Interstellar Starpilots

by F Stephan

  “No jump allowed for at least ten more hours. A few days would be better if we could offer them,” she told him seriously.

  “I’m going to brief you. You’ve got more resistance than Sunray,” Brian slurred. “We’ve no other choice.”

  “I don’t have the potential for this,” she answered sadly. She had taken the pilot exam and had failed. She couldn’t hold that level of nanites.

  “Then, we overshoot the point and make a large circle to jump in a day. We will still win weeks against the other crew and I’ll be in better shape.”

  Liliana nodded with a sob. A day would mean thousands of lives lost at home. But this was their best chance.

  Sunray interrupted them with a call from the engineering desk where he was still struggling to stabilize the singularity. “Incoming transmission.”

  “We’re in the middle of nowhere!” Liliana shouted. “Who could talk to us? Put the transmission on the speakers.”

  “Hello, Federation ship. Who are you? This is Forabitofgold. What are you doing here? Where are you coming from? Are you aware that there’s a quarantine around Dupner?” The voice was rough and unpleasant. This was a mining outfit from Baol, looking for rare metals and undiscovered artifacts. Liliana thought of the awful reputation those pilots had.

  “This is the Scout backandthere. We’re coming from Alkath with an antidote to the plague in Dupner. We’ve got to reach it.”

  The return signal took a whole minute to reach them back.

  “Are you kidding me? There’s a cluster between us and Alkath and the only jump point leading there is inside a star.” Disbelief was palpable in the other’s voice.

  “I know. Our pilot jumped through it. And now, he’s so shaken, we can’t reach Dupner.”

  Liliana wanted to weep while she waited.

  “Sweetheart, is that the only problem you’ve got?” Scorn had been replaced by awe in the other’s voice.

  “Yes. The ship is tight and in good working conditions.”

  A minute ticked by before the voice spoke again. “You’re lucky I had another past before running this sad ship. If you’ve got a cure for them, we’ll give you a lift. Mind you, I can’t give you more than one jump, I’m not good enough for more than that. But that will get you to Dupner. We’ll be in position in four hours, jump in five. Now, this are the coordinates I want you to reach by that time. And the flight vector I’ll need.”

  Liliana stole a quick glance to the main bridge where a series of coordinates appeared in midair.

  “Ask Lexia to bring the ship as requested. She can do it,” Brian murmured in a croak, again falling asleep. Lexia confirmed while Liliana checked on Chilin and continued to nurse Brian into shape. A few jumps would still be needed within Dupner’s system. One problem at a time.

  Five hours later, Forabitofgold tore hyperspace to carry them into Dupner’s system.

  Lapren

  Adheek, 2141 AD, First week of May

  The Adheeken temple of the Origin overlooked the small lake that flanked the city, with a stunning view on the mountains beyond. But Archbishop Lapren wasn’t looking. He was packing quickly with Neht’s help. He knew when it was time to make an exit, had always known such a time might come. There were rumors of human settlements outside the reach of the Federation. He had long tracked those rumors and, in the maps he had picked up here in this office, he had all existing clues on where to look. He had a ship, a pilot, and there, he was fairly certain the Other wouldn’t be able to reach him.

  “Time to go, Neht. We’ve got everything we need. Set up the timer. We don’t leave any proof behind.”

  His office door burst open as police forces rushed in.

  “Proof? Of what?” Master Heikert walked in, smiling viciously as if he owned the place. “You know what? We’re going to have a long talk together, you and I.” Lapren shuddered at the voice, but lassitude took him by surprise. Time to expiate my sins.

  Puylian

  Dupner, 2141 AD, First week of May

  Puylian was cloistered in his office at the Mansion as he had been for days. In front of him, a single chart pulsed with the death toll in the city. The count was rising day by day, exponentially. In two weeks, the earliest the Federation could be back, they’d be dead, all of them.

  Around him, some still fought. Alia and Mathias spoke with him every day. He reached out to others in different cities as well as offering support and coordination. In those calls, he was the dignified leader, bearing the strain and providing comfort. Between them, he sank into despair, bleak and ugly. He didn’t sleep anymore, barely ate. His eyes were bloodshot. He didn’t have anyone left alive outside. His wife had died a week before, in a mercifully quick outburst of the sickness.

  On the table in front of him, he had set the old farm gun from his great-grandfather, from when they had lived down in the jungle. He watched his skin for the first signs of the plague. When they would appear, he’d be ready. He sighed that it wouldn’t be long now.

  “Priority communication incoming.” A red signal blipped at the edge of his sight.

  “I’ve asked not to be disturbed,” he said grumpily.

  “We’ve got an incoming ship, the Forabitofgold.” This was the space station crew. There were barely fifty, without planetary supplies since quarantine had begun. But they held on, comforting everyone on the planet and ensuring no one would leave. One ship had tried, early on, only to be shot down. This type of quarantine suffered no exception.

  “This is a miner ship from Baol. They know about the quarantine. Remind them and send them away. Don’t let them get close to the planet.” The farmer in chief moved to close the connection.

  “They’re bringing a ship back with them. They’re not alone. The distortion is too big.”

  Surprise struck Puylian. “There’s nothing where they went. Just the cluster between us and . . .” This wasn’t possible. Puylian couldn’t form the words nor even mouth them.

  “Incoming transmission from them. Relaying it.” The operator was so excited he didn’t ask for Puylian’s permission. To have it within seconds of its detection, the ship must have transmitted barely out of emergence.

  In front of Puylian, a square face appeared, ebony skin, dark eyes, mirroring his own. “Father, hold on.” Urgency and anguish could be read on her face. “We’re coming. We’re coming as fast as we can. We’ve got a cure.”

  Puylian couldn’t believe it. There was no direct way open between Dupner and Alkath, hadn’t been since Dupner’s discovery. The image couldn’t be his daughter. Hallucination was the first sign of the plague before the beginning of the fever. This was the time. He closed the connection and picked up the gun in front of him.

  Mathias

  Dupner, 2141 AD, First week of May

  Alia shook Mathias awake in the small bed of the infirmary. “What . . .” he felt so slow. How long did I sleep? A quick look at his watch showed he had collapsed for less than three hours.

  “I’ve got a signal from the space station, but I can’t decode it.”

  “Well, the main relay at the governor’s mansion will do that for us.” He yawned.

  “They aren’t responding. The station is pinging me repeatedly and I don’t get any answer from the Mansion.”

  This got a response from the sleepy Mathias, who got up and activated his console in plain air. “There.” He yawned again. His left hand took the signal from the space station while his right built a decoding sequence. It was child’s play for him. In a minute, the station master’s face appeared on the screen. Alia was behind him and focused the 3-D on her.

  “Lamre, how can I help you? Why aren’t you talking to Puylian?”

  “He closed the connection on us an hour ago. We haven’t been able to raise him or the Mansion since then.”

  “Mathias?” Alia glanced quickly at Mathias.

  “On it.” He didn’t waste time reaching the Mansion. If the station couldn’t, he wouldn’t do better than they. They were the be
st geeks on Dupner. Instead, he contacted the police station close to it and his chief.

  “Yes, Mathias.” It was way past midnight, and the chief was still up, red-eyed like all of them.

  “Something happened at the Mansion. Get in and fast. Don’t bother knocking. Do it, Puoer, now, please.” The other didn’t wait and was already grabbing his sidearm. They had worked for days together now, chasing the little devil, and they knew each other well.

  Behind him, he heard Alia gasp. He turned to see a woman on the 3-D, a younger image of Puylian. “Alia, we’re on our way. We need two or three more jumps to reach the planet. Three to four days at best. We’ve got the antidote.”

  Alia replied immediately. “Liliana, come faster if you can. We’re reaching the critical time. A day means hundreds of thousand people saved or dying.”

  Mathias heard a croak behind the girl and recognized Brian. “We’ll do what we can.”

  Alia turned toward him. “As soon as they land, we will distribute the antidote. Get everything you can ready for mass replication and distribution.”

  Mathias looked at her, her big eyes relying on him for assistance, and rose. He knew by now everyone on the assistance network on the planet nearly as well as Puylian. They needed to know what was happening. We may still survive.

  Brian

  Dupner, 2141 AD, First week of May

  Three hours later, Sunray and Chilin brought Brian on a stretcher to the main bridge.

  “Will you be okay?”

  “Yes, I’ve got everything I need around me.” He showed the crates assembled around his console. “And Lexia will nurse me until I get better. Now, go to the shuttle. Jump in ten minutes.”

  Sunray left him after checking for the last time the rudimentary camp they had set up around him. Chilin was still unconscious. They had brought him to the shuttle they would use to reach the orbital station.

  Brian checked his parameters for the last time. He couldn’t do two or three jumps. He wasn’t strong enough. The only thing he could deliver was a long jump accelerating around the sun while braking the smaller spacecraft close to the planet. Two days saved on their trip. No one knew how his body would take this strain. But it meant millions of lives saved and that was worth it, he thought. From the station, Sunray and Liliana would drop to the planet with the lander still there. And Mathias had organized the distribution of the antidote. It’s worth doing.

  He closed his eyes for an instant only to be reawakened by Sunray. “I am in the shuttle. Ready for launch.”

  “Okay, we’re jumping in ten minutes. Get ready. Lexia, please set up a countdown and prepare for the jump.”

  Brian was unsteady. His vision blurred and he couldn’t focus. He took the syringe Liliana had prepared and shot himself with the autoinjector. High energy proteins ran now in his blood. It wouldn’t last. No more than a few minutes. He activated his nanites. His body was in agony and the enhanced senses amplified everything he felt.

  Jump in front. Shuttle attached and in launch position. All clear. Reach the rift. Singularity dropping but stable. Jump. Exit vectors okay. Shuttle launched, front clamp released. Angle okay. Energy transfer okay. Good to go. And release the nanites.

  The agony stopped while he fainted again.

  Around him, silent robots took care of him as best they could. Lexia watched over him silently. She was patient, had always been. She would wait until he woke. She liked having company once more. As Even had watched over her during the long wait. Now, it was her turn to care for Brian.

  Emily

  Dupner, 2141 AD, Third week of May

  Emily’s ship jumped at last into Dupner’s system. There had been two other ambushes on the trip and they had learned caution the hard way, leaving Lorenia and Poulem stranded with their crews in a dead system, waiting for their flight back to be rescued. She was now the first of the group, the first to reach the last star system of their trip. Five ships had made it through.

  “Signal Dupner that we’ll arrive in two days.” She was tired beyond belief. She had slept on the bridge, in her chair, until they arrived, alternating her time between the defense console and the jumps. “Ask how they’re doing.”

  A few minutes later, the time for the light to travel back and forth, Lamre, the station mistress, appeared on their screen. “Welcome, Iflyfarther, we’re doing better. You’re the second ship to reach us.” Elation took her over. He’s made it through. He’s alive. “But we need you now. We have replicated all the nanites from the backandthere and we need yours. How many are you?”

  “Five ships. We’ll decelerate and reach you as fast as we can. We will give you estimates on arrival as fast as we can.” She began computing different paths to reach the station. She would need the other ships with them to break faster.

  An hour later, she had the plan to reach the station. Sonter would perform a Calouli to bring immediate relief while the other took a more standard approach.

  “Hello, station, here are the flight paths. Okay for you?” She sent all the details and a quick reply confirmed the agreement of Lamre, the station master. “Master, a fellow earthman piloted the backandthere, could you put me in touch with him?” She had a few minutes before the next flight corrections.

  “Our apologies, Pilot. We can’t.” The reply came a few minutes later, delayed with the distance.

  “Sorry? Why not?” She bit her lip, waiting for the reply.

  “Because we don’t know where he is.” The station sent a small video of the shuttle drop by the ship and its arrival to the station. “It’s on cometary orbit and we can’t find it. We don’t have the capacity to do a fast system sweep. We’ve begun one but it’s going to take a week to locate the ship. It’s too close to the sun, the singularity doesn’t show on our screens.” Usually, a ship could be detected by the distortion it created on gravity waves. Except if he had sent around a massive gravity distortion.

  For a full minute, her crew fled her bridge and the curses she shouted at the empty air in front of her. Then, she turned slowly to the defense console. “Leila, I’m going to need your help. We may have to make a detour. It will push our systems a bit.” She saw the shaman’s head pop up from the main lounge.

  “Your wish is my pleasure.” A low bow followed while she left for the engineering’s room.

  “What if this isn’t a defense system? It has been tracking objects but has never done anything more than that, isn’t that it?” Emily was turning all around the console.

  “Nope, but I don’t get your . . .”

  Emily was now in front of the black metal computer. She activated her nanites and linked with the machine.

  “Vocal command. Activate.” Confirmed. “Can you track an object outside of our projected path?” Confirmed. “Can you list all ships within this solar system?” Impossible. Surface to space ship and surface ship cannot be tracked. Reformulate. “Can you list all scout-class spaceships within this solar system?” Confirmed. “Please do.”

  Computation time. Ten minutes required. “Project results on the main screen when ready.”

  “Leila, results in ten minutes. Then, I’ll need to use the singularity to go and fetch Brian and his ship.”

  “Where?”

  “Close to the sun, somewhere. Expect him to be in trouble. Real trouble.” Leila looked at her strangely and she shrugged. She felt it in her bones. She had to hurry now.

  She opened a link to Shanak, who asked immediately, “Did you find him?”

  Without a word, she sent over the details on Brian’s position.

  The warrior looked at her and burst out laughing. “Okay, I’ll lead everyone to Dupner while you grab our hero.”

  Ten minutes later, Emily sat on the bridge with her crew around her.

  “What’s your assessment of the situation?”

  A schematic of the planetary system appeared in their midst. “Backandthere will be coming back to us in a few weeks if we don’t intervene. If the pilot’s in trouble, he’ll be
dead by that time. Without mentioning the effects of radiation.”

  Melal, the environmental specialist, frowned. He had an elongated face with a bushy beard, and his frown made him look like a horse, which tended to distract Emily. Today, she focused all her attention on him. “No worries at that distance. Unless we have bad luck.”

  “Any other risks?” Emily looked them all in the eyes.

  “Apart from not being able to grab the ship on the first run and having to do it twice?” Melal was openly grinning at her.

  “I’ll grab it on the first run, trust me.”

  Leila looked at her. “You’d better, or it’ll be hell to pay.”

  A day later, she grabbed the backandthere on the first run as she had promised. Once they were away from the sun, they boarded the ship. Brian laid unconscious in the middle of the main bridge, breathing steadily, tended by robots all around him.

  Emily looked at him for a minute, fuming, and then went back to her ship, leaving her medic to tend to her friend. Idiot, he’s just an idiot.

  Mathias

  Volpre station, 2141 AD, June

  Mathias was back in space, but he hoped it would be only for a short while. Dupner Space Station was poorly designed, like the one used on Earth, and he hated the place. Emily was seated in a corner, wearing her sternest look, tasting different fruits.

  “How are you, my dear? And our hero?” He hadn’t been able to check on Brian during the flight to orbit.

  Emily beamed at him. “Me, fine! But it’s going to take some time before he can fly again. We’ll leave his ship here and bring his crew with us. Are you ready to fly back?”

  “No, Emily. I’m not.” He had come to his decision a few days earlier. But now, he had to announce it.

  She swallowed hard. “What? Who’s going to bring it back?”