Ascendant
Page 30
“Use this heavy cargo lifter to haul this fuel cell to the freighter’s lifeboat, load it aboard the lifeboat, and rig it to explode when the pirates recover the lifeboat.”
“Oh.” Lochan nodded, trying to think through the plan. “And why will the pirates bother recovering the lifeboat?”
“Because you and I will be aboard the lifeboat, trying to escape.”
“Yeah. Okay. Freya, I see a problem with this plan.”
She grinned. “We won’t really be aboard it. They’ll think we are. Lochan, we don’t have much time to work with. I can’t muscle this thing onto the lifter without your help. Trust me?”
“Sure.” He moved close to the fuel cell rack, feeling worried at getting closer even though from what he knew of fuel cells if one went unstable now there wouldn’t be any safe place on the whole ship. But humans had a natural aversion to getting close to really dangerous things even if those things seemed safe at the moment.
It took all his and Freya’s strength combined to manhandle the fuel cell far enough out of the rack to fit into the lifter’s grasp. Once that was done, Lochan took the lifter’s handle and slowly, cautiously backed it through engineering.
While he was doing that, Freya went to a bank of cabinets and sealed shelves, selecting pieces of equipment that she stuffed into an expandable carryall. “Don’t open the big hatch out of engineering yet,” she warned. “There’s an alarm on it.”
Lochan waited as Freya went to the hatch panel and entered some commands to disable the alarm. Once satisfied, she touched a control and the big hatch slid back, making enough noise to cause Lochan to cringe.
They maneuvered the lifter out of engineering and a short distance down a different passageway to another hatch, this one labeled Lifeboat—Emergency Access Only. Once again Freya went to work. “I need to bypass another alarm,” she explained. “I’m also diverting the video feed from that safety cam above the hatch. That one does work, which will be good for us later on. There. The alarm’s off, and right now the camera is only showing a continuous loop of the empty corridor here.”
This hatch resisted their efforts, but Lochan helped Freya throw the handle so it finally cracked open.
The lifeboat, big enough to carry the crew and a few others under tight conditions and keep them alive for a couple of weeks (“longer if they eat each other” Mele Darcy had once joked to Lochan), tightly filled the space beyond.
Freya opened the lifeboat’s hatch, wide to allow rapid access, and helped Lochan maneuver the lifter in far enough to deposit the fuel cell in the center of the lifeboat. Once he’d backed out the lifter, Lochan found Freya frowning at the fuel cell. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s heavy enough it shouldn’t shift when the lifeboat boosts away,” Freya explained, “but I’d like to fasten it somehow just to be certain.”
“No problem,” Lochan said, happy to know something useful in this matter that Freya apparently didn’t. He went to the emergency repair locker near the front of the lifeboat and opened it, immediately finding what he was looking for. “This’ll do it.”
Freya smiled at what he held. “Duct tape.”
“Two rolls. Required as part of the emergency supplies on every shuttle, lifeboat, and escape pod,” Lochan said. “A friend of mine told me that while we were, uh, killing time aboard a shuttle hoping to be rescued.” He went to work wrapping duct tape around the fuel cell and fastening it to the frames of the nearest seats while Freya assembled the other items she’d taken from engineering.
“Is that a tool universal power pack?” Lochan asked.
“Yes,” Freya answered, nodding toward the small, squarish object. “They can be found anywhere people use tools. And, unlike fuel cells, they’re a lot easier to mess with. Someone who knows what they’re doing, or someone who’s an idiot, can rig them to explode.”
Lochan saw her fastening the power pack to a place on the fuel cell where Freya had removed protective covers. “So that’s the, uh, detonator?”
“Right,” Freya said, working as she talked. “When it goes off here without any protection for this area it’ll rupture some important things inside the fuel cell. I’ve already disabled other safety features that might still limit the failure of the fuel cell so it’ll be certain to blow. And now I’m linking this receiver to the proximity alarm on the lifeboat. When the lifeboat comes in contact with another object, such as a ship owned by pirates, it should explode.”
“Should?”
“It’s always good to have backup, right?” Freya was laying out wires on the deck of the lifeboat, working as quickly as possible in the confined space. “Go on out. I’ll be right behind you.”
Lochan left the lifeboat, waiting outside the boat’s hatch as Freya backed out, laying wire as she went, swinging the hatch closed most of the way before making some final touches and sealing it. “A nice, simple, manual backup. If the proximity alarm fails to set off the power pack, opening this hatch will cross some wires, complete a circuit, and make sure the job’s done.”
“Uh-huh,” Lochan said, eyeing her in the dim light. “Catalan certainly gives its trade negotiators interesting skill sets.”
“You have to admit they came in handy.” With Lochan’s help, they carefully resealed the hatch to the lifeboat compartment, Freya examining it closely to ensure nothing looked amiss. “All right. I’ve gimmicked the video cam so I can feed it more signals later remotely. Let’s get this lifter back to engineering, then get back to our cabins before anyone spots us.”
The trip back felt more tense to Lochan than earlier as he worried about how much time it had taken to get this far. But they maneuvered the lifter back into place, Freya closed the latches on the now-empty fuel cell holder at the end of the rack to avoid making it obvious that one had been taken, and got the big hatch closed.
They were in the passageway where their cabins were, within a few meters of safety, when Lochan heard the scuff of a footstep from around the corner.
Before he could react, Freya pinned him against the nearest bulkhead and pressed her mouth against his.
Startled, Lochan kept his eyes open and saw a drowsy-looking crew member walk past. The crew member glanced at them, paused as if deciding whether to stop and watch for a while, then went onward.
“Sorry,” Freya gasped in a whisper as she stood back from Lochan. “We had to make sure that guy thought we were out at this hour for fun and games.”
“You don’t have to apologize. It’s been awhile since I was kissed like that.”
“I couldn’t tell,” Freya said with a wink. “Be prepared at any moment with your stuff ready to go. I’ll come by, and we’ll pretend to escape.”
“How long?” Lochan asked.
“It’s . . . sixteen hours until those pirates catch this ship. We’ll make our escape when they’re close, like we’re panicking. All right?”
“All right. How are we going to launch it?”
“I rigged the flight controls so I can activate the launch sequence remotely. See you in about fifteen hours, Lochan.”
“Shouldn’t we be seen plotting together before then?” Lochan asked. “So when this happens, the others can put two and two together and come up with the wrong sum?”
“Right. Good thinking. I’ll see you at breakfast, then.”
Lochan went back to his cabin and lay down but couldn’t sleep. Finally, he got up and carefully packed his small travel bag. Just like someone planning on going somewhere soon.
CHAPTER 14
“All passengers are to go to their cabins and remain there until further notice.”
Lochan listened to the announcement along with the others nervously waiting crowded together in the rec room. He gave Freya an obvious inquisitive look, and she returned an obvious nod. Everyone headed for their cabins, but after only a few minutes Lochan left his again after grabbing his bag.
The compartment on the other side was some sort of access, long and low. They could barely sit up in it. “What if this doesn’t work?” Lochan asked in a whisper as Freya got the hatch closed and settled down near him.
“We get to see some parts of Scatha, or Apulu or Turan, that most people never see,” Freya said, bringing out her pad. “All right, then. I need to link in to the freighter’s systems and . . . done. What does this say? Am I reading it right?”
Lochan leaned close and squinted. “Twenty minutes to intercept. That pirate ship is close.”
“As close as we want it to get. All right,” Freya said again. “Here’s the feed to the lifeboat video cam. I’m inserting this other image of you and me, with time marks making it look like this is happening right now. And . . . activate hatch alarm.”
“I don’t hear anything,” Lochan said.
“It probably only sounds on the freighter’s control deck. Now . . . this . . . and . . .”
Lochan felt a jolt run through the freighter as the protective cover for the lifeboat blew off, followed by another jolt as spring-loaded rams shoved the lifeboat away from the freighter. “So far, so good.”
“Yeah. And now it’s all on auto. Escape boost.” Freya scrolled through commands on her pad. “Here’s the freighter’s exterior display again. There’s the lifeboat boosting away as we make our escape.”
“Where are we escaping to?” Lochan asked.
“The Bruce Monroe. They jumped into Tantalus from Kosatka a few days behind us, remember? They’re following our track because they have to in order to get to the next jump point. We’re trying to get to them so we can convince them to turn around and jump out before the pirates finish dealing with this ship and come after them.” Freya’s smile held a wicked edge. “I might have mentioned that someone could do that where someone else could hear me.”
Lochan nodded, wondering why he felt fairly calm. “Could that have worked? I mean, as an alternative if we didn’t want to use a bomb?”
“No way,” Freya said, biting her lip as she stared at her pad. “I ran the math on my desk unit in my cabin, just to provide a little more misleading evidence. Even on the best trajectories available, we couldn’t escape that way. The lifeboat isn’t fast enough. But you and I are panicking, taking the only available means to escape. Most of those watching will assume we’re two lovers on the lam, but there are others on this ship and the pirate who I’m sure will see other reasons for our wish to avoid being captured and questioned by those alleged pirates. They know who you are, a representative of Kosatka’s government, and they’ll see I came from Catalan, and they’ll want to make sure we don’t get away.”
Lochan, slightly hunched over as he sat, couldn’t help smiling despite his discomfort. “I’m a secret agent fleeing with an attractive fellow spy, eh? This is like one of those wish-fulfillment simulations.”
She gave him a sidelong look, smiling. “Thanks for the compliment. What makes you think I’m a spy?”
“Nothing. You’re just an average, everyday trade representative. I must have forgotten that while you were rigging that bomb.” Lochan shivered. This compartment had some sort of insulation problem, rendering it uncomfortably cold as well as cramped.
“Listen,” Freya cautioned. She kept the volume low, but Lochan could hear the captain’s voice.
“Damned fools! Two of them! They’ve launched my lifeboat!” Lochan couldn’t help flinching as the captain raged on the interstellar rescue frequency. “It’s not my doing!”
The reply from the pirates was short and sharp. “Two of your passengers? Who?”
“Nakamura and Morgan. We’ve got vid of them at the lifeboat, and they’re not anywhere aboard. Nakamura came on at Kosatka, and Morgan has been riding us since Catalan. I have nothing to do with this!”
“Maintain your current vector,” the order came.
“The pirates are changing vector,” Lochan said, watching the relay of the freighter’s display.
“Yes. Let’s see. The freighter’s systems are showing it maneuvering to catch the lifeboat. Excellent.”
“It looks like an easy move for them.” Lochan shook his head. “You were right. We wouldn’t have stood a chance if we’d tried to run for real.”
“If this doesn’t work,” Freya replied, “we still won’t stand a chance. Keep as quiet as you can. If we’re found now it could ruin everything.”
Lochan found that he couldn’t look away from the relay of the freighter’s display shown on Freya’s pad. He could do nothing to change anything that was happening. Yet still he kept his eyes fixed to the display as if his attention were critically important to the outcome.
“They’re getting close to catching that lifeboat,” Lochan whispered.
Freya nodded, keeping her own gaze locked on her pad as she replied. “This freighter’s systems are estimating five more minutes.”
The pirate ship looked externally much like the Oarai Miho. Boxy, with main propulsion much smaller in proportion to the ship than would be the case on warships. Merchant freighters didn’t waste money on using up more fuel cells than required, sticking to economical if slow rates of acceleration and deceleration. But Lochan could see what appeared to be an extra main propulsion unit added on the pirate vessel, allowing it to outaccelerate other freighters, and there were at least two extra bulges on the hull of the pirate craft that Lochan suspected concealed weapons. “I wonder if that really is the Brian Smith?”
“The one you said was taken at Vestri three years ago? It could be. You don’t remember any distinctive features?”
“No. Not on the outside of the ship, anyway,” Lochan said. “And it looks like they’ve done some work on the outside, so anything I remembered might be wrong. But it fits, doesn’t it? Using a captured freighter as another privateer. That would help prevent anyone from tracing the sales record of the ship to see where it came from. And they’ve had plenty of time to add weapons and more propulsion to the Brian Smith.”
“It’s still not much to have us all so scared, is it?” Freya said. “A destroyer would take it apart in no time if anyone ever sent destroyers to patrol star systems like this and clean out pirates and privateers.”
“In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,” Lochan quoted. “With only us and the Bruce Monroe to worry about, and both freighters completely unarmed, that guy is the biggest dog in the neighborhood.”
“So you’re a philosopher, too, eh?” Freya asked. “Brigit’s a lucky girl.”
“Brigit and I haven’t—”
“You will. Assuming our plan works and we don’t both disappear into those secret prisons.”
An alert appeared on the freighter’s display, showing that the pirate Brian Smith was on final approach to the lifeboat, which following its automated flight pattern had stopped boosting away from the Oarai Miho and was now only coasting through space. “Grapnels,” Lochan said. “Is that what that says? Is that something that lets a ship grab a lifeboat?”
“Apparently. Half a minute,” Freya read off the display. “Keep your fingers crossed, and if you’ve anyone and anything to pray to, now’s the time.”
The seconds counted down. “Contact,” Freya said, disappointed. “The proximity detonator signal failed.”
“How long until we know if your manual backup—” Lochan began.
A brilliant, white flare of energy appeared where the lifeboat had been, engulfing a large part of the freighter. They heard nothing, of course, but Lochan’s imagination supplied a vast boom to match the size of that explosion, a sound that felt so real it was almost as if he’d really heard it.
As the flare of light faded, s
everal large, broken segments of what had once been the pirate Brian Smith could be seen tumbling away from where the burst of energy had torn apart most of the ship.
“Do you think we got them all?” Lochan asked.
Freya nodded, smiling once more. “Oh, yeah. See? They brought the lifeboat alongside their crew section. That was completely swallowed up by the energy released when the fuel cell let everything go at once. Scratch one pirate ship and one pirate crew, who’ve probably hurt a lot of people in the past.” She entered commands rapidly, waiting. “And scratch everything on this pad that shows what I’ve been doing with it. But, since it’s possible one of the freighter crew is the sort of hacker who can recover even triple-wiped and overwritten data . . .” She popped open the back of the pad, pulled out the memory coins, and held them up. “These are pretty hard to break.”
“What are you going to do with them?”
Freya wriggled around enough to access some of the insulation and shoved the coins behind it. “That.”
“Now what?” Lochan asked. “We have to come out of here sooner or later.”
“Yeah. And the captain’s going to be very unhappy with us,” Freya said. “But they’ve got no evidence that we did anything.”
“Those images of us at the lifeboat hatch—”
“Show us going there but don’t show us opening it before the cam broke for reasons that won’t be easily discovered.” Freya grinned. “Don’t you remember? We actually walked on past it, on our way to a private place where we could have one last deeply meaningful mutual physical experience before the pirates caught us.”
“This has been one of the most passionate imaginary affairs I’ve ever had,” Lochan said. “I hope it was good for you, too.”
“You’ve satisfied my every desire, Lochan Nakamura,” Freya said with a laugh. “I wanted to build a bomb and blow up that other ship, and we did.” Her smile went away. “Don’t forget. There’s likely at least one enemy agent on this ship. All they’ve tried to do is spy on us so far. With the pirate ship out of the picture, they might try something more permanent before we reach Eire.”