Read Online Family Law 2: The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet by Mackey Chandler - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mackey Chandler
Tags: Science-Fiction
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Fargone captains. They think you present up front as a pleasant fellow who will listen to them, nodding agreeably, all the while figuring out how to ruthlessly have your way by some hellaciously devious action they will never be able to predict."
"Oh, that... "
Chapter 4
The Small Fleet jumped into the alien system, all in a group, the Roadrunner carried by Murphy's Law. It ungrappled and braked hard, staying in the fringe of the system at first. The Champion William and High Hopes took up a safer orbit well near the geostationary level, Murphy's Law at guard trailing them. Retribution and Sharp Claws with better defenses took up a lower circular orbit, inclined enough to let them map two thirds of the planet's surface in detail and a side look at the polar regions sufficient to their needs, since the natives didn't seem to use them extensively.
The world had two large continents, one in each polar hemisphere and one significant island between them in a vast equatorial sea. There was no large land mass to interfere with cyclonic storms and one raged right now in the equatorial sea opposite the one island. The island must see some tremendous storms with nothing to impede their growth.
Both poles had sea ice, but neither had a polar continent such as Earth had. There was a iron core generating a fairly strong magnetic field and the noisy star generated impressive aurora, but rarely down to the latitudes of the continents.
Both warships kept crews on defense stations, ready to intercept missiles, or roll the ship for beam weapons. The natives had geostationary satellites, carrying quite a bit of traffic, but only a couple lower satellites and nothing that looked big enough to be manned. They still had the tech to loft weapons to the level at which the two fleet ships orbited, if they wanted. Neither Gordon nor his captains assumed the natives lacked capabilities not yet demonstrated.
There were two large towns, of a size that would have a population of a million inhabitants or more, in any of their own cultures. One was fairly central to the bigger continent. The slightly smaller continent had a large city, centered on the larger western portion of the continent, the far east third of the landmass was separated by an impressive range of mountains. The island had the third largest city.
Both continental cities had large roads going east and west from them. The island geography made such a thing impossible there. The roadways went obsessively straight, refusing to deviate around a hill or mountain. Indeed the smaller continent had an artificial pass cut through the mountain range. Two approach roads on each end of the dig in progress showed that once the notch was dug to a new depth by the road builders, they laid a new road in it and switched to digging the route of the old road lower. If the the original pass was similar to the other natural passes to the north and south of it the natives had been switching back and forth, slowly opening the gap in the mountains deeper and wider for thousands years.
The current road on the south side of the gap had a high point of three thousand meters and a bit from the level of the western plain. The notch being cut below it on the north side was currently about five hundred meters lower. The fleet engineers had no idea at what difference in height they would switch over and the artificial pass was widened generously as it was lowered. There were no steps in the slopped side walls to give a clue. The engineers estimated that if the number of diggers remained the same as what they saw now, they had been digging the channel for four or five thousand years. It might continue another ten or twelve thousand years before it was level with the plain. The crew was large, much of the labor done by hand and the excavating equipment small for such an undertaking from a human viewpoint. The excavated dirt wasn't taken down to the plains level but instead north or south and dumped at the head
"Oh, that... "
Chapter 4
The Small Fleet jumped into the alien system, all in a group, the Roadrunner carried by Murphy's Law. It ungrappled and braked hard, staying in the fringe of the system at first. The Champion William and High Hopes took up a safer orbit well near the geostationary level, Murphy's Law at guard trailing them. Retribution and Sharp Claws with better defenses took up a lower circular orbit, inclined enough to let them map two thirds of the planet's surface in detail and a side look at the polar regions sufficient to their needs, since the natives didn't seem to use them extensively.
The world had two large continents, one in each polar hemisphere and one significant island between them in a vast equatorial sea. There was no large land mass to interfere with cyclonic storms and one raged right now in the equatorial sea opposite the one island. The island must see some tremendous storms with nothing to impede their growth.
Both poles had sea ice, but neither had a polar continent such as Earth had. There was a iron core generating a fairly strong magnetic field and the noisy star generated impressive aurora, but rarely down to the latitudes of the continents.
Both warships kept crews on defense stations, ready to intercept missiles, or roll the ship for beam weapons. The natives had geostationary satellites, carrying quite a bit of traffic, but only a couple lower satellites and nothing that looked big enough to be manned. They still had the tech to loft weapons to the level at which the two fleet ships orbited, if they wanted. Neither Gordon nor his captains assumed the natives lacked capabilities not yet demonstrated.
There were two large towns, of a size that would have a population of a million inhabitants or more, in any of their own cultures. One was fairly central to the bigger continent. The slightly smaller continent had a large city, centered on the larger western portion of the continent, the far east third of the landmass was separated by an impressive range of mountains. The island had the third largest city.
Both continental cities had large roads going east and west from them. The island geography made such a thing impossible there. The roadways went obsessively straight, refusing to deviate around a hill or mountain. Indeed the smaller continent had an artificial pass cut through the mountain range. Two approach roads on each end of the dig in progress showed that once the notch was dug to a new depth by the road builders, they laid a new road in it and switched to digging the route of the old road lower. If the the original pass was similar to the other natural passes to the north and south of it the natives had been switching back and forth, slowly opening the gap in the mountains deeper and wider for thousands years.
The current road on the south side of the gap had a high point of three thousand meters and a bit from the level of the western plain. The notch being cut below it on the north side was currently about five hundred meters lower. The fleet engineers had no idea at what difference in height they would switch over and the artificial pass was widened generously as it was lowered. There were no steps in the slopped side walls to give a clue. The engineers estimated that if the number of diggers remained the same as what they saw now, they had been digging the channel for four or five thousand years. It might continue another ten or twelve thousand years before it was level with the plain. The crew was large, much of the labor done by hand and the excavating equipment small for such an undertaking from a human viewpoint. The excavated dirt wasn't taken down to the plains level but instead north or south and dumped at the head
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