Troy Rising 1 - Live Free or Die (11 page)

“Going back to your rebel roots?” Mr. Haselbauer asked.

“MIT for design,” Tyler said. “
Huntsville
for production.”

***

“In a remarkable development, Glatun traders are now swarming to earth in search of...
maple syrup
? The tasty treat that kiddies love on pancakes seems to be
ambrosia
to our closest extra-terrestrial trading partner and the price of maple syrup has gone,
well, sky high! This is Courtney Courtney with Headline News...”

“You want
how many
mirrors?”

AMTAC was a small company in Huntsville that had managed to survive in a nearly
extinguished market. Space mirrors had been well on their way to being a big business
before the Horvath arrived. Mirrors were used for a variety of applications from
directed-energy-weapon research to astronomy. Get a bunch of mirrors together that were
well spread out and you could get one heck of a space shot. The replacement envisioned for
the Hubble was based on distributed mirror technology.

However, the Horvath habit of from time to time potting a satellite just for kicks had
practically killed the entire space industry. And space mirrors had been the first to go.

James Raskob, President, CEO and Chief Engineer of AMTAC had managed to keep the company
together, with a lot of layoffs admittedly, despite the bad times. They also made ground
based mirrors and as the only remaining supplier of space designs they could pretty much
set their rates. When they got any business. But this was a little kooky.

“I'd like to get up to production of one ten meter mirror per day,” Tyler said. “After
we're up to one a day we'll have to start working on better mirrors. These don't need to
be great. Just be able to reflect sunlight pretty well. And I'd prefer cheap since we're
going to be making a lot.”

“Define 'pretty well,'” Raskob said, wincing. “I mean, what sort of coefficient of thermal
expansion? Albedo constant? Pretty well is a pretty loose...”

“I just need some pretty good mirrors,” Tyler said, shrugging. “Right now I just need
stuff that will reflect sunlight. Glass, nickel, whatever.”

“Tracking systems? Maneuver? Boost requirements? How high a thrust during boost?”

“I think the Glantu are about our same grav,” Tyler said. “They're supplying the tracking
and maneuver systems and boost. Oh, and I'm going to need a ground station. You know any
people in the ground system business? And you're probably going to need to build up some
inventory, hire some people. I'll front you a loan or buy into the business. We're going
to be making a lot of mirrors.”

“Look,” Raskob said, shaking his head. “I appreciate that and everything. But what do you
want the mirrors
for
?”

Tyler wriggled uncomfortably then shrugged.

“I want to melt asteroids.”

“Ah...” Raskob said, sitting back and steepling his fingers. “Now you're making sense. You
have the Glatun willing to boost for you?”

“You know the whole maple syrup thing?” Tyler said. “Well I'm the maple syrup king. Yeah.
I can get them to boost for me. And I'm buying standard satellite packs off of them. I'm
also getting a supposedly user friendly control package. Basic idea is boost a bunch of
mirrors, focus them on an asteroid, melt it and pull off the metals.”

“Which will belong to our Horvath benefactors,” Raskob pointed out.

“Which I might just sell, in space, to the Glatun,” Tyler replied. “Let the Horvath take
it up with
them
.”

“You are playing a dangerous game, friend,” Raskob said.

“Well aware of it,” Tyler said. “But it's the only game in town. Now, can you make the
mirrors?”

“Easily,” Raskob said. "But not the main array mirrors. You're right, those are anything
cheap, light and shiny. You're going to have to have collectors, though. Those are going
to be tougher.

“I'll subcontract for the main array mirrors and make the collectors here. We can easily
do one of the main array mirrors a day. CTE isn't really a big thing since they're just
moving light around. Collectors one a month to start. And then bump up the production as I
can get qualified workers and more equipment.”

“Are we going to need really huge ones?” Tyler asked.

“No,” Raskob said. “Just more collectors. You don't even have to have collectors all in
one spot. And eventually, collectors that can collect from collectors. Two hundred main
array mirror outputs pointing at one collector is about the limit of what one will be able
to handle with standard materials. And you're eventually going to want collectors that can
handle the power of thousands. Cryogenic beryllium's the thing for that. Problem is
keeping it cryogenic in space. Which asteroids are you thinking of mining?”

“I was thinking the ones that are inward towards the sun from earth,” Tyler said.

“Atens?” Raskob said, shrugging. “That works. They don't stay in there, you know. Very
eccentric orbits.”

“Main array down towards Venus orbit?” Tyler asked. “That way it's collecting more
sunlight...”

“Without getting into the super-hot regimes,” Raskob said. “Sure, that would work. I'd
suggest up out of the plane of elliptic to keep it out of the way.”

“Point,” Tyler said. “I've got a thousand satpaks coming in a month. I'm not sure when
I'll have ships to carry it up but there are more free-traders coming these days. They're
always willing to pick up a few extra credits. I can probably get a whole ship since all
the maple syrup is gone.”

“In a month I can have ten mirrors at least,” Raskob said. “Primary array, that is. Maybe
one collector. And, yes, I know people who do ground control. If they've got systems to
support it,” he added, glumly. “Everybody's IT stuff is breaking down.”

“I'm getting at least one hypernode connector as well,” Tyler said. “And, ahem, I'm the
world's primary supplier of atacirc. I assume they can integrate atacirc into their
systems?”

“Oh, yeah. This is gonna be fun! As long as our Horvath benefactors don't get snarky.”

“Well, that's always the problem,” Tyler said.

***

“Admiral, thank you for taking my call,” Gorku said.

“Since I was ordered to do so I really didn't have a choice,” Admiral Orth Glatuli said.
The commander of the Glalkod defense zone did not seem especially pleased to be taking a
personal call from one of the system's wealthiest individuals.

“Now, Admiral, I truly would not be bothering you if I didn't feel it was important to the
Federation. I know how busy you are.”

“I will take that under advisement,” the Admiral said. “What is the substance of the call?”

“I would like you to reevaluate the question of the Terran system,” Gorku said.

“I continue to contend that maple syrup, popular as it is among my sailors, is not a
reason to go to war with the Horvath. And war is certainly not a reason for you to make
another megacred.”

“Agreed,” Gorku said. “But I would suggest, strongly, that you engage Ldria in a serious
analysis of the humans in terms of not just immediate but long term consequences to the
Glatun Federation. Ldria is, after all, the only class five AI in the system.”

AIs were broken down into classes, I through V, depending on the multiplicity and
complexity of tasks they could perform. Large freighters, cruisers and passenger liners
might host a class I AI. This went up in scale to Class IV which were the highest,
legally, permitted to corporations and those used by fleets. Class V were relegated only
to military and governmental entities.

There were rumors that certain corporations had defied the ban and created their own Class
V and even Class VI AIs. The problem with AIs was that as the processing power went up the
stability went down. Class VI AIs were considered fundamentally unstable. And given their
potential harm, the one thing you didn't want was a rogue AI.

But if anyone had an illegal high-level AI it would be Gorku.

“How long term?” the admiral asked. “If it's very long term that is a serious amount of
processing.”

“I would suggest that you look beyond immediate concerns, Admiral, that is all,” Gorku
said. “It is always wise to look beyond the immediate and contemplate the realm of
possibilities inherent in the future. Good day.”

***

“This is Lisa Cranwell with Eyewitness News and we're talking to Mr. Tyler Vernon, the man
who discovered the maple syrup connection. Mr. Vernon, good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon, Lisa,” Tyler said, beaming. He'd insisted that the interview be live. He
was pretty sure he could out-talk a reporter even with, or especially with, five hostile
producers telling her what to say.

“Mr. Vernon, some people call you the maple sugar king...”

“Granted,” Tyler said, smiling.

“And others the maple sugar bandit.”

“Now that's just unfair,” Tyler said, looking wounded. “When I made my acquisitions I was
very careful to avoid buying the old established maple sugar distilleries that had been
around for generations. And now they are all getting extremely rich off of what was once a
minor commodity. My primary acquisitions were from other corporations and land that was
already on the market. I don't think that anyone considers sales from one corporation to
another as banditry, Lisa.”

“But it
has
made you the richest man in the world.”

“I was the richest man in the world when I sold one cargo of maple syrup to a tramp
freighter,” Tyler said. “I'd also like to point out that when people were selling the
artistic treasures of our beautiful planet for a handful of peas, I was the one who found
the one thing that we could produce that the Glatun wanted. Anyone could have done what I
did. I'm shocked and appalled that some other corporation didn't. And whereas I'm now the
richest person in the world, when I met my first Glatun, the free trader Wathaet, I was
cutting firewood for a living. That's the beauty of the free-market, Lisa. Anyone with the
right drive and determination, and just a touch of luck, can succeed.”

“And just what do you intend to do with your maple gotten gains?”

“I've already established scholarships for young people from this previously economically
depressed region as well as other philanthropies. I've also embarked on a program to find
sources of material that Glatun or other extraterrestrial groups may enjoy from the
wonders of our beautiful planet. Most of those would, also, come from economically
depressed regions. And as for the people who do the extremely hard work of gathering maple
sap and distilling it, twenty percent of gross profits are detailed to bonuses. So it's
not like I'm hording it like a miser.”

“And we here at Eyewitness News have learned that you are building space mirrors? Aren't
those used for laser weapons? Are you
intending
to antagonize our Horvath benefactors?”

“Not at all, Lisa,” Tyler said, smiling toothily and shaking his head in deprecation. “You
completely misunderstand their purpose. Such mirrors have a multiplicity of uses. Take
astronomy. By scattering mirrors over a large area it is possible to have a telescope with
that same area. Instead of a telescope with a diameter of, say, sixty meters such as
Palomar you end up with a telescope of six
thousand
meter diameter! We can resolve very fine detail with something like that and continue our
exploration of the wonders of the universe. They are also useful for orbital smelting. You
can use the renewable power of our beautiful sun to turn dangerous asteroids into useful
materials. And, of course, any precious metals that are derived from such smelting are
naturally the property of our Horvath protectors. As to their use as a weapon, we don't
have
any lasers that can even
scratch
the Horvath ship and I defy anyone to suggest that the Horvath are anything other than
our good and close friends and protectors.”

“You seem to have all the answers, Mr. Vernon,” the reporter said.

“I certainly hope so, Lisa,” Tyler said. “We can all look forward to a bright future. A
future in which we just become
closer
to our Horvath friends. Remember what they say, Lisa. Keep your friends close.”

***

“Admiral, I have completed my long-term analysis run,” Ldria said at the end of a standard
briefing. “And I'm rather glad that Trader Gorku suggested it. I also suggest that similar
runs be presented to main system AIs. The data is... disturbing.”

“How much trouble was it?” the admiral asked.

“Rather much,” Ldria said. “I had to distribute processor cycles to all the other systems
in the system. And it still took me nearly a month. But, as I said, it was worth it.”

“So, what is the point of intervening in the Terran system?” the admiral asked. “Or is
there one?”

“There is,” Ldria answered. “Assuming that you wish to extend the lifespan of the Glatun
Federation as a major interstellar polity for between fifty and seventy years.”

“That requires explanation,” the admiral said, sitting back. “Clear whatever is on my
calendar for the next two cycles. Explain.”

“All major polities rise and fall, Admiral,” Ldria said. “As the Ormatur were great when
the Glatun first encountered them three thousand years ago and are now a minor polity, so
will the Glatun eventually become... lesser. Not gone, but less important.”

“Agreed,” the admiral said. “How long do you give the Federation?”

“That depends,” Ldria said. “But choices made in the very near future will effect that
period greatly. The longest period I can predict is one hundred and thirty turns. The
shortest is ten.”

“Ten?”

“Yes, sir,” Ldria said, softly. “Ten. The likelihood of it being ten is less than three
percent. It increases with each turn with certain turns being paramount. And Terra may
hold the key. Intervention by the Glatun in the human system adjusts a major change point
in between fifteen and twenty turns. With Glatun intervention, the likelihood of the
Federation ceasing to exist in that period drops by twenty-one percent, plus or minus
three. And the likelihood without intervention is seventy-three percent.”