Termination Shock

by Gillian Andrews

  His eyes widened. Then he moved to one side and gestured with his machine pistol. We were to precede him along another, larger corridor. This seemed to take us away from the skin of the ship, down into the more sheltered centre area.

  Zenzie threw me a triumphant stare. I rolled my eyes.

  We were ushered into the main cargo bay, to the accompaniment of further jolts and bangs as the Vaer ship was hit again and again. An Omnistate cruiser could have finished us off by now, had they wanted to. They hadn’t, which seemed to confirm that they wanted whatever the ship was carrying. It would have been rather pleasing to see the pirates attacked, if we hadn’t been sharing their space.

  Our guard knew his job. He never took his eyes or his gun off us. And he was far too big for us to take down. Not without being shot.

  I eyed the cargo. Sure enough, there were crates and crates of missiles and even ultrapulses. No wonder the Terrans were here. Ultrapulses were very effective and highly expensive weapons made by the Omnistate.

  Then I spotted something else. One of the smaller crates was marked as Tyzaran pulsers. Those would come in very useful, if only we could somehow neutralize our guard.

  So I waited, hoping for an opportunity. Zenzara had done what she could. Now it was my turn.

  Only it wasn’t. I noticed that Didjal and Eshaan were chattering away to each other, because I could see their skin undulating. What I didn’t notice was a certain determination come over both of them. Eshaan edged towards one of the large crates as Didjal seemed to expand into the space.

  Seyal had been watching them. Now she stepped forwards. “Bathroom,” she shouted in Universal. “Me need bathroom!”

  The guard shifted his attention to her. A few seconds later Eshaan had leapt onto the second story of the crates of weapons and was using the Enif strength it possessed to topple the crate nearest to the Vaer guard over.

  The guard started to turn back.

  Seyal walked towards him, arms spread apart, pregnant belly very visible in relief in the semi-darkness of the hold.

  The guard’s attention snapped back to her and he brought up his gun until it was pointing directly at her stomach. Both Sammy and Mel, who were on either side of Seyal, stepped forwards into the danger. Mel’s cheek was still bleeding sluggishly, the red blood shimmering against the shadows.

  The guard’s eyes hardened. I saw him pull the stock tighter to his body to minimize recoil. He was about to shoot.

  “Stop!” I shouted. Not that it would have any effect, but it seemed like a good thing to do at the time.

  Then there was a slithering, creaky sound as the case Eshaan was pushing careened across the top of the one underneath it, reached the edge, tumbled over, accompanied by one destabilized Enif, and crashed into the guard.

  The guard went down without a sound, followed by Eshaan, who tumbled on top of the Vaer, grabbing the gun and then landing nimbly on the deck plating of the hold. Eshaan turned the gun quickly on the guard, but there was no need. The guard had been struck on one side of his head and shoulder by the crate. He was still breathing, but there was no way he would be any sort of danger to us for a very long time.

  “Well done, all of you! Arm yourselves,” I shouted, as further impacts juddered into the ship, close to our position. “There! The pulsers!”

  We jimmied the top of the crate in question open and passed out two of the weapons for each of us. I grabbed a first aid kit off the cargo bay wall and motioned to Mel. “Here! Let me do something about that!”

  She sidled up. I pasted about ten butterfly stitches across the cut, as fast but as best I could. It was hard to stop the blood long enough for them to stick, but at least it stemmed the worst of the seepage.

  Mel grabbed two of the guns. Her teeth were chattering, but I could see that this time she was determined to react well. She studiously avoided looking at Sammy, and I was glad for her. She’d do.

  Just as I was feeling a little more optimistic about surviving, Zenzie gave a strange moan.

  I twisted round to her, just in time to see her eyes flick upwards into her head. I reached her side in two steps so that I could support her as she sagged, unconscious. A brief examination showed no visible signs of injury, so I picked her up in my arms and set off after Didjal, the others following on behind us. We needed to get somewhere safer. The cargo hold with all the ammunition felt anything but safe. I had a very bad feeling about it.

  Didjal was the one who seemed to be infused with action. It surged ahead of us, its naturally elongated tarsus bones making it look rather like a Paralympic runner. It was dragging a rather battered Eshaan behind it, and its expression was a mixture of pride and disapproval. Eshaan was the artist; it wasn’t supposed to risk its life as it just had done.

  I glanced behind. Mel and Sammy were bringing up the rear, Mel glued to one side of Sammy to help compensate for his limp. It had been improving, but was still a factor for him.

  We pounded along behind the two Enif. Zenzara jolted in my arms, but the mad race against time didn’t wake her. I noticed a strange pulse in her brow. I hadn’t seen it before.

  Didjal led us unerringly straight to the bridge. I am not sure I would have gone directly for the Vaer command center, but I was too busy making sure Zenzara wasn’t left behind to even think of what Didjal was planning.

  We burst through the hatch. As we did Didjal opened fire on the leading Vaer. Its pulser beam traversed the Vaer’s leg, who then collapsed with something between a shriek and a squawk.

  I ducked to clear the way for Mel. Eshaan’s shot had missed one of the other two Vaers on the bridge, but Mel was more accurate. Her target went down without a sound. She had gone for the kill rather than to incapacitate. Only a few loose feathers dislodged by the fall moved after he thudded to the ground. Mel stared at her pulser, suddenly unsure.

  Seyal erupted into the room, brandishing a pistol in a confused sort of way. She finally managed to loose off a shot, one that narrowly missed my left ear. She dropped the gun and an expression of horror froze her face. By that time Sammy had covered the third Vaer. He raised his winged arms hastily with another squawk.

  It didn’t really matter if there were more Vaers aboard. I signed to Mel and Sammy to cover the one entry hatch to the bridge area. Then I pulled back the engines and left the cruiser dead in space.

  “Terran ship, please respond.”

  “Who is this?”

  I explained what had happened and requested rescue from the Vaer ship. I was hoping this particular Terran cruiser was unaware of who we actually were. We had a Tyzaran citizen with us. I was betting they wouldn’t want to leave her behind.

  The Flatlander captain, who was a fairly amiable sort, didn’t take too long to decide. “We can have the armament?” he asked gruffly.

  “Sure. It isn’t anything to do with us.”

  “Acceptable. Please try to remain where you are while I send a team to clean up any Vaer pirates and secure the cruiser.”

  We breathed a sigh of relief. Nobody had been looking forward to mopping up Vaers. “Agreed.”

  All the same, I took possession of all the arms we could find on the bridge. We might still need them. Eshaan found a sort of duffel bag one of the Vaers had been using to stash money. He showed it to us. Around 35000 Universal credits. Enough to buy us a hotel room for a few weeks. No more. We sequestered that, too. Mel checked the rest of the bridge, but we found no more money. Pity.

  The Vaer who had surrendered had a smile on his beak. “You are too late.”

  I glared. “For what?”

  “Your ships have already been sold on. You lost title anyway.”

  “They were taken illegally.”

  “So sue us.”

  My black mood came back very suddenly. The
Vaer was right. There was no truly interstellar court. No right of rebuttal. Nothing that all the species would abide by. A heavy feeling hit my stomach. My finger tightened on the trigger. I would very much have liked to shoot him.

  Didjal pushed my gun barrel down. “And our artwork?”

  The Vaer smirked. “That went first. It was taken out of the vault yesterday. We got the original patterns, too.”

  Eshaan touched Didj. Their skin rippled as they communicated. Finally Didj nodded. “Cards cannot be unshuffled. Entropy is part of the universe.” It looked infinitely sad. “But it is a blow to our idea of self.” The two Enif rippled a little more. “A great blow.”

  Their faces said it all. Mine must have reflected theirs.

  A tall Terran appeared at the entrance to the hatch. Sammy and Mel ushered him onto the bridge.

  He introduced himself as Commander Renfell, from the Sol cruiser Sentinel. “Thank you very much. We thought we would have to destroy this vessel completely. Recouping the stolen weapons is a bonus. We will gladly drop you off at the next stop we make.”

  “We need to go to Tyzar.” I stepped forwards, Zenzara still in my arms. “There is something wrong with this girl and she needs medical attention from her own people. She must have treatment. Immediately.”

  He spread his hands. “Tyzar is a very long way away. But I’ll do what I can. I will arrange for the Tyzarans to be contacted as soon as we are away from here. They may have a ship in the area.”

  “That would be great. Thank you. You have ansible communication, then?”

  Rendell looked uncomfortable. Flatlanders did not have permission to purchase Tyzaran ansible technology, but with so many now being dispersed through the Major Shells it did not surprise me in the least that they had it. “We have. It is an older model, and takes up a good deal of room, but it does have subspace capabilities.”

  It had to have been stolen from either the Nepheals or the Tyzarans. I didn’t think anybody else had it. The Nepheal ansible system was reserved for their own ships. The Nepheals did not generally trade technology and were zealous about security, so it was unlikely to be one of theirs. The Tyzarans did trade technology, usually when it had already become obsolete, but they never traded with either the Omnistate or the Vaers. The rest of the races were only just now buying ansible nodes, and the ones that were available were still quite bulky and extremely expensive. They took up a complete console and were a nightmare to fit. Not only that, but the Tyzarans had to approve your suitability to own one. The things had become a bit of a status symbol. My own family had only just been able to invest in one and my mother had rather preened herself when permission was granted.

  I felt relieved. There had to be a Tyzaran ship somewhere in the quadrant, and Tyzaran ships would be bound to have Tyzaran doctors on board. I hoped. At least, there would be somebody who knew more than we did about Zenzie’s state.

  “That would be fine.” I offered my hand. “What are you planning to do with this cruiser?”

  He proffered his own hand and we shook. “We’ll let them go. The Omnistate has signed a treaty with the Vaers. Even though this bunch are mere pirates, we don’t want to give them any reason to pull out of that treaty. They have agreed to remain neutral in this dispute.”

  “The holdful of ultrapulses says something else.”

  “These are just pirates. Traders, they call it. If we stop one lot, another just pops up in their place. They go where the profit is. They take neutral to mean they can annex ships in distress and traffic with armament. It is their way of life.” He nodded casually to the Vaer who had been captured, and the Captain, who was still huffing as he tried to stop the blood flowing from the wound in its leg. “No hard feelings?”

  The Captain bared his beak. “Drop dead!”

  “See? True allies!” He winked at me. “Enemy of my enemy and all that.”

  “Might still kill you.”

  “Oh, sure. I would have put an end to them if they hadn’t given up the stolen ultrapulses. But it’s nothing personal.”

  I was looking at the Captain. I could tell that the Avian was taking it very personally. I hoped we didn’t have to deal with him again. It seemed to me that he wasn’t taking this small reverse very well. I looked at the chair he had been sitting in. His name was set into the metalwork. Captain Frynee.

  Frynee was glaring at all of us through dark slitty eyes of hatred. But there was a glint of triumph when they contemplated the Enif, Seyal and me. He knew that the money he had made on our possessions was assured. Until the law changed, the chances of our getting anything back hovered firmly around the zero mark.

  Renfell took a step or two back and began to speak on his comlink. Another of the Flatlander officers stepped up to the navigation station and began to upload information from it. Frynee’s expression went even blacker.

  After around half-an-hour, a group of Terrans came up to the bridge, ushering several Vaers before them, the Vaers looking unhappy. They shuffled ignominiously inside the small area, trying to avoid the dagger-like gaze of their captain, who was still smoldering and giving the impression that they should have fought to the death. He reminded me of Captain Tevis. Do as I say and not as I do. Yet not all Captains, not all races, were like that. The Avarak Captain had been the first to sacrifice himself.

  It had become very cramped inside the limited bridge area, so we were evacuated onto the Sentinel while the officers organized the transfer of the weapons cache.

  Our new quarters were small but functional. Wonderfully, we had a shower between the seven of us. Mel took one look at it, dropped her gun where she stood, elbowed the rest of us aside and stepped into the cubicle. The door closed firmly behind her. Seyal moved closer to the door, subtly staking her claim. It seemed that the rest of us would simply have to wait.

  Commander Renfell was soon back. “I have located a Tyzaran ship some light years away. They have given us a tentative rendezvous point in six hours.” He frowned. “Though they were reluctant to give us their current position, and were not showing up on our scans, which is rather strange.”

  It would be, except I suspected that the Tyzaran ship would be equipped with the new ZEPH drive. If they were, they could be as far as 40 light years away, and still be able to meet that deadline. The ZEPH drive was able to propel ships at nearly 8 light years per hour, according to Zenzara. Personally, I was at a loss to visualize how it could be done. I just hoped that they would get here soon enough for Zenzie. That she would be all right.

  She was still unconscious, but I had noticed that the small pulse on her forehead had calmed again. Still, there was little sign of her awakening any time soon. Seyal was now hovering over her. The Avarak woman seemed deeply worried by her charge’s condition.

  Renfell asked us to tell him about our encounter with the Vaer, and nodded grimly when he heard that we had been coerced into signing away assets to them. “This is not the first time they have done such a thing. Some of our own Terran forces have had their assets seized in a similar manner. The Omnistate say that none of them have ever been returned. They regard the Vaers from Nova as a serious problem to be dealt with in the future. However, they have been very clear that, as things stand right now, there is no possibility of recuperating assets signed away to them.”

  I sighed and, very reluctantly, asked for permission to hololink with the Landau Rift. This was granted. Minutes later, I was standing in the holo alcove, talking to my mother. I was sweating. Don’t get me wrong; I love my mother. But she is the most rigid, controlling person I have ever met. When her older brother was still alive he could sometimes change her mind. Since his inopportune demise, she was about as malleable as a steel crowbar.

  “Ryler! I have been concerned about you. We heard of the attack on Commorancy. I hope you are uninjured?”

 
; “I am, now. Err … I am afraid I have bad news, all the same.”

  Her eyebrows snapped together. “What have you done?”

  I knew that tone. It was the one that had always made me feel around one foot high. It had been a while since I had heard it, though. I swallowed. “I … I ….”

  “What?” There was none of the pleasure showing in her face now. She looked about as frosty as a high mountain in an arctic gale.

  “I have lost Faraday.”

  Her tension relaxed. “Of course you haven’t. You left her here, remember? For a refit? She is almost ready. I was hoping to order space trials tomorrow…” Her confident voice trailed off as she spotted my expression.

  “I was obliged to sign her away to the Vaers.”

  My mother’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but no sound came out. She swayed and put a hand on the console beside her to steady herself.

  “I’m sorry. I … I had no choice.”

  Now she had flushed bright red. “I can’t imagine what would possess you to do such a thing. Have you gone completely mad?”

  I reached out a hand to touch her, but my holo image simply passed through her own apparent solidity. All the same, she flinched away. “Explain yourself!”

  “I cannot. I signed the papers. We had no choice. I am not the only one to lose a substantial asset.”

  “A substantial asset! You talk as though we could afford to lose Faraday! We can’t!”

  “I am deeply sorry. But I repeat, Mother: I had no choice.”

  “I find that very hard to believe.” She stiffened. “Well, you needn’t think you can come home and find other ships at your disposal. There aren’t any. You can find your own way from here on in.”