The Soldier: Escape Vector

by Vaughn Heppner

  Halifax squeaked in alarm, staring into the sensor scope. “I see two pin-dot flares of light. What have you done, Cade? You’ve ruined us. Why can’t you—”

  “Who is that?” Tarvoke demanded. “I swear I recognize the voice.”

  Halifax froze in horror, then looked up and blinked at Cade, blinking faster and faster.

  Cade muted the comm. “Do you recognize Tarvoke’s voice?”

  “What?” Halifax shouted. “No! How could I? The idea is preposterous.”

  “Graven Tarvoke of the Free Trader Cyprian?” Cade asked.

  “Don’t you realize how ridiculous your question is? The odds of Tarvoke knowing me or vice versa, why, it’s astronomical. And I don’t mean that as a pun, as I detest puns.”

  “There’s an old saying: ‘Methinks you protest too much’.”

  “Bah!” Halifax said as he adjusted his coat. “We’re adrift in a weird place after passing through a vortex in the Vellani Rift. I’ve never heard about a free trader, about a man named Graven Tarvoke. This conversation is insane.”

  “Hardly that,” Cade said. “The fact he might know you would be highly improbable, next to impossible, but not even close to insane.”

  “Whatever,” Halifax sniffed. “Let’s stick to probabilities. There are mysteries here. We agree on that, as we heard someone talk about cyborgs. Clearly, that we did angered this Tarvoke.” Furrow lines appeared on the doctor’s high forehead. He maintained the pose for several seconds. Then, he exhaled, shaking his head. “This is beyond my understanding. I suggest we break communications and head for the pulsating gray light, the barrier Tarvoke spoke about earlier. We need more information before we can understand what’s transpiring in this place.”

  “And the missiles?” Cade asked.

  “Damn,” Halifax said. “I’d forgotten about the missiles. We have anti-missile rockets, but it would be foolish to rely on them if we don’t have to. Could you talk Tarvoke into destroying the missiles?”

  Cade unmuted the communications. “Captain Tarvoke, you’ve jumped to conclusions about us. Earlier, we heard a man broadcasting about cyborgs—”

  “You can forget it, Cade,” Tarvoke said. “The game is up. The missiles will take you out of the running. Frankly, I have enough competition as it is. You should have stayed on Coad, refused the Eagle-Duke that talked you into this risky endeavor. I don’t know how you made it past—forget about that. The Eagle-Duke must have made grand promises, I’m sure, and I suppose you thought he would keep them. The way they pontificate about honor makes a person think they’ll keep their word. But do you want to know the truth? Dead men lack all honor.”

  “Do you realize that none of what you said makes any sense to me?” Cade asked.

  “I’ll say this: you have an honest sounding voice.” Something about that caused Tarvoke to begin laughing, doing so harder and harder. Soon, the man wheezed and started coughing, falling into a giggling fit.

  “Who are you?” Halifax shouted into the microphone.

  Tarvoke started laughing again, but he couldn’t contain it, as he started coughing more than ever, finally making rasping noises.

  Cade pressed a switch, cutting off communications. He hated dealing with lunatics. He stared outside the polarized window with the green haze around the ship. With the naked eye, he only saw the gray universe.

  An idea sprouted. It was a preposterous idea, but if he was right—

  Cade stood, moving to piloting. He dropped the Intersplit Field. They dropped out of FTL travel. He stepped to weapons control. One hand hovered over the controls until he tapped a panel. An object whooshed into view, tumbling away from the scout into the darkness.

  “What was that?” Halifax asked. “What are you up to?”

  Cade held up an admonitory finger. He studied the panel and tapped a control.

  A bright flare of light appeared where the tumbling object had disappeared into the gray.

  “Now, Doctor,” Cade said, “it’s time for silent running.”

  “Why?”

  “If I’m right, we’ve just saved ourselves two anti-missile rockets.”

  Silent running meant keeping the Intersplit Field off. The green haze no longer surrounded and protected the vessel. The ship no longer flew faster than light, but continued at less than one percent light-speed. They also shut down all energizing systems, making the Descartes as dark and cold an object as possible. They were like an old-style submarine trying to hide from enemy sonar.

  “This is lunacy,” Halifax said from the pilot’s seat some time later. “The Descartes appears to be nearing the pulsating gray light at the same rate as earlier.”

  “The same as when we used the Intersplit Field?”

  “Precisely.”

  “What accounts for such a thing?” Cade asked.

  “More to the point, how did you know that would be the case?” Halifax said.

  “Me?”

  “You dropped the field.”

  “Yes, to launch a decoy-beacon.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. The missiles don’t use Intersplit Fields. In normal space, it would have taken them months to reach us. Somehow, you knew they would come on fast without a field.”

  Cade sat perplexed. That was an interesting point. He did not have an equally interesting answer. He shrugged. He didn’t know what to say other than he had excellent combat instincts, but that might sound like bragging, which he detested as unsoldierly.

  Halifax tapped his chin as he peered out of the polarized window. “Let’s stick to the main and critical point. We now know without a doubt that we’re somewhere else than our universe, our space-time continuum, our dimension. We know that because we’re obviously traveling through a non-Einsteinian medium.”

  Cade exhaled explosively. This was making his head hurt and making him angry.

  “This is not normal space as we know it,” Halifax added.

  Cade stared at the doctor, realizing the man was acting soldierly, more so than he was right now. The doctor was squarely facing facts. He could do that too.

  “The vortex shifted us,” Cade said.

  “Yes. That’s the only logical deduction,” Halifax agreed. “There is another indicator that proves the thesis.”

  “Our comm transmissions to Tarvoke,” Cade said.

  “For two reasons,” Halifax said. “One, we spoke while we used the Intersplit Field. Two, our transmissions traveled faster than light to reach him—if the scout’s instruments correctly assessed the distance to the pulsating gray light, the barrier and us. There is a third point. We spotted launched missiles many light-years away as Tarvoke launched them. That clearly goes against the laws of physics as we understand them. Thus, we are in a place with different physics.”

  “How close are the missiles?”

  Halifax checked the scope. “This clinches it. The missiles have crossed several light-years in the span of hours. Given their velocity in this medium, I estimate nine minutes to impact.” Once more, the doctor studied the scope. “The deviation in their flight path is slight,” he said with a tremor in his voice, “but it appears the missiles have zeroed in on the decoy instead of us.” He looked up with perspiration on his face. “Well done, Cade. Your deception—our silent running—is going to work.”

  “Your stoicism is heartening, Doctor. I congratulate you.”

  “It’s a ruse against myself,” Halifax said. “I think this realm is so weird, so crazy—” He shrugged. “I tell myself nothing is quite real, so why in the hell worry about it, right?”

  “Whatever works,” Cade muttered.

  After that, they waited the remaining minutes in silence, Cade at the weapons board, Halifax at sensors. At the end of the time, two sharp explosions outside—bright lights—indicated double detonations near the decoy.

  “Go,” Cade said.

  Halifax jumped to the pilot seat, reenergized the Intersplit Field, applying thrust, heading for the pulsating gray barrier. The diminished bla
st, EMP and radiation from the warheads—due to distance—struck the green field, which protected the ship from damage. The field would not have been able to do so if the explosions had occurred much closer, though.

  Soon, Cade indicated that Halifax drop the field, as that should make it harder for Tarvoke to spot the ship again. The doctor did so, and the Descartes continued to head for the so-called barrier.

  Halifax made a loud noise and shook his head, saying, “I’ve tried to think of a theory or logical explanation for this medium working as it does. But I’m ready to admit that I’m confounded by all of this. It makes no sense. Please tell me that you can account for it?”

  “I can’t.”

  “I was afraid of that. In truth, there’s a sense of unreality to all this.”

  “The missiles were real enough.”

  “You’re not concerned then that we’ve left regular time and space?”

  A pang struck Cade, but he stuffed it down. Raina, I’m going to keep my promise to you. “Worry never solved anything, Doctor. We must deal with facts, with the situation as it is. I admit I’ve already assumed that Tarvoke has the answer to leaving this realm. It’s why we need to reach the barrier, reach him.”

  “And kidnap Tarvoke?”

  “Capture,” Cade said. “Afterward, we’ll convince him it’s in his best interest to help us get back…”

  “Home?”

  “That works for me,” Cade muttered.

  “I know you don’t like it that we left our space-time continuum. You probably think it’s my fault because I fell asleep when I shouldn’t have.”

  Cade made a fist as he nodded.

  “Screw you, Cade! You haven’t been through what I went through. Besides, I now think the Nion has something to do with our plight.”

  “No need to get excited, Doctor. We have the situation we have and must deal straightforwardly with it. Obviously, the Nion took us into the rift. Why did it do that? So far, we don’t have a logical explanation, although Tarragon told me something bad would happen to us. Was that his plan? Whatever the case, undoubtedly I’ll need your expertise to get us back on course. Yes. You’re responsible in part, as piloting is one of your chief duties. That doesn’t alter our partnership, though.”

  “What if Tarvoke can’t help us get home?”

  Cade shrugged. He would destroy everything in that case in a fit of battle fury so he could join his brothers-in-arms in Valhalla.

  “Will you give up?” Halifax asked.

  Cade stared at the doctor.

  “No, I suppose you won’t,” Halifax said. “You’re a super-soldier. You never quit. Nothing can tire you.”

  “Determination is often the difference between defeat and victory. Now, Doctor, let’s stagger the watch. I’ll remain here for the first two hours. Go ahead and grab some shuteye while you can, and then you can take the next two hours. I don’t want you falling asleep at the controls again.”

  Halifax looked as if he was going to add a comment. Instead, he nodded, rising, heading for the exit.

  Cade sat at the piloting seat. They’d survived the missiles. Could they breach the barrier? Could they reach it and capture Tarvoke?

  The soldier grunted, determined to find out.

  Chapter Eight

  Cade’s two-hour stint neared its end. The barrier had grown considerably in that time. It was the same pulsating gray, but now it stretched from one end of the horizon to the other—in relation to the Descartes that is. The barrier was definitely a brighter gray than the surrounding space.

  The soldier studied it through the scope. He could determine nothing extra, not the substance of the barrier or what lay beyond it. He looked up through the polarized window. There was no green haze, no Intersplit Field. The gray barrier pulsated, a mystery.

  “Ahhh…” Dr. Halifax said.

  Cade glanced at the doctor outlined by the open hatch. The small man had clearly woken up and had come for his shift. He stared through the polarized window as if transfixed.

  “We’re here,” Halifax said. “This…this is astounding. Why didn’t you call me sooner?”

  “I can’t decide whether it’s wiser to deploy the Intersplit Field or cross the barrier without it,” Cade said, ignoring the question.

  Halifax headed to piloting, taking the seat there. “This is frightening. I mean, we entered the rift, went through a vortex—a possible portal to elsewhere—and now we’re going to plow through some kind of weird barrier. Will this lead to yet another dimension, or whatever has been happening to us?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. Isn’t it interesting that Tarvoke spoke our language? That we understood him?”

  “Oh,” Halifax said. “Yes, you’re quite right. I should have already noticed that.”

  “Tarvoke also said the Corvine System contained rare substances. He suggested others are attempting to acquire them too. Logically, the Corvine System lies on the other side of the barrier. Given the same language as us, competition for rare substances, I’ve begun to wonder if Tarvoke frequently visits the Corvine System. He’s the captain of a free trader. Apparently, he makes his living from the profit of trading. That would imply he comes and goes from our universe to here, and that would mean there’s a way back for us.”

  “Those are all excellent points.” Halifax rubbed his hands as he began to smile. “Maybe instead of indulging in fear or terror, we should be readying for profit ourselves. It costs money running a ship. It will cost more to hire a navigator and captain. This could be our chance to score big. I wonder what rare substances Tarvoke trades in.”

  “It could be anything,” Cade said.

  “Are you strapped in?” Halifax asked. “Crossing the barrier might be rough. And now that I think about it, yes, let’s deploy the Intersplit Field.”

  “What if crossing the barrier short-circuits the field, harming the engine?”

  “What if elephants fly? It’s prudent to deploy the field, as it acts as a shield against radiation and other harmful energies.”

  Cade nodded. “Sound reasoning. Yes, deploy the field.”

  “I’m doing so because I’m the captain,” Halifax said, as he manipulated controls. “I have independently decided to do so.”

  Cade said nothing. It wasn’t that big a deal.

  In a moment, the green energy field circled the scout. Minutes ticked by as the ship approached closer and closer, Halifax piloting and Cade at sensors. Cade studied the barrier that sizzled or glowed. The ship flew into the barrier, into gray diffuse light. A whine sounded. The green energy field flickered and the Descartes moved faster. Was the barrier sucking them in? The vessel shook, but not nearly as much as when passing through the vortex. Then, they emerged onto the other side.

  “Cade,” the doctor whispered.

  Cade looked up from the sensor scope and through the window. He saw black space instead of gray and a distant point of light, starlight.

  Halifax laughed with glee. “Normality. I can feel it. We’re back in normal space. What a relief.”

  Cade studied the black distance. It took him a moment before he understood what troubled him. “There’s only one star.”

  “Well, that’s better than none.”

  Cade grunted an affirmative. Then, he pressed his face against the rubber lining of the scope. He made adjustments, scanning—

  “I see planets,” the soldier said.

  “Hallelujah!”

  Cade glanced up. The doctor beamed with delight. It hadn’t been a sarcastic comment. Cade went back to surveying the star system. In time, he said:

  “There appear to be dwarf planets, comets and other debris in an Oort cloud as normally found in other star systems. I count…four gas giants of varying size in the outer system. There’s an Asteroid Belt next and two terrestrial planets in the inner system near the star. The second terrestrial planet has a heavy atmosphere and greenery, indicating vegetation.”

  “That must be Coad, where the Eagle-Dukes li
ve,” Halifax said. “Do you see any spacecraft, any indication of cyborgs?”

  “Not yet,” Cade said. “But unless a ship is traveling, emitting exhaust, I wouldn’t think to spy it easily from out here. A ship is a speck compared to a planet.”

  “Yes, yes, I quite understand. Still, the highest priority should be finding cyborgs.”

  “Believe me, I’m looking. There are none so far.”

  “How about a background barrier?” asked Halifax. “Can you sense the barrier we came through?”

  Cade zeroed in on that. “Yes. It’s gray, but a darker gray than I remember.”

  “Maybe it was lighter gray before due to the starlight shining through it.”

  “I estimate the system to be two light-years in diameter with the star in the center. That could be the extent of this…would we call it a universe?”

  “Interesting,” Halifax said. “Perhaps pocket universe would be the better description.”

  “How is this possible?”

  “Believe me, I have no idea,” Halifax said. “We have the Intersplit on. Perhaps we should turn it off and take a second look around?”

  “No. Let’s get as close as we can to the star before we do that. In the meantime, I’ll continue scanning.”

  “What kind of star is it?” Halifax asked.

  “G-class, similar to Earth’s Sun. The second planet is almost at the precise location of Earth to the Sun.”

  “Is that coincidence or manufactured?” Halifax said.

  Cade looked up. “Who could manufacture such a thing?”

  “The same people who can build a pocket universe.”

  “That…would indicate vastly higher technology than we understand and a much greater expenditure of energy.”

  “Granted,” Halifax said. “Perhaps we’ve stumbled onto the reason why Captain Tarvoke originally came here.”

  Time passed as the scout flew at FTL speeds through the Oort cloud, closing in on the system’s Kuiper Belt. They could travel for another ten minutes at this speed before the star’s gravitational pull would begin interfering with the Intersplit Field and faster-than-light travel.

  “I see something else,” Cade said from the sensor scope. “It’s huge. I’m surprised I didn’t notice it earlier—damn.”