Troy Rising 1 - Live Free or Die (48 page)

“General, I think that...
Troy
is certainly amazing, but what, exactly, is the purpose? I can foresee this absorbing
much of the total budget for the Space Navy. Is it worth it?”

“Honorable Congresswoman, the SAPL, as it currently is arrayed, is what is called a soft
target. Any enemy that gets into the system can destroy the SAPL piecemeal and especially
the VDA clusters that are necessary to protect against aggressor vessels.
Troy
will be the final gatherer of the energies of the SAPL as well as a missile base and a
secure holding base for the Fleet. It will absorb a significant portion of our budget, but
it is, finally, a place from which we can do battle that is not an essentially soft
target. We don't just have to take punishment and hope we survive.”

“Congresswoman Crosslin?”

“That's all very nice, General. But what about Earth? What about our citizens? So far,
losses to citizens have been much higher than losses among military personnel. If
Troy
doesn't protect citizens, and I don't see how it can, what purpose does it have?”

“With
Troy
, what we can absolutely ensure is the protection of the system. Although losses have been
horrible in these ongoing hostilities with the Horvath, since the advancement of the SAPL
and gaining some knowledge of gravitics, we have been able to secure the system and our
orbitals. The damage that we would take without such security is an order of magnitude
greater. Securing the orbitals is the first duty of the Space Navy.
Troy
will serve as a base to absolutely shred any hostile coming through the gate. It will
also be the primary base for counter-missile fire. Getting them when they are first
boosting is important. They're much harder to find afterwards. Will it, absolutely,
protect Earth from attack? No. But
Troy
, the SAPL and the developments we're making in detection technology and the reconfiguring
of SAPL, with the enthusiastic support of Apollo Mining I might add, will combine to
reduce the likelihood of further attack. If I may revise and extend, Mr. Chairman?”

“Permission granted.”

“We are currently in a state of hostilities with the Horvath,” the General said. “We don't
have a declaration of war on either side. They just attack when they feel they are strong
enough.
Troy
will act as a deterrent to such attacks. But the Horvath are not the only potential
threat. The Rangora and the Horvath have just signed a mutual defense treaty. With the
Rangora pressing into previously Glatun held systems, with the Horvath demands for the E
Eridani and Cerecul systems in the Quadralineal Talks... we are facing the possibility of
war not just with the Horvath but with the Rangora, who are a strategic threat to the
Glatun, in support. Absent a sudden outbreak of sense in the galaxy... we're going to need
Troy
. We're not only going to need
Troy
, but more battle stations like her.”

“General,” the Chair said. “I have seen the Strategic Polity Intelligence Estimates. And I
can see the problems we're looking at down the road. But, frankly, I'm wondering how we
can
afford
this. How many battle stations are you
talking
about?”

“Apollo has designated three asteroids so far,” the General said. "They are not insisting
on payment during construction, just asking for payment on delivery. And since delivery is
quite a ways out, we can start working on the budgets. But the expensive part, I warn you,
is not the shell but the fitting out. That is going to get mind-boggling. Quarters for
thousands of personnel. Control systems.
Enormous
power systems. Grav systems capable of adjusting the rotation of a two point two
trillion
ton battle station. Orders of magnitude greater than one of the
Constitutions
.

“However, the question is simple, Honorable Congresspersons. Do we wish to be, again,
under the heel of the Horvath or do we wish for humans to be able to choose their own
destiny? We, as yet, cannot make ships that can go toe to toe with even the Horvath much
less the Rangora. But with
Troy
, we can hold our system. And, in time, reach the level of power and capability that will
permit us to ensure our security for all time. I had, frankly, wondered how I was going to
fulfill my Constitutional mandate when I took this job. Our only real defense was a
mining laser
that was vulnerable to a capable and cunning enemy. Even the
Constitution
classes are, frankly, barges compared to our known enemies or potential enemies. Important
because with each problem we solve we get better and better. But the
Constitutions
are not something we could use to hold the system. With
Troy
,
Thermopylae
and Station Three, I can protect my nation and, frankly, my world and my solar system. We,
gentlemen and ladies, can do our jobs. Protecting American citizens from the wrath of our
enemies. No pitch, no hype, no overstatement. We can do the job. What price are you
willing to put on that?”

Tyler's implant sent an urgent ding and he picked up. It was set for only three things. A
Horvath attack, something happening to the girls or the expansion of the
Troy
.

“Go,” Tyler said.

“We're getting expansion,” Nathan said.

“Finally!”

The
Troy
was overdue to start expanding. When you're melting two point two trillion tons of nickel
iron, models only go so far. But it was at least a month overdue. And it wasn't like you
could induce. They were already using eighty percent of SAPL and some other projects had
had to be put on the back-burner.

He spun around in his chair and put the view up on the wall-screen. He could view it
through the implants but some things you just needed the emotional satisfaction of
watching it on a nine square meter plasma.

“How long?” he asked. “And... is it expanding?”

“Slowly at the moment,” Nathan said. “The models say it should expand slowly at first,
then up to about ninety percent rather rapidly. Then, perhaps, a slight additional
expansion but when it cools it's going to contract so... when it slows down that's
probably what we'll end up with.”

“Okay,” Tyler said. “How long for it to really balloon because...”

“I hate waiting,” Nathan finished. “Not long...”

“Whoa,” Tyler said as the nickel-iron asteroid started to grow in size very much like a
balloon that was being inflated. A big, spherical, molten, metal balloon. “Cool. Is it
really going to take a year to cool?”

“Two...”

“Trillion tons,” Tyler said. “Got it. Can't we speed that up? What about running a comet
into it? They're cold.”

“You're insane,” Nathan said, shaking his head. “Just fricking nuts. And, no, the problem
is we can't get good heat transfer. The vaporization energy involved in sublimating a
comet, and just about
any
comet that contacted this would
completely
sublimate, is high. But... well first, if we just impacted it even at low velocity, it
would warp the shell.”

“Pass,” Tyler said.

“And most of the energy wouldn't transfer,” Nathan said. “It's something we looked at but
it's not really worth doing. What we are looking at doing is making a shield for it.”

“I don't think it
needs
more defenses,” Tyler said, dubiously. “But if you think so...”

“Not that kind of shield,” Nathan said. “A large, and I do mean large, sunshield. To get
it fully into deep cold. But even then, heat doesn't dissipate well in vacuum and, well,
it's nine...”

“Trillion tons,” Tyler said. “What's the next iteration up from a trillion, by the way?”

“We've decided it's a hell-of-a-lot,” Nathan answered, grinning. “Wha-oh.”

“What?” Tyler asked, still watching the expanding sphere. He realized that the small dot
in the view was the
Monkey Business
and shook his head. The support ship was closer than the
Troy
, how close he wasn't sure, but it still looked like a speck.

“The expansion's already slowing,” Nathan said, examining his figures. “The sphere also
cooled more than expected. May be less than a year before we can get to work. But there's
a problem.”

“Big problem, little problem?” Tyler asked, pulling up his own system to examine the
sphere. “Little problem.”

“Right,” Nathan said. “Little problem. As in it's got a 'small' problem. As in...”

***

“I thought you said it was going to be ten kilometers across with a kilometer thick
shell,” General DeGraff said. “Not
nine
kilometers across with a kilometer and a
half
shell.”

“Hey, more armor,” Tyler said, shrugging. “It's still one hell of a big system. And it's
not like the interior's going to be crowded. Seven and a half kilometers across is pretty
darned
big
, General.”

“Big enough,” General DeGraff said. “I was sort of pulling your leg. Hopefully, it won't
get the name 'Runt.'”

“Doubtful,” the rather short tycoon said, making a face. “It's nine kilometers wide. Nine
point two four. Twenty-nine kilometers in diameter. Now that we've done one of these we're
tightening up the models. It looks as if doing a full blossom to the size that was
predicted in the original essay is darned tough. The surface tension of even highly heated
iron is just too high. You'd have to scoop out a big container in the middle to get enough
volatiles.”

“A thought occurs to me,” General DeGraff said, rubbing his chin.

“That it's small enough to fit through the gate?” Tyler said. “We're going to have to wait
for it to cool so we can hook up the
nukes
to move it, General. We're actually going to hook the nukes to
another
asteroid and crash it into the
Troy
. Why irradiate what you don't have to?”

“Opening and closing the door?”

“We're working on figuring out how to
cut
the door,” Tyler said, shrugging. “We need to get the
Troy
nice and stable first. No rotation.
That's
going to be interesting. Then we have to cut the door. It's a kilometer and a
half
of nickel iron. Which is just great at dissipating heat. I'm on the three twenty to Wolf,
General. Some issues have come up. I'll have to talk about that later.”

“Have fun in 359,” the General said, looking quizzical. “Any chance you're going to bring
Granadica back? We could use that production capability in
this
system.”

“Not on your life,” Tyler said. “To get to Wolf, an enemy has to come through the Sol
system. Not to dispute the whole 'every life is sacred' but if we're going to have a
chance, we need Granadica working. I was sweating the whole time she was in the Sol
System. She's not coming back until I either have a replacement or I'm sure she'll be
somewhere very safe.”

“I'm not sure
anywhere
in this system is safe, Mr. Vernon,” General DeGraff said. “Especially if the Horvath get
E Eridani. Unfortunately.”

“Have you
looked
at the specifications on
Troy
?”

***

“Begin,” Tyler said, waving expansively.

Granadica came complete with design facilities, management offices and meeting rooms. Like
much of the fabber they could all use some TLC. Tyler had let contracts for upgrades and
improvements, guys with paintbrushes instead of the fabber having to devote resources, so
the current meeting room had a newly built look.

The air still smelled rusty. Coupled with paint. It did not blend well.

The group was mixed human and Glatun. The gas mine project was a huge endeavor and even
with Granadica's help it was going to involve a lot of people and a lot of skull-sweat.

Most of the Glatun were from various Gorku departments but there were members representing
six different subcontractor or invested corporations. The humans were just as diverse,
coming from a dozen different corporations that were involved with everything from
subsystem design to logistical support.

But nobody could really get moving until a few disputes got hammered out.

“Mr. Vernon, gentlebeings,” the Glatun said. It was a VP sent out by Gorku Corps. to act
as their representative. “A dispute has broken out even before we can begin initial
construction over the primary design of the Wolf Gas Mine. Gorku Corporation has supplied
designs for its most advanced technology in gas separation in refining.”

It threw up a video of a space elevator that was, essentially, two flat plates that looked
something like washers connected by wires. Dialing down it walked the viewer through the
facility as he continued to talk.

“The upper platform rests in geosynchronous orbit,” the Glatun said. "The system has four
large storage tanks capable of moving two million gallons of Helium Three per hour. That
is enough to fuel an entire Glatun task force.

"The separation center, resting in the near earth gravity region, pumps up fuel from the
depths of the gas giant through four large carbon nanotube woven pipes and refines it.
Return pipes for unused gases create a siphon effect, reducing the need for pumping power.

"Four carbon nanotube support wires hold the two sections together. At each end each wire
splits into sixteen separate secondary connection wires. The system can remain stable with
as few as four of each.

“There is an elevator as well,” he concluded, “for movement of supplies and personnel in
and out of orbit. This was the initial design, a design well tested in the Mi'Wexiqey
system.”

“Well tested my rear quadrant,” Granadica said.

“You'll get your chance,” Tyler said. “Continue.”

“The design does include some proprietary components, which some have suggested is
intended to increase profitability to certain parties,” the Glatun said, distastefully.
“But it is the very best design available. Absolutely state-of-the-art. Gorku Corporation
is convinced that this is a superior design to more... to earlier systems and as a major
investor is... challenged by the idea of using a less capable design.”

“What's proprietary?” Tyler asked.

“Some of the so-called separation systems,” Granadica said.

“They are superior systems,” the Gorku VP said.