Starquake.pdf

Web Construction is the biggest construction company on Egg, and they are big enough to do it. I was
sure lucky to get my first job with them. They treat their engineers right if they work hard, and that's what
I'm going to do. I'm assigned to the team that will build the launch cradles for the engine segments. Those
are the...."
"I think we are coming to Swift's Climb," said Cliff-Web.
The young engineer looked ahead. "The Jump Loop here is shorter than the one at Bright's Heaven," he
said. "They only used it for sub-orbital flights. The one at Bright's Heaven can accelerate vehicles up to
half the speed of light, more than enough for escape from Egg."
The pilot was using thrusters as he lined up the vehicle with the two long streaks hovering above the
crust. Swift's Climb was a blotch in the background with a rectangular street grid that turned random as
the city slowly climbed the foothills of the East Pole mountains to the resort areas hidden in the upper
valleys. High above them loomed the Space Fountain, a metallic streak that disappeared into the sky
many kilometers overhead.
"That's another project my company is working on," said the engineer. "Isn't it amazing? It's sort of a
vertical jump loop, but it uses a stream of rings instead of a belt."
They decelerated down to ground speeds as the vehicle coasted to a halt inside the terminal. The young
engineer was already out in the aisle, pushing his way to the travel bag bin. Cliff-Web followed behind,
taking his cleft-wort plant out of his pouch and letting it cool off to the sky.
The youngling looked at the plant with interest. "That plant looks just like the one that Web Construction
uses on its signs," he said. "Well, it was nice talking to you. What will you be doing in Swift's Climb?"
"Oh, I'll be working on the Jumbo Bagel, too," said Cliff-Web.
"You will? What division are you in? Launch Cradle?"
"No. I take care of long-range planning and finance."
"Oh. Well, I guess someone has to do the scrollwork. But the real fun is in the engineering. Eye you
some turn," he
said as he pushed his way off through the strong vertical magnetic field that permeated Swift's Climb.
Cliff-Web felt old as he flowed into the rear slot of the chauffeur-driven company car that was waiting
for him in the street.
"Administration Compound," he told the driver. "Wait! I've changed my mind. Take me to the
Spacecraft Assembly Plant. The scrollwork can wait."
While the glide-car was making its way through traffic to the plant on the outskirts of Swift's Climb,
Cliff-Web made a call through the mobile communicator to Star-Glider at the Combined Clans Space
Center,
"I've pushed the contract through the bureaucracy at Bright's Heaven and the Space Center,"
Star-Glider reported. "It is ready for your tread-print. Where shall I bring it? I want to get started."