The Genie and the Engineer 3: Ravages of War Read Free Page A

engineering solution to our problem, due
to our current speed. Just not enough space and time to decelerate using known
science.”
    “Not enough time to invent a warp drive then, huh?” Daneel 2
wisecracked.
    “A magical solution instead?” Daneel 1 suggested. “But how?
I don’t see how a portal would help us here.”
    “Let’s go back down to Deck 3,” Paul advocated, his brow
furled in deep thought. “I have an idea, but let’s discuss it with Mom first.”
    Ω
    On Deck 3, Paul ‘sat’ at the small dining table, which was
tucked up next to the kitchen. He waved a hand, creating a midair display
showing the planet Mars ahead of them. Seated next to him, Capie leaned forward
slightly, studying the display intently. Ariel-Leira was watching from her
mirror on the nearby bulkhead, listening in to the discussion.
    “At our current speed, how long until we cross the orbit of
Mars?” Paul asked Daneel 1.
    “Range is 38.2 million miles. ETA is 14 hours, 21 minutes
and 9 seconds,” was the response. “Assuming that we don’t find a way to start
decelerating before that.”
    Paul nodded, still deep in thought.
    Capie looked a bit nervous, lightly rubbing her upper left
arm with her right hand. “What are you thinking, Paul? Do you have an answer
yet?”
    Her husband scowled and massaged his temples, trying to both
improve his thinking and to help get rid of that infernal blasted headache!
    “Keep us waiting, please don’t,” scowled Ariel-Leira. Capie
shot her a look of annoyance and the mirror woman frowned, chagrinned.
    “Maybe,” Paul replied cautiously. “I’m trying to think
outside the box here.” He pointed at Mars in the display. “Maybe Mars is the answer.”
    “A slingshot effect?” queried Daneel 1 with a hint of
disbelief. “That won’t work, Dad. We will cross the orbit of Mars too far ahead
of the planet. Closest approach will be, um…908,000 miles away. Aero-braking
won’t work either. Same problem.”
    Daneel 2’s face screwed up in thought. “Dad, are you
thinking that we could tap the planet directly as an energy source?” he asked
slowly. “As you did with some of the monoliths back on Earth?”
    “You got it in one, Daneel,” Paul admitted with a sad smile,
uneasy with some of the specifics of the ‘solution’ he was contemplating.
    “But that would require physical contact with the planet,”
protested Daneel 1. “I’m not even sure if a portal can be created between the
ship and the planet, not at our speed. But that doesn’t matter since we are not
in range—not even close!”
    “You’re thinking of sending one of us on ahead, aren’t you,
Dad?” Daneel 2 asked, with a raised eyebrow.
    Capie blinked and sucked her breath in sharply. Daneel 1
looked at his clone in surprise.
    “Yes, I am,” Paul acknowledged frankly.
    “I didn’t see that one coming,” admitted Daneel 1. “But it
makes sense. I’ll go, of course.”
    “Wait a moment here,” Capie hissed, frowning. “You’re
talking about sending one of them out into space? Without a spacesuit?”
    Paul shrugged. “They don’t need air, CB. And they won’t be
out there long enough for solar radiation to hurt them.” He turned to face both
Scotties. “I think that both of you should go, to watch out for each other,
just in case. The buddy system, like for scuba divers.”
    “I agree,” Daneel 2 said, with a nod of his head. “One
question, though. Where on Mars do we go? It’s a big planet. We need to find a
large monolith somewhere, or a contiguous section of the planet’s crust.”
    “That’s a very good question,” said Daneel 1 in agreement.
“No one has ever been there so we don’t know if such a thing even exists
anywhere on the planet, let alone where to find it. That’s a big gamble.”
    Paul rubbed the back of his neck again with one hand. “Earth
has a lot of such places. I’m willing to bet that Mars, with no weather or
erosion factors to speak of in play and less