Now that Tanya had decided to add the siblings to the company, it was time to get them up to speed so they could be useful on her current project. Over the next few days, she found herself starting with Dimensional Science for Dummies before explaining her beacon network concept.
They gathered in the company's main conference room, holographic displays showing star charts and navigation theory. Tanya began with the basics.
"Current vortex navigation is limited," she explained, pulling up a display of the Eden system. "Ships can only exit vortex space near large gravitational sources such as planets, moons, and major asteroids. Their gravity acts as a dimensional anchor that vortex drives can lock onto."
Cameron nodded, following the explanation. "So if you want to reach a specific location, you have to exit at the nearest large body and use conventional propulsion for the rest of the journey."
"Exactly. Which means most of each star system is effectively inaccessible for practical purposes." Tanya highlighted the vast empty spaces between major bodies. "Mining operations are limited to asteroids near planets. Space stations have to orbit major bodies, whether that's optimal or not. Whole regions of systems remain unexplored because the travel time from the nearest vortex exit point makes them economically unviable."
Janet was studying the display with obvious interest. "And your beacon system changes that?"
"The automated beacon layer creates artificial dimensional anchors," Tanya said, highlighting the drone's planned deployment pattern. "Each beacon transmits precise dimensional coordinate data back to ships equipped with the proper navigation black box. Instead of being limited to planetary gravity wells, pilots can exit vortex space at any beacon location. Well, that's the plan"
She expanded the display to show potential beacon placements throughout the system. "Suddenly, you can reach asteroid clusters in the outer system, establish stations at optimal orbital mechanics points, and access resources that were previously too far from conventional exit points to be profitable."
Cameron leaned forward, studying the projected grid of beacons with his usual intensity. His brow furrowed as he traced one of the plotted chains out toward the system's outer edge. "This… changes everything," he said slowly. "But not only in the way you're hoping."
Tanya raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"
"Right now," Cameron explained, tapping a sequence of dots, "militaries and security forces only need to protect a handful of choke points like the planetary wells, the stations anchored to them, the lanes between. If you scatter beacons across the system, you're opening exits anywhere. Pirates, smugglers, and anyone who gets their hands on a black box can now suddenly bypass patrol routes and appear where no one expects them. It will cause problems with shipping lanes"
Janet tilted her head, catching on. "Instead of defending a few key points, they will have to defend everywhere at once."
"Exactly." Cameron's voice was quiet but firm. "You could make shipping quicker for merchants, but only if you control the network. But if the designs leak, you make it infinitely harder to protect trade lanes. No navy in the Empire has the manpower to patrol infinite vectors, and every ship would need an escort."
Tanya sat back, absorbing their point of view. She had been so focused on opening up systems for development and exploration and giving the little person freedom to travel in space that she hadn't considered the security ramifications. Cameron was right in that her beacon network wasn't just infrastructure. It was a fundamental shift in how space could be controlled. That could cause some issues.
//Expansion always carries shadow as well as light. The question is whether you fear the shadows enough to abandon the dawn.// Sage stated quietly in her mind. Tanya wasn't sure if he was trying to encourage her or not.
"I understand what you're saying, but I'm not sure what we should do," she said slowly.
There are also other considerations as well, "Janet added." It's not just military concerns. There are communities out there, like refugees, dissidents, and independent colonies, who depend on the difficulty of reaching remote locations to stay hidden. Your system could expose them whether they want to be found or not.
Tanya could read between the lines and see that Janet and Cameron were likely personally involved in some of these colonies. She filed it away as a future Tanya problem.
Tanya looked at the holographic display, seeing it now through different eyes. The neat grid of beacon placements suddenly looked less like progress and more like more problems to solve.
"But that's not necessarily my problem to solve," she said after a moment. "Look, I can see the risks you're describing, but it's not my job to fix every political or security issue this creates. That's what governments are for…they have experts, security councils, whole departments paid to think about these things."
Janet leaned forward. "But we could try. We could sell both technical and political safeguards built in from the start, like licensing protocols, encryption standards, and partnerships with legitimate authorities. Ways to control who can deploy beacons and access the network."
Tanya shook her head. "I will leave the problem with Amara and see what she says. She has more experience in this type of thing than we do"
Cameron met her gaze. "Just don't underestimate how disruptive this will be. You're not just changing navigation but the fundamental strategic landscape of human space."
"And again," Tanya said firmly, "that's for governments and regulators to handle. My responsibility is building a system that works. The policy implications? Someone else's department."
//Observation: Pragmatism is wisdom when resources are scarce. But history shows engineers often build tools faster than societies learn to wield them. // Tanya could see the wisdom in Sage's words, but she didn't have the power to force governments to bend to her will.
Janet gave a small nod. "Then we're agreed on priorities. Prove the concept works first. Let the politicians catch up later." Tanya wasn't sure if she actually believed that or was just trying to be a peacemaker. Before she could continue the conversation, it was interrupted by an alert from the orbital station stating that the beacon-laying drone had returned from its month-long mission. Tanya felt a surge of excitement mixed with nervousness as they prepared to examine the results.
Rather than taking Janet and Cameron to her real workshop, Tanya brought the drone to the company's planet-side facility. The conventional equipment would be sufficient for most of their analysis, and she wasn't ready to reveal the full extent of her alien technology access. Even if she suspects that they are aware of gardeners and their workshops.
"Let's see what the little thing accomplished," she said, powering up the drone's diagnostic systems.
Janet immediately began examining the drone's exterior, checking for wear patterns and stress indicators. "Some scoring on the hull from micrometeorite impacts," she noted, running her fingers along the damaged areas. "And the resource collection arms show more wear than I'd expect from just five beacon deployments."
Tanya pulled up the mission logs, scrolling through weeks of automated operations. "Resource collection took longer than projected," she observed. "The drone had to visit significantly more asteroids to gather sufficient raw materials for beacon fabrication."
"Quality control issues?" Cameron asked, looking up from his own examination of the gift Tanya had given him.
"Partly. But also efficiency problems with the molecular assemblers. They're designed for precision, not speed." Tanya highlighted several sections of the operational data. "I'll need to redesign the fabrication systems for better throughput if we want to scale this up."
While they worked on the drone analysis, Cameron was examining the open vortex drive that Tanya had given him. His reaction was immediate and intense.
"How did you manage to breach the casing?" he asked, genuine surprise in his voice. "I've tried opening drives before and never found a method that didn't destroy the internal components."
Tanya was choosing her words carefully. "Specialised equipment. Took considerable effort and some trial and error."
Cameron was already absorbed in studying the crystalline matrices, his pattern recognition skills immediately engaged. "Resonance field generators here," he said, pointing to a cluster of blue-green crystals. "Exotic matter focusing array in the center section. These smaller matrices handle the adaptive control functions."
His identification was rapid and precise, confirming everything Sage had taught her about dimensional interface engineering. Watching him work, Tanya realised they'd found exactly the expertise they needed.
"The adaptive control system," she said. "That's what I need for the navigation black box. Something that can process the strange waveform coordinate data from the beacons and translate it into information human pilots can use."
Cameron nodded enthusiastically. "I see, yes, I see it. We could absolutely build a single black box using components from this drive. The challenge would be mass production."
"What would we need for large-scale production?"
"A method for designing crystal growth, I have no idea how they even build these drives." He replied, his technical excitement overriding his usual social reserve. "Currently, most crystalline technology is recovered from alien ruins rather than created from scratch. Building our own would require understanding the fundamental principles of crystal matrix engineering."
Janet looked up from the drone diagnostics. "How long do you think you need to build a prototype black box?" she asked her Brother.
"A few days, maybe a week," Cameron estimated. "The adaptive control crystals are already functional. I will need to reprogram them for navigation processing instead of dimensional translation."
They spent the next several days working together in the planet-side facility, Tanya and Cameron collaborating on the technical design while Janet handled the practical challenges of implementing Tanya's changes to the drone. The atmosphere was productive, with the kind of focused energy that came from tackling interesting problems with competent colleagues.
Cameron's expertise with crystalline systems proved invaluable. He could look at a component and immediately understand its function, suggesting modifications that would have taken Tanya weeks to work out through trial and error.
"Ready for the first test?" Tanya asked as they completed the prototype navigation black box. She was keen to test the solution