The Soldier: Escape Vector

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Anything new?” Halifax asked.

  Cade looked up, stretching his back and shaking his head.

  “The mobile base launched the first time,” the doctor said.

  “I’m quite aware of that. It must have been our proximity to it the first time. But there’s nothing I can find that would have done the sensing. Maybe the sensors are still aboard the mobile base.”

  “Lot of mysteries about this place,” Halifax said. “Speaking of, the more I think about it, the harder it is to believe in the Purple Nagan ka.”

  “Why?”

  Halifax shrugged moodily. “Too esoteric, I guess. How could a thing like a ka survive in a small globe of glass? Was it real?”

  “Real?”

  “Was the ka alive, I mean.”

  “I killed it.”

  “Kill would indicate the ka had been alive. Didn’t it say it wasn’t alive, though, in a strict sense?”

  “You’re right. It did say that. It might have been a computer entity, I suppose.”

  “Computers aren’t entities.”

  “An AI personality, then, Doctor,” Cade said. “The Purple Nagans were quite real. They explain the creation of the pocket universe, why the various events happened a thousand years ago to the cyborgs, Rhunes and Federation people and the ka in the globe. That thing was real—I felt its presence. Besides, if there was no ka, what gave Velia her knowledge about the Nion?”

  Halifax muttered under his breath while shaking his head.

  “What’s really troubling you?” Cade asked.

  “I don’t know. Well… Look. I’m a realist, a materialist.” Halifax rapped a console with his bony knuckles. “I believe in what I can see, feel and taste. The ka—I find its existence anomalous and upsetting. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Can we safely pass the mobile base or not?”

  It took Cade a moment to switch mental gears. The doctor was antsy—because of the mobile base. “Maybe it’s time for silent running.”

  “That will make our journey longer.”

  “Yes,” Cade said. “But survival is well worth it.”

  “All right, all right,” Halifax said. “I agree. Silent running it is.”

  They waited several more hours to implement that as they sped outward. Then Cade and Halifax shut down nearly everything, including the fusion engine. The Descartes drifted silently through space. Unfortunately, the metal object still radiated more heat than the surrounding space; it didn’t radiate as much heat as before, though.

  Without energy, the interior ship began to cool. The three of them dressed warmly as more heat dissipated. Too soon, Cade found himself shivering as the temperature continued to drop.

  Later, a bundled Velia hurried into the command chamber. She wore scarfs around her face, a hood, parka, snow pants and boots. “T-This is t-too much, Marcus,” she said, shivering.

  “It’s for just a little longer,” Cade said.

  “I have hot coffee in a thermos,” Halifax said, raising a red container.

  “T-That would be nice,” Velia said. She came near, accepting a steaming cup of coffee from the doctor, holding it with her gloved hands. She moved a scarf from her lips and snipped delicately before glancing at Cade. “Could I speak to you privately?” she asked.

  “What about?” Cade asked.

  She glanced at the doctor before regarding Cade, snipping from her coffee again.

  “No,” Cade said.

  “That’s not very gallant,” she said.

  Cade didn’t respond.

  “Aren’t you freezing?” she asked him archly.

  Halifax stifled a guffaw.

  Cade scowled at the doctor.

  “Don’t mind me,” Halifax said.

  Velia moved closer to Cade. “You should be nice to me. I saved the ship, didn’t I?”

  The soldier did not respond.

  “Can’t we at least be friends?” she asked.

  Cade looked up at her. In the end, to be friends with Velia would mean betraying his wife. No. You can’t be friends. I made a vow, and I want to keep it, too. Be strong even if that means being cruel.

  Velia moved closer yet, reaching out, touching one of his parka-clad arms.

  Cade stood abruptly, gave her a nod and then stalked from the chamber. He’d learned a lesson from the other day. It was better cutting things off right away than letting it go one centimeter farther. That only made everything harder.

  ***

  Halifax watched Velia watch Cade go. “He’s not for sale,” the doctor told her.

  Velia regarded him, her features hidden by the scarfs. “We’ll see about that,” she said.

  “You’re persistent. I’ll give you that.”

  “I get what I want.”

  “I can believe that, but you don’t know the soldier.”

  “Don’t I?” she asked. “Why did he run like that? I’ll tell you why: because he knows he wants me. If he was really indifferent, he could stick around and be nice.”

  “That could be asking too much of a man,” Halifax said. “Is this arena, the wise man is the strong man. And the wise man knows when it’s time to retreat.”

  “You sound as if you approve of what he’s doing.”

  “I don’t know about that. I admire his fortitude. Clearly, he loves his wife.”

  Velia stared through the hatch. “For now he does,” she said softly. “We’ll see about tomorrow.”

  ***

  Heat continued to dissipate from the ship. An hour later, Cade called through the wall comm in his quarters. “You there, Doctor?”

  “It’s just me,” Halifax said.

  Cade returned to the command chamber. He was shivering even as he kept jumping up and down. “We have to have heat. We’ll freeze otherwise.” As he spoke, white mist jetted from his mouth.

  “This is probably the worst time to turn on the fusion engine,” Halifax said, mist puffing from his blue lips.

  “How much battery power do we have?”

  “Right,” Halifax said. “It’s so damn cold my mind is shutting down.”

  Cade used battery power, reengaging the heater. Ten minutes later, he removed his hood, gloves and soon took off his coat.

  “Maybe you should check on Velia,” Halifax said.

  “You do it,” Cade said.

  Halifax left and returned a few minutes later, blushing.

  Cade glanced at him. Don’t ask; just don’t ask.

  “Man alive,” Halifax said.

  Cade still said nothing.

  “She was naked under her blankets,” Halifax blurted. “When the hatch opened, she whipped back the—”

  “Enough!” Cade said.

  Halifax stared at the soldier.

  “The subject is dead to me,” Cade said.

  “All right, all right,” Halifax said crossly. “It’s just that something like this doesn’t happen every day. It’s something a man wants to share.”

  “Doctor, I’m warning you.”

  “You’re such a puritan.”

  “I don’t know what you mean by that. I have morals. Is that wrong?”

  “Maybe not, but it’s boring,” Halifax said.

  “I assure you. It isn’t boring for me. It’s a struggle…”

  “Go on,” Halifax said.

  Cade’s jaw muscles bulged. He snorted through his nose a moment later, going to the sensor scope, focusing on Sarus and the mobile base.

  “Damn,” Cade said. “The base is on the other side of the gas giant. Doctor, let’s make a run for it. Full acceleration while we can.”

  “Good idea,” Halifax said.

  Fifteen minutes later, the engine was back online and thrusting, giving the scout more velocity.

  “I should have already thought of this,” Cade said.

  “Maybe you had something else on your mind,” Halifax said.

  Cade scowled at the doctor before he threw his head back and laughed, not roaring laughter, but light chuckling. He shook his head af
terward. “She’s easy on the eyes. I know it. But I’m going to win this one. You know, the fact I’m fighting it so hard proves to me I love my wife dearly. It’s like floating in a stream. Most people just go with the current. The one who is resisting is trying to swim upstream. At times, it doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere, but he’s fighting the good fight.”

  “Why not float downstream?” Halifax asked. “It’s easier.”

  “Of course it’s easier. But is it moral? I want to be moral.”

  “Why?”

  Cade nodded. “Each man—each person—must decide that for himself. I can’t answer for you. I can only answer for me. Anyway, I don’t want to sound like a prig. It’s time to concentrate. It’s time for us to make it well past the mobile base.”

  Two hours and ten minutes later, Cade spotted the mobile base drifting in orbit around the gas giant. “Now,” he said. “Shut off the thrusters and power down to minimum.”

  Halifax manipulated his board, staring in earnest at the pilot screen.

  Cade watched through the sensor scope.

  A few tense minutes later, Halifax said, “I don’t see any missiles accelerating.”

  “Me neither,” Cade said quietly.

  The Descartes continued to move by velocity alone.

  “I don’t want to freeze again,” Halifax said sometime later.

  “We’re not powering down all the way again. This is it, win or lose.”

  “My fingers are crossed.”

  Cade looked up.

  Halifax raised his crossed fingers.

  With a smile, the soldier said, “Let’s hope that works.”

  It must have, because the mobile base eventually swung back behind the gas giant. At that point, they accelerated once again and turned power back to normal. It proved to be the last time they had to run silently or without accelerating for the mobile base’s sake.

  Finally, eight and three-quarters of an hour later, the Descartes reached enough distance from the star so they could turn on the Intersplit and travel at FTL speeds.

  “Now we find out the truth,” Halifax said. “I hope the Rhune repair nanites worked like advertised.” He spoke again under his breath too low for Cade to hear the words, crossed his fingers, shaking them, before he engaged the Intersplit.

  One second ticked away, two, three—

  Cade heaved a sigh of relief as a green haze surrounded the scout. They moved at FTL speeds, heading away from the star for the system’s Kuiper Belt and Oort cloud beyond.

  The soldier went to the sensor scope, searching for another green haze somewhere behind them. Uldin’s tiny stealth ship had to have an Intersplit engine, right? If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a threat to them or to their space-time continuum. Even if the stealth ship reached their Vellani Rift, it wouldn’t leave it in Uldin’s lifetime—if he lacked an Intersplit engine. Cade searched for hours, finding no green haze behind, beside or before them.

  There was no way to cloak Intersplit travel, right? He finally asked Halifax about that.

  “No way,” the doctor said. “To move faster than light, the stealth ship has to show itself.”

  ***

  The moment finally arrived when the edge of the star system spread out before them. It was a continuous dark gray mass, the literal boundary to the pocket universe and a different color than the space around them.

  Velia wasn’t here to see it. She was in her quarters, while Cade and Halifax were in the piloting chamber, staring through the polarized window.

  The doctor turned to Cade. “Leaving the star system should be easy, right?”

  “I hope so,” the soldier said. “Why, what do you suspect will happen? And why haven’t you said anything about it before this?”

  Halifax shrugged moodily as he went to the piloting board, sat down and stared at his instruments. Looking up, he said, “There was nothing we could do to prepare. So why worry then, eh?”

  “But—”

  “We’re going to hit the barrier soon. Maybe you should strap in.”

  “Yes,” Cade said. He headed for the sensors before he stopped short. He went to the comm board and clicked a switch. “Better strap in, Velia. This could get…ugly.”

  There was no reply.

  Cade glanced at Halifax. The doctor raised his eyebrows. Cade stared at the polarized window. The dark gray seemed closer than before. Cade jumped up, sat at sensors and strapped in.

  Halifax hunched over the pilot board. “We’re going to hit in three, two, one—impact!”

  The Descartes plunged into the gray barrier, and it seemed as if time ceased. The soldier felt that in himself, and he tried to speak. His mouth opened so very slowly, and his words sounded slow and garbled. He tried to look at Halifax—it seemed as if his head turned forever and that his eyeballs dragged in their sockets. That went on and on, time stretching—

  Abruptly, the scout exited the barrier on the other side into the strange gray region without stars that surrounded the pocket universe.

  Cade slumped at sensors, exhausted.

  The doctor groaned, fainting from his pilot seat to strike the deck in a crumpled heap.

  Cade jumped up, and weakness spread through him. He swayed, realizing that it felt as if his gut were glued to his spine. Hunger and thirst tormented him, and he found it difficult to keep his eyes open. He dropped to his hand and knees and crawled to the hatch. He went like that to his quarters, his eyesight blackening at times. He rested each time until his eyesight returned. Finally, he reached his quarters and found food and drink. He ate and drank slowly, and just as slowly felt strength returning.

  Leaving the star system—

  For how long had they traveled through the barrier? Cade shook his head. First things first. He needed to get food and drink to Halifax and Velia. They could hash things out after each revived.

  Clearly, there could be surprises left for them. For instance, they needed to get ready for the Tarvoke double lurking in this region.

  Cade picked up food and drink, heading out the hatch. As he hurried down the corridor, it occurred to him that Magister Uldin might understand the properties of the barrier. Might the Rhune have waited in his stealth ship to engage his Intersplit, waited until the Descartes entered the barrier?

  “Damn,” Cade whispered. The endgame with the Rhune Magister was fast approaching.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The gray non-Einsteinian region spread out before them while the barrier to the pocket universe spread out behind. The gray barrier was lighter in color than the surrounding region. Cade and Halifax agreed it was due to the starlight shining through it.

  The two men remained at their stations. Velia did not make an appearance yet.

  Cade searched the barrier for anything that might suggest the Tarvoke double. He could find nothing unusual in the barrier or any hidden base in the darker gray region.

  Halifax piloted, asking after a time, “Should we try to contact the double?”

  “What?” asked Cade. “On no account. If we can slip away, all the better.”

  “He might think we’re trying to slip away and that could goad him into action.”

  “He’s a madman,” Cade said.

  “That’s just something Tarvoke told us. What does it mean, though? How does the madness assert itself?”

  “What’s your point?”

  Halifax’s lips twisted. “I’m not sure I have one. Could the Rhunes have controlled the double?”

  “Seems likely,” Cade said.

  “Ah. Then maybe the double will leave us alone.”

  Cade looked up.

  “Uldin needs us to pick the right vortex to the correct space-time continuum,” Halifax said. “That might mean he plans to follow us through the vortex.”

  “Yes,” Cade said. “That’s sound reasoning. I quite agree.”

  “So should we assume the double will not…try to destroy us?”

  “What difference does what we assume make?”

>   “Huh?” the doctor asked. “Oh. I see what you’re saying. Well, maybe we should be figuring out this region. How did it come to exist? What does it represent?”

  “I don’t follow you,” Cade said.

  Halifax sniffed importantly. “This is my area of expertise, brain work. Look, Cade, what is this place? How could the vortex have…I don’t know—shifted us here?”

  “Uh…”

  Halifax snapped his fingers. “Maybe the vortexes phase in and out from their space-time continuums to this place. Maybe the Vellani Rift is a weak region of our existence. The walls, barriers—whatever—between one space-time continuum and another is weaker in the rift or more easily accessible. That would mean this region is the stuff between space-time continuums.”

  “What kind of stuff?” Cade asked.

  “What we’re seeing, of course,” the doctor said. “It’s different from normal space-time universes, or from the two we know.”

  “You’re talking about the pocket universe and ours?” Cade asked.

  “Precisely,” Halifax said.

  “Okay. Your points make sense. How does that help us?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to figure out this place and the vortexes. What do you think of my theory?”

  Cade shrugged.

  “No, no, can you poke holes in it?” Halifax asked.

  “Does it matter one way or another?”

  “Oh, I see,” Halifax said. “When it’s brain work, you don’t think it’s important. Just soldier work is important, huh?”

  Cade stared at the little man.

  “Maybe I’ll go ask Velia what she thinks,” Halifax said with a sniff.

  “Maybe you should,” Cade said. “She might have picked something up from the Rhunes or maybe her society had open theories about the pocket universe and how they all got there.”

  “Sure,” Halifax said, standing. “I think I will. What are you going to do?”

  “Keep looking for a stealth ship,” Cade said, “and hold down the fort in case the Tarvoke double makes a move.”

  Halifax departed as he muttered under his breath.