Family Law 2: The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet (12 page)

Jon Burris, a usually quiet scan and com tech spoke up. "I'm not at all sure
how
, But I'd bet anything these brown dwarf systems are somehow related to super nova. That's the only way we know for masses of metals heavier than iron to be produced. Now if they're at a certain distances, like in a band, or where the wave front ran up against a cloud of gas or something to slow it down and condense it, I don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me if they are strung along in a line or arch," he said, using his hands to illustrate the concept.

"Yes!" Ernie cried out in the strangest voice. He grabbed Jon and scared him, hugging him like a long lost brother and then holding him at arm's length. "I'll credit you! Yes I will!" he raved. "I have to go write this down," he said with manic glee, taking his leave of his Captain with less formality than was normal for even this casual crew.

"I do believe you broke his block," Gordon told Jon, amused.

"He looked
crazed
, I didn't know what he was going to do," Jon admitted, rattled.

"You just committed inspiration," Thor said. "Try not to do that more than once a duty shift."

"It seemed obvious," Jon said, shrugging. "I almost didn't say it out loud."

"Ah, one of
those
people," Thor said nodding and gave Lee an accusing glance.

"I do believe we'll be here a few days to give it a proper survey. Alter the schedule for orbital watches instead of flight crews and let's send
Murphy's Law
and
The Champion William
off to poke around the outer system and make sure we don't miss anything," Gordon ordered.

The Marines found a rock about half as big as the
Retribution
, that appeared to be one big nugget of ninety six percent platinum. It would be easy to cut off chunks.

"Since mining claims are all or nothing, with no individual claims for crew, might I suggest it would be a nice gesture and enhance morale, to offer 'samples' to crew as keepsakes?" Thor proposed.

"How much mass you want to load on my ship, that we have to carry all the way back home?"

"Five kilograms each wouldn't be enough to even measure any difference in ship's performance. But it might really enhance crew performance, if they cut them up maybe they will serve as poker chips. Some of the guys are going absolutely nuts, writing IOUs for thousands of Fargone Dollars each against anticipated pay outs."

"Make it a little on the plus side of four kilograms. No need to be exact. I need a paperweight anyway. The air vent shoots right at my desk," Gordon allowed.

* * *

"I suspect this is one of those discoveries, brown dwarfs being metal sources, that historians will write about and class the era before as being a time when the races struggled with scarcity of metals and the time after as a different time of expansion and plenty," Gordon predicted.

"There are still other important things which remain scarce," Thor was quick to point out. "I'd have been happier to find out that a certain sort of star tends to have living planets around them."

"We might find that yet, when we look at enough stars to see a pattern. We're going to have so much metal now, they may build a lot more big habitats. If they can build them big enough you can put trees and open spaces in them and it'll be almost like being on a planet."

"We're going to have some pretty decent claims," Thor reminded Gordon. "We can afford to steer things and promote whatever sort of development or research we think is important. If you want habs with trees, build one, maybe for the miners around a brown dwarf."

"Yes, I think that sort of freedom is a bigger luxury than building a palace to live in."

"Palaces are over rated. I think you have to have been raised in poverty to want one. That's why it is such a human thing, because Derf so rarely feel they lived in poverty. It's really rare a tribe has incompetent Mothers to where their people feel insecure or in real need. If they do, then the  men folk usually put the ax to them without much delay."

"You know the first time I went to Earth, looking to get a berth on an explorer, I went out to clubs with a few of the humans I'd met. I was a novelty and after a few beers these young guys would say whatever came to mind pretty easily. The first time one complained about some politician and said, "Somebody ought to shoot the son-of-a-bitch!" I was alarmed. I figured if that was the talk in the street there might be revolution tomorrow. If somebody said the Mothers should be put to the ax what would you say? Gordon asked.

"I'd probably say, your call, if you need to go ahead and
do
it," Thor admitted.

"Yes, there are some pretty big differences between us. It's taken me awhile to figure out a lot of them. Being partners with the Andersons helped. You don't just work with explorers, you live with them. And watching Lee grow up showed me a lot about what is taught and what is inherent."

"I think we're a
lot
alike, compared to the Bunnies." Lee offered.

"I worry about them now. I think they are a big problem waiting to happen," Gordon said.

* * *

Murphy's Law
had a crewman develop appendicitis, which Gordon had to have explained to him. The ship's doctor could do minor surgery, but it wasn't his specialty. He had to supervise the ship's robotic surgeon for something major. While it worked, he kept the operating manual on one screen and a tutorial on that particular operation on another while he watched for any problems and prompted it's progression. He couldn't pause and consult the manual much without stressing his patient.

"Did he come through OK?" Gordon asked the ship's Captain Henry. "The patient? He's doing fine, but it may take the doc a week to recover. I almost ordered
him
sedated, but settled for ordering him to join me in a glass of my personal Fargone rum. I brought along a full case of Poison Pirate's Piss, top shelf stuff, so he has no complaint. I believe he felt a little out of his depth. He certainly looked rattled."

"Better humble and scared, than cocky and over confidence."

"Doc Ellis requested a full shift before we accelerate past a standard G," Henry requested.

"No problem, we're near shift change here and when I come back on I'll check with you and see if it is still safe for him to start the run to jump," Gordon promised. "No need for a full G even."

"Under military discipline we'd be expected to tank him and boost."

"Why? So you can all prove how tough you are? I'd boost if I had somebody hostile shooting my butt off and no choice. I'd kill him to save the ship if that was the choice but it isn't. Everybody will watch this and see how well we take care of our crewman," Gordon pointed out. "It's a morale issue."

"And they're all multi-billionaires at least!" Henry said grinning. "I wonder how many of them will reenlist when we get back home?"

"I think the bigger question is, How many of them will take their new wealth and buy a ship to go exploring on their own? Ship building might be something good to invest in when we return." It was the sort of sudden clear insight one got only rarely.

* * *

"Ensign Lee's compliments sir and he inquires if you'd care for this specimen of native metal from the assay team?" The rating offered a bare chunk from a bin basket containing more.

Those must be for the rest of the bridge crew he guessed. He took the little cube with a nod and looked it over. Five sides were bright metal. One face having some faint saw marks and an actual little dark void that went into the metal ten or fifteen millimeters. The sixth face was obviously from the outer face of the rock, dark grey and bumpy with coarse nodules. It reminded Gordon somewhat of the surface of a cauliflower. An Earth vegetable he had tried once, that once being entirely sufficient.

"I have others if that doesn't please you," the fellow offered after Gordon took some time examining it. "That's really one of the more interesting ones," he said, selling it. "The surface has some texture to it, some are almost flat and it has an interesting little void. There are only about a dozen with those."

"It's quite nice, thank you. I was just enjoying examining it, no criticism implied. Feel free to continue with your distribution." The young man looked like he had to restrain himself from saluting, which they didn't do and satisfied himself with an "Aye, aye sir!" He must be a Fargoer from
Murphy's Law
. The other bridge members received theirs with varying degrees of enthusiasm, only Thor asking the kid what sort of chunk he'd gotten.

"Sir, I chose a piece that has some sort of rocky inclusion. It has less platinum and a lower melt value, but it's a much more interesting mineral specimen!"

Thor looked at his cube, it appeared even smaller on his palm than that of the human who brought it. "I had it pictured a bit bigger. I don't think I've ever held platinum before. I visualized four kilogram as a nice little steak, because I didn't realize how dense it is." He tossed the chunk in the air and snatched it on the way down. A leisurely action at the half G they were boosting. "It's too big for an earring and too pointy for a pendant. I'm not sure what to do with it." He held it between thumb and finger. It was about the size Derf cut things up for finger food, about six centimeters on a side.

"I'm using mine as a paper weight," Gordon offered. "I'll keep it as a memento, but if you don't care to keep it I think what the rating said about it is a hint. It is probably worth more as a rare mineral specimen than as scrap platinum."

"What's it worth as platinum?" Thor asked. Too lazy to look it up.

Gordon checked their web fraction. "It's weird. It sells in units of thirty one point one grams. Last quote we had when we left was about eight thousand Ceres Dollars a standard measure, on Ceres deliver, or eight hundred thousand USNA Dollars. If you don't want it I'll buy it from you at a ten percent premium. I think it would make a nice gift for the Mothers."

"Why don't you just tell them to cut a few for the Mothers, or to stuff in the safe as gifts if we meet somebody out here and have to make nice-nice with their diplomats? Rank has its privileges I'm told. It's not like you are ordering them up for yourself to snatch an extra share."

"Some of the human explorers have their contracts award graduated shares. The Captain and senior officers get much more than the crewmen," Gordon informed him. "Even if they don't have an ownership interest by investing in the whole enterprise. It always seemed greedy to me. You're right, I can order up extra specimens as expedition assets. Thanks for the idea."

* * *

"Are we going to leave a claims satellite? Or did you decide it's too dangerous?" Captain Henry of
Murphy's Law
asked in conference before they departed the brown dwarf system.

"I still haven't decided," Gordon told them. Their faces showed keen interest. "Give me the gift of your thoughts," he invited. It always made people feel better to be asked, even if you pondered it and then didn't take their advice after all. But it was best to have a reason
why
and frame it as instruction.

"For whom would we be leaving a claims satellite?" Parsimony Cho asked. "For others of our races using the Claims System, or aliens?"

"Would aliens have any idea what a claims satellite meant" Chance Ochocinco asked. Nobody answered quickly, pondering that.

Fat Ortega answered in his usual slow manner. Pausing between statements. "If I were in a strange land and came upon a fence, that tells me somebody feels they own or control the land inside the fence. But it might just be to keep cattle in or something. There are places you are welcome to cross the land or hunt, if you go in a gate and close it carefully behind you. However if you go up to a fence and there is a sign with language or symbols hung to be seen from outside the fence, it's different. Even if you can't read it you know you're being served some sort of notice. It may be, 'Danger, mean bull inside fence, enter at your own risk.' Or it might be 'Delicate habitat, subject to damage. Do not enter.' Or it might be 'Private property, use fee required. Pay at ranch house before entry. At the very worst it may be, 'No trespassing. Violators will be shot on sight.' So you don't know what, but you know there is some message. Unless you are desperate, or of a huge ego, chances are you will stop and not chance it's something important even if you can't read it."

"OK, a satellite says somebody has been here and has enough of an interest to mark it. I'll go with that," Gordon decided. "We're not skulking around avoiding contact. If there are others out here we will try to talk to them. If we were worried about hostile aliens, or vastly superior aliens, we would have stayed home safe and hope they never found us."

"As Canny McDonald pointed out, three missiles and we could have owned the Bunnies' planet," Thor reminded them. "If we do meet somebody we have a history of restraint. Recognizing private ownership is something that all three of our cultures have as a moral imperative in different forms. We can hope anyone we meet has similar motivations since they seem common to sentient races. We can make the case we are not evil aliens to be feared."

"Thor, advise Mr. Ames and Mr. Goddard to place a claims marker. If all of you will consult my navigator, Brownie will give you our run to jump numbers, formation and target destination. You have a tenth day to secure and prepare for acceleration."

Bodacious Williams on
Murphy's Law
turned to his Captain after the conference closed. "Do you happen to know how Gordon's navigator Brownie came by his name? Most Derf pick an actual human name of someone they know or admire as their customary name dealing with humans. There are a lot of names of authors and discoverers. Although I met one Derf who went by Big Guy and one who I suspect copied Fargone taste in names and calls himself Gregarious. But Brownie? Does he like the little chocolate cakes?"

"He was the first Derf a fellow from Alaska on Earth met. It happens his coat is colored what they call cinnamon, just like a subspecies of Brown Bear that lives around this fellow's home. They happen to be about the same size too. He took one look at the Derf, jerked all over in shock, eyes wide as the story goes and declared quite loudly, It's a frigging Brownie! It stuck."