“Four,” Liz said. “I would be willing to plead your case to raise that to six, but I expect you’ll quickly exceed their limit as well. You would do well to look at the designs for Artemis’s power needs. You should be able to adopt them without too much trouble.”
“Our engineers are already studying them.”
“The Sakira will be in orbit for two weeks. During that time, you’ll be able to make use of printers in her to produce solar arrays and whatever else you need to produce in microgravity. You will need to furnish the materials.”
“I understand,” the governor said. “What about livestock?”
“We are not willing to carry any large animals on the Sakira or the Roebuck. You have to plan to survive without them until the StarMerchant is complete and can make a delivery,” Liz said. “Of course, we don’t have any problem carrying the fertilized eggs you’re asking for as long as their incubation period doesn’t end until after we arrive.”
“You can be assured that Dr. Teltar is fully capable of calculating the incubation period of a chicken or a duck.”
“I’m sure he is. We have also agreed to carry four baby goats,” Liz said. “That’s as much livestock as we feel we can manage.” Liz was obviously not happy about carrying any livestock on the Sakira.
“Thank you for that. Dr. Teltar asks that they be at least ten weeks old. That will allow us to start milking them a month after we arrive. We will need the milk as a food source right away.”
“How are you going to start milking a baby goat at sixteen weeks?” Lieutenant Payne asked.
“Goats are sexually mature at sixteen weeks. We’ll trick their systems into believing they’ve been pregnant. Once they start producing milk, we’ll also put three embryos into each goat so that we can create a viable herd as soon as possible,” the governor explained.
“I see, do you guys really like goat’s milk that much?” Lieutenant Payne asked.
“Not particularly. But we’ll use it to make yogurt, and then the rest will be fed into our meat vats as part of the nutrients needed to produce meat. We have to maximize the production of the proteins we need.”
“Oh, I see. I guess we’ll be doing the same on Artemis,” Lieutenant Payne said.
“Please coordinate the rest of the loading with Lieutenant Beaulieu and Lieutenant Payne. Once he’s selected his XO, he’ll bring them by to meet you,” Liz said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll see about some additional fusion reactors for you.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Marc, how’s it going?” Liz asked as she met Marc for her four o’clock appointment.
“Crazy; I’m still trying to finalize the list for our first group of colonists.”
“Are you getting enough volunteers?”
“Plenty.”
“What will you do with the extras?”
“Some will come to Delphi City to do training, and work to prepare for the next group. Others will stay where they are until we have the Victory ready, or yours and Catie’s cargo ship can bring them.”
“You don’t sound like you like that last option,” Liz said.
“Gives the various governments more time to try and turn them into spies or whatnot,” Marc said. “I like it better when they’re immediately in our protection here in Delphi City.”
“Then, why not make that a requirement?”
“We don’t have enough space, and some of them would go nuts. We don’t have the right kind of work available to keep them interested.”
“Then don’t accept them; leave them and their government hanging,” Liz said. “The governments will have to waste resources to cover all the applicants, so they’ll either not bother or not be able to do as good a job. Besides, won’t ADI be able to detect the spies with her test?”
“Of course I will,” ADI said.
“Right. But there will be some who will have a weakened resolve. They might change their mind once they’re on Artemis, and things get tough.”
“Could happen, but you’ll deal with it.”
“I’m sure I will,” Marc said. “Now, you wanted to talk about the Paraxean mission.”
“Yes, Governor Paratar would like to get more fusion reactors. He would like an antimatter reactor, but I told him no way.”
“He’s stubborn.”
“Yes, but if we free up a few fusion reactors, he’ll quit bellyaching and focus on the mission. And it would be a sign of goodwill on your part.”
“After letting them keep the Roebuck! . . . Whatever, talk to Fred. He can pull a few from the shipment for the Russians. See if he can swing four.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you going to be ready to leave next week?”
“We’re heading out on Saturday, with or without the governor,” Liz said.
“Good. Oh, I wanted to talk to you about Fred,” Marc said.
“Okay, he’s alright, isn’t he?”
“Yes. I’m planning on making him President of MacKenzies.”
“About time! You work that guy to death. We all dump work on him,” Liz said. “I really feel sorry for him, with the workload he carries.”
“You do, but not enough to stop dumping work on him?”
“Well, he never complains.”
“He does have a staff of over fifty helping him.”
“Fifty?!”
“Yeah, I always bite my tongue whenever he hires another one. They’re always busy, and like you said, he accomplishes an amazing amount of work.”
“He was a logistics officer in the Air Force,” Liz said. “He’s used to organizing a big staff and big missions. I’m really happy for him. When will it be official?”
“Should be in the next six weeks. He wants time to finish romancing one of the pilots before we announce,” Marc said. “He wants to know they’ve got something real before he asks her to put up with all that goes with being president.”
“What goes with being president?” Liz asked. “All I ever see is you issuing orders and working insane hours. Fred seems to have that part handled already.”
“Well, it will be a more public position when he’s in it. MacKenzies has a lot more visibility now.”
“Is it okay if I congratulate him?”
“Just do it privately.”
“Does Catie know?”
“Of
