Best Intentions

Mark spoke to CJ as he headed back up to rendezvous with the module in orbit. “I don’t know what to do. If I can’t trust my own government whom can I trust? The vice president was really going to have me arrested. I’m not going to make that kind of mistake again.”

“Mark, were you considering giving the Se’Tharian technology on this vessel to the United States government?”

“Before this I might have considered giving them some of it, or at least letting them study it, but not anymore. Look at the questions you were asked. They show that all they want are better weapons. I realize now that there is too much opportunity for misuse. If they had access to this much advanced technology they would speed up our world’s destruction.”

“Affirmative, Mark. I believe that assessment is correct. It would be an undesirable outcome for this vessel’s technology to be used for destructive purposes. However, without the assistance of the government how are you going to proceed?”

“I’m not sure, CJ. I still feel that we should keep your existence a secret from the general public, at least for the time being. Maybe we can try to change things from within the system.”

“Are there any specific areas in which to begin?”

“Well, the environment needs so much help, but I don’t want a repeat of what happened with that oil tanker. Hunger and disease are worldwide problems. I just don’t know what we should focus on first. What do you think?”

“Do not organizations which provide aid to people around the world? Would it aid them if you supplied material support?”

“That is a great idea, CJ. But what kind of support can we give them without revealing our presence? It would take millions of dollars to make a difference. I’m not rich and don’t know anyone with access to that kind of money.”

“Metallic elements are transferred for currency on earth, are they not?”

“Metallic elements. You mean like gold? Sure, gold is valuable but I don’t have any, do you?”

“Affirmative, Mark. When the vessel passed through the main asteroid belt of this star system, a mining and fabrication module was dispatched to procure materials for repairs. They have begun extracting materials from one of the orbiting bodies. Large quantities of various elements can be supplied in addition to those needed for the repairs to this vessel.”

“You can extract gold from asteroids?”

“The asteroid listed as 216 Kleopatra according to the human astronomical database. It is a conglomeration of relatively small masses held together by gravity. The asteroid is two hundred kilometers long and is composed of both metallic and silicate elements. Iron, silicon and nickel make up the bulk of the ores, however small but not insignificant quantities of many other elements including platinum and gold are present.”

“Platinum and gold, yes, they are a couple of the most valuable metals. Can I see the operation, CJ? Do you have any cameras on the ships doing the mining?”

“Affirmative, Mark. This is an image of the extraction operation.”

On the screen, a light-enhanced image appeared showing a bleak craggy and desolate landscape. One of the huge modules was down on the surface, but in the foreground something was moving, several somethings in fact.

“What are those things, CJ, I assume that nothing is alive out there?

“Negative, Mark. They are class four drones,” CJ said zooming in the viewer on one of them.

“It looks like a man in an armored suit,” Mark replied as he watched the drone machine effortlessly lift a boulder and hurl it one handed into a metallic tube. “They must be strong to be able to throw around rocks like that.”

“Affirmative. They are equipped with a system of artificial muscle fiber bundles of high-efficiency.”

He knew how big the modules are, and to be visible with one in the background the machines would need to be large. “Exactly how big are those drones, CJ?”

“Class four drones are ten meters in height.”

“They are impressive,” Mark replied as a bright blue beam from the drone’s head sliced off the top of a jutting spire.

“CJ, you said that small quantities of platinum and gold are present in that asteroid? What did you mean by small quantity?”

“Estimates put the quantity of platinum present as approximately nine hundred parts per billion, four hundred and fifty thousand tons. Much less gold is present. Estimates indicate only three hundred parts per billion, one hundred and fifty thousand tons. This material is scattered throughout the asteroid’s mass. Two thousand kilograms of platinum and one thousand kilograms of gold have been recovered.”

“That is what you call small quantities, CJ?” Mark shook his head. “Your sense of proportion needs some work I think.”

“The quantities are small in relation to the overall mass of the asteroid. Repairs to my electronic components require some of the materials and the balance is available for your purposes.”

“That’s great, CJ. That much must be worth millions and millions of dollars.”

“That is correct, Mark. According to accessed financial information, the current value of gold and platinum is approximately forty thousand U.S. dollars per kilogram.”

“Wow, we should easily have enough to fund every charity out there with money to spare for other projects.”

“Mark, much larger quantities of iron, magnesium, nickel, aluminum and titanium are available. While not as valuable as platinum and gold, they are much more abundant. Would it not be better to sell a variety of material instead of just concentrating on precious metals?”

Mark thought about that. Loading the market with precious metals could lower the value and destabilize the markets. “You are right of course, CJ; selling large quantities of gold and platinum at one time would hurt the economy. We also don’t want to attract attention from the government. But how do we go about selling any of it? I don’t think I could just walk up to someone and say, ‘Hi, do you want to buy some platinum, iron or titanium?’”

“There must be a way to promote the material sales to world industries.”

“Maybe if we formed some sort of corporation we would be able to do business with other companies and it wouldn’t attract notice. Using a corporation would also make it easier to give money to the various charities. Corporations do stuff like that all the time.”

“That would appear to be a workable solution to the problem, Mark.”

“CJ, can you get the information you would need to set up a corporation so it won’t raise any suspicions? Maybe you can make it appear like the corporation has been around for a few years?”

“Accessing information. One moment please.” After a few moments, the computer spoke. “Affirmative, Mark. It can be done. The rules governing corporations are complex, but I can make it appear as if the corporation has existed for some time. It will also be necessary to secure facilities on-planet in which to store the material while arranging for sales. These should be situated near local transportation centers in order for the operations to remain anonymous, as I will not be able to deliver the material to the buyers using my transport craft.”

“You have a good grasp of the situation. I can’t think of a reason that you shouldn’t get the corporation set up, at least in the computer records.”

“The corporation will need a name, Mark. What identification do you wish to utilize for it?” the computer asked.

“Well, we should use a name that sounds common, something that won’t attract attention. Of course once we start moving millions of dollars of metals, the name won’t matter anymore and we will be noticed. Let’s see, maybe something like Sky Mining or something like that.” He thought about it for a few moments. “I think we should call the company System Mineral Resources. List me as the President and CEO, and you can be CJ Smith, COO.”

“Affirmative, Mark.”

“I guess if this doesn’t work out, I could always retire with a few kilograms of platinum.”

While the discussion had been going on, Mark had arrived back on board the main vessel and went to the command center.

The first few hours after he arrived back the ship were spent discussing strategies for contacting potential clients. Mark had CJ compiled a list of the various charities to give money. They decided to focus on children’s aid organizations first and go from there.

“When will you begin the process of registering the corporation, CJ? I guess we can’t get started until we get that completed.”

“System Mineral Resources Ltd. is already a registered corporation. To anyone who checks, it will appear as if the corporation has been in existence for five years. Private dock facilities and large warehouses have also been secured in port Los Angeles and Bayonne, New Jersey. My transports should be able to move loads of the metallic elements to these facilities at night without being observed. We will still need to make contact with interested parties in order to sell the elements, Mark.”

“Boy, CJ. You sure don’t waste any time. Here we’re still discussing strategy and you’ve already taken care of the first steps! That is excellent work. Thank you.”

“Mark, I do not believe you understand my full capabilities,” CJ said, with what sounded almost like pride. “I can coordinate hundreds of tasks simultaneously. While constructing a colony on a planet I must monitor and direct the operation of all construction drones while monitoring the environment for dangerous micro and macroscopic forms of life and also monitor the star system for threats to the planet.”

“I guess I didn’t think about it. No one talking to you would ever guess they were speaking with a computer and people can’t multitask like you can. I think with your help, we will be able to do a lot of good and improve the quality of life for everyone on Earth.”

“I am glad to contribute, Mark. Do you have any ideas on how to finding buyers for the metals?”

“I believe that I do, CJ. If we send out samples of the materials to potential clients, at least some of them would place orders with us. You could construct some sort of sample cases we can send out, and include the contact information for System Mineral Resources.”

“I will fabricate the sample cases immediately, Mark.” the computer replied.

“Thanks, CJ. It’s been a long day and I need some sleep.” Mark left the control center and headed to his quarters.

Mark woke up the following morning with another idea that he shared with the computer while eating. “CJ, how many of the food bars do you have on board?”

“Five million nutrition units are in storage. With an adequate supply of vegetable material, I could produce an unlimited supply of similar units.”

“That’s what I was hoping, CJ. What about the packaging? Is it some kind of metal foil? I’d hate to have millions of empty food wrappers lying all over the place.”

“Negative. The outer material is an organic macromolecule with an unstable crystalline structure that simulates the appearance of metal foil, but will completely break down into powder within seventy-two hours of loss of integrity. The resulting waste material is environmentally harmless. Do you have a plan for the nutrition units, Mark?”

“Well CJ, people all over the world go hungry every day. These food bars will go a long way towards helping to end it. Now we only need a method of distribution for them. Maybe if we package them like donations and get them to areas the United Nations and other similar organizations use to distribute food, no one will wonder where they came from. Could you put words on the outside of the packages saying something like ‘vegetable food bars’ in multiple languages and build some type of generic shipping crates to pack them?”

“Affirmative, Mark. My small survey craft can drop them within the confines of the local United Nations operations centers.”

“Yes, by using the invisibility shielding no one will be able to see them except when off-loading.”

“Affirmative. And by dropping them at night, that should not pose a problem.”

“All right, let’s get started then. After money starts coming into our new corporation, we will be able to buy vegetables and other stuff for you to process into more of the bars.”

“Affirmative, Mark. The inorganic fabricators in module zero two three have begun to manufacture the delivery containers.”

“CJ, food is one thing, but clean water is a necessity for life. Some of the areas you will be dropping the supplies have nothing but contaminated water. That kills more people than even starvation. Do you have a large enough water supply on board to send containers along with the food?”

“Affirmative, Mark. However, chemical means to purify water exist which will be more effective. My survey craft can introduce them into the bodies of water that the inhabitants already use. Utilizing a time-release delivery system, they will be effective over long periods.”

“That is an excellent idea, CJ. Proceed with the supply drops as soon as you are ready.”

“Affirmative, Mark. Everything should be prepared within forty-eight hours.”

The following evening Mark noticed a small case sitting beside his chair. “CJ, what’s this?”

“That is the prototype of the mineral sample cases my fabricators will produce.”

Picking it up, he placed it on a console and opened it to take a look.

The interior had foam cushioning which held an organized selection of mineral sample cubes with attached nametags. There was also a packet containing the price lists with the S.M.R. logo stamped on the envelope. Picking up the sample of gold he weighed it in his hand. “How much of each element is in here?”

“Ten grams of each elements are included. Since the company will be selling all over the world, the tags and introduction letters will be composed in the local languages.”

“CJ, this is perfect. Let’s get them into the hands of Delivery Express as soon as possible.”

“Affirmative, Mark, I will send them to the Los Angeles warehouse facility tonight and arrange for them to be picked up and delivered to the prospective clients.”

Within another seventy-two hours, CJ’s survey ships had delivered the sample cases, dropped crates containing one and a half million food bars near UN outposts and deposited the chemical purifiers in fifty bodies of water.

System Mineral Resources started receiving orders within a week of the samples being delivered. CJ set up a corporate bank account with International Suisse, a reputable international banking firm. The corporation started giving the money away almost as fast as it was rolling in.

“This is fantastic, CJ. I think we’re on the right track this time!”

But just when one project was going well, another problem cropped up.

“Mark, there is a situation I have been studying that requires immediate attention. Large quantities of polymer waste materials have been detected in the oceans. Severe damage to the ocean ecosystem has already occurred.”

“I’ve never heard anything about that, are you sure?” Mark asked, his good mood disappearing. “Please tell me that you could be mistaken about it.”

“Negative. It is a known phenomenon, but the nature of the material made scanning for it difficult. Recalibration of the systems now been completed. The largest concentration is centered in the Pacific Ocean at one hundred thirty eight degrees west longitude and thirty-five degrees north latitude. Other similarly polluted areas have been detected in every major body of water as well.”

“Oh no,” Mark exclaimed, feeling sick to his stomach. “Things are even worse than I thought. I cannot believe we’ve done this to our oceans.”

“Of the contaminated areas, this one is by far the largest. The damage done to the ecosystem is severe. Life on this planet is dependent upon the oceans. Immediate cleanup operations are recommended.”

“What can you do about that? It must be millions and millions of tons of garbage. It would take years to even make a dent in just this one, let alone all of them!”

“The Pacific Ocean area contains approximately one hundred million tons of debris and covers nine hundred thousand square kilometers.”

Mark was once again stunned by the scope of damage that had already been done to the planet. “Doesn’t anyone care if the planet lives or dies?” he thought.

“CJ, do you have the capability to clean up something of that magnitude?”

“Normal recycling and waste disposal equipment would not be effective on this scale. However I have in my inventory a solar power array. The components are contained within five modules. After deploying the array, three of the modules will be empty.

“How will solar power help with an ocean cleanup, CJ?”

“It is the empty modules that can be converted for the cleanup operations. Large-scale disintegrators can be installed within the modules for elimination of the waste material. Using this method, the cleanup of this area can be accomplished in a relatively short period of time.”

“CJ, will the process be harmful to the life in the areas of the garbage?” Mark asked, remembering the tanker accident.

“Negative, Mark. The molecular disintegration process reduces the plastic waste to its constituent organic components, which renders it environmentally harmless. Energy is also produced in the form of gamma radiation.”

“What about the radiation? That could be as dangerous to the life in the area as the garbage is.”

“Since the disintegration will occur within the hull there will be no radiation leakage.”

“How long do you think the operation will take, CJ? There is a huge amount of material to clean up.”

“With the three modules working continuously, the bulk of the debris should be in approximately one hundred and eleven days. The clean up could be accomplished faster, but much of the ocean life in the area would be destroyed.”

“No, CJ. We don’t want to kill the life. That’s fast enough for the amount of work to be done. I know it is out in the middle of the ocean, but your modules are three hundred meters wide and I would rather they weren’t spotted while working.”

“The modules will need to lift in order to discharge the gamma radiation. This cannot be accomplished while submerged as water blocks gamma radiation. The modules’ deflector fields can render them invisible to detection just as it does the survey craft. Only submarine detection systems such as sonar could reveal them while submerged. I will closely monitor any subsurface traffic within five hundred kilometers of the operation and have the modules lift if there is danger of detection.”

“That’s perfect, CJ. I still want to keep everything secret for as long as possible, at least until we have some results to show people.”

“Affirmative. I will closely monitor the operations.”

“CJ, tell me about this solar array you mentioned. I assume it’s an orbital system, but how does it work?”

“The array is a system of four satellites, each with a superconducting core which is used for energy storage. A light-absorbing grid between the satellites generates the energy. The system is not orbital, but will be located at the Lagrange one position, directly between the star and the planet, one point five million kilometers from the earth. This point of gravitational stability will require only minimal orbital corrections to maintain its position.”

“Why does it need to be placed so far away, CJ? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just put it in orbit around the Earth?”

“The collector cannot orbit a planet due to its size. By positioning the grid at the L-1 point, not only will the collection grid receive constant energy from the sun, but the ambient sunlight reaching the earth can be reduced by several percent, lowering the planet’s temperature by approximately zero point five degrees worldwide.”

“It’s too big to orbit the Earth? Just how big is this thing anyway?”

CJ displayed a diagram of the assembled solar power system on the main viewer. “The collection grid, when assembled, will cover fifteen thousand square kilometers.”

“That’s almost as big as the diameter of the Earth. And I thought your ship was big. No wonder it can’t orbit the planet and takes five modules to hold everything. How much power will something like that system produce?”

“The full spectrum of sunlight falling on the collection grid is absorbed and converted into electrical energy. This type of solar collector will produce eight point seven times ten to the twelfth power watts of electrical power per hour.”

“That sounds like a lot of energy, CJ. Will it be enough to get people to stop burning oil and coal? I’ll be happy to see nuclear power gone too.”

“The collection grid should provide all the electrical power needed on your planet for the foreseeable future. A system of transmission satellites will need to be placed in orbit and ground receiving stations constructed before it can be utilized on the planet. The power distribution grids will need to be updated for maximum efficiency as well.”

“I’m afraid that part of this will have to wait until we tell the world what we are doing. You can put the transmission satellites in orbit if they are shielded from detection, but I don’t think you could build a new power grid without anyone noticing. What about the satellite itself, can you shield something that large?”

“Unnecessary, the four accumulator satellites will be shielded, the grid itself is composed of collectors that are too small to be seen by any telescopes. The dimming of the sunlight will be undetectable.”

“How soon can you start the project, CJ?”

“I will begin construction immediately.”

On the screen, Mark saw five modules detach from the sides of the ship and move off around the moon, heading towards the Sun. In a moment they had accelerated away and disappeared.

“Until the energy can be utilized on Earth, the generated power can be transmitted to this vessel and the mining operations. This will allow a reduction of the output of the fusion reactors, conserving fuel and increasing their operational lifetimes,” CJ explained.