Koban 5: A Federation Forged in Fire (42 page)

“That sucks. What good will winning do me if I just have to put more chips into the pool? You should have told me before we set up the games and I bought two hundred chips. That damn Schmidt kid has over forty of my personal credits, and now I have to split my overall chip stack with you and the other fish? Nineteen or twenty kids played poker with us. I may go from big winner to in the hole by splitting the two hundred chips I bought out of my own pocket twenty ways, plus those I won. Damn. I should have been paid something for this trip like everyone else.”

Thad had to turn away to keep his grin hidden. He needed to Comtap Maggi, to set up his phony chip-dividing scheme before they got home. He might even have to put in some more of his own money to get Maggi to agree, just to stick it convincingly to his mercenary poker pal. It would give the kids a small windfall.

Well worth it,
he thought. Suppressing a Krall-like snort.

****

“Hey Dad,” Carson and Ethan caught Dillon in a corridor of the government building renamed Federation Central, in the heart of the still growing capitol city of Xenos, on Haven.

“What’s up boys?”

“We wanted to know the status of the clanship I captured before we went to K1 for Operation Forestall. I gave it a name then, the Wanderer, and it just finished conversion to make T-cubed Jumps. Is that my ship, or is it now part of the Federation fleet?”

“Son, it’s sort of in between. The same questions came up for other ships in the hearings today. I suspect that’s why you looked me up over here. President MacDougal, after discussions with advisors, such as me and your mom, with Golda Mauss, and of course Uncle Tet, who is still technically the Secretary of the Navy, has issued an Executive Order. It allows the Federation, namely by the President or the navy secretary, to recall any of the ships for official use in the event we needed to assemble the full or a least a larger fleet. With T-cubed travel and instant communications, most of our ships will be within hours to a day of travel time, to defend any point within our volume of space. At the same time, we must use those ships for trade, exploration, transportation, diplomatic missions to Rim Worlds, and lately for a number of personal use flights.

“We now have just over four thousand six hundred ships, after more captures, and some repairs of damaged craft on K1. In the absence of a serious threat, Tet will keep only about five hundred ships in the Koban system, which will also serve as local in-system planetary transportation, and for resource development and hauling supplies. There are about a hundred being used with our non-human citizens, to explore and survey their former home worlds and colonies.”

He mimicked pulling at his lower lip. “Gee. That only leaves four thousand ships for other uses, and over two thirds have already been converted for T-cubed. I’ll bet whatever you want it for it will fit one of the allowed categories. Which is it?”

“Trade,” blurted Ethan, as Carson said, “Rim World contacts.”

“Carson, you have a good claim for use of the Wanderer because you made the capture and worked on its AI conversion. What do you want do with it? Ethan, trade is a valid use, but the Executive Order asks that you submit a written request with a use listed and some offer of proof that’s the case. In the event that there are limited craft available, the priority for use must be decided, by some clerk probably. That isn’t an issue yet, but you may as well list the proper use. I’d think trade is better than saying you just want to visit a Rim World, and I don't think either of you are diplomats, or will be running a tourist service. What are you really going to do there?”

Carson answered. “Ethan means we intend to do some business, which is sort of trade related, but we aren’t selling or buying a commodity, so it probably isn’t actually trade. More a case of possibly providing a service.”

“What sort of
possible
service? That sounds more like you want to use it for personal use or transportation, unless the ship is part of the service you intend to deliver.”

“Dad, the people that contacted us on Chisholm were not terribly specific. They’re frightened to be asking for outside help, they’re in trouble and fear for their lives, and say some corrupt officials there are trying to throw them off their land, in favor of wealthy people that bought the officials off. Their communications are often being monitored.”

“How the hell do you know anyone on Chisholm, which as I recall is a Rim World on the anti spinward side of Human Space from us. How did they contact you, or know where you are? Even the PU still doesn’t have a precise fix on our location.”

“Uh, it’s a long story, and complicated. They did it via answering our advertising.”

“Try explaining that to me, my meeting is over. Now you’ve gone beyond getting a ship, its explaining why you need it to your father, and how they answered your ad. You may be a dad yourself, but it sounds like you could be getting into a situation with risks, and you have a wife and child to think about. Not to mention being careful to avoid pulling the Kobani or Federation into a political situation we might want to avoid.”

“OK. Can we go to the cafeteria for sandwiches and sit and talk?”

“Sure.”

Once seated, and speaking around a bite of a rhinolo steak sandwich, Ethan started the first part of the story. “Do you remember Ajay Patil? He was one of those that returned to Earth with his parents, on Pholowela.”

“Oh. I know of him. He was about fourteen, right? Family moved to Haven from Hub City, and they all went back to Earth when they could, even though his parents had clone mods. I guess they didn’t want him to get the Koban mods when he reached sixteen, with or without their permission. How does he figure into Chisholm? If they went to Earth or to Chisholm, he couldn’t easily keep in touch with you, not without a Comtap.”

“They moved to the Indian Commonwealth on Earth to live, but don't be too sure he couldn’t communicate with us from there or Chisholm, or anywhere in Human Space. He does that almost daily, with a lot of his friends he left behind on Haven, and a few kids on Koban.”

“He has a Comtap? I’d not heard of any human without the Kobani mods having one. It’s possible, of course, without the mental sharing aspect. It’s essentially what the Torki and Raspani have now, for long range communications through Tachyon Space.”

“Actually, he doesn’t have a Comtap, but he has a few of the new Prada hand held devices that do much the same thing. Have you heard mention of Instellarnet, similar to Internet?”

“No, but I know you younger generation types have jumped into social networking again, which us older farts sort of lost interest in, after we were stranded on Koban for so long without connectivity. Comtap has restored personal connections for us but I don’t crave browsing web sites, not like I did when I lived on Rhama. What’s Instellarnet?”

“Instantaneous interstellar internet. And it’s about to get much larger than it is now.”

“How? With a Tachyon Space connection? Wouldn’t that just be talking over the Prada handheld, like a phone call to the addressed party?”

“If Ajay were just some ordinary kid, then yes, that’s all in might become. But he’s a techno geek, like his mother, who ran an internet service on their Old Colony world of Hindi, before their vacation trip back to visit family on Earth was ruined, when the Krall captured their cruise ship twenty-two years ago.”

“And what did geek boy do with this handhelds?”

“His mother, to ease his leaving all of his friends behind, let him bring several of the Prada devices with him to stay in touch, so he wouldn’t grow too resentful. He asked the Torki how he could connect other devices to his handhelds, and they made them with interface ports that connected with the new internet network system his mother designed for Haven, and has now spread to Koban. Our networks here aren’t as modern as on a Hub planet, but visitors from Rim or New Colony planets have older generation devices they want to connect on Hub worlds when they visit them. Therefore, the Hub networks are backward compatible with protocols used by older systems. Ajay’s Prada devices can connect to the global Earth network.”

“Yea. So? How does that lead to Chisholm?”

“Dad, I said it was complicated. Let Ethan finish. He heard about what Ajay and his Haven friends were doing from his younger brother, Danner.”

“Go on Ethan.”

“Ajay told his friends back here that he could explore internet links on Earth with his Prada hand held when he linked it through a computer. His friends obtained some Prada handhelds and did the same, but went through his device on Earth when they linked. Even though they couldn’t see his computer screen, Ajay directed them to a site where they listened to some downloaded music, and later spoke to some Earth based AI servers that would accept verbal instructions. That was when the real breakthrough happened, when the kids on Haven connected their own home computers through their Prada handhelds to Ajay’s handheld. Our house computers, which Chief Haveram bought for us in Human Space, are compatible with the internet on Hub worlds. Using their computers on Haven, they could directly surf the Earth internet live, using the handhelds as the long-range instant links between computers, and the Torki interface matching the internet protocols at both ends.”

“I’m being patient,” Dillon reminded the two.

“OK. That was six months ago. Ajay connected both of his handheld devices to his mother’s new high-end computer, which allows multi users from other household terminals. Haven kids starting browsing the Earth network at will. When some kids on Koban learned of the capability, and obtained the same Prada devices, they linked from Koban to Haven’s network, and then to Earth via the same two devices. They started calling it Instellarnet, but it had limited capacity with only two connections on Earth.

“Since then, Kobani spec ops troops, being paid by Ajay and his mother, have used their PU military status and the secrecy of their units, to return to Human Space with improved Torki gadgets and have installed them on various planets that already have their own local global networks. There now are many more link possibilities in Human Space, simply by knowing the Prada device addresses on various planets. Ajay is going to become a very rich kid, providing interstellar web browsing, and the Torki will provide the technology under a very lucrative deal for them.”

“I take it one of these new Torki devices went to Chisholm?”

“Yep. Via a trooper going home on leave to visit, but was paid by Ajay to connect one there.”

“The trooper told you about this problem on Chisholm?”

“Nope, he only made the connection to a computer inside a government run recreation center for disabled soldiers. Out of curiosity, we browsed the small Chisholm network and stumbled across a jobs site, where people advertise services or products they provide, or list work they need done, with contact numbers or web addresses. We weren’t afraid to describe what services we can offer as Kobani, said some negative things about the PU government, and mentioned our rebel image.”

Carson picked up from there. “That ad drew some friendly cautionary warnings, and the attention of a reclusive Chisholm group. They claimed that someone in authority there has an AI monitoring everything that’s posted or said on their small network, so they use temporary, indirect, and anonymous terminals to speak their minds, and have requested police help from higher government agencies on Chisholm. They not only were ignored, but someone with guns tried to find them. They’re afraid for their lives if found. Ethan gave them our link device’s connection address on Chisholm. It seems to lead nowhere, and no monitor system can trace it through Tachyon Space.”

Ethan chimed in again. “That’s how we learned of their problems. We think we can go there, and use Mind Tap on unguarded minds to find out who the bribed officials are, identify the payers, and apprehend the thugs that have waged a reign of terror on small landowners. There have been some farmers, their whole families in fact, murdered in their homes by bands of men that are dressed like ordinary ranch hands, but the local law isn’t doing anything to push the investigations. Collectively, the Chisholm Farmer’s Cooperative offered to pay us if we help them save their farms and families, and find out who is behind the killings.”

“Farms? I thought Chisholm replaced Meadow as the beef production center for much of the Hub. What’s the root of the conflict with the ranchers?”

Thinking he was explaining unfamiliar history, Carson told him, “Dad, Meadow was just destroyed last year, but Chisholm has been the main Hub cattle producer for two hundred years. Cattle ranching didn’t just recently move there from Meadow. The farmers are trying to grow crops in the fertile valleys, and a group of powerful wealthy ranchers won’t allow fences that limit their cattle from foraging. The crops are trampled and eaten without fences. The farmers are new on Chisholm, not the cattle.”

“I know that son. I’m older than you are and I grew up in Human Space. Meadow decided to become less agricultural long before I was born, as they became a developed Hub world. Ranching moved outward to other colony worlds, like Chisholm.”

“Oh. We didn’t know that.” Carson admitted.

Ethan explained the origin of this new friction, “The President of Chisolm Colony promised the electorate to raise more local foods, to cut the high expense of off world imports for the average citizens. He offered land grants on public lands that the cattle owners have always used as if it was theirs. The ranchers are trying to drive the farmers off, and have killed some of them, and they tear down their fences, and dam up the streams to deny them water for irrigation. The local law and judges are in the pockets of the big ranch owners.”

“Well, you had better research the place before you go. I don't see why you can’t take the Wanderer if you get permission. But what makes those farmers think you two youngsters can help them?” He had his suspicion.

“Uh. Our advertising for our services, being placed on each world’s network says we’re native Kobani, have combat experience, all the full genetic capability of our people, and are willing to travel for a negotiable fee. We describe ourselves as troubleshooters, not guns for hire. Everyone on Chisholm saw the news Tri-Vids when they reached there, a few weeks after we visited Earth. They saw Uncle Tet in action. We display both sides of a business card that explains in simple terms what we can provide.”