When Star Runner got to Playa, The first shuttle trip down to the surface was with a passenger container. It was built on the model of the passenger containers that Colony headquarters had used to transport the colonists to their respective colony planets over a century prior. There were three levels, each holding up to a thousand passengers.
ChaoLi had ultimately decided to embark fifteen thousand robots for the trip back to Arcadia. Oliver Nieman had been most accommodating in this regard.
“If you need them, you will have them. If you don’t need them, don’t use them. They will remain our inventory, located remotely on Arcadia. No charge. But I think you will need them, or at least find them useful.”
ChaoLi couldn’t argue with a zero-demurrage backup inventory, and so the shuttle with the passenger compartment made six trips, with Bob piloting, the first day.
The robots simply got on the passenger container on the planet, and got off once they got to the ship. They made their way – in zero-gravity, using handholds along the walls – to the nearest passenger compartments. The compartments nearest the passenger entries were not finished yet, and the robots stood shoulder to shoulder and heel to toe awaiting an assignment.
That wouldn’t come until gravity returned, on the trip home.
Three of the robots relieved the human shuttle pilots, who had started running tea, spice and cheese containers down to Playa, and mushroom containers back. There were a thousand containers of tea and spices to go down – the other half of their initial load from Arcadia – and six hundred containers of cheese – half of their load from Earthsea. The other six hundred containers of cheese would go on to Arcadia.
Five hundred containers of mushrooms came back up, but the biggest part of the Playa cargo coming back to Arcadia would be the robots.
It took almost a hundred and sixty trips to the planet and back to load and unload cargo. With four robot pilots flying twenty-four hours a day, it still took six days.
After ten days in the Playa system – two to the planet, six to transfer cargoes, and two more to the hyperspace limit, Star Runner re-entered hyperspace for the direct run to Arcadia. Cutting the angle on the Earthsea route, it would take nine weeks.
When the gravity came up in Star Runner’s interior spaces, as she used the screw-drive to get the ship spinning, five hundred of the robots taken on board in Playa started working on finishing her outfitting. They worked all day, around the clock.
As they gained a better idea of how many robots could work at once without getting in each other’s way, that number inched up to a thousand.
They were everywhere. Unpacking materials from the containers in Star Runner’s rear cargo compartment. Carrying those supplies to the correct places in the ship. Cutting or shaping or finishing those materials. Fitting and fastening them to the interior of the ship.
The ship had been almost complete after months of work in zero gravity in orbit. Under way, with gravity, and a thousand robots working around the clock, the ship was complete in two days.
Bob was supervising the process, and he reported in to ChaoLi on the third day of the trip back to Arcadia.
“Star Runner is finished, Bob?” ChaoLi asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“That was quick.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Bob said. “In truth, it was almost complete. Also, the work was expedited by the apparent gravity. It would have taken much longer to have done the work in zero gravity.”
“So working to outfit the ships in Arcadia orbit was a mistake in retrospect.”
“I wouldn’t be able to make that assessment, ma’am. I am lacking the knowledge of the options available at the time. But finishing the ships under way certainly appears to be the best option now.”
“And how many robots were working at the same time, Bob?” ChaoLi asked.
“Close to one thousand, ma’am. I think much more than that would add little. We would always be in each other’s way.”
“So the best bet would probably be to put a thousand robots on each new ship coming in from Beacon and send it off on its first cargo run immediately.”
“If sufficient outfitting supplies are available, ma’am, that would appear optimal.”
“I know what supplies we used on Star Runner up to the point you took over completing it, Bob. I can send that to you. Would you prepare an as-used list for me, so we can pack enough on the other ships?”
“Of course, ma’am. Do you want me to build in a customary allowance for variance?”
“Yes, as long as you make it a separate line item from the actually-used totals.”
“Of course, ma’am.”
ChaoLi sent the supplies inventory list from Star Runner to Bob, and received back a recommendation for loading new ships less than thirty minutes later.
Star Runner should drop out of hyperspace in the Arcadia system on or about March 12, 2370. By then, there would be seven hyperspace liners in Arcadia orbit, six of them needing fitting out, either partial or total.
Star Runner would need no more outfitting work. Star Tripper, Star Gazer, Star Dreamer, Star Rover, Star Singer and Star Dancer would all need work. ChaoLi would use six thousand robots right off the bat.
In the meantime, she needed cargoes of tea and spices, and either a full or partial complement of outfitting supplies for them all.
ChaoLi stopped outfitting work on the hyperspace liners in orbit, and put everyone to work assembling and loading containers with cargoes and supplies.
In April, 2370, the big hyperspace ship hulls would start showing up in Arcadia from Beacon on one-month intervals.
They were in their secret cove on the beach, laying in the sand after a picnic lunch and sex on the beach.
“JieMin?”
“Yes, ChaoLi.”
“I have a schedule now. I know when we can go to Tahiti.”
“When is that?” JieMin asked.
“March 15.”
“That seems very specific.”
“Oh, it is,” ChaoLi said. “Star Runner will get back from Playa on March 12, then has two days to Arcadia. We distribute robots to all the other ships in orbit and send all the ships out.”
“The very next day?”
“Yes. The ships will be all loaded – cargo and outfitting supplies – and ready to go. We just transfer a thousand robots aboard each ship, and away they all go. Three thousand robots per trip with the passenger container, and the robots will all be in orbit already.”
“Wow,” JieMin said. “So what you really need is a schedule of port calls for seven ships, all departing on different routes on March 15th.”
“Right.”
“And you need to tell everyone along each route when to have cargo to ship.”
“Right. And one ship should go to Aruba with the first bunch of freight station parts.”
“That should probably be Star Runner.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s all fitted out already, so you have cabin space for the work crews who will be doing the assembly.”
“Oh. OK, that makes sense. We can have her run over to Beacon and pick up the parts on the way.”
JieMin nodded.
“There’s one thing about leaving on March 15th, though,” ChaoLi said.
“What’s that, ChaoLi?”
“We won’t be back in time for the anniversary. Neither will David Bolton and Chen YongLin, for that matter. It’s minimum ten weeks each way. Call it five months round trip. Another four to five months there for treatment, and we can’t be back before December sometime.”
JieMin nodded.
“Probably best to let Chen Zufu and Chen Zumu know.”
“Do you think that will change their timetable or their decision?”
“No. The anniversary was an artificial constraint, not a real one. They’ll preside over the anniversary, and then retire when David and YongLin return.”
“OK. Well, I’ll let them know anyway.”
“Yes, they need to know. David and YongLin, too.”
“Of course.”
“And don’t forget Paul Chen-Jasic and Chen JuPing. That’s their ride home.”
“Ten weeks minimum, ChaoLi?” Jessica asked. “That is direct to Tahiti from Arcadia, is that right?”
“Yes, Chen Zumu, and that is not the best way.”
“I wouldn’t think so. Tahiti is between Earthsea and Amber, and beyond them.”
“Yes, Chen Zufu.”
“So it seems to me you should space via one on the way out, and via the other on the way back. To have the route be profitable.”
“Yes, Chen Zufu. But that will be fourteen weeks out and fourteen weeks back. Together with four to five months in treatment, David Bolton, Chen YongLin, JieMin, and I will be gone almost a year.”
“As may be, ChaoLi. We do not have so many ships yet that we can deadhead ferry service, even for such passengers.”
“You will not be able to retire by the anniversary, Chen Zumu.”
“Also as may be, ChaoLi. We will be here for the anniversary, and a few months later, we will retire. Then we will also go to Tahiti. Also on a profitable route.”
“Yes, Chen Zumu.”
“And by the time you return, there will be almost twenty hyperspace liners in service. That is remarkable.”
ChaoLi sat stunned, but Jessica was right. With one a month rolling out of Beacon, that would make a total of nineteen by the time they came back.
“Yes, Chen Zumu.”
“Looking at a calendar, ChaoLi, that would put you in Tahiti sometime about the third week of June, and the ship could leave by the end of June, beginning of July, I think.”
“Yes, Chen Zumu. I believe that is correct.”
“Very well, I will let Chen JuPing know. I will also let Chen YongLin know of their expected departure date.”
“Thank you, Chen Zumu.”
The operations group and the outfitting group were all still busy, even though outfitting had stopped. The issue now was getting outfitting supplies together for six ships and getting them up into orbit.
The Chen family was also busy. They had been expanding their fields as the magnitude of the export market became clear. That was one thing. Getting as many as fifteen thousand containers of tea and spices ready for transit was another.
The one nice thing from the operations group’s point of view – and Chris Bellamy’s point of view in particular – is they had the best part of two months to get seventeen thousand containers to orbit.
Call it almost two thousand round trips. Four round trips per day per shuttle. Sixty days. So eight shuttles. Hmm. If she made it twelve shuttles five days a week for eight weeks, she had it.
That was good. Everybody could still take the weekends off. That is, assuming there were loads ready to go. She started looking at the delivery schedule for the tea, the spices, and the outfitting supplies.
Oh, great. Everybody was acting like they could drop everything at the shuttleport the night before departure and have it get loaded.
Well, that wasn’t happening.
Bellamy sent out a number of mails correcting people’s mistaken impression with regard to delivery times.
Oh, and each one of those liners would be taking four of the heavy orbital cargo shuttles with them.
Bellamy rechecked the delivery schedule on the other cargo shuttles she was expecting.
This just might work.
Bellamy did make it work. She hectored suppliers until deliveries began showing up for lift to orbit. A dozen shuttles ran non-stop during daylight hours all week long.
Bellamy set up bedrooms for her shuttle pilots at the operations group’s shuttleport headquarters so they didn’t have to commute home overnight during the week. She brought in gourmet meals for them for breakfast and supper. Anything to make the grind easier on them, to keep their flying skills sharp.
Yes, the shuttle’s flight computers were doing a lot of the work, but things could get cramped once they got up to orbit and were loading the big liners. Being on your toes was necessary to avoid disaster.
They had two close calls, but no disasters, and the ships were all loaded and waiting when Star Runner transitioned out of hyperspace on March 12th.
As the way out of orbit when leaving Arcadia was to thrust in the orbital direction, and Star Runner would be leaving last because it had to be unloaded and loaded, the new arrival took up last position in the string of ships orbiting in formation above Arcadia.
When she arrived in orbit, Bob took one of Star Runner’s cargo shuttles and used the passenger container to transfer a thousand robots to each of the loaded liners in turn.
Skeleton crews came aboard and started preparing for departure. For right now, without their cabins finished, they were hammocking in an open compartment. In zero gravity, they tied the hammock closed when they slept.
“You’re taking Star Dancer rather than Star Runner, ma’am?” Naomi Thompson asked.
Thompson had moved up from the personnel position to be ChaoLi’s trusted lieutenant in running Jixing Trading.
“Yes, Naomi,” ChaoLi said. “I want to see the whole process. The outfitting, setting everything up, the whole process. As long as I am going, I want to learn as much as I can.”
“Well, good spacing, ma’am.”
“Thanks, Naomi.”
ChaoLi and JieMin had talked about the kids, specifically the boys. Did they take them along or not?
The twins, YanMing and YanJing, were now sixteen years old and had other things on their minds than spending a year off-planet. Mostly girls. YanMing in particular would probably be married before they got back. They would have to attend his wedding in the display.
JieJun was now twelve, and he was a different matter altogether. They couldn’t leave him to his own devices for a year, but would he really want to come along?
As it turned out, JieJun and their eldest, ChaoPing, had already worked out the problem by the time they asked about it. Their eldest daughter, now twenty-two, had long been their baby’s favorite sibling, and she and her husband would take him in for the year. They had plenty of room, and he could help with ChaoPing’s and JuMing’s three-year-old boy, LingTao, especially since ChaoPing was pregnant again.
That also would happen while they were gone.
With all that settled, ChaoLi and JieMin, without children for the first time in twenty-two years, prepared to set out into space, in a ship whose design and construction she had overseen, traveling in the hyperspace he had discovered.