“We could have a faster-than-light drive and interstellar ships. Travel to other solar systems.”
“Yes, Chen Zufu. That is among the implications.”
“What is the next step in coming up with such a drive, JieMin?” JuPing asked. “What do we need to do going forward from here?”
“I am only at the beginning stages of formalizing the mathematics, Chen Zumu. It will take years of work before we are at the point of being able to begin experimentation toward some sort of engine. But we can now be sure there is a means there, if we continue along this path. There is a danger, however.”
“What is the danger, JieMin?”
“If we disrupt the hyperspace, Chen Zumu, it could have large consequences.”
“What sort of consequences, JieMin?” Paul asked.
“We could destroy all of space-time, Chen Zufu.”
“Well, let’s not do that.”
“I don’t know yet – and won’t know for some time – if that is really a danger, Chen Zufu. We will know well before we try anything.”
“Very good, JieMin,” JuPing said. “Thank you very much for your report. Please keep up your good work. As your patron, I am well satisfied.”
“Thank you, Chen Zumu.”
After JieMin had gone, Paul and JuPing remained for a time, sipping their tea.
“That boy is scary,” Paul said.
“Do you have any doubt of what he says?” JuPing asked.
“No. That’s what makes him scary.”
JuPing chuckled.
“He has reordered the universe,” she said.
“Yes, but at some level, such reformulations change little. When one is hungry, if one eats, one stops being hungry. That is true whether space-time is the reality or hyperspace is the reality.”
“But at some point, he will change the world.”
“Yes,” Paul said. “At the point there is a useable interstellar drive. But that will not likely be our problem to deal with.”
“True.”
JuPing considered.
“To that point,” she said, “you should send the recording of this conversation to MinChao. It will likely be his issue to address.”
“Good idea. Probably to Jessica as well. Just because we are gone does not mean JieMin will not need a patron. And she will be Chen Zumu.”
JuPing nodded.
“It will be a long time,” she said, “but we are finally on the path.”
“The path?”
“The path back to the stars.”
“How did your meeting go?” ChaoLi asked.
“Good, I think. Chen Zufu also attended,” JieMin said.
“Oh my gosh. Chen Zufu! Did they understand what you explained?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“And were they pleased?” ChaoLi asked.
“I think so. Chen Zumu said to keep up the good work and, as my patron, she was well satisfied.”
“Then you did well.”
“She may have just been saying that to be nice,” JieMin said.
“No. Not Chen Zumu. She would say something more neutral and less committal if she just wanted to be polite. You should be very happy.”
“Then I think we should take the rest of the day off to celebrate. How about the beach?”
“Yes!” ChaoLi said. “Our secret spot.”
“OK. On a weekday, we won’t even have to be quiet.”
ChaoLi giggled.
“Today I’ll make extra noise, just for you,” she said.
JieMin was back to work the next day, fighting to formalize the hyperspace mathematics that would widen his bridge and cover the rest of the hole he had seen. As he told Chen Zumu, it would be the project of several years.
When ChaoLi received her degree a year later, she returned to the employment of Chen Zumu. She began work in the family business office, one of the team of accountants and administrators who oversaw the family’s far-flung business interests.
ChaoLi was now eighteen, and JieMin was approaching seventeen. They decided it was time to begin their family, and ChaoLi had her contraceptive implant removed. Three months later she was pregnant with their first child.
When ChaoLi was six months along, she was considering putting in for a bigger apartment than the one-room apartment she and JieMin had shared for two and a half years. She wasn’t sure if that was proper, given that all of their expenses were being paid for directly by Chen Zumu, on the account she had established for JieMin when he first came to Arcadia City.
She was still considering how to proceed when she and JieMin got a note from Chen Zumu, moving them to a six-room family apartment on the twelfth floor. Kitchen, dining room, living room, parents’ room, boys’ room, and girls’ room.
“JieMin, it is a palace,” ChaoLi said when he came home from the university that night.
“For my beautiful queen, a palace is only appropriate,” JieMin said smugly.
“Oh, you! I’m serious. Big kitchen. Separate dining room. And bedrooms for boys and girls.”
“Chen Zumu always plans ahead.”
ChaoLi stomped her foot.
“You are not being serious. It is on the top floor. The best view. And those are the apartments with the biggest rooms. The senior apartments.”
“I’m very serious, ChaoLi, I am just very happy. Clearly we are in good standing with Chen Zumu. That is good. And a big apartment is good, too. We can fill it with many happy children.”
ChaoLi hugged him.
“Let me finish this first one before you go planning many more.”
That night – the night she moved JieMin and ChaoLi to the bigger apartment they needed and deserved – JuPing walked out into the garden. It was a beautiful clear evening. She looked up at the stars.
“We are coming,” she said to them. “Soon, we are coming.”
Quant #3
Silicon, Carbon, and Mathematics
Of course, it was also Janice Quant’s centennial, the hundredth anniversary of her dropping off the colonies and then cutting her direct ties to humanity through the faked destruction of the interstellar transporter.
Quant had been busy the last fifty years. She had designed a new hardware architecture for herself. She had
