The Monkey and Squirrel fight for freedom. by Adrian eng Smith Read Free Book Online

deadline.
     
    On the fleeing vessels, many discussions took place on the subject. 
    “Well that does it, we can’t afford to let much slip in the schedule, Chatty, what do you think?”
    “Tman that deep space vessel clinches it. If they wanted to start the mines up again all they need is the Mars station in orbit to service the mine service vessels, most of which are still in high Mars orbit.”
    “The irony is, if they had been in a lower orbit the Mars shuttles could have reached them and the service ships have the range to reach Earth. Although they would need extensive servicing as most have not been used for years, the four in regular use were taken with the Mars station as they were already docked for servicing.” signed Tman.
    “Couldn't have worked out better if we had planned it that way?” enquired Chatty.
    “It was one of the few things we could count on, if it is not in use, park it in a high orbit out the way, just in case you need it later, standard practice when you have to lift things out of a gravity well.” explained Tman.
    “Anyway we have to be on our way in less than ten months, so when that gunboat arrives there is nobody home.” stated Chatty.
    “We should be ready in nine. Although we could move in two months; using a cloud of ten wi-fi connected laptops for the central control system.” signed Tman.
    “I thought all the essential systems function independently?”
    “They do, in an emergency you don't want everything to fail if one thing does; the central hub keeps all the parts in balance making a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts!”
    “How long could we manage in local control then?” asked Chatty.
    “Months, possibly years, but it would be inefficient and far from comfortable.” responded Tman.
    “I see, I understand such things more readily these days.”
    “How far have you progressed with your retraining?”
    “I am learning from textbooks and experiments now, it appears I have a real aptitude for electronics and computer programming.” answered Chatty.
    “So does it feel good?” asked Tman.
    “Yes, I feel so involved and alive! I am even contributing to the habitats, although I am limiting myself to modifying standard software for them, it has to be tested in simulation with other programmers checking for faults, we constantly check each other’s work and learn from it. ” explained Chatty.
    “How is administration coping without you?” asked Tman.
    “Very well, you remember I said our work load had dropped right off. With the needs of this project it has rocketed up to about four fifths of what it was with the humans in charge. Not just the routine, but by collating information in a data base of who knows what, we connect people with questions to people with answers or recommended textbooks with a reading order set out.” answered Chatty.
    “That innovation must have saved a hell of a lot of time!” commented Tman.
    “I think it has, one of the reasons we are thirty six days ahead of our original schedule. The humans have a similar process called facilitation. When we researched the literature on it, we discovered most facilitators on Earth are not held in high regard, we must be doing something different.” responded Chatty.
    “Maybe they don't work as hard as you Squirrels, anyway they haven't slowed down the rebuild of the Human space infrastructure.”
    “Tman, the Chinese are supposed to do things differently.”
    “They are not the ones who are coming after us.” signed Tman.
    “No, they are just profiting from building the vessels for those who want to kill us!” responded Chatty
    “The saying is: nothing personal it’s just business!” explained Tman.
    “I know, it's just so irritating!” responded Chatty
    “Nothing we can do about it, don't let it drive you nuts!” joked Tman.
    “Not again please give it up for a little while; you’re the one driving me nuts.” Chatty complained.
    “How can you, the pain of being