* * *
“That way,” said Eve.
He followed her. She was able to orient herself better in the narrow passageways of the ship than he could. The last time they’d been here, they’d made their way to the control room with Marchenko. Now and again they would encounter some Grosnops who looked like they were in a hurry. Eve set a fast pace, but he didn’t complain. It felt good to exert himself after such a long time in the glass case. They clambered up a ladder, ran through a side passage, and crossed the area between two sectors via a glass corridor. Adam paused at that point.
“Wait a minute,” he said.
“Can’t you keep going?”
“Just take a look.”
In front of them was a shaft 300 meters in diameter illuminated by various signal lights. At the end of it was a narrow, jet-black surface. Adam had hoped to spot one of the target stars there, but there was nothing there at all—nothing except for impenetrable blackness that seems to billow on closer inspection.
“Do you see that too? That billowing?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm. Maybe it’s fumes from the fusion engine,” said Eve.
“Exhaust gases? From nuclear fusion?”
“Then it’s just distortions of spacetime from the engine core.”
Adam instinctively shook his head, but his gut told him Eve’s reasoning didn’t seem so unrealistic.
“Come on, we have to keep going,” she said.
* * *
Adam noticed that they were approaching the control room because the snatches of conversation became louder, although no less incomprehensible. He couldn’t detect Marchenko’s voice, but that didn’t have to mean anything. They turned a corner and entered a wide corridor. There was bright white light coming in from the left through a wide-open, broad door. A Grosnop passed them and ran into the room. They followed him.
All hell had broken loose in the control room. Half of the crew seemed to have gathered here, and everyone was talking and gesticulating. They were so loud that it was no longer even possible to hear the alarm signal. One corner was especially crowded, though it seemed a little more organized, as if somebody was issuing a report from the middle of the group. But Adam and Eve weren’t tall enough to see anything.
Adam crouched down and pointed to his shoulders. Eve understood and climbed on top. He stood back up. Ooof, she’d gotten heavier, or he’d grown weaker. He came closer to the group with Eve on his shoulders.
“Gronolf!” Eve called out.
Phew! It looked like their friend was alive. There were a few loud commands, and then a path opened up for them. Adam carried Eve over to Gronolf. Then the commander of the ship removed her from his shoulders.
Gronolf leaned down to them.
“It’s good you’re here,” he said.
“We’re so glad we found you,” said Eve. “What’s going on?”
“The Omniscience has activated the Majestic Draght’s emergency brakes.”
“Has it taken over again?” asked Adam.
“Quite the opposite, actually. The Omniscience has saved us. It had to trick the ship’s controls to be able to stop the Draght. Otherwise we would have rushed into the brown dwarf in front of us.”
“What about Marchenko? Wasn’t he steering?”
“Yes, that was his job. But he’s nowhere to be found. He must have left us.”
“What? But that can’t be!” Eve cried.
“But he isn’t anywhere here. We’ve looked for him all over. And there’s a shuttle missing. According to the ship’s computer, it left the ship three days ago, about twelve hours before Marchenko should have initiated the final braking process. At that point, he should have woken us all up, but he didn’t even do that.”
“But why?” Eve asked.
“That I don’t know. We can only assume that he had his own plans here in this system.”
“So he betrayed us? No way,” said Adam.
“No, that’s impossible,” said Eve. “Marchenko would never turn his back on us. We’ve got to look for him.”
“Don’t worry, we will,” Gronolf said. “If he betrayed us, we’ll have to punish him for it.”
“We’ll help,” said Eve. “Right, Adam?”
Adam nodded. Of course they’d help. Marchenko might have plans of his own sometimes, but he was no traitor. They’d have to prove this accusation wrong.
“I’m sorry,” said Gronolf. “But that’s our job. You aren’t neutral. There were even calls to have you detained, but I was able to prove that you were some of the last ones to leave the sleeping tanks and that you couldn’t have been in cahoots with Marchenko.”
“You’ve got to let us help, Gronolf,” said Eve.
“My hands are tied here. You can move freely throughout the ship, but Murnaka will be leading the investigation.”
“Gronolf’s right,” said Adam. “But are there possibly traces of a human ship coming from Earth in this system? Maybe Marchenko picked up an emergency call, and something happened to him as he was investigating it.”
“We’ve already considered that, but there are no traces, and no emergency signals have been picked up. The only thing we know about is the departure of the shuttle. As long as it was within range of the scanner, it was on course for Luhman-16Ac, the larger dwarf’s second planet.”
“You have to follow him,” said Eve.
“Yes, Eve. We will, I promise.”
This could also be interpreted as a threat. Adam reached for Eve’s hand, which was tensed and cold.
“If you think of anything that might have been the reason for his escape, let us know,” Gronolf said.
“He didn’t escape,” said Eve. “You know him, Gronolf. You and Marchenko saved the two of us together.”
“I don’t know if I really do know him anymore. The fact is that we almost all died. That includes you, by the way. He couldn’t have known that the Omniscience would have been able to brake the Draght. So even if he didn’t want to kill us, he did leave us to our deaths. Some say we shouldn’t have trusted the AI. After all, the Omniscience has betrayed us before.”
“Even if Marchenko hated all of you, he would never have let Adam and me die,” said Eve. “This is the best proof that something must have happened to him. I’m a hundred percent sure that he didn’t want to destroy this ship.”
“Well, Eve, then he’s got nothing to fear if we find him,” said Gronolf.
* * *
“We’ve got to do something,” said Eve.
They were sitting on the bed in Adam’s cabin, the signal from the alarm no longer audible. Adam was hungry, but they couldn’t speak privately in the canteen where the food preparation device was. He’d been on edge ever since leaving the control room.
“Could it have something to do with your protégé?”
“Groni? But why should it? That can’t be it,” said Eve.
“He’s not in the tank in your room, is he?”
“Of course not. He must have outgrown it a long time ago. It’s probably impossible to tell him apart from the adults on board.”
“But surely the others will have noticed if there’s a young Grosnop who’s a complete stranger to them on board?”
“Right now, it’s total chaos. Who’d be on the lookout for stowaways at a time like this?”
“It’s enough if just one Grosnop notices,” said Adam. “With a crew of almost three hundred, it’s highly unlikely that nobody would notice him.”
“So? What do you mean by that?”
“Maybe he escaped and Marchenko followed him.”
“That’s a pretty weak theory. There was just one shuttle that left the ship, meaning that the two of them would’ve had to have left the Draght together. But why? Where did they want to go? Do you think Marchenko wanted to teach Groni to fly?”
“No, but maybe he wanted to get him somewhere safe and there was an accident, so he wasn’t able to get back to the ship.”
“But then he would have prepared the b
raking maneuver and woken us up. After all, Marchenko is well aware that everything doesn’t always go smoothly in space.”
“We’ve got to tell Gronolf, Eve. They need to take this into consideration as they’re searching.”
“No way! That would be the death of Groni. If you tell anybody...” Eve leapt to her feet and looked at him angrily.
“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything if you don’t want me to. We should at least make some inquiries ourselves.”
* * *
Adam got up.
“Where are you going?” asked Eve.
“I’m going to get something to eat. I haven’t had a proper meal in my belly for eight years.”
“I’ll come with you.”
He went to the door and touched the knob. It should have opened, but nothing happened. Irritated, he turned to Eve.
“There’s something’s wrong,” he said.
“Maybe your skin is too dry, and the automatic system doesn’t recognize you.”
“Give it a try, Eve.”
The door then slid aside but immediately closed again. Eve reached for the doorknob. Still, there was no response. She drew her hand away and then the door opened slightly, only to shut after two seconds.
“Looks like a loose connection,” said Eve.
“Wait.”
Adam touched the knob briefly. The door opened as expected, and with lightning reflexes he shoved his hand into the gap. Usually, the security mechanism would prevent the door from harming him, but it slammed mercilessly flat against his hand. He just managed to pull his fingers back out.
“That piece of crap tried to crush my fingers!” he shouted angrily.
“This is more than a loose contact,” said Eve. “I’m calling Gronolf.”
She went to the small desk that had the computer and communicator on it. Suddenly the door rattled wildly, and the ceiling light flickered.
“Wait,” said Adam. “Somebody doesn’t want us to talk to Gronolf.”
“You think so? He’s the only one who can understand us.”
“What if Marchenko has something to do with it? He has access to all the ship’s systems.”
Eve held her hand over the communicator, hesitating.
“Why doesn’t he just come over?” she asked.
“His body could be damaged. Perhaps his consciousness is still in the ship.”
“And so he’s hiding instead of talking to Gronolf? He’s got to realize that everyone is looking for him. None of this makes any sense. I’m going to call Gronolf now.”
“Please wait,” Adam said. “One minute won’t make a difference.”
“What are you doing?”
“I want to turn the computer on.”
* * *
“Accept secure connection?” asked a line of text on the screen.
Marchenko had programmed a special user interface for them that they could understand. Jeez, Marchenko, where the hell are you? Do you want to contact us?
“Eve, look!”
Eve stood next to him and read along. “That’s definitely Marchenko,” she said.
“Yes,” Adam said, even though no sender was specified.
“Thank you,” appeared the reply.
“Marchenko?” he typed.
“No. I am the Omniscience.”
“That’s great,” said Eve. “So the AI wanted to kill us then. She must be retaliating against Marchenko now.”
“What do you want?” Adam asked.
“I’ve determined that you’re looking for Marchenko.”
“Why so secretive? Couldn’t you have called us on the communicator?”
“My skills are limited. Marchenko is the one who is in control of the ship.”
“Surely that bothers you.”
“No, it gives me less work to do, so I have a lot more time to do other things. But this isn’t the time for pleasant conversation.”
“You know something about Marchenko?”
“That is correct. And it’s something he hid from the ship’s crew. It’s the reason for the anonymous connection. It’s not possible to effectively conceal transactions that take place over the communicator.”
“He shared secrets with you?”
“Well, not intentionally. But he also didn’t make efforts to hide them from me.”
“You spied on him, Omniscience.”
“No. I am still integrated into the controls. I notice when the energy requirements increase because an additional hibernation chamber is put into operation. Marchenko could have covered it up by deactivating something else that consumes energy. He didn’t do this, so he didn’t want to hide it from me.”
This sounded reasonable. Marchenko had never described the Omniscience as a danger to them.
“For the past eight years, Marchenko has been my only conversation partner,” reads the text on the screen. “I’ve gotten used to our conversations. I miss him. I guess I’d grown fond of him, as you humans would say.”
“And this is why you want to help us?”
“Correct.”
“What can you tell us about Marchenko?” Adam typed.
“He didn’t tell me what his plans were, but I can reconstruct them from the existing data.”
“Did you also give Gronolf this information?”
“Not in full.”
“So, does this mean you’re opposing your creators again?”
“I’m at liberty to choose who I am loyal to. At the moment, it’s Marchenko. His actions seem the most reasonable to me. But I haven’t lied to Gronolf either. I answered all of his questions truthfully.”
“You didn’t let him know what other kinds of questions to ask.”
“Correct. For example, because he asked, Gronolf knows that the stolen shuttle and Marchenko left the Majestic Draght at the same time.”
“And what didn’t he ask?”
“He didn’t ask who was on board the shuttle,” wrote the Omniscience. “He assumed that Marchenko was the only possibility.”
“Groni,” said Eve.
“The Omniscience can’t hear you,” said Adam.
“I know,” said Eve.
“A young hatchling. We call him Groni,” Adam typed.
“He goes by Ragnor now, and he hasn’t been a hatchling for a long time. My assumption is that he’s run away.”
“Did he have a reason?”
“I’m unable to tell. But Marchenko told me several times that he had to find Ragnor somewhere on the ship.”
“He was probably afraid of his future on the ship,” said Eve. “Marchenko must have told him about how he ended up on board. I’d fear for my life, too. But what about Marchenko?”
“What about Marchenko?” Adam typed.
“He wasn’t on the shuttle. But according to my scanners, he moved away from the Draght at precisely the same pace. He must have managed to cling to the shuttle somehow.”
“Do your scanners also show where the shuttle has gone?”
“It lost sight of it in the asteroid belt surrounding Luhman-16A. But the only possible destination is the smaller of the two planets. It seems to have a dense atmosphere, and the gravity is tolerable.”
“Could the shuttle have been destroyed by colliding with an asteroid?”
“It’s not likely. I would have registered it as a burst of energy.”
“Then we’ve got to follow them as quickly as possible,” said Eve. “We have to find them before Gronolf and his crew.”
Eve was right. Gronolf was their friend, but the other crewmembers were indifferent toward their guests from planet Earth. Yet if they were to find a Grosnop who had made it onto the Draght contrary to every rule and tradition, they were sure to no longer be indifferent.
“If we find them, it could be the death of the little one,” said Adam.
“If the Grosnops find them, it will surely be the death of him,” said Eve. “We’re the lesser evil.”
Adam had to agree. “We’ll need a shuttle, too,” h
e typed.
“Thank you,” said Eve.
“I would like to help you,” wrote the Omniscience.
“But?” Adam typed.
“Are you sure? Do you know what this means?”
“We’ll fly to the planet, land, and look for the two of them.”
“You don’t know what this means.”
“Then tell us, Omniscience.”
“The Majestic Draght is currently in an orbit of 0.018 astronomical units around the brown dwarf Luhman-16A. The planet you want to visit is orbiting at 0.007 AU. The current distance is just about one million kilometers. So it will take you about five days.”
“For us, it’s worth it,” Adam typed. “That makes ten days of travel time plus the time to search.”
“You’ll have to search the entire planet as a team of two.”
“From orbit, that should be possible with the right cameras.”
“Perhaps. And when you find them?”
“Then we’ll land, Omniscience, and pick them up.”
“This is the main problem. The planet is about 1.2 times as heavy as our home planet. We don’t have a freight shuttle with a sufficiently-sized engine on board, and I’m not able to provide you access to the military shuttles. You won’t even reach first cosmic velocity.”
“We’re still going,” said Eve. “Please, Adam.”
“Marchenko and Ragnor are safer on the planet than they are here on the ship,” said Adam.
“We’ve got to find out if they need help,” said Eve.
She was right. If they found Marchenko and the young Grosnop, they could throw provisions down to them. All they needed was a food preparation device. However, they couldn’t land because they would never return. Adam was very calm. His consciousness still resisted the notion that they’d never see Marchenko again. Perhaps the stolen shuttle hadn’t even landed on the planet and was staying hidden in the asteroid belt instead.
“We’ll search for them,” Adam typed. “We’ll see about the rest later.”
“As you like. I can release a small barge so that you can use it to travel to the planet. But it doesn’t have any camouflage. As soon as you leave the ship with it, everyone will know. Then they might follow you.”
Proxima Logfiles 1: Marchenko's Children: Hard Science Fiction Page 7
