with Jared, I'll sub you if anything comes up.]
It was a good suggestion, nothing like an hour or so with Jared to take her to a completely different mind space and she immediately considered it. Glancing down at subtle pressure on her hand she saw Leah had grasped it weakly, and was looking up at her with a weak but welcome smile, and a definite faint jerk of the head. Regan didn't need to sub to understand it; it said 'Go'. She smiled back, nodded and slipped from the room.
With the STEIN moored at the moonward end she displaced straight to the gym locker room. She knew Jared had already left but she'd jog down the pipe and catch him. Guiltily she partly hid the new sports slingshot in her utility belt, not at all sure if giving it to him was a good idea. It was a small version but it still surprised her how powerful it was with metal construction and twin rubber power. I'm still a bad mother!
[Regan.] Hilary gently burst into her thoughts, [You'll never catch him you know, he runs everywhere.]
She laughed. [Hilary, please tell him I'm coming will you and ask him to wait? And I'd like to meet with you and Ham this afternoon, before our meeting tonight. Set something up please.]
[It's done.]
She exited to the corridor and began the jog down toward the compound, drawing looks and smiles from the dozens of people moving between projects and tasks. Only a few minutes later she spied Jared darting back toward her between walkers, sidestepping like an All Black rugby wing, and carrying something under one arm. As he drew near she could see it was a bundled fishing net, with small weights around the edges; she didn't ask.
"Mom!" He wrapped his one free arm around her and spun around as if she were a pole, finally finishing alongside and walking earthward. "I was heading home for lunch with the twins, are you coming?"
"I sure am, and I've got something for my favorite man." She reached down for the slingshot, but it was gone.
He looked up mischievously. "And what have I found?" He flicked it out with his free hand, "Wow, very high tech! Thanks Mom."
She stopped and looked him in the eye. "Jared - listen to me, this is a weapon, I'm serious, don't ever . . ."
"Shoot it at the twins," he interrupted her. "I know, I promised Gran I wouldn't do that again."
"I was going to say don't shoot it at anyone. It's for target practice only, ok?"
"And for emergencies . . ."
He darted away, while looking back, clearly hoping she would chase. She didn't disappoint him.
* * *
Out in the vacuum Major Rod Harmon led the flight of new Effector Flight Defence Fighters spiraling in formation down the new spoke which jutted full length from the pipe. It was the first of five spokes that would then be circled by an outer rim. For one moment it struck him how much Hillary Station looked like a giant hammer. All it needs is a sickle and the Ruskies will be seriously pissed.
To his right Minjee Chow, manually flying her own EFDF, mirrored his every move with ease and behind them eight further pairs of fighters tracked them, giving the appearance to joggers on the outer pipe of a spiral helix shimmering in the distance.
Rod delighted in the maneuverability of this EFDF, it was better than anything he had flown before. The conventionally powered Arteis Defence Fighters, or ADFs he was most familiar with were faster and more economical than anything the major powers had produced thus far, and with their limited effector assistance up until now they had also set the standard for atmosphere and orbital performance. The technology was beyond him but the knowledge tiny effectors, millions of them, could displace mass so effectively and produce performance like this simply amazed him.
As good as the early ADFs were, they had nothing like the performance of the STEIN Pods or Interceptors which effortlessly outperformed everything else barring the Saucer and the STEIN itself. He also suspected he had only experienced a fraction
It was a good suggestion, nothing like an hour or so with Jared to take her to a completely different mind space and she immediately considered it. Glancing down at subtle pressure on her hand she saw Leah had grasped it weakly, and was looking up at her with a weak but welcome smile, and a definite faint jerk of the head. Regan didn't need to sub to understand it; it said 'Go'. She smiled back, nodded and slipped from the room.
With the STEIN moored at the moonward end she displaced straight to the gym locker room. She knew Jared had already left but she'd jog down the pipe and catch him. Guiltily she partly hid the new sports slingshot in her utility belt, not at all sure if giving it to him was a good idea. It was a small version but it still surprised her how powerful it was with metal construction and twin rubber power. I'm still a bad mother!
[Regan.] Hilary gently burst into her thoughts, [You'll never catch him you know, he runs everywhere.]
She laughed. [Hilary, please tell him I'm coming will you and ask him to wait? And I'd like to meet with you and Ham this afternoon, before our meeting tonight. Set something up please.]
[It's done.]
She exited to the corridor and began the jog down toward the compound, drawing looks and smiles from the dozens of people moving between projects and tasks. Only a few minutes later she spied Jared darting back toward her between walkers, sidestepping like an All Black rugby wing, and carrying something under one arm. As he drew near she could see it was a bundled fishing net, with small weights around the edges; she didn't ask.
"Mom!" He wrapped his one free arm around her and spun around as if she were a pole, finally finishing alongside and walking earthward. "I was heading home for lunch with the twins, are you coming?"
"I sure am, and I've got something for my favorite man." She reached down for the slingshot, but it was gone.
He looked up mischievously. "And what have I found?" He flicked it out with his free hand, "Wow, very high tech! Thanks Mom."
She stopped and looked him in the eye. "Jared - listen to me, this is a weapon, I'm serious, don't ever . . ."
"Shoot it at the twins," he interrupted her. "I know, I promised Gran I wouldn't do that again."
"I was going to say don't shoot it at anyone. It's for target practice only, ok?"
"And for emergencies . . ."
He darted away, while looking back, clearly hoping she would chase. She didn't disappoint him.
* * *
Out in the vacuum Major Rod Harmon led the flight of new Effector Flight Defence Fighters spiraling in formation down the new spoke which jutted full length from the pipe. It was the first of five spokes that would then be circled by an outer rim. For one moment it struck him how much Hillary Station looked like a giant hammer. All it needs is a sickle and the Ruskies will be seriously pissed.
To his right Minjee Chow, manually flying her own EFDF, mirrored his every move with ease and behind them eight further pairs of fighters tracked them, giving the appearance to joggers on the outer pipe of a spiral helix shimmering in the distance.
Rod delighted in the maneuverability of this EFDF, it was better than anything he had flown before. The conventionally powered Arteis Defence Fighters, or ADFs he was most familiar with were faster and more economical than anything the major powers had produced thus far, and with their limited effector assistance up until now they had also set the standard for atmosphere and orbital performance. The technology was beyond him but the knowledge tiny effectors, millions of them, could displace mass so effectively and produce performance like this simply amazed him.
As good as the early ADFs were, they had nothing like the performance of the STEIN Pods or Interceptors which effortlessly outperformed everything else barring the Saucer and the STEIN itself. He also suspected he had only experienced a fraction
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