006: Welcome to Yamaguchi Starport

[helvorn]

Because I was curious, Walt and his bike would have generated around 1070 MJ of energy on impact. That's 256 lbs of TNT. Boom!

I was doom mongering along the lines of several kilos of migrating goose...

A bird strike at that velocity would be nasty! Stay above 5000 feet to avoid most of the birds.

[terrymixon]

Because I was curious, Walt and his bike would have generated around 1070 MJ of energy on impact. That's 256 lbs of TNT. Boom!

I was doom mongering along the lines of several kilos of migrating goose...

A bird strike at that velocity would be nasty! Stay above 5000 feet to avoid most of the birds.

Don’t want to get Fabio’d at that speed.

[Thumper]

Dude, at those speeds, a bug will go right through your skull.

As someone who has hit a bird while supersonic at 300 feet above the ground ($10M worth of damage and causing my only serious ejection consideration) and hit one at 12,000 feet, I wouldn’t even consider riding a G-bike at that speed. But I’m mortal…

https://dn3bmh8yk8vvw.cloudfront.net/ms ... _32621.jpg

[helvorn]

A bit of Walt’s excellent Academy education revealed here.

We mainly learned to drink beer at the Naval Academy!

[helvorn]

Dude, at those speeds, a bug will go right through your skull.

As someone who has hit a bird while supersonic at 300 feet above the ground ($10M worth of damage and causing my only serious ejection consideration) and hit one at 12,000 feet, I wouldn’t even consider riding a G-bike at that speed. But I’m mortal…

https://dn3bmh8yk8vvw.cloudfront.net/ms ... _32621.jpg

You are damn lucky on the supersonic bird strike! We made most US fighter canopies and windshields over the years and never tested anything much above 550 kn with a 4 pound bird (freshly killed not frozen…).

[terrymixon]

Walt-
"Absolutely yes on the bonus. I'd also like for you, Kira and your staff to look at possible metric (final production, loss/theft, worker and resident safety, perhaps some community objectives, etc.) and attach an annual bonus to that as well. I'm very open to what your experts see as meaningful measurements and I'd be open to a total bonus of another 2 Trillion. That should make total compensation not competitive, but VERY desirable. It could also align workers' goals with management's. Is one month to study that enough before you can prepare a recommendation to the Board?"

As I'm not an MBA, you'll have to suggest what you're looking for.

"Are there any "quality of life" items desired that previously were not affordable? That's an area worth exploring."

"I think we are pretty well set up. As I said, no expense was spared building this startport and it has a lot of bells and whistles. If you can see something I am unaware of, I'm always open to suggestions."

"Kira? Some of the manufacturing is dependent on asteroid mining. For how long would the current natural resources of the system sustain that facet of manufacturing at 100% capacity?"

"It might sound like processing a million tons of asteroid a day is a lot, but you have to put it in perspective. The Pulvis Belt is large and rich. Discounting the areas claimed by the Naval shipyards and base, and the Ling-Standard shipyards, as well as the other established claims, I'm told there are still approximately six billion trillion tons of asteroids available to whoever can haul them off.

"Let me put my neural link calculator to use. That is six with 21 0s. 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. If we pull a million tons a day out of that, we can do so for 6 quadrillion days. It would take us 16.438 trillion years to clean out the Pulvis Belt at that rate. Even if the last ten to fifteen percent might be hard to gather in a timely fashion, the sun will have gone nova long before then."

"You have done a marvelous job, Kira. I hope to continue that! I do wish for you to know that I will be walking the "streets" of the station incognito. It's not a lack of faith or trust in you, rather a chance to get feedback direct from the population and keep a separate finger on the pulse. Please don't perceive that in the wrong way."

"Feel free. My people do the same."

[terrymixon]

She raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Is that how you made your fortune? I'll lock up the good silver. If the owners agree as a group, I'll post the bonus today. You might want to put together a message to go with it."

telepathy [2d5+5]=6+5=11 To gain some information while talking.

"No M'lady, I made my money talking your assistant sectaries husband out of some detail and using that to gain entry into a slightly protected area so I can talk to the accounting girl and get her to trust me so I can get some more information then use that down the line to show up in one of your offices as a trusted courier to transfer the bearer bonds to the safe."

<smile>

"But please do pass out the bonus asap."

Arkar

"I see. That sounds very exciting."

She's amused at your character and is certain you're yanking her leg. She's not being deceptive. Everything she is saying, she believes to be true.

[terrymixon]

"35 billion tons. It probably could, but this one starport is overkill. It could produce goods for the majority of this sector by itself. The economic chaos will be tremendous, so we need to talk about that. The megacorperations will go crazy if they feel threatened. Ling-Standard has a major shipyard here at Glisten. What will they do when we undercut them just by existing? Want a ship at a ten percent discount? Come to Yamaguchi Starport! As the bottom line is being met with refining and smelting raw materials, they couldn't possibly compete. It looks like this starport controls its entire supply chain. It mines the asteroids and then gets all the way to finished products.

"At least this will give more of a purpose to building the shipping and brokerage company I was envisioning. A merchant empire doesn't seem so farfetched now."

"One thing I'd like to do is to offer assistance to small business people on planets without as much opportunity. District 268 is one of those areas where many people don't have a way to bootstrap themselves. I'm not talking about giving stuff away, but providing people some resources to get a business started. We'd be silent partners, and we have the time and the reach to do this all over human space if we wanted."

"If the corporation overseeing things there is so corrupt, how would it work?" Roscoe asked. "They would feel threatened and act to shut it down or corrupt it."

[Thumper]

You are damn lucky on the supersonic bird strike! We made most US fighter canopies and windshields over the years and never tested anything much above 550 kn with a 4 pound bird (freshly killed not frozen…).

It’s the frozen ones that will get ya.

The Swainson’s Hawk at supersonic low altitude missed my canopy and hit my wing root. It punctured a hole in my fuel tank and ripped the airplane apart all down the right side. What was left of the bird was scrapped out of tail section.

[helvorn]

Then, with the couples having stepped back, the princess smiles at everyone. "And I suppose that concludes the festivities!"

Then she steps aside and clears her throat. "Pardon me, my liege, but I have a request."

Then she steps back in place and looks at the open air where she was just standing. "Oh? What is it, Daughter?"

She slides back into place. "I to would like to be wed today, though the man hasn't been asked yet. If he agrees, would you wed us?"

Back to the officiant's position. "It's highly irregular, but I could never deny you anything. Who is this paragon?"

Fredrick looks like he's about to step forward, but Terresa drags him back, shaking her head and speaking softly to him until he subsides with a sigh.

She looks off the stage at Walt. "I'm sorry, Walt, but you would make a terrible prince consort. I like you, but I'm going to have to banish you to the friend zone."

The she turns to William. "William, we barely know one another, but I can feel that you are the one for me. Say yes. Please." Her eyes look a little worried.

It will likely be a few days before William unties his tongue and responds, but we can start the afterparty. Really, does anyone expect him to say no at this point?

William is dressed in his Marine service dress along with a ceremonial cutlass version of the high-tech swords and a highly polished grav gun made to look like a gauss pistol. He laughs at the various antics of the different couples and seems to be enjoying himself greatly. William looks puzzled as Ciencia has a conversation seemingly with her absent father. He looks anxious and worried as she starts talking about a wedding. By the time she turns to ask him to marry her his mouth is hanging open. William stared at her for a moment and closed his mouth. He took a deep breath and stepped forward with a broad smile on his face.

"We barely know each other but I feel I have known you forever." William took her hand and knelt. His eyes were shining with what looked suspiciously like moisture, likely caused by the wind. "Ciencia Iphegenia Alkhalikoi I tell you from my heart hundred times yes! Will you marry me?"

[joertexas]

"If the corporation overseeing things there is so corrupt, how would it work?" Roscoe asked. "They would feel threatened and act to shut it down or corrupt it."

Jaelah thought for a moment. "We could do a lot of things, but the bigger question would be what we should do. My first instinct might be a little visit to the megacorp's top people, asking them to play nice. But, we can't do that and not draw attention. My thought instead is to help ordinary people to eventually make changes for themselves. It's not fast, and we can't help everyone."

[helvorn]

You are damn lucky on the supersonic bird strike! We made most US fighter canopies and windshields over the years and never tested anything much above 550 kn with a 4 pound bird (freshly killed not frozen…).

It’s the frozen ones that will get ya.

The Swainson’s Hawk at supersonic low altitude missed my canopy and hit my wing root. It punctured a hole in my fuel tank and ripped the airplane apart all down the right side. What was left of the bird was scrapped out of tail section.

When we did high-speed shots there wasn't much left but soup and feathers! We would occasionally shoot structure around the windows if the customer wanted us to. We could get up to around 600 kn but not supersonic.

[joertexas]

You are damn lucky on the supersonic bird strike! We made most US fighter canopies and windshields over the years and never tested anything much above 550 kn with a 4 pound bird (freshly killed not frozen…).

It’s the frozen ones that will get ya.

The Swainson’s Hawk at supersonic low altitude missed my canopy and hit my wing root. It punctured a hole in my fuel tank and ripped the airplane apart all down the right side. What was left of the bird was scrapped out of tail section.

It's a wonder you made it back. What type aircraft?

[helvorn]

William has been looking at the plans and listening to people's ideas. He breaks in momentarily. "Director, how is the starport secured and defended against internal and external threats? What type of real space maneuverability do we have? Are there secure shelters for the population in the event of attack or catastrophe?"

[Thumper]

Me. The BONE (B-1…spell it out). The last groundpeed readout I remember seeing was 715 kts. Then Wham! The jet stayed amazingly smooth flying…until I inhaled raw JP8 fuel fumes through my onboard OXY generation system.

The 12,000” bird strike was a T-38. I’ve hit ‘em low in airliners too.

Maybe story time should go to another channel.

[Thumper]

Walt-
”Kira, I and, I believe, several of the Board members would like to hear more about the ship construction capabilities. What are your current production challenges, and what resource constraints do we have? What specific unique ship capabilities do we offer? You did mention TL16?”

[terrymixon]

Then, with the couples having stepped back, the princess smiles at everyone. "And I suppose that concludes the festivities!"

Then she steps aside and clears her throat. "Pardon me, my liege, but I have a request."

Then she steps back in place and looks at the open air where she was just standing. "Oh? What is it, Daughter?"

She slides back into place. "I to would like to be wed today, though the man hasn't been asked yet. If he agrees, would you wed us?"

Back to the officiant's position. "It's highly irregular, but I could never deny you anything. Who is this paragon?"

Fredrick looks like he's about to step forward, but Terresa drags him back, shaking her head and speaking softly to him until he subsides with a sigh.

She looks off the stage at Walt. "I'm sorry, Walt, but you would make a terrible prince consort. I like you, but I'm going to have to banish you to the friend zone."

The she turns to William. "William, we barely know one another, but I can feel that you are the one for me. Say yes. Please." Her eyes look a little worried.

William is dressed in his Marine service dress along with a ceremonial cutlass version of the high-tech swords and a highly polished grav gun made to look like a gauss pistol. He laughs at the various antics of the different couples and seems to be enjoying himself greatly. William looks puzzled as Ciencia has a conversation seemingly with her absent father. He looks anxious and worried as she starts talking about a wedding. By the time she turns to ask him to marry her his mouth is hanging open. William stared at her for a moment and closed his mouth. He took a deep breath and stepped forward with a broad smile on his face.

"We barely know each other but I feel I have known you forever." William took her hand and knelt. His eyes were shining with what looked suspiciously like moisture, likely caused by the wind. "Ciencia Iphegenia Alkhalikoi I tell you from my heart hundred times yes! Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" She pumps her fist in the air and drags you forward. You then go through the same ceremony while she fills in as the officiant and the bride-to-be. When it comes time for vows, she leads the way.

"William, I have some constraints of what I can and cannot do because of my position but know that I will never use my will to force your compliance in personal matters. We will be partners though there will be times where I am your liege and that different than being your wife. One day I will be empress, and you will have to swear a more constrictive oath, but I will always be as fair and open as I can be.

"You will be my first and only. I forsake all others for you. While I cannot say I will obey you in all things, I will respect you and give weight to our differences. And anyone that crosses you will have an Empire land on them."

[terrymixon]

"If the corporation overseeing things there is so corrupt, how would it work?" Roscoe asked. "They would feel threatened and act to shut it down or corrupt it."

Jaelah thought for a moment. "We could do a lot of things, but the bigger question would be what we should do. My first instinct might be a little visit to the megacorp's top people, asking them to play nice. But, we can't do that and not draw attention. My thought instead is to help ordinary people to eventually make changes for themselves. It's not fast, and we can't help everyone."

"We will have to think about it," Roscoe said. "We will need to understand the risks and challenges to address them. When conflict comes--which it will--we will have to have planned in advance to blunt the consequences. Small steps, taken when we're ready."

[Thumper]

Responding to Ciencia and William’s wedding

Walt will retrieve his Grav Sword from the sheath on the G-Bike, walk back to the stunned William and relieve him of his Marine saber, hand William’s to Arker and Neural Link him:
”Arker, ain’t much of a sword arch just the two of us. But help me with this, please. Yes like that.”

When all the the happy couples pass through the archway together (Princess and Imperial Consort being last), Walt delivers a flat-bladed swat on Ciencia’s fine backside!

[terrymixon]

William has been looking at the plans and listening to people's ideas. He breaks in momentarily. "Director, how is the starport secured and defended against internal and external threats? What type of real space maneuverability do we have? Are there secure shelters for the population in the event of attack or catastrophe?"

"We are as secure as a large civilian vessel can be. The starport has five million triple beam turrets and another five million triple sandcasters. We could mount a total of 350 million weapons systems, but that seemed like overkill. That doesn't count the possibility of adding bay weapons and the like. Anyone not a military vessel would be well advised to seek weaker prey. We have a very large security department, and they have heavily armed teams. Almost like an army as we have over a billion people to draw from. As you might imagine, we also have a robust militia. People will fight for their homes. We have numerous secure areas in case of a hull breach and airtight hatches will secure areas that are in danger or to keep an invading force limited in their reach.

"Maneuverability is not good. We're 35 billion tons, so even getting the thrust 1 we have required massive engines. Anything can catch us, but that is a limitation we'll have to live with. If push comes to shove, we are already clear of any jump shadow and can jump immediately if danger of that magnitude presents itself."