Ringship Discretion Read Online Free

have an inherent tactical advantage by being higher up the gravity well.   They try to stop trade and keep them weak, but all they are doing is delaying the inevitable.  The war will come and more people will die, but those in power never want to give it up, no matter what the cost."  AJ, not expecting such a heavy answer and wanting to lighten up the mood, again pointed to Amelia and the captain. "What about you two?".  The captain stood up. "Well, I have things to do in my cabin."  Amelia touched his arm as he turned to leave.  AJ looked at the others and whispered. "Did I say something bad?" 
    Helen replied. "No, it's just that they are in love, but she had a husband before they met.  They are very happy together and all of us can see it, but she feels guilty about it and had returned to her husband just before we left."
    AJ, feeling a little uncomfortable, just said "Oh".
    The next day everyone was busy getting settled in.  They were still learning the ins and outs of the Discretion.  Its personality, its quirks and figuring out simple things like where the light switch was for the cold storage locker.  Ben came up with his radio detector. "I put a trace on the power feeds, so I should be able to find where the wires go". 
    AJ eager to help "Can I run the tracer?"
    Ben handed it to him "Sure, use it like this..." 
    The captain, who was leaning against the galley counter savoring a warm chocolate chunk cookie, watched them work.  Amelia walked in, opened the fridge, saw the captain watching them and she whispered "I see that pride on your face. It's a good thing, isn't it?" 
    The captain nodded slightly and smiled "Any luck reaching Stevens this morning?"
    She leaned on the top of the fridge door. "No, none", and then she closed the door and leaned up on the counter next to him. "In fact, I haven't been able to reach anyone.  Not Stevens, not Fendi, Drang or even my husband.  I thought it might be the comm equipment, but I sent some test messages to myself and I have been able to reach other colleagues, so it's not us.  I'll keep trying though. They may just be busy." 
    The third day into the trip, Ben and AJ spent most of the day in the engine room.  Ben showed him how the systems worked, and in some cases, they both worked to figure out how some systems worked.  Ben said "Some of this stuff is so jury rigged, I can't figure out what they've done."
    AJ asked "Well can't you just set things the way they're supposed to go?".  Ben grinned "No, every ship is different, even if they are built by the same company, plus I don't know what they've done or why.  On top of that, we don't have all the proper parts to rebuild it to specs.  There is also a reason they did all this, so it might not work, even if we were to put it back to those specs.  We need to spend a few days figuring exactly what everything is doing before we toy with anything.  The captain would get a bit pissed if we broke the ship in the middle of a run."  He looked up at AJ with a smile.  AJ nodded back in agreement.
    AJ walked around the central ring of the ship and asked "What are these?  The captain told you to put an extra one of them in, right?" 
    Ben looked over. "Oh, yeah." He stood up and walked past AJ. "These are the MFG's, magnetic field generators.  They provide us with a magnetic field to protect us and the ship from charged particles.  Every ship that leaves the Earth's magnetic field has to have one.". 
    "Why do we need two?  As a back up?" 
    Ben shook his head slightly "No, each unit has its own internal back up.  The reason the captain wanted us to have two was to double the field strength.  Where we are going, Io, has a very large charged particle flux with its parent planet Jupiter.  We will need two to protect us and the ship.  Have you wondered why the ship is in a ring shape?" AJ nodded. "It's so the charged particles can flow through the center without hitting the ship. The whole ship is essential a