The End of Winter -- Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Return to Space—Phase 1

 

Misha didn’t talk much. But she would talk to Curt when asked.

“Misha, I need advice.”

“By all means.”

“Behemoth hasn’t had a functioning shield or 3^rd engine for a year. Granted, the resources involved are huge, but you can’t run a fleet like that. What’s up with this?”

A long pause…

“The politics have been odd. There’s no real central government. The Guardians just want an honorable society. While all Guardians are powerful, some Ancients are good, and some are…less so. You and I are fortunate to have met well.”

“Absolutely, but we need to make this work. The time for drifting is over. I feel an odd instability…an opportunity! With the upcoming meeting on Behemoth, we have few options. If I was certain I could get Behemoth space worthy and battle ready by the time of the arrival, I’d be OK with just doing that for now. But I don’t think I can do it. The structural damage, the shields. I can probably get him in the air, but in any real fight…he’d lose.

I need your help. I can’t do this alone.”

“And you shall have it,” Misha said. “I will be occupied for a day or so.”

“Thank you!”

Curt went back to the crew lounge area to relax for a bit.

“Hey, Boss, where’s your ear muff?”

“Misha will be occupied for a while…and show some respect!”

Behemoth said quietly “Well, this should be interesting.”

Amazona responded “Why?”
And Behemoth replied “In the 12,000 years I’ve been watching, a council meeting of the Guardians has been good most of the time, and sometimes produces awful results. But I can tell you this, it’s never boring. That’s what Misha’s doing now.”

 

July 25^th, 2808

The Commander staggered out of bed as was his habit, and Cygnus (as was his habit) rushed up to greet him.

“Sir! I have something to show you!” They went a few yards, and there was ….something.

“What the hell is that?” the Commander asked.

“The new ship, sir! Chimera finished it last night.”

“What do you mean she finished it last night? I never even saw the plans!”

“Well, then, don’t sleep so much,” Chimera said.  “We are so far below my energy capacity I’m starting to get bored. Which means, I’m going to start to build things. Do you really want that?”

“OK, OK, but what is this? It looks like a truck.”

“Well, it sort of is,” Cygnus said. “We have the old #1 TriStar engine providing power for Behemoth. This has the other two engines ready to go. We thought you might want to go on a scavenger hunt!”

“You guys are so full of shit. It’s way too early in the morning for this…”

“But sir, Chimera said--suppose we could bring back half a dozen engines we could make work?”

Curt was instantly fully awake.

“Lieutenant Cygnus, I’d be honored if you would accompany me as first officer on this mission.”

“Absolutely, sir!”

“Then be ready to go by 1000.”

They christened the new craft Phoenix. It was certainly completely transformed from its earlier configuration!

Cygnus was just beaming--his first flight with the new Commander! And he was going back into space! He was bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm.

When Curt came out, the two met to confer.

“OK, here’s the deal. You will be the pilot for take off, and orbital flight. We’ll go scout around the debris field, and if we can find at least two good engines, we’ll bring them in. I will do the landing, and the announcement of success. Clear?”

“Clear sir! This is an honor sir!”

“It’s an honor for me, because you are a galaxy class pilot. I checked.  But let’s be 100% clear about this: this is an experimental spacecraft, and you are a better pilot than I am, and I know it. If this thing acts squirrely, or doesn’t work right, you are in command, and I will follow your lead. Are we clear?”

(Pause)

“Are we clear?”

“Yes sir!”

“Then let’s go saddle up, kid!”

The launch of the Phoenix was largely uneventful. Everyone came out to watch, but the launch was flawless.

For the first time since the battle, the crew was in orbit. Although a different crew, and a different ship, to be sure.

The orbital field was a complete mess. Chimera had rigged a detector, but it was still tough navigation. By the end of the mission, they found four renegade engines that didn’t seem so bad. One decent looking TriStar engine.

The Phoenix was amazingly smooth (he’d have to comment to Behemoth about that), and the landing was flawless.

Once they came to a stop, Curt opened the canopy, and said “Ladies and gentlemen, the crew of the Great Ancient Starship Behemoth is now space borne again!”

The applause was thunderous!

Later in the evening, Curt was sitting at his desk. He had spent hours going over the project plans. The structural damage was the worst. How do you lift a 200,000 ton spacecraft to fix it? He put his head down on the desk to rest for a bit.

Misha came up, and purred next to him, which was always incredibly soothing.

“Curt,” she said. “Do you trust me?”

An odd question.

“Well, as long as we’re not locked in a plastic container together, absolutely!”

Misha bit his nose, and said, more somberly, “Curt, this is important. Do you trust me?”

“Absolutely. With my life, and the lives of my crew.”

Misha visibly relaxed. “We have our customs of course, as you do. Did you know that I am Captain of this ship?”

Curt was appalled! “Ma’am, I never meant any disrespect. People just did what I told them to do. It never really came up. I…just did what had to be done…”

“Relax, Captain. Note the title. I will be announcing your official appointment as Captain of the Grand Imperial Starship Behemoth tomorrow. This has been approved by the Council of Guardians, but that’s still classified. For your information, this is the first time in history a Modern has been appointed Captain of an Ancient ship. As you’ve realized, we can’t get Behemoth fixed quickly enough, so things are going to need to change. Your life will never be the same again.”

“Let me guess,” Curt said. ”I won’t be bored?”

Misha bit him on the ear this time.

 

July 26^th, 2808

 

 “Attention crew. Captain Misha requires your attendance at a crew meeting at 1000 on the bridge.”

Cygnus whispered to Behemoth “Captain Misha? What’s that about?”

Behemoth said “Well, she IS Captain of the ship after all”

Cygnus replied “Well, of course I know that, but this formality is so odd.”

And Behemoth said “Maybe something formal is going to happen.”

With a crew of six (one virtual), meetings are pretty easy to schedule!

At 1000 precisely, Misha said:

“You all know I’m a person of few words, so this will be brief. We have had an interesting week or so. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that without the efforts of Commander Jackson, we would all be dead by now.  Every one of us. He has a supernatural ability to figure out what’s going on, and come up with the right answer. Effective immediately, I am resigning my commission as Captain of the Grand Imperial Starship Behemoth, and appointing Commander Curt Jackson to that position. Behemoth!”

“Ma’am!”

“Please record this transfer in the official ship’s log. When Captain Jackson authorizes external communication, forward the change to central records. Captain Jackson, you are now officially in command of the Grand Imperial Starship Behemoth. The success and life of the crew are now your responsibility. Discharge it well!”

“Ma’am, I accept this challenge as an honor and a privilege.”

Cygnus said quietly to Behemoth,  “Well, I’ll be damned!”

And Behemoth said “We will do well. I’ve only seen two others as good as he is in 12,000 years. And if you quote that, I’ll denounce you as a filthy liar!”

 

The End of Winter -- Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Damage Assessment

 

July 23^rd, 2808

 

Curt called the crew meeting for 0900. “Well,” he remarked, “for the first time, we have a full crew…up and running! We’ll make this fast. 20MW isn’t going to cut it. Chimera needs much more than that for her light speed operation. And, even though all of us are alive, most are sick or weak. Let’s do an inventory.

“With the exception of a few…accidental injuries… (Misha was busily licking the Commander’s  wounds), I’m in good shape. Misha is weak but basically OK. Amazona, what’s you’re power level? Any damage?”

“No unrepaired damage, sir. Power is at about 5%.”

“Five percent? But you’ve been charging for three days!”

“High capacity, low charge rate…it takes a while. I should mention, sir, that my 5% is more than the rest of the crew combined, not counting Chimera. Wouldn’t want to be greedy…”

“Good point. Speaking of…Chimera? Your status?”

“Fully functional, sir! At this point, I am strictly energy limited.”

“What’s your maximum flow rate?”

“About 0.5 terawatt, sir.”

“What?”

“I can process about half a terawatt on a continuous basis. At 90% of the speed of light, you won’t even see me most of the time. Nobody really knows how this works.”

A pause. “More on that later. Cygnus?”

“Just give me something to fly, sir.”

Curt smiled, “Well, we may just see if we can do that! Behemoth? I trust you are charging happily?”

“Oh, very happily, sir!”

“Well, we may need to change that. Our most urgent need is for more power for Chimera. I’m also not happy with just one engine running. We are going to devote 50% of total power output to Chimera for a while. I need a full and complete assessment of both of the other two engines on the TriStar. How long will that take?”

“Oh, five or ten, give or take,” Chimera said.

“Five hours seems like a long time, Doc…”

Amazona knelt down to the Commander and whispered “Seconds, sir, not hours. She works on a different timescale than we do.”

 “Ahh…”

“Report ready at your convenience, sir,” Chimera chimed in before Amazona could even fully stand up.

“Before we go any further,” Curt said, “I need to get something cleared up. I had an exceptional view of the battle. Better than I might have liked, actually. First, the gunnery on this ship. Is that equipment from another dimension, or what? I’ve never seen laser cannon move so fast! And, while I obviously couldn’t watch it all, I didn’t see a single miss. How did you do that?”

Embarrassed, Cygnus said, “Behemoth and I have been working together for a long time, sir. We are…exceptionally well tuned…almost one mind when it comes to battle.”

“What were the results?”

“Well, given the shield issue, I assumed all the targets were my problem. 197 impacted the ship. We successfully splashed the other 2303.”

“How many were left?”

“Left, sir?”

“At the end of the battle.”

“Uh…none, Commander. I didn’t begin atmospheric entry until all targets were destroyed. They were faster than you were. I couldn’t leave any strays running around.”

The Commander was stunned into silence. “Cygnus, Behemoth, you saved me and my entire squadron. I will never forget this.”

“With respect, sir,” Cygnus said. “It seems to me you’ve more than returned the favor by now.”

After an awkward silence, Curt said, “OK then, now to this shield business. Spacecraft shield technology is older than dirt. Why don’t we have one that works?”

“Design flaw, sir,” Behemoth said.

“Explain.”

“About a year ago, we had a very tough battle with pirates, and lost the #3 engine.”

“What happened?”

“A small anti-matter tipped missile got past our old shields, and made it into the #3 engine.”

“Ouch. That had to hurt!”

“It was worse than that, sir. The power circuits were insufficiently isolated, resulting in multiple cascading failures. The shield circuits were completely fried, and we’ve been operating without them--and, obviously, without a #3 engine--since.”

“No shields for a year?”

“Not our first choice, of course, but as you noticed, Cygnus is pretty good….”

Something wasn’t right, and it niggled at Curt’s mind. Isolating circuits…multiple cascading failures…Earth Space Force had solved that problem 500 years ago…

“Behemoth!”

“Sir!”

“How old are you?”

It suddenly grew very quiet. “Well, sir, different systems are different ages, and there have been many patches…”

“Don’t bullshit me, crewman. Roughly, how old?”

“About 12,000 years old, sir.”

“Twelve…thousand…YEARS?”

“Yes sir, give or take some variation for different components.”

A very long pause followed. Not a soul was going to speak until the Commander did.

“Hmm, well, OK. Looks like I can’t shoot the silly son-of-a-bitch that made that design mistake. But, let’s put that on the list of things to fix, shall we?”

“Yes sir!” Behemoth said. Behemoth didn’t breathe, of course, but you could almost imagine he’d been holding it.

“Behemoth. I trust you have turned on your internal sensors again?”

“Yes sir. The ones that work anyhow. To quote an eloquent engineer I recently met: ‘You are the most messed up friggin’ machine I’ve ever seen in my life’.”

Curt tried to hide his smile. “OK. What’s the hardest problem for getting this crewman back in to space?”

“Sir, no disrespect intended, but it’s just not possible. I am now a derelict.”

“The hell you say!“ Chimera burst out. “We don’t abandon our people! I can absolutely get you flying again. It’s just a question of power!”

“Unfortunately, that’s exactly right,” Curt said. “What’s the status on those TriStar engines?”

Chimera said with a smirky grin, “Oh, well, the #2 is now running fine, and I tweaked the #3, so it’s in good shape too. We’ve now got 100MW continuous power, with 400MW available for short periods. I’ve got some connection parts problems with the #1, though. I can fix it, but it will take a little time.”

Curt did a double take. He didn’t believe what he had just heard. “You mean the #2 engine is fixed? It’s RUNNING?” He had just expected a diagnosis!

“Well, sure. I had to do something while you guys were jawboning in here.” Over the next month, Curt would come to know that smirky grin very well.

Misha, still around Curt’s neck, just said, “Get used to it…”

Well, hell, maybe this might work after all.

“OK,” Curt said, “but power is still the problem here. Chimera: assuming only what you have available, how long to fix that #1 TriStar engine?”

“Several hours, at least…maybe a day. It’s jammed up in there pretty good. Lots of connection damage…”

“What if you can take it out, fix it, and leave it out?”

“Leave it out? 60 minutes total, tops. Piece of cake.”

“Then get it running, and hooked up to the power grid. How long to repair the TriStar so that it’s space worthy again? Without the #1 engine attached?”

“Hmmm…aerodynamics isn’t my specialty, sir. Too computational. I can do it, but it would take maybe a day for me to do the design work. Maybe two.”

“I’ll have full construction specs and blueprints available and printed within the hour,” Behemoth said. “After all, what good is all this computational capacity if I can’t use it?”

You could almost hear him smile.

“Cygnus, you wanted something to fly. Get ready to saddle up, son!”

“Yes, sir!” His smile was so broad it looked like his face would break.

“OK, next item. What’s the limiting factor getting this structure in the air?”

“Basically, we’re all busted up. “ Behemoth said “The notion of ‘structural integrity’ is a joke. Chimera has MedLab and the bridge in pretty good shape, but other than that, there isn’t one other chamber….not one, other than anti-matter containment and fuel…that will hold air.”

“So, what caused that?” Curt asked.

“Rocks. Big ones. We hit hard. Oh, and 200 impacts and explosions from suicide renegade hits didn’t help either. We have a bunch of minor holes and such, but we have at least five huge structural failures to fix.”

“Ouch. OK. Engine power. We all know #3 is charred rubble. #2 was running at impact, but Cygnus was apparently doing some weird things to it to keep it that way. #1 looks bad, but might still be usable.”

“Sir,” Behemoth said, “even if #2 was factory new, we’d still need to start it. These puppies take a gigawatt just to get fired up. Where are we going to get that kind of power?”

“Actually, I have an idea on that, but we’ll deal with that later.  Chimera!”

“Sir!”

“I know we’re not talking about the bottle rockets we use in the TriStar. How long for an estimate of the condition of engines #2 and #1 on Behemoth?”

“#2 doesn’t look too bad at a quick glance. Don’t know about #1. My apologies, sir, but these are big. It’s going to take a while. Would a noon report tomorrow be acceptable?”

“That would be fine. Faster than light drive?”

“We have no reason to believe it will work, but the anti-matter containment chamber is in good shape. Of course, since we’re here, that’s probably obvious…”

“Navigation?”

“Actually, good news on this one. Most of the antennae are on top, and they’re fine. Work to do, but no crisis.”

“Power distribution?”

“Good shape. Unless you want to do something weird…and then we’ll need to talk.”

“You guys are learning…system and helm control?”

“Well, if we had any systems that worked, I might be able to answer…” Chimera said.

“Smartass. Communication?”

“As far as we know, everything is fine. We can turn it on at any time.”

“Really?” Curt said. “That’s not what I heard. I heard there was at least another week of testing needed. The Comm system is not to be turned on without my specific personal approval. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir!”

Amazona said quietly “What was THAT about?”

And Behemoth whispered “I don’t think either of us wants to know.”

 

Schrödinger’s Bucks -- v 0.02

Schrödinger’s Bucks

System Development Plan

Chaosmaster

12-11-15

V 0.02

 

Change log, v 0.01 to v0.02

1)    Restructure the document to reflect a more traditional SDLC format

2)    Minor wording changes throughout to improve readability

3)    SubNet terminology identified

4)    “Overview” deleted, moved to “System Concept” and substantially simplified

5)    “Reference Use Case” moved to new “Requirements” section, wording clarified, terminology added

6)    All introductory comments and history moved to “Notes and References” section and more clearly organized

 

I.             System Concept

Very Rich People (VRP) already have numerous avenues for keeping their financial assets and transactions private, but most people don’t. This project is oriented toward conceptually designing a system that could extend the options currently available to VRPs to anyone (see Reference Use Case below). The first stage of this project will be broad and conceptual, identifying issues and problems, and clarifying objectives. The second stage will be to develop an overall reference architecture for a Schrödinger’s Bucks system to allow simple and routine access to financial privacy. The third stage will be to develop a reference high level design for such a system. Obviously, these phases will overlap and interact.

II.           Requirements Definition

 

1)    Reference Use Case

The reference use case for this project is a man (Joe Goodguy) and his family living in poverty under an oppressive regime (Badguyistan), who wants to securely save enough money to move his family somewhere more civilized. He needs to have the money available both when he’s ready to move, and when he reaches his destination. Both the store of money and the transactions to build and use it need to be secure, not traceable to him in any way, and not accessible to anyone other than him (or someone he authorizes). For this purpose, it will be assumed that he has occasional, but not continuous, access to the internet.

 

III.        System Architecture

 

SubNet

 

IV.       Development

 

V.          Test

 

VI.       Implementation

 

VII.    Notes and References

1)    Schrödinger’s Cat

If you want more information on the Tail of Schrödinger’s Cat, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger's_cat

For those of you who are completely unfamiliar with the concept, the very high level very over-simplified version is that one way to interpret quantum mechanics says that under certain conditions, a cat can be both alive and dead, at the same time, in a sealed box. But, when you look in the box, it is either alive or dead. This may sound really arcane (because it is!), but it gets more interesting. Read on!

 

2)    Schrödinger’s Bucks

With technology readily available today, it is possible to construct such a “sealed box” for financial assets, but with a twist: you determine the result of what’s in the box not based on some previous random event, but based on who is trying to look in the box. If you are authorized to look, you see the money. If you aren’t, then poof! The money doesn’t exist. At least, not in that box. The scenario assumes the existence of multiple sealed boxes, and the money moves around between them. If an unauthorized user attempts to even look in a box…never mind open it…then the money dies, and isn’t in that box at all. But it’s elsewhere.

Probabilistic money!

 

3)    Trigger Elements

There were five things that led me to the concept of Schrödinger’s Bucks:

A)   Cosmology and parallel universes (Through the Wormhole, Science Channel)

B)   A digital universe, separate from, but connected to, the physical (The Matrix)

C)   Secure, reliable cloud back-up storage (various discussions)

D)   Steganography (referenced in a Law & Order episode)

At this point, this just gives a glimpse into my eclectic set of interests. The final piece that made the idea of Schrödinger’s Bucks come together in my head was:

E)    Probabilistic unique identifiers for people (IT Project)

Our society wastes literally hundreds of billions of dollars a year by not facing up to the reality that people need to have a unique identifier for a wide range of computer systems to work well, or to work at all. The SSN would be the obvious choice, but it’s not allowed. So, individual systems make-up their own unique identifiers. But then what do you do when you want to build a data warehouse, and connect information from multiple systems? The traditional approach is some elaborate field mapping, data cleansing, and data integration process, which is always a pain, and frequently turns out badly. I discovered, in the course of a project I was working on in 2011, that there are probabilistic methods for matching individual records across different databases that are simpler, faster, and more accurate than the traditional approach. Not as good as a real unique identifier, but apparently, pretty damned good.

So, the notion occurred to me: If there can be a probabilistic unique identifier for people, why not probabilistic money? Schrödinger’s Bucks!

 

4)    Process & Confidentiality

I maintain no copyright or proprietary interest of any kind in the content of this document. I encourage you to distribute it to anyone you think might find it interesting. If you want to make comments, ask a question, or provide related material (under 1MB!), please send it to me directly at Chaosrider@charter.net . As I distribute updates to this document, I will attribute comments and such to the submitter, or not, as the submitter prefers. In the absence of a request for attribution, I will assume anonymity is preferred. If anyone would like to send me something and/or have a discussion that they would like to keep confidential, I will be happy to honor that desire for confidentially. Just make sure you communicate your wishes in that regard clearly and unambiguously. If someone sends me something in confidence, and I later receive or see it “in the open” from another source, I will feel free to use it, although not with attribution to the individual who requested confidentiality.

Think of it as an adventure! I certainly do!

J

The End of Winter -- Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Awakenings

 

July 17^th, 2808

When the crew returned, they were pleasantly surprised to find Cygnus awake and functional, although still weak. Chimera gave one of her usual cheerful greetings. “What a dipshit pilot! Can’t you land anything without breaking it?” Cygnus gave the universal one finger salute that seems to be recognized throughout the galaxy…

Chimera said, “Commander, that small chamber was an easy fix, just some ripped connections. It’s ready to go at your convenience.”

“Excellent. Put Misha in there now, and then get to work on the cabling. Amazona will follow after she gets the cable moved. Shouldn’t be more than another half hour.”

Curt walked up to introduce himself to Cygnus, who was at the workbench. “Dude!” Cygnus said. “You saved my life! I owe you free drinks forever!” An instant relationship, talking shop, flying techniques, spacecraft types, and a wide range of engineering issues.

After a bit, Curt went over to speak to Chimera, who was hooking up the first stretch of cabling to the TriStar, and said:

“The legend is that Cygnus can sense and feel the condition of a spacecraft almost supernaturally. Like he bonds with it. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe this?”

“Sir, it’s more than belief. I’ve seen it. It’s spooky. And this from someone who moves at the speed of light!” Chimera grinned evilly.

“Chimera…I want no one but Cygnus controlling that TriStar engine system during the test. No one. Are we clear?”

“Understood, sir.”

“Very well. Alert me when the engine is ready for the test.”

Amazona set the final length of cable on the ground, and looked around for something else to do. The Commander was standing there waiting for her, and just shook his head. “You’re done, officer. You are ordered to the large regeneration chamber without delay. Move out.”

“But sir, there’s still more preparation for the test, I could…” The Commander shook his head “Forget it, officer. You are so tired even I could probably knock you over. You are immediately ordered to the large regeneration chamber in MedLab. I’ll escort you there.”

“You think I might try to sneak off to get something else done?”

“Yup.”

There had been so much going on that Amazona and Chimera hadn’t seen each other for a while. “Well, you sure look like Hell,” Chimera said. “I’m going to have to write up your senior officer for abusive behavior.” Amazona laughed, and then coughed, and said, “That would make the whole trip worthwhile, Doc!”

“The regeneration chamber is fully buffered,” Chimera explained. “So you’ll feel no discomfort during the process. Once the power is stable, you will be induced into a light sleep, your organs will be re-generated, and your power levels will be ramped up…once we get the power. This first shot will just be a quickie, to give you another day. To be honest, we don’t know how long we can keep charging you even after the power comes on, given the overall ship power needs. Eventually, you’ll be back to full power.”

The Commander leaned over to Amazona and said, “Lieutenant, serving with you for the last thirty-six hours has been one of the greatest honors of my career. Sleep well, my friend.”

The drugs took effect, and the Commander and the Doctor moved on to other things. But before they left, the Commander said:

“Doctor, I will personally shoot anyone who wakes that young lady without cause for the next two days.”

To which Chimera responded, “Not if I get to him first.”

 

July 18^th, 2808

“Attention, crew. We are about to begin the main power connection test. The Doc, our lifeline, is in great shape, although still at low power levels. Cygnus is recovering well. Amazona is waiting for power. Behemoth will probably do handsprings if this test works. Misha, sadly, is dying. There’s no good way to say that, but if you think I’m giving up on her, you don’t know me very well yet.

Lieutenant Cygnus will be in charge of this test. Lieutenant Cygnus, you have one top priority instruction: DO NOT turn that engine off, under any condition.”

“Yes sir.”

“Very well. Please begin now.”

The engine had been idling for over two days. Cygnus tuned himself into the power system, and it seemed stable. He gradually increased the power, until, at 22MW, there was an odd instability. Vague. Squirrely, unidentifiable, but definitely there. He throttled back.

“What’s the issue, Lieutenant?”

“I don’t know sir. It just doesn’t …feel right. I recommend we restrict operation to 20 MW until we can do a full inspection of the system.”

“Very well. Set the controls to 20MW. Good job!”

As predicted, although quietly, Behemoth was indeed doing virtual handsprings. The batteries were now being charged!

When all calmed down, Cygnus called the Commander over for a private conversation.

“Sir?”

“Yes, Lieutenant?”

“You were completely right about that engine. If you had shut it down, we’d never have gotten it started again in 100 years without major work. Just thought you might want to know….”

 

July 19^th, 2808

 

Curt kicked off the meeting, “OK, so we didn’t get all the power we wanted, but we’re a hell of a lot better off than we were. Behemoth, what do you use for sub-light fuel and power?”

“Deuterium fusion, Sir.”

“Thank God. So do we. So we have fuel for the TriStar for the next 1000 years if we need it. But, we won’t have the time for that anyhow. I can’t really tell you much about it, but we have a very serious political problem. I guess I should say I have a serious political problem. My people will return in about 6 weeks. Unfortunately, they can not be trusted with this level of advanced technology. There are some first class folks, to be sure, but the political infighting at the upper levels is brutal. The Earth Space Force must not under any circumstance, be allowed to take control of this vessel. Self destruction would be a better option, and personally, I think that option sucks.”

 A huge sigh from Amazona. Her shoulders must have dropped half a foot. “We knew that. We didn’t know if you knew that.”

“Well, I do. There’s only one answer for this.”

Amazona whispered “I don’t like the sound of this.”

Behemoth replied “It’s even worse than you think.”

“Behemoth must be fully space worthy and battle ready within a month. I know that engine #3 is hopeless. But everything else has got to work. Start drawing up the plans.”

Chimera just rolled her eyes.

“Behemoth?”

“Sir!”

“You are going to lose that bet with Chimera about getting into space again!”

Late in the evening, The Commander went in to MedLab to talk to the Doc, and to see how Misha was doing.

“Chimera, you know this conversation never happened, yes?”

“Yes.”

“What’s her status?”

“Commander, she’s dying. I don’t know how else to say it. We don’t have the energy, we don’t have the technology, we don’t have the knowledge…we don’t know what to do, sir.”

“Well, hold on a minute, and think out of the box here with me,” the Commander said. “I’ve been doing a lot of reading about this in the last day or so. It seems the problem is NOT that the recipient dies in life power transfers, but that the DONOR dies. We need to constrain the energy flow from the donor to the recipient. And, significant external energy flow needs to be added to make it work. At 20MW, we’re a little anemic, but it should still work. Is all that about right?”

“Yes.”

“Doc, they tell me you are a wizard when it comes to building things. Can you build a regulator to constrain the flow of power from me to Misha?”

“Well, in theory, yes. It’s never been done. But it should work.”

“Can you build a regulator to constrain the flow of power from the ship to Misha?”

“That, I can certainly do….wait a minute…I see where this is going, and I don’t like it one little bit!”

“Too bad, Doc. I want that system up and running in an hour. And you let her take whatever energy she needs from me, until my life signs start to waver. You got it?”

“Yes sir!”

On his way to bed for a quick nap, the Commander stopped at the power control station.

He said:

“Lieutenant Cygnus, I need you for a special assignment. We are doing a classified experiment. In about two hours, the available power output from the engine that will be usable outside MedLab will drop significantly, almost to zero. This is part of the test, and is not a concern. It should last until dawn.

“And Lieutenant, that power drop never happened, and I was never here. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir!”

 

July 20^th, 2808

Well, so much for the discreet option. The next morning, Curt woke up to a screaming banshee. Blood was everywhere (his, he feared). There was an odd blue light, and everything was outside of the blue bubble…except him and Misha.

“Who the hell do you think you are, endangering the Commander of an Ancient ship to save one crew member?” Misha yelled. Slash….more blood. “Do you know how much power you used for your little scheme to jump start me? Full ship power output for two hours!” Slice. “I should shred you here where you lie!”

After considering many responses, the Commander said, “Good morning, ma’am. My name is Commander Curt Jackson, Earth Space Force. You must be Misha. I trust you slept well?”

A pause. A relax. Then, Misha curled around Curt’s neck, and the two of them slept for two days and two nights.

Death to Phishers!

If you get a phishing email, you can send it to:

 

phishing-report@us-cert.gov

Yes, it *IS* your problem!

13.3%

That’s the new STATE income tax rate in California after the last election. That’s in addition to the federal rate, which Obama wants to raise to 39%. Do the math. But, since you don’t live in California, you figure it’s not your problem, right?

Think again!

State income taxes are deductible from your income for federal income tax purposes. So, when California raises its income tax rate, people deduct the higher amount from their income for the federal income tax, which means they pay less in federal income tax. Guess who makes up the difference?

You do!

If you live in a state with a lower income tax than California…in other words, if you live anywhere other than California…then *YOU* are subsidizing California’s spending through the federal tax code! Pretty slick, eh?

On this one, however, you can do more than just be outraged. Contact your Congressman and Senators NOW! Tell them that in the new “grand plan” for the federal budget, they should insist that the federal deduction for state income taxes must be phased out, and then entirely eliminated.

Either that, or you can keep sending your money to California. You have the opportunity to take action on this one that might make a difference. The question is…will you?

Fat Fix

There’s a simple cure for the obesity problem in the US. The government should offer a $100B prize to the first company (or person) to develop a weight control solution that meets the following three characteristics:

1)    The cure has a fatality rate no higher than the fatality rate for obesity. That is, if obesity kills X people per year, this cure would have to kill some number less than X per year

2)    The cure may not involve exercise

3)    The cure may not include diet

In other words, the cure needs to be entirely metabolic, not behavioral. In the simplest conceptual form, there would be a pill that you could take. If you want to weigh less, you take more pills. If you want to weigh more, take fewer pills. At some point you will find the equilibrium level that will produce the weight you want, given all of the other circumstances in your life.

Exercise and diet may be used as ACCELERANTS for someone who wants to lose weight faster, but the cure has to work entirely without them.

I don’t have the slightest doubt that this is technologically achievable. Unfortunately, I’m almost certain it isn’t politically achievable.

 

This is truly awesome!

Check out this video! A guy is taking his pet eagle for a walk. He's flying a parasail, and the eagle rendezvous with him, and lands on his wrist. It's just amazing to watch!

http://www.youtube.com/v/pd5BMP_41bI%26rel=0%26hl=en_US%26feature=player_embedded%26version=3

:-)

TCS

The End of Winter -- Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Confrontation and Survival

Finally, a few minutes to think.

Wrong!

Misha’s life sign indicators were starting to fluctuate badly. She wasn’t going to freeze, but she was in serious trouble.

“Damn. Behemoth. Forgive my ignorance. Legend has it you have advanced regeneration chambers. Is that true?”

“Yes,” Behemoth responded. “We have two. One for normal size creatures, and one for Amazona size creatures. The normal one is not operational. Maybe an easy fix, maybe it’s dead. I don’t know. The large one seems to be working well.”

“OK, we need to get Misha in there. Right now. Will the large size do her any damage?”

“No, but it will waste power. The large one uses at least 500 kilowatts. At her current damage level, Misha can only use about 200KW.”

Pause.

“Where is it?”

“Over to the right, in MedLab.”

Curt moved there directly, with Amazona right behind.

Amazona said, “Have you considered how much power this will use, and how it will impact the overall survival of the crew?”

A strange scene followed. All the hair on Amazona’s back went up, and she went to full attack posture, damaged though she was. No one but a purebred Security Professional would have noticed, but for the first time since they met, Curt had moved his hand almost imperceptibly toward his blaster.

With an ice-cold voice, Curt said, “Misha is going into this regeneration chamber. I will find a way to make this situation work. Trust me.”

Amazona considered the options, and realized she did trust him. “Yes, sir,” and helped to get Misha stabilized.

Once all was set, Amazona and Curt left MedLab, and Amazona felt compelled to be direct. “Sir. I considered stopping you from doing that. I almost did.”

“I know,” Curt said. “But, perhaps I’m not quite as...slow…as you seem to think I am! But thank you. Maybe you could have stopped me, maybe not…but you wouldn’t have. Your attachment to Misha is even stronger than mine, and mine is oddly strong, considering we’ve never spoken! There was no way you were going to stop me.” Curt smiled, and scratched Amazona behind the ear in a way he should never have known how to do.

Amazona stood silent in the hall for several minutes.

A little later, Curt called out, “Amazona, come here, we need a crew conference.”

Amazona and Behemoth were the only conscious members available. An easy assembly!

“OK, we’ve got no one going to die in the next hour or two. Considering how messed up we were, that’s not too bad. The question is, what do we do next?”

“Chimera must be repaired,” Amazona said. “We will die without her. On this, all depends.”

“I completely agree,” Behemoth said. “She is both the medic and the mechanic. She must be up and running as soon as possible. She can plug any two things together--fast--and they will work.”

“Yeah, right,” Curt responded disbelievingly.

Behemoth said nostalgically, “If we had the tools and materials--but we don’t, and I will never see space again. (sigh).”

A soft, quiet comment, almost a whisper, said, “Wanna bet?”

“Chimera!” Behemoth said. “How are you, you little fur ball!”

“I suck, how do you think I am? My internal organs are messed up, I’m dehydrated, and my energy level is terrible. But….what is this contraption I’m in anyhow? It seems to transfer energy very well for a portable.  It’s not one of ours. Where did this come from? And who is that guy, anyhow?”

“I’m the one who saved your sorry ass.” Curt replied.

“Oh, well, in that case--thanks.”

Curt said, “I’ve been getting these wild stories that you can fix anything, connect anything, and it will always work. Sounds like bullshit to me. What’s up with that?”

“I am unusually talented at making things work,” Chimera said. “I am also very fast when healthy. Obviously, that doesn’t currently apply…”

Curt went into deep thought.

“So,” Curt said, “hypothetically, if I had a 50MW generator running, you could hook it up to Behemoth, and that would be useful, yes?”

“What?” all conscious members said at once.

“I was able to keep one of the engines from my TriStar running. 50MW normal power, 200MW peak power. Listening to the conversation, it sounds like this might be useful.”

Chimera: “And you’re just telling us this now?"

“Well, if I hadn’t been busy saving your furry frozen little butts, I’d be further along by now!” Curt replied.

“Yeah, yeah. OK, point taken.”

“Chimera,” Curt said. “This is important. Can you really do this? Can you hook up a completely alien power source to Behemoth and transfer power?”

“You have wiring diagrams?”

“Sure.”

“Then no problem. I can do it without them, but it does help to have them. Bring them to me.”

“Amazona,” Curt said, “I have a project for us. How much more time do you have left for hard labor?” Curt knew that this was the part that was going to hurt…

“About six hours,” Amazona said.

“Lying bitch,” Chimera chimed in calmly. “She has maybe three hours, max, for hard labor. Oh, she’ll stretch it out for six hours alright…and then she’ll be dead. With some minor patching I can do quickly, she’ll be OK until the end of the day. But we must do some regeneration by then.”

“Behemoth: What’s the closest stretch of thirty-yard cable that can be hooked into your power supply?” Curt asked.

“Well, for once, we’re not totally screwed. It ends right there at the airlock. Your selection of landing site near the airlock was wise.” Curt felt no need to point out how little choice he had in the exact landing site.

“Amazona, how long to rip some cable out and drag it to the TriStar? Cut it up all you want. We’ll make Chimera fix it.”

“Hey!” Chimera said in mock protest, knowing full well it was the right choice.

“About an hour,” Amazona said. Chimera nodded her agreement.

Curt leaned over to speak privately to Chimera. “As soon as you’re able, I need you to fix the small regeneration chamber, transfer Misha to that, and then stick Amazona in the big one just long enough to extend her life by one day. We’ll do a proper fix once we have the power. Can you do that?”

Chimera responded, “I can do all that, but it’s a question of time. I’m pulling power from this unit of yours faster than it was designed to deliver, but it seems to be holding up fine. I’ll be useful…but slow…in about half an hour. If the small chamber isn’t messed up too bad, it should take half an hour or so to fix in my current condition. If it’s completely fried, it could be quite a while. Hours.”

“That large regeneration chamber is large.” Curt said “Can we have Misha and Amazona in at the same time?”

“The regs say don’t do it, but I think they’re overly cautious. Coincidentally, I’ve studied that issue extensively, and even tested it on lab animals. It should work fine.”

"OK then,” Curt said. “Plan A is to fix the small one quickly, and do the swap. Plan B is to put Amazona and Misha in the large chamber together, and give Amazona another day of life. How long will that charge for Amazona take?”

“For just one extra day? Not more than an hour or so. She won’t be fixed, mind you, but she’ll live another day.”

“Well, hell” Curt mused “This might work after all.”

 

 

Election Predictions 2012

Mitt Romney will win the Presidency with approx 52% of the popular vote, and 290+ electoral votes.

The Repubs will keep the House (that's not much of a prediction...)

Repubs will add a net one or two Senate seats, but will not take the Senate.

We'll know soon enough!

:-)

TCS

Picture Test

This is mostly to test posting a picture, but it expresses my personal philosophy pretty well at the same time...

;-)

The Dying Art of Critical Path Management

This is pretty arcane, and probably only of interest to project managers. I give a talk about this every once in a while to PMPs and other PM folks. This is the handout I provide with the talk (which is a highly interactive white-board presentation):

SSL

(No, not Secure Sockets Layer)

Savage’s Schedule Laws ™

 

I)     An effective schedule must have exactly one start milestone, and exactly one end milestone.

 

II)   Except for the start and end milestones, every other task must have at least one predecessor, and at least one successor.

 

III) If the “current date” line is to the right of the “% complete” bar (Gantt Chart View), the task must either be rescheduled, or a credible reason provided that explains why the task will “catch up.” Any task that shows a completion date in the past which is not, in fact, complete, must be rescheduled.

 

Quantitative Quality Measure

(Like golf, the low score wins. In this case zero is possible)

 

1)    Add 20 points if there is not a single start point, and a single end point

 

2)    Add a point for every task that does not have a predecessor, and an additional point for every task that does not have a successor (except for the start and end tasks)

 

3)    Add five points for every task that is scheduled to have been completed, but is not in fact complete (this indicates the need for a re-plan)

 

 

Bonus Quote:

 

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts.”

            --Albert Einstein

 

Rev: New, 11-04-26

© Terry C Savage

Permission to use and reproduce is granted, provided attribution is given to the author