Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 19

Author's apology:

Thank you for your patience, your comments and your votes. I'm sorry for such a long break. I took a few months off to help the campaign to re-establish my country as a liberal self-governing democracy, which was happily a success; then I spent some months basking in that success, as work piled up and my story lay neglected.

I've also changed the format of the story. I thought there were two chapters left but it will be three, possibly four, so the present chapter is a little shorter than intended.

For this chapter, recall that Ezra Goldrick's sister, Danielle, designed a new hyperspace engine, manufactured on Earth by her previous employer, Oakshott Industries, and its partner company, HyperStar Japan. The motor worked well but the communications probe sent to Samothea crashed into the planet; since when, the Samothea Project has been stalled because the Nakatani Corporation, a powerful industrial firm, took HyperStar Japan and Danielle to court for breach of copyright.

Meanwhile, Danielle, while teaching astrophysical engineering at the Celetaris Institute for Science, designed and manufactured a microwave air-suit, which was a commercial success.

Ezra crash-landed on Samothea about four years ago. He was rescued from the sea by Wildchild (also called Samothea) and Tamar (also called Yael). The Woodlander, Mariner and Herder Tribes all adopted him, giving him the duty of sleeping with those tribeswomen who want children. He now has thirty bedmates and more than thirty children. He cannot take bedmates from the Cloner, Farmer and Miner tribes, who still practise cloning to avoid a genetic bottleneck.

Yumi Takahashi stowed away on-board Ezra's ship and now lives in the Cloner City with her son, Hayate.

The communications probe that Danielle sent to Samothea transmitted a message before it exploded. Ezra read the message on one of the emergency escape pods salvaged from his spaceship. It proved that a rescue mission would likely be sent.

Annela (Ezra's first bedmate) began to develop symptoms of a brain-tumour. She was persuaded to enter the spare emergency escape-pod, and be put into suspended animation to await more visitors from space, who might bring hope of a medical treatment.

1Doctorates and deals

"No, certainly not, Goldrick! And don't ask again!"

Danielle Goldrick was enjoying a friendly argument with her erstwhile boss, Stephen Oakshott, an argument made somewhat surreal by the fact that Danielle was on Celetaris and Stephen was 170 light-years away on Earth, so there was a twenty-minute gap between their exchanges.

Danielle started the dispute by offering to pay Stephen back the money he gave her as a monthly stipend, now that she was supplementing her university income from sales of her microwave air-suit.

Stephen pretended to be insulted.

"The money I'm paying you, Goldrick, is to make sure you come back to work for me when this academic whim is over. It rather defeats the purpose if you pay me back!"

So Danielle moved on to her next offer:

"I'd like Oakshott Industries to become the Earthside partner for my air-suit business, to manufacture and sell the suits in the Homeworld markets. You know how lucrative that will be."

"I know nothing about air-suit technology," he replied, "and we're not a suitable company to market the product."

At least Stephen didn't pretend his business didn't need the money. Danielle knew that Oakshott Industries was having a torrid time financially because the Beltway Hyperspace Project (including her award-winning work on its hyperspace junctions) had finished and the Samothea Project had been on hold for more than a year, its signature motor subject to a legal dispute that progressed at glacial speed through the Japanese courts.

Thus Danielle arrived at her third offer:

"Will you host the auction to find an Earthside manufacturer to produce the air-suits under licence?" she asked. "And will you make sure you take a thumping great commission for doing so?"

Stephen Oakshott was a wily operator but it was only later that he realised Danielle had manoeuvred him into accepting an offer he might have rejected had she begun with it. At the time, however, he merely smiled and gratefully replied:

"All right, Goldrick, I'll organise the auction. But you must know that your ideal partner is the Nakatani Corporation. They could swallow up the entire production of your air-suits without missing a breath. You would make a fortune if you sold the licence to them."

"I know," Danielle replied. "So you'll have the pleasure - if someone from Nakatani foolishly comes to the auction - of telling him to get lost. I'm glad you're taking the job, Stephen. Promise me you'll gouge the winner?"

******

Danielle's Ph.D. students, Rosa Silverstein and Li Qu Yuan, were awarded their Doctorates two years after Danielle moved to Celetaris, about four years after Ezra left for Samothea. Their papers on the technology of the Samothea Project made a stir as the new theories of hyperspace travel percolated through the scientific community.

Li accepted a place at CalTech on a research team run by Jonathan Wright. They both remained essential members of the Samothea Project.

Rosa's boyfriend, Herman, stayed on Celetaris for further study under Dorothy Martlebury. The galaxy's foremost expert on programmable mathematics had extended her visit to the Celetaris Institute for Science for another four years, so convivial did she find the academic climate.

Rosa also remained on Celetaris. She told Herman she was staying for Danielle's sake and she told Danielle she was staying for Herman's sake but, in reality, she stayed for her own sake. Rosa was in the grip of an intriguing new problem, an original discovery she wasn't yet ready to reveal.

Danielle wrangled a post-doctorate position for Rosa at the Institute, on the strength of their collaboration on the Samothea Project. She used all her diplomatic skill to reconcile Professor Jakovs to a second female member of staff.

In fact, that sour old misogynist had slightly mellowed, now he was nearing retirement and would occasionally smile benevolently on the two women, Doctors Goldrick and Silverstein, whom he called 'the precious metals.'

After a month of intense work, Rosa revealed her discovery to Herman, who devised some clever additions. A fortnight later, she was ready to show Danielle what she and Herman had done so far.

The three sat in Danielle's office, halfway up The Vortex, the twisting plasti-glass tower in the middle of the Science Park, which housed the physics department. It was a foggy winter's morning. The suffused office-lights reflected yellow on the glass walls, seeming to trap them in a prison cell.

Rosa projected a graph from her computer pad. It looked like an exaggerated mountain-range, with prominent peaks at irregular points along the graph.

"This is the electromagnetic spectrum of the black-hole anomaly near Samothea," she explained, standing to point with a laser-pen.

"I found a way to reverse-engineer the signal from the last three microseconds of communication between the traveller and the plume, as the traveller veered off-course and crashed."

"Really? I didn't know that was possible," Danielle said. "That's an amazing result, Rosa ... if it's correct."

Rosa flipped a document to Danielle's computer to show her working-out. Danielle scanned over the pages of formulas and calculations. She was impressed.

"When did you do this?" Danielle asked.

"I started six weeks ago," Rosa said.

"Six weeks!" Danielle exclaimed. "Rosa! Why did you sit on these results for six weeks? We could have run analyses to find out why there's been no communication from Samothea for a hundred years! Why all the ships and robot scouts sent there have been lost! We might have learned what happened to Ezra's ship!"

"It's all here," Rosa said, flipping another document to Danielle's computer.

Danielle gave Rosa a significant look before concentrating on the document. Ten minutes later she looked up again.

"It's official," she said. "I'm redundant."

"Redundant? Why?" Rosa asked.

"Because my student has surpassed me. This is brilliant work, Rosa. Now I can retire and put my feet up."

Rosa laughed and Herman smiled, trying to imagine Danielle relaxing with her feet up.

"I'm sorry it's not good news, Danielle," Rosa said.

"All right," Danielle said. "Talk me through it."

Rosa pushed her dark-brown hair off her forehead and tucked the tresses behind her ears: a habitual gesture when she concentrated hard.

"After I resolved the spectrum, I recruited Herman. I showed him the graph, with its spikes of radiation at specific frequencies. We wrote a program to discover what effect radiation at each spike would have on a range of objects, from circuit-boards, to chemical reactions, to living organisms."

"There are thousands of potential results, which we narrowed down to the most useful."

She highlighted three of the mountain-peaks on the spectrum.

"These spikes in the graph are exactly the right frequency of x-rays to interfere with the laser-chip circuitry of the navi-coms telemetry in hyperspace drives."

"I see," said Danielle. "Do you know the precise effect of the interference?"

"We do," Rosa said carefully, knowing exactly what it meant for Danielle. "Any hyperspace jump that ended in the vicinity of Samothea would be deflected by the cosmic rays toward the nearest gravitating object."

Danielle didn't want to think about Ezra crashing into a planet or a star but the conclusion seemed inevitable. It was what had happened to the communications probe the Samothea Project sent a year or so ago - and doubtless what had happened to all the vehicles sent to Samothea in the last century.

"In fact," Rosa continued, adding to the bad news, "when the star, Sothis, collapsed into a black hole about a hundred years ago, an electromagnetic pulse at these frequencies would probably have fried the circuitry of most electronic devices on Samothea and in nearby space."

Danielle nodded.

"So what about other peaks in the ultraviolet and infra-red spectrums?" she asked, distracting herself by concentrating on the science.

It was Herman who answered.

"I've sorted the results into categories relevant to space-ships and Earth-like planets. These are the results for meteorology, biology, radio communications, hyperdrive motors and electronics."

He flipped charts as he spoke, going too fast for Danielle to see the details but she understood the gist quite clearly, noting in her mind which details to look into later.

"And what are your conclusions for meteorology?" she asked, intrigued.

"I believe the ultraviolet radiation affects the weather on Samothea, triggering cloud-formation in the upper-atmosphere."

"That's just speculation, though," Rosa interjected.

"A justified extrapolation from reasonably reliable data," Herman insisted in a slightly pained voice, putting a reluctant smile on Danielle's face.

"We've been arguing like this for days," Rosa explained. "Herman thinks that the rain on Samothea falls as hail or ice."

"Only in the temperate zones," he corrected: "in the tropical zone, rain falls as nearly-frozen liquid water."

"What about electronics?" Danielle asked. "Would our air-suits work on Samothea?"

"Yes, absolutely," Rosa said with conviction, "because now we know the frequencies of the x-rays, we can shield the micro-circuitry. We can even make radio communications, so long as we use high-frequency bursters."

"That's useful to know. ... Rosa, Herman: this is brilliant work. Will you write it up straight-away? There's an original paper in Rosa's discovery alone. Also send a copy of your results to HyperStar Japan because, if they ever start work on our engine again, they'll need to calculate the fuel-cost of the extra shielding."

"I will," Rosa assured her.

"Good," Danielle said. "So what else have you found? Are all the rabbits albinos on Samothea?"

"No," Herman said. "There aren't any rabbits."

"What do you mean?" Danielle asked.

"There are thousands of biochemical processes that electromagnetic radiation at these frequencies can disrupt," he said, "and one of them is unique to mammals. It's an enzyme necessary for the replication of the Y chromosome in mammals during meiosis."

"It's a what?" Danielle asked.

"I know only because I looked it up," Herman admitted, "but it stops mammals, and only mammals, from producing viable male sperm. Most probably, the mammals on Samothea died out generations ago, including people. Lemmings may be an exception," he added for completeness' sake, "because they have three sexes."

Danielle ignored the peculiar fact about lemmings.

"And is this result as speculative as the one about the weather?" she asked.

"It's all preliminary and tentative," Rosa replied, "but we think it's best to consider all the possibilities, but it does seem rather hopeless."

"I will never give up hope of finding Ezra," Danielle assured them. "He will have found a way to survive. However, this is extraordinary work, exactly what I expected from you two. Keep it up, and let me know everything else you find."

2The project resumes

On a warm autumn day in Cambridge, England, Stephen Oakshott hosted an auction for the right to manufacture and sell Danielle's microwave air-suits under licence on Earth. It produced two surprises.

The first was that the Nakatani Corporation sent a team all the way from Japan to make live bids for the air-suit rights, so keen were they to buy a share in the technology. The second surprise was that Michio Nakatani himself led the bidding team.

Michio was now the Director of Leisure and Entertainment Technology for Nakatani Corporation and was apparently unaware that his company's HyperSpace Transportation department was in a legal dispute with HyperStar Japan, a partner of Oakshott Industries.

After the auction, Stephen had the pleasure of telling Michio Nakatani to his face that his company's bid was rejected, even though it was by far the highest.

Michio was taken aback, as much by Stephen's lack of business etiquette as by disbelief that his winning offer should fail. It made him both curious and resentful.

"Mr. Oakshott, Sir," Michio said with a bow, "this is an unusual procedure. With all due respect, I must insist on knowing why you have spurned my bid with so little ceremony."

"It's simple, Mr. Nakatani," Stephen said, sternly. "Neither Danielle Goldrick nor I will deal with Nakatani Industries until your frivolous law-suit regarding the Samothea Project engine is dropped."

Michio was now shocked. He asked Stephen if he wouldn't mind waiting, bowed and went away to conduct an agitated conversation with his advisory team.

Stephen watched him with keen interest, seeing the young man's arrogance dissolve into embarrassment. Michio took out his communicator and spoke to someone - clearly someone important, because he bowed a few times as he remonstrated on the video-phone - growing more red-faced, either from shame or anger. It was a subdued and humble young man who returned to speak to Stephen again, apparently intent on making things right.

"Mr. Oakshott," Michio said, "I am a great admirer of the Samothea Project and I did not know that HyperStar Japan and Oakshott Industries were partners. ... I have requested more information about the law-suit and if it is frivolous, as you say, then I will ensure it is dropped."

He seemed sincere. Stephen had to remind himself that this boy abandoned Yumi, apparently tricking her into going alone to Capella Spaceport so he could marry a different woman. He said:

"I do not doubt that a lucrative business deal is worth an outward show of contrition, Mr. Nakatani, but even if you drop the case, you will not have made amends for what you did to Miss Takahashi."

"Yumi! You know Yumi Takahashi? Do you know what happened to her?"

"Don't you?"

"Mr. Oakshott, please? I no longer care about the air-suit, not when you can tell me what happened to Yumi. I beg you, Sir, it's a matter of honour to me!"

Stephen told Michio what Danielle and Roger had told him, about how badly they believed Michio treated Yumi. As Stephen spoke, Michio visibly shrank. At the end, he bowed again, his face flushed red. Stephen began to pity the lad, judging his remorse to be genuine.

"I have misused Yumi," Michio confessed, looking down, "but through weakness, not malice. I really intended to follow her to Capella. I was stopped by my father, who confined me to the house. My mailbox was being monitored. My bank account was frozen. I had no money, no future, no prospects."

"You abandoned her!" Stephen accused.

"I was told that Yumi went home, that she refused to talk to me."

"Her brother tried hundreds of times to contact you."

"Itsuki? But he was the one who told me Yumi had gone home, that she had rejected me. I wrote him over and over but he never replied ..."

Michio went silent.

"I was deceived," he said, quietly. "This was my father's work, but I cannot blame him. I blame myself. I was a coward and did not try to find out for myself."

"I protected my family name, my future with the company, my social position and my inheritance ... and I lost the life I might have had with Yumi. I agreed to the marriage my father arranged. It was a business agreement."

Stephen's pity briefly turned to contempt.

"What happens if we find Yumi?" he asked.

"I won't be weak again, Mr. Oakshott. If you find Yumi, I will make sure she is properly looked-after, that she doesn't suffer because of my weakness; but I will honour my wife in public. I won't let her be shamed by my scandal."

Stephen believed Michio's surprising story and communicated it to Danielle, who said: "Hold off awarding the contract for the air-suit. Let's wait and see what comes of Michio's promises."

3Recruiting a mad-man

Michio Nakatani kept his word and confronted his father. It was a brave young man who stood up to the powerful Chairman of the Nakatani Corporation, to earn his freedom and, eventually, his father's respect. Soon afterward, the Nakatani Corporation dropped its patent-infringement case against HyperStar Japan and bought the rights to Danielle's air-suit technology.

The Samothea Project was back on track and Danielle rallied her team.

While the mission was in stasis, the Samothea Project team worked to a small budget, designing the cheapest and simplest Traveller they could, planning to keep their head-start by sending a mission to Samothea as soon as possible, using the existing engine with a two-ton payload, most of which was the beacon for the return journey.

The team agreed to go ahead with the current plan. The time-table for the mission was three months.

The proposed vehicle couldn't include the heavy machinery a prospector would normally take. It was the microwave air-suit that gave them an advantage: someone in an air-suit could do all the heavy lifting and flying that a prospector would need the machinery for. It was a huge saving of weight and a vast saving of time and cost on building and programming a robot.

The Project Team designed the new traveller to carry a man.

Job adverts were sent to the Prospectors' Guild, to the various academies who trained space-explorers and to the kinds of low dives on frontier planets where successful Prospectors generally hung out between jobs. There were no takers.

No one sensible would risk his life on such a dangerous mission, not even for pots of money. It needed a madman or an idiot.

When she had a moment, Danielle updated her friends on the status of the Project, mentioning the need for a pilot. One of her friends was Hestia, the gorgeous 'Entertainer' on Capella Spaceport, who responded immediately saying: