Her thoughts turned to the things Ham had told her, and the conversation with a digital Regan. A shudder passed down her back at the recollection and she shifted position, face up into the stream trying to wash away her concerns. "Regan? Are you there?" She called out to the ether.
No answer came, so she continued to soak.
In control, like Jean blissfully unaware, Jared was demonstrating his latest invention; a flexible spoon, some string and a chair utilized to construct a flinger, a contraption he was sure could be used to fire things at the moon because in space they would go further.
"Very good Jared, your mother will love to see it." Jean was suitably attentive while trying to focus on the movie on screen.
"I hope so. Ham said it was a catapult but I've told him it's not, it's a flinger." He bent it back and launched another wet ball of some tissue like substance at the ceiling.
Jean looked up noticing for the first time the blobs peppered there. "She might not be so pleased with those Jared, how do you propose to get them down."
"Ham told me if I get enough up there it will collapse, so I thought . . ."
"You thought you'd find out how many it would take. Ham, why do you encourage the boy with such things?"
"Ham's busy Gran," Jared answered for him. He was winding up for another launch.
"And what is our Ham up to today?" She settled back out of range.
"He's fixing mom. He said for me to be strong, just in case."
Jean sat up quickly. "Ham didn't say anything to me."
"He said you were a bit fertile."
She laughed, "I think you mean fragile sweetheart, that's more Ham's picture of me." She looked concerned."Where is she Jared?"
"She's in the Medlab." He didn't look up clearly focused on the priority arrangement of another blob for launch.
"What about the radiation?"
"There isn't any." He looked up at the ceiling . . . launch successful.
Jean stood and reached out for him. "Jared, you come with me. If I can't get answers from Ham I'll find them myself."
The boy hesitated, pulling back then putting one hand to his ear.
"Now I'm getting really angry. Jared, did Ham just speak to you?"
The boy turned and took both Jeans hands.
"You must understand Gran," and he threw everything into an appealing look so like a little old man it had to be listened to, "Ham is busy, he would like to talk, but its best if we stay here, just for now."
"But he'll talk to you." He still held her hands she noticed, quite firmly in fact.
"We have an engagement." He said it as if that explained everything.
"An engagement?"
"Yes Gran, an engagement, I watch his back and he watches mine." He finally let her go and returned to his flinger.
"Do you even know what that means Jared?"
He stopped and looked back at her, eyes wide. "Oh yes!"
She paused a moment looking at him. "I think you mean arrangement dear." then she sighed and walked resigned to the galley.
"You did well my young apprentice. Engagement . . . hmm, very quick, very cute . . . You know, if you search in that galley you may well find a longer thicker spoon." The boy's eyes lit up at the potential.
* * *
Rod and Minjee belted into their seats. Not for the first time Rod reflected on the excitement he felt entering a real cockpit even though, exciting as the performance of the ADF was, he knew it didn't come close to any of the transports from The STEIN Traveler. The difference here was the raw experience, a real if limited screen, manual options for control, G force that you felt through every part of your being. This felt much more like the real thing.
Going through their flight checks manually was a good discipline. Even thought the computer systems would do all the checks and alert them if there were problems, old habits here were good ones. Everyone agreed that for the safety of everyone in space pilots should be able to fly their own ship.
It had taken Minjee some time to adjust to Ham's presence. That The STEIN pilot was an AI was now no secret. Actually working with an AI was another thing altogether. Like most, her early encounters were strained. She tried to be polite but found it hard to think of this voice as coming from anything other than a computer, certainly not a personality. Rod, she noticed, seemed able to suspend disbelief and chat with Ham like a friend, or even a rival. Then again, he also watches old cartoons!
Finally Rod felt confident they were ready. "Ham, I know I keep asking, and I think you would say if you knew anything but just . . ."
"I've heard nothing Rod," Ham cut him off mid sentence, "and yes I would tell you straight away. I don't know where they are or when they will be back and wherever it is they are out of range for contact. It bothers me too."
Minjee listened with pretended casual interest. She turned to her co pilot. "You worry about Leah Morgan, is she your partner?"
"Yes and no. Minjee, if you had experienced that few hours of drama we went through you'd understand. Not knowing how they are is what bothers me. Worried? Yeah, I guess I am. I had Regan's blood and . . . something else on my flight suit. Honestly, I think she must be dead. I didn't see what happened to Leah but, yeah, I liked her and I'm worried, more so every day that passes with no word. However," and he turned and nudged her, "we were not partners so I'm still available."
She was suddenly all business. "Ready to go Ham, I understand you will take us out and past the Russian moon site controlling the ADF from here at the pipe. We take over just before losing contact and take her round the dark side, and then you pick us up again to bring us home. Correct?"
"Correct, no lack of confidence in you two is intended. This is more about testing the extent of our ability to fly the manned ADF's from a distance. Ok?"
"We're with you Ham, let's do this."
The ADF began to power up and with remarkable speed began the slide along the flight deck, through the field, and out Earthward before curling around the outside of the pipe heading for the moon. Rod watched the pipe slide by reflecting on Minjee's comments of only a few days ago. She's right, it could be an axle. Wow, that'll be some wheel.
As Rod and Minjee departed the pipe Kevin continued his preparation for the board meeting looming. With no Regan and no word he resigned himself to the impending gloom.
He paused as he sorted the papers on his desk considering how he would explain things to Kutch, Marcus and Mitch. Mary's encouragement hadn't lessened his feeling of dread. The pictures kept cycling back through his mind. The body reeling back, the spray of blood, it was too much.
"Ham, you must know something you're not telling me. What am I going to say to the guys? They know you; you know everything for god's sake. Give me something, please."
"Kevin, I know this is hard to take. I also know Regan was badly injured. I know I took her quickly, that much I was able to glean in my update after powering up and before they went to warp. Other than that I can only infer what might be the case."
"Well, what do you infer?"
"There is only one circumstance that I would take her away as opposed to staying. That is when her chances of survival were greater away than here."
Kevin considered that for a moment. "What about Jared and Mom, why would you take them?"
"That can only mean I saw a chance she might not survive, and they should be there, with her."
"Shit that's grim." Kevin sat with his head in his hands massaging the scalp nervously.
"There is another view Kevin, which encourages me every day. If Regan had died they would be back already, albeit with bad news. This is a case of no news, for now, is good news."
That is something to hang on to. Kevin returned to his preparations. Only an hour and they would all be waiting for him expecting news . . . great!
* * *
The behemoth continued slowing as it scythed through the outer system, hidden not by design but perhaps good fortune. The huge planet known as Jupiter, shielded them
for the moment and Commander Merryl viewed the screen shots. There were no surprises. The work of the great Mariner was excellent, his research detailed and rich with insight. It was perhaps not intended for this type of exploratory mission but no matter. Time moves on, much will change and any great people will learn to adapt. The Coran's, he reflected, are a great tribe. Not known for exploration but well able to exploit even the most challenging opportunity. We learned to thrive in the asteroid belts on the outer edge of our own system. We can thrive here on the other edge of the galaxy.
Now, although moving at only a tiny fraction of light speed they would nevertheless flash by this great planet within the next hour. Then, for the first time they would have line of distant sight to their goal. It would be soon; a time of judgment for the murderess and a time of revenge for the Empress.
* * *
"Must you be so obvious?" Minjee looked sideways at the ridiculous figure beside her. The two seated ADF allowed for side by side seating and a wide screen but was otherwise quite compact. Consequently Rod's attempt to demonstrate frustration by resting his feet on the up front control panel was largely wasted. His feet were bent up so far he was clearly uncomfortable.
"You're like a child Rod, grow up." Their flyby of the Russian moon site had revealed little to interest them. In fact there was nothing to see. What were they even doing there? Minjee wondered.
Rod grinned at her, "Just waiting for the dark side, bet you're afraid of the dark." He conceded nothing.
"Anyone would be wary of being caught in the dark with you Rod."
Ham's voice broke into their chatter. "Best to ready yourselves team; you're on your own in ten minutes. I'll pick you up on the other side . . . Any questions?" He chose to ignore the boy wonders posture.
Rod snapped into action, going through the drills with Minjee for the last time before handover. She noticed he did so with the same discipline he always displayed when about to fly. He would take the lead for this stage of the flight and in this case she knew he didn't look forward with particular relish to the task. A simple pass through the dark side, while a rare privilege, didn't offer the same adrenalin rush as zipping about the pipe or over to Hillary step. Still, it was the job.
"Talk to you soon Ham, take care." Rod reached forward switching over to manual and then fondled the joy stick. He felt a 'zing', the buzz of freedom, and reception was lost.
* * *
"Remind me again Ham, why are they making this trip?" Kevin chatted nervously as the team began to gather in the lounge of the compound.
"I didn't think it was necessary" Ham replied dismissively, "but Hayden is concerned that the pilots do more flying solo. He seems to doubt my ability to do everything. I can't think why."
"Is everyone here?" Kevin asked.
"Mary and Kutch are in the lounge, Hayden is down greeting Marcus and Mitch who are on the flight deck now. They should be up in a few minutes."
"Thanks Ham, sorry if I'm a bit off my game. Interrupt at any time if you have anything to add. There'll be no one here who doesn't value your insight."
Kevin gathered his notes and walked through to join the others. Mitch and Marcus would be the excited visitors here. Kutch, Hayden, he and Mary had made Hillary home. He looked longingly at the drinks cabinet as he greeted the others before accepting Mary's offer of Coffee. She left for the kitchen.
"Kevin . . . Sorry, this is quick but you said to interrupt and something is up. Our probes have just detected a large object entering our space."
"Our space?"
The solar system. The object is well in and just passed Jupiter heading our way."
"An asteroid?"
"No, it's powered and fusion it seems. That and the direction it has come from would indicate to me it is from Marin's system, probably Coran."
Mary had returned and joined the conversation. "Well, well, well. Could it be Marin and Steph?"
"No," Ham was unequivocal, "they won't have arrived in Gliese 667 yet and this is a massive object compared with the Transporter. There's something else you need to know. A repeating signal is coming from that direction; it seems meaningless but it's repeated over and over."
Ham routed the signal through, short and long beeps, nothing more. As they listened they could hear the pattern and it did seem to repeat.
"It could be Morse Code." Kutch offered hopefully.
"How would they know Morse?"
"They wouldn't, Ham replied, "but I do." There was a momentary pause. "And you're right Kutch, it's a name, or letters anyway and I don't know it. MHALL . . . mean anything to you?"
"Sounds more like one of your weird names to me Ham." Mary hesitated, thinking. "Are you sure it's a name."
Kevin stood, excited. It's not a name, it's a poem, Mary had a little lamb, Regan's joke with me when we were kids . . . it must be her."
"It can't be her Kevin, that vessel is not The STEIN." Ham sounded thoughtful.
"Then who is it?" Mary asked.
Ham didn't answer for a moment, "If it's not Regan sending . . . then it must be me." He let the thought hang.
They looked confused so He continued. "Look, I know that poem through Regan, don't worry how that's another story but she knows I know. Now if I wanted Regan to know it was me coming in on that vessel, and I needed to do it in a fast, simple, hard to detect way, I might do that."
"First Ham," Mary sounded doubtful, "you're obviously here, but putting that aside why would you bother? Wouldn't you just signal openly?"
"Mary, only I would know that poem and how to use it. It doesn't mean anything to anyone else, except Kevin perhaps. I'm sending it expecting that Regan will understand that it's me, which means that me, the sender in this case, doesn't know Regan is hurt which also means it is not the me that went with the Stein which also means it must be a me from Gliese system, which means something is wrong and to find out what is wrong we need to reply."
This took some processing by all in the room.
"Whoa," A flash of alarm went through Kevin. "If something is wrong I'm not sure that replying is a good idea, especially when Regan's not even here." He looked at the others for support. None was forthcoming, in fact both Mary and Kutch looked positively excited.
"How would you reply?" Mary asked, ignoring Kevin's warning.
Kevin sighed and slumped back down. "Just use the first letters of the second line, IFWWAS, that's how Regan and I would do it."
"I agree Kevin . . . I'm sending now, there'll be a delay."
The seconds ticked by slowly. No one spoke. Coffees cooled.
"Kevin," Ham burst out excitedly. "The vessel has responded and . . . I know now for certain that it's me." His delight and curiosity was obvious. "It's also now trying to send something to us."
"Be careful Ham, how can you be sure this is legit?"
"I can be sure because that me is also sending the last line of the poem, AABYDAI. Kevin, you know I must be right."
Kevin, ever cautious, had to concede. He is right. No one else would know that line. "Ok Ham, but be careful, let's see what they've got."
"I'm on it . . . It won't take long."
Again they waited, seconds ticking by; the three on the edge of their seats in anticipation. In Kevin's case it was clearly nervous worry as he chewed on a nail. It took longer than before, and then Ham began to speak.
"It seems to be a compressed fil . . ." There followed several blips and crackles.
"Hatden is on his w'up wit Marc . . . Kevin, some's Happning . . ."
Then there was silence for a few seconds . . .
"It's t much . . . it pushn m out . . . Oh shit . . . Kevin!"
The room went pitch black, and quiet. A shocked hush hung there, no one wanting to speak.
"Ham?" Kevin spoke first, and waited, "Ham? What happened . . . Ham?"
"Kevin," Mary sounded more alarmed than he had ever heard her, "Oh shit Kevin have we been attacked? What's happened to Ham?"
Kutch reached to grope for Kevin's
arm. "Kev, listen . . . there's no sound . . . no air . . . we need to get outside, see what's happened. Everything has shut down."
They could hear him groping across the floor and Kevin followed. Crawling through the garden he could hear Kutch had reached the door. He was thumping the pad. It was no good, the door wouldn't open, and they were trapped. The twins screamed in the background.
Outside, everything too was black. Inside the pipe reflected light from Earth and Moon shone on the tumbling bodies and loose equipment that had been ejected from flight decks as the fields failed. Several Ham piloted Sherpa's drifted aimlessly. Other than that, all was still.
Centre pipe, the inner bulge hummed, and heated and hummed some more.
* * *
Mid way between Jupiter and Earth the massive behemoth now ran dark, very dark. All systems crashed, all control, life support and lighting down and out. The warship, now effectively nothing more than a massive asteroid continued to hurtle along on its last line, a direct path toward the goal . . . Earth.
Chapter Four
It was an unusual pose under the circumstances. They both watched as Leah jumped up on the adjoining gurney. She sat there now, legs dangling, leaning back on her hands and just staring. Before her, the body lay naked, it was washed and ready. Like voyeurs they had watched as she washed and worked the beautiful form, a light cloth draped over the head disguising the horror. Carefully she had massaged muscle and manipulated joints just as Ham had coached her, getting everything ready, for today was the day.
Regan's Reach 2: Orbital Envy Page 11
