The Genie and the Engineer 3: Ravages of War (5 page)

Ophir Planum

Just north of Coprates Chasma

Mars

Saturday 10:30 a.m. LMST (Local Mean Solar Time)

November

Day 1

Without spacesuits, they remained on board to begin planning
the design of the Gathol House. The two Daneels portaled out using the
temporary airlock, heading off to perform geological surveys and prospecting
for the minerals Paul needed to fabricate the spacesuits he had in mind.

Disappointed that she could not go with the Scotties,
Ariel-Leira retreated from view in the mirror. On such occasions, Paul knew not
when they would see her again.

“The Valles Marineris,” Capie noted, studying the display in
front of her. The viewpoint was an overhead shot, from three hundred miles
above them. “2,500 miles long and up to 60 miles wide. A tectonic crack with
evidence of water flow. You think that there might be water deposits in the
floor of the chasmas?”

“That would be nice,” Paul concurred as he rubbed his chin
with one hand. “We could supply our water from there, instead of importing it
all the way from the poles. We’ll check it out after we get started on the
house.”

“Yes, the house!” mused Capie. “I have some ideas and
preferences on the layout. I think I told you that we need to put it on the
precipice of the north cliff, right? Hmm, I’ll want windows all around, to get
the best views, of course. Maybe a dome house, like the city in
Stargate
Atlantis
or
Logan’s Run
.” She waved a virtual pencil and notepad
into existence. “I’d better make a few notes.”

Paul smiled as he considered how best to plan tasks for the
next few days.

“As soon as the suits are made,” he said, “we’ll go out and
do a survey of the cliff itself. Make sure it is strong enough to support the
house. Then we can begin gathering the construction materials.”

Capie eyed Paul intently. “I know you are anxious to get
started on your Scottie production line and making chutzpahs too. But I really
want your help finishing the house first.”

Paul nodded in agreement, completely in sympathy with her request.
“No problem. It should only take a few days at most to build a really great
looking house. I think for the windows, we will need something stronger than
glass. Perhaps transparent aluminum…”

“Funny man,” Capie responded, with a bemused smile. “Scotty,
in
Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home
. There be whales coming?”

“Not from my side of the family!” he said, snickering in
amusement. “Or, if you prefer, we could make them from diamond,” he added, a
bit more seriously.

“Diamond windows? Surely you’re still joking,” Capie
assumed.

Paul shook his head. “Not at all. Diamonds are just carbon,
in a crystalline structure. Oh, sure, in nature, it takes tremendous heat and
pressure to make a diamond. But with magic, we can line up the carbon atoms and
link them together in batch lots. Making a diamond window should be no more
difficult than making a glass window.” He paused thinking for a moment. “Of
course, there are other options, such as graphene and a variety of plastics and
of course different types of glass. But for us, diamond windows will be easier
to make and structurally stronger.”

“I never thought of that,” Capie admitted, then looked at
him in approval. “I like the way you think. Diamond windows indeed. You’re kind
of handy to have around.”

“Anything to please my lady,” Paul said, bowing, delighted
at how quickly she seemed to be adapting to Mars.

He caught her eye. “And why limit it to just windows? Why
not the roof as well?”

“Ooh, that’s an interesting thought. To live in a totally
transparent house, huh? Since we are the only people on Mars, why not?”

“Well, we do have Ariel-Leira and the Scotties with us.”

“The interior walls will not be transparent,” Capie added
firmly.

“I agree,” he responded, grinning.

“Time’s a wastin’,” she declared. “Let’s get started with a
design. You’re the engineer. You can be the one to put it on paper.”

Ω

The Daneels returned late that evening and reported to Paul
that the prospecting expedition had been eminently successful, that they had
found not one but two large graphite deposits, both of them in the Tharsis
region.

The selenium had been a bit more challenging. Chemically
similar to sulfur, on Earth selenium was frequently found as selenide (Se2-) in
sulfide ores. Using that information as a guide, the Scotties had found a
rather substantial deposit of pyrite (FeS2) with trace amounts of Ferroselite
(FeSe2) in the badlands of Ulysses Colles north of the Biblis Tholus volcano.
Using a filter portal, they had been able to extra the selenium directly.

By far, the hardest to locate was the palladium. Even on
Earth, the rare metal was only found in conjunction with gold and platinum
group metal ores such as polarite and cooperite, typically in the form of
palladium sulfide. After a fairly intensive search, Daneel 2 had turned up
scattered deposits not far from Alba Patera, a large volcano northeast of
Olympus Mons. Using a filter portal, the Scotties had managed to extract a
little over fifteen pounds of the extraordinary metal.

Ω

The next morning, after a modest breakfast of ham and eggs,
Paul once again gathered everyone together at the small kitchen table, this
time to talk about the manufacture of the two spacesuits. The mirror woman was
still off somewhere, on her side of the mirror, and hadn’t been seen for more
than a day.

“Am I going to need a degree in physics, chemistry, or
electrical engineering to understand this discussion?” Capie asked, with raised
eyebrows. “Or could we just save time, cut to the chase, and let you just make
them.”

Paul frowned then shrugged with a wry grin. “Okay, I admit
it. I get carried away sometimes with the science.”

“Really, Dad?” asked Daneel 2, smirking. “Gee, what a
surprise!”

“Okay, okay, point taken,” Paul responded, waving a hand in
surrender. “I’ll keep it short and simple, I promise. But I have to explain at
least the basics to you because I need your help in making these suits.
Otherwise, it will take me a couple of weeks to do them by myself.”

“We understand. Go ahead,” Capie informed him, her voice tinged
with a degree of reluctance.

“Excellent!” Paul proclaimed, then waved a hand to create a
midair holographic display. In it was a picture of an astronaut in full spacesuit
gear, standing on the Moon, a golf club in one gloved hand.

“Now, when most people think of a spacesuit, this is what
they think of, correct?”

“But you have something better in mind, right, Dad?” Daneel
1 asked with a chuckle.

Paul snapped his fingers and the astronaut and the lunar
background disappeared, to be replaced by a bare male mannequin, standing with
its legs apart and its hands extended a few inches out to each side.

“Right. The full-fledged suits worn by the Apollo
astronauts, the A7L model, was eleven layers thick and weighed up to 200
pounds, including the backpack. Now, what I am planning on is a suit that
weighs a lot less and is far more flexible.”

The mannequin suddenly acquired a set of apparel: a black
form fitting garment with a high collar, long sleeves and leggings that
included footies.

“A number of sci-fi books have used the concept of
skin-tight spacesuits, including David Weber’s Honorverse series. NASA calls
them Space Activity Suits (SAS). I’ll skip the details. Let’s just say that
people have been working on this type of design for decades trying to overcome
the problems involved. Yes, they have advantages. But they have disadvantages
too.”

He waved his hand again and the garb on the mannequin
changed. And although this version of the ‘spacesuit’ was similar to the
skin-tight suit, there were differences too.

“That doesn’t look quite as snug as before,” commented Capie
with a frown. “But I like the metallic silver color better than the black.”

“Good eye, CB,” Paul remarked. “This suit does have a more
relaxed fit, on purpose. It will be a bit stiffer to move around in than a SAS,
once it is inflated, but it alleviates the technical problems too.”

“What’s so special about this version?” Daneel 1 asked.

“Good question,” Paul replied with a smile. “I’m so glad you
asked. This version will be made of layers of graphene and a transition-metal
dichalcogenide also called a TMDC, specifically palladium diselenide. That was why
I asked for the palladium and selenium. Both the graphene and the palladium
diselenide are single layer materials, both incredibly strong and both very
flexible.”

“Why use two types?” Daneel 1 asked, puzzled. “They both do
the same thing, right?”

Paul’s grin grew even larger. “Because carbon is the
principle element in diamonds. Selenium is an element of earth and palladium is
a precious metal.”

The light bulb in Capie’s eyes clicked on. “You’re making a
talisman! Precious stones, precious metals and an element of the earth! That’s
clever!”

“It’s why I really couldn’t make these on Earth,” Paul
pointed out. “They would have immediately drawn the attention of
Errabêlu
.
Once they are fabricated, I will let the Daneels take them outside and perform
a talisman ceremony on them. As a talisman and a suit that covers your entire
body, a simple spell is all you will need to keep the air inside from leaking
out, to protect you from injury and to keep you warm. They won’t be as powerful
as McDougall’s or Hamadi’s talisman or even one of the Oni talismans. But they
are, shall we say, tailor made for this specific purpose.”

Capie snorted, studying the suit that the mannequin was
wearing intently. “It needs a woman’s touch, obviously.”

“What about helmets?” Daneel 1 asked. “Mom said you are
planning to make diamond windows. Can you do diamond helmets as well?”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Paul informed him.
“And of course, the suits need a source of oxygen as well. Back on Earth, I
purchased two closed oxygen re-breathers like what skin divers use for
underwater work. They’re in the storage hold.”

“I saw them,” Capie admitted with sober look. “And wondered
what they were for. You will give us a class on how to use them, right?”

“That’s the plan,” Paul said, with a wry grin. “But first, I
need to teach you how to make graphene and the palladium diselenide.”

He waved the mannequin out of existence, replacing it with
an image of a number of small black balls idly floating in space.

“Now, assume that these are carbon atoms, which each have
four valence electrons…”

Ω

It took three days of intensive work by all four of them to
learn the proper fabrication techniques and then to make swaths of fabric for
testing and fitting. Finally, when they had gained sufficient confidence, they
took the appropriate physical measurements, produced several large sheets of
the material and used them to put together two bona fide
Lost in Space
style
spacesuits.

After thorough testing, it was decided to put them to good
use the very next day.

Ω

Paul and Capie bounce-walked in the light gravity, heading
south away from the ship, the two Daneels floating along gracefully behind
them. Since Ariel-Leira had shown up again, Paul had her in tow behind him,
floating along a few feet off the ground, doing a slow rotation to let the
mirror woman see all of the surrounding terrain.

Capie keyed the microphone on her portable UHF Motorola
radio with a small spell. “Oh! Oh!” she cried, coming to a sudden halt.

Paul was instantly alarmed. “What is it?” he barked.
“Something wrong with the suit?”

“No, no, nothing like that!” she hissed while waving him
off. “The suit is working just fine,” she said with satisfaction and more than
a bit of pride in her voice. “It’s light and not hard to move around in at
all.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I feel a quote coming on!”

“A quote? Now? At a time like this?” he cackled, generating
a disbelieving sigh of relief. “You had me going there for a second!”

“It’s just that all of this…emptiness…has inspired me,” she patiently
explained. “A quote from one of my favorite vintage science fiction movies.
‘Another one of them new worlds. No beer, no women, no pool parlors, nothin’.
Nothin’ to do but throw rocks at tin cans, and we gotta bring our own tin cans.’”

“Yeah! Cookie in
Forbidden Planet
!” exclaimed Daneel
2. “Love that movie!”

“Good one, Mom,” declared Daneel 1.

“It really is a great quote,” Paul admitted, shaking his
head. “Come on. There’s work to be done.”

They proceeded three hundred yards further south,
approaching the edge of the precipice, coming to a complete stop several yards
from the brink.

“Not too close,” Paul warned.

No one else said anything. They didn’t have to. The view
from the cliff’s edge was indeed stunning.

Far, far below them, was the bed of the chasma. All across
the floor of the canyon, they saw drifts of red sand like waves of water on a
lake, frozen in a single moment of time. A low rocky ridge in the center of the
chasma stretched toward the east. Another, shorter ridge of rocks angled toward
the west.

“Look, there have been landslides here,” Capie said,
pointing below them.

Evidently there had been. They could see the circular
pattern of sand at the foot of the north wall where it spread out across the
floor of the chasma. Thousands of tons of rock and dirt had fallen there.

“We
really
will have to make sure this ledge is fully
secured before we build here,” Paul repeated.

To the south, a seemingly incredible distance away, lay the
south face of the chasma, some 35 miles distant. On either side of them, they
could see the inward curving of the north walls and the rocky strata of the
parapets. The view was the most magnificent natural scene that Paul had ever witnessed,
easily surpassing anything he had seen back on Earth.