Free Colonization (The Seamus Chronicles Book 3) by K. D. McAdams Page B

will be as a hot standby. We need to go back to the C-5 and I will have to do some underwater salvage.
    Without any fear of a strange and powerful creature I head directly towards the monolith and the smashed reactor. It’s not a Lego kit, so if it came apart something likely broke.
     

Part 2

Chapter 11
    In the heat of the moment, bumped can easily seem like smashed. It’s not a criticism by any stretch of the imagination. Human kinds first encounter with an alien is definitely enough to cause panic and confusion.
    The solar sail reactor was damaged and it is not functioning; that is a fact. It was definitely not smashed though. Repairs were relatively straightforward. While I like things to be done correctly, I am comfortable with allowing connections to hang free, even when I want them to be fastened to a silicon board.
    Our problem now is how to restart the reactor. The electron dump I used to get it started last time isn’t going to work. When it was knocked off line by the creature, there must have been a static shock or something. There are no charged particles left anywhere on the device.
    “What do you need to get the reactor running?” Henry was with Jake when the first one came on line.
    “A jolt of electricity.” I answer
    “So you need electricity to start making electricity?” He is confused for the first time since I have known him.
    “Sort of. The initial jolt starts a reaction. Once the reaction is going the reactor generates electricity with enough to spare that it keeps the reaction going.” My oversimplified explanation may not be enough for a guy like Henry.
    “You must have known that we wouldn’t have a power plant here to start a new reactor?” Dad is used to me planning a few steps ahead.
    “Well…. I kind of assumed that the reactors on the plane would be functioning when we landed. I also though that having nine was enough redundancy, guess I didn’t think we would get separated.” I was very naïve about the difficulties of space travel.
    By the time Cassandra and I built the warp units we had made several improvements to my original reactor that was providing us with power. One of the improvements was to require a smaller energy release to initiate the reaction. But it’s still not zero. I had been hoping to get it to the point of having a car battery initiate the reaction but we weren’t there.
    “I didn’t pack any generators. I assumed your reactor would provide us with electricity and that we would not have access to fuel.” Liam is afraid he’s going to get blamed for not packing what we need.
    Even a basic generator would work. There must be a setup on the plane to charge the batteries from the engines. Of course that assumes we can get to it and it wasn’t ruined in the crash or the flood. Without knowing how an airplane electrical design is laid out I’m not even sure where to look.
    “Locus to Seamus.” Grace is waving her hand in front of my face. “Tell us what you’re thinking.”
    “The C-5 has to have a generator. I’m just not sure where it would be located or how to get to it.” I answer without excusing myself.
    “Definitely.” Henry responds. “In fact, there are a number of batteries and backup batteries on board as well. We should bring them back here to keep for emergencies.”
    “Well now that you’ve dragged your reactor back here, does it make sense to bring it back to the plane to start it or should we try and detach the generator and bring that to you?” Dad seems to be annoyed that I hadn’t thought of any of this before now.
    “Lets figure out the best way to spin the generator first. That will probably answer your question for us.” I think I already know but I don’t want to be wrong.
    From behind Grace comes a cough. We all turn, startled by the sound. It was human for sure. All the people from our plane are accounted for, who could this be?
    Dad and Henry move forward at almost the exact same time. Liam takes a step toward