Winning Peace - Chapter 16:
Putting aside the memes that were constantly being shared, I actually hadn't had much to do with designing or building the new ships. At this point, it had become a joke to accuse or credit me with essentially everything the government did or planned. Thankfully, for my sanity at least, that wasn't true. Mostly, at least. The Ministry of Transportation had taken the lead on the whole affair, assisted in a great deal of the design and implementation process by the Ministry of State. There'd been some consultation of the Ministry of Economics, but they'd largely stayed out of the whole affair, being preoccupied with a new push for diversified occupations working jointly with the Ministries of Education and Entertainment & Culture.
The ships that resulted from this effort were only designed to do one thing.
They were meant to transport people safely and quickly throughout the solar system.
Even if it had taken longer than I'd wanted it to, the proliferation of my printers meant that transporting any sort of cargo other than the printers themselves or extremely specialized equipment just wasn't necessary. Moreover, the machines could actually negate a great deal of storage capacity for food, water, and other necessities during the journeys they made. Most of those could be produced simply by cycling waste back into the printers, after all, even if people actively tried to avoid being reminded of that fact of life.
"Honestly, it doesn't actually matter if you're recycling waste in one step or twenty," I griped irritably under my breath.
"Something wrong, Minister Lopez?" Matthew Bertrand asked, looking over at me.
"Nothing specific, Captain, just griping to myself. You know how government is," I waved him off.
"I know enough. I'd rather avoid learning more," he quipped slyly and I chuckled.
"True, true." My eyes scanned over the readings of the vessel. "You run a tight ship. Everything seems to be running smoothly."
The man nodded, surreptitiously pulling at his white navy jumpsuit, the garment doubling as an emergency space suit in the event of a hull breach. "I should hope so, the shakedown cruise to Mars and back gave us a good idea of what to expect from the new girls. Even with all of the next-generation technology under the hood, they're surprisingly cooperative. The Sgt. Pepper barely had any problems."
"I heard about the trouble with the capacitors for the EM shielding," I replied, making idle conversation as I looked around the spacious and well-appointed command facility. "You have my apologies for that, for what it's worth. If I'd gone over the specifications they were using more closely I might have caught the feedback problem."
The Captain waved my apology off. "It's not a problem, Minister. We had redundancies built in for exactly that reason, and the ability to create replacement parts on-demand really sped up the repair process. Given that no one was seriously injured past a few light radiation burns that were easily treated, there's no cause for further concern." He paused, looking over the massive displays that substitute for actual windows. "Though, if you don't mind a few questions?"
"If I have the answers, sure," I replied, leaning back in one of my specially-created chairs.
"I was curious about the placement of the command module," Captain Bertrand gestured to the room we occupied. "Not to complain, but on the old ships we always put this stuff at the bow rather than deep amidships. I was wondering about the reasoning."
"That was one of the few considerations I asked to be made, actually," I stated contemplatively, thinking back to the few design meetings I'd attended. "I argued that putting the command module in the front or using a classical naval design elevating the space above the center of the vessel would open up possible... vulnerabilities."
The Captain's dark eyebrows rose as his blue eyes sharpened. "Vulnerabilities such as... asteroid strikes?"
I hummed at the leading question and shrugged. "Those were a consideration, yes. Overall, it was judged that survivability of the craft in any emergency situation was increased by placing the life support, reactor, and command staff in the armored heart of the vessel rather than in an exterior-facing compartment."
"I see," the Captain nodded slowly, his brown face set in a serious expression. "Should we expect any 'emergency situations' anytime soon?"
Not if I have anything to say about it.
"Given my close working relationship with the Minister of Intelligence, I can unequivocally state there's nothing of that type on the horizon currently." I spoke firmly, my volume slightly raised for the benefit of the staff and officers who were listening in. Catching a few relaxed shoulders, I smiled back at the Captain. "The Prime Minister just believes in an... abundance of caution, given the turmoil on Earth."
Matthew nodded. "I suppose I can understand that. You know, I was one of the 2ICs who attended that emergency conference call you arranged, way back in the day. After the bombs fell."
I looked over the man's face and nodded slowly. "I think I remember that, now that you mention it. You asked the question about... restocking fuel supplies and life support scrubbers."
He grinned. "You've got a mind as sharp as they all say, Minister. Yeah... I can understand an abundance of caution."
I nodded solemnly as well. "Did you want to know anything else?"
Matthew opened his mouth, stopped, closed it again, and frowned. "There's no polite way to ask this, I suppose, but... about the name? Not that I'm complaining, but..."
I chuckled. "Ah... well, there was actually a lot of argument over the entire affair. We had a block of people arguing for names of famous historical individuals, geographical landmarks, cities that had... well, cities from before the war..." I trailed off awkwardly for a moment. "There was a lot of debate, especially since this would be our first class of domestically-produced ships that didn't rely on Earth-based design firms and corporate think-tanks."
"...but using a Beatles album?" The Captain pressed.
I snorted and shrugged. "Roughly ninety-percent of the group discussing the new naming convention were Beatles fans, myself included. I can't actually remember how the topic came up, but using album titles from the previous centuries was deemed both inoffensive and could incorporate a lot of cultures fairly easily. Although, I actually voted for Let it Be or Abbey Road."
We both fell silent, an amused smile on my lips while he bore a somewhat bemused one. On the screens, images of the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the Getting Better, and the Fixing a Hole were displayed, showing the Sgt. Pepper's sister ships in formation with itself."
I still contend that the best name for a ship class using Beatles songs would have been Across the Universe.
…
Mars.
I was on Mars. I was stepping foot on the red planet!
A part of me, some long-forgotten childish bit of me who had always wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up, was squealing and bouncing in abject glee as I rode the shuttle down through the planet's thin atmosphere. It had taken only two weeks to arrive in Martian orbit with the new fusion torches driving the Sgt. Pepper, but the ship itself wasn't really meant for atmospheric insertion. We just weren't at the stage where something that big could come and go into planetary gravity wells with any level of ease.
Which meant I got to take a next-generation trans-atmospheric plane down to Eos Chasma, the largest human settlement on Mars.
"We'll be experiencing a little turbulence, but the fixation system will take care of most of it, Minister, so the ride should be pretty smooth overall."
I nodded at the woman behind the controls, Sasha strapped in to my side looking a bit more nervous. "Thank you, pilot. Get us down in one piece and I promise I won't complain about anything else."
She chuckled. "Don't worry, sir, our shakedown cruise included off-boarding and onboarding procedures. I've done this dozens of times without incident and we've already gotten three all-clear notices for the weather. We're green across the board."
I fingered the emergency portal projector tied to a simplified AI with override permissions hidden in my wrist-mounted computer. It was very reassuring. "I'll take your word for it."
As I spoke, I looked out at the viewscreen on my left, the surface of the red planet coming into clear view as we passed from orbit into the planet's atmosphere. The desert landscape of a formerly-alien world filled my view, a desert that was so ancient that it had finished oxidizing, finished rusting before the first ancestor hominid had begun walking upright. The ghosts of rivers sprawled across the land, waterways that had dried up before any human had spoken their first word, let alone looked to the stars and thought of worlds beyond our own.
It was amazing.
Finally, in that inhospitable wasteland, a series of clear domes came into view, clustered around one huge one and connected like a web with opaque-covered railways. The settlement predated my design choices for expanding Armstrong City, being much like the original Lunar colony in that most of it existed on the surface. Even before the Stellar Council's decision to massively expand underground, though, the colonists had done quite a bit of excavation for hydroponics farms and extra living space. It didn't hurt that the compacted soil was a great EM blocker in lieu of an ozone layer. Even with all of that in the back of my mind, though, what I could see of the city was incredibly impressive considering what all had to go into building it.
Eos Chasma. Humanity's first colony on another planet.
"That's right tower, we're coming in right on target. I'm reading the runway as clear, please confirm," our pilot spoke into her headpiece. Then nodded. "No problems to speak of, but nice to see you got the other two landing strips finished. You want me on Old Reliable, right?"
Another few moments and we were looking down the long stretch of a white-and-green covered runway, the colors having been chosen to stand out against the ruddy Martian soil and the dark shadows the sand dunes could cast when the mood took them. The plane made a quick braking maneuver and computer-assisted guidance directed us precisely on-target as we bounced slightly before slowly rolling to a stop.
"Oh thank god," Sasha whispered beside me, relaxing into her seat.
"If you would, please wait to move about the cabin until the plane comes to a complete stop," the pilot asked, her voice taking a teasing lilt before growing serious. "We'll be parking at one of the covered terminals so you won't get much use out of those suits you're wearing."
"That's fine," I replied. "I'll take an official walk outside later. Sadly, I'll no doubt have a great deal of people who want to talk official business with me."
"If the traffic I'm hearing over the air is anything to go by, Governor Cheng himself will be waiting to greet you," she replied.
I nodded. "That is the plan."
It took a relatively short amount of time before we had rolled into the covered bay for the shuttle, the doors sealing behind us as the pressure readings began to slowly climb up to Earth's sea-level normal. Once the temperature had hit a slightly-chilly, if acceptable range, I heard the telltale hiss as an airlock cracked open. Giving myself a once-over, I turned to Sasha, "How do I look?"
"Like a politician in a space suit," she quipped instantly.
"Ow," I replied, one hand over my heart. "Hurtful."
She snorted and rolled her eyes. "You look fine. Let's go."
Walking down the extended ramp, I caught sight of a number of flashes in the reception area as a small, but no doubt extra-vicious, press corps stood to greet us. A wall of clear polymer-glass lit up as I raised a hand to wave at the assembled Martian colonists, a genuine smile on my face as I saw an actual paper-banner. The relic from days gone by was being proudly held aloft by two people proclaiming...
'Welcome Minister Ezekiel Lopez!'
Then the sound cut on and the previously quiet hanger was filled with the cheers of dozens of people as I jogged towards the airlock just now opening. First out was a man who would have been called middle-aged during my first life, who happily extended his own hand to meet mine as we shook vigorously amid even more flashes of light.
"Governor Cheng!" I called over the raucous din. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you without the light-speed lag!"
The man chuckled, the sound almost lost but seeming every bit honest from the former biologist. "Same to you, Minister Lopez! Welcome to our little corner of the solar system! I hope you have a wonderful stay here in Eos Chasma!"
"I absolutely plan to," I replied, our mutual handshake finally releasing. "We'll have to talk about the skyhook project I saw coming in on the Sgt. Pepper. It's amazing how much progress you've made in just a year."
"I look forward to a few conversations, albeit with some experts to help me articulate things. I'm not as gifted as you are when it comes to hardware." He laughed again, then waved to the crowd around us, a few security personnel in uniforms keeping something like a cordon. "But for now, questions from the public!"
A roar of queries and demands rose up, echoing in the vast chamber as we managed the press conference. A thought came to mind as I pointed to a young man. "You, sir! Have the honor of asking the first question to a visiting dignitary of humanity's first species-wide human government of the solar system. Prepared to make history?"
The young man, even younger than me, gaped like a fish for a moment, his eyes wide before he cleared his throat. "I, uh... m-my readers want to know if you're actually the reincarnation of Stephen Hawking here to save us all from the apocalypse?"
There was silence.
I opened my mouth, closed it, then shook my head. "Excellent question. Usually people want to know if I'm the reincarnation of Nikola Tesla, so this is a nice change. The answer is still, 'no,' though. Next question!"
Moving past that aneurysm-inducing display of humanity, someone raised their hand and I pointed at them. "Minister Lopez, when will the Stellar Council clear commuter traffic between the various colonies across the system?"
"Very topical! Part of the reason for my visit is actually to announce the opening of trade lanes between Mars and Luna-" I explained to my eager listeners, answering the first of many questions to come.
Skill List:
Mathematics: 1-10
Computer Programming: 1-10
Physics: 1-10
Material Sciences: 1-10
Nanomachines: 1-5
Orbital Mechanics: 1-5
Quantum Mechanics: 1-5
Artificial Intelligence: 1-5
Artificial Intelligence Shackling: 1-10
Blackboxing: 1-10
Robotics: 1-5
Ruggedization: 1-5
Molecular Assembly: 1-5
Safeguards: 1-5
Failsafes: 1-5
Genetics: 1-10
Astrobotany: 1-4
Medicine: 1-3
Social Engineering: 1-5
Public Speaking: 1
Speed-Reading: 1
Teaching: 1
Critical Thinking: 1
Logistics: 1-5
Strategy: 1-5
Public Relations: 1-5
Corporate Espionage: 1
Automation: 1-5
Business Management: 1-3
Economics: 1-3
Aperture Science Technologies: 1-10
Ghost in the Shell: Cybernetics 1-3
Sword Art Online: FullDive Simulator I-3
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