When she finished Lem was quiet a moment. “How do you get inside the Formic ship once you reach it? I’ve seen it up close. There are no doors. No windows. No entry points anywhere.”
“I’ll go in where the guns emerge,” said Victor. “On our way to the ship, I’ll stop at one of the bigger chunks of debris, I’ll attach a propellant to it. A small engine of sorts. It wouldn’t take much. Then when I reach the Formic ship, I’ll initiate the propellant and fly the hunk of debris directly at the Formic ship as fast as it can go. The guns will emerge to blast it to smithereens, and I’ll slip in through the hole.”
Imala regarded him. “That’s actually a good idea. Why didn’t you mention it before?”
“Because I just thought of it,” said Victor.
“How would you get back out again?” said Lem. “Once the gun retracts, you’re stuck inside.”
“I’ll take braces with me, made of the strongest reinforced steel available. I’ll prop open the crevice enough to squeeze back out.”
“What if there’s no entry point inside the hole?” asked Lem. “The gun could sit in a recessed space without any access to the interior of the ship.”
“Then I’ll use the opportunity to disable the gun,” said Victor. “I’ll cripple the ship as much as I can. I’ll make the most of my time. I’ll do reconnaissance. I’ll learn as much as I can.”
“And what will you do if you do get inside the ship?”
“Find the helm and plant an explosive,” said Victor. “Whoever is leading the army will likely be there. Kill him, and you put the army in chaos.”
“How would you know where the helm is located?” asked Lem.
“It’ll be in the center of the ship,” said Victor
“How can you be sure?”
“Because that’s where I would put it. Look at the shape of the thing. Where would you want to be if you were the captain and you were moving at a fraction of the speed of light through space with collision threats all around you?”
“As far away from the side of the ship as possible,” said Lem.
“Right,” said Victor. “The center of the ship. The most protected spot.”
“Assuming you’re right about its location,” said Lem, “how do you plan to reach it? The ship is likely crawling with Formics.”
“I won’t know until I’m inside,” said Victor. “And I’ll be recording everything. So even if I die, the footage would be useful. Whatever team follows me wouldn’t be going in blind.”
Lem sat silently for a moment. Then he came to a decision and leaned forward. “There’s a corner of the Juke production facility dedicated to a project I’m working on. Wing H16. It has its own dock and entrance and exit. My father’s people don’t go there. Only my engineers are allowed access. Once you’ve collected the space junk, bring the shuttle and junk there. I’ll give you space in the facility to camouflage the shuttle and prep it for launch. I’ll have all the tools you need and engineers on hand should you require them. I’d offer scraps of Juke ships for the camouflage, but I don’t want my father to have any part of this. This is not a Juke mission, this is our mission. Understand? If we use anything from Juke other than my facilities and private finances, my father would strip this from us and make it his own. We’d lose control.
“So we can’t use a Juke shuttle either. It has to be one you buy from an outside source. Small so it would blend in with the debris, but outfitted properly. Something reliable. Not a junker. We’re not going to fail because of faulty equipment. Buy a new one. You’ll also need a cargo shuttle or a dumper to haul in space junk from orbit. You can’t load everything into a tiny shuttle. So get both. A dumper and a small shuttle. We can resale the dumper if we have to. You’ll need fuel as well of course, plus other supplies I’m probably not thinking of. How much do you need?”
It took Imala a moment to find her voice. “Um, I hadn’t factored in the price of a dumper—”
“You’ll need one,” said Lem.
“All right.” Imala thought for a moment then gave him a number.
“I’m tripling that,” said Lem, tapping digits onto his wrist pad. “You need a cushion. These things are always more expensive than you think. If you need more, let me know.” He motioned for her to extend her hand, then he tapped his wrist pad to hers.
Imala looked at the amount. It took a moment to find her voice. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for the human race.”