Exiled to the Stars (44 page)

"Administrator authorization will be required to authorize the fueling of the R65C metals detector and the JZE-101 Contact Vehicle." The formal tone was back, sounding odd in that warm voice.

Ken frowned, but an even deeper frown crossed Vlad's face. "Why?" Asked Ken.

"Those vehicles are powered by small fusion reactors, and their fuel pellets are stored in HazMat storage. Administrative authorization is required for retrieval of this material."

Vlad slapped his forehead. "Of course! I remember now! Oh, not the R60-whatever, but Ken, you were a politician. I'll bet you remember the other one too, once I mention the SoAm Robot."

Ken's eyes widened. "
That's
the SoAm Robot?" He paused. "Well, of course we'd have one aboard. I just never really thought about it." He smiled "I'd like to see it, once you get it running."

Vlad looked at a clearly dumbfounded Ron. He smiled. "It was the biggest scandal in the history of the Colony program, and maybe in the history of EarthGov."

He shook his head disgustedly. "It might even have had an influence on the judge that sent me here. Anyway," he continued, "some whistleblower went to the newsies with the story that the committees tasked with selecting equipment for the colony ships were being subjected to strong political pressure to select items made by friends and relatives of the Administrators and Supreme Councilors, even when they weren't wanted or needed. The JZE-101 Contact Vehicle was Exhibit A.

"The Committee rejected the thing as unnecessary. But it had been designed and built by a company owned by a son-in-law of the SecGen himself, and it seemed there was a deal with the Administrator of the SoAm Region to build the manufacturing plant in the Brazil District in exchange for his support. The whistleblower released a lot of documents, memos and e-mails showing pressure on the Committee to approve the robot as standard equipment for the colony ships.

"The whistleblower disappeared shortly after that. Everyone assumed that EarthGov Intelligence caught up with him." Vlad paused and white teeth flared in the mahogany face. "He probably ended up aboard one the colony ships himself. It was too late, of course. The newsies had a bone in their teeth, and they went after it like a starving mongrel."

Ron didn't know what a 'mongrel' was, but he didn't want to interrupt the explanation.

Ken picked up the narrative. "The scandal went on for almost a year. Heads rolled, some of them pretty big and powerful. The rest of us politicians just kept our heads down and thanked our lucky stars we weren't involved." He shrugged. "Eventually it faded away, of course. And obviously, it didn't make them stop stocking the robot aboard the ships."

Ron was looking mystified. "But what
is
it? You've called it a 'vehicle' and a 'robot'. What does it
do
?"

Vlad chuckled. "That's actually a pretty good question. I was a roboticist, so of course I was interested enough to look up the design.

"It was called a 'contact vehicle' because it was designed to assist teams in making contact with extraterrestrial intelligent life, in case one of the ships actually encountered some. Best I remember, it was supposed to serve mostly as a cargo carrier on foot expeditions. But in case the team encountered intelligent alien life, it had a pretty sophisticated computer built in. It also had a lot of compartments containing items that were supposed to dazzle primitives with our magic, and impress developed societies with our own technical prowess and abilities.

"Some of the propaganda kept calling the computer an 'artificial intelligence', but it was no such thing, of course. In fact, there
is
no such thing. The most powerful computers ever designed are aboard these ships; but they are simply computers, and there is no 'intelligence' involved."

He paused, and after a moment, shrugged. "Sorry. I guess the presence of a robot threw me into lecture mode for a moment. I
would
like to inspect that thing, though."

"How good was it?" Ken asked curiously. "How advanced?"

Vlad nodded. "Very good, actually. It may have been a boondoggle, but the design work was first class. Jonathan Mboto designed the 'brain', and Jonathan was a top man. And the rest of the design looked just as good. That's why I'd like to inspect it. I'd like to see if the construction quality is up to the standards of the design." Another of his white grins flared. "Or maybe I just want to get my hands on a robot again."

Ken smiled. "Well, I'm sure we can accommodate you. But Vlad, make sure your inspection is a real one, not just curiosity. We may actually
need
to contact another intelligent race, and we'll need all the help we can get, boondoggle or not. Maybe Ron and his kids can really use the thing."

"Evelyn," he continued, "Do we have any colonists qualified to handle radioactives?"

"Doctor Jon Gutmann has completed all requirements for a limited certification for medical radioactives only. The only living colonist previously qualified to handle nuclear fuel is Lars Norstrom. However, his certification has long expired, of course."

"Please ask Lars Norstrom to visit me, if you will. What is his present position?"

"Lars Norstrom is currently unassigned. He was injured in an industrial accident, and is listed as 'medically retired'."

Ken exchanged glances with Vlad. "That could be trouble. If he's badly crippled, we might have to train someone from scratch. It could set our schedule back months." He sighed. "Oh, well, we can only do the possible. Evelyn, Doctor Vladimir Renko is authorized to requisition fuel pellets and authorize fueling of the, uh, JZE-101, wasn't it?" At Vlad's nod he continued. "Oh, and that other gadget, too. What is the uh, R65C, or whatever it was?

The computer's voice turned formal again. "The R65C is a remotely operated ground-penetrating metals detector. The largest colony airship was actually designed to house the main unit. This unit deploys low-flying drone probes equipped with ground-penetrating beams programmed to detect metal ores. Due to the power required to obtain sufficient penetration, and to operate the probes and its onboard computer, the R65C is powered by the same fuel pellets as the JZE-101 Contact Vehicle."

Ken looked pleased. "Now
that
sounds useful. All right. I'd like to see Lars Norstrom as soon as possible. I know him, of course, but not well, and I didn't know he'd been injured." His voice turned brisk. "Doctor Vladimir Renko, any personnel he designates, and all personnel with the designation 'Explorer' are authorized to access all available training and maintenance materials on the JZE-101 and R65C."

Vlad and Ken began a 'do you remember when' reminiscence of the scandal, and an excited Ron made his escape as soon as possible, so he and the other Explorers could review the lading lists.

"Look at this!" Ron cried. "Seventy-five Packs, Exploration. I wonder what's in an 'Exploration Pack'."

"I'm more interested in the forty-five 'Cameras, Survey, High Resolution'," put in Tran Vanh.

"I'm interested in a
lot
of this stuff," added Vito Carelli. "How soon can we get our hands on it?"

Denis Chu looked at Ron. "Y'know, Creding, it's just barely possible that you're not
quite
as dumb as you look."

Tran snorted. "
Nobody
could be as dumb as Creding looks!"

"Oh, I don't know," Elaine Renko replied, ruffling Ron's hair. "Give him a bath once a month or so, and an occasional haircut, and he's almost presentable. Or he will be, once I teach him to quit dragging his knuckles on the ground when he walks."

"If you're all
quite
finished expressing your jealousy," Ron said with massive dignity, "I'm going to explore compartment 7-3071. Those of you who grovel and beg appropriately
may
be permitted to accompany me."

His statement was greeted with hoots and shouts of laughter, and the group set off eagerly for the ship.

Compartment 7-3071 was an echoing hall that had contained large agricultural machinery, but now contained only a few scattered pieces still in their protective cocoons, and a few pieces of wood and plas scrap left over from the unpacking of other equipment. The compartment was high and large, but comparatively dimly lit. Two inconspicuous doors simply labeled "7-3071A" and "7-3071B" occupied intersecting walls of the larger compartment. Ron looked at the thick coating of dust on the floor of the compartment. No one had approached those doors in a
long
time, perhaps not since the ship was loaded at L-4.

It turned out that the two compartments were actually one huge one, divided by a large collapsible wall that folded itself silently into the ceiling of the compartment when Ron pressed a large button. They discussed the purpose of the dividing wall, but nobody's theory seemed persuasive, and they were interested in more exciting things.

The now-huge compartment was filled with shelves, bins, and racks in long rows, with only narrow walkways between them. At one end, a small desk faced a terminal screen mounted on the wall. Next to the screen, on the bare wall, someone had scrawled "GOOD LUCK AND GOOD HUNTING!" in large letters using some sort of black marker.

Ron gestured at the sign. "Maybe
everybody
on Earth wasn't trying to throw us away," he said with a laugh, but still, the crude sign touched him. For his whole life he had been taught that Earth was EarthGov, and that EarthGov was a villain. Whoever scrawled that sign worked for EarthGov, helped build or stock the means of their exile; but he (or she) had still wished them well.

Clearly, EarthGov had never expected the colonists to huddle in a group and ignore their surroundings for twenty-three years. The equipment and supplies here were clearly designed to support large-scale exploration for a long period.

Ron finally located the bin containing 'Packs, Exploration'. As he'd hoped, the bin was full of pre-packed, lightweight, framed packs. He pulled one from the bin and began inventorying its contents, verifying it against the list on his tablet.

The Explorers had been making their own packs, based on designs in the computer's files. But these were something special. Ron marveled at the lightness of the empty pack, despite its full frame. Frame and pack together weighed less than a kilo, and fully loaded, weighed only about eight kilos, Ron estimated. When he slipped it on, he could feel the padding in the shoulder, back and hip supports mold themselves to his body. Remembering the chafing soreness of their improvised packs on the expedition to the sea, he could only shake his head.

But the pack itself was only a small part of the wonder of this pack. It contained over fifty items, ranging from a small stove to a sleeping bag that compressed into a cylinder 10 cems in diameter and 15 long, to night vision glasses, to a small tent with a tiny built-in air compressor to inflate it, to binoculars attached to the side of the bag. By the time he finished marveling over each item, he was wondering what else an explorer could possibly need.

Elaine snorted. "I can think of plenty of stuff. How about food? Weapons? Cameras, anyone?"

Ron flushed. "Okay, you've made your point; but there
are
food concentrates in there, you know."

Elaine's face was suddenly wreathed in a smile whose excitement mirrored his own. "I know. I wish we'd had these on
our
trip!"

The vaunted JZE-101 occupied three small crates in a corner of the room. Ron knew that Doctor Renko would be excited, but the Explorers had hundreds of items that interested them more. He decided to get the thing into the hands of the black roboticist at the first opportunity. After all, their families were close. It wouldn’t hurt a bit to make a few points with Elaine's father.

Tran Vanh found his cameras, dozens of them. Some were designed to be hand held, some to be mounted on the colony's aircraft, and some were designed to resemble birds. These were obviously designed for close aerial surveillance. Still others were designed to attach to other equipment, for the recording of findings.

The list went on and on. On the second day of their exploration of the compartments, Raj Darpee called Ron from the equipment compartment's terminal desk. "Hey, Creding! I think you'd better call in Frank Wong. And Michiko, of course. There's a whole sublist devoted to test equipment, and they'll never forgive you if you don't call them in right away."

"Not just Frank and Michiko," Denis Chu added over the tablet 'net. "I've got several dozen telescopes, here. I think if you don't call in
all
the scientists, you're going to touch off a war!"

Ron called Frank on his tablet. "Hey Frank," he began. "Do you know what 'Christmas' is?"

Frank frowned, obviously surprised by the question. "Some kind of EarthGov religious festival, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ron replied, "and it's characterized by the giving of gifts. Round up all your science zerbs and come over to the ship. Compartment 7-3071A. It's Christmas!"

"I'm busy," Frank protested. "We all are. Just because you Explorers are unemployed…"

"Believe me, Frank," Ron interrupted, his tone turning serious, "no matter
what
you're doing, you're not too busy for
this
. And neither are Michiko, Angel and Wen Ho. All we ever hear from you farbs are complaints about the lack of equipment. Well, you're going to want to get down on your knees and beg to get some of the stuff in this compartment."

Frank's eyebrows rose. "You found something? On the ship? We'll be there in half an hour!"

They made it in twenty minutes. Having been on the first survey expedition, they 'oooh'ed and 'aaaah'ed appropriately at the things the Explorers had already dragged from the shelves. But when Raj took them to the terminal and called up the list of scientific equipment, their attention was rapt. "Telescopes!" shouted Angel, at the same moment Michiko shouted "Microscopes!" They nodded sheepishly to each other, then grinned and returned their attention to the list.

Frank's reaction to the R65C was so enthusiastic as to be almost comical. He devoured the unit's operations manual before even searching out the machine itself, and began nagging Ken unmercifully until he got the Council to authorize installation of the machine on the largest airship. Even though the probes clamped to the airship's skin for easy launching, the main unit and the shielding for its fuel chamber seriously reduced the passenger capacity of the airship.