The Spindle Station: Book 2 of the Alliance Conflict (36 page)

However, all Solarian electronic equipment that was plugged into the planet’s power grid was automatically shielded. As a result, only one Alliance cruiser was needed to guard the planet and armed Solarian armed forces were minimal. They simply weren’t needed because no one could invade or even attack the planet without power.

The EMP test had been a big issue when they had first arrived. When the alarm went off, the office staff had to scramble to turn off all of their computers and com pads in 5 minutes. Inevitably, a computer would be left on and would be destroyed. Also, the EMP was so strong that it began to affect even the computers that were properly turned off.

Finally, they had surrendered to the inevitable and replaced all of their communication pads, watches, computers, razors, and everything else that used electricity with similar items built on Solaria. Ponwe thought that the whole thing was a scam. He could picture the advertisement sign – Buy Solarian. If you don’t, we will electrocute it.

Ponwe took a quick look around to ensure that everything was plugged into an outlet. He didn’t see anything amiss. The EMP fired. Ponwe then checked his computer and com pad. Both were fine.

The foreman, technically forewoman, entered the room and said, “We are on schedule.”

Loid looked at her and said, “Well done.” He then adjusted his glance so that he could also see Ponwe and said, “I will see you tomorrow.”

Loid stood up, gathered his satchel, put his com pad in it, and left. The forewoman followed him out of the building. Ponwe looked out the window and saw that all of the construction workers were rapidly leaving for the day. There was still 40 minutes before the end of their planned working shift.

Ponwe used his com pad to send a message to his wife to tell her that he was on his way home. He followed Loid out the door. If the first topic of conversation was restaurants, the other was the darned schedule. The foreperson seemed more interested in the schedule than anything else.

Each morning she would review the amount of work that needed to get accomplished that day. Then she would plan the activities and ruthlessly push to ensure that all tasks were complete by the end of that day.

If they ran behind, she would force everyone to work 10, 12, 14 hours until whatever problematic task was complete. If, on the other hand, they finished their assigned tasks early, she would order them to stop. Occasionally, they would only work 4 hours before stopping. Most days were like today though where they finished 40 minutes early.

Ponwe had been in charge of several large construction projects before. This was the first project where time, well the schedule, was managed so strictly. He still hadn’t gotten used to such a strict interpretation of a day’s activities.

Ponwe was technically the forewoman’s supervisor. He supposed that he could have ordered her to have the workers continue, but the precedent had been set on day 1 and now it would be hard to change. Quite frankly though, she scared him. Besides, how can one argue with a project that is exactly on schedule?

Ponwe thought about the schedule for a moment. He had been asked by Ambassador Lone to make a full and complete day by day schedule of what tasks needed to be done in what order. That was unusual; normally he planned by the week. However, Lone had explained that since the distance was so far, the Hiriculan government needed that level of detail to ensure that the required resources were available when needed.

After he completed it, Lone sent it to the Hiriculan High Council for review. Really, he thought, the government has nothing better to do than review his work?

The answer was ‘apparently not’ because the schedule was returned a few days later with detailed notes and modifications. The timeline had actually increased by 40 days, but the changes were well thought out and would make the construction proceed more smoothly. Someone who had a detailed knowledge of construction had clearly performed the review.

By this time Ponwe had caught Loid and said, “An early day again today. If we worked full days, we could finish this project two months ahead of time.”

Ponwe was shocked when Loid gave him a really strange look and raised his ear stalks. Loid leaned close and whispered, “The timeline was reviewed and approved by the High Council. If we finish early we would essentially be calling them idiots. If we finish late, we would be personal failures. I don’t think either option is a good idea.”

Ponwe took a moment and considered this. He had never thought about it like that before today. He suddenly had a newfound respect for the forewoman and understood why she demanded that they stay on schedule every day.

He reached his apartment and saw his wife and son waiting for him outside the apartment. The Hiriculan government had decreed that when they were outside and within hearing range of another Solarian, they should speak in Alliance basic to allay any fears that they were talking about people.

Therefore, even though they were alone, he still used Alliance basic to say, “Hi Jenna, are you and Lucas ready to go?”

His wife’s name is Jenlid’wa. The Alliance basic letter combination is technically Jenwa. However, during her intensive study of Solarian names, Jenwa noticed that her Alliance name is very similar in sound to the Solarian name Jenna. She reasoned that if she had to use a different name, she may as well use one really existed.

Jenna didn’t answer. The fact that she was standing in front of the apartment building with the baby and the hover-carriage indicated consent. Ponwe activated the carriage, briefly tested its hover capability by pushing down on it, and placed Lucas inside. He secured the safety strap to his waist and started walking toward the park.

The new office building was being constructed in the heart of the government section of Solar City. The building was nestled beside the park on one side, the courthouse on another, the military preparedness center (e.g. Pentagon), on the third, and the EMP control structure on the fourth. When completed, the new building would house the other government offices.

It was located only one hovertram stop from the spaceport. Most of the actual construction workers, including Loid and the forewoman, had decided to live near the spaceport. They favored the nightlife and the other world feel of the place.

Ponwe and most of the other older workers had decided to live in an apartment complex a block from the new building. It was much quieter and was near the park. Ponwe liked that he could walk to work in under 10 minutes.

They reached the park and began walking slowly through it, enjoying the beautiful weather and making small conversation. Lucas was resting comfortably in his stroller.

Jenna said, “I watched a new human video today.”

“Oh,” Ponwe answered, “You shouldn’t watch those. I don’t think they are real.”

Jenna: “I think it was a real human movie. I don’t know whether the movie was factual. Some of them you can tell right away are fiction. Others though, are almost impossible to tell. Do you think the humans are as violent as everyone says they are?”

They had had this conversation many times over the last month. Hiriculans have almost no exposure to humans or Earth; save for the occasional rumor that the humans are going to blow up their own planet or kill and eat any alien that steps foot on their planet.

Jenna, and to a small extent Ponwe, had been fascinated with the large number of shows that were purportedly from Earth. Last night he had watched a few minutes of a sporting contest where humans had to toss a ball into a basket.

They had shown the human players’ height and weight in some archaic measuring system. If he had performed the translation correctly, the humans were huge – unbelievably huge, so huge in fact that he didn’t believe it and turned it off.

Ponwe shrugged and answered, “Hiricula discovered Neto almost 210 years ago. Eighty years after that they were semi-useful members in our society. After 210 years of our helpful guidance, the Netos are now useful.

Jenna snorted and repeated, “Helpful guidance. Is that what the government is officially calling its program of selective breeding and DNA tampering? Anyway, your point.”

Ponwe: “The Alliance discovered Earth 300 years ago. And after 300 years the humans are still as violent and anti-social as they were back then. Maybe more so. I mean that if there was any way for the Alliance to make them functioning members of society they would have done so by now.

“Okay,” Jenna replied with a certain nasal tone that indicated it wasn’t.

Ponwe replied, “The Alliance’s solution was to restrict travel to the planet by putting military forts in front of the only hyperspace route to Earth. They probably also created the rumor that humans eat other species. There certainly isn’t any evidence to support it. One thing is clear to me though, the Alliance is scared of the humans.”

They had walked about halfway through the park and had reached the new building. When construction was finished, the park would open into the green space surrounding the new building. For now, the area was closed off with safety barricades.

Jenna asked, “How is construction going?”

Ponwe answered, “We are right on schedule.”

Ponwe looked over at the obstacle course. The course was in-between the new building and the park. The barricades had been arranged so that the course could be accessed in either direction. He recognized Loid and saw that Loid was waving him over.

They stepped off the path, walked over to the obstacle course, and stood next to Loid. Loid was standing at the starting line and was performing the role of course director. He had a large timer that could track three beings at a time. When one runner was far enough along, he waved to the next to begin.

Ponwe looked at the line of beings. There were about 20 Hiriculans waiting in line to run the course with 3 Solarians interspersed throughout. The forewoman was second in line. She waved and said hi to Jenna, then briefly stepped out of line to smile at Lucas.

Ponwe noted how young and fit the Hiriculan construction workers were. For the most part they were inexperienced, but Ponwe liked how energetic they were. They were always willing to learn new skills and readily accepted instruction. Ponwe thought that those skills sometimes seemed lost on the new generation.

Yes, there were a few old, grizzled construction veterans, but not many. Ponwe corrected himself; there were exactly 4 older, experienced workers – the ones that Ponwe had specifically demanded. They had been made line leads and had enthusiastically embraced teaching their younger co-workers how to build a building.

Ponwe would have liked more experienced workers on his project, but he could appreciate the sacrifice required. Workers had to sign a contract that stated they would stay on Solaria for at least 18 months and possibly the whole planned construction time of 3 years.

Ponwe imagined that it had been difficult for the recruiting office to find many older, experienced workers willing to uproot their families for so long. The younger ones probably thought this was a big adventure. It would certainly look good on a resume.

They decided to stay long enough to watch the forewoman run the obstacle course. The course had technically been constructed from leftover building materials. However, Ponwe still thought it odd that they had so much leftover material because they monitored their requirements very closely. He didn’t know how they had managed to have 20 meters (22 yards) of large sewer pipe left over. It seemed like a rather huge miss to him.

The course was very well constructed. The obstacles were reinforced with steel beams and appeared to be permanent structures. Everything was brightly painted in line with the surrounding park area. The course looked professionally designed and constructed, not the thrown together mess that Loid claimed it was. Ponwe supposed Loid was just being modest.

Loid pressed the timer button and waved for her to go. She raced through some circular objects on the ground, making sure to put one foot in each circle. Then she grabbed a rope and swung across a small water-filled ditch. Next she climbed over a small wall and jumped down into a net. She crawled through the net, did a half-flip, and landed on her feet.

She then laid down and wiggled through a pipe just barely wider than her. Next, she grabbed a heavy stick for balance and bent over as far as she could. She kept this pose and started walking through the 20 meter section of large sewer pipe.

Loid had rigged the pipe with overhead water sprinklers. Because it was such a nice day, Loid had them turned on full blast. The water made the pipe section a slippery, sloppy mess. She slid once, but she managed to run through the section without falling.

She dropped the stick in the nearby bin and stepped into the dryer. It blasted her with hot air to remove the dripping water, flooded her with desiccant to dry her clothes, and finished by giving her another hot air blast. She stepped out completely dry and ran to the start / finish line. Everyone gave her a congratulatory cheer and she returned to the end of the line for another run.

Loid said to Ponwe, “Care to try it?”

Ponwe answered, “No, we are just going for a walk in the park. I must say though that you did a terrific job constructing this course.”

Just as they were turning to leave and continue their walk, a Solarian raced up and yelled, “Did you hear the news?”

It was clear that no one had, which was probably why the individual had asked. He continued, “A group of Alliance scientists just announced that they found Old Solaria.”

The handful of Solarians at the course jumped and screamed for joy. The Hiriculans seemed rather unfazed by the news, but pretended to join in the revelry.

The Solarian continued, “The scientists are on their way here for a world celebration. I hear they are going to build them a monument.”

Ponwe smiled. It looks like everyone is getting a monument today.