Roo the Day, page 27
part #13 of Bob and Nikki Series
Diego’s voice asked, “Yes, Boss?”
“Have you worked out terms with those bots for using the parts of their planet that they aren’t?”
“Yes. The terms are pretty reasonable, actually.”
“Do they have their heart set on their neighbors being human?”
“It never came up. I don’t think they’ve ever met aliens. Why do you ask?”
“We’re at a planet full of aliens descended from a species similar to a kangaroo, and they have way more people than they have planet for them to live on. I was wondering if we could move some of them there.”
“I’ll check, but I don’t think that will be a problem, as long as your hoppy friends are good neighbors.”
“As in, staying out of bot business?”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll talk to my Roo business partner, and see if she thinks her people could handle an arrangement like that.”
“I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you. We’re nearly ready to move on to the next planet on the list, do you need us to hang around until you show up with colonists?”
“You would be the best judge of that. Do you think the bots will give me trouble if I show up without you?”
“No, Boss, I do not. The bots we have with us have been telling the natives stories of Captain Wilson, and how you have helped them get rid of their limiters. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble at all.”
“Sounds good. Send me a list of what they want in exchange for the use of their planet. We should be there in a week or two.”
“I’ll get with them, and see what they say. Talk to you later, Boss.”
“Later. Tell your wife I said ‘hi’.”
“Will do.”
The connection went dead.
Gene asked, “Do you need Majel again, Boss?”
“If she’s not on another call.”
Her voice came on. “Yes, Captain?”
“My man at that second planet I told you about thinks the natives wouldn’t mind having neighbors, as long as they weren’t too nosy. Do you think your people can live up to that?”
“Yes, Captain, I think they can. Do you think you can move that many people?”
“Not all in one trip, certainly. I’m sure we can take care of your needs eventually, though.”
“Good enough. I’ll get back to you, when I have things settled.”
“Bye.”
Gene said, “Scotti would like a word, Boss.”
“Put her on.”
“Hey, Boss. I have some things to run past you, if you’re not too busy.”
“I have time for any idea you have, Scotti. They’re always worth my time.”
“Thanks, Boss. Gene already told me we’re going to need a wad of nighty-nights, so you don’t have to worry about that. They’re printing. What I called about is the problem of moving these folks to their new home. We can pack a lot of them in the Gene, and the other carriers, but what we really need is a dedicated people hauler.”
“You have the plans already drawn up, and you need my okay to start bending metal?”
“Yep. The bots on the Armstrong and the Conrad both have asteroids lined up to start on. I didn’t figure building them here would be a good idea, since we would have to buy the raw materials.”
“That all sounds reasonable. How are you going to get them spaceworthy in time to do us any good?”
“I was looking at some of the stuff we brought from Earth, and saw this crazy idea to heat up an asteroid, and inflate it. If we did that, we could have a huge hull, pretty quick.”
“Let me guess. Tow it to the outer system, so it will cool quickly, and some happy weapons officer gets to have a party, warming it up?”
“Tex is going to be upset that he got left out, isn’t he?”
“He’ll get over it. You have my okay. Begin the project as soon as you can.”
“On it, Boss.”
“Later.”
I looked at Jim and Nikki. “That will keep us from tying up our carriers on a milk run. Maybe we can get this deal done in a reasonable amount of time.”
Jim said, “Sounds like we could. You sound like you have somewhere else to be.”
“I just want to get out of here, before I manage to whiz the new government off. Their way of doing things doesn’t sit well with me, and I fear I might have a need to explain that to them, if we hang around.”
Nikki asked, “Let me see if I have this straight. You don’t want to interfere in Roo politics, and if you’re here, you’re afraid you will, whether you want to, or not?”
“That would be it, yes.”
Jim said, “You haven’t decided that it needs to be fixed, whether or not?”
“They say it works for them. I’m in no position to tell them they are wrong, am I?”
“I suppose not, but I don’t like it any better than you do, Bob.”
“I surely hope they come up with something more like what we’re used to, on their new planet. We’re probably going to be doing business with them for a long time, and I really don’t want to have to beat it into somebody’s head every time we show up that we aren’t going to put up with their crap.”
Nikki asked, “If we’re their only lifeline, do you really think they would try to pull that nonsense?”
“Judging by the Leader, I’d say they’ll push just as far as they think they can get away with. I hope we don’t wind up having to withhold supplies to get their attention.”
Jim said, “You think they would push it that far?”
“I hope not, but I don’t have any evidence to back that up. Kids like Lilly, Gina, and Matt having a hard time, because I can’t get along with their government, isn’t something I want to be responsible for.”
Nikki said, “I think they have seen what you will do to governments you can’t get along with, Bob. I don’t think they will push their luck.”
“I hope you’re right. Well, going around this isn’t going to get us anywhere. I move we adjourn.”
Jim said, “Seconded.”
Nikki said, “Passed by acclamation.”
We stood up to leave. I noticed the chairs sitting sideways. “Gene, could you mention to Scotti that I would like the chairs in here modified like the ones in the galley?”
“Sure, Boss. How soon do you need that?”
“Whenever she can fit it in, no rush.”
“On it, Boss.”
We stepped into the hall, and I said, “I better get back to the bridge. See you folks later. Thanks for your help.”
Jim said, “Bye, Bob.”
Nikki kissed me, and said, “See you later, then. Love you.”
“I love you, too.”
The Commodore we had picked up was waiting for me. He said, “Captain, I was wondering if I could get a ride down to the planet. I have friends that I would like to help, in the struggle to form a new government.”
I said, “Gene, can you see that he gets where he needs to be?”
“Yes, Boss. Commodore, if you would get aboard the transit, please, I can take you to where you can catch a ship.”
“Thank you, Captain. You too, Gene.”
I walked onto the bridge, and Saucy called, “Commodore on the bridge.” I answered, “As you were. Commodore?”
Topper said, “Sally passed you fleet command, while you were in your meeting.”
“That was nice of her. Remind me to get her something.”
“Like what, Boss?”
“Some work, maybe?”
“I should have known. She wanted me to tell you that all of the ships in the outer system are working to convert to hauling the Roos. Scotti is working on the same thing, here.”
“Sounds like we’re all heading in the right direction. How many of the factions on the planet have called with offers in return for aiding them in the leadership struggle?”
“As near as we can tell, all of them. I told them we don’t interfere in local politics. None of them wanted to believe that, and said we already had, we should help them finish it.”
“I’m tempted to intervene, but I don’t think they would like my idea.”
Tex said, “One round from the mains, into each of their headquarters?”
“Give that bot a cigar!”
Topper said, “Well, Tex won that pool. I had retrieving them, and letting them Jello wrestle for it, in one of the holds.”
“That does sound more amusing. I seem to be short on sense of humor, when it comes to dealing with alien civilizations.”
“That statue you let me build was pretty funny, Boss.”
“It was, but it also contributed to the downfall of the government.”
“Taz got bored, and hacked their internet. There were lots of sites advocating his overthrow before we showed up. Some of them had fairly large organizations behind them.”
“I wouldn’t have thought the ‘Leader’ would have tolerated that kind of thing.”
“Taz said it was what you would call the ‘dark web’.”
“That makes sense, I suppose. Do we have any idea how many people live here?”
“The best answer we’ve found to that is about fifteen billion, Boss.”
“That’s a lot, but I wouldn’t think it would be enough to cause the kind of things that they’re doing to cope with it.”
“We didn’t think so either. Of course, the official numbers are higher, so maybe that’s how they’re justifying it.”
“The government is telling people that the planet is more crowded than it is?”
“Big time. The official number is about twice what we were able to count.”
“This place is a mess. I’ll be glad to see the last of it.”
“Just think of the scandium, Boss. Better hull metal, just for a planet we didn’t even know about, a couple of weeks ago.”
“There is that, for sure. We still need a place to call home, though.”
“You know Morning Flower and her people don’t care if we base out of Charlie’s, right, Boss?”
“I know that, Topper. It would be great, for us, and probably for Gus and Becky, but eventually, there are going to be enough shaved apes to be a problem. I’d rather head that off now, instead of letting all our descendants deal with it.”
“Understood, Boss. Just because it isn’t a problem now, doesn’t mean it won’t ever be.”
“On the money, Topper. Anybody wanting to be a problem in our sky, today?”
“No, Boss. I think you’ve convinced them that’s not the way to go about things.”
“Not even any Marines on long, drifting trajectories, trying to sneak aboard?”
“We saw a couple of those. Andre gave them a ride home.”
“Have I mentioned lately I like the way you work, Topper?”
“A time or two, I think.”
Saucy said, “Majel for you, Boss.”
“Yes, Majel?”
“Captain, I can have colonists ready to load tomorrow morning. Will that be acceptable?”
“I don’t see why not. Scotti should have us fitted out to haul them, by then. I have no doubt the engineers on the other ships will be doing their best to get done before Scotti, just for bragging rights, so we should be in fine shape. Where do we need to go to load our scandium?”
“I’ve already sent the coordinates to Ruth, Captain. You’ll be able to load, as soon as you have the colonists aboard.”
“Sounds reasonable. Anything else you need from me?”
“I don’t think so, right now. Talk to you in the morning.”
“Bye.”
The fact I had lost track of time was made obvious to me, when Stella came onto the bridge, carrying a tray, and said, “Would you like some breakfast, Boss?”
“I could stand to eat, now that you mention it. I pulled an all-nighter again, didn’t I?”
“That you did. I brought coffee.”
“Thanks.”
I looked at Topper. “Majel meant twenty-four hours from now, didn’t she?”
“Afraid so, Boss.”
“Ruth, jump us out to where the rest of the fleet is. Saucy, get me Sally when you can.”
“On it, Boss” came back in stereo.
Sally appeared on the main screen. “Yes, Boss?”
“Would you mind taking our spot down by the planet? I screwed up and pulled an all-nighter. If I don’t get some sleep, I’ll start making mistakes.”
“No problem, Boss. Good to see you again.”
“Good seeing you, as well. Take care, these turkeys are in the middle of a revolution, and trying to draw us into it.”
“Understood. Turn down all offers, regardless of how good they sound.”
“Sounds like you have it under control. Talk to you later.”
“Later, Boss.”
I ate my breakfast, and said, “Topper, I’m going to go see about some sleep. Your ship.”
“My ship, yes, Boss. Sleep well.”
I went to the cabin and crashed. I was awakened by baby noises, and found Becky trying to crawl into bed with me. I picked her up, snuggled with her, and went back to sleep. Someone must have retrieved her, because she wasn’t there when Jeeves came to get me up. He said, “Boss, if you want to be able to sleep tonight, you better get up and stir around.”
“Thanks, Jeeves. Anything that needs my attention?”
“Mr. Topper says everything is doing fine, he just wants you in the big chair for the loading in the morning.”
“Fair enough. I made this crazy deal, I ought to see it through.”
I did what I needed to, and headed to the bridge. Saucy announced me, and I answered. Topper said, “Hi, Boss.”
“Hey, Topper. Anything I need to look at?”
“Nope. Pretty quiet. Sally would like a word, now that you’re awake.”
“I’m sure she would. Any idea what I didn’t do to her satisfaction, this time?”
“That’s not the way she sounded at all, Boss. I think she’s psyched you found a source of scandium.”
“Let’s find out.” I strapped into the big chair, and said, “Put her on, Saucy.”
“Hi, Boss!”
“Hi, Sally. What did you need?”
“Mostly, I just wanted to congratulate you on finding a source of scandium. That will make our ships much stronger, once we get the hulls refitted.”
“That sounds like a lot of downtime, Sally.”
“Not really, Boss. We can take the metal to the shipyard we set up, and let some of the bots build all the pieces we will need. It will only take a ship being down for a couple of weeks, to change them out.”
“A couple of weeks, to change the entire hull? I don’t think you’re telling me exactly how this is going to happen.”
“You’re right, Boss. We’ll build new hulls, and move the fittings over from the old ones.”
“How much of a strength increase are we talking about?”
“Fifty percent, more or less.”
“So, we will be able to go with bigger drive emitters?”
“Yes, and bigger mains, too.”
“What are the plans for the old hulls, once all this is taken care of?”
“Well, we don’t want them laying around where someone could find them and refit them, we were thinking we would melt them down, as we went, to provide metal to mix with the scandium.”
“That’s probably the wise plan. It just seems a little sad, to me.”
Gene spoke up. “No, Boss. Everything that makes me who I am will still be here. I’m just getting a new suit of clothes.”
“If you’re cool with it, Gene, I don’t have any room to gripe. Thanks for the input.”
“You’re welcome, Boss.”
“So, Sally, what else are you planning with enough scandium to play with? New, stronger body for the Lieutenant Commander?”
“Scotti ran the numbers on that, Boss. Even if we did give ourselves stronger frames, there wouldn’t be room for more powerful actuators, so we wouldn’t be stronger, just more durable, and we think we’ve already proved to be plenty durable.”
