Misjump Page 17

  #

  Lori sat across the table from Van Loo and explained the medical text again. The process would have been easier and smoother if she wasn’t correcting it as she went. The book had been state of the art when it was written, but it was well over a century out of date. Most of the equipment in the stalk’s medical bay was more recent but still old. Lori was getting kit from the sick bay of the Sarafina cloned as quickly as possible, but there was a lot of competition for processor time and reactor output. Materials were not the bottleneck. She was currently waiting for the fine resolution structure scanner to be completed, and it was frustrating that it was queued behind other jobs and infuriating that it was queued behind some of her own orders. The other equipment was essential and could save lives, but she very much wanted to work on the tissue samples that they had recovered from the most recent greenie attack. The scanner in the stalk had been cheap junk when it had been new, had long since failed, and it had been robbed for components at some point. There didn’t seem to be a record of when. It would have been less frustrating if she could have looked at the gross anatomy of the host, but the iron projectile hadn’t left much of that and what there was fitted the term “gross” all too well.

  Lori sighed and returned to the text. “So, the mitochondrial DNA can be damaged by cosmic radiation in both genders, but the mtDNA is always from the female line, so the gene pool is not … okay, that is wrong. It is always passed down from the female line, but that can be suppressed in vitro if the mtDNA of the father is less damaged. You can use that to correct errors if needed.”

  Dr Van Loo scribbled down some notes. She would read up on the suppression technique later, but knowing that there was something to look for was more than half of the problem. The new files that the travellers had brought were immense.

  #

  Ivo and Jax bolted two sections of girder together, the ratchet guns snugging the bolts home. “I don’t see how this is better than being bored,” said Jax. “It is dull work and we aren’t getting paid for it so why the hell are we doing it?”

  “We get fed and we get air. That is most of the pay that anyone who works in the stalk gets. Anyway, you would just be sitting around complaining about the beer ration if we weren’t doing this. Quit bitching and give me a hand with the cable clips so you can go back to whatever this is keeping you from,” replied Ivo.

  “There are women on this station,” said Jax flatly,

  “And were any of them interested in you?” asked Ivo.

  Jax considered for a moment. “I was starting to wear them down. Give me time here. An artist does not do his best work in a hurry.”

  “Or on a base with controlled breeding quotas,” said Ivo.

  Jax grinned. “Breeding wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

  Ivo sighed. “You rig the lower member and I will do the upper.”

  “Damn straight,” said Jax. “My lower member could use some rigging.”

  “Yeah, well, looks like you will have to take care of that yourself … so nothing new there,” said Ivo.

  “Ain’t that the truth!” said Jax, and positioned the cable guide ready for welding. “Still, it doesn’t seem right working for no pay.“

  “Well, yes and no,” said Ivo. “There isn’t anything to buy here. Everything is rationed. You can get some perks for work hours, but this place ran on company scrip even before it was isolated and that was partially suspended after the state of emergency. There isn’t a currency worth a damn in the entire galaxy as far as we know.”

  Jax looked thoughtful. “Yeah, I guess, but it is not the way that I wanted to get out of debt.”

  Ivo nodded and went back to welding.

  #

  Meilin sat at the terminal and scheduled the batch job that would patch the next lot of servers. It was slower than having Fumi do it, but there was no way that Nitrauw would let Fumi back on the system. Meilin suspected that Fumi was behind a lot of the patch code, but Nitrauw had his own people checking the changes, and they had raised a few queries. The clock ticked down and the batch started to run, stopping servers to modify the code and then restarting them. In theory, the systems were robust and would recover from any errors, but the systems were also old and could be cranky sometimes. She watched the text roll by, spooling onto the screen and into a file. It looked like there had only been a handful of failures. She hoped that they would be simple enough to fix. She was primarily a negotiator and not keen on routine work like this. She signed up on a starship to avoid it, but she understood the need. She would sooner have been working on her light sculptures. A new error appeared on the screen, blinking red. Meilin sighed and started the diagnostics.

  #

  A week later, the first of the stalk’s new pilots was running through the simulation in the cockpit of the Sarafina with Gregor perched uncomfortably on the rarely used jump seat. The duplicate ships would be very similar internally, but a weapons console would be added to the existing controls where a blank panel was on the Sarafina. Gregor had asked the workshop to retrofit the trader with the same weapons loadout as the duplicates, a job that was proving difficult since the cable runs needed to go through critical areas. Fumi had told him not to worry, but it was easier advice to give than follow. Gregor watched the pilot line up on the jump point. He looked down at the sheet to check the pilot’s name.

  “Okay, Jan, that was … acceptable. Would be better to approach more slowly and adjust in non-combat scenario but pretty good eyeball approach. Now, this jump, you have jump parameters given. Is anything that you missed perhaps?” asked Gregor.

  Jan rolled his shoulders, his small frame fitting the pilot seat poorly. “Nope, looks good to me. Vector is fine, no mass interdiction, drive is showing ready and H2 tanks full. I think that we are good.” He looked over at Gregor.

  “Da, all true. What is nearest mass please?” asked Gregor.

  The young pilot opened his mouth, closed it again and checked the display. “The system defence boat, five klicks out. It isn’t blocking the jump. What is the problem?”

  Gregor sighed quietly. “And what is purpose of SDB?”

  “To protect the jump point against greenies,” replied Jan.

  “And other threats, yes,” agreed Gregor. “Also, is last stage in traffic control. Is customary to confirm flight plan with them, yes?”

  Jan shrugged. “Fine, but I don’t think that greenies need to know that.”

  Gregor closed his eyes for a moment. “Yes, understood, but please follow training doctrine. Simulation is expecting it and is good practice, okay?”

  Jan nodded and raised the simulated SDB on the simulated radio. Gregor made a note on his pad. “Need more discipline. Excellent grasp of relative velocity and position, grasp of chain of command not good.”

  #

  Fumi stepped through the debug log for the third time, the screen of text hanging in a window in front of her. Node 12 had completed the process and signalled node 54, which had not acted on the signal because it was blocked on node 32, which was stuck on node 12 because node 12 hadn’t freed the mutex. It hadn’t freed the mutex because it needed node 14 to complete, but 14 was waiting on 54. She sighed and pulled up the code in a new window that hung in space next to the log. There were always going to be problems when scaling up a system from a single node to a massively parallel system, but this was proving heavy going. She followed the logic of the code and realised that it would need some fairly serious design changes or a dirty hack that would hurt performance, which was the whole point using the massively parallel array in the first place. Each node was an expanded copy of the original Sarafina core, and the physical systems formed a gappy sphere around the ship that they were working on. She could have parcelled the job up so each AI was controlling the nanites in an individual part of the ship, but there were efficiency issues that offended her with that solution.

  Instead, each physical node was host to a cloud of virtual nodes which could take and process jobs in the qu
eue or add jobs to the queue, meaning there was no AI overhead with a massive performance gain just as long as it didn’t crash or hang. While she no longer got physically tired, she needed a break and decided that this was a good time for lunch. She instantiated a spicy stir-fry and told the AI to work on the code. She could have spun up another instance of herself to work on the code, but that felt wrong. She was herself, Fumi. A copy would be just that and she wouldn’t be able to terminate a copy because it would feel like murder. The AI would probably figure it out while she ate. She could always fine-tune the code later if she didn’t like the design. She brought up a window with a movie running to keep her company while she ate. It didn’t fix the loneliness, but it helped a little.

  Chapter 21

  Nitrauw sat at the head of the table with the crew of the Sarafina sat around the oval, an old style flat screen monitor allowing Fumi a telepresence. He looked around at each of them. “So, we are currently over time, over energy, and over resources allocation on this project by eight percent, seventy-six percent, and eighty-two percent respectively. Those are some pretty damn serious overruns. I am going to need some significant over-deliveries to go with the over cost. How about you tell me about them?”

  The crew had been expecting this and had discussed it. They looked to Meilin to lead the response. “Yes, we understand. Our agreement was that we would supply you with at least one working jump capable ship with a self-defence capability and that we would upgrade your systems, as needed, in the stalk. We have already delivered the upgraded systems in the stalk including a much-improved medical bay, significantly enhanced life support and most importantly, a fully working shipyard. You had a facility suitable for maintaining small ships and even manufacture of basic in-system mining craft, but your current setup can build very much larger and more capable ships. We have twenty-four ships which are close to completion, which is greatly more than you asked for. We are running late, and we are running over budget, but we are also delivering much more than you expected. You are getting a better deal than we had agreed.”

  Nitrauw nodded. “Yes, fair points, but how far from completion are you on the ships? We have had to restart mining operations and increase H2 refining. When can you deliver and how capable will the ships be?”

  Meilin looked over to Gregor, who answered. “None of the ships are ready yet but none of them are far from ready. Two of t

  hem were complete, but we have made additional changes. There are some issues though. I can give details if needed, but you will have more ships than pilots, I think.” Nitrauw motioned Gregor to continue. “Your rockhounds have very intuitive feel for piloting, which is good. They have none of the formal training needed for proper piloting, which is not. You have perhaps half dozen who could be fair pilots of larger ships within two months as long as they don’t have to astrogate. You have one, maybe one, who have the maths to plot a jump. Others can maybe learn but will not be quick.”

  “How many could handle a ship against the Greenies if needed?” asked Nitrauw.

  “Same half dozen, some better, some not so good. They fly like fighter pilots because of their experience with mining ships, which is good for combat but stupid dangerous outside of it. You give me three more months and I will give you at least four real combat pilots and one who can plot a jump. All your ships will be … usable by then, I think,” said Gregor.

  Nitrauw looked at Gregor, holding his gaze. “I can hear a ‘but’ in there.”

  Gregor nodded. “All ships will be fine for in-system work, but calibrating jump drive is not easy, and sometimes even shipyards struggle with it. A third of ships, no problem, calibration is good or close to good. Another third, maybe okay, maybe not. I think that they will jump, but emergence point may not be quite where it would be wanted and this would be even worse for rookie pilot. Remaining third, well, I wouldn’t want to jump them and maybe they can’t jump at all. Am working on calibration, but without the right equipment, is art rather than science.”

  Nitrauw considered. “I can work with that. Why the slippage on the production dates? Did you hit problems?”

  Fumi took the question. “Well, no, things went better than we had hoped. Once we got the computing clusters to be reliable, the performance got to be pretty impressive. The initial goal of making armed copies of the Sarafina went from a difficult goal to being fairly simple. We realised that we could do more and we have. The new ships have additional power storage, better shielding, and a weapon that is going to be very, very nasty to be on the wrong end of. Individually, the ships are better than we had planned, but collectively, they are going to be a great deal better. In simulation, we were able to destroy capital ships with three of these new ships one time in four. The effectiveness better than doubles with four ships and more than doubles again with five. They also have some self-repair capacity with each of the ships able to help one of the others. However, doing more took longer and cost more. It is fantastic value though. These are better than state of the art.”

  Nitrauw nodded. “Okay, the first priority is keeping this system safe. We have the defences that we started with and probably a third of the new ships backing up the fixed defences, yes?” Several of the crew nodded. “Good. So, could we send out ships to see what is happening in the rest of the local area and have a good chance of having them come back?” he asked.

  Gregor considered this for a few moments. “With the pilots and the upgraded AI, pretty sure that we could take down at least a system defence boat without loss given six ships. Probably more than one. Something bigger, we would have a fair chance or we could run. Unless they have much larger force at Ironstone, we could punch through to Neuholme or other jump point to Jubal. After that, is crap shoot and no idea what we would be facing. We would be doing reconnaissance in force. You have never had more than three ships jump in-system, yes?”

  Nitrauw nodded. “Yes, and the normal numbers are ones and twos, older ships for the most part, especially just lately.”

  “So, were no ships at Neuholme and we only saw one SDB at Ironstone. Is not likely that they have a lot of fleet. Maybe are sending older ships because expendable or maybe they are not making ships near here. We go and look, we find out. Hopefully, we come back and tell you. Good odds even with rookies but they need more training,” said Gregor.

  “What is the plan?” asked Jax. “Push on to Neuholme or try Jubal? We think that Ironstone is populated, right?”

  Nitrauw tapped his stylus on the desk, thinking. “Before we can make a good decision there, we need information and we don’t have much of it. When we sent single ships before, they didn’t come back. I think that we need to know what forces there are at Ironstone and so a visit there to gather information and then a return without taking too many risks seems the best plan to me.”

  “Da,” said Gregor. “However, not likely we can outrun SDB. No need to either though if we come out of jump in good order.”

  “We got our asses kicked by the SDB last time. I don’t think that we want to do that again. We only got away because we hit the jump point running. You think that we can do that trick with multiple ships?” asked Jax.

  “No,” replied Gregor. “With navy trained crew, maybe. With what we have, probably not, although maybe yes with practice. But we don’t need to. We come in slow and make the jump with maybe eight ships. We will be close to jump point. We pump across fuel during jump, dangerous but we will be careful, and so we are good to jump back if we need. If many ships at jump point, more than four, we jump back. With four, maybe we jump back. Less than that, we engage. SDBs are tough, but outnumbered by more than two to one when we can retreat? I like those odds.”

  “So, if you can clear the jump point, could you make it to Jubal?” asked Nitrauw.

  Gregor shrugged. “Maybe yes, maybe no, but could we get fuel at Jubal? Are ice worlds at edge of system but maybe defended better and maybe nothing worth going there for? We would learn more from Ironstone. I would make that mission
and maybe change mind when we see what is there, yes?”

  “What do we do if there are many ships waiting and they are jump capable? Wouldn’t we be putting Klondike in danger?” asked Meilin. She already knew the answer.

  “Eh, not so much. Remainder of ships would be here and mass drivers. Is not like greenies don’t know that base is here. If they wanted to come here, they would,” said Gregor.

  Nitrauw nodded. “The worse case would be that they jumped in while you were out of system and we would still be better defended than any time in the past hundred years. If they don’t, then the border is now at their system, not mine. I would want all the ships currently in production to be working though and new ships in progress.”

  Meilin smiled thinly. “You seem less concerned with the resource drain now, Mr Nitrauw.”

  Nitrauw grinned back. “If you can get the ships working, it is worth it. If not, well, maybe we can still use them as gun platforms. I am fine with paying as long as I am getting value. I am not getting these for an egg and an apple.” He looked at the puzzled crew. “I mean that they are not cheap,” he explained.

  “A difficult thing to measure when you don’t have a true cash economy, I think. The materials are worth what someone is willing to pay for them and you are both the producer and the customer here,” commented Meilin.

  Nitrauw nodded, conceding the point. “So, the bottleneck is pilots. You said that you would want eight ships. You will have perhaps six pilots and yourself. You are going to be short.”