SCMR Chpt 69

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==Chapter 69 - Self Configuring Modular Robot==
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"For Christ's sake, what's...
...the range on this, Arthur? Doc Banzai says it's all over the place!"
"Not all over the place, Dad. It's pretty defined. Point-to-point, if the calculations are correct, range is 'yes', but you have to have a gateway at both ends. We could set up one on Mainstreet and another on Filtvelt, and it'll take very little time to get from one to the other, once both ends are operational. The big barrier's duration. Penny's numbers suggest we don't have tough enough materials for a sustained gateway longer than about an hour per activation.", Answered Arthur Steiner-Davion
"..and it can handle multiple activations?", his father asked
Arthur shrugged, "Don't know, sir, we don't really know if it'll work. If Lizzie's theory is right, it should work. But Penny thinks it'll need constant upkeep, and Jess agrees. It's really expensive to build."
"How expensive?" Melissa Steiner-Davion asked.
Arthur tilted his head and hesitated before answering, "Oh, well, the Star League could've afforded it...Liz thinks it's a budget-breaker unless we cheat."
"But you want to build it." said Hanse Davion
"Dad, imagine being able to move the Syrtis Fusiliers from New Syrtis to Coventry in under two hours, from the time they board dropships to the time they're burning into the Coventry system. Not weeks, not days, not chains of jumpships...two hours. That is what we're talking about, the ability to move goods from one side of the realm to the other faster than we can move goods from New Avalon to Robinson. Do you think that might relieve some of the poverty in Broken Wheel and Filtvelt?"
The boy clasped his hands behind his back and rocked up on his toes, "We need it...if it works. It'll bind the realm together better than the Terran Corridor."
"It's a lot of money, Son." Hanse said. "I'll consider your proposal."
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069, Chapter