Chapter 171: Chapter 170: Happy Birthday

I immediately talked to Katsuo and Erica about the engineering workgroups, and they thought it was a good idea as well. Suffice to say, they quickly came up with many ways to collect He-3 from the Jovian planets. The most workable approach being a scoop system. They even went so far as to get the ship design section involved. After Metis completed her modeling, she approved of the design, and then they presented us with a complete ship ready to build.

We’ve massively expanded the production facilities for engines, spacecraft and power plants. Then we hired another 18,000 plus people from around the world to man the facilities.

It took them 38 days to complete the first of the new ‘Scoop ships,’ as they’ve taken to calling them. New, more powerful engines and enough cargo capacity to bring back 600 metric tons of He-3 each trip. The ship is again unmanned. Nevertheless, we still have to protect the ship from the intense radiation. So, they wove superconducting threads throughout the hull of the ship to create a very strong magnetic field around it and ‘deflect’ the radiation around and away from the ship. Simple, yet effective.

On another subject, the Side Step drive. Jason’s team moved on from inanimate test vehicles to small animal testing. After a thorough check up, they found no problems with them, and yes, they looked all the way down to cellular level. They then moved on to primate testing, and the tests confirmed the same thing. He’s now waiting for approval for human testing, and he has a large selection of volunteers lined up for when he gets it. After my talk with the liaison, I don’t foresee a problem with him getting approval. You know how bureaucracies are, so Jason simply has to wait for them to dot their i’s and cross their t’s.

Enrico Perez asked for, and received permission to send a test receiver/transmitter to the moon with Muse for her to drop off. He’s also made requests for flybys and drop offs at Mars and Callisto. He’s also made a few changes to his project. Now you can either know the address of who you want to talk to or you can make an open all ships broadcast.

So far, the space elevator is well ahead of schedule, which is never a bad thing. Helios is well on his way to capturing the next asteroid that we sent him after. This is his second trip out to collect carbonaceous asteroids, it simply amazed us how quickly the nanites used up 50% of the first one. The next one is even larger, and once he parks it in orbit, he’ll be heading back out again. Athena believes he may have to collect another four of them to finish the tethers. Resources, or more like the lack thereof, always seem to be what causes any delays, which, thankfully, we’ve somehow avoided so far. Before he left, he was also outfitted with a QC device, and so far, it’s working perfectly as well.

Remember the livestream tour I gave where I asked for any ideas about getting rid of waste heat? The field isn’t my forte, so I’m not much help, but a Canadian man named Dr. Robin Peters sent an email to DTI, which got passed up to Katsuo, then to Erica and finally to me. He earned himself not only an instant position on our staff, but he was also given a $200,000 bonus for the idea. Lasers. Yes, you heard me, I said lasers. Again, not my forte, but the basics are that heat is converted back into energy, which then powers the lasers.

Alrighty then, on to another science lesson. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Equivalence principle from Einstein’s theory of general relativity. If not, it basically states that gravitational acceleration is equivalent to inertial motion. Another way of stating that: standing on the face of the Earth is equivalent to being on a ship, far from a gravity field, that is being accelerated at 1 g. Simple concept, right?

Well, yes and no. This is all fine and good unless you want to accelerate faster so that your travel time isn’t excessively long. Therein lays where inertial dampening comes into play in this picture. It basically absorbs the energy from the force of acceleration over 1 g upto whatever it can convert into heat to be dissipated. I’m sure you’re following me fairly easily so far. By now, you should have picked up the fact that an inertial dampener and a gravity field generator are the same thing, merely different applications of the same concept.

Now, imagine that you are in said ship accelerating at 1 g. Which direction would be down? Right, away from the direction of travel. Again, simple. But, what if you have a means of vectoring that force in a new direction? In other words, vectoring the plane of gravity or acceleration in a new direction. Theoretically, you could change the plane of force to horizontal in nature, kind of like what you see on starships in sci-fi shows.

I’m not going to go into all the theory that went into her discovery. Dr. Jorgenson laughed when she said it was a combination of not sleeping for three days, too much caffeine, and being frustrated that led to her discovery that she could change the vector of gravity or acceleration and thereby have a horizontal versus vertical layout for ships. It’s kind of a psychological thing with humans to prefer horizontal decks over vertical ones. I can see so many uses for this, and I’m quite sure that I haven’t even scratched the surface yet. I’m truly looking forward to seeing where she takes us with this.

Her report on the discovery was given at the end of a seemingly very long three and a half hour briefing, so all I could do is smile, shake my head and tell her to build it as I wondered if humanity would be able to absorb all these sudden changes. Something to have a long talk with Jenny about since everyone here only cares about the science and not the impact that their discoveries can have. Frankly, most of what we’re doing here is long term improvements, although some, like cold fusion, are already having a positive impact. I still want to discuss it with Jenny, though.

[Saturday, June 5]

Today is Ryu’s 15th birthday. Chinatsu and I told him days ago that this is his day, so whatever he wants, he gets. Everyone at DTI has already been warned that I would be unavailable for anything.

Yui mentioned that she would like to tag along with us for the day since it was Ryu’s birthday and a lot of people are interested in our relationship, so she should record our day together. After talking to Chinatsu and Ryu, they agreed that she could, but she’d also have to participate and she was welcome to bring along her boyfriend. I’ve met him a few times and had to roll my eyes at how much he gushed over meeting me the first time. Thankfully, he doesn’t act like that any longer, and he seems like a nice guy. He’s gone to lunch and dinner with us, and I did like how well he treated her.

After we bathe, style our hair and put on our makeup, Chinatsu and I discuss what we should wear for the day. We want to be cute without overdressing since we’re both sure that Ryu is going to want to keep today somewhat casual.

You might remember that Mama has bought the two of us a lot of matching outfits because Ryu seems to like it. It’s in black and blue for her, while mine is black and green. They are short sleeve, silk, fitted mini dresses with a fairly deep v-neck, and a black/blue plaid skirt on hers while mine has a black/green plaid skirt, which barely reaches a third of the way down our thighs. We decided on shimmery nude stockings and our white suede, slouched knee boots to go along with it. Add some matching jewelry and we’re done.

As I contemplate what to make for breakfast, the intercom chimes and Ryu answers it. Of course, it’s Yui, and he tells her to come on up. She shows up with her boyfriend, Bobby, “Call me Bob,” Ward. He’s an American that is here working as an English teacher at TNA. 28 years old, 183 centimeters tall, 85 kilograms or so, brown hair and green eyes. Not overly handsome, but then again, far from ugly. He has more of an above average boy next door kind of thing going for him.

I’ve already told you what Yui looks like. We’d told her to keep it casual as well, so she’s dressed in a peach, long sleeved blouse, plum skirt and sheer nude hosiery. It’s definitely cute and makes her look younger than her 25 years.

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So, once everyone gets themselves some coffee and takes a seat at the table, I ask what they would like for breakfast. The unanimous consensus is, “Whatever you decide will be good.”

Shrugging, I walk into the kitchen and pull out what I need to make a quiche. The great thing about a quiche is there’s no set way it has to be done. Plus, they’re easy and delicious.

As I turn on the wall oven, Yui stands up and walks over to quietly ask, “Do you want any help?”

I nod. “Sure. You can begin by dicing the onions, peppers and mushrooms. I can work on the rest.”

As she’s putting on an apron, she asks, “What are we making?”

“A four cheese, ham, bacon, and veggie quiche.”

“I’ve never had quiche. Is it good?”

“We love it, and if you like scrambled eggs with cheese, you probably will as well. Normally, they are made with a pie crust, but I make mine crustless or with biscuit dough.”

Prep doesn’t take long with both of us doing it, and she watches as I oil a glass baking dish, add the eggs, 3 cheeses, meat and finally, the veggies. Then I add a thick layer of ricotta cheese on top and place it in the oven.

Now, I should mention that security kind of threw a fit since we have no plan for today, and we’ll simply be going wherever Ryu wants to go. I don’t see the problem really since it will be the 5 of us, Honoka and Sofi, then Jason’s and Igor’s teams as our immediate security. Then there’s the ready back up, and they are closely followed by a heavy weapons team. Someone, please, explain to me how we’re in danger.

Especially since anyone who did mess with us would not only have to deal with our security, but then they would be facing 73 very angry, hostile nations. It still astounds me that so many nations would be willing to do that for a 15 year old, even if she’s a genius. It simply seems unreal to me, though I do have a copy of the treaty framed and mounted on the bedroom wall.

Anyway, we eat, clean up, I text security and Mr. Okami, and we head downstairs.

Just so you know, there will be no birthday party for him. He stated that he simply wanted to be with us for the day. We’ll give him his presents when we get home this evening.

I won’t go into everything we did, but we had a lot of fun. Chinatsu and I love Tex-Mex, but the hole-in-the-wall place Ryu took us to for lunch was beyond anything we’d had in Tokyo before. The other places were really good, but OMG their food was almost an orgasmic experience.

Dinner was just as good as well. He took us to one of the best western style burger places in Tokyo. Thank God for us using napkins as bibs or we’d have made a huge mess out of our dresses. Messy it might have been, but it was so good we ate until I thought we’d burst.

Afterward, we finished up our day out with a walk along the Rainbow Bridge. It’s definitely not a romantic stroll because of all the noise and traffic, but the view more than makes up for it. I suggest you try it someday.

Yui got tons of video and pictures of all of us, and she made Ryu really happy when she gave him veto power on whatever she wanted to post. For several of them that he didn’t want posted, Chinatsu or I vetoed his veto. Usually, it was one of us kissing or the like. Him making love to us rocks our world, and we love it more than just about anything, but him holding us in his arms and kissing us is a heart-pounding, toe-curling experience that usually leaves us breathless. I guess we just thought that people might like to see how happy he makes us, which, by the way, they did. Photos and videos of him holding and kissing us are amongst the most highly rated of all that was taken today.

One other good thing about today, I got to see a whole new side to Yui. She’s never been the shy or standoffish type, but when she’s on the job, she tends to be somewhat of a wallflower. I truly like this open and boisterous version of her.

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