Cale grinned. "I stand corrected." He started to order Tess to show the footage, but then paused. "Okay. We'll get to that. But first, we've got a lot of work to do. Given the size of Jumbo, we're going to have to ground at several dozen locations to gather animal, plant and soil samples for our clients before we worry about the inhabited area. I think we should take care of business first, and then we can do the fun stuff."
Dee smiled. "Contacting armed barbarians who have a train is 'fun stuff'?"
Cale grinned. "Yep. That's what will take the time and effort. We should do the bouncing around first."
"Excuse me, Captain," Tess interjected, "but that brings me to the problem."
Cale's frown returned. "What is it, Tess?"
"I am afraid we have all been guilty of underestimating our task," Tess began. "I underestimated the damage 500 years could work on a simple landing pad. I have located one in each of the old cities, including the large one at Nirvana. But none are usable.
Exploration vessels are spherical for strength, and can land on a small area, like the ancient rockets. I am a yacht. My hull is elongated, and I land on my belly. Even a single rough-surface landing will require very precise monitoring of my gravs. More importantly, though, a rough-surface landing will strain my landing jacks and even my structural integrity. Every rough-surface grounding is a risk. I felt confident that I could make at least one rough-surface landing and liftoff; but we will require dozens of landings, not just one.
"And you underestimated the sheer size of Jumbo. The original plan was for me to ground at the cities' landing fields, and you and Dee to use a flitter to survey the area. But we now know that the pads are unusable, and without being able to lift from one area to another, a flitter would take months to even reach some of the survey areas."
"Oh, dear!" Dee sounded distressed. "We can't just go back and tell the clients we weren't able to do the survey!"
"I do have a suggestion," Tess said tentatively.
Cale waved a dismissing hand. "Tess, you're a partner in this, too. Don't sound so damned humble! What's your idea?"
"A partner!" Tess replied warmly. "Thank you, Cale."
"Of course you're a partner, Tess," Dee said. "We couldn't do this without you. What's your idea?"
"I suggest we use the lifeboat at the orbital station. I examined it carefully. The reason it wasn't used was that it was apparently undergoing maintenance at the time the station was abandoned. And the fuel rods have deteriorated beyond use, of course. But I'm certain my 'bots could complete the repairs and refuel it in a few hours. A lifeboat is designed for multiple rough-field landings and liftoffs. It's designed for fifteen people, so if we strip out the extra couches we'll have plenty of room for any equipment you want to take. And finally, it contains a full med-and-cold-sleep cabinet, in case one of you gets sick or hurt."
Tess contained several dozen spider-shaped robots that served as her 'hands'. Their sizes varied from over a yard in diameter to less than half an inch. Of their eight legs, two ended in folded manipulators that could be deployed as remarkably dextrous 'hands'. For the few jobs too small for her robots, Tess was equipped with packets of nanobots. Each packet was designed to fulfill a single, simple function.
"And," Tess continued, "I can maintain a low geostationary orbit above wherever you are, in case you need help."
Cale shook his head. "Tess, we know you can't use the weapons."
"That is not precisely true," Tess replied. "I am prevented from harming a human or allowing him to come to harm. But I suspect the sight of me roaring down from the sky would be quite an effective diversion, especially if I used the quickfirer to chew up the ground near your attackers. It could at least give you time to get back aboard the lifeboat and lift off."
Cale grinned. "It would sure scare me! Tess, you seem to have thought of everything. It's a good thing lifeboats are dead simple to operate. They don't come equipped with AI's."
"True," Tess replied. "They do have a nav comp, however. I feel sure I could modify its programming to meet our needs."
The conversation moved to technicalities as they moved back to the space station. When Cale's friend Yan Carbow had disguised the yacht as an old Empire courier, they had added the weapons to make the disguise complete, and to give Cale some defense against his former pirate shipmates. Tess contained a destroyer-sized laser and an alliance quickfiring projectile weapon. Yes, Tess could provide an effective diversion, even though her programming prevented her actually harming a human.
It took Tess's industrious robots only hours to complete work on the lifeboat, though it was nearly a day before Tess was satisfied with their detailed inspection of the craft and the stripping of its interior. Cale eased it from its berth and brought it to match Cheetah's airlock. They brought their supplies into the now-spacious vessel, and Tess coached Cale on flying it, using one of her robots.
They decided to wait until the next morning to begin the ground survey.
"You know," Dee began at dinner, "This is going to be an ongoing problem. We're always going to need a ground-level survey, and that means we'll need the capability to ground on rough sites."
"I know," Cale replied. "And I doubt we can modify Cheetah enough to make her an exploration vessel."
"That is true," Tess added. "Exploration vessels are built from the frames up for rough usage. Cheetah would have to be completely remanufactured. I'm not certain it is possible, and I am certain that the costs would exceed that of purchasing an entirely new hull."
"Suppose we bought a new hull," Cale said, "and installed you in it?"
"I have considered that before," Tess replied. "At one point I became very wealthy. My asteroid-mining robots found one that contained a large vein of diamonds. I assume they were formed on a planet, or perhaps by a planet's breakup. At any rate, I was not particularly sophisticated at the time, and I began to flood the market. When I realized that I was generating questions and investigations, I quickly stopped, but by then I was almost embarrassingly rich. I spent several years moving money around to conceal it in a mass of transactions. It was quite fascinating, really.
"At any rate, with all this wealth, I considered purchasing a custom hull which I would design myself. But I decided that the risks were simply too great. I do not know how or why I became sentient. The duplicate yacht built for the Emperor never achieved that state. I kept track of the imperial yacht for over a century, before losing track of her in the chaos of the Fall. Whatever caused my development, it was obviously not a normal occurrence, and cannot be explained in terms of hardware or software. I was and am afraid that if we try to move me, I might disappear."
Cale frowned. "You're right, of course. I would never risk that."
"Of course not, dear," Dee added. "It would be like risking a good friend's life! Totally unthinkable! So," she added after a pause, "are you still very wealthy?"
Cale waved a dismissal. "Who cares? As long as we're around, she won't need it. I'm more interested in knowing whether she still has active accounts where we can deposit her share."
"My share?" Tess sounded excited.
Cale grinned. "Of course, Tess. You're a partner, You deserve a share of the profits."
Tess's voice turned doubtful. "How could you explain an extra share to Zant and Tor-Jen?"
Cale sobered. "I'm sorry, Tess." He said. "I didn't say an 'equal' share. In order to keep your secret, we'll have to give you part of our shares. Perhaps half."
"Of course!" Dee added. "That way, you and we will receive equal shares, though the others will receive more." She shrugged. "I'm not greedy, and my father's 'contribution' is tucked safely away on Angeles. I'm sure we'll do quite well, partner."