Grep didn’t mind being on the Lowell. With all she knew about science and technology it still amazed her that the standard twenty degrees environmental here felt warmer than it did at Lagrange-4.
What amazed her more was the size of the ship being constructed just outside. There were limits to the scale of construction for a ship that would approach two tenths of light speed, but knowing them and seeing them were different things.
“They plan to burn the thrusters for something like forty years.” Burt explained needlessly.
“They’ll be accelerating for almost half a lifetime.” She observed.
“And cruising for the other half. Some of them are hoping their grandchildren will experience the deceleration and their great grand children will touch the surface of a new planet.” Her host here on the Lowell was no less impressed even though he was around the project every day.
Grep wasn’t sure that sounded humane. Her boss, and friend, Tanner Nazca was born on a long range cruiser. They had just finished a ten year burn when the event happened and Tanner turned the ship around.
What if a similar event happened forty or fifty years out? Anyone deciding to turn the ship around wouldn’t even be alive when it returned to Earth.
That was probably the point. After Tanner turned their ship around and came back the financial backers realized how easily an entire investment could be lost. They had to send the craft and crew far enough away that turning the thing around offered no benefit to those making decisions.
“Probably the most advanced cruiser ever built. And you guys want ten thousand salvaged connectors to complete construction?” Grep asked.
The only reason she flew over here was that the request was so preposterous. They went back and forth electronically, held numerous video conversations but neither side could convey their need.
“Projections show that the vibration from the thrusters will be incredibly minor, but after about thirty consistent years of it several sections of wire will be damaged. The engineering AI found these connectors in an old data base and said they would provide the wires with another fifteen years of life.” Burt maintained his faith in the automated system.
It didn’t surprise her that a human derived AI had developed a human like flaw.
“Those connectors have never been salvaged as independent parts. They’re all fastened to a larger circuit board.” She explained her side of the equation.
“So take them off.” Burt shrugged his shoulders.
He was probably told by the AI that this was the solution. Obviously he didn’t consider the cost or effort to remove a cheap connector from a cheap circuit board. It wasn’t cheap.
“They were fastened with an epoxy that is extremely durable. Our efforts to separate the parts have been labor intensive for poor quality results. Why don’t you double the wire shielding to get more life out of it?” She did not want to be responsible for their engineering job but couldn’t help the question.
“That much extra coating over that many wires would require a complete redesign of the ship. Everything was laid out to millimeter precision.” Burt admonished her.
Grep held her tongue. If that was true, how were they planning to fit connectors into that space? This was not her problem. She was here to make sure they could sell them something they could deliver.
Scrolling up on her display, Grep reviewed some notes. One of the disassembly bots predicted it could learn to generate a clean finished connector consistently after five hundred to seven hundred and fifty trials. With only ten-thousand-one-hundred-eighty-nine pieces on hand they would not be able to deliver ten-thousand finished parts.
Destroying all the assemblies and not selling one of the piece to Off Earth Manufacturing would leave them with two pieces no one wanted. At least when they were together they could sell a handful to Off Earth Repair and Maintenance for their refurbishment jobs.
“We cannot supply the full order. Would you be willing to accept ninety percent of the units and we’ll take a point or two off the final price?” She extended an offer.
“The proposal was for ten thousand plus, not plus or minus. I’m sure there will be some installation errors and losses. Ninety percent is not an option.” Burt emphasized their request.
“Well, good luck then. We’re out.” Grep hated to walk away from revenue but she knew better than to risk an order they were bound to fail.
“You cannot be out. This project will not be delayed. I’m sure you understand how tightly managed the ages of passengers and crew are. Even a one year delay could cause massive changes in their status. They’ve been planning this departure for fifteen years.” Burt looked scared.
Grep tried to imagine a five year old on the living room floor down on Earth. For her birthday she received an envelope that told her they would be sending her on a one way mission to deep space when she turned twenty-two. The rest of her life would be spent with people convincing her that she was lucky and this was a good thing.
No one would ever mention that there were other choices. Stay on Earth or in orbit and learn a trade. Wait until you’re eighteen and make your own decision about what you find interesting and what you want to study.
Those who were older and had either taken or passed on their chance to follow their bliss were less concerning. A thirty year old signing on to manage some mundane task on a ship barreling into the great void of deep space was fine. Stupid, but fine.
The seniors on the flight would be so old and so far from Earth by the time they realized what a mistake they had made it wouldn’t matter.
“Why don’t you manufacture the pieces?” Grep realized that they had missed the obvious.
Burt was silent. He carefully looked at his tablet and scanned some piece of information.
“Burt?” She prodded.
“Our capacity won’t meet demand. And we’d have to delay another project that has better revenue impact.” He conceded.
This was the kind of thing that drove Tanner crazy. It was also the type of thing that would get Burt fired if anyone found out he told her.
As was often the case the toughest engineering problem was made so due to artificial human constraints. She had an idea that was a little risky, but just the kind of chance Tanner liked to take.
“We’ll sell you ten thousand finished connectors with a condition. You need to send us seven-hundred-and-fifty that meet your design specs. We don’t want to run the risk of sending you something that won’t be approved.” She hoped he was too nervous about the project to see how she was trying to leverage them.
“I don’t have seven-fifty to send you.” He protested.
“Make them. The only way you’re getting out of a huge penalty for failure to deliver is if you take a small revenue hit on that other project and make some samples.” She pushed.
The small conference room fell silent. Burt was considering the offer and she hoped he would take it.
“If I send you two-fifty to start will you begin working? I’ll send another two fifty a month later and the final two fifty in the third month?” He countered her proposal.
It didn’t really matter when he sent them, as long as they arrived before she was due to send the final shipment. Grep fully expected that the last connectors delivered to the Lowell would be units that had been manufactured there anyway.
“Our quality control could damage a few units. I’ll need the first fiver hundred in the first month, you can spread them out however you like. The final two-fifty need to be delivered in the second month. We’re not going to drive urgency if you guys don’t deliver on your side of the project.” Grep hoped this wasn’t tool aggressive.
Burt did not respond immediately. He was working on his tablet moving numbers and playing with dates. She let him work as a small smile crept across her lips.
“One hundred a week for the first five weeks and the final two-fifty on week ten.” Burt announced after several minutes.
“Deal,” Grep extended her hand.
They shook and both parties leaned back in their chairs.
With all their technology and science, business still came down to a cheap alloy connector and a hand shake. Perhaps the human element was still involved to keep everything at the right pace. If this negotiation had been turned over to the bots it would have been solved months ago. When problems moved out of the way departure dates started to come closer and people considered their second thoughts.
