He also had to keep in mind that while these were satellites, he was camouflaging a ship. He would be wise to ignore the pieces that were unique to sats, such as solar arrays or thermal blankets—all the thin membranous material that might reflect a lot of light and draw attention to the recon ship.
At first he was slow and methodical about what he selected. But as the day wore on, and as they moved from object to object, he cut faster and thought less about what he was gathering. Quantity, not quality was what mattered now. He could be meticulous and selective in the warehouse. Out here he was reaping the wheat. Back on Luna he would make the bread.
After twelve hours, the cargo bay was full floor to ceiling. Victor had convinced Imala to get a dumper shuttle four times as large as she thought they needed, and Victor had filled every square meter of it.
“This is enough junk to camouflage an asteroid,” said Imala. “You’re covering a tiny two-seater, remember?”
“We won’t be using all of this,” said Victor. “We’ll have to sift through it and find the right pieces. The ship has to look somewhat uniform, Imala. All of the pieces have to appear to have come from the same ship. It can’t be a multicolored potpourri of parts. It will look fake and slapped together.”
“The Formics don’t know human ships well enough to tell the difference,” said Imala.
“You don’t know that,” said Victor. “It’s a mistake to underestimate them, Imala. They may resemble ants, but they invented near-lightspeed travel. They’re far more intelligent than we are. I’m not taking any chances.”
Imala shrugged and didn’t argue.
The flight back to Luna was long, but Victor stayed busy the whole time. First he disassembled some of the larger junk pieces that were accessible in the cargo bay. Then he took the smaller, disassembled pieces and scanned them in the holofield, making 3-D models of each. He had already built a holographic model of the small recon ship he and Imala had purchased back on Luna. He called it up now in the holofield and began attaching the 3-D models of junk pieces to it, virtually building the camouflage design in the holofield and trying several different approaches. By the time he and Imala reached the Juke warehouse, he had a pretty good idea of how he wanted to attack the project.
Lem had arranged for the engineering staff to be on hand to help unload the shuttle. So when Victor and Imala stepped out of the umbilical and onto the warehouse floor there was a small crowd of people waiting for them. An older woman of African descent with long gray braids and a slight accent greeted Victor and Imala with a smile and handshakes. “Mr. Delgado, Ms. Bootstamp. I’m Noloa Benyawe.” She gestured to the man beside her. “This is our chief engineer, Dr. Dublin.”
Dublin’s face was kindly, and his expression softened even further when he shook Victor’s hand. “I am sorry about your family, Victor. Dr. Benyawe and I were there in the battle. Your captain and family were determined to protect Earth. They have my utmost respect.”
Victor nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Dublin. That is very kind of you to say so.”
“Lem wants to be certain this remains a private endeavor,” said Benyawe. “He asked that I emphasize to the staff that this is not a company project. That means we can’t help you during normal working hours. Lem’s afraid company lawyers could use that as a basis to seize whatever we do. Silly, I know, but he’s insistent. But don’t worry, I’ve spoken with everyone here, and we’re all happy to help you after hours for as long as you need us.”
“Again, that’s very kind,” said Victor. “I’d appreciate your input.”
“Our understanding is that you hope to place a propellant on a few of the debris objects and fly them toward the ship so that the gun doors will open.”
“That’s correct,” said Victor. “That’s how I’m hoping to get inside. That may not be the best idea, though. If you have a better approach, I’d be thrilled to hear it. I’m making this up as I go along.”
“We think it’s a smart tactic,” said Benyawe. “And we’ve taken the liberty of proposing a few mechanisms that might do the job, if you’d allow us to share them with you.”