To Touch the Stars snippet 2

Okay, for those of you who are like me and not on the FB group:

Act 1

Chapter 1

 

The red planet still revolved, Mario Irons thought, staring off into space. He, Betsy, Wanda, and Luigi had done well. Their descendants on Mars had become involved in just about every engineering project worth doing on the planet over the past century. Power plants, city construction, you name it he thought in approval. And those that still had the wunderlust genes had moved on, back into space to be engineers on the sublight ships that plied the space lanes around the solar system. They'd pushed the frontier ever onward and outward.

He smiled a slight smile as he stared at a mural. They'd done well he judged, he was proud of them. Well, most of them, he thought. He still had a few issues, a few bad apples that needed straightening out. None had gotten into crime, but he still wished they'd sort themselves out. He sighed a heartfelt sigh.

“Thinking deep thoughts?” Sydney Reshenkov Irons teased. He snorted. Sydney was so much like her grandmother Tess Mario reflected, with her eyes and smile. She'd followed along in her grandmother's footsteps too, unlike her father and sisters. They ran the family's growing aquafarm business.

“Another day, another new thing. But sometimes, I wish the news wasn't so... Earthy,” he said, indicating the tablet in his lap with his gnarled hands.

She looked over his shoulder at what he'd been reading and then patted him on the shoulder. “You and me both Gramps,” she said. “You and me both.” The planet's government was getting increasingly mired in the politics of the system and problems with minor sabotage of the planet's terraforming and space program. The headline alone, 'Mars Gov passes felony law on sabotage' may have seemed okay, after all, it was excruciatingly frustrating to see work that had gone on for decades be destroyed. But the article was all about how unfair it was to prosecute people for using their constitutional right to protest by any means. “I read that this morning before breakfast and wished I hadn't. “Don't they know if they insist on breaking the law then they should be willing to pay the consequences for it?” She asked.

He snorted. “Heh, don't try telling them that. People have been pulling this kind of shit for decades,” he grumbled. He turned with wise eyes to see the other adults gathering. He nodded to Jeremy, Opal, Ellen and a few others. Adam he glanced over and then gave him a nod. He was surprised but pleased that some of the kids had come in too. “Another chat?”

Sydney looked over her shoulder, hands resting on the finial on his chair. “It looks that way. The future I think. Or what we're going to do. Or what the kids will get a chance to do.”

“You even label the topics of the conversation?” Mario asked, shaking his head.

“No, well, sort of. It's nice if we all come prepared and on the same page,” Sydney replied. He shook his head.

The family had moved to a compound in a canyon South East of the ancient first settlement. It was all one level which made it easier to get about in for Mario and the other elderly family members.

Mario had resisted moving from the ancient habs and his underground base for years, it was home to him where a lot of great memories were. It was lonely however, only a handful of the family could be with him. Most had come for visits but they could only stay overnight when they were on vacation. The industry in the area had moved away when Capital city, also known as Mars city had been constructed.

Mario had busied himself with taking care of his old place. But as he aged the maintenance became increasingly harder and harder for him to do. Just getting in and out of a suit was an exhausting chore. He had only been convinced of the wisdom of the move when he had fallen down a ladder and broken his hip. Fortunately the health implant he had immediately alerted medics to his situation. His lengthy recovery and rehab had allowed the family to quietly turn over the base to the Mars historical society and move the family into the new compound.

Mario had pitched 3 shades of a snit but the deal had been done. He'd even threatened to drive himself back and become a squatter. The kids had told him to go ahead, they'd love to stuff and mount him for the museum. He'd backed off when he'd seen the portraits of his wife and family one of his grand kids had painted on the wall. They'd also recreated the portraits his wife had done, a bit smaller but still full of love and life. They had brought tears to his eyes when he'd seen them.

He'd finally been mollified when Sydney his eldest grand daughter in law had made up a white lie about how his late wife Wanda had asked them to do it before she'd died, but it had taken a long time to get it just right. Now they had room to grow as well as support the far flung clan members who returned during family reunions.

Now things were changing on Mars, as it seemed the planet always did. Mars was constantly in flux, and not just because of the ongoing terraforming or growing population. Politics were getting ugly on Earth, and some of the rancor was spilling over into space and had reached Mars.

Infighting over the various terraforming projects and the planet's own space program was expected. People were passionate about the projects after all, and everyone was entitled to their opinion... and exercised the right to express it, sometimes loudly. Sometimes too loudly, Mario thought sourly. He wished a few of the pissing and moaning crowd would move on or find another topic to bitch about.

Seven year old Isley Irons, Reno Irons, and their 4 year old cousin Amelia Irons sat proudly at the feet of their parents. Isley looked around but the other cousins were either playing or off doing homework, chores, or out and about. All her cousins were young, they were of course all under age, but they were also on their best behavior for the family meeting. They'd been warned if they wished to be treated like adults they had to act and listen like adults do. Isley had refrained from pointing out that they should apply that to Uncle Adam then too.

Isley was heartily sick and tired of hearing about politics and wanted out, off the planet if possible. She'd realized the previous year that the Irons family was being marginalized, either they were being brushed aside or they were being locked out of the good assignments. Adam pointed that issue out again as the meeting started. “There are so many of you and nepotism is a real concern,” Adam Irons quoted angrily. “We need to keep the position open for other people with fresh experience,” he air quoted.

“Which is true. There are only so many jobs on planet to go around Adam,” Jeremy Irons reminded him. “Unless you create your own by starting a new community or business,” he said.

“Which you need money to do,” Adam said. He practically sneered. The family had made it clear they wouldn't bankroll the various start up's he'd pitched to them over the years. The last one he'd tried by wheedling it out of grandad Irons. His grandfather... his grandfather of all people had told him to look into getting a start up loan. Like he didn't trust him, he thought with burning resentment. It was unfair. He opened his mouth to say something but Opal was already talking.

“...is only so much one can do. Market saturation is pretty high. Coming up with something from nothing... even the service industry is saturated. You are competing with the old sweats who push you out or the new kids coming out of the schools,” she said, indicating the kids at their feet with a flick of her fingers.

Other family members recognized that was a serious problem Isley realized as she looked up at the suddenly grim faces around them. It wasn't her fault, that wasn't right. She almost forgot her standing order to listen and not interject her comments.

“What are we going to do about them? It's not just our generation, but the next?” Ellen asked softly. Aunt Ellen was one of Isley's favorite aunts. She was a hands on kind of gal, just like all the Irons. But she made no bones about drafting someone, even a 'sprout' into helping her with some project around the compound that needed fixing or upgrading. Isley had learned a lot in the past year about plumbing and electrical work.

“Some of the family have gone on to become engineers on sublight ships. But even that's changing,” Jeremy said.

“They could follow you, Sydney, and others into research I suppose,” Opal said, crossing her arms. “I mean, it's a thought.”

“There is always teaching too,” Sydney suggested. She winced when Mario scowled. Too late she remembered his repeated acidic statement that those that do, did. Those that couldn't taught.

Isley resented that. She was a student, the idea of being stuck in a class room the rest of her life... gah. Pass, she thought. She wanted something bigger. Something brighter. “There has to be something for us, something more. I know we're not big on research and stuff but...” She shook her head, then remembered the injunction to be quiet.

Her father eyed her with scant favor. Before he could say anything Mario waved a hand. “Let the kids talk. They are the future. It's their future we're talking about right? So, what do they want to do with it?” He asked.

Jeremy paused and then frowned thoughtfully. After a moment he nodded to Isley.

Isley gulped and then stood. “I want more. More than Mars. I don't want to be stuck in a class room,” she said wrinkling her nose. “Or behind a desk drawing stuff. I want to be there, seeing new things. I want to get my hands dirty doing it,” she said, glancing at Aunt Ellen. The older woman gave her a thumbs up. “We're Irons, I want to make it happen, not watch others do it.”

“That's not true young lady and you know it. But we do err on the side of making an idea work. Translating the theory into reality,” Sydney Irons said in rebuke. Isley hung her head a bit. She understood the girl, she wanted desperately to step out of the family's shadow. Well, to do that she'd have to go big. She'd have to... she frowned and then nodded slowly. She'd have to go interstellar. She turned her head to look at some of the other adults. Elderly Mario Irons nodded in understanding. He of all people instantly understood she realized.

The Irons family had been involved in hyperdrive research since it's inception. They had also been involved in the design of most of the inner system tugs and sublight ships and stations throughout the solar system. Adam Irons scowled bleakly. He was the family black sheep, everyone had them it seemed. In his case he was a bit of a slacker, moving from one project to the next, never settling down. The same could be said of his love life, he never settled. He'd had some spectacular break ups when he'd neglected to let one partner know he'd moved on. “I think we're a victim of our own success. We see a project and dig in. People know that. That's why a lot of us get hired, for that reputation of digging in and getting it done. Sometimes we fail. That's human, and to be expected, though others see it as not living up to expectations. It's bull.”

“But you did it here on Mars Gramps,” little 4 year old Amelia reminded the elderly Mario. Personally she was amazed the old patriarch was still alive. He'd outlived his brother Luigi, both of their spouses, and one of his own children and two grandchildren. This despite getting an unhealthy dose of radiation in the initial colonization phases of the planet. He'd survived testicle, skin, and prostate cancer, he'd had his liver, bladder, and kidneys each replaced twice, one lung, part of his trachea, cataracts, had two bone marrow transplants, and was checked every three months for aggressive tumors that occasionally popped up on his heart, skin, and in his brain. But despite all that he was still lively and spry. It was a testament not just to the advances in geriatric medicine and cloning technology but also to the human spirit and will to survive.

He looked over to her and tugged on a wrinkled earlobe thoughtfully. “True, but a lot of factors were involved there,” his gravel voice said. His eyes were a bit cloudy but there was kind wisdom there in the recesses.

“What bothers me is when they get us in on the ground floor or when they run into problems, pick our brains, then kick us to the curb,” Adam grumbled. “I've had that happen to me twice.” He looked away, thoroughly disgusted.

“That's because you take those consult jobs dummy. You should invest what you've got into a project and stick with it,” Sydney retorted. Opal nodded.

“Like what?” Adam demanded. “All the good stuff is taken,” he grumbled, now disgusted with them all. “Or too expensive. We're high risk investment too. I can't get a loan,” he said, shaking his head. “And the family won't give me one,” he growled darkly.

“Quit whining,” Mario muttered. “There are ways to get around any problem. Over, under, through. Luigi was great at that,” he said, then closed his eyes and leaned back to relax. He fought the urge to go down memory lane, the trap of missing his brother and family. God he missed them.

“I think we need to take a break for a bit,” Sydney Irons said, looking at her father-in-law knowing the signs. Other adults nodded as they got up or stretched. Isley bit her lip, looking at her gramps. Amelia hugged him and he patted her arm and softly told her he was okay. Isley nodded in relief.

“The problem with wanting glory is it's blinding. I don't think either of the Mario brothers were focused on that when they came here to Mars,” Sydney said slowly. She glanced at the old patriarch as he stared off into space, lost in his memories. He was doing that increasingly more and more as his body slowed down. It bothered her. Her own father and grandparents hadn't lived as long as Mario had so advanced geriatric care wasn't something she was familiar with. She made a note to look into it. She made another note to keep Mario in the loop. He seemed to focus more when his experience was drawn on.

“No, no they didn't,” Adam admitted. He frowned. He had to admit he had been interested in glory, in the short cut. Mario had tried to warn him that he couldn't trade on the family name, he had to earn respect on his own as an individual. Now he was struggling to deal with his own reputation. He shook his head. “I think they saw it not really as a great adventure, but as a problem that needed a resolution. They saw it,” he smiled a bit, “ from an engineers perspective.”

“You mean an engineering problem which could be solved. Yes, they did that,” Opal murmured thoughtfully. “Luigi was great with people and theory. Mario was the hands on man. I know that frustrates him now,” she said, indicating Mario. Sydney looked over to Opal and then nodded.

“You kids need to find your own paths. We're going to help, but it's too... easy for us to try to steer you in a direction we think is right. It's natural. Sometimes it's a safe occupation but...” Ellen shrugged. “Sometimes not.”

“True miss Fusion reactor tech,” Opal teased.

“That's assistant power chief now,” Ellen said. Opal's eyes widened as Ellen grinned. “I passed the tests last month. It doesn't become official until Asura transfers to the plant on Diemos.”

“Wow. She got a promotion?” Opal asked.

Ellen nodded. “An overdue one, but not in house. She was hired by Lagroose industries. I think she wants to get to their Mars skyhook, but I don't know if she'll make it.”

“Maybe,” Opal mused. “If she can hack it...” She shrugged, setting the thought aside. She made a note to send Asura Smythe Tennison a congratulations letter. She wondered how Bill and Fargo were going to handle it. Would they move with Asura to Diemos? Or would she commute? She was curious. Fargo was a bright kid, borderline autistic, which was a concern. The Tennison's hadn't screened for that when Fargo had been conceived, fortunately they'd skated by, just under the threshold when he'd been tested. It was frightening though. Today's generation of kids were incredibly intelligent. Gifted, beyond anything an ordinary parent from years ago would think was possible.

“We're not really suited for the terraforming projects,” Adam murmured.

“We're Irons, we can do anything we put our minds too,” Ellen said. He looked her way. “Okay, I admit, I'm not at all interested in terraforming myself. The mechanics...” She shrugged. “Maybe. But the Mars government banned nanotech and some of the harsher methods of terraforming, so it's down to bioengineering plants and animals while working on other means.”

“I'd love to move a comet or asteroid,” Adam said.

“You mean you'd love to see it hit,” Opal teased. He shrugged. Jeremy, Sydney's husband grinned. She eyed him as well. “Men,” she said in disgust, shaking her head as she eyed her fellow ladies. “Not far from the fire and throwing rock level of evolution even now,” she said in mock disgust.

“Oh, I don't know,” Ellen replied, playing with her lower lip. “I wouldn't mind seeing it myself.” Opal shot her a wide eyed 'et tu' look that made her chuckle. “Seriously. I saw the first one Luigi managed to do, and the follow ups they did later on.”

“And you want in on that when they hit Venus?”

“No, that's not going to happen. They rocks are already in motion. The first hit a decade ago remember? No, pass.” There were several hundred rocks of many sizes lined up to hit Venus over the next 50 years. Each was on a course to hit the planet to help move it from it's current orbit outward just as the ones that had hit Mars had been carefully plotted out to move the planet's orbit further inward, closer to the sun. There was quite the scandal from people on Earth who were terrified of a mistake that would put Venus and Earth on a collision course. Since Mars hadn't hit Earth they didn't have much to worry about in Ellen's opinion.

Mars was shaping up to be a nice place to live. Not quite Earth, at least not yet, but getting there. When it did get to the loose water stage things would happen quickly. Another two decades and the terraforming board assured the public that it would happen. When it did their homeworld would turn into a gorgeous paradise.

“Then...”

“Well, Europa is off limits, Titan's a mess of politics and jurisdiction, I'm not sure,” Ellen said.

“You'd give up your career... your advancing career...” Sydney looked at her.

Ellen waved that thought aside. “No, I said I wouldn't mind seeing it.”

“Well, I for one wouldn't mind having a hand in doing it,” Adam said.

“Well, you could always apply to Lagroose or one of the other outfits. They are eventually going to need terraformers,”vo Sydney said. “When we go interstellar.”

“Which will be in a century from now,” Adam said in disgust. “I'll look like him when they are ready,” he said.

“Oh, I wouldn't bet on that,” Sydney said, shooting her husband a smile. He chuckled.

Adam eyed them both as Opal got up to deal with an issue with the kids. “What aren't you telling us?” He asked.

“Just that... it might be smart to take a long hard look at Lagroose. And maybe get your foot in the door, even if you have to start at the bottom as a tech.”

“That... is interesting to know,” Ellen murmured thoughtfully. Sydney turned to stare at her. Ellen shrugged. “Hey, I'm interested in seeing the stars too. And like I said, the idea of seeing a rock hit...”

Jeremy nodded. “You might get your chance. We all might,” he rumbled.

-*-*-^-*-*-

The kids talked after the meeting as they did their chores and got ready for bed. They filled in some of the cousins who'd missed the meeting... really there wasn't much to tell. But the gossip was something to talk about. When they were done Amelia, Isley, and Reno all fell on the kitchen and the last of their assigned chores.

Amelia was still too young and short to unload the dishwashers so Sydney had assigned that part of the task to Reno and Isley since they were taller. Amelia had to fill the machines since she could easily reach into the sink with a handy step stool. She had also figured out the controls after Isley had shown her so she could turn the ultrasonic machines on.

Isley had no problem with the assignment, she'd had her time handling the dirty dishes up until a year ago. She'd hated it until Aunt Ellen had told her it was a lesson. She'd wondered about it until Ellen had clued her in by getting her hands filthy tearing down a grungy air plant and not complaining about it. That had driven the point home enough to stop her from complaining. And she'd found, once she'd accepted the task she'd done it for a while before they'd given her more responsibility.

“It's not fair that I have to load the dishwashers,” Amelia grumbled. Reno tugged one of her pigtails in response to the whining. She turned and kicked him in the shin. Isley tisked tisked as Reno chased her out. At least it got her out of her hair long enough for Isley to clear the lower level of 2 of the 3 machines. Honestly, having them all lined up in a row and having 3 kids on them was stupid. They were tripping over themselves trying to get the machines loaded and unloaded.

Reno came back with Amelia under one arm. He set her down after swatting her bum and then steered her back to work. She scowled, but then snuffled and looked at Isley. Isley snorted in lordly disdain. “Don't look at me. I'm busy. The sooner we get this done the sooner we get to go play,” she said.

“Yeah, a whole hour until we have to get ready for bed,” Amelia muttered.

“It's better than a half hour,” Reno reminded her, swinging back into action. He took the plates Isley had thoughtfully stacked in front of the cabinet they were supposed to go into and put them away. Isley nodded and kept moving. Once she had the last lower deck done she straightened and then moved on to the uppers. The uppers were easier, just cups.

“What are we going to do?” Amelia asked thoughtfully. “I mean, career wise. I've already decided I want to get into medicine. What about you two?” She asked, looking from Reno to Isley.

“You are pretty young to figure that out so quick,” Reno said, sounding like he didn't believe her. She glowered at him. He spread his hands. “Just saying. Remember how you change your mind about ice cream?”

She snorted. “This is different,” she said. “And it's not like we can't change our minds like you said. Even when we have a career going, no one said we can't stop learning and exploring other things! Look at Uncle Adam! Or Aunt Ellen! Or my mom!”

“True,” Isley mused, taking little Amelia's thoughts at face value. She didn't like how Uncle Adam was being compared to Aunt Ellen, but they were siblings. They had to have something in common after all.

“I want to help people. Make them well. I'm not sure what sub-field, but the idea of being a doctor like great great auntie Han.”

“She's not really our aunt. She's not related to us by blood,” Isley said.

“I know that,” Amelia said testily as they finished with the first machine. “I don't think we have enough for a full load on the third machine,” she warned.

“Cool,” Reno said.

“What about you? What are you going to get into?” Amelia asked, eying the sturdy 10 year old male. Reno had black hair and yellow eyes. The eye color was due to some random gene swap, or so Reno said. “Engineer, medic...”

“Not a whole lot of options there,” Reno said. “I'm going my own way. I'm looking into being an interior designer. I thought about an architect, but...” He shrugged.

“An...” Amelia sputtered, doubling over with hilarity as she covered her mouth with a tiny hand. “You can't be serious!” She giggled.

“Go on with you,” Reno growled, pushing her onto her rump. She fell, then rolled, kicking her feet in the air laughing. “It's not funny!” He raged.

“It's fine Reno, whatever you want to do. At least it's different.”

“You know, some of us were scientists at one time. Great granny Betsy. Wanda too. We can do other things if we put our minds to it,” Reno said hotly.

“I get it, power down,” Isley said, one hand up to restrain her cousin. He glowered at the still snickering Amelia as she got to her feet. “Something tells me it's not the entire picture though,” she said. He looked at her. She spread her hands. “Somehow I haven't seen you arranging furniture or researching fung shui techniques,” she said mildly.

“Well, no,” he said slowly. “I was thinking on stations, bases, and ships. I'm not sure about ergonomics, maybe furniture design, but that's been done to death. I'm not big on color coordination...” He frowned thoughtfully.

“Sounds like you are more interested in architecture or interior space design then the actual decorating,” Isley said as Amelia studied her cousins thoughtfully. Reno gave Isley a long look then a short choppy nod as he finished with the last of the dishes.

“Think about it Reno,” Isley said as he turned to leave, shoulders and back stiff. “And don't get so uptight about it,” she said.

“I'm sorry, I...” Amelia looked at Isley as Reno left without a backwards glance. “He's really sore,” she said.

“Yeah,” Isley sighed. “You know it's not nice to mock people that way. He let a part of himself go, showed us something. He was vulnerable and you blew it kid,” she said.

“Sorry,” Amelia said, face falling.

Isely eyed her and then shook her head. Since when was she some wise adult? She snorted. No, she had a lot of growing up to do. And obviously a lot of thinking in the future. From the sound of it, so did her cousins. They were determined to do it right. They wanted out, away from the accusations of nepotism which was good. They'd have to grit teeth and really buckle down to make it work out right though. One a future designer, another a doctor, and another an engineer. That was good enough for her.

“Come on, let's get this finished,” she said, poking Amelia. “When we've got some time you can show me your virtual doll collection. Have you gotten your doctor avatar leveled up yet?”

“No, I'm stuck. But I'm working on it,” Amelia said as she swung back into the chore. Isley smiled as she listened with half an ear as Amelia prattled on excitedly.

-*-*-^-*-*-

   BTW, even though I am not in the group doesn't mean I'm not aware of some of the discussion points. My faithful... should I say minion? hmmm...Yo, Mighty Mike, do you have a twinky costume? Minion Mike? lol... anyway, I ghosted in last night briefly, they are intriguing. :) You'll get some of those answers soon enough. And yes, Io 11 will make more appearances. Interesting ideas about having her turn privateer. I'm not sure if that is viable or not... hmmm....>:D

   In related news (to the snippet) I passed chapter 22 and I'm also past 250 pages. (255 I think, I'm too lazy to check) It is coming along though I keep tripping myself up with all these story references and the whole time thing. I'm also keeping TFAIW (The First AI War or 1AIW or just AI war) up to date with the occasional idea or scene. I've also tweaked a few things in GP too. :) AI war will make up for a lot of... well, you'll see. Eventually.
   ...And Rea told me she should have BSC2 back to me by next week definitely. (possibly Monday or earlier).

That's it, for now!

Bootstrap Colony 1 republish

    Okay, Goodlifeguide sent me the manuscript back early (I wasn't expecting it until this weekend) so I republished it this morning at both Amazon and B&N. I'm still too lazy/inept/busy, whatever excuse you want to use to get involved with Smashwords still, sorry. :)
    I bumped the price up to cover the cost of the editing and stuff. I'll try to remember to drop it back down once I've recouped the investment. :)
  
   In other news, those of you at the FB group may have noticed another snippet post. TTTS, I'm going to post it here in a day or so. And no, TTTS is not another goofy Mario story. You'll see!

There. Done. Must. Have. Caffeine!

GP Snippet

FYI you will see this snippet again as a sneak peek at the end of BSC2. (GP is... evolving a bit so I don't want to post something that might change. This part won't.)

Ghosts of the Past:

Here is a clipping from the first chapter:

 

Sprite came up from her record research to find the Admiral elbow deep in a repair project. She was concerned he was back sliding, forgetting his duty to the big picture. She would have to do something about it she thought. First she pinged Lobsterman for a quick status update and then made an ahem sound.

“Yes, what is it Commander,” The Admiral asked, clearly distracted.

“Admiral a moment.”

“I'm a bit busy here,” he said, pointing out the control runs to the tech. “Can it wait?”

“I'd actually like to talk to you about what you are currently doing,” she said.

“See this ODN cable with the green and white fittings? It has a candy cane stripe. That's a data line. Part of the subnet actually. If you plug your tester here into this port...” He plugged a tester into a junction. Red LED's began to flicker madly. “Okay, we have activity, but it is unstable. If it was stable we'd see the top light which is the net light be constantly on. Something is hinky here. It could be software related or hardware. Now, we push diagnose on the tablet, and the tester probe links to the tablet in your hand and will give you a reading.”

The Veraxin looked down at the tablet and then up. “It is hash.”

“That's the code sample,” Irons frowned, looking over the bug's shoulder to see it. He could always access the wifi signal directly but he wanted his student to learn it himself. He recognized the code string. It wasn't jumbled, but if you weren't a native coder you wouldn't understand it. “Okay, I'm guessing you aren't a coder?”

“No sir. I took the basic course, but I barely passed it. I was planning on taking another when I was transferred to Firefly.. and well...” The Veraxin shrugged and motioned third level chagrin and embarrassment with both sets of upper arms.

“Okay. Well, you can call a coder in, or we can do a test run of the line with someone else. Basically they hook up another probe to their end of the Optical Data Network line and then you hit test. Your probe would send a series of pulses down the line to their kit and then you would pool the results. But we've got a clean line here, so either something is hashed up in the code, or in the hardware.”

“Okay. And how do we figure that out sir?”

“Well, since you aren't a coder, you have two choices, pull in someone who is, or pull hardware, swap it, and then put it on a bench and check it later. But since someone might be using this computer node, say, an AI, we don't know what is going on. So...”

“So call an expert in sir.”

“Got it. You do that, I'll just check in with the Commander for a moment,” Irons said. He got up and patted the Veraxin on the upper shoulder and then went off to the corner for a modicum of relative privacy.”

“All right Commander. What is it?”

“Admiral, you should be focused on the big picture not doing grunt work.”

Irons frowned thoughtfully but didn't reply.

“You have to delegate situations like this. Not just the basic repair, which by the way is code, the line is fine we're using it, but also the training.”

“He lacks confidence. He's young. He's getting it.”

“I know that sir, but you shouldn't be the one to have to deal with it. We need you doing your job. There are people to make certain he does his.”

“And I seem to recall the chain of command is a bit messed up right now,” Irons replied.

“True. And yes, this ship is damaged.... but...”

Irons held up a hand. “Status of the fleet?”

“Unchanged since last update four hours ago.”

“And the same can be said for the past day and week correct? There isn't a lot I can do as an Admiral in hyper.”

“There is paperwork.”

“Which you should be handling as my chief of staff. You and the AI. I'm currently acting Captain until we find someone to fill the slot, so my responsibility is to this ship and crew too Commander.”

“What about planning for the future Admiral?” Sprite pointed out. “And yes, I am the chief of staff, so my job is to keep you on task and on the mission.”

“Okay, first of all, I refuse to plan anymore than we already have. The basic outline is there, I don't need another endless meeting rehashing the same old dog and pony show again. Been there, done that. There is only so far you can take planning.”

“Admiral, Prior Planning...”

“Yeah yeah, prevents piss pour performance. But I can't coordinate with the other ships in hyper right now, so we can't be on the same page.”

“True.”

“They are each taking their course heading and speed from Maine. Which means Maine needs to be functional.”

“Yes sir, but...”

“My ass, your ass, is riding on the line here. I can do a lot getting this ship functional again while also bonding with the crew and assessing them.”

“I see...”

“I want to make certain this is done correctly Commander. I don't want someone snipping a line to oh, say the hyperdrive.”

“Um, okay, good point.”

The Admiral smiled sourly. “So we're good?”

“Yes, you can go play hooky as long as you eat your veggies and attend at least the morning meetings,” Sprite replied, clearly exasperated.

The Admiral exhaled noisily and ran a hand through his hair. “Glad we've cleared the air.”

“I just thought you were backsliding. Going back to old habits, burying yourself in small problems and leaving the big picture alone.”

“I can't do much about the big picture while in hyper. I refuse to worry about it anymore than I already have, some things are just out of my hands right now. I can't change that until we get Maine sorted out. One problem at a time Commander.”

“Aye sir. Don't rub it in,” she growled. “...Admiral.”

He snorted and went back to work. After a moment Sprite flipped back into the net and decided a check with Lobsterman on the other work parties might be in order.

Maine had a lot of damage to repair, and unfortunately, her chain of command left a lot to be desired. It was something they had attempted to work out prior to leaving B101a1, but Firefly had been tasked to return to Pyrax in a certain window, and the Admiral had wanted to clear out to B100 omega in order to facilitate repairs better there, refuel the fleet with his automated refinery he had left in orbit, and to send a relief force to Hidoshi's World to follow up the one led by Lieutenant Lewis.

Maine had a navigator, ops officer, Tactical officer, and some very junior officers, but she lacked a properly trained Chief Engineer, Captain, and XO. To be fair, most of the ships in their fleet had similar manning issues.

The fleet had a dedicated core of former slaves turns sailors and Marines as well as transferred personnel from Firefly. To thicken things up they had two hundred former slaves from the Horathian fleet, many still on the ships they had been enslaved on. Each and everyone had volunteered for the posting. The Admiral had taken the most experienced of these to thicken the ship's companies, but each ship was still undermanned, with what was barely a skeleton crew on many.

Things were definitely going to be interesting, the AI thought. Now that they had gotten over the emotional high of liberation, many were starting to strain under the pressure of the work load. Oh, many of the organics had dealt with living and working on a damaged ship for most of their lives, but in this case they had to deal with training along with residual psychological trauma issues. It was only a matter of time before someone somewhere broke. She just hoped it wouldn't be too bad...

 

Bootstrap Colony 2 Chapter 2 snippet

Okay, here is the Chapter 2 snippet. Raw, well, sort of. I ran it past the betas and spell checked it twice. Rea currently has it now. :)

Chapter 2

 

They were dropped in a grass field, dozens, possibly hundreds of people, machines, gear, and animals. All neatly dumped in their own individual groups in a circular grid. John had the largest pile of gear by far, with his mining equipment, farm gear, wood, and other stuff. Though there were a couple groups that had a lot of vehicles as well, including one couple that had a pair of loaders and a camper and another couple that had a small herd of horses and other animals. He nodded. Good for them, he thought. He coughed, and smelled the sickly sweet smell of vomit from animals and people. “Great,” he muttered, fighting the migraine headache he had as he tried to stagger to his knees.

John wasn't the first to recover, another guy came around looking as he groggily got to his feet. Hanuk growled, warning him of the approach. The guy held his hands up and nodded to him. John nodded warily back. “Nice dog mister,” the guy said, hands tight to his side, then he moved on. John watched him go, rubbing Hanuk's ears.

People around him reacted to his sled dogs and other animals. He'd been smart, he'd kept his dogs, plus bought chickens, rabbits, and other animals, whatever he could get his hands on before the aliens showed up. Like a true Alaskan nothing had gone to waste, he had everything up to and including the fixtures, plumbing, and kitchen sink from his cabin. Waste not, want not, he thought.

Especially here,” he thought, still getting the lay of the land. His stuff was clustered almost exactly as he'd left it on Earth. Briefly he wondered if this was heaven, or some sort of dream. Then he felt the wind on his face. Whatever it was, it was damn convincing, he thought, wrinkling his nose at the smell of vomit and urine. Apparently the animals, and probably some of the people hadn't handled the trip well.

The dogs were his best defense he thought. He'd planned carefully to stake them out around the perimeter, just like he did in Alaska. Hanuk was his alpha male, he'd been specifically bred from a wolf bloodline. John was glad he had the dogs, that guy nosing around was obviously a grifter, someone out to steal whatever he could get his hands on. They had a few in Alaska, but not many. Neighbors there usually helped each other as much as possible, you had to if you wanted to stay alive. Here it wouldn't be different he thought, or at least he hoped not. He'd hate to be sick or injured and not have help.

He noted the area, vehicles were around so it was hard to get his bearings. Someone was up on the back of a camper, others climbed up or on their own vehicles. John shook his head. He finally agreed with them, he had to get the lay of the land so he climbed on top of his dozer.

“It ain't fair man, you've got buildings!” A guy said.

“So?” John asked, not looking down at him. “They are detached from the ground.” He looked over to his panning shed. He'd turned it into a chicken and rabbit coop.

“Still ain't fair man,” the guy grumbled. “They didn't tell us that,” he groused.

“Life's unfair. Get used to it,” John said absently. He heard the guy wander off.

He took out some paper and sketched the area the best he could, getting some idea of a map. He tried to mark identifiable landmarks. It was late, he could tell because the sun was setting. From that he got a general bearing, since he figured the planet was like Earth, with the sun setting in the west. He marked that on the map and then sketched a compass. Then he took out his cell phone and tested it. The thing worked, but of course complained there was no signal. Instead he flipped the camera on, and took pictures, turning to get a pantographic view.

“What are you doing?” A guy asked. “You think you're a tourist or something?”

“I'm getting a lay of the land. And the pictures of landmarks will come in handy,” John replied simply.

“Oh.”

“I can reverse the image if necessary to figure it out,” John continued, still taking pictures. He frowned, patiently waiting for a couple to get out of his view before he continued.

“Smart.”

“Saw it in a movie once. Some goofy thing about a group of astronauts marooned on Mars. With that guy from Top Gun in it,” John admitted.

“Tom Cruise?” The guy asked.

John snorted. “No, the other guy,” he said, finishing up. He looked down but his inquisitive new friend was gone.

He got down when a few people started rounding up into a group at the center of their field. He climbed down, interested in what they had to say. He snagged a rifle though, checked the load, then pocketed some extra ammo just in case.

People were scared, that much was obvious he noted. Some and scoffed over the concern other showed. Some of the younger generation partied, jumping and doing cartwheels and laughing in the grass, singing and dancing. John shook his head.

“Hey!” He snarled when a teen went to burn stuff. “What the hell do you think you're doing you stupid fool!”

“No rules man! Chaos!” The kid laughed, igniting the strip of cloth. “We're in charge! No man to tell us what we can or can't do!” He laughed.

“Fuck, Lord of the Flies,” John snarled as he went over and kicked dirt over the fire and then stomped it out.

“What the fuck man!” The teen said, shoving him. “What's your problem!”

“You are you idiot! You think this shit grows on trees?” John snarled, waving his hands. “You see any Wal-Mart's around? Gas stations? Once it's gone it's gone for good!”

“So?” The teen responded, shoving him again. “Mind your own business man,” he snarled, chesting up.

John looked at him with cold eyes, making the kid suddenly think twice. “So, you're stupid,” he said in a cold raspy voice. “And you're lighting a fire near my shit. So if you want to be monumentally stupid, go do it somewhere else. Don't burn my shit. Or I'll put you in the ground permanently,” he snarled. That made the kid gulp. “Yeah, you wanted no rules, guess what? Think about that. And don't come whining to me for a hand out when you are hungry,” he snarled, body checking the kid hard enough to knock him off his feet.

“That's jacked man,” the kid said, rubbing his shoulder.

John looked at him. “Look kid, we start over, we start with what we've got on hand. You want to eat right? To live? Well grow up. There is no resupply. We're here for the long term. Make it last and recycle everything,” John said shaking his head.

The kid glared at him then kicked a rock at John. John dodged it. “Fine. Whatever,” the kid muttered.

“Start over, right,” John said, looking around to see the others watching. He waved and backed off, shaking his head. He knew he had a temper, and he knew he needed to get a handle on it. But wasteful shit like that just pissed him the hell off.

John shook his head as he took a moment to survey his new... group? Neighbors? Community? He frowned and then shrugged the idea off. Most of the people seemed to think it will be paradise until they heard the roars of wild animals off in the bush. A flock of weird four winged bird like things rising in the distance made them all pause as well.

Another couple thought it would be a spiritual thing, meeting god. “I don't understand,” the woman moaned. “Is this Eden?” she asked, looking around. She grimaced at the mud and snow in the shade of a nearby fir tree.

“Damnedest angel I'd ever saw,” a brown haired guy said, shaking his head in disgust. That brought the couple up short. The wife was crushed by how wrong her preconceptions were. Her face fell as she turned into her husband's arms. He hugged her and spoke soothing things to her as they moved away.

John got a general idea of the breakdown in people as he did a head count. There were twenty married couples with thirty children, thirty single adults. The ratio was an even fifty fifty male/female. No one older than forty five was in the group. That was probably for the best, anyone older than fifty would be hitting menopause if they were female, or be passed their prime if they were male, and therefore not much help in living off the land.

Everyone had been abducted from North America or in the Saito couple's case, Japan. Half of them had believed in the warnings, and when the first abductions had been reported in the media they'd worked feverishly to get as much survival material as they could. A third were hardy folk, used to living in the outback.

John for his trouble had been transported with a massive amount of wood, mining equipment, vehicles, food, survival gear, machinery, storage sheds, and other things he'd accumulated. Alaskan's were hoarders and pack rats for good reason, he'd cleaned out his bank accounts to take the survival aspect as far as he could. He was a big hit with group right off once the serious people took stock and centered on him. He had a hardy Alaskan mindset to go along with the material things.

The sound, or lack of sounds suddenly penetrated John's attention. He turned as people murmured and pointed. He looked to where they were pointing and froze. For the first time in a long time he wasn't sure which way to jump, awe and fear tore through him almost at the same time. Awe, he'd always dreamed of seeing dinosaurs. The group... herd, they had to be some sort of green speckled brontosaurus or whatever the scientists called them. The ones around the perimeter of the long necked creatures looked like duck billed dinosaurs.

They fascinated him as well. They moved like a mirage, marching along towards them. John frowned when a few people murmured and pointed. Another herd was following, these had six legs and definitely didn't come from Earth.

He was indeed awed, but it took him a moment to digest why he had felt fear. Then it came to him, where there were herbivores there were no doubt predators to feed on them. He frowned, shading his eyes to get a better look. He couldn't make anything out, but that didn't mean they weren't there, in the tree line or shadowing the herds.

“Mamacita, Madra de dios,” a Hispanic male said, making the sign of a cross in front of him as he backed into a beat up pickup truck and slammed the door shut. John looked at him, gaping, wide eyed at the animals and shook his head.  Fight or flight, he thought. Running was out, they were probably everywhere. He wasn't going to fight, they were outnumbered, and hell, out massed. That meant defenses, he thought.

“We've got to focus here,” a male voice said, making its way through the crowd. People turned to look at who was speaking. “Come on people, you've all seen the TV shows. Survival, the four essentials, fire, water, food, shelter,” a short guy said. A few nodded. “Get with it people, someone get out on each perimeter and keep an eye out. We don't want a predator coming in here and snatching a kid,” he said. That sparked a chatter as people suddenly looked fearfully to the tree line a hundred yards away.

“Name's Eric,” he said holding out his hand to John. “Eric Cantor. That's my wife Carlene over there, the brunette with the looks. Don't get any ideas, she's taken,” he said. John snorted and nodded. “Thanks for setting that firebug straight,” he said, nodding his chin to the teen.

John looked over to the teen who was with a group of others near his age. He turned back to the blond guy.

“John,” John said, shaking the proffered hand. “I think we can use the vehicles for shelter, but we'd better add defenses to that list.” Eric winced when another roar, this one ending in a screech and then a series of caws capped John's statement. He nodded. John nodded back.

They set up a plan by the fire after John staked out his dogs and fed them. He fed them only enough to get by, he knew if they were a little hungry they'd be a bit more aggressive if anyone unwelcome came to visit in the night. Still, it paid to be careful, so before bedding down in his truck he made certain his rifle was with him.

~~~~~~(@)~~~~~~

 In the morning he and Eric and others of like mind set to work. They picked a steep hill nearby. It was reasonably flat on top, about a half mile in diameter. It had rocks jutting up on one edge, forming a wall about twenty feet high. That was perfect for their needs. Not only that, but it was sloped all around, and best of all, only lightly wooded with some rocks and boulders they could use sprinkled about. The plateau top was about a half a square mile of prime space John thought, and he aimed to get it. John noted there were some additional rocks nearby, and a creek near the south base which was also good.

John trundled the dozer over, using his precious fuel to get to the spot. Then he used the dozer to clear a stretch of land, while Eric and a guy named Earl drove his borrowed loaders to build an earth and rock berm around the site. It took a while to talk the guy with the ancient Peterbilt tractor trailer truck to tow John's six cargo containers and other gear up the hill. John had to use his dozer to help the truck along on the slow climb; it got stuck a few times.

The containers formed part of the wall near the rock wall. Logs knocked over by the dozer were also used for the outer wall, stacked horizontally until they had the time to figure something better out. A really tall bald guy and a short pear shaped black woman kept an eye out for animals with a pair of rifles. John was grateful in a way, but annoyed as well. With all the havoc they were making no sane animal would be nosing around to investigate.

Still, when they stepped up a couple others did as well. A woman took a hatchet and hacked at the tree limbs with a pair of teens she bullied into the job. They made a pile of limbs, and then one got the idea to make a shelter out of it. John shook his head, but he was too busy to intervene.

A teenager bullied what looked like her dad to come help as well. He drove a black Chevy truck up the hill towing a loaded flatbed, then went back to get a horse trailer, and then more stuff. Once the others realized what was going on that started them talking about what they were going to do.

Crashing and animal sounds in the forest opposite their landing field had people reluctantly move in to their partially built base camp by lunch time. John looked up in time to see cars moving up the improvised road. Of course they had to park anywhere and everywhere... usually right in the way of him or someone else. He was sorely tempted to use the dozer or loader to move a few vehicles.

Eric took charge, doing his best to organize them to pull their gear into the fort in a somewhat orderly manner. Everyone had their own zone, a place they could build their own home on. Some were pretty jealous over their holdings. Of course it was every man for himself, no one helped the others pull their gear in. Trust was fleeting for some; it seemed there were already reports of theft.

A few staked out their home on the plateau, leaving one person at their new home while others moved gear. That of course diminished their available manpower. The few with little belongings did their best to attach themselves to those who did. John shook off a few grifters as he parked the vehicles in a neat orderly row. He'd been pissed when one lady had used one of his loaders to move her gear in, burning his fuel. He'd taken charge of it and locked it down when she'd come back to base camp.

 John swore as he worked tiredly to bring his own essentials in as night fell. The temperature dropped fast as the sun set, not that it bothered him or the dogs. They and his vehicles were essential to move stuff. But a few flakes of snow in the air did make him realize they were in a climate that had snow. And most likely, it was either late fall or early spring. He hoped it was near spring.