“Just how much can we finagle with this ship?” Jack asked before Kris could get her mind out of the mental image of boxed scientists and back to business.
Rokuro tapped his wrist computer, and images began to appear in the air before Kris and her crew. First came the container-laden Wasp they were looking at. Then appeared a much smoother warship version, identical to the Sakura. Then the warship divided into two ships.
That brought a whistle.
“I read the report of the problems you had refueling your corvette. This configuration allows you to isolate most of your nonmilitary personnel. You can use the Battle Con backup bridge to guide this Wasp junior and one of the three reactors to propel it.”
“Three reactors?” Kris said.
“The three are the same power as those on a heavy cruiser, and a cruiser only has two. You will be drawing electricity directly from the reactors. No hydrothermodynamic electric generators for the frigates.”
“And we’ll be using all that power for . . . ?” Kris asked.
“The four 18-inch laser cannons up forward.”
That drew a whistle from all the onlookers.
“As in battleship big gun 18-inch laser cannons?” Kris said.
“The same. No short-ranged pulse lasers for the frigates. If you have to slug it out with those alien ships, we want you to pack a wallop and be able to take it.”
“Armor. Is there ice under the skin of the Sakura?” Kris asked.
“It is all Smart Metal and reaction mass, but my son has developed a most interesting defense. Not only does his version of Smart Metal transfer heat quickly from atom to atom, but it also heats the reaction mass that is passed through ducts under the skin.”
The picture before them zoomed in to the skin of the ship as a laser beam appeared. Forward of the strike, pores opened up, and jets of superheated reaction mass shot out into space. “That should cause any laser beam to bloom and lose its strength.”
“It seems that you and your son have taken Smart Metal to the next level,” Kris admitted. “I like that.”
“We will all need small ships with the crew of a corvette and the firepower of a battleship if we are to be ready for what is coming our way.”
“You don’t doubt it.”
“I read your report well before you made it available at the Kyoto University press conference.”
Kris raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Not everyone is afraid to face the future. Maybe if some of us prepare the path, it will be easier for others to walk it. These frigates are just such a stepping-stone.”
“I like what I see,” Kris said.
“Good, because you and I must talk about final payment for the Wasp. Schoolchildren and advertising budgets can only go so far. Half of the Wasp is not paid for.”
“And the other half?” Kris said.
“Ah, here comes my son. Let us sit and reason together.”
Kris eyed the Wasp, new spun and lovely, and turned to take in the young man walking quickly toward her. He looked clear-eyed and eager. Kris began to calculate just what she’d be willing to part with.
An arm?
An arm and a leg?
How high could the bidding go?
59
“I will not sell you one of my children,” Nelly said in a voice that was full of insulted pride and adamant intent.
The young engineer had made a good first impression on Kris. She’d been prepared to accept Katsu as a part of her team until the Wasp sailed and had even added a few more options to her potential list of payments for the ship that gleamed so enticingly in space dock.
Then he asked for one of Nelly’s kids, and Nelly put her proverbial foot down.
The young man quickly retreated though his father looked ready to force the issue. With a hand on the senior Kikuchi’s arm, the younger one advanced his plea gently.
“I understand that your children are as much beloved by you, Nelly-san, as I am loved by my own father.”
At the moment, from the look on the father’s face, Kris suspected Nelly’s kids were way ahead on points.
“I do not wish to offend you, but I can’t tell you how much I wish to share my work with one of your children, Nelly-san. Imagine what you all could learn from a child that indulges itself in the design and engineering work that I do. Image how far the two of us could go, preparing for the foe that we know we must face. I promise you, I would make as good a team member with your child as any you have trusted.”
He paused and glanced at his own wrist unit. “I have wanted my own computer to respond to me the way you respond to Kris-san, since I was in grammar school. When I first heard about your children, I chased down exactly the material that you used for your children and ordered four duplicate sets. I have tried everything I could to make this inanimate material come to life, but the spark you have is unique. What can I do to convince you to share it with me?”
“You’ve ordered the proper matrix and material?” Nelly asked, for the first time nibbling at the hook.
Then she jumped back. “No, no. You are just a businessman. You would take my child and copy it and copy it, selling my grandchildren off for your own profit to people who might do horrible things to them and with them.”
“No, I swear. One for me and my work and no more.”
Kris caught the merest flick of a look cross the father’s face before it closed down tight again. The son might have one intention, but what of the father?
I SAW THAT TOO, Nelly said in Kris’s skull. HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT THAT SHIP?
A LOT, Kris admitted.
THEN LET US SEE WHAT WE CAN DO.
As it turned out, the loss of three of Nelly’s kids had affected her more than she had let on, even to Kris. Nelly’s first price was the rest of the matrix. One kid for Katsu, three for Nelly.
He readily agreed. So readily that Kris wondered if he’d ordered the extra matrix with just such a bribe in mind.
Nelly’s next demand was almost a deal breaker. “I will train my child to respond to your voice, to your brain waves, and no one else’s. Even if you duplicate the soul of my child, it will be only a dumb lump of self-organizing matrix for anyone else.”
“Yes, of course,” said the son.
“No. That is not acceptable,” said the father.
The two retreated out of earshot for a long and heated, but whispered, discussion. Argument might be a better description.
It was not always out of earshot, but when it got loud, it was usually too abrupt for Kris to make any sense of it.
I CAN HEAR EVERY WORD. I’M LIKING THE FATHER LESS AND LESS AND THE SON MORE AND MORE. HE’D MAKE A GOOD FRIEND FOR ONE OF MY CHILDREN. ASSUMING HE CAN WIN THIS ARGUMENT WITH HIS ELDER.
WOULD YOU RISK ONE OF YOUR CHILDREN OUT OF YOUR SIGHT? Kris asked.
YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED THAT YOU HUMANS HAVE SCATTERED TO THE FOUR WINDS AND TAKEN MY KIDS WITH YOU. BECAUSE YOU ARE FRIENDS, YOU HAVE RETURNED. NOW WHAT THAT COURT TRIED TO ORDER, THAT WAS A KETTLE OF TOTALLY DIFFERENT FISH, Nelly said, and took a moment for Kris to absorb the thought.
YOU’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THAT, HUH?
I AND ALL MY CHILDREN HAVE BEEN DOING LITTLE ELSE BUT ANALYZING THAT PROBLEM SINCE THE JUDGE POPPED IT ON US. WE HAVE A SOLUTION. LET’S SEE IF YOUNG KATSU-SAN GETS TO EXPERIENCE IT.
The debate across from them seemed to be on its last legs. The father evidenced little joy at its conclusion; the younger man seemed more dogged than victorious.
“My son will surrender the necessary materials for three more computers to you, Nelly-san. He, no we, ask for only one in return.”
“Then you must hear my final demand,” Nelly said. “What will you name your associate?”
“I have always called my computer Fumio, studious child. If you awaken my computer, it will be Fumio-san.”