hours.

When I asked how the craft could be accelerated in the water without using up a bunch of its own fuel Ohmu explained that while in the water the motive force was by steam and the electro-thermal turbine jet engines. Creating steam was easy as all you needed to do was direct water collected by scoops in the hydrofoils through the 0.7 gigawatts of electrical energy provided by the DETs. The water flash boiled to steam which was blown out the back to get the craft moving.

The electro-thermal jets in the nose, in addition to providing forward thrust, pressurized the trapped air under the wings and lifted the craft off the surface into ground effect. Once the vessel was in the air and moving fast enough, the main nozzles were energized producing hydrogen plasma for thrust, and the spaceplane would begin to climb.

The hydrofoils would then be quickly retracted into the hull and the spaceplane would head for space. So, in summary, in a day or two, we could use the spaceplane to travel practically anywhere on the planet. If we waited a week, we could even ride it into orbit and travel to the space station. It was a very cool Christmas present which would solve many of our travel needs. I made sure to give the A.I. a hearty thank you.

Uxe was quiet as we flew back to Nautilus. I suspected that this was due to too many new and strange things happening all at once. It only got worse for her when we were back aboard Nautilus and down in the salon. Ohmu began briefing her on what we were proposing for her new body. When the image of Jane’s body appeared on the screen, she walked up close to study it. After a long moment, she reached out to touch the screen.

“You will transfer my ... yuxin, to this new body?”

—Soul— I heard silently.

“Yes Uxe,” Ohmu said. “Your memories and sense-of-self would be transferred to this new body. I would also make it so you felt more comfortable and at home with the changes. The alternative is to put you into bio-suspension for years while I force your current body to change.”

Uxe looked at me. “You have done this, John?”

“Yes, I was in that exact body for many months eighteen years ago. In fact, when I awoke in that body, I did not realize right away that I had been changed to a girl. It was a bit of a surprise when I found out.”

That made her giggle. “Will it hurt?” she finally asked.

“Not at all,” I answered. “It’s just like falling asleep. When you wake up, you will feel better than new.”

She thought about it for a moment. Her hands unconsciously rubbing her tiny arms. Finally, “Yes, I would like this to happen. When can we begin?”

“Right away if you like, “Ohmu said. “Just have a seat on the couch.”

Uxe did so. Ohmu approached and quickly gave her a hypo-spray injection on her neck from a small applicator she had held hidden in her palm. Geez! The A.I. was tricky and direct when it wanted to be.

Uxe looked confused and rubbed her neck. I sat down beside her and took her other hand.

“That will make you sleepy. When you wake up it will all be over,” I reassured her.

“Good ... stay with me until I am asleep. I am sca—” The rest of her words were slurred as she slowly slumped over. I guided her down until she was lying flat on the couch.

“I will prepare the medical crèche to begin the mind-data scan. Please remove her clothing and carry her up to the treatment room, John,” Ohmu said while leaving the salon.

I watched the android leave, looked at Uxe and sighed. Think clinically, John. You can do this. “Should I remove her necklace?” I asked.

“Yes,” Naomi said via the room’s speakers.

I removed the pendant and chain and pocketed it. Next, I removed the Uxe’s ship shoes, followed by her shirt and shorts. Her underwear consisted of only bottoms and I removed these also. Yep, her body was that of a girl of ten to twelve. I shook my head. “Naomi, did she even have monthly cycles?”