Got bored and had excess thought time so I whipped up this "What If?"



[hider=Indentured Girl]
Megan Hiller was NASA's LA PR goto and man did they goto her this time. She'd been tasked with negotiating with the Meta at Conspiracy. She'd never talked with these evolutionary sports and from what she knew they were barely stable and she had to watch her step if she were to leave this unscathed.

She like everyone else at NASA knew all about the timely visit of the Meta called Drifter and how because of her a tragedy was averted. 

The investigators into Drifter's visit had concluded that the young woman's visit had been driven by nostalgia and nothing more but it had been the most thrilling thing ever for the engineers. 

The eggheads had brainstormed with a group of eclectic scientists from an English research project named Tombo based out of the Falklands who knew more about the girl named Jessica Robin Winchester than anyone. From what Megan had gathered the project had held the girl in total isolation studying her biology, her effect and control of magnetics, her psychology, her Durability and lastly an most frightening of all they'd been grooming her as a special military asset for seven years.

They said that in their findings Jessica or as they insisted on calling her "Drifter" could ferry at least three 150 kilo loads a day to the station including personnel safely three days a week. It was a boon to the space program the like undreamed that this slender lanky girl could do what would have bankrupted the launch budget for the year in one month. 

The payload men had gone nuts saying that by their calculations she could lift as much as 77 tons into orbit in one year saving the program 3 billion in lifting costs and guaranteed delivery.

Well at least their figures gave Megan a budget to work with of a billion in diverted funds to the Meta project to entice their leader Tia with which she was sure would get her to hand over Jessica Winchester.

Then suddenly as Megan mulled over her approach she felt dirty, she was about to ask for a young girl who's childhood had been robbed from her to become a glorified laborer. Sure the guys at launch an load said they'd work her every other day so she could rest one off but let them judge it an emergency situation and they'd work her like a Georgia mule.

Had they no respect Jessica was the daughter of a hero of the program Major Amelia Greta Winchester the longest female orbit ever. And now her daughter made an Orphan because of how her mother was treated was going into the grinder that had chewed up her mom.

Meg had to pop twice as much antacid as normal and send a couple texts out; one to her therapist and the other to a holistic retreat an spa. Then for the rest of her flight Megan tried not to notice her own reflection in the window of the Gulf stream as she watched the earth pass beneath her.[/hider]