Troy Rising 1 - Live Free or Die (23 page)

“No joystick?” Astro said.

“No joystick,” Tyler said, leaning back and closing his eyes. “Just brainpower. It's a
whole new world.”

***

When they got to the ship they found an Asian gentleman in a jumpsuit waiting for them. He
had a rather extensive collection of boxes.

“Who's that?” Asaro asked. “He looks familiar.”

“The cook?” Tyler said, shrugging and getting out of the limo. “Hi, I'm Tyler Vernon. And
you are?”

“Dr. Conrad Chu,” the man said, nodding his head. “Professor of astrophysics at MIT. I
understand you are going mining. I have taken, over my dean's objections, a leave of
absence to accompany you.”

“Uh, yeah,” Tyler said. “But...”

“I have my cookware,” the professor said, gesturing to the boxes. “I paid my way through
school working in a restaurant. I am, I must say most humbly, a very good cook. That
depends, of course, upon ingredients.”

“We've got stuff in the holders on the ship,” Tyler said, trying to catch up. “You're a
professor of astrophysics? And you want to be the ship's cook?”

“Is the job in space?”

“Yes.”

“Then I wish to be the ship's cook,” Dr. Chu said. “Do you have an objection?”

Tyler thought about it and held out his hand.

“I simply love Chinese food,” Tyler said. “And you don't want to know what a Glatun
robochef does to beef with broccoli.”

“Then we should perhaps load,” Dr. Chu said, smiling.

“Where's the cargo door on this thing?” Steve said, walking around the ship. It appeared,
in fact, as not much more than a two-story steel brick with some small openings on one
side.

“Right here,” Tyler said, comming for the door to open. The door opened along an almost
invisible seam and dropped a ramp down to the ground. There was a rather obvious airlock
system with both doors open. “Doors will only open if there's air on both sides and it's
equalized. Otherwise it takes a two person override. And people don't usually ride in
these things, anyway. So there
is
no cargo door. And not much room for cargo.”

“Docking?” Dr. Chu asked, hefting one of the cases.

“All Glatun airlocks are identical,” Tyler said, grabbing his bags. “And we're going to
have to figure out how this stuff will fit.”

Just beyond the airlock was the crew compartment. The interior of the ship was
surprisingly cramped.

“Wow,” Steve said, looking at the low, tight, quarters. “You don't fly this ship, you wear
it.”

“You don't even wear it,” Tyler said, stuffing his bag into a corner. “It's controlled
from the
Monkey Business
. We're all, effectively, passengers. It only has crew quarters as a way to move people
around from one base to another in a pinch.”

“So the rest is...” Bryan asked. He was carrying his bag and two cases of cookware. He
clearly wasn't sure where to set it. “We're not going to be able to carry all this stuff.”

“Engines,” Tyler said, pointing to one of the five chairs. “Power plants. Grav plates.
Drives. How do you think it gets that much thrust? And we'll be able to carry it all. You,
Steve and Nathan are big. Grab a seat. Dr. Chu...”

“Conrad, please,” Dr. Chu said.

“Conrad and I will pack all the stuff in on top of you since we're...
smaller
. We'll go up to the ship to drop this off then go to Huntsville. Don't worry, it's a
short flight.”

“FAA will defecate a brick,” Nathan said, taking a seat. “Glatun are sort of small, ain't
they?”

“FAA will get over it,” Tyler said. “And it's not that Glatun are small. It's that this
ship wasn't designed for Rangora.”

It took Tyler and Dr. Chu about ten minutes to get everything stowed on top of the other
passengers.

“And that way
I
don't have stuff piled on
me
,” Tyler said, grinning. He commed the door closed and checked the telltales. “I think the
little blinky lights are just so the passengers that are in the know don't get nervous.
But we are... locked tight. And... liftoff. Manchester FAA,
Monkey Paw Four
. Request change of flight plan, direct ascent to geosynchronous, return trip to
Huntsville FAA control... Roger, FAA. Thank you.”

“No problems?” Nathan asked.

“Manchester FAA is getting used to space ships,” Tyler said. “It's the bureaucrats in DC
that see their phony baloney jobs on the line that don't like us.”

“The FAA is a pretty important group,” Asaro said. “And I know you don't like NASA but it
really was the only game in town if you wanted to be in a manned program.”

“And now it's not,” Tyler said. “Which means that NASA is looking at becoming very
extremely redundant very extremely fast. Which nobody likes but bureaucrats hate more than
most. To most people in a bureaucracy, the main thing is that they've got a steady
paycheck because who ever lays off a bureaucrat? Well, NASA if it had any sense at all.
And the FAA is having to adjust, fast, to new conditions. One thing that they're realizing
is that they're going to have to automate to a much greater degree to handle space
traffic. And they've been lobbying congress for forever for upgrades, I'll admit. But most
of the stuff they're pitching looks exactly like what it, in fact, is: pork payoffs to
contractors so that FAA administrators can then get cushy jobs when they finish their
twenty years. Not going to argue this one while I'm picking my way through the satellite
belt. So, Steve, does a 'Doctor' go with that name? You were introduced as Mister.”

“I didn't want to throw you any more than being with NASA would,” Steve said. “So, yes,
it's Dr. Asaro. Also, until recently, Major Asaro.”

“Air Force?” Nathan asked, trying to shift some of the packages. He was pretty hard to see
under the boxes.

“Bite your tongue,” Steve said. “Marines.”

“So Doctor Major Steve 'Astro' Asaro,” Tyler said. “We've got plenty of names to choose
from. Doctor of... ?”

“Aeronautical engineering,” Astro said. “And astronomy. And physics. Masters in electrical
and mechanical. I thought I knew Dr. Chu. I had his astrophysics for physics majors course
many a year ago.”

“You got an A,” Dr. Chu said. “I was being nice, though. I knew you wanted to be an
astronaut. You really rated more of an A minus.”

“With your engineering background maybe you should be the ship's engineer instead of
pilot,” Tyler said. “Okay, since we have about five minutes alone. Nathan and Bryan
already know the dirty details. We'll be returning to Huntsville after dropping this stuff
off. So if you want to abort you can abort in Huntsville and no harm done. The
Monkey Business
is five hundred years old. It's not quite ready for the scrapyard but it's close. It was
what I could afford. And I made sure it was serviced before we left Glatun. But it's not a
nice new Space Shuttle or the ISS. It's a workhorse that has been running around the
galaxy since before the Spanish landed in the new world. Our first mission is to launch
some mirrors. We're going to just park them in Near Earth Orbit because they're destined
for out-system. Then we're going to go check Icarus and figure out what's happening with
the smelting. The answer is something funky according to Nathan.”

“Best if we check it with the Glatun systems,” Nathan said. “I'm not sure, Dr. Houseley's
not sure and we haven't been sure if we should contact someone like... Well, Dr. Chu come
to think of it.”

“I'm a specialist in oxygen production in Mira Variables,” Dr. Chu said. “I'm just along
for the ride. And to cook.”

“Anyway,” Tyler said. “If anybody wants to abort after you see the ship, you're welcome. I
only want people who really want to be here.”

“I'm actually having a bit of trouble with the concept,” Steve said. “The last time I was
in space, the ride up was like being repeatedly hit by a trip-hammer.”

“Welcome to a new day,” Tyler said. “And... we're... almost docked. Hang on a bit. Diw!
The lock won't seal... Yeah, I
know
it sealed when I left. I'm going to undock. Get one of the bots to check the seal
rings... This is the sort of thing I was talking about. It's not quite baling wire and
chewing gum but it's got about two billion little issues that crop up all the time.”

“Try that pretty new Shuttle that's older than I am and gets practically rebuilt after
every mission,” Steve said. “You don't want to know for problems.”

“Hang on,” Tyler said. “Yeah, I'll try it.” There was a
clang
. “That's got it. What was it... ? I hate intermittent failures, too. Especially when
they're of docking seals. And... we're home.”

“We sure it's good?” Nathan asked in a muffled tone.

“Get used to answers like 'We'll know when we open the door',” Tyler said. “Fortunately,
we can close it
really
fast.” Tyler opened the inner airlock door and listened. “Any whistling?”

“You're joking, right?” Steve said.

“Nope,” Tyler said. “And inner door opening... And we didn't lose a gram of air so we're
good. Everybody out!”

“As soon as I can
move
,” Nathan said.

“Be careful,” Tyler said, grabbing two boxes off of Nathan. “There's a small patch of
microgravity right at the join. You can step over it but it feels sort of funny and if
you're not careful you trip.”

“It does look sort of worn,” Dr. Foster said as he followed Tyler down a passageway. It
was also
big
. The interior corridors weren't wide or tall but there were
a lot
of them. They hadn't gotten a look at the exterior but he could tell it was a pretty
sizeable ship.

“And the galley,” Tyler said as a hatch withdrew. “Most of the hatches are memory metal.
One of about a thousand things we don't understand. At least not well.”

The galley was the size of a good-sized restaurant's kitchen.

“This is more than I expected,” Dr. Chu said, looking around. “Are the big doors the
freezers?”

“One is a standard pantry,” Tyler said, walking over and comming the door open. The
interior was packed with cases. “This is the pantry. You'll notice it doesn't have the
little yellow and blue lights over it. Blue is good, yellow is bad. The ones with the
yellow and blue lights are stabilizers. They, somehow, prevent degradation. They're cool
rooms but not freezers. About 20 C normally. But even if they get hotter the stuff doesn't
degrade and besides meat and such like I've got them filled with tasty vegetables and
fruits.”

“Good,” Dr. Chu said, walking over to one of the stabilizer rooms. “And how do I know the
stabilizer
isn't
on? Because
I
don't want to be stabilized. The blue light?”

“The field turns off if you open the door,” Tyler said, comming for the door to open. The
room was filled mostly with piled packages of pre-cut meat. It was vaguely disturbing that
they
weren't
frozen. “And it really
will
turn off. The door latch has the power circuit built in. The problem isn't getting them
to turn off. It's keeping them on.”

“I see,” Dr. Chu said. “And how do I open the doors?”

“
Monkey Business
, please give Dr. Chu access privileges to all food areas, bunking and common areas by
verbal command. Drs. Foster, Bell and Asaro are authorized access to common areas and
bunking.”

“Yes, sir,” the ship replied.

“AI?” Dr. Foster asked as he set his cases down.

“No,” Tyler said. “Just a very smart computer. It works similar to an AI, but it can't
figure things out. If it's not in its programmed responses it has to consult a sophont.
Access time through the hypernet with one of the Gorku AIs came with the lease so we
shouldn't have to help it figure out much. Gorku also will tow us home, to Glalkod mind
you, if the ship breaks down and it's something we can't fix. Or send a repair ship if
it's more feasible. That's one of the reasons I didn't buy it. Anyway, can you work with
this?”

“All electric ranges,” Dr. Chu said, looking around. “I really doubt I'll need the
microwave. Isn't that a GE?”

“I had it retrofitted,” Tyler said.

“This will do very well,” Dr. Chu said. “Far more than I'd expected, frankly. I was
expecting a tiny little galley the size of the inside of the
Paw
.”

“The
Monkey Business
can control up to forty tugs,” Tyler said, shrugging. “And a maintenance, mining and
repair crew of up to a hundred. There are also cookbots but they're not programmed very
well for humans.”

“This will do very well,” Dr. Chu said. “Perhaps we should get the rest of the materials
out of the
Paw
and I can set up.”

“Works,” Tyler said. “And Nathan would probably appreciate that. Or you can come fly down
to Huntsville.”

“I do not wish to quit if that is what you mean,” Dr. Chu said.

“Not at all,” Tyler said. “But since I was working through my plants, which have an ocular
portion so I was watching what was going on, I forgot to turn on the vision plates in the
Paw
. I appreciate your dedication but how would you like to see earth, and the ship, from
space?”

“I can set up later,” Dr. Chu said. “Let's get the
Paw
unloaded, shall we?”

***

“So, it's got vision screens?” Nathan said. He'd never even gotten out of his seat.
“That's nice to know. Where?”

“Everywhere,” Tyler said. “
Monkey
,
Paw Four
undocking... Roger... Yes, I'll bring maple syrup. And... we have the vision blocks on.”

“Holy hanna!” Dr. Foster said.

The vision blocks of the
Paw
were installed prior to the development of standard ocular implants and designed so that
a crewman on the
Paw
could maneuver it in the often complex environment of asteroid mining. He, she or it
might have to back up, spin or otherwise maneuver with a clear 'view.'

So they were everywhere. It was as if the seats were sitting in space.

“Now that's a view,” Asaro said.

“I think I've peed myself,” Nathan said in a muffled tone. “An' I don' wanna breath.”

The Earth was laid out 'above' the ship with the
Monkey Business
blocking most of the rest of the view. But to either side was a glorious star field.