Passage

by Thorby Rudbek

  Richard shivered with emotion as the gentle breeze carried the faint scent of living things past him. “I was hoping we wouldn’t lose this.”

  “Everything else had to be replaced,” Kirrina explained, standing by the terminal that remained, incongruous and almost comical in its position on top of one of the purple bushes. “But there was provision made for protecting all records and data. The current system, modified for this, the first of a new line termed ‘Patrol Craft’, and I presume any other, future such Craft, does not involve any damage to the equipment in the case of catastrophic system failure.” She took his hand and, cancelling the scene with her other one, conducted him across the strange, tough vegetation. Just before they shimmered into the next area, the moss and stars returned.

  Richard looked at the room blankly. “Crew quarters?” He asked after a few seconds as he studied the office-like equipment on one wall.

  “I think so, or maybe passengers.” Kirrina pointed at the bed and the associated furniture that formed two of the walls. “There are ten or so more of these, all essentially the same. All we did was install a central computer, and each of these rooms got a visual monitor and a terminal, automatically.” She pointed at the blank screen above the desk. “Hold on.”

  A moment later, Richard found himself in a Pool Room like the one he was accustomed to using in Citadel. “There wasn’t any door from that room, was there?”

  “No, that’s the neatest thing about this system, there’s no wasted space, no corridors, no passageways, just a loose association of compartments which can be accessed from any other location within the Patrol Craft. It’s actually meaningless to say, ‘I have a room near the Control Centre’, or ‘Fred lives right next to Jane’, because everything here is suspended in some kind of Virtual Field, and the Access Network forms the only connection between each area.”

  Richard looked down at the pool, deep in thought. “How many pools are there?”

  “I didn’t check that, but we still have the two in Citadel, so there must be at least three.”

  “I suppose there are safeguards to prevent someone accessing a pool that is already in use?”

  Kirrina looked at him and blushed as she caught his thoughts. “I’ll make sure about that, don’t give it another thought.”

  “I’ll try not to,” he promised, grinning at her bright colour.

  Kirrina stepped towards the pool, still holding his hand, and Richard resisted until he felt her call out another destination in her mind. A large, incredibly clean and shiny hangar materialised around him just before he would have fallen in the water. Richard looked around, impressed by the tremendously increased capacity of their new home.

  “We’ll bring Seagull and Woodpecker with us; there’s room for more, but nothing else worth taking is available anywhere in the Outpost,” Kirrina stated. “I won’t take you anywhere else for now; the Drive looks just like the old one, but it’s far, far more efficient and powerful, and there’s another room like our Moss Room, only bigger, which could be for meetings of the crew, or social gatherings. That’s about it.”

  “What about weapons and defensive systems?”

  “I still have a stack of laser rifles in the back of Seagull. The ship is equipped with lasers and the Negatruction Beam weapon, and I think we have the option of running just one each, or having several, all tied through the computer, available for each of the defenders. There is a Structural Protection Field, and a Shell Field of six layers available at all times.”

  “Impressive. We should feel a little more secure travelling in this set-up.” He looked at her carefully. “I have the feeling that urgency is called for, so I think we’d better get back and see if Paranak is ready,” Richard said, sensing her unease.

  She smiled. “I thought you’d notice pretty quickly. I just need to complete a few checks, then I’ll bring Seagull in here and catch up with you.”

  Richard nodded. He watched as Kirrina stepped forward and shimmered out of sight, then he concentrated on the Control Centre and watched as his surroundings blurred and reformed around him. “Paranak!” he smiled a little nervously as he acknowledged the alien, still ‘seated’ in his custom-built incliner.

  “Captain.”

  “I guess you’d be the Second Officer,” Richard attempted to make conversation as he sat down.

  “Yes, sir. Also: Chief Engineer.”

  Richard cleared his throat. “Let’s have a full-sweep forward view.”

  Paranak reached out with his impossibly long arms and activated the viewscreen, and instantly the front panel above the wide expanse of controls, monitors and displays dissolved to show the dark hangar and the yellow and black Aircar directly in front of them.

  “The joining of these two vessels, was that difficult?” Richard asked as he saw Kirrina walk over and climb into Seagull.

  “No, sir, just very slow.” Paranak activated a series of controls, and one of the displays in front of Richard showed recorded scenes from the process. “A set of Enclosed Nuclear Shearing Devices mounted in a vertical plane separated the Drive Sphere from Scout Craft Seven very quickly, though the placement of the devices was critical, and thus took a great deal of time.” He changed the scene to show Citadel being raised, looking strangely incomplete without the rear sphere, until the Scout Craft was aligned with the new ship. “The old was then slowly inserted into the new, and the Melder attached. This device is entirely automatic, but took a full twenty days to encircle the join. Now the two craft are essentially one, though the material of this section is still subject to the characteristics of the older design, such as return to solid, non-virtual form within two minutes of multiple back up failure. The repair to the forward sphere had to be constructed of the older material, also.”

  “Yes, I remember how close we must have been to that limit when we took your body and got out.” Richard shuddered as he recalled how the interior of the Control Centre simply disappeared, to be replaced by the cratered remains of the solid sphere.

  Kirrina shimmered in behind them and took her seat a little breathlessly. “Okay, Captain, Medic status is fully functional – I just ‘restored’ myself for the first time since we left Earth!” Goodbye blood-brother, or sister, bonding scars! “In fact I believe the Second Officer’s modifications will allow for full effectiveness on all ship’s personnel.”

  “Good,” Richard smiled. “But you said ‘believe’. Weren’t you going to confirm that?”

  “The only real test would be to use it on the Second Officer,” Kirrina explained, glancing over at Paranak.

  Richard turned to the Narlav. “Am I to understand that you modified the Medic to allow it to be used on Narlavs, but failed to check its effectiveness on yourself?”

  Paranak twisted awkwardly on his incliner. “A warrior needs pain.”

  “Perhaps, if he does not consider that his reaction times, his strength and his endurance, and therefore his usefulness to the ship, may be impaired by his injuries.” Richard took a deep breath. “Let’s check it right now.” He stood up and turned, then looked back to assure himself that the alien was indeed following. “First Officer, confirm that we are ready for immediate test flight on our return.”

  Something drew Richard’s gaze higher, and he looked up above the fake exit from the Control Centre to see something reassuringly familiar mounted there. It was the remains of Ed Baynes’ gun, complete with melted barrel. I wonder how Paranak feels seeing that there?

  He put it there! Kirrina’s surprising thought caught him as he stepped forward.

  He shimmered into the Moss Room and turned to see Paranak appear beside him. “Computer, confirm recognition of alien lifeform now present.”

  “Recognised,” responded a flat voice which Richard was relieved to realise did not remind him of Tutor in any way. “Intelligent species, chief rival to humanity. This subject is damaged.”

  “Restore!” Richard commanded imperiously. He turned and watched as Paranak seemed to flush into a
greener shade of grey. The Narlav flexed his long arms and twisted his squat body experimentally, studying the change of colour with uncertainty.

  “The pain is gone.” The Narlav’s voice carried a mixture of regret and excitement.

  “Good. Let’s get this Craft going.” Richard returned to the Control Centre and took his central seat.

  “How’s the Shell Hoist?”

  Kirrina pointed at the ramp that now lay over to one side by the hangar entrance. Paranak took his seat as she manipulated the red and black sphere and moved the wheeled, wedge-shaped construction off the ground and lowered it again. “The Shell Hoist is fully functional,” she confirmed formally. “All systems are ‘go’ for test flight.”

  “Okay, first officer,” Richard grinned. “Let’s see what this hybrid beast can do!”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The inter-dimensional space accessed by the Star Drive appears dimensionless – Ibernal

  Kirrina depressed the final control and the familiar yellow-and-black ball appeared in front of her. “Proceeding at minimum speed until we clear the storage area,” she announced, as she took hold of the navigation sphere. “I don’t want to damage the building.”

  Richard smiled and felt the tension ease off as the close-fitting room slid slowly behind them and they moved into the eternal gloom of the abandoned hangar.

  “Increasing to standard hangar crawl,” Kirrina murmured in the same, light-hearted way, attempting but failing to disguise her excitement. The patch of sunlight framed by the exit grew rapidly until the dark and featureless Patrol Craft burst forth into the sun for the first time, over five hundred and sixty years after it had been laid down by the long-departed inhabitants of Outpost Twenty-Seven.

  Kirrina grinned with excitement as she pulled upwards and the sleek craft rose smoothly above the surrounding buildings.

  “Let’s go and get Woodpecker; we can give the Shell Hoist another test by using it to bring it alongside,” Richard suggested. “Paranak,” he turned to the motionless form on his right as Kirrina nodded and started a graceful turn towards the old hangar. “Is it possible to use the Hoist to move the Aircar remotely into the on-board hangar?”

  “I believe so. I’ll just check the controls.”

  Richard sat back and watched as his two companions worked busily on either side of him. Kirrina brought the ship down towards the huge entrance of the hangar, and the speed dropped off as they neared the darker interior. Once inside, the dust writhed and grasped despairingly in the disturbed air behind the long body of Patrol Craft One before it reluctantly sank once more to its ancient resting place as the ship moved judiciously ahead.

  Paranak activated a viewscreen to allow himself to watch the interior of the Patrol Craft’s internal hangar, then powered up the Shell Hoist and deftly adjusted its strength, extent and direction. He manipulated the red and black sphere and Woodpecker rose and glided towards their ship. As it drew near, it shimmered out of sight as it floated almost into contact with their new craft.

  Richard found himself leaning over to study the small viewscreen. The tiny Aircar appeared within the field of view and settled gently on the wide expanse of shiny flooring, next to Seagull.

  Paranak released the red and black spiralled sphere with a deft twist of his double-thumbed hand and shut the Hoist down as the chime sounded.

  “Okay, crew,” Richard announced tentatively. “Unless anyone can think of anything we have forgotten, I think we’d better go.”

  “Just one thing more.” Kirrina reached for the Drive control again. “We need to stock up on fuel; we found some in the hangar and transferred what was salvageable from Citadel, but it won’t take us very far.”

  “Isn’t there some kind of provision for refuelling here?” Richard sat back and scratched his chin.

  “Yes, remember the description of Outpost Twenty Seven mentioned a mine on the other side of this planet?”

  “My people have kept it running since the humans deserted this place,” Paranak interjected, proud of his race’s achievement, though the discovery that there were no ‘Shaatak’ ‘pinned down’ under the Shell Field had taken some of the gloss off his sense of victory. “The equipment runs uninterrupted between our regular patrols, so there should be more than enough for our needs.”

  “Right, let’s get as much as we can. Before we go, though,” Richard interrupted his own decision. “Do we have all the information we need for Grey Space navigation?”

  Kirrina nodded. “I down-loaded all the information in the Outpost computer network that I thought might be useful. You’ll probably have time to assimilate it all on our trip out of the system. Paranak confirmed that the Drive we have works in the same manner as the one on his Pakak, though it is more compact and efficient.”

  “Maybe our design is more recent than his one,” Richard theorised. No one responded to his suggestion. “Let’s go then. Paranak, once we have obtained the beryllium and are out of the atmosphere, look for some small asteroids; I want to check out the Negatruction weapon, just in case.” Richard tried to catch any indication of misgiving from the Narlav, but could not interpret his facial expression.

  The alien shifted from side to side to indicate his understanding and agreement, and as he did so, Kirrina pulled back on the navigation sphere and the planet dropped away beneath them, then rotated rapidly as she took them over the bleak landscape beyond the protective Shell Field surrounding the base, and far above vast tracts of desert. Kirrina felt the desolation of the place, both natural and Narlav-assisted – there were no natural standing bodies of water on the planet – this was the main reason why it had been chosen exclusively as an Outpost – it simply could not support more than a few thousand.

  The terminator between night and day grew nearer, and she was pleased to find that morning had just preceded them to the beryllium mine, meaning that they could load up in daylight. She started a fairly rapid descent, zeroing in on a huge open pit several miles wide that could be seen from high in the atmosphere. Kirrina gently corrected their route until the workings were directly beneath them.

  The ship dropped into the pit, and the full extent of the deposit became evident as the terraced sides climbed higher and higher, and still the bottom had not been reached. The early morning shadows still clung to the deepest portions, leaving a twilight effect. Finally, an area several hundred yards across came into view, and they could see the light from the laser drills cutting away the excess rock and impurities from the ore. Unseen Shell Hoists grabbed the valuable prospective fuel and deposited it at the distant entrance to a long, covered building that appeared to be constructed of overlaid sections of rock. Patrol Craft One slowed above the nearer end of the building, where a large quantity of the precious metal fuel had been stock-piled, laid out in neat stacks under an umbrella-like covering some forty feet across.

  “Well,” Richard countered. “Paranak, you should load us to capacity as soon as we are close enough.”

  “Loading… now!”

  Richard sat back and watched silently as the ship received a second helping of its motivating power source. “Audio, please.” He listened to the faint sound of rocks sliding down in the distance, as the laser drills cut away supporting sections and caused some slippage of the steep sides.

  “Ready,” Paranak confirmed a moment later.

  Richard took one last look at the automated mining complex. “Okay, let’s get out of here before your relatives arrive.” He studied the rubble and ash-strewn surface for a moment, then Kirrina took them straight up into space as she noted his mental message to do so. Once the image of the planet had shrunk below them to the size and appearance of a worn-out baseball, he accessed the terminal incorporated in his instrument panel and immediately started to update his navigation skills, conscious of the lack of credibility he felt as he considered his sketchy understanding of the ship – his new command by unanimous vote of his crew – and its vastly improved and enlarged features.

&
nbsp; Ten minutes later, Paranak reported the detection of several very small rocks, in orbit a little from their flight path, and Richard asked him to test out the Negatruction beam on them. The bright flashes which followed close after the release of several purple bolts of finely blended energy served to boost his confidence enormously.

  The alien whacked himself on the side of his head as the last of the targets disappeared in a blaze of light.

  “This weapon system handles far better than the Narlav equivalent,” he remarked with a mixture of surprise and pleasure at the discovery, combined with an element of mortification at the further evidence of superior Arshonnan technology. “It is much easier to hit the target, and this purple beam seems to make contact fractionally quicker than our green equivalent can do, and with a more continuous effect.”

  “I saw mention of that green version in the records I transferred over to the ship’s computer,” Kirrina stated carefully. “If I recall it correctly, the Arshonnans invented the improved version we have some three hundred years after their first recorded use of the earlier version.” She did not comment on the obvious lack of response from Narlav scientists. If they really have any scientists of their own.

  Paranak did not respond to this information, but just continued to stare at his instruments.

  Richard watched the alien’s inscrutable expression for a moment, then sat back and relaxed, satisfied with the test of the weapon, but still curious as to the similarities and differences between Arshonnan and Narlav technology, more convinced than ever that there had to be a connection to explain the intriguing coincidences he kept hearing of.

  “How long before the scanners are on line?’

  “Completed during your tour of the ship, sir.”

  Richard nodded, somehow not surprised at this further evidence of efficiency.

  “Set the long range and short range scanners to alarm if another ship drops out of Grey Space,” he directed Paranak. “Then take over from Kirrina as pilot. We will return in about two hours and relieve you.”