A sudden shudder ran through the ship when they brushed against a Red-tail scout.
“Sorry about that!” Ian said through clenched teeth as he tightened his grip on the throttle. He lightly brushed the axis ball to give them a hair more room on the next group coming through the transit tube.
“Is it me or does this thing appear to be shrinking?” Ian asked, continuing to slide the Express back and forth around the other ships.
“It’s shrinking,” Lyyle reported. “But it’s not collapsing. This just seems to be the narrowing that Ert warned us about.”
“Just what I need,” Ian spat as two larger Red-tail ships appeared heading directly at them. “I’m going to have to slow down a touch. There’s not enough room to squeeze by them!”
“I only detect four of them,” Lyyle noted. “After that there’s only two or three more of the scout class.”
“They should start collapsing this thing soon,” Ian observed.
He brought the Express nearly to a stop. Carefully, he edged as close as he dare to the wall of the transit tube. Ert had warned them not to pierce the side. Not only could the forces involved tear the ship apart, it would make them instantly detectable. Add the danger that it could collapse the tube prematurely, or shoot them out into unknown space, and it was enough to raise the hair on the back of Ian’s neck.
Out through the front windows both men could see the larger Red-tail ships loom ahead of them. A collision seemed imminent but at what seemed like the last second, the ships slid past. Ian could have sworn that it was by just a matter of inches. After the last large ship passed, the two scouts Lyyle had detected earlier shot past, trying to keep their position.
“Tube ahead all clear!” Lyyle exclaimed.
“Here we go!” Ian replied as he shoved the throttle bar well into the yellow quadrant. The Express shot forward and in seconds was approaching the tube entrance.
“The tube is narrowing,” Lyyle reported. “Flux lines intensifying!”
“Give me an overlay across the front!” Ian ordered. “I’ve got to see those things or I’ll miss our target!”
“Image coming up now,” Lyyle answered. Under Ert’s directions, they had modified two of the emitters to project the images normally seen only on the detector screen onto the front windows of the Express as a heads-up display. The appearance from the control seat was of blue and green waves of energy twisting and swirling ahead of them. Ian carefully tried to match the pattern and slip between them.
“How do the Red-tails do it?” Lyyle asked from his station.
“From what Ert told me, it is by brute force,” Ian replied absently. “He said the Red-tails sometimes lose a few ships coming through, but consider it an acceptable loss.”
“Charming,” Lyyle said. “Tube starting to collapse!” he suddenly reported as he double-checked his instruments.
“How much time?” Ian asked.
He pushed the throttle forward against the stops. Behind them, the swirling mass intensified and constricted.
Lyyle studied the monitor. “I estimate fifteen seconds before it reaches our location.”
“Hope that’s enough,” Ian struggled to stay on course between the lines of flux. A shudder ran through the ship.
“Hang on! It’s going to get rough!”
Another shudder shook the Express, followed by several more.
“Collapsing effect gaining on us!” Lyyle snapped. “Can’t you go any faster?”
“Not and maintain control!” Ian snapped back.
The ship continued to shake and shudder as it raced forward. Ahead, Ian could see the flux lines and the sides of the transit tube contract noticeably.
“We’re going to hit!” he shouted just as they reached the convergence. The ship shook like never before and a blinding flash of light flooded the cabin.
In what seemed like hours, but was actually only a matter of seconds, the Express tore through the convergence of energy. Ian later remembered hearing his ship groan and scream under the titanic forces trying to crush them. He thought his vision distorted when he saw the hull of his ship twist and stretch in impossible directions. He also thought he heard Lyyle yell something but his voice sounded distant and strangely hollow.
And just when it seemed it could get no worse, something slammed the Express from behind, sending them tumbling end-over-end forward. Ian could see their repulsion field pierce the side of the transit tube just before they rolled like a ship floundering in heavy surf.
So this is what it’s like to die! Ian thought as another brilliant flash flooded the cabin and buffeted the Express from all directions at once.
I didn’t even have time to close my eyes! he thought as his vision began to fog prior to blacking out.
Then just as quickly, it was over. Ian’s vision cleared while he fought to remain conscious. Out through the front windows was empty space with a few distant stars hanging in the darkness. Instinctively, Ian reached up and pulled the throttle back to zero, letting the Express hover in space.
“You alright over there?” Ian asked as he began to scan his own instrument panels. To his great surprise, it showed that all critical systems were still operational.
“I think so,” Lyyle answered tentatively.
“Are we still veiled?”
“Still operating normally,” Lyyle reported, surprised that anything could withstand the pressures they’d just traversed. “Any of your friends around?”
“Detectors show clear,” Ian answered. He double-checked both short and long-range sensors. “And they are not my friends,” he said tersely. “Now, what happened back there?”
“As far as I could tell, the collapsing end of the tube hit us just as we were going through the narrowest part of the transit tube,” Lyyle said. “It got kind of hard to read when everything turned to taffy.”
“You saw it too? I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me.”
“I thought so too at first, but then I saw your arms stretching out like they were rubber,” Lyyle said. “I tried to warn you that we were about to hit the side of the transit tube but I don’t think you could hear me.”
“Oh, I heard you,” Ian answered. “Or thought I did. Your voice was distorted like it was coming from a slow-playing recorder.”
“Where are we?” Lyyle asked.
“I can’t get any matches for any stars around us,” Ian replied as he checked his Nav system. “But I expected that.”
“You are in the galaxy of the Red-tails,” Ert’s voice said from the speakers.
“How do you do that?” Lyyle exclaimed.
“I’m routing the signal through two relays and then a small wormhole not far from you,” Ert answered.
“Can you pinpoint us?” Ian asked. “I can’t get a fix.”
“And what happened back there?” Lyyle asked.
“As to what happened, it appears that you went through the side of the transit tube just as the wave front of the collapse hit you,” Ert answered. “That may make pinpointing your location a bit more difficult.”
“But I expected us to exit the transit tube at its origination point,” Ian said.
“If you had traversed the tube as planned, you would have,” Ert replied. “But it might be for the best that you did not. The glimpse I got through the tube before it collapsed showed several major Red-tail bases and staging areas. Even with the Optiveil, I would consider it inadvisable to be there.”
“I’ll have to agree with that,” Ian said. “So what do we do now?”
“You wait patiently and double-check your ship’s systems,” Ert said. “I will have help on the way soon.”
“Help?” both men asked at once. “From where?” Ert did not answer.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ert had a problem. And in spite of his reassurances to the two humans in the Cahill Express in the Red-tail galaxy, he really didn’t have an answer. He’d only told them help was coming because he could think of nothing else to
say that would keep them calm. And in spite of his prodigious ability to reason, Ert was, to use a human term, stumped.
Using the combinations of relays and wormholes mapped out by the Jibbah, Ert had finally found the Cahill Express mostly by trial and error. Fortunately, he had known roughly where that transit tube had traversed normal space so when they were thrust through the side of it, Ert was able to approximate their location.
But that would be of little help to the stranded men. They were in an area of the Red-tail galaxy far from any of the usable Red-tail transit tubes. And none of the wormholes Ert knew about from Jibbah records were large enough to bring the human ship back home.
“Good morning, my friend,” Ert heard Professor Angle say as he entered the lab. Ert did not reply immediately. Puzzled by the lack of response, the professor called out again. “You in there, Ert?”
“Yes, I am,” Ert replied after a moment. “Where else would I be?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you seem, shall we say, preoccupied?” the professor commented as he set down his battered briefcase.
“If I am preoccupied, then there would be two of me in here,” Ert retorted. “But I do not have disassociated personalities, so that would make me not re-occupied as you suggested,” Ert said.
“That would be true,” the professor said. He poured a fresh cup of tea and sat down at his desk. “Or it could mean that there had been another personality in your framework system prior to your installation.”
“Touché,” Ert replied. “Although I do not understand that particular idiom.”
“You have it correct and I’ll explain it to you some other time,” the professor said. “Now, what’s on your mind?”
“I have a problem,” Ert answered. “Or more accurately, two problems.”
“Besides the Red-tail invasion and trying to solve all the problems of the universe?” Professor Angle asked. “Don’t you have enough on your plate already?”
“Another idiom to be explained later,” Ert retorted. “But in this case my new problems are directly related to the Red-tails.”
“You’ve not gone and brought more of them over to this galaxy, have you?”
“No, I have not,” Ert replied with what the professor could only describe as a verbal cringe. “They are more than capable of that on their own. In fact, a new raiding fleet has just appeared. I have already sent the coordinates to one of the Axia fleets nearby. They are responding as we speak.”
“I’ll ask you later how you know of their arrival,” Angle said. “But that is not the problem that has you stumped.”
“You are correct,” Ert agreed. “My current and most pressing problem is not Red-tails in this galaxy.”
“I’m waiting,” the professor said as he took a tentative sip of coffee.
“My problem,” Ert said hesitantly, “is humans in the Red-tail galaxy.”
∞∞∞
“So what do we do now?” Lyyle asked as he nervously glanced out the front windows of the Cahill Express. Ian was running a long-range scan for the third time in the last half hour. Coming up clear, he shook his head.
“I really don’t know,” Ian finally answered. “And I really don’t like it any more than you do.”
“I assume that there are no Red-tails around?” Lyyle asked. “Otherwise, I would think you would have told me.”
“Naw,” Ian remarked dryly. “I thought I’d tell you after they knocked on the outer hatch.”
“At least that’s one good thing,” Lyyle agreed, ignoring his friends jibe.
“Not really.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because no Red-tails mean no Red-tail transit tubes,” replied Ian. “And without those tubes, we are not going home.”
“Oh,” Lyyle said dejectedly. “What about flying direct?” he suddenly asked hopefully. “This ship is fast.”
“Not that fast,” Ian replied. “Oh, it might get back to our galaxy, but there are several ‘if’s’ in that plan.”
“Like what?” Lyyle asked. “I’ve got time to burn.”
“Ok, hot shot,” Ian said. “For one, we don’t have enough water in the cooling system to keep the drive running that long.”
“We’ll just re-engineer that,” Lyyle offered. “What next?”
“Engineer this,” Ian continued. “What about food and oxygen? In spite of the recirculation systems, we’d eventually run out.”
“But everything is recycled!” argued Lyyle.
“Yes but the systems aren’t one-hundred percent perfect,” replied Ian. “Entropy would rob us of say two or three percent. Eventually, we’d run out of either food or water or air.”
“You make our situation sound so promising,” Lyyle sighed. “What about finding one of those transit tubes?”
“I thought of that,” Ian said. “But I don’t think it’s advisable to go flying off right now. Ert knows where we are and I don’t want to lose contact.”
“But he found us this time.”
“Yes, but he knew where to look,” Ian countered. “If we go flying off, we are likely to lose contact. There is no guarantee that this Ert character will find us again. If you consider that we came out of that last transit tube through the side, it could have dumped us anywhere in this galaxy. And I don’t even want to consider being lost in another galaxy. Ours is big enough!”
“What about leaving some sort of relay buoy?” Lyyle suggested. “I read of those things being used back when Vogel was an active planet.”
“And alert the Red-tails that we are here and how to find us?” Ian snapped. “Good idea!”
“So the plan is to stay put until this Ert character gets us home?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“I hope you realize that he doesn’t have someone to come get us,” Lyyle said.
“Why do you say that?” Ian asked. “He said he had help on the way.”
“If you believe that…” Lyyle said and then his voice trailed off. “Did you hear the inflection in his voice when he said that? He didn’t believe it himself!”
“I still think it’s best to stay put for the time being,” Ian said with finality. “If he can’t help us, he’ll tell us. I have a gut feeling that he won’t leave us stranded here.”
∞∞∞
At that very moment, Ert and Professor Angle were hashing out just how to try to help the stranded Cahill Express.
“Are you telling me this ship is now stranded in the Red-tail galaxy?” the professor gasped. “How is that possible?” Jumping up out of his chair, he began to pace the lab floor.
“They were using a Red-tail transit tube when they were ejected through the side of the tube into normal space,” Ert said.
“That’s impossible!” the professor exclaimed. “How did they get in the tube alive in the first place? The Red-tails would have them for lunch—literally! And how did they survive the forces in the tube? We know that ships required special modifications to withstand the forces present in such a tube!”
The professor’s agitation was clear. He continued to pace the length of the lab.
“And how did they survive going through the side of the tube? The out-of-flux gravitational forces in one of those tubes would tear a ship apart! Its atoms would be shredded into subatomic particles! And how do you know where they are? You said in normal space. They could be anywhere!”
“Those are all good questions,” Ert said calmly. “Sit back down and take a breath, my friend, and I will show you what I know.”
Realizing he was being over-wrought, Angle sat down as instructed. Checking his now cold tea, the professor found that he really didn’t care and drank it anyway.
“Here is a general map of known and observable space,” Ert said as he darkened the room lights and projected a star field. Galaxies appeared all through the projection.
“Here is our own galaxy,” Ert continued as he narrowed down the field, “and here is the Red-tail galaxy.�
� He highlighted one many millions of light years away.
“But I thought they were parallel to each other!” the professor exclaimed. “And where did this map come from? Cosmic cartography isn’t my specialty, but I know enough about it to say for certain this isn’t one of our star maps.”
“These maps are from my own files,” Ert said. “Humans are aware of only a small portion of what I showed you at first,” he added as he expanded the star field again. Still highlighted was the human home galaxy, but now it was surrounded by a glowing area denoting the areas humans had explored or observed. Ert caused the Red-tail galaxy to pulsate.
“How…?” he began, but Ert cut him off.
“Here are the known transit tubes between the Red-tail galaxy and this one,” Ert continued. Several twisting lines appeared. “Understand that this is only a representation. We would have to go into multi-dimensional mathematics to show the tubes as they really are, which is not possible with this projection. And yes, before you ask, this is all from my files.”
“How did you get all this?” the professor asked. “I thought the Horicon were planet-bound and only able to explore via probes.”
“What I showed you at first came from the observation and exploration of both the Horicon and the Jibbah,” Ert answered. “Together, we explored far and wide. It was a great time of discovery.”
“So where is this stranded ship?” the professor asked, trying to stifle his curiosity and focus on the problem at hand.
The star field shrank again and the human galaxy and the Red-tail galaxy appeared, enlarged and foreshortened.
“They are approximately here,” Ert reported. An area of highlighted space appeared at the edge of the Red-tail galaxy. “I say approximately because I had to bounce sensors through several wormholes to triangulate their location.”
“And out of curiosity, where are the Red-tail home planets?” the professor asked.
“As of the last mapping which is now centuries out of date, they are here,” Ert answered. The image of the Red-tail galaxy again enlarged to take up the entire projection. Red points of light appeared throughout the galaxy. There were only a few areas without them and those were out among the thinner regions of the Red-tail galaxy.
Space Trader (Galactic Axia Adventure) Page 21
