Beginnings - chapter 1

A lot of guys my age would probably be bored. I was single, in my mid-50’s, had worked a long carreer as an engineer in the communications and aerospace fields, had made a killing by developing a calculation engine that everybody and his brother wanted to buy, and had been retiired for several years. But I was manging to keep myself busy doing things that I really enjoyed doing. Last night and this morning that happened to be a flight attendant named Gretchen. She was an absolutely drop-dead gorgeous redhead with very impressive attributes that weren’t all silicone. She had a lot more energy than I had ever imagined possible - good thing my heart isn’t as old as the rest of me, otherwise I might not have survived the night. Old habits die, hard, though - even though I had nothing pressing to do, it was still 6:00 AM and I was awake, so I got up quietly and slipped on some clothes. I headed out to the living room to check my email and social media while the redhead got some beauty sleep.

I was pretty well immersed in reading my latest ebook when I heard something I almost never hear anymore - someone knocking on my door. Checking the security camera showed me a face I hadn’t seen in over a decade.

“Easton? Easton Warwick?” Easton was a professional bean counter. We had worked together on a bunch of classified aerospace projects, and I had come to have a great deal of respect for his intelligence and level-headedness. He also enjoyed a night of bar hopping almost as much as I did.

“Hey, Red! Long time no see. I apologize for coming by without calling, but I’ve got something important to talk to you about and the circumstances dictated a face-to-face visit.”

“Come on in, man. I’ll put on some coffee. Let’s just don’t talk too loud - I’ve got a house guest and she’s still asleep.”

“Did you get married? Or sign a “domestic cohab” agreement?”

“Dude, have you forgotten who you’re talking to? Have you ever known me to get into any kind of long-term relationship with a chick? No, she’s just someone I met the other day and we’ve been having some fun together.”

“Yeah, I didn’t really think you would have gone and done anything lasting. Say, Red, what I’ve got to talk to you about is - well, it’s kind of different. Is there somewhere nearby where we could maybe get some breakfast or something while we talk? I just got off a plane from Edinburgh and I’m about running on empty.”

Red looked closely at his visitor. He thought Easton did look a bit wan. “Yeah, there’s a diner across the street where they know me, and they serve food that won’t make you sick.”

A short walk later had Red and Easton entering the Downtown Diner. Red led the way to a booth in the very back. Catching the waitress’ eye, Red held up two fingers and pointed to their booth. She nodded, grabbed two coffee cups and a carafe of coffee, and brought them both their morning caffeine. Red thanked her and asked for two of his usual.

“So, Easton, what’s this you need to talk to me about?”

Easton reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver device about the size of a cigarette lighter. He twisted a ring near one end and it started to make a soft hissing sound. He placed the hissing device on the table between them.

“Anti-eavesdropping tool. So, Red, here’s the thing. I’d like you to brainstorm something for me. If you wanted to set up a colony on a new world, somewhere out of this solar system, what would it take to do it properly?”

I chuckled. “Planning to write a new space opera?”

“No, Red, seriously. Please, what would be some of the concerns you could think of?”

I thought about the question for a bit. “Well, the first concern would be people. You would have to have enough people that the colony could be self-sustaining, but not so many that the demand on consumables would wipe out the colony’s reserves. You know, sort of like Conway’s Game of Life. And you’d have to have people with a wide range of skill sets - engineers, scientists, agricultural people, mechanics, laborers, doctors - a while shitload of different skills. And you’d have to devise a way that the colony could produce it’s own food and provide a reliable source of fresh water, and provisions for sanitation, and a means of educating the children born to the colonists in skills the colony needed. The colony would have to have a means of producing hardware they didn’t bring with them, which would also imply the ability to mine and refine new raw materials. You’d have to have the resources to fund the jump ship and the initial provisions - those are the first things that pop into my head.”

“Well, that’s a pretty decent list. A lot more detailed that what I came up with when I was asked. I guess that means that my bosses chose wisely.”

“Huh? Chose wisely on what? I’m not following you at all, bud.”

“I work for a - I guess you could call them a think tank - based in Scotland. Since that Russian guy published that paper on ‘manifold energy’ that showed engineers how to actually warp space-time like Einstein suggested, bringing far distant places essentially right next to each other, a bunch of groups have been toying with the idea of colonizing other worlds. I’m sure you heard about the Italians successfully jumping to Mars and back, and the Pakistanis making a couple of jumps to Luna and back. Well, now a bunch of really wealthy individuals from around the world decided that with the current state of technology it appears to now be possible to really put together an expedition to form the first extrasolar human colony. These individuals - they call themselves the Colony Consortium - brought in some highly-paid consultants and asked them the same question I asked you. These consultants came up with some very specific recommendations, including the number and types of people that such a colony would require. They then searched for leading experts in the most important fields to locate the initial set of personnel they wanted to form the core of the new colony. I was one of the selections − they put me in charge of recruiting the rest of the initial team. They selected you as the next candidate, since you designed the JumpBox calculation engine. So, my friend, how would you like to live on a different planet?”

Our breakfasts came before I had a change to answer, and I waited until the waitress was back behind the counter before I spoke again.

“Why me? There are a lot of old, out-of-work engineers around.”

“You had a successful career in communications engineering, and the Consortium needs good comm people. You’ve also done a lot of other types of work, most notably with power control systems, and the Consortium also needs good general engineers. You designed and built the computation engine that makes Manifold Engine travel possible. You have been hunting, fishing, hiking, and camping since you were a kid, so that gives you the skills the Consortium is looking for in it’s Provisioners. You also have no family ties to hold you back, since you have never married nor had children. You aren’t opposed to organ rejuv, since you’ve had your lungs, heart, and pancreas regrown in the last decade. Add to that the fact that you have no criminal record and are very well respected by everyone we’ve been able to find who has ever worked with you, and you became a prime candidate.”

“Well, man, I’ve got say that it sounds interesting. What kind of schedule are you looking at? What exactly would your folks be expecting of me?”

“They’d like you to come to Scotland at your earliest convenience. They actually said that they wanted you on-site tomorrow, but I reminded them that this whole idea would be a surprise to you and you would likely need some time to make arrangements. But when you get there, they would want you to sit in on the selection panels that approve candidates, and make recommendations on any deficiencies you observe.”

We ate quietly while I considered what he had said. I guess I was as hungry as he was, since I actually polished off my breakfast before he did.

“I was hoping to get a few more days in the sack with my redheaded friend, but as soon as she and I are done with each other, I could hop on a plane.”

“That would work! And I really appreciate it - my recruiting of the initial team sort of hinged on being able to get you onboard. I’m also going to approach your two partners from JumpBox, if you have no objection.”

“None! They’re great guys. Let’s walk back to my place and talk some more.”

When we got to my place I decided to take another good peek at Gretchen’s magnificent attributes, but instead of seeing her curvy form in bed I found a note written in lipstick on the bedroom mirror. It read “Thanks for the good time, sweetie. Got called for an emergency gig. XX”

“Good news, Easton! I can leave today.”