by Peter Kenson
The routine of sub-space jumps was familiar to all of them. The first stage would be to fix the current position to a high degree of accuracy. There is always a certain element of imprecision involved in any jump through sub-space and so, the more accurately the starting position of the jump is known, the less uncertainty there is in the prediction of the arrival point. Under Sam's direction the navigational computers would take sightings of all the major stars in the vicinity, and then make use of the parallel processing capability of the main array to simultaneously resolve all the equations giving not only the position at that instant but also the velocity of the Salamander relative to the Galaxy. The monitoring of position and velocity would then be maintained on a continuous basis by randomly checking a sample of the 1000 or so sightings on which the original fix was made.
The next stage would be to decide on a jump time and extrapolate the current position and velocity to obtain the position at jump time, the starting position. Then a course would be plotted through sub-space to the desired re-emergence point. It is always at this stage that the uncertainty arises since sub-space, almost by definition, is not normal. The conditions which the ship faces in that brief instant of transition cannot be accurately predicted. The science of sub-space jumps has progressed to a state where it is rare for a ship to be lost in sub-space but deflections from the plotted course can still, on occasions, be quite significant.
The final stage is always regarded by deep space crew as by far the most important. A probe would be despatched to the predicted arrival point to ensure that there were no stellar objects within 10 million kilometres of the actual point of re-emergence. Only when the safety of the probe is ensured will the actual jump take place. Usually the probe and the spacecraft will end up fairly close together so that the probe can be recovered quite quickly after the jump.
To jump a small probe does not require a vast amount of energy but to jump a spacecraft the size of Salamander IV requires a great deal. The equivalent of the total output of one of the Salamander's powercells would be stored in a series of capacitance devices which would then simultaneously discharge at the instant of de-materialisation. It is the recharging of these capacitance devices which takes the time and which means that it is not possible to make more than one big jump an hour although small jumps can usually be made as quickly as the computers can calculate the positions.
The battle at Rigel had started almost four hours into the journey to Andes and so had been going on now for nearly twenty hours. The tank, however, was annoyingly blank and the officers standing round were waiting with growing impatience for the display to recommence. Until the current position was fixed the tank would remain blank and although the process of sightings and calculations only took a few minutes it seemed much longer than that to an audience eager for the latest news of the battle.
As they watched the tank flickered into life showing the region local to the Salamander. Nobody made a move towards the controls to adjust the tank to Rigel, as Elida, who was Officer of the Watch, came forward. Aware of all the eyes upon her, she took extra care in performing the routine checks.
"Local space clear," she reported to the log.
"Permission to use the tank, ma'am," came almost as a chorus.
"Permission granted," she replied. "Carry on."
There was a dive for the tank controls in a race which was won by Simon. He punched in the co-ordinates of the main Rigel beacon and the tank cleared leaving a small region around Rigel centred in the tank. Normally the processors controlling the display would then hunt for all the surrounding beacons and build up a picture of a larger and larger area to fill the tank. Simon cut short this process by spinning the dials and expanding the battle zone.
"Sam, have you tapped into the Fleet Command Ship yet?"
The other annoying feature of sub-space jumps was that communications links were inevitably broken. Once the new position was fixed then Sam would start to re-establish communications. In this case the Salamander had been monitoring the transmissions from the Command Ship at Rigel and was now trying to tap into that information stream again. Until then the watching officers had to be content with basic data from the commercial navigation beacons.
"I can only make out nine rebels now," Julia said. "Have they lost another one?"
"I still make it ten," Mtebe replied. "With that one over there that's running hell for leather from the fight."
The flashing of the dots changed slightly as Sam finally made the connection to the Fleet Command Ship.
"Come on Simon, you're better at reading the naval codes than we are."
"It all looks much the same," Simon told them. "Except for that one frigate of theirs that's running. She looks pretty badly damaged: powercells I would say. And that looks like the Antares that's chasing her."
"You're probably right, Simon."
In the excitement, no-one had noticed Lord David entering the Control Room. They parted to make room for him at the tank.
"Thank you, my lord," Simon replied.
"Do you wish to take the ship, my lord," Elida asked.
"No, Lida. You carry on. I only came up because Sam told me there are going to be some developments at Rigel."
"What sort of developments, my lord. It still looks fairly indecisive at the moment."
"Watch the region around Naxos: less than two minutes now."
As they watched, green dots started to appear in a regular formation of a three dimensional cross. At the centre of the cross in line astern, were six heavy destroyers, three in front and three behind a battleship which, by its size, could only be the Tennessee. Above and below and to either side of this line, four other lines of frigates and corvettes were appearing at regular intervals. The Seventh Fleet had arrived. It made a very impressive show.
"The battle is over: the chase begins," David remarked. "It all depends now on how many of the rebel ships can be tracked down as they run.
"I think that now we had better start concentrating on our own mission. How soon before we can make the final jump?"
Mtebe scanned the power boards. "Power will be up in 22 minutes," he reported.
"Time the jump for 25 minutes then, Lida. Have we got the course co-ordinates yet?"
"The calculations haven't finished yet, my lord. I will release the probe as soon as I have them."
"Carry on then. I shall be in the docking area."
As he pushed himself down the zerograv chute, Sam came through to tell him that the probe had been launched. At the bottom, Zara and the female members of the group were already there. He looked around. The big docking doors were still tightly shut but Mtebe's technicians were making preparations, ready to open them as soon as the final jump had been successfully completed. Before opening the doors, a force screen would be established across the opening to prevent the loss of the atmosphere and permit the technicians to continue working without the need for breathing apparatus. Through this force screen, the Phoenix would be lowered on a tractor beam and then released.
He turned to Zara. "Final jump in 13 minutes, my lady.... Isn't Corin with you?"
"He's just double checking that all the equipment has been properly stowed."
"I see. And you, Brianey. This is your first mission isn't it? How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, thank you my lord." He continued to look intently at her. "Well, maybe I'm just a little bit nervous."
He smiled at her. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. Just do what Corin tells you. Ah, here he is now."
Corin appeared through the hatchway of the Phoenix. "Everything is securely stowed, my lord. We're ready to go."
"All right. How are we doing, Sam?"
"Probe is safe; jump space reported clear; deviation from plotted course 0.8%; jump time 2 minutes 8 seconds and counting."
The two minute warning sounded. They waited while the seconds ticked away to the 10 second warning and then they experienced that familiar feeling of spatial disorientation as the Salamander v
anished from one point of normal space and a fraction of a second later, re- materialised at a different point. The intensity of the feeling depended on the length of the jump and even experienced deep space travellers took a few seconds to recover.
When the sensation had passed, he went over to Zara and, cupping her elbow in his hand, steered her a little away from the group. Taking both of her hands in his, he stood looking into her dark eyes. Neither of them spoke for a long minute and then he gently raised one of her hands to his lips, bending over it slightly in the style of an age long past.
"My lady," he murmured quietly.
"My lord," she replied formally, but in a voice so soft that only he could hear.
Then he swung, business-like again, back to the waiting group.
"The Phoenix is all yours, Corin. Take her out when you're ready."
CHAPTER 6
After dropping the Phoenix off, he returned to his personal quarters through the garden. He toyed with the idea of snatching a couple of hours sleep during the transit to Floreat but there was still too much to be done. One thing in particular had been niggling at the back of his mind all day.
"Sam, where is Marie?"
"She's in her quarters, boss.... her room computer tells me that she's asleep."
Well, that was one thing that would have to wait until later. He showered and changed his clothes. Then he went over to his personal safe and took out a small and intricately carved, ivory box. His fingers felt around the pattern, searching for the concealed spring mechanism. There was the faintest of clicks and the lid opened a fraction. He carefully put the box down on a small table and opened the lid fully.
A warm glow flooded out from the box and seemed to fill the room around him. He lifted the jewel out and felt its power increase with the nearness of his touch. It was a Moonstone, so called because, according to legend, the first one had been discovered on the only moon of Old Earth. Although its power had not been realised at that time, it had still been prized for its colour, beauty and extreme rarity. It was more than a hundred years later that the wearing of a Moonstone was first linked to an increase in telepathic powers and decades after that, before the link was conclusively proved.
Even now, when it was recognised that most people had latent telepathic powers to some degree or other, not everybody reacted positively to the jewel. And even when they did, it required years of practice to take full advantage of the heightened awareness that was potentially available. Ideally, each individual Moonstone would be cut to match the psychic profile of the person who would normally use it. In that way the enhancement of the telepathic powers would be maximised, although even a rough, uncut Moonstone would provide some increase.
He had himself spent five years of study and meditation with the monks of Platos, learning how to control his powers, before this particular Moonstone had been cut to his personality and he had then spent a further two years as a novice before being allowed to go off planet.
Now he placed the jewel around his neck, feeling as he did so, the bustle of activity all around him. Carefully he set in place the psychic control blocks which pushed this awareness into the back of his mind until he specifically chose to use it. Without those blocks in place he would be swamped by the thoughts and feelings of everybody around him. Apart from, on occasions, causing severe embarrassment, an inability to selectively tune out the background 'noise' had been known to completely break an otherwise strong and stable mind.
He finished packing the clothes and equipment he was taking to Floreat and summoned a servitor robot to take it down to the docking area for him. Then he settled himself down into a comfortable chair and set his mind to work, to establish a telepathic connection. He let the waves of background thoughts wash over him again but this time he analysed them, discarding first the ones which were most obviously different from the pattern he sought. Gradually he refined his selection process, narrowing the search down to the pattern he remembered. He could not have described this pattern: but just as the brain has the ability to recognise a voice over a communicator with the vision switched off, his brain remembered and recognised the thought patterns of the people with whom he had most contact.
Suzanne was aware of him as soon as he touched her. He withdrew slightly as etiquette demanded and waited for her to respond.
"Yes, my lord," came the inquiring thought.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Suzanne, but as this will be the back-up comms link for this operation, I thought we ought to reinforce the link. Are you busy right now or can we link minds for a moment?"
"Yes, of course."
She took down the outer layer of barriers in her mind and welcomed him in. He experienced again the strange sensation of receiving two sets of conflicting data. He was in his own quarters but he was also standing in the Control Room watching the other officers going about their duties. He was Suzanne.... but not completely. He could still sense the inner barriers in place, preventing him from accidentally straying too deep and his training did not allow him to probe. Instead he withdrew. The patterns of their thought processes were now firmly implanted in each other's minds. It would not take so long to find each other next time.
"Ok, Suzanne. Please inform the Officer of the Watch that I'm on my way to the Control Room and have the Comms Room prepared. It's time to contact the Centre."
***
Marienna was not sure what it was that had woken her: whether it was the music that had started playing again, softly in the background or whether it was the smell of fresh coffee emanating from the servitor robot standing patiently by her couch. Whichever it was, she decided, it was a very pleasant way to wake up.
"Where are we?" she addressed the room computer.
"Sam says that we're holding outside the Floreat system before making our final approach."
"Ok. Ask Sam what the local time is on Floreat and how we're doing against the schedule."
"Local Floreat time is 04:34, sunrise at the spaceport will be at 06:57. Sam says we're still on schedule to drop down to Floreat just before dawn."
"And what about the Aldebaran's schedule?"
"The Aldebaran is due to arrive in a transit orbit around Floreat at about 11:30 local time and depart transit orbit again at 17:30 local. The shuttle is scheduled to land at the spaceport at 14:00 and lift off is 15:00 local. Sam says that his latest information is that the Aldebaran is still on schedule."
Marienna drank some of the coffee and went over to the cupboard to choose an outfit suitable for the wife of a prosperous jewel merchant. Despite the fact that she had already made up her mind to wear a formal outfit for travelling in and had insisted the previous day that the workshop make her one as a rush job, she went through a long routine of comparing the new outfit against the rest of her wardrobe before deciding that she would indeed wear it.
She carefully folded it and packed it into the small rucksack that was all that she would be allowed to take with her. Making an illegal entry onto the planet meant that they would have to travel as light as possible to start with, and would have to buy further clothes and other necessities from the shops and boutiques around the spaceport when they got there.
She dressed quickly in a plain coverall and boots, and finished the rest of her coffee. Kneeling down in front of a small locker by the side of her couch, she pressed her palm against the viewplate and after a few seconds, the door swung open. Inside was a small arsenal of personal weapons. Marienna began selecting the ones she would take on this mission.
A small needle laser she strapped to her wrist and concealed under the sleeve of her coverall. Activated by muscle pressure, it was deadly at up to 30 metres and capable of inflicting a severe burn at over five times that range. Miniature stun and gas grenades had been designed to look like ornaments and attach to her belt. Goggles and nasal filter plugs, to enable her to operate in a gas filled environment, she placed in the belt pouch together with a selection of standard and electronic picklocks.
A col
lapsible laser rifle complete with telescopic sight and image intensifier went into the rucksack. A miniature video camera and directional microphone went in next. The camera had been specially adapted to use the same lens attachments as the rifle and also incorporated a transmitter capable of sending the pictures directly back to the Salamander's databanks. Finally, she put on the gold necklace containing the throat microphone and the earrings which contained the corresponding receivers.
The belt she wore was also a product of the electronics workshop. Concealed as one of the studs was a switch which, if activated, would immediately generate a force screen tailored to the contours of the wearer's body. The force screen was designed both to absorb energy pulses from laser weapons and to deflect projectiles. It was not intended to be a complete replacement for body armour but was lighter and less bulky for normal everyday use.
She finished checking the equipment and looked at her watch.
"How long before the final jump?" she asked.
"I have not yet been informed of a jump time," her room computer replied, "but Sam tells me that all positional calculations have been completed."
"I see. Do you know where Lord David is?"
She did not actually expect an answer to that as Sam was normally very discreet about Lord David's movements. She was, therefore, surprised, not only by getting an answer at all, but also by its detail.
"Sam says that Lord David is in the Communications Room talking to Excellency Khan."
Obviously her security status had been radically upgraded for Sam to be so free with his information. She felt considerably cheered by this realisation as she picked up the rucksack.
"Please inform Lord David, when he comes out of the Comms Room, that I have gone down to the docking area to check out the penetrator."
***
In the Comms Room he waited impatiently for Sam to complete the electronic screening and establish the secure link with the Centre. Eventually the viewscreen cleared to display an unsmiling Khan.
