Read Online The Commander by CJ Williams - Free Book Online
Authors: CJ Williams
Tags: Science-Fiction, Military, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Genetic engineering, post apocalyptic, alien invasion, Hard Science Fiction, first contact
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“That’s way too Borg-like. Can you imagine trying to sell that to people down on the planet?” He smiled at the engineer. “Don’t you think?”
The engineer looked shocked.
“Do you know where Morrow is?” Luke persisted.
The young man shook his head.
“No problem. I’ll find him.” Luke turned away and went in search of the ship builder. They had promised to have lunch together and Luke was hungry. He didn’t see the young engineer scurry over to his team leader with the bad news. The Commander wanted a complete re-design of the colony ship.
Day 145—Population 153
“We need medical,” Roth said. “We’ve been lucky so far but sooner or later someone’s going to get hurt.”
Luke agreed. He added the requirement to his growing list of must have right now . Although three months had passed since Sam’s initial appearance, Luke often felt that nothing had been accomplished. The total population of Moonbase was miniscule. He wanted to see a warship like Battlestar Galactica with hundreds of Vipers and X-wing fighters flying around, practicing to shoot down the enemy. Instead, he didn’t even have people to work on the concept. Yesterday he had hired away the director of public works from the city of Las Vegas so they could expand Moonbase’s design and build more of the basic facilities. The problem was that he was still hiring people one by one.
He needed five thousand people yesterday. They should be designing battlecruisers, space fighters, beam weapons, or photon torpedoes regardless of what George said about their fictional nature.
Despite Luke’s frustration, days and weeks slipped by while everything around him moved at a snail’s pace. It wasn’t lack of effort. Ambrose and his crew worked ceaselessly to build out the residential areas.
Planetside, Annie was establishing the pipeline necessary to start funneling people in their direction. From the looks of it, she was going to need another three months before turning on the spigot. From that point on, their growth rate should kick up significantly. He worried about a million other things as he flew back to Earth after lunch.
In his office in the Baggs airport terminal, he sighed heavily and picked up the phone. After an hour of negotiating with various levels of bureaucracy, he had an appointment with a Doctor Tanner, the head of the emergency department of the Las Vegas Regional Medical Center.
# # #
A week later Luke groaned in frustration as he sat at his Moonbase office desk.
“ George, I need a different kind of shuttle.”
“What kind would you like Commander?”
Luke thought about it for a moment. “Ideally, one that looks just like a Boeing 737. I can’t afford to have another episode like the one with Doctor Tanner.”
When Tanner first saw Sadie , he walked out. It turned out he was a rated pilot himself. He knew Sadie wasn’t a legit aircraft and thought Luke was pulling some kind of stunt.
“It’d be nice to have a shuttle that looks like a Gulfstream for small groups, but I really need something that I can get a couple hundred people on without anyone freaking out.”
After a moment of consideration, George responded. “It’s not a problem Commander, but there are limitations you should know about.”
“Okay, tell me.”
“The aerodynamics would be those of a shuttle, very similar to Thomas or Sadie . In other words, it could not be flown like a Boeing 737. Would you want the pilot seating area to have traditional Boeing instrumentation? If so, it would only be decorative.”
“That doesn’t matter, George. Passengers aren’t allowed in the cockpit so design the instrumentation as you see fit. Anything else?”
“Two hundred passengers is less than ideal on an aircraft that size. I would prefer to limit the design criteria to one hundred fifty. That would make seating much more comfortable for those aboard.”
Luke chuckled at the suggestion. “George, you’re the only aircraft designer in
The engineer looked shocked.
“Do you know where Morrow is?” Luke persisted.
The young man shook his head.
“No problem. I’ll find him.” Luke turned away and went in search of the ship builder. They had promised to have lunch together and Luke was hungry. He didn’t see the young engineer scurry over to his team leader with the bad news. The Commander wanted a complete re-design of the colony ship.
Day 145—Population 153
“We need medical,” Roth said. “We’ve been lucky so far but sooner or later someone’s going to get hurt.”
Luke agreed. He added the requirement to his growing list of must have right now . Although three months had passed since Sam’s initial appearance, Luke often felt that nothing had been accomplished. The total population of Moonbase was miniscule. He wanted to see a warship like Battlestar Galactica with hundreds of Vipers and X-wing fighters flying around, practicing to shoot down the enemy. Instead, he didn’t even have people to work on the concept. Yesterday he had hired away the director of public works from the city of Las Vegas so they could expand Moonbase’s design and build more of the basic facilities. The problem was that he was still hiring people one by one.
He needed five thousand people yesterday. They should be designing battlecruisers, space fighters, beam weapons, or photon torpedoes regardless of what George said about their fictional nature.
Despite Luke’s frustration, days and weeks slipped by while everything around him moved at a snail’s pace. It wasn’t lack of effort. Ambrose and his crew worked ceaselessly to build out the residential areas.
Planetside, Annie was establishing the pipeline necessary to start funneling people in their direction. From the looks of it, she was going to need another three months before turning on the spigot. From that point on, their growth rate should kick up significantly. He worried about a million other things as he flew back to Earth after lunch.
In his office in the Baggs airport terminal, he sighed heavily and picked up the phone. After an hour of negotiating with various levels of bureaucracy, he had an appointment with a Doctor Tanner, the head of the emergency department of the Las Vegas Regional Medical Center.
# # #
A week later Luke groaned in frustration as he sat at his Moonbase office desk.
“ George, I need a different kind of shuttle.”
“What kind would you like Commander?”
Luke thought about it for a moment. “Ideally, one that looks just like a Boeing 737. I can’t afford to have another episode like the one with Doctor Tanner.”
When Tanner first saw Sadie , he walked out. It turned out he was a rated pilot himself. He knew Sadie wasn’t a legit aircraft and thought Luke was pulling some kind of stunt.
“It’d be nice to have a shuttle that looks like a Gulfstream for small groups, but I really need something that I can get a couple hundred people on without anyone freaking out.”
After a moment of consideration, George responded. “It’s not a problem Commander, but there are limitations you should know about.”
“Okay, tell me.”
“The aerodynamics would be those of a shuttle, very similar to Thomas or Sadie . In other words, it could not be flown like a Boeing 737. Would you want the pilot seating area to have traditional Boeing instrumentation? If so, it would only be decorative.”
“That doesn’t matter, George. Passengers aren’t allowed in the cockpit so design the instrumentation as you see fit. Anything else?”
“Two hundred passengers is less than ideal on an aircraft that size. I would prefer to limit the design criteria to one hundred fifty. That would make seating much more comfortable for those aboard.”
Luke chuckled at the suggestion. “George, you’re the only aircraft designer in
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