by Eric Flint
Table of Contents
PART 1 Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
PART 2 Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
PART 3 Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
PART 4 Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
PART 5 Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
CASTAWAY
RESOLUTION
ERIC FLINT
RYK E. SPOOR
Castaway Resolution
Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor
NEW ENTRY IN THE BOUNDARY SERIES BY ERIC FLINT & RYK E. SPOOR
Surviving crash-landings and monsters and island-eaters was only the beginning!
The Kimei family and a second group of castaways, led by Sergeant Campbell, had finally joined forces after both had been forced to land on the bizarre planet Lincoln, whose "continents" were huge floating coral colonies, inhabited by even stranger lifeforms. They had survived crash-landings and venom-filled bites and disease, their own despair, and even the destruction—and consumption!—of one of their floating islands, and had learned to live, even prosper, in their strange new home.
Far away, Lieutenat Susan Fisher slowly pieces together the mystery of what happened to the starship Outward Initiative . . . and begins to believe that—just possibly—some of the survivors might have escaped to a mysteriously unsuspected star system.
But even her preparations and the resourcefulness of the castaways may not be enough . . . for Lincoln has far worse in store.
THE BOUNDARY SERIES by ERIC FLINT and RYK E. SPOOR
Boundary • Threshold • Portal • Castaway Planet • Castaway Odyssey • Castaway Resolution
BAEN BOOKS by RYK SPOOR
Princess Holy Aura
Phoenix Rising • Phoenix in Shadow • Phoenix Ascendant
Grand Central Arena • Spheres of Influence • Challenges of the Deeps
Paradigms Lost
Mountain Magic with Henry Kuttner, David Drake, and Eric Flint
BAEN BOOKS by ERIC FLINT
Ring of Fire series: 1632 • 1633 with David Weber • 1634: The Baltic War with David Weber • 1634: The Galileo Affair with Andrew Dennis • 1634: The Bavarian Crisis with Virginia DeMarce • 1635: The Ram Rebellion with Virginia DeMarce et al. • 1635: The Cannon Law with Andrew Dennis • 1635: The Dreeson Incident with Virginia DeMarce • 1635: The Eastern Front • 1636: The Papal Stakes with Charles E. Gannon • 1636: The Saxon Uprising • 1636: The Kremlin Games with Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett • 1636: The Devil’s Opera with David Carrico • 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies with Charles E. Gannon • 1636: The Viennese Waltz with Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett • 1636: The Cardinal Virtues with Walter Hunt • 1635: A Parcel of Rogues with Andrew Dennis • 1636: The Ottoman Onslaught • 1636: Mission to the Mughals with Griffin Barber • 1636: The Vatican Sanction with Charles E. Gannon • 1637: The Volga Rules with Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett • 1637: The Polish Maelstrom • 1636: The China Venture with Iver P. Cooper
Grantville Gazette I–V, ed. by Eric Flint, and VI–VII, ed. by Eric Flint & Paula Goodlett, and VIII, ed. by Eric Flint & Walt Boyes • Ring of Fire I–IV ed. by Eric Flint
The Assiti Shards series: Time Spike with Marilyn Kosmatka • The Alexander Inheritance with Gorg Huff & Paula Goodlett
Standalone novels and collections: Iron Angels with Alistair Kimble • The Gods of Sagittarius with Mike Resnick • The Tyrant with David Drake • Mother of Demons • Worlds • Worlds II
With Dave Freer: Rats, Bats & Vats • The Rats, The Bats & the Ugly • Pyramid Power • Pyramid Scheme • Slow Train to Arcturus
The Heirs of Alexandria series with Mercedes Lackey & Dave Freer: The Shadow of the Lion • This Rough Magic • Much Fall of Blood • Burdens of the Dead • All the Plagues of Hell
The Witches of Karres sequels with Mercedes Lackey & Dave Freer: The Sorceress of Karres • The Wizard of Karres • The Shaman of Karres (forthcoming)
The Belisarius series with David Drake: An Oblique Approach • In the Heart of Darkness • Belisarius I: Thunder at Dawn (omnibus) • Destiny’s Shield • Fortune’s Stroke • Belisarius II: Storm at Noontide (omnibus) • The Tide of Victory • The Dance of Time • Belisarius III: The Flames of Sunset (omnibus)
The Joe’s World series: The Philosophical Strangler • Forward the Mage with Richard Roach
The Crown of Slaves series with David Weber: Crown of Slaves • Torch of Freedom • Cauldron of Ghosts
The Jao Empire series: The Course of Empire with K.D. Wentworth • Crucible of Empire with K.D. Wentworth • The Span of Empire with David Carrico
The Arcane America series: Council of Fire with Walter H. Hunt
Edited by Eric Flint: The World Turned Upside Down with David Drake & Jim Baen • The Best of Jim Baen’s Universe I–II
Castaway Resolution
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN: 978-1-9821-2441-0
eISBN: 978-1-62579-757-5
Cover art by Sam Kennedy
First printing, March 2020
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Flint, Eric, author. | Spoor, Ryk E., author.
Title: Castaway resolution / Eric Flint, Ryk E. Spoor.
Description: Riverdale, NY : Baen Books, [2020] | Series: Boundary
Identifiers: LCCN 2019053848 | ISBN 9781982124410 (hardcover)
Subjects: GSAFD: Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3556.L548 C373 2020 | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019053848
Pages by Joy Freeman (www.pagesbyjoy.com)
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Electronic Version by Baen Books
www.baen.c
om
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
No SF novel is written in a vacuum, and the following people helped fill my vacuum with better prose:
My Beta-Reading group, who vigilantly pounced on any errors or questions and forced me to back up and reconsider when I went haring off in the wrong direction. And while everyone contributed, I want to specifically thank Charles Crapuchettes and Kengr for their attention to my physics. Any errors are due to me, not them.
Stephanie Osborn also provided insight into key events toward the end of the novel.
And as always, my wife Kathleen, for giving me the time amidst an always-hectic household!
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my
daughters Victoria and Domenica,
who inspired the characters of
the four Kimei daughters.
Love to you both!
—R.S.
I’m not sure if this is an acknowledgment or a dedication or just a tip of the hat, but I need to express my gratitude to many horrible, slavering monsters who have eased my way and lightened my task over the past many years and volumes, starting with the great river kraken slain by Guo in my first novel Mother of Demons. I’d bestow upon each and every one of them the Vulcan blessing May you live long and prosper except for the awkwardness that I’m even now plotting to bring down the next one. That aside, many thanks!
—E.F.
PART 1
DISASTER
Chapter 1
Sue Fisher tried to force herself to stay awake. Three more hours of this. If only something would happen!
But nothing ever happened in Orado Port Control. Once in a great while a starship would arrive—an event scheduled usually years in advance—or somewhat more frequently, one of the intersystem shuttles or the few private vessels would want to dock. Mostly, though, it was just the automated manufacturing pods, bringing raw materials from the asteroid mining operations to be sent down the beanstalk to the ground, or collecting manufactured cargo or key materials from the ground and distributing them around the system.
If I actually had to do anything, that would make it less boring. But all of that was automated. The only reason she was there—the only reason anyone would be here on the Port Control Deck—was that regulations stated that a qualified human observer would be present at all times in case of emergency. AIs could handle virtually any situation a human could—usually better. It would take something extraordinary to make the AI even consider cutting a human into the loop, or for Sue to decide to override the machine herself.
And the last time there had been an emergency in Orado system had been—
ERRRRT! ERRRRT! ERRRRT! ERRRRT!
Sue snapped out of her half-daze, adrenalin washing through her in a cold tingle that drove subtle spikes into her gut as she focused, triggering a situational download to her retinals.
The first thought she had was: a starship? There isn’t one due for at least six months, the Explorer’s Compass out of Vellamo.
But the second thought was spoken, as enhanced imagery from the distributed telescopic array materialized. “Oh my God.”
It was one of the Initiative line of colony vessels, immense transports three kilometers long and over a kilometer wide that carried colonists and cargo to and from the now dozens of colonial worlds spread out as much as a hundred light-years from old Sol. Sue had seen Initiative-class ships twice before, beautiful graceful spindles with a perfect, sparkling circle of a habitat ring standing out from the central body.
Except that this one was anything but perfect. Chunks were gone from the hab ring, cut in what seemed impossibly smooth arcs, as though some titanic spacegoing shark had taken a series of bites out of that circle of carbonan, titanium, and steel.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. What in the name of God happened to her? You can’t attack a ship in Trapdoor, and even if you could, how could you find a ship between the stars? But if it wasn’t an attack, what was it?
Even as she was taking in that horrific sight and trying to grasp what it meant, she saw that there was an incoming transmission.
“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. Orado Port, this is Outward Initiative, out of Earth,” it began. But not in the calm, measured voice of a ship’s AI, which nearly always controlled communications, but the exhausted, worn, yet triumphant tones of a human being. “Request assistance immediately. We have suffered severe damage on multiple ship systems, we have multiple severely injured people on board who require medical assistance, and our remaining ship systems are unreliable. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. Orado Port, this is Outward Initiative, out of Earth…”
She sent a query to the station, and once again found herself stunned. According to the schedules received eight months ago, Outward Initiative should still be en route to Tantalus! Her closest approach shouldn’t have brought her closer than ten light-years from Orado!
Focus! Her brain had finally caught up to the situation. She restrained the impulse to try to respond directly by radio; Outward Initiative had arrived about one point two billion kilometers outsystem from Orado Port, meaning that the mayday itself had taken over an hour to get there. Unfortunately, that part of the Orado system currently had almost nothing there. Odds were that she really was the first person to hear that terrible message, and if she tried to respond by radio, it would take hours just to ascertain the ship’s condition and decide what kind of help was needed and could be sent.
But there was an alternative. “Orado Port,” she said aloud.
“Yes, Sue?” answered the Port’s AI instantly.
“Relay that alert to the Portmaster immediately, even if you have to wake her up from a dead sleep. Alert the Alabastra and Vilayet that we will probably need towing duty and they should prepare to intercept Outward Initiative and help bring her home, and they’ll need to have medical personnel aboard. This is a rescue operation; I don’t see a Nebula Drive deployment yet, and with that much damage they certainly won’t be able to do short-range Trapdoor hops, so I don’t think they can come in by themselves. Also, make sure that President Jami is briefed. Whatever happened here…I don’t think anyone’s ever seen it before.”
“No reasonably parallel situation is found in my databanks,” Orado Port said. “That is why you were immediately given full authority. What are your intentions?”
She was already pulling on her EVA suit, settling her helmet over short-cropped blonde hair. “I’m taking Raijin.”
Chapter 2
Raijin lay before her, a perfect sphere of polished silver and glass cradled in a setting like an egg cup, every feature of airlock, impulse jets, Trapdoor coils, and all others meticulously set as flush with the surface of the sphere as possible. At her approach, the circular airlock door swung open, and she could feel her omni establishing full link connections, readying the little ship for launch. I wonder if—
“I’m here, I’m here!” came a somewhat breathless voice behind Sue.
The sight of the cheerful face under too-curly-to-restrain hair made Sue smile with relief. “So you were here. Thanks, Orado!”
“It was the obvious next step,” the station replied.
Sue extended her hand; the other took it. “Dr. Pearce, I’m glad you were able to make it. Orado’s briefed you?”
“Well, summarized, yes,” Dr. Carolyn Pearce said. “I can’t really believe it myself. Do we have any idea what happened to—”
“None. That’s why we’re heading out.” She noted the black case—a far more advanced version of the legendary “black bag” of traveling physicians—and nodded. “That’s all you need?”
“Without holding us up much, yes.” Dr. Pearce clambered into Raijin with practiced ease; she’d been one of the physicians of Orado Station for twelve years, much longer than Sue had been here. Sue could hear the harness snapping shut around the doctor even as Sue got into the pilot’s seat. “Raijin, prepare for launch immediately.”
The spherical perfection of Raijin was the k
ey to its unique performance. It, and all the other “Lightning” rescue and courier vehicles were designed to allow the most carefully controlled Trapdoor jumps possible. A normal Trapdoor vessel had to take roughly thirty seconds for a minimum jump, and had what amounted to a startup and cooldown time that was short but variable. However, “variable” when dealing with something moving at roughly seventy times the speed of light meant that you might end up ten million kilometers to either side of your ostensible target with only a total startup/cooldown variation of one second.
But Raijin could boast a maximum variation in endpoint location of less than one hundred thousand kilometers, a hundred times better than standard commercial drives and ten times better than even tuned Trapdoor drives on more standard craft. Moreover, its minimum jump time had been reduced to about one second, meaning that it could manage jumps of twenty million kilometers with good accuracy. The perfect sphere simplified the field interactions immensely, making it possible to approach the theoretical minimum response times of the Trapdoor Drive.
