Chapter 3 Starlover

An excerpt from The Starlover Series Book 1: Project Earth

“Oh, there you are, Fred.”

Fred turned to see his brother. “What’s up, Dave?”

“I stopped by to see how your project is going.”

“Oh, I’m still gathering parts.”

“I have a few for you. We can’t use these, but I thought you might be able to use them for something. They’re still good.”

“Thanks.”

“Dr. Asimov is asking about you again. He’s such a strange old guy.”

“He’s just as impressed by you and your ideas as he is by me. Relax.”

Dave smiled. “I think I’m beginning to see what it was like for you growing up with our parents.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I don’t think that was easy for you.”

“It wasn’t. We had a difference of opinion on what I should do with my life.”

“They took it for granted that you did all the repair you did for all of us.”

“And did you take it for granted?”

“No, you helped me when my microscope broke and you saved us all thousands of dollars. Easily. Or the time when my telescope fell apart. You just took some of the parts and some other scrap ones and built me another one. It worked just as well as the one that broke.”

“I didn’t mind doing any of that. I was glad that I could fix your things and you could get back to your work. I couldn’t understand exactly what you were doing, but I knew you were happy to do it. I thought if I could fix those things or build you a new telescope, that we didn’t need to spend the money that our parents complained was so scarce.”

“And you were happy working like that. I just don’t understand why it was such a big deal to them.”

“They said it was beneath me. They wanted me to earn more money. They looked down on tradespeople.”

“Tradespeople?”

“Yeah, I told them tradespeople could earn decent money by their standards. They couldn’t believe I said that to them.”

“It’s true. They can earn good money. I think they have a different sort of intelligence from what I have.”

“I pointed out to them that electricians had to use trigonometry. They were shocked.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“You didn’t take the classes.”

“True. You did and you must be able to use it. We’ve never had an electrical problem with you on the job.”

The brothers laughed.

“So, you’ll talk to Dr. Asimov after dinner?”

“Yeah, why not? He does give me some good tips whenever I get stuck on my project.”

“He’s an excellent contributor on my project as well. I’m glad he’s here.”

“Even if he’s strange.”

“Yeah, even though he’s strange.”

***********************

After dinner, Dr. Asimov pulled Fred aside. The older man invited the younger one into his home. Hal followed them inside.

“How’s your spaceship coming?”

“Oh, it’s coming along nicely. I’ve been building four different faster than light speed drives for it.”

“Wow! All four of them?”

“Yes. Warp drive, hyperdrive, the Heinlein Irrelevancy Drive, and the Adams Improbability Drive. I’d like to have all four in case one breaks down.”

“Good thinking. I wonder why most shipbuilders don’t think of such things.”

“Probably the expense.”

“Oh, is this project getting too expensive for you?”

“No. Well, not yet it isn’t. I’m still using mostly scrap and spare parts that no one needs or wants anymore. Those do help.”

“But will they need to be replaced sooner rather than later?”

“I don’t know yet. My projects usually hold together fairly well.”

“Yes, Dave has told me about a few of the things you’ve done for him over the years.”

Fred smiled. “Some of which would have costs our parents thousands if I didn’t do it.”

“Yes, he mentioned that.” Dr. Asimov paused. “I wanted to show you something. Perhaps you won’t need it with your project, but I wanted to share it with you.” He grabbed some sketches and his tablet computer. “Here, look these over and tell me what you think.”

Fred looked at the sketches and the diagrams on the tablet. “Whoa!” He looked harder at the little details. “I can’t believe it! I mean, I hope it’s true. But we humans have tried and failed for years to design actual androids. I know there are robots, but none of them are this sophisticated.”

“Then you understand why I have to keep this a secret?”

Fred looked up at Dr. Asimov. “A secret?”

“Yeah, people would be all over it. Probably wanting to lynch me or the android.”

“Oh, right.” Fred paused to look at Hal. “Did you actually make an android?”

Dr. Asimov smiled and said nothing.

“Oh, I see. You can’t tell me if you did.”

“That’s right I can’t answer that question.”

“Okay. Well, thanks for showing me what you did. I’m fascinated, but I need to finish my spaceship.”

“Have you named your ship?”

“Yes. It’s Starlover.”

“You must want to travel in space pretty badly.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I’m sure you could build a robot to help you out on your spaceship easily. You’re such a genius. I hope you know that.”

Fred shrugged. “I’m just doing what I love, while I support my brother doing what he loves. I don’t want more than that out of my life.”

“Consider yourself lucky. Many people haven’t always had a chance to do what they love in the name of survival.”