Chapter Nine: Close Quarters — Part 6

George’s laughter kind of strains off to mute as he sees Jynx come into the first floor kitchen. The kitchen is designed, apparently, as a place where all the families, now imaginary, would come together and have a group meal. Its large and rather sociable dining hall is too big, Jynx thinks, for the type of family the building is hosting at the moment. There is a weak, vibrating echo that adds an odd tremor to the sound that is George stifling a laugh.

The same echo creates an odd dissonance to George’s words, at least until Jynx makes a conscious effort to ignore it. “I am certain that you are quite right. If the Committee tries to enforce its sense of democracy, you six might just have to leave. I’m not going to go to them to get permission to share what I’ve learned from you though. Nor will I report to them your sleeping arrangements. At this point in the game, their nosiness is just that, and I’ll not be party to it. Especially since they’re more worried about the amount of weapons you have at your disposal than whether or not you can be trusted with our research results.”

“Our ability to defend our basic rights is none of their concern.” Jynx says. “So what do you know about the gravity curves?”

“The fingers?” ChoCho says quietly.

“The gravity anomalies. Jude has been obsessed with them, so we know that you’ve been studying them.” Jynx says as she quickly pours herself some oatmeal and heats it on the stove.

“A little more than I did previously, since ChoCho’s filled me in on your friend who actually went through one. We were terrified that we might never be able to travel safely across the country again. Of course, it might take us time to find horses, and it sounds like it takes a pretty tough person to ride those fingers.” George turns his laptop around, showing it to Jynx. “These are all the known sites where gravity arches — fingers — have been found within a three hundred mile radius, combined with the data Jude has provided us for the swath of the route he has managed to chart.”

“How many?”

“Thirty four.” George says, “And nothing with fuel can go into — or too near — those anomolies and come out in one piece. We’ve tried solid fuels, diesel, gasoline, and any of a number of mixtures of jet fuel. We just can’t get a chemical fuel source into the finger without it blowing up.”

“He knows about the biological deadline too, the one that can only be solved by finding more people.” ChoCho says.

“That is why we have to find a safe way to travel not only across country, but to the other continents. We have to bring the survivors within reach of each other.” George pauses. “And we can’t do it by conventional means.”

“Why not an electrical engine?” ChoCho says, rather suddenly, having nearly choked on his bread just seconds before.

“We have to cross continents and oceans. How could electricity let us do that?” George wonders.

Jynx is quiet momentarily. During the discussion she has finished cooking her oats to a slightly chewy consistency, put them in a bowl, slathered them with syrup, and sat down at the table. She breaks off a massive chunk of wheat bread, covers it in a thick layer of preserves, and starts in chewing even as she’s thinking. George is laughing off ChoCho’s suggestion, but a stern look from her causes him to sputter his laughter to a pause. The girl’s authority still scares him. She is simply too strong a personality to confront directly.

“Forgive me, but there simply aren’t any propeller engines in production that were designed to run off electricity, and I don’t have a lot of experience with turboprops. We did most of our work with jet engines.”

“Until a few short weeks ago, there was no way that gravity could form massive arches outward from the planet. If ChoCho’s mentioned it, then he’s thought of a way.” Jynx says this even as she’s controlling her dislike of George, trying to see whatever it is that Jude sees in him.

ChoCho opens his sketchbook, and sets down a rather skilled drawing of an engine he has been working on since they left Phoenix. “The jet engine should be easy to retrofit. Change out the combustion chamber for ceramic heater elements. Discard the fuel tanks, ‘cuz we won’t need ‘em. Replace the tanks with batteries.” ChoCho stops, making a few notes. “I’m not sure of the power requirements, but I’m sure we can find a way to make it happen. Also, we can rely on trickle charging in flight if we can get access to solar cells, and we can handle most of the lift off issues by using ground power to spool up the engines.”

Now George is speculating, staring at the sketch. “Electric jet engine. We’ll need some seriously efficient heater elements, ceramic cores and dedicated filaments. I see you made a note to that effect in the drawing. It’s a start.”

“We have to pack the engine light and small. The plane should be able to glide, be designed to be low on ballistics.” Cho says this more on instinct than on an understanding of aerodynamics.

“If what your friend says about boulders and debris drifting around the core is true, then a medium sized craft might be in order.” George says, considering the drawing. “Tell you what, I know your leg’s still healing, so once you’re up to it, come by the shop. I’ll send out the scavengers for heater elements in the meantime. We’ll get started on the preliminaries with the fabrication department.”

“Scavengers?” ChoCho asks.

“To the city. We have a crew that has been to every city within a hundred miles. We’ve mostly been scavenging solar cells and computers. Haven’t been out in weeks, though, obviously.”

“Cool.” ChoCho says quietly.

Jynx files George’s comment about scavengers in her mind under ‘serious concern,’ and makes a note to tell Joe to start fortifying the lower floors against a siege. She wonders, mostly while staring at a bagle, how long it will take to build a moat, and what will be needed to encourage alligators into its waters. The river, after all, is quite far from them. Maybe Joe will have a solution, or talk her down to something more reasonable. Moats, after all, encourage mosquitoes. Jynx is completely distracted by the time she feels the table shift a little under George’s weight. She missed the tapping at the door. Jude is waiting on the porch with a couple of laptop bags and a stupid but lovable smile that tells Jynx he most probably had some serious sex the night before.

George smiles at ChoCho as he’s getting up. “Jude and I are going to go over some important satellite footage this morning. We’ll probably be busy up at the compound until late this afternoon. ChoCho, Jynx, it has been a genuine a pleasure.” George extends his hand to Jynx as a means of courtesy.

“I’m certain it has.” Jynx shakes George’s hand with a firm grip, dominant and powerful.

“I’ll see you later, ChoCho.” George says, meeting up with Jude outside, careful to take one of the bags with his left hand.

He will never admit that the girl cracked his knuckles.

If you want to see an example of the electric jet engine, just go to ChoCho’s Notes. No spoilers will be present on the opening page.

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