“I hate to throw her out,” Herzer replied, frowning.
“Oh, you’re not,” Mirta said with a smile. “I said the spare space. She said she can work around you.”
There had been no further word from Edmund, and Herzer was well into his upper body workout when Meredith wandered into the room.
Her “office” was one of the spare bedrooms in the apartment. Each of the ladies had her own apartment in the building, which had been virtually co-opted by Megan, but she had an additional office in Megan’s apartment where she kept most of the records. The room was large, however, and the desk and filing cabinet only took up part of the space. The extensive weight equipment Herzer had ordered, however, could have taken up a much larger room.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Herzer asked, slowly raising a barbell in one hand and another in the prosthetic up to shoulder height, arms outstretched in front of him. He took a slow breath as he raised them, then held them out at full extension. He was wearing cutoff shorts and a sweat-soaked, sleeveless, gray cosilk shirt.
“If I can get in here around your stuff, yes,” Meredith said coldly. She dropped the files in her arms on the desk and sat down, opening up the top one. “And if I don’t have to engage in casual conversation.”
Herzer took the hint and lowered the barbells with an outrush of breath, waited a moment and then repeated the movement.
He was halfway through a forty rep of slow curls when Meredith closed the file she was reading and turned around in her chair.
“Aren’t you supposed to do a lower body workout one day and an upper body workout the next?” she asked scornfully.
“I did a heavy lower body today,” Herzer said, slowly raising the twenty-kilo barbell. “This is a light upper body workout.”
“That’s light?” Meredith said, frowning.
“Yes,” Herzer replied.
Meredith watched him for a moment and then turned back around, opening another file.
“Thanks for coming over here, Evan,” Herzer said, helping the engineer with the easel he had brought.
Evan Mayerle was a medium height, brown-haired young man with blue eyes that at the moment were mostly focused on Shanea’s rump. She had brought in a tray of coffee and sweet rolls and placed them on the low table by bending over from the waist. Since she was wearing a tight skirt, her endowments in the area were fully evident.
“Uh…” the engineer said. “Yeah. Uhm…”
“Briefing on the Excelsior,” Herzer said, grinning.
“Right,” Evan said, shaking his head and trying not to watch the blonde as she sashayed out of the room. “Excelsior,” he muttered, pulling a set of charts out of a tube and pinning them to the easel. “Excelposterior…” He paused and shook his head. “Miss Travante, have we met?”
“Briefly on the Hazhir,” Megan replied.
“Nice to see you again,” Evan muttered, his eyes wandering between her chest and her eyes. He shook his head again and pulled out two thick files from his briefcase.
“I suppose I should get started,” he said, setting the files on the coffee table. “Uhm…” He paused and took a breath again and then turned to the easel. “You’re ready?”
“Ready, Mr. Mayerle,” Megan said, trying not to laugh.
“The Excelsior was built in 2935. It was originally a tanker that carried hydrocarbons from Neptune to Terra.”
Herzer started to open his mouth and then closed it. Evan, concentrating on his notes, didn’t notice.
“It was refitted for helium three transport in 3212 when the market for hydrocarbons dropped below the sustainment level for the system. As the last of its class it was retained while the others were scrapped. It uses an ion drive propulsion system which, of course, is very low impulse but has a high maximum speed…”
“Excuse me,” Herzer interjected. “I’m lost. What is an ion drive?”
“You know what ions are, right?” Evan said, frowning.
“Yes,” Megan said.
“No,” Herzer replied at the same time.
Evan sighed and thought for a moment.
“You do know that an atom is composed of a nucleus and an electron shell, right?” he asked.
“That I know,” Herzer admitted.
“Okay. Ions are atoms that have had the electron shell stripped away. They’re highly energetic and you can push them out the back of a space vehicle and they give you specific impulse. That is, they push the spacecraft. More or less.”
“Okay,” Herzer said. “So that means… what for us?”
“Just that that’s the ship’s main drive system,” Evan replied, frowning.
“And that matters to me… why?” Herzer asked.
Evan opened his mouth and then closed it, looking nonplussed.
“Herzer,” Megan said, smiling faintly. “Let him talk.”
“Okay,” Herzer replied, leaning back. “Just wake me up when we get to the part where I kill people.”
“The ship is a bit over one kilometer long,” Evan said, frowning slightly and pointing to the first schematic. “The drive system is to the rear and takes up about two hundred meters of the ship. There are six very old model HE3 fusion reactors in that section and the ion generator cannon…”
“Cannon?” Herzer said, sitting up.
“It’s a term of art, Major,” Evan sighed. “It’s not a weapon.”
“Oh.”
“There is also a small control facility that controls only the main engine systems. The ship vector is adjusted by latitudinal thrusters located along the midline and centerline…”
Herzer opened his mouth and then closed it, shaking his head.
“That’s how it’s steered,” Megan whispered in his ear.
“… which are controlled from the ship’s central command facility located… here,” he said, pointing near the center of the ship.
“Why’s it got those big bulges?” Herzer asked.
“There are three HE3 tanks,” Evan said, sighing. “Located centerline of the ship. Each is composed of a flex-metal composite. When empty they deflate but they will be fully engorged when the initial presentation is made.”
Herzer started to say something again and then waved his hand in despair.
“That means when we first get up there,” Megan whispered.
“There are twelve refueling shuttles,” Evan continued, apparently not noticing the byplay. “Located midline at docking points here, here, here, here, here and here,” he added, tapping the new schematic. “This, of course, only shows the shuttles on one side, there is a matching set on the far side. Each of the shuttles has room for seven persons including a pilot, in case the ship needs human repair crew…”
“Why in the hell would it need that?” Herzer asked. “Doesn’t Mother handle that?”
“At the time it was developed,” Evan said with a moue, “full function AIs were limited in number and not fully trusted with complex problems. The ship originally had a human crew. Which is why the transverse personnel tubes located midline above the shuttle docking points are pressurized, as is the engine control room, maintenance, crew quarters and the main control room.”
“Okay, now we’re getting someplace,” Herzer said, leaning back and rubbing his chin.
“The shuttles are fully automated,” Evan continued. “When the ship approaches Terra…”
“Where’s Terra?” Herzer asked. “You said that before.”
“Earth,” Megan replied.
“What she said,” Evan said with a nod. “When it approaches Earth, the shuttles fuel from the HE3 tanks and land at reactors. Transfer at the reactors takes approximately one hour. Then they return to the ship, fuel again and so on. It takes approximately twenty trips for the ship to be fully emptied.”