Astra Pt. 02

Not behind a desk to play politician. That is how you get personnel promoted one pay grade higher than they can handle. Admiral Nathan Archer is a classic example of that. He should have retired years ago as soon as he realized he was not looking after the men but his own bank account and life after the military."

She was shocked Jack was saying so much on this trip, "You have been very tight-lipped on your actives and today you blew it open? Why now?"

He laughed, "Why not? No, the answer is we found so many things about what changes were going to happen for the mothers and how it impacts humanity. I have a heart rate of 30. It sometimes goes up to 32. The reason is I have two hearts as a hybrid and they beat in sync.

The children in these mothers who used my sperm will be in a doctor's office in two months and the doctor tells her the baby is in trouble because the heart rate is half of normal. They see two hearts and the doctor tries getting the mother to abort the child due to a birth defect. The mothers deserved to know. When we found out the potential impacts, I visited the President.

He brought in Dr. Carol Druthers in Xenobiology. She looked over our findings and when the two of us hit it off she agreed to become one of my wives. We really hit it off because she is carrying 7 children. But those children also saved her life because it destroyed her breast cancer. We showed what her blood did today to 21 terminally ill patients during the course of 3 hours. It would have been a panic. Now it is a shock but they know what to expect."

They finished the tour and Jack looked at the reporter, "Be sure to get that on the air as soon as you can. You got an exclusive interview of my walk through the production facilities here."

She nodded, "Thank you very much. Your right we should get going."

They got into the hover news van and took off like there were on their way to a fire.

Jack shook hands with everyone and Francine kissed his cheek again, then whispered in his ear, "Thank you, now I know the reason you are so wonderful was because of me." He kissed her cheek, "You inspired me to become an engineer. Part of what I do is because of you directly."

She smiled brightly as she walked away. They boarded the craft and he did a sensor sweep of the craft inside and out. He looked at the other two. "Any shuttles from now on that we use we will do a sensor sweep on them before going anywhere. For the ravager and smaller shuttles, then Call Astra and she can sweep for explosives." They nodded.

He got the ship off the ground when he got a missile alert and activated the shields quickly. It blasted the shields but only took it down 25 %. He checked to see that nobody on the ground was hurt. He went hunting following the trail of the missile to a parking garage. A van was speeding away

He smiled, "Time to do some flying. He went after the van flying inside the garage and speeding after them. He waited for them to crash through the ticket booth and he angled the ship over the guardhouse and then rammed the van in the back corner with the shields sending it tumbling. Ash jumped out with her sword while Jack kept watching from above.

One of the men appeared out of a side window. Ash got him. Two others tried to rush out the back and he rammed them again. That sent the vehicle another 5 meters down the street. The police arrived and Ash explained who was at the controls, what these men did and turned the one over. Jack backed up another 30 meters from the van to let the cops open the doors.

A cop nearly lost his head and got knocked to the ground as the next missile launched. He took it straight to full speed in a climb away from the van, "Astra contact Ash let her know I am just going for a swim and will be right back."

She laughed, "Done."

The missile did not gain. He took it out over open water spun around and blasted it with a full energy spread and blew it to pieces. He went back to the scene where the 3 men were at and he landed on the top of the parking garage where a police officer yelled in Japanese, "I don't care who you are! You cannot just have an armed shuttlecraft, fly it through a parking garage and rear-end a van."

Jack looked at the man, "I am Jack Travus I have a presidential order authorizing my research vessels, this is one I test equipment upon, to be armed. As to flying through the parking garage, I did not shoot up the place. Hit a single car, or object and I only fired my weapons at the missile that about ripped your head off. Name one law I broke."

He looked at Jack, "You caused a traffic accident."

Jack laughed, "You did not keep men off the road with missile launchers. I know how to settle this."

He pulled out his vid and hit the connection for the Capitol.

The operator smiled, "One moment."

Then the cop was face-to-face with the President. "Mr. President. I have had two assassination attempts today. This last one was with a rocket launcher against my shuttle." He proceeded to recount all of the events and why the cop was mad.

The president shook his head, "Sounds like you have had as bad a day as me. Officer, he is free to go. Prosecute the terrorist. Pass that along to your local magistrates from me. These kinds of attacks need to stop. Jack, I need to speak with you in private."

Jack looked at him, "Are my wives alright?"

He nodded, "They are."

He went back into the shuttle with the ladies, "Ash take the stick, Mr. President you have my attention."

He nodded, "You and your team did a great job of explaining what was going on and confirming that we are not alone in the universe. There were some distraught couples but not many.

Your stunt with the terminally ill patients was a brilliant move. The switchboards have been on fire wanting to know when it will be available for mass production."

Jack shook his head, "You have 18 formerly terminally ill adult patients who have that in their system. If each one did another 21 and they continued it. It will be spread far and wide.

All you really have to do is get a litter of blood from each patient and distribute them around the globe. Your Surgeon General Should be able to take the rest of this. It does not have to all come from Doctor Druthers. We used hers because she had the highest percentage in a non-hybrid. You should be able to cover the globe in a couple of months if you directed it."

He looked at Jack, "This is a permanent change to these people?'

Jack nodded, "Yes. The Alien DNA affixes to the bone marrow, we are still confirming that. Astra, can you connect in Dr. Druthers?"

She smiled, "Connected."

The president looked at Jack, "How did you do that to a secure call?"

He smiled "A 30th-century android did it and security of this era is a joke to her. She could and would have if I refused to cooperate, seized control of all the satellites and broadcasted my refusal to help mankind. Was her initial secondary protocol."

He nodded, "Good to know. Dr. Druthers can you explain how these cells live on in the new host perpetually?"

She smiled, "I ran the first part of the bone marrow test and the cells do fundamentally alter your bone marrow.

All cells produced by the recipients have the new markers. All of the people that were injected today have that gift to pass on to others. You could get away with a shot of 5 ml instead of the full syringes we used. To get more people quicker. Pass that onto Phil, Mr. President."

He nodded, "You snatched my best Xenobiologist and give her the best cure to hit humanity. They were less worried about aliens. Happy to see this cure come out of it. We have a few missing congresspeople. The bounty on the Admiral has apparently been lighting up the phone lines."

Jack asked, "You have seized and frozen all of their assets, right? For those on the run?"

He sighed, "Working through the courts. The Bureau is following the money trail where they are liquidating assets. Three that were missing this morning were caught trying to escape in a private shuttle out to the lunar colon by way of Mars.

That was a giveaway. My approval rates are up a couple of points so my people are cautiously optimistic. When are you leaving?"

Jack smiled, "As soon as I am back on board of the Excalibur."

I will be in communication range for a few days. We are making a stop at Jupiter before heading to the outer rim corridor. I am not advertising which corridor for obvious reasons."

He nodded, "Understandable."

Jack sighed, "I will have her put an alert on my account to pass any contact from you straight through. I have almost 800,000 messages to go through."

Carol laughed, "Try 8,000,000 after your interview."

Jack groaned. "Astra, filter all death threats and forward them to the Global Bureau of Investigation. Keep it as a running filter."

She laughed, "I have a lot of running filters I will add it to the list."

The president shook his head. "The announcement went better than I expected and you were right it would have been a panic in 2 months. Thank you again."

He ended the call. They arrived at the ship just as it was leaving the docks. They waited for it to straighten out before docking in the shuttle bay. They were met by all the wives, "Sarah is piloting the ship. We came to apologize about earlier."

He nodded, "We only got shot at by 2 missiles while we were gone. Did you see my latest interview?"

She nodded, "Terra Global News wants to know when they will get their next interview?"

He smiled, "I got two deals in the works and almost a thousand patents to put in for before we leave."

She looked at Jack, "I'll set up the account for the reward money and we will sneak you somehow onto a station to file all of those patents."

He smiled, "Or I contact Terra-3 patent office and find out if they are ready for a riot or would they like to work like most businesses in this day and age."

She looked at Jack and sighed, "Let me see if I can call in a favor from them. Let's go to your office."

He nodded, "Good place to bring all the rings so I can put them on the ladies. I assume you all got the same wedding band with the engagement rings?"

She smiled, "Yes and those extra rings will be kept safe until the marriages. You got 3 to put both rings on already."

He nodded, "Start with those three and the others with you last Grace. I have a few things to talk to you about after the other head out."

She smiled, "That sounded ominous?"

He shook his head, "You only projected ominous."

He got to the bridge and he pointed, "Start with patents. She contacted an old friend. The elderly woman looked up, "Oh my, how are things on the love ship?"

Grace laughed, "They are going good. Jack is worried about a riot, or worse if we try and come aboard the station to file patent paperwork. Is there any way we can do this remotely?"

She smiled, "For you. Not for the playboy. He didn't invite me along."

Grace laughed because she was in her late 60's from the looks of her. He swiped a folder over to her and submitted it to her. Her eyes about exploded, "There are 1,182 patents in here."

He looked around like he dropped something, "I will have to look around I might have missed one."

He smiled at her and she shook her head, "Wow, particle accelerators, harvesters, your medical device which was a big hit by the way the emergency rooms have nothing but compliments about the devices. They also found it funny that you colored them after the three colors of the swords.

The one man who was terminally ill got arrest after his foot and toes grew back enough. He went streaking through the hospital. He said it was worth it. The judge let him off with a warning given his unusual reason for running naked.

All 21 of the patients and their families did exclusive interviews with the 7 networks present. Terra Global News took the 3 children from the children's cancer wards. A big boon for them."

She looked it over, "I could work all day on this one stack and part of tomorrow. I will contact you, Grace, if there is an issue." Grace nodded and sent her the account number to process the filing payments. He walked into his office and she followed. He gave her the terms of the deal for the medical device and the collider contact.

She made contact with both and worked out the finer points and got them to send the final documents. "You told them a month or two before we would be back? Maybe a little longer? Then they could pick up the new element for that one piece?"

She nodded, "Yes."

He hit the deals, "I accept" and signed them with a thumbprint. She smiled, "Now what?"

He sighed, "Interview, another to show I am still alive."

She nodded, "Right I need to go and set that account."

He pointed, "Use the office, I will interview from the bridge."

She nodded. He went out and saw Sarah, "How are you doing after the ladies traumatized you in medical earlier."

She shook her head, "I see why you have so many now. They explained. The Terrain government really fucked with you and your anatomy."

He nodded, "I get to meet lots of single women, get them to love me and agree to marry me. Then the next day it is like the whole thing started over again. I have to get away from Terra, at least for a little while."

She nodded, "The bridge is yours. Captain."

He smiled, "Thanks for everything today Sarah. What did you tell Tim and Linda?"

She smiled, "The truth but they did not believe it was that bad."

He hit the intercom button. "I am moving us away from Terra at three-quarter speed. I will be doing an interview on the bridge so if you come up, dress appropriate for public viewing by nuns and small children."

He heard Grace laugh in the office. He hit the button for Terra Global News. The editor sighed, "That small station warranted an exclusive interview?"

Jack smiled, "I did not arrange the news crew. Treven Engines did. Are you not on the air right now?"

He nodded, "We are."

Jack sighed, "I was hoping to make a few more announcements. If you are game."

He smiled and a few seconds later was on with Terra Global News Anchor Bill, "Hello Bill is your health alright?"

He smiled, "Fine Mr. Travus. We heard you have a few more announcements."

Jack chuckled, "The most obvious is that after two assassination attempts today, I am still very much alive. The reward called out earlier is secured into an account.

As soon as the GBI confirms that the local authorities have gotten it right. Next, I wanted to announce a limited partnership with the people who run the particle collider I have given them exclusive rights to use the patent for a harvester on their collider, and the patents to create 3 new smaller supercolliders that will allow for the production of new elements.

One element is used in the creation of the dermal regenerators. Now I have price restricted it to keep them affordable, I have asked that my proceeds go to buy at cost those same units for the poorer neighborhoods around the world. Community leaders should send a message to Trikora Manufacturing. Care of community dermal regenerator project.

Please include points of contact, crime statics, and where the area falls according to government statistical records in regards to the poverty scale. They will be getting one unit to each location as the funds become available. The production of those units will start within two months.

The one synthetic element they need is being produced by the collider aboard my ship. As such when I return, they will get a delivery to complete the last component before shipping units to customers. For those asking for semen samples monitor the semen bank waiting list. All samples aboard the ship were sent out to the bank prior to our departure.

Lastly, I spoke with the President and he will be working with the Surgeon General to obtain blood from those injected. Those changes are fundamental changes to your DNA. They are permanent and should get passed on to your children.

Every adult patient that gets injected will be expected to give back by providing a liter of blood within 8 hours after getting the injection. They can then spread this faster to all of those who are requesting it. One last item for you Bill. I thank you for not swooning on me."

He laughed, "Thank you so much for all of this information and God's speed on your journey to do engine testing correct?"

He smiled, "Yes, I have a couple of other minor activities as well but that will be the big item and when we return it will be in dramatic fashion. Thanks again, everyone."

He ended the call and called the editor back, "He smiled, "Great stuff. You going to contact us when you get back?" He shook his head and said," No it will probably be before we get back. You might have time to have one of your news shuttles ready to record."

He smiled, "Take care, Jack."

---

Jack got a routine going with the ladies, but they did not like it much. He worked in the lab on schematic and diagrams and keeping all of the fabricators going. While he kept Tim busy on assembly in the cargo bay and shuttle bay. Aiko and Sprits worked the uninstall of the existing drives. Then the computer modifications that would be needed in order to handle the components for the new drive speeds.

He has Astra and Grace doing current modeled simulation with the main computer to check for air-frame weaknesses, stress points, and stress fracture location to be examined. Then the in-atmosphere engine performance with all of the above applied to each airframe. Sprits got the job of trying to update sensors and communication on all the ships.

They stopped at Jupiter and deployed the mining equipment in order to get more fuel for the engine testing and Liquid Metallic Hydrogen for the sword and for sale at the commodities broker. As to sex, he had a morning crew of Grace, Holly, and Danyelle and afternoon crew of Carol, Sprits, and Aiko and an evening crew of 2 with Astra, and Ash, who did not need the sleep. The ladies were free to switch around from morning to afternoon.

He shot off up to 40 times a day with Astra picking up the excessive loads as she took to sucking it out of all orifices from the ladies if they allowed it. Her biofilters for taking the fecal matter and lubricant out of the samples she collected aided in that matter. She was an advanced android who liked to suck cum from asses. He felt there was something wrong about that. Then remembered 'she kind of liked that.' All the time after she got serviced.

---

He gathered the ladies, "I have some bad news. We will be out for far longer than a month to test these engines. We have a few spots where we will need to travel. We have to grab raw material to refine them and restock the fabrication units. We got 12 of 18 nearly completed. We are missing the same materials for all of these and we have 6 more engines to build.

We got what we need here but we have 4 other places to go to harvest components. Then we have 24 more engines to build on top of that. "Half of those are refits for the existing engines to build. I need Sprits to work with Astra on Deck 4 crew area, Structural changes we can get the bots started on.

I want to expand our cargo capacity to hold the spare engines we will have. Move the Crew to level 5. We have a small crew, it has a separate mess they can use, and if they want to run around naked on that deck then nobody will care as long as they stay away from the open lifts. Our group does it on deck two already.

I will try and speed things up and not all engines have to be built before we return. We just need the 18 to start with. It also depends on how the tests go. We blow an engine we have to know why."

Sprits piped in, "The rocket and the two-man we were able to extend the range but not detail. That would require larger arrays the ships will not support. They will know if they are heading into something big ahead and that they need to alter course. With the speed changes, they needed a longer range. The others are like ours on the Excalibur now.