A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Proposed Trade-Offs for the Overhaul of the Barricade (4 page)

Ritter's eyebrows raised. He resisted making a deprecating remark, although that would have bought him some time. Everything he had ever known about chaotic phenomena seemed to have fallen out of his mind. He swallowed hard, wishing he, rather than not-Father, were leafing through Father's plans.

“Well, sir, it's ambitious. A wall built of bricks of small, densely packed, cross-linked redundant machines. It should be easier to maintain and more robust against the ever more violent and unpredictable storms of Turbulence as we push farther into the frontier.”

Not-Father frowned. “All engineering is a matter of trade-offs, Ritter.”

“I don't know how many engineers, besides you, will be able to create the machinery you've designed. The feature size is too small and the tolerances too strict. I've come up with some alternatives, but …” Ritter shrugged. “If it's just the two of us alone on the barricade, I think I might be able to—”

“No, you're too easily distracted. Your best work is behind the barricade, not on it.” Not-Father stood. “Very good, Ritter. I'll go over your annotations and we'll discuss them in the morning.”

Not-Father nodded his goodbye then walked away. His boots, creased and dun-colored, their treads worn smooth, left blurred prints on the ground. He'd broken them down from new in just weeks from manning the retaining wall, not to mention surveying and repairing the barricade as a whole.

Ritter curled as though not-Father had punched him in the gut. He missed the man who'd decided Ritter could do anything and was always exasperated when it seemed Ritter couldn't.

Engineers gathered again around the fire to finish their shift. Ritter didn't need to see them to know that. The slim volume Deck had given him felt oddly heavy in his hands. He worked through its first exercises as shelves swirling around the barricade echoed through his mind.