“Everyone else agree?”
“Ready to roll.” The Angel waved sedately.
“All right. Elke?”
She nodded and touched a pad sequence on the console in front of her. “Gamma-D, prepare to receive recognition templates prior to a search of the data banks received as orbiter survey data. I’m going to draw them.”
UNDERSTOOD, WE ARE READY.
“Just one second.” This time it was Chan Dalton. “I’m as keen to get home as anyone, and I don’t want to hold this up. But before you start describing what the computer should look for, can’t we have a quick status report? Even if it’s not an emergency, I’d like to know if there’s been any significant change in the ship’s condition.”
“That makes good sense.” Dag Korin ignored Elke’s impatient gesture. “Find out where you are before you decide where you’re going, always a sound policy. All right, Gamma-D. Let’s hear how things stand.”
MANY ONBOARD FUNCTIONS ARE SUFFERING A SLOW ALTHOUGH AS YET NON-DANGEROUS DEGRADATION. IT WOULD BE ADVISABLE TO MOVE TO A MORE TYPICAL AMBIENT ENVIRONMENT.
“In other words,” Liddy whispered to Bony, “don’t stay underwater longer that you have to. For this we need a computer?”
“Shh!”
THE DEFENSIVE SHIELDS ARE LOST, AND THEY REMAIN IRREPLACEABLE WITHOUT A VISIT TO A MAJOR FLEET REFURBISHING CENTER. THERE IS MINOR HULL DAMAGE THAT DECREASES THE LEVEL OF TOLERABLE STRESSES UNDER ACCELERATED FLIGHT. A LIMIT OF TWO GEES SHOULD BE OBSERVED IN OPEN SPACE IN THE VICINITY OF A LINK TRANSITION POINT.
“Two gees in open space, near a Link point,” Dag Korin growled. “Don’t you wish!”
THERE IS NO OTHER DAMAGE TO THE SHIP ITSELF. HOWEVER, SOME COLLATERAL EQUIPMENT HAS SUFFERED FAILURE.
“What do you mean, collateral equipment?” Chan Dalton had been studying a new schematic of the Hero’s Return that highlighted any problem area. “Everything here looks fine to me.”
THE SCHEMATIC THAT YOU HAVE IS OF THE SHIP ITSELF, WHERE THERE ARE NO MAJOR FAILURES. WE REFER TO COLLATERAL EQUIPMENT IN THE FORM OF THE TWO OBSERVATION SATELLITES THAT WE LAUNCHED.
“Oh, no,” Elke groaned. “We didn’t get data from them? Gamma-D, I was relying on them to allow a ground search.”
THAT WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE. MANY DATA WERE RETURNED, ENOUGH TO PROVIDE A COMPLETE SCAN OF THE WHOLE PLANET. HOWEVER, APPROXIMATELY TWO HOURS AGO THE SATELLITES FAILED.
“Both of them?” Elke’s thin eyebrows rose. “Are you sure that it’s not a problem with our onboard receiving equipment?”
THAT WAS OF COURSE CHECKED, AND IT IS IN PERFECT WORKING ORDER. ALSO, THE TWO OBSERVING SATELLITES DID NOT FAIL SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE FIRST FAILED TWO AND A QUARTER HOURS AGO, THE SECOND TWENTY MINUTES LATER.
“Radiation belts?” Elke said, more to herself than the computer. “Solar flare?”
WE RULE OUT BOTH THOSE POSSIBILITIES. COMPUTING THE TRAJECTORIES OF THE SATELLITES WITH RESPECT TO THE ROTATING PLANET, WE DISCOVERED THAT BOTH FAILED WHEN THEY WERE OVER THE SAME POINT OF THE PLANETARY SURFACE. THE PROBABILITY OF SUCH A FAILURE OCCURRING AS A RESULT OF NATURAL CAUSES IS NEGLIGIBLY SMALL. WE CONCLUDE THAT THE TWO OBSERVING SATELLITES FAILED AS A RESULT OF DELIBERATE DESTRUCTIVE ACTION UNDERTAKEN FROM THE SURFACE OF THE PLANET.
“Shot down, by God! Blown apart by bloody aliens.” Dag Korin glared at Vow-of-Silence, as though daring the Pipe-Rilla to challenge his statement, but when he spoke again it was accusingly to the computer. “Gamma-D, why the devil didn’t you tell us about this as soon as it happened?”
WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO INTERRUPT YOUR MEETING ONLY IF THERE WAS IMMEDIATE DANGER TO THE SHIP. WE JUDGED THAT WAS NOT THE CASE.
“Not immediate, maybe. But soon. Well, it was my fault more than yours.” Korin slouched down in his seat. “Gamma-D, do you know the point on the surface where the whatever-it-is that destroyed our observing satellites came from?”
YES. TO REFINE THAT ANSWER, WE HAVE COMPUTED A LOCATION OF MAXIMUM PROBABILITY FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE DESTRUCTIVE ACTION. IT LIES FORTY-SIX KILOMETERS FROM THE SHIP’S PRESENT LOCATION. SHOULD WE DISPLAY IT?
“Damn right you should.” Korin watched as an image of Limbo’s whole hemisphere appeared on the screen, then zoomed in until one point of the surface showed highlighted by a flashing spark of light. “Well, I think we’ve answered one question and saved Elke some work. The job of finding an alien spaceport, settlement, military base or whatever has been done for us. We know where they are. And we know what they do. They shoot first, and later they ask questions. The question is, what do we do now?”
24: LIMBO PLANS
“What do we do now?”
Dag Korin had asked the question, but he acted as though he expected no answers. A couple of seconds later he stood up and said, “Well, we’ll all think better when we’ve had some rest. It’s been a long day, and I don’t know about you but I’m bushed.”
As he left the fire control chamber he unobtrusively gestured to Chan Dalton to follow. They walked through the dark interior of the Hero’s Return , listening to the wheeze of air pumps and the groans and creaks of the stressed hull.
“The computer says we’re in fair shape,” Korin said gruffly, “but it doesn’t sound that way to me. I want a more detailed analysis of the ship’s condition. Hear that, Gamma-D?”
WE WILL PROVIDE A COMPLETE REPORT TO YOU.
“Soon as you can. You see, Dalton, the Hero’s Return is a space cruiser, she was never built to sit at the bottom of some stinking ocean. My guess is that in a few days we’ll have to get this hulk off the seabed and out into vacuum, or we’ll be forced to abandon ship. And that raises some pretty interesting questions that I don’t want to talk about yet.”
The two men walked on in silence, past empty weapons chambers and massive drive engines, past the room housing the ship’s master computer, past deserted crew quarters. It was like a ghost ship. Neither spoke until they reached a door of bilious green and passed through into Dag Korin’s private quarters.
“Now we can really talk freely.” Korin glanced at Chan. “Know why we’re in here?”
“Computer?”
“Good man. I checked when I first came aboard. It’s the main reason I chose this for my quarters — the only place on the ship that to my certain knowledge has no computer sensor feeds. Safer than asking the computer not to listen, which I’ve never had any faith in. This place goes back to the time when the Hero’s Return was on active duty. You’d find one room like this on most military vessels, because in any army and any navy, there’s a few things better left off the record. Sit down. And instead of me telling you, you tell me. Where do we stand?”
The general loosened his collar, which Chan took to mean that the conversation would be informal.
“We’re in deep shit,” he said. “Bad trouble. Right?”
Dag Korin nodded. “I think so. Trouble how?”
“Well, we seem to be in some `parallel universe,’ whatever that means, with different physics. It’s a big shock, but that sort of thing doesn’t interest me nearly as much as it interests Elke Siry. I have more practical worries. Even if the ship were in good shape, we can’t live on the bottom of the sea forever.”
“If we could, we sure as hell wouldn’t want to.”
“So we have to get to the surface. But if we do, I can’t see the Hero’s Return being in any condition to stand a Link transfer back home.”
“That’s what my gut feeling tells me. We’re matching tracks so far. Go on.”
“So we have to find some other ship. But all the vessels that our different groups came in are either lost or worse off than this one.”
“Do you believe that?”
“I wouldn’t believe a computer. But I’ve known Bony Rombelle for a long time, and he’s the best gadget man I ever met. If he tells us the other ships are lost, or pieces of junk that can’t be fixed up, I believe him.”
“Then I’ll do the same — though when I was young I wouldn’t have let a man who dressed as sloppy as th
at out of the ship’s galley. What else?”
“The Link point. General, we didn’t build it, and it’s nothing like the ones we know. Throw in the different physical laws, and not even Bony can be expected to figure the transition protocol out from scratch.”
“Understood. So?”
“So if we’re going home, we have to locate and learn to talk to whoever built the Link.”
“Exactly my conclusion.” Korin glanced at Chan from under lowered brows. “And what we know about them already — unless there’s two different technological alien groups on Limbo, which is pretty unlikely — isn’t promising. In the only contact so far, they put two of our orbiters out of action for no reason except that we were making observations. So they have weapons. We don’t. And they’re either very nasty or very paranoid.”
“Or both. But it’s not completely true that we have no weapons. Deb Bisson always has a hundred personal killing tricks somewhere on her or in her.”
“All very well if she can get near enough. Not good if the enemy has real firepower and can blow you away at a thousand kilometers. But we’re getting close to what’s really on my mind. We have to find out more about the land-based aliens, and we can’t do it sitting here. This is where you earn your pay, Dalton. I want you to organize a shore party ASAP, and give us a land base ourselves.” Korin stared at Chan’s smile. “Suits your taste, doesn’t it?”
“It sure does. I don’t like to sit around in a metal can at the bottom of the sea. I didn’t come here for that. I’m used to doing things.”
“Good. So am I. So now let’s get down to the reason I wanted to come in here before we started to talk. You know the biggest obstacle in our way? No, it’s not the hostile aliens — though they’ll be bad enough. It’s the friendly aliens who worry me. The Tinkers and the Pipe-Rilla and that damned oversized vegetable Angel, they’re the ones who may make our job impossible. They say, no violence. But they don’t tell us how to manage without violence. What do you do when somebody tries to shoot your ass off? In my book, you shoot right back, and if they have an ass at all you blow it away. And we’re not allowed to. So here’s what we have to do.” In spite of his insistence that they could not be overheard, Korin leaned forward and dropped his voice to a whisper. “The aliens are worried about me already, because I’m a General. I’m going to talk and act so they’ll worry about me a whole lot more. You and your team do the exact opposite. All sweetness and light and talk of peaceful tactics. That way, the Stellar Group aliens are going to keep a close eye on me, here in the ship, and you’ll be free to go and do whatever you have to ashore. Do you agree? Remember, once we’re outside this room we won’t be able to talk without being recorded.”
“I agree with most of it. But I have a couple of worries. First, what happens if the aliens insist on coming ashore?”
“Are they likely to?”
“They are if they think we’re going to meet other aliens. The Angel is supposed to be an unbelievable talent when it comes to languages. We have one of those talents ourselves, Tully O’Toole, unless his brain has been fried by Paradox. If it has, there’s still Tarbush Hanson. He can talk to animals, and our aliens may be close to that. But the Angel may say it wants to go with us, anyway. I don’t see how we can stop it.”
“I have an idea on that. I think the Angel is the only possible one to work with Elke on a high-priority project I have for her. If some other alien wants to go ashore, don’t try to stop it. Your people go, and when they’re ashore they split into two groups. What other problems?”
“It’s not so much a problem as a delay. I’m sure we can get ashore safely, because the Bun and Liddy Morse already did it. But we’ll need maps, at least local ones, of the coastline and land areas. You said we should leave as soon as possible, but I’d like to wait until the computer produces the maps that Elke Siry asked for.”
“Of course you’ll need maps. An army should never travel blind.”
“Not much of an army. Six of us — seven, if Liddy Morse comes along.”
“No. Not seven, and not six. I’m sorry, Dalton, I don’t mind Morse going, if you want her; but Rombelle stays here.”
“I need him ashore.”
“You’re not going ashore, either — at least, you’re not going with the first party.”
Chan stood up. “Don’t give me that bullshit. I have to lead the shore party. Don’t forget that I’m in charge now.”
“No. You would have been in charge if we had reached the Geyser Swirl, but we never did. Look, Dalton, I’m not making a power play. I’m minimizing risks. No one in his right mind sends half the total strength of an expedition on a first scouting party, and I’m agreeing on close to that. Four people go. Maybe an alien, too — we can’t control them. Pick who you like of your team, provided that it’s not you and not Rombelle. You both stay here. I’m taking your word for it that Rombelle is something special when it comes to equipment fix-up.”
“He is. That’s why the shore party needs him.”
“It’s also the reason he can’t go. Suppose there’s mechanical trouble with this ship? It looks and sounds worse every hour. How would you like the shore party to be stranded, with no Hero’s Return to come back to or to rely on for supplies?” Korin waited for Chan’s slow nod. “Then that’s the way it has to be. You’ll think we’re sending an army anyway, when you hear me talking to our crazy alien companions. I’m going to sound like rage and destruction for them. They’ll shit bricks — I mean, if any of them shits anything at all.”
* * *
After Dag Korin and Chan Dalton had left for the general’s private quarters, the remaining party broke into two groups.
Most of the members of the old team, plus Liddy, drifted off toward the rear of the ship in the direction that Dag Korin and Chan Dalton had taken. The Stellar Group aliens followed the slow-moving Angel toward the ship’s sunroom and garden. Remaining in the fire control room were only Tully O’Toole and Elke Siry.
“D’you mind if I stay? Or am I in your way?” Tully was hanging around, watching Elke and looking shaky and dejected.
“You’re not in my way unless you interfere with my work.” Elke was studying images taken by the two orbiters, selecting a few for display with increased detail. “You people really love Chan Dalton, don’t you?”
“I can’t speak for the rest, but he saved me from worse than death.” When Elke gave him a skeptical glance from the corner of one eye, he went on. “I’m talking about Paradox addiction. Do you know what that is?”
She lost interest in the displays and turned to face him.
“Not exactly. But I know something that can match it.” She pulled her high-necked white blouse all the way down to her right collarbone, to reveal ugly scar tissue in the shape of a fiery star.
“Slither!” In his astonishment Tully reached out to touch the blemish on her white skin, but she stiffened and jerked away. He sat back and shook his tousled head. “I can’t believe this. You and Slither. It’s so disgusting, and you’re so — so—”
“Pure and spotless and absolutely perfect?” Elke gave him a grim smile, revealing the prominent canines. “I suppose you’ve been reading about me in the ship’s files. You shouldn’t believe most of that. I wrote it myself. I decided what to put in — and what to leave out.”
“But Slither. How did you get hooked?”
“I was seventeen. That’s when I knew I was more intelligent than anyone in the universe. I confused that with understanding about life. I’d heard of the Slithers — we all had — but I knew they could never snare me. I was too smart for that. But I let one sit on my shoulder, and it felt wonderful …”
“And it had you. Where did it lodge?”
“Right above my liver. I guess I was lucky, in three cases out of ten it heads for the brain.”
“What saved you?”
“You mean who. General Korin served with my grandfather, out on the Perimeter. When my grandpa was dying, the General promise
d that when he came back to Sol he would look me up. I should have been easy to find, because I was a star researcher at the Trieste Institute for Advanced Study. And I was there — almost. General Korin tracked me down a kilometer or two away, in a Slither mating cellar. He confirmed who I was — I could still tell him my name — and he went away. He didn’t try to talk to me, didn’t ask what had happened. He came back the next day with three of his officers, bundled me up in a sheet, and shanghaied me away into space.”
Elke studied Tully’s gaunt features, then turned back to her work at the displays. “I didn’t think so at the time, but I guess I had things easy. I had the operation for Slither removal and the chemotherapy to end Slither sexual addiction. But I was on Helene, with round-the-clock nursing, not in another universe wondering if I was ever going home. But you’re improving, Tully. I see it every day. The worst is over.”
“I’d like to think you’re right, but I still dream each night. In my dream I’m sitting there with the little purple sphere in my fist, and I’m all set to touch it to my wrist. Deep inside I know that I mustn’t, that if I do it will start all over again. But I can’t stop my hand. It brings the Paradox globe closer and closer to my skin.”
“Ah, I have a dream like that.” Elke’s face took on an odd wistfulness. “I’m sitting alone, and the Slither is still inside me. It begins calling, `Go and bring me a mate. Bring us both ecstasy.’ It isn’t lying. When you and somebody else with a Slither have sex it’s too good to be true. So I start to stand up, and I’m on the way to the rendezvous point, and I have the promise of ecstasy squared. But I know it will soon lead to death.”
“That’s it! That’s it exactly. You mustn’t touch, but you want it so much. You’ve felt it, too.” Again Tully reached out toward Elke, again he pulled back when he saw her flinch.
He cursed his own lack of sensitivity. No wonder, after being a Slither slave — say something, anything. “So it was Dag Korin saved you. I’d never have guessed that.”
“Why else would I be here, on a ship lost at the end of the universe?” She would not look at him. She had focused her attention on the displays. “No, not lost in the universe. Lost in the multiverse, an infinite set of universes. I’m here for the same reason as you. You came because Chan Dalton wanted you to, I came because Dag Korin wanted me to. This turns out to be the most exciting thing that could happen to a scientist, but I didn’t know that when I agreed to come. Couldn’t you tell I was doing it for the General?”
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