BSE Chapter 4-10

Alexander entered the medical facility and quickly located Gabriella. “Is she awake?” he asked.

When Alexander had tried to visit Dr. Lund the day after the opening ceremony for the academy, he found that she had taken ill and was rushed to the emergency center by her grandson.

The woman had been in the medical center for nearly a week, but he finally received word that Lund was well enough for visitors.

“She is,” Gabriella stated. “But try to keep it brief. She needs rest.”

Alexander nodded his avatar and headed into the patient wing, which still housed a few convalescing Asgardians. He soon reached the end of the hall where the private rooms were. These were mostly reserved for the worst-off people or those who needed to be held in isolation, either for the safety of the facility or their own.

The fact that Lund had wound up in one didn’t bode well for the older woman. He knocked on the door before stepping inside. She didn’t glance up at his entrance, busy with something on a tablet.

Even now, the woman was working on her math. A few holographic slates floated nearby from a small projector someone had brought her.

She eventually looked over and Alexander could see she looked even worse than she had back during the ceremony.

“Finally have some free time to visit an old woman, eh?” she asked, her voice raspy and hoarse.

“If I had known, I would have come to see you sooner.”

“Bah,” Nova waved, the act seeming to tire her out. “I’m dying, I’m not senile. You had more pressing matters, but I’m glad you came. Even if it is on my deathbed.”

“Is there anything I can do for you? Perhaps we can put you in stasis to find a cure for your sickness?”

“No. This isn’t a sickness you or anyone can cure, it's just my body finally breaking down. I’ve lived longer than I should have if I’m honest. I was just too stubborn to die while my work was unfinished and I was without someone who could take up my torch and complete it for me. I was hoping that would be you,” she said pointedly.

“Me? There has to be someone more qualified, I know hardly anything about theoretical physics.”

Nova snorted disdainfully, which brought on a coughing fit that alerted Gabriella. The woman hurried into the room, looking annoyed.

“I told you to take it easy,” she admonished the woman.

“And I told you I’m not a child to be coddled,” Lund got out through racking coughs as Gabriella sat her upright and gave her gentle pats on the back until she finally stopped coughing.

“I’m going to keep you upright for now. That should reduce the chance of the cough coming back for a few minutes. Hurry up and finish your discussion because I need to give you some medication and then you need to rest.”

Lund simply grunted slightly in acknowledgment and waited until Gabriella left to continue. “That girl needs children, she mothers her patients too much. Now where was I?”

“About to tell me why you want me to continue your work.”

“Right. You are correct, there are more qualified scientists out there, but all the ones I know now work for the STO or one of the corporations within the STO. Your new allies might have some talented people, but I couldn’t say for sure and I don’t have time to look. That leaves you.”

“That’s not quite the vote of confidence I had expected. Then again, I’m barely an engineer,” he replied, trying to lighten the mood.

“Stop that!” the woman snapped, her voice coming out firm to admonish him. “You have accomplished feats of engineering out here that corporations back in the STO would drool in envy over. Take pride in what you’ve accomplished and stop being so self-deprecating.”

“Noted,” he replied, earning a slight smile from the woman in the bed. Getting reprimanded by Nova was not what he had expected when coming here.

“When we first talked years ago, I wanted you to join me so I could train you to become my protégé. The STO taking my coworkers and all the work we had done soured me to that option and I carried that grievance over even after coming out here. You didn’t deserve that, and I’m sorry.”

Alexander was about to say that wasn’t necessary, but the woman cut him off. “Let me speak.”

He nodded and Lund continued.

“The work you helped me with was what finally convinced me that I was being a stubborn old fool. Do you know how many years I have been trying to get that gravitational sensor instrument built? Twenty. Not a single company that I contracted was ever able to produce a working design to my specifications. Yet you managed it in less than a year. I do not doubt that you will figure out the physics behind my work in time. You could even buy those ridiculous learning modules but those would be a waste. Instead, I made a series of my own. They are in my office along with all my work. Just promise me when you succeed, that you’ll name it after me, and rub it in the face of the STO. I want to die knowing that I got the last laugh.”

Alexander hesitated, not quite expecting the woman’s final statement. “I- I can do that.”

A smile crossed her face as she rested her head back on the pillow. “That’s all I wanted to hear. Good luck, Alexander. Please tell Gabriella that I would like to speak to my grandson.”

Alexander left the room and conveyed the woman’s wishes to the exasperated Head of Medical Services.

Before he left, he turned and asked a question he really didn’t want an answer to, but needed to know. “How long does she have?”

Gabriella looked pensive. “A week, maybe two. She has pneumonia. While we have medications to treat it, her advanced age means she likely won’t recover.”

“But there’s a chance she will?” Alexander asked, grasping for hope.

Gabriella shook her head. “I don’t think so. And even if she does this time, it is likely to come back again. I’m surprised she has lasted this long if I’m honest.”

Alexander knew Gabriella was right, but it was hard to think that the irascible woman wouldn’t be around soon.

***

As if to refute Gabriella’s claim, Lund held on for nearly three weeks before passing away in her sleep. Alexander found it incredibly sad that most people wouldn’t even realize that the universe lost one of its brightest minds.

There were only a few people invited to her funeral, all of which Lund had invited herself. Lucas was there, along with Lund’s grandson, who looked more angry than saddened by the woman’s passing. Archie had been invited, along with Krieger of all people. Then there was Gabriella and Damien, who likely only came to support his girlfriend. The last two in attendance were Alexander and Yulia.

It was a small gathering, but it was what Nova had wanted.

Everyone said a few words, but it all felt too insufficient for someone of Lund’s gifts.

When it was over, he led Yulia back home. The girl had cried at Mrs. Lund’s loss. He was a bit surprised that his daughter had formed such an attachment to the woman during his absence.

A bit after laying Yulia to bed, he received a knock on the door. It was Archie.

“Sorry to bother you so late, Alex. May I come in?”

He gestured for his friend to enter.

“Did you come by to talk about Lund?”

“Yes and no,” Matthews admitted as he took a seat on the couch.

Alexander sat across from him on the floor.

“Back when I was trying to convince her to sign on as faculty for the academy, she told me she didn’t have long. She said she felt age catching up to her. I didn’t believe her at the time. I guess she proved me wrong,” Archie chuckled bitterly. “Anyway. How would you feel about renaming the Academy after her?”

Alexander was taken aback by the question. As he thought about it, he realized this was a better way to acknowledge the woman’s accomplishments than a few words. “That sounds perfect. The Lund Academy?”

“I was thinking of calling it The Nova Lund Academy of Military Sciences, but I like your suggestion better.”

Alexander chuckled lightly at that. “It seems I can come up with a good name once or twice. The Lund Academy it is. Once I figure out her math and develop the NLD, I expect the Lund Academy to be the leading institute of science and technology for the entirety of human space.”

This time Archie chuckled. “You sure don’t think small do you, Alex? And what’s an NLD?”

“The Nova Lund Drive, of course.”

“Maybe workshop that name,” Archie added with a wince.

The pair chatted a bit longer about the woman before Archie finally excused himself.

While Alexander would have preferred to take a few days and process the woman’s loss, he thought it best if he kept himself busy instead.

***

“This is the core of a Qcomm?” Krieger asked in surprise. “It doesn’t look like much.”

It had been about a week since Lund’s passing and Alexander had tried to throw himself into her work and the learning modules she had left behind in a vain attempt to understand her work and keep his mind occupied. Her learning modules weren’t exactly Physics 101, she hadn’t included the basics to understand her work, which left Alexander a bit lost. It seems the woman’s ability with the math behind her work was far more than her ability to teach it to others, but he wouldn’t have gotten some of the most important projects completed without her assistance and mentorship, so he would soldier on and figure it out eventually.

What Lund considered basic knowledge was stuff a theoretical physicist fresh out of school might know. Alexander purchased physics modules and learned at night while continuing his work on the FTL comm nodes.

He decided not to give the device any fancy name. They did what they did and a name that represented that was fine with him. Perhaps if he had been planning to sell the nodes instead of reserving them as a strategic asset, he would feel differently. If that time ever came, maybe he would have a marketing team or something to name it for him.

“It’s not quite the same,” he answered Krieger’s question. “But it works off the same principles. And while it doesn’t look like much, there is a whole lot of science and engineering that went into making it.”

Krieger nodded as he examined the orb. “As long as it works, I don’t need to know how it works. So you plan to install this on the Vanguard?”

“Not right away,” Alexander admitted. “Once Captain Ramirez’s ship Tempest is complete, then Vanguard will be going in for a full refit to reach BSE spec. That’s when I’ll install the node.”

“Hard to say no to a fully retrofitted cruiser,” Krieger admitted. “Will these nodes have any vulnerabilities we should be aware of?”

“Unlike the Qcomm’s all data passing through the node will be encrypted at the source before it’s even transmitted. That will mean new comm devices as well. I’m still working on those. The node will also be connected directly to the central core, meaning breaking through any security will mean fighting against the ship’s supercomputer. It's still possible someone might crack through that, but it’s unlikely. If we lose a ship either due to combat operations or some unforeseen incident, the ship's node can be cut from the cluster. The cluster, before you ask, is the five other ships that the node can communicate with directly. There is no central node like with the Qcomm. This ensures we can excise compromised nodes without losing overall communication.”

“I think I understand,” Krieger replied. “What about contacting the Qcomm network?”

“All of those connections will be routed to the Eden’s End node, and then filtered through the facilities computers to ensure operational security, before being passed on to the Qcomm network. So yes, you will have full but filtered access to the STO’s network.”

“Good.” Krieger stated.

The man seemed to want to ask some more questions before both of their radios beeped. Alexander would be glad to replace those with the new devices soon.

“Yes?” Krieger answered before Alexander could answer his own.

“A ship just arrived in the system. It’s transmitting an STO navy identification,” the traffic control operator stated.

“What type of ship?” Krieger asked in confusion as he stood.

“It’s a goliath class transport.”

Alexander could see the clear confusion on Krieger’s face. “I’m in a meeting with Alex right now aboard Vanguard. I’ll be on the bridge shortly. Keep me apprised if anything changes.”

The operator confirmed the order and cut the connection.

“Do you want to stick around and see what this transport wants in Unokane?”

Alexander nodded his avatar and followed Krieger to the bridge.