"Most certainly worth the sacrifice then?" Kira added.
"Yes, the three-month trip to Oort rendezvous will be . . . trying for most. But our estate rooms will be less so," Fayad said.
"Do not boast, Fayad. We will share our fortunate life with those less so." Elise scolded her Prime Husband. It was clear to Kira who wore the pants in that family, but again the intel briefings back at her CIA training had shown her that the Separatists were matriarchal. She was really beginning to understand how matriarchal the culture actually was.
"Estate room?" Kira asked, and reshuffled her weight slowly trying not to wake the child lying against her. Lela grunted and moved only slightly. The lazy AI Kitty raised its head and looked at Kira as if to complain about the movement and then went right back to sleep.
"Yes. My aunt owns Tangier I. It is a nice ship as far as barges go," Elise said nonchalantly, and then looked as if she would add something more but decided against it.
Kira?
Yes, Allison?
How could she have seen Tau Ceti fifty times? At best military speeds we are limited to about a light-year per month. Tau Ceti is nearly twelve light-years away. A round-trip would take two years. I doubt Elise is over a hundred years old. She looks too full-blooded Martian to be that old yet. Oh, and add the trips to this Oort Cloud destination makes another twenty-five or more years. That puts her to at least one hundred and twenty-five if she started traveling when she was an infant. It doesn't add up. The oldest human is only three hundred and seventeen and an Earthling, the AIC commented.
I was doing the math in my head and reached the same conclusion. But Elise doesn't seem the type to lie or exaggerate. This is odd. Maybe we're not going to Tau Ceti?
I don't know. Tau Ceti seems like the solution Occam's razor would suggest.
Then that means the Separatists are far more technologically advanced than the rest of the human race . . . following Occam's razor, of course.
Yes, it does. Allison was as confused as her human counterpart but logic was logic and the answers that were logical didn't make any sense. Allison realized that that little fact alone was creating a paradox in her logic process. They needed more data.
Kira sat motionless and remembered she needed to respond to Elise verbally.
"I've only been as far as Luna City once and to the raids in Triton. Both times in asteroid mining haulers hidden away inside ore containers. I've never even seen an interstellar barge before." Ignorance was always a good cover tactic. The sudden urge to yawn overcame her and Kira squinted and shook her head. "Forgive me. The day has been longer than I had realized." Long indeed. The radiation meds were wearing on her like the flu. Also, she had been flung at high speeds from a supercarrier in the midst of a major air battle, flown through high g-force maneuvers in a harrowing dogfight, nearly shot down on several occasions by both SAMs and Seppy aircraft—Gomers, as Lieutenant Commander Boland had called them—and ejected from an Ares fighter at high velocity at about the same time a nuclear bomb was detonated only a few tens of kilometers from her. And that was just the start of her day. Her gliderchute ride, the radiation, the long bounce across the foothills until she found any survivors of the nuclear attack, and then the radiation shower all made for a long day. Kira was pretty sure that her day was just a sign of harder days to come.
"Yes. Close your eyes for now. We have at least thirty minutes to Umbra. We will have plenty of time to talk further." Elise bowed her head slowly and then turned back to Fayad, who had already dozed off. His head leaned against the window and his mouth was open as he snored and drooled down his chin. Elise shook her head in disdain at her Prime Husband but then looked back at her child in reverence once again and decided to close her eyes as well.
Kira had uncovered way more than she had expected to so quickly. She understood some vague concepts of the Separatist culture and their plans. But she only had a few solid pieces of information. It was too early to attempt a contact back to Langley. Her mission was going as planned—actually it was far exceeding any expectations already. For now, there was little to do but to close her eyes and rest for a while. It had been a long day so far.
Chapter 11
12:30 PM Mars Tharsis Standard Time
"So BIL, have you seen any other people wander through here lately?" Sehera tried to hold on to a handhold in the wall of the belly of the mechanical beast. The several-ton robotic spider-thing sprang with tremendous agility from one mound of garbage to the next and made its way toward the large elevator, making it a bumpy ride.
"No, ma'am. You are the first humans I've seen in more than four years. The union strike that started the pull out of the Separatist workers in 2379 caused the government to cancel the contract for the human workers here. It has been . . . lonely since then." The AI garbage hauler vehicle sounded almost sad. "I am very happy to greet you. It has been a long time since my auditory systems have been put to use."
"That's sad, BIL." Deanna pouted and stuck her bottom lip out for effect but it was lost on the garbage drone as there were no optical sensors in its belly.
"Yes, I guess it is," he replied.
"So BIL, do you have any communication with the outside world at all? I mean, how do you know what to do?" Joanie asked the AI. The bouncing of the garbage hauler launched the little Triton woman nearly a meter into the air with each stride. It grew tiresome, but Joanie and Sehera had managed to make it a game with Deanna. Alexander was only paying them partial attention.
"Oh, it is simple. This pile of plastics over here must be moved to there and that pile of metals there needs to be loaded into the smelting system. The piles are always there and so I always have plenty to do," BIL answered.
"But what about the outside world?" Senator Moore asked.
"Sure, I am connected to all the local and wide area network systems including the infrastructure QM. I have to schedule with the other domes on how much of what materials they need or are sending here. That way I can be certain which pile to work on first. And many times we get orders from elsewhere for particular materials." BIL continued to explain his mundane daily routine.
"I'm not sure I follow, BIL." Reyez laughed nervously. The expression on his face plainly stated that he couldn't believe that he was talking to a garbage bug, much less inside one hanging on for dear life as the thing skittered up and down the mountains of garbage in the reclamation and redistribution center. When this adventure was over and the war calmed down, Alexander was certain that Reyez would work an adventure store angle on riding in, or maybe on, a giant robotic garbage hauler. After all, the ride was invigorating and exciting, if smelly. But, adrenaline junkies would endure serious discomfort for a new thrill. What was a little stench?
"Yes, let me see. The naval vessels often need to drop waste here and I schedule that—a really good source for methane distillation and soil composting that. Hold on," BIL warned his passengers just before he made a quick squatting bend and then bounced high across a crevasse in the mountain of refuse.