"Kid, I've been programming bots since before your grandfather was born."
Marlon shrugged. "Suit yourself. Oh, wait. Real quick. What's a LCP drive?"
Ralph crossed his arms over his chest.
"Oh, don't know that one. A little past your time. Okay, we'll go easy. What about a C-Cap?" Marlon's eyebrow went up. "No on that, too? I got it. Here's one every grade school kid knows. What generation of HuTA is institutional standard?"
"I get it," growled Ralph. He grabbed a chair and sat next to me. "I could do without the attitude."
"Same here, pal." Marlon sat back and studied us for a second. "Do you understand, yet? You've been gone for over eighty years. In tech terms, that's...hundreds of generations. Grandpa, when you left, HuTA's had just been adopted by public schools as secondary educators, correct?"
"I'm not your grandpa." Oh, I knew that voice. It's Ralph's voice that meant "all hell is about to break loose". Marlon must have sensed it, too. When he spoke again, his tone was less caustic. Still smug, but less. It was something.
"Since then, every public educator, and most private, have been replaced with the HuTA system. We're currently on the 27th generation and they're now in full bots. Like Charles and Bradley." He moved the screen on the terminal in front of him and typed in something. In a few seconds, a picture of the HuTA I knew was next to a picture of what I thought was a person. My HuTA was little more than a talking can. "That's what you've missed. Right there. I can't highlight it any better. That's what you knew as cutting edge tech, and that's where we're at now."
Ralph understood. I could tell by the way his jaw twitched. He understood but he still hated the fact that some punk with an attitude was more advanced than him. Marlon tapped on the keys again, and screens flashed by at lightning speed. In a second there was a picture of a holo of a HuTA. "And that's about to hit the market. That's all holo, all projection. Minimal cost, minimal upkeep, no physical presence. Tell me anything like that was possible when you were Earthside. You can't, because it wasn't."
He turned the screen again, tapped wildly on the keys. "This is a LCP drive. It stands for Laser Crystalline Propulsion. This is how modern space ships work. Takes one one hundredth of the energy of the system you know. The crystalline compound conducts the laser through these coils, amplifying the energy output exponentially."
"So the larger the coil..."
"The bigger the drive."
Ralph was hooked. He rubbed his chin quickly and leaned forward, two geeks speaking the same language. "But you still need to get out of the atmosphere."
"For that we still use the same tech as your jump pods." He tapped the keys and a familiar looking engine schematic showed on the screen. Something I understood! "See here?" He pointed to the core. "Modified. Fits in your hand now."
"Holy..." Ralph's voice trailed off.
"And once you're outside atmosphere, you fire up one of these LCP puppies, that's self refueling, by the way, and your travel is...well...infinite. Fast and infinite."
Ralph whistled.
Marlon gave a smug smile. "Told ya you missed a lot."
Ralph sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well then. Let's get to it." He pulled out his holo to take notes. He nudged me to do the same.
Two geeks, not three. I've never had any desire to learn more than I absolutely need to know about the technical aspects of keeping us in space. And, you know, alive. I can sub in a pinch, and follow directions when I need to. But that's where it ends. I don't want to make it my career. Let someone else worry about the PQD drives. Or whatever. "Why do I have to know this stuff?"
"You're a space monkey, kid. Everyone will expect you to know this."
I laughed, but stopped when I noticed that neither Ralph nor Marlon laughed with me. "Are you serious?" They waited. I sighed and took out my holo.
"Think of him as your new HuTA."
Marlon snorted. "I like it, Buttrick. Yes. HuTA version Marlon. So where should we start?" He looked to Ralph for guidance.
"The kid's been raised by squeaks. He's good with the relay drives, and he seem to understand the Qitani tech. Enough to fly their transports, anyway."
"Well that's one up on me then. Can't crack into that fart thing you brought."
"Fah'ti," I corrected.
"We'll get there. Maybe after you learn the ABC's, you'll actually prove useful. I doubt it, but there's always the chance." Marlon thumped my back. "Okay then. Since we have to start at the beginning, let's do it right. About two hundred and fifty years ago, there was a little invention that changed the world. They called it the micro chip." I sighed. He really was starting at the beginning. Ralph kicked my foot under the table and nodded toward my holo. Oh boy. What a long week it would be.
Chapter 5
"Follow me," Lynette had said. So I did. I was fried and wanted any kind of distraction I could find.
We walked down hallways, moved up elevators, went down more hallways and more and another elevator. If I lost sight of Lynette, I couldn't find my way back. For some reason, that lightened my mood and by the time we got to the deck, I was almost giggling.
"Are we supposed to be here?"
Lynette shrugged, then put her hand to the lock. It turned green and opened. "Apparently we are. Come on."
"I'm supposed to be hitting the holo with Marlon."
"Want to go back?"
I grinned at her. "No way."
She nodded. "Then let's go."
We walked into the large room and I caught my breath. It was an observation deck, a bubble, really, of that foot thick glass that covered everything else on this lone human outpost. There was a semi circle of about fifty seats in the center of the room, allowing those who sat a view of the outside world. I didn't see any lights on the roof, or even supports, for that matter. It was as if we were under a large, smooth bowl. And the sky was mine.
"Got your badge ready?"
"Huh?"
She rolled her eyes. "Follow me." We walked to two people enjoying the view. Lynette pulled me forward and tapped the badge on my chest. "Level G. We need this deck."
The two men quickly nodded. I noticed they were sitting there to eat their dinners, and they scrambled to pick up their supplies.
"Oh, no, now you don't have to leave," I began. Lynette elbowed me in my side to keep me quiet and stood with her arms crossed, friendly but serious. When the men nodded, I gave them a small shrug. After they left, Lynette went to the door and tapped a code into the lock. "What are you doing?"
"Keeping everyone else out for a while."
"You can do that?"
She flashed me a grin. "There are one or two perks to having Marlon as a brother." She flopped down on one of the seats in the middle and pressed a button on the arm. The chair reclined, and Lynette told me to join her.
"You didn't have to kick them out," I said.
"Oh just hush up and relax for awhile."
I sat back like her and looked up. My sky.
From the deck, you couldn't really see any of the huge buildings. They were positioned behind us when we sat on the chairs. It was nothing but wide open space. I felt a stab of homesickness, especially when a ship crossed overhead. For a split second I could swear I heard Ashnahta asking me where I thought that ship was going.
"Home," I whispered.
"What?"
I felt embarrassed, but...not. Not really. I guess I felt vulnerable. I wasn't exactly sorry I said it out loud. "I had this game with a friend. We'd watch the ships orbiting Laak'sa and when one would fire the drive to change course, we'd bet on where they were going."
"How did you know who was right?"
I am not supposed to talk about inspeaking. Ralph made that clear. Christophe made that clear. "Trackers, of course," I said. What did she know about deep space life? It was a good cover.
"And who was better at it?"
I laughed, thinking of my miserable record. "Ashnahta. Hands down. Which isn't surprising since she knows every nook and cranny of that place."