Rescue Branch (Kinsella Universe) Read online

  “Like Earth, composition of the solar nebula varied from place to place, determined in large part by how far from the sun the body orbits, its history in the solar nebula and subsequent history since the Heavy Bombardment period, about four and a half billion years ago.

  “What we’ve done is explore the Trojans rather extensively. We identified a dozen that are small enough to be economic zones that we could use.

  “We haven’t been able to build fans or drill deeply enough into one of these rocks to reach the center of mass. Trying to accelerate a mass when the gravity well isn’t in the center of mass causes massive power losses -- theory is silent on exactly why. You’d think that if the head bone was connected to the anklebone, the head would follow where you tugged the ankle to go. It does go there -- but your power consumption goes up astronomically.

  “What we’ve done is find a few small bodies in easily modifiable orbits that have useful compositions. The Trojans were a bad choice to locate in -- there isn’t as much variety as we’d have liked. Still, there are a lot of them, upwards of a half million split between the Fore and Aft groups.

  “We found this one, that has rather more methane than most, about ten percent by volume. There’s another nearby asteroid of about 3500 cubic kilometers that runs to fifty percent water ice. With water and methane you’re set.

  “We’ve slightly modified some orbits. You’d be amazed at how small a velocity change is needed. Originally the two main asteroids were going to spend about four years reasonably close -- now they are gradually approaching and in a couple more years they will have nearly identical orbits -- and will be only a couple of hundred kilometers apart. We’ve done the same thing to two others, more solid than most, both have densities over three.

  “Going back to the original topic -- trade. If we bought what we needed from Earth, our money would be a tiny uptick on the trade index there -- but we’d be throwing all our profits down an enormous sinkhole. Our largest trading partner is Psyche. Don’t tell anyone, but we’re buying a reactor from them, on layaway, so to speak.

  “We’re trading them methane, water and some light metals. Their rock is nearly pure nickel-iron. Nonetheless, it has about two parts per million depleted uranium, and when they’re refining a million tons of steel a year, that couple of parts per million start to amount to a lot. They’ve built a half dozen reactors for their own use, and have installed a couple on ships.

  “They seem to have rather more uranium in their inventory than they could have mined -- but anyone who is mining out here knows about pockets of materials. Asteroids have had a long, long history. Some of the thumps they’ve received have been very hard... some thumps were more like gentle nudges. A couple three, four billion years later, the materials rather run together, but still there are nuggets and mother lodes out there. An amazing number of them.

  “We figure if we trade with each other, the money stays out here. Anna is right, we have a strategic plan. We identify what we’re spending the most on, and then work on making it ourselves. We coordinate on that with Psyche as well.”

  “Are there any others like you out here?” Becky asked.

  “The largest group out here is on Ceres,” Kat said. “They are a bunch of retards -- excuse my French. They are on course to catch up with the French in the number of people killed within a year or so. They are mostly from India and seem insensitive to casualties. There is an ongoing debate about if they are a colony or a habitat. They are certainly not a sovereignty as the rest of us define it.”

  “Becky, you understand that we talk to everyone out here, even the nuts?” Eagle said. “And that a lot of the talk is off the record?”

  That was clear enough. India was the largest country that hadn’t applied to join the Federation. They paid the Benko-Chang license fees, but like France initially, they weren’t certified.

  “You don’t want me to say anything.”

  “That’s right. Not to anyone, no matter how much you trust them.”

  “Why did you tell me?”

  “Rescue Branch needs to know.”

  “Rescue Branch is dead -- it’s part of the Fleet now.”

  Eagle laughed; it was like the laugh Becky had heard when he told the Miracle colonists that he was going to space them. It sent shivers down her spine.

  “Becky, we either win or lose based on the help of well-placed fellow travelers. You’ll never hear a single name from us of anyone else helping us -- even if it is blatantly obvious who they are. We’d like you to help us.”

  “I keep asking; as near as I can tell, people always duck the question. Why me?”

  Kat laughed. “Why, we think you are a fellow traveler at heart, Becky.”

  “What am I supposed to do?” she asked, feeling nervous.

  “Practically nothing you wouldn’t have done otherwise. Right now, we’d like you to undertake a mercy mission.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “What you told us here today about sticky tents and rescue bubbles. In a week or two, Admiral Delgado will get a request from Ceres that you come and brief them on the new equipment. Refuse -- the habitat isn’t safe.

  “A month or six weeks later, Admiral Delgado will permit you to go. You will be aboard a Fleet shuttle; you’ll sleep on aboard, and spend the minimum time in the habitat’s ‘shirtsleeve’ environment. Teach your classes, making no bones about being concerned for your safety. Kat and I will be doing the same thing, Anna and everyone on Psyche will. There will be a habitat leak and you laugh at them and leave, even though it’s quickly contained. I swear, no one gets hurt.”

  “And what am I really going to be doing?”

  “Conveying a message. The engineers in charge at Ceres aren’t stupid, and they don’t want to die for no reason. Their families are there, and they don’t want them killed either. They are going to attempt to transmit their acceptance of a Federation sovereignty agreement. The Indian government will do as much as they can to prevent or jam the transmission. Our ‘technical means’ will have heard the full transmission; you can jam War and Peace, you can’t jam someone saying ‘Yes, that’s what we sent.’ No one will ever know it was you that brought it out.”

  “I don’t want to sound mercenary, but what’s in it for me?”

  “Talk to Anna some more. Decide on what you really want. Hold that thought in your head.”

  “What thought?”

  “Psyche traded Anna for their third ship. They’ve finally bowed to the inevitable. We have an electrochemical process that produces cheap titanium. They buy a half million tons of it from us, and the process is theirs. We sell them a dozen cubes of methane and a reactor is ours. Anna has told them that with just one leg she feels liberated from her earthly bounds. She’ll build their third ship at the same time as she’s building one for her. And you.”

  “Me?” Becky choked.

  “Talk to Anna, Becky,” Kat said. “You might hear an offer you don’t want to refuse.”

  Chapter 8 -- The Tap-Dancing Elephant

  The return to Psyche was in a Trojan shuttle, and the pilot was taciturn, giving Becky time to think.

  It was something like a flower bud opening and the petals unfolding. Everything had layers and now that she had some idea of what to look for, she saw more and more of them. Economics. Government and politics. Space. They were all inextricably linked.

  Each affected the others and changing one resulted in all sort of changes in the others. Becky wasn’t sure if she should be awed at the success Stephanie Kinsella had at managing those changes -- or revolted by the arrogance that a single person could think to control such things.

  But that led inevitably to the fact that was what all the major players in economics, government and politics tried to do. Evidently it wasn’t as hard to accomplish as Becky first imagined.

  It didn’t bother her that Anna made a whole lot more money than she did -- Becky made enough to do most of the things she wanted to do. She made more as a Rescue
Branch lieutenant than her father ever had as a navy chief. A better question was, did Anna feel the same way? And had Becky herself given what she wanted to do with her life enough thought?

  Before she knew it, she was back on Psyche and holding Anna’s hand. Anna looked at her with concern. “You like a little distracted, Beck.”

  “You started a chain reaction in my head. I talked to Eagle and Kat about economics as well. I think I’ve been sleepwalking through life.”

  Anna waved at a bank of medical monitors. “Over there, there’s a heart monitor. My heart took a licking and keeps on ticking. There’s supposed to be a red light that comes on for every heart beat. It stopped working a couple of hours ago. Can you fix it?”

  “I have no idea how to fix it, Anna.”

  “That’s bull crap! Replace the bulb! That’s gotta be the first step on the repair tree.”

  Becky was cautious. “Anna, I have no idea how to do that. Some bulbs, you can unscrew easily. I have no idea how this machine works.”

  “For crying out loud! You could at least try!”

  “Anna, I don’t have a replacement bulb. Are you out of your mind, wanting me to start messing with your heart monitor?”

  “What would it take, a couple of hours to come up to speed on it. Why not?”

  That jolted Becky. Anna wasn’t -- not quite -- serious. “Medical electronics aren’t anything I’ve had to deal with, Anna.”

  “Why’s that? Damned important subject, I’ve come to learn!”

  “You’ve made your point, Anna. I’ve never looked at these things before because it wasn’t part of my job description. This isn’t the first time that I’ve found that my perception of just what my job description consisted of was inadequate.”

  “And you’re like the rest of us. You took one look at what else might be important out there, shivered and went back to filing your nails.”

  “I certainly didn’t think about it much. Anna, can we talk about something else for a bit?”

  “Don’t change the subject, Beck!”

  “I’m not changing the subject, Anna. I know about your deal for ship number three. Eagle and Kat told me that there’s a deal about ship four.”

  Anna laughed. “Yep! It’s a present for mostly you, a little for me.”

  “For me? What would I do with a ship?”

  “Something will come to you. You’ve got about two years or so to think of something.”

  “And would you help?”

  “Help build it? Of course! Help run it? Are you out of your freaking mind? What salty star sailor will let a one-legged woman boss them around?”

  “The smart ones.”

  “Beck, human history would read very differently if the average person had managed to learn much more than tying their shoelaces and not spilling their beer.”

  “I’ll think about a ship, Anna. I don’t know what else I can do.”

  Anna convulsed with laughter.

  “That’s a joke?” Becky said with dignity.

  “You talk about how you can’t figure things out. Sweetie, you need to start thinking more about interrelationships.

  “Steph thinks the world of me; she likes you. What didn’t she ever mention to you, after we announced we were getting married?”

  “About a zillion things.”

  “She never said a word about a wedding present. I talked to you earlier about Krista Jacobsen going out in a few months. I bet you a thousand to one that you’ll be going out with her.”

  “I don’t know as I want to leave you just yet.”

  “Do you really think you can sit on your can for weeks and months and not piss off your bosses? You’d piss me off, if you worked for me.

  “They put you back on duty status when you started to prep for the Trojans. It’s too late to pretend it’s not so. Beck, this isn’t the place for you just now. I have weeks, probably months, before I’m back to anything close to one hundred percent. I’m going to get angry, frustrated and downright obnoxious; I don’t want to take that frustration out on you. And if you’re here, I will. You’ll hate me for doing it and I’ll hate myself for not having better self-control.

  “Right now, I’m proud of my self-control. Do you know how many people there are who love each other, who get engaged -- and who’ve never even kissed?”

  Becky felt a spear go through her heart. She grabbed Anna’s hand, leaned over and kissed her hard. Anna kissed back, her hand coming up behind Becky’s head and holding her firmly in place.

  It was a very long kiss.

  They were both breathless and when they came up for air, Anna was smiling. She said smugly, “Self-control -- now you’ll know that I desired more than just your body.”

  “I love you, Anna.”

  “And I love you too. Now get the pretty bottom over to the manager’s office. He has a little chore for you over and above anything else.” She held Becky’s hand. “He isn’t going to tell me about it, and I’ve been discouraged from speculating.”

  Becky nodded and squeezed her hand, then went to see the habitat manager.

  He steepled his fingers, contemplating her. They were alone in his office. After a minute she got a little nervous.

  “Sir?”

  “You took an oath to the Federation, did you not?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “What I’m going to ask you to do isn’t in any way against that oath. In fact, I’m not going to be the one asking. Admiral Delgado asked me to find out from you if you’d be up to a schedule of teaching rescue equipment in a number of locations in space, habitats, Mars and Earth itself.”

  “I’d like that, sir. I’m cognizant of the old adage, that if you give a man a loaf of bread, he’ll have something to eat today. Teach him to grow that bread -- and he’ll be able to eat for the rest of his life. I saved Anna; the people I show the equipment to have the potential to save a lot more lives than I ever could on my own.”

  “Exactly right. You’ve been aloft now for several months?”

  “Four, sir.”

  “We’ve found in our own experience that after about six months it is very difficult, physically and mentally, to return to Earth. Less than that, you can quickly adjust and be ready to go again. We’re starting to ask people how they want to serve their contracts -- in one lump where it will be difficult to readjust to Earth, or in four month chunks with breaks to re-acclimate.

  “We don’t have enough data yet to know if there are any long-term health effects that a proper regimen of diet and exercise won’t prevent. There are certainly health effects if you don’t take care of your self.”

  “I’ve been exercising, sir.”

  “Captain Gilly’s office sent you a message via me. Report to the Grissom Station commander as soon as you can. Captain Gilly is still in Hawaii, the Fleet’s going to remain there, while most of the civilian bureaucracy of the Federation is moving to Atlanta. I’ve been to Atlanta -- thank your blessings -- the traffic there is miserable.

  “I consider one of my perks of rank is a very short commute, about two hundred meters, and biggest perk of all: I plan on never getting stuck in traffic again. How soon can you go?”

  “Psyche is on GMT?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “It’s 1300 GMT, that’s 0300 in Honolulu and Grissom. I’ll be ready to go in four hours, sir.”

  “I’ll get a shuttle laid on. You’ll be back in Hawaii this evening, local time.”

  “I can’t help but wonder if some day in the future, they’ll put the whole planet on GMT.”

  “To do that, you’ll have to overcome the resistance of some seven billion local chauvinists. I don’t think so.”

  “I’ll be ready, sir.”

  She packed her duffle and went and said goodbye to Anna.

  Becky was surprised at what Anna had to say. “I hate goodbyes. Think of how you’d say goodbye to your spouse if you were commuting to work.”

  “Honestly, Anna, I’ve never done that.” />
  “In the Academy, you had a roommate. In the morning you’d say goodbye and not be back until later. You didn’t get all mushy.”

  “We didn’t like each other that much. We never, ever, got ‘mushy’”

  “You’ve said goodbye to Admiral Kinsella and Captain Gilly. You’ve said goodbye to all sorts of people, some closer than others.”

  “Kat shook my hand when I left the Trojans, last time.”

  “Don’t make a big deal of saying goodbye is all I’m saying. Yes, I’m going to miss you big time -- and you’re going to miss me. Neither of us can dwell on it, because while I’m planning on spending a lot of time with you, it’s not going to be solid. We have goals that vary too much. So give me another kiss like earlier; I’ll give you a hug and you get out of here. Don’t dwell on it.”

  “Anna you’re not that much older than I am. Give or take a million years.”

  “Where’s that kiss?”

  Not many hours later she arrived at Grissom, to find a Fleet shuttle waiting for her. It was a little bewildering. She’d always been amazed at air travel. Leave LA in the morning, to arrive at Annapolis in the afternoon, a continent away.

  Now, Psyche in the early morning, a jump to get about forty thousand kilometers away from the moon, arriving in less time than the flight across the continent took. There was no way to hurry the last little bit, eight hours at two gravities.

  She wasn’t the first person back from extended service in space. She didn’t see Captain Gilly until after lunch the next day; she’d been poked and prodded for hours by doctors at the base hospital.

  Captain Gilly waved her to a chair. “For heaven’s sake, Lieutenant! I came back after two months aloft. It took me a week before I could walk in a straight line. One of my people forgot he wasn’t in zero gravity and tried to launch himself across the room. He didn’t get very far before he crashed. Broke his nose.