by CJ Williams
Looking around the narrow waterway, Carrie agreed. The situation had gone downhill rapidly. She looked out of the side window of the bridge. The cliff sides were so close she felt like she could reach out and touch them. Germander set up to make the turn. As the ship steadied out, he cursed again. Another bend, this time to the left was just ahead.
Jandy was now surrounded by steep cliff walls on all four sides. It was time to call it off. Carrie gazed out the window again. The canyon was almost scraping the side of the freighter. Then it disappeared. The cloud cover had suddenly let down again and they had flown right into it. It was like being inside a ping-pong ball. In every direction, all she could see was white haze.
“Climb!” Germander screamed. “Full power!” Germander pulled back on his controls, forcing the Jandy into a near vertical orientation.
The freighter’s internal gravity was not built for such sudden changes. Carrie fell backwards, landing on the back wall of the bridge which was now the floor. The navigator, also caught off guard, bounced over the engineer’s station and landed in a heap beside her. The man’s leg bent at an unnatural angle and Carrie heard bones crunch through his shrieking pain.
Germander was muttering a prayer and somehow bracing himself so he too did not wind up prone between Carrie and the navigator.
Carrie had no idea how fast they were climbing. She wondered about their altitude. Were they already higher than the mountains?
A horrible grinding screech shuddered through the ship’s metal structure. The impact threw Carrie sideways. Guess not.
And then there was silence followed immediately by blue sky outside. Carrie saw white fluffy clouds below in all directions.
Germander leveled off his spacecraft and shouted orders to his bridge crew, trying to be heard above the shrill whistling that filled the corridors behind the bridge. Jandy’s rough kiss with the mountain top had breached the ship’s hull.
He yanked the vessel violently around, turning toward the open sea and nosed her into a gliding dive that barely kept her above the clouds. The cold of high altitude filled the bridge and made Carrie’s breath frost over. It got hard to breath and she found herself panting, trying to get more oxygen to her lungs. Her vision began to gray. She dimly realized she was suffering from hypoxia.
Germander dug into a cabinet behind the helm and yanked out an oxygen mask. He slipped it over his face and cast Carrie an apologetic glance before turning his back. She guessed there was only a single emergency breather but she didn’t resent the Captain using it as long as he got them down safely.
She continued to pant and slowly the gray in her vision diminished. They had descended enough for normal breathing. Without regard for niceties Germander got the spacecraft back to low altitude and then turned toward the settlement they had seen earlier.
A guardsman burst into the bridge shouting for the princess.
“I’m here,” Carrie cried out. “I’m fine. The navigator needs a medic. What about the others? Is everyone okay?”
“Bumps and bruises all around,” the guardsman said. “Only our ancient engineer is unscathed, he was napping of course.”
“Let’s not begrudge his naps,” Carrie said. “He’s old and we’ll need his expertise for the repairs.”
Germander grunted and nodded toward an airstrip on the south side of the town. “That’s no spaceport, I’ll wager, but I see hangars. That means they have facilities of some kind. I hope your stash of gold is substantial, Highness. I have a feeling that nothing here is going to come cheap.”
Carrie silently agreed. More than that, however, she worried about the timeline. How much damage had their starship suffered? Could it be made spaceworthy in time to meet her deadline with JF307?
Ten minutes later Germander set Jandy down on the edge of a huge concrete ramp. A local ground crew, looking a bit more professional than the one in the capital city, drove out to offer assistance.
Carrie disembarked with Germander to inspect the damage to Jandy. They had been lucky indeed. Three feet closer and the impact would have taken out one of the main gravity drives. The ground crew was already staring in wonder at the gash along one side of the hull.
“You must be the fool we saw flying up the fjord,” one of the ground crew remarked undiplomatically. The man was grinning with amusement, which was not shared by Carrie and particularly not by Germander, who barked a harsh reply.
Carrie left them to sort out details. The transient crew had come from a building toward the center of the ramp so she walked in that direction with Choego and Sunchall automatically following behind. Carrie needed to find alternative transportation while Germander took care of repairs.
“Sunchall,” Carrie said as an afterthought. “Bring my purse, please. It’s on the floor by my bed; I think.”
“Yes, mum,” Sunchall replied, sprinting back toward the ship.
The building looked like the fixed base operators that Carrie had seen on Earth airports. Inside the modest-sized lobby was a reception desk. To one side, an interior door stood open, leading into the attached hangar. Inside the hangar bay Carrie spotted a variety of small flitters and one-man transports.
A bored young woman sat behind the receptionist’s counter. Her nametag read Jeobsu. Jeobsu raised her eyebrows as Carrie approached but said nothing.
“I need to rent an aircraft,” Carrie said. “Is there someone here who can help me?”
“Nothing for rent here,” Jeobsu replied.
“What about all those?” Carrie asked, pointing through the hangar bay door.
“Private owners,” Jeobsu explained. “They pay for storage but most of them live somewhere else. I’ve never known them to rent. And we get that question a lot from visitors. No one rents to visitors.”
Carrie could understand why. She wouldn’t risk her own craft to someone with unknown piloting skills. And if the owners didn’t live here, it meant hiring both a pilot and craft was out of the question.
“There must be someone around here,” Carrie pushed. “I’m willing to pay a bonus on top of any standard rate. I’m on a strict timetable.”
Jeobsu shrugged, unimpressed by someone else’s problem. “You might try Noin,” she said, nodding down the flightline. “He’s two hangars down. Mostly he rents hangar space but I’ve seen him fly a few people around.”
“Thanks,” Carrie replied and went off in search of Noin.
The indicated hangar was closed but not locked. The tall metal building had big sliding doors at the front that opened onto the tarmac. The thick doors slid sideways on metal tracks. Carrie pushed against one of the doors and it budged open slowly. With Choego’s assistance they opened the door enough to slip through. Sunchall caught up, huffing and puffing from her brief sprint.
“Here you are, mistress,” she said, offering the purse with gold coins to Carrie. Choego chided her companion for being so winded after such a short distance run.
Carrie told her guardswomen to wait outside and she walked into the hangar. “Hello?” she called, walking carefully between the stored aircraft, avoiding protruding antennas and sharp-cornered wingtips. She navigated her way toward a small office built into the back wall. “Anyone here?”
A very old man who was studying a schematic on his desk looked up at her call. He rose creakily and came to greet her.
“Mistress,” he greeted her politely. “Can I help you?”
“Are you Noin? Would it be possible to hire something to take me down the fjords?” Carrie asked.
The man shook his head. “No, mistress. You need to go down to the marina. They have several kinds of watercraft. These are all for flying.”
“I know,” Carrie said. “I need something faster than a boat. I would prefer to rent an aircraft.”
Noin looked at Carrie as if she was crazy, but he still spoke politely. “I’m sorry, mistress. That would not be safe. No one would do such a thing. The weather would not allow it. Low clouds you see.”
Carrie delicatel
y snuck a peek into his mind. The old man was honest and competent. The few people he taxied about were merely sightseers enjoying the coastline and there was no way he would ever consider hiring a flyer to do what she had asked.
Helplessly Carrie looked around the hangar. She had to do something. If she could get into the fjords, she felt certain she would find Princess Gimi. The touch of a First Family AI had been unmistakable. If Gimi was on a riverboat, it made sense she would have one controlled by an AI to some degree, even if she was trying to keep a low profile.
Looking between the various aircraft, Carrie noticed a familiar sight at the other end of the hangar. The brief glimpse made her heart skip.
“What’s that?” she cried, involuntarily grabbing Noin’s wrist.
The startled Noin tried to diplomatically peel her fingers off his arm.
“Oh,” Carrie said, surprised by her unintentional contact. “I’m sorry. What is that?” Carrie started walking toward a sturdy wire fence that guarded a large corner of the hangar. The object behind was unmistakable.
Noin set off after her. “Hold on mistress, please. I don’t know what that is. A customer leases the space from me. It doesn’t do anything but sit there.”
Carrie reached the chain link barrier and hooked her fingers through the metal links. “That’s a replicator,” she said softly. “You’ve got a replicator.”
Noin eyed her suspiciously. “If you know that, you know more than most. But then you also know it doesn’t mean anything. There’s no brain behind it.” He nodded at the control pedestal at one corner. The only thing Carrie saw was that built into the panel was an empty slot, the same size as the block of plastic left by Sadie.
“Guards!” Carrie screamed at the top of her lungs. Noin shrank back in surprise at her outburst.
The sound of scurrying feet came from the hangar door. “Highness?” Choego’s voice called out frantically.
“Over here,” Carrie replied loudly.
Noin started to back away but Carrie grabbed his wrist again and this time held it firmly.
“Please,” she begged. “Stay with me for a moment. We mean no harm, I promise.”
The two guardswomen arrived looking ready for combat. They were startled to see Carrie gripping the wrist of a harmless old man.
“Just wait,” Carrie said to everyone. “Sunchall. I’m sorry, but would you bring me the Nike bag from my closet? It’s on the top shelf and has that white emblem on the side.”
Sunchall looked pained at being sent back to the ship once again. “Yes, Highness,” she said crisply trying not to whine. She sprinted away, ducking under wings and around fuselages.
“Highness?” Noin said uncertainly.
Carrie ignored his comment. “Who owns this?” she asked. “Is it an older woman? Is her name Gimi?”
Noin’s guilty look was answer enough. “I don’t know,” he said. “But she pays well and I’m to keep it secure. That’s all I know.”
“Listen to me, Noin,” Carrie said urgently. “I’m Gimi’s sister. I need to borrow the replicator so I can find her. Then I won’t have to hire anyone. Is it okay if I use it? Just for one item. Have you seen how it works?”
“I’ve seen nothing,” Noin insisted. “But no one’s allowed to use this. And I haven’t heard about any sister.” He kept trying to pull away and Carrie sensed he wanted to reach into his pocket.
“Choego, can you check his pockets? I think our Mr. Noin is holding out on us.”
Choego frisked the old man quickly and then dug into his pants pocket. She held up a miniature transmitter.
Carrie clucked her tongue. “So if someone comes around, you send a warning, is that it? And the princess disappears.” She peered into the man’s mind, but this time it was more than a gentle probe. He tried to put up a defense but Carrie brushed past them.
“For Pete’s sake,” Carrie exclaimed. “You’re a royal guardsman! Why didn’t you say so, you silly man? Ah, there it is,” she said, seeing the image of a key in his mind. A thin brass key was at the back of his desk drawer behind a bottle of golden liquor.
Choego took control of Noin while Carrie retrieved the key from Noin’s office. It unlocked the sturdy gate around the replicator.
Noin was about to have a stroke. He struggled fruitlessly against Choego’s iron grip. Carrie told Choego not to hurt him but the more she tried to calm him the more frantic he became.
Sunchall arrived with Carrie’s Nike bag. To Carrie’s relief, she also brought a squad of guardsmen. At the sight of the uniformed guards, dressed in the livery of Princess Gimi, Noin partially relaxed. A hopeful expression briefly flashed across his features.
“You should have listened to me,” Carrie scolded the old man as she dug into the bag. She had always kept the block of plastic safe in that bag, never wanting to mislay it. Triumphantly, she withdrew it and held it up. “See? This is mine from the First Family.”
Inside the gate, Carrie approached the replicator. It was a standard square, perhaps eighty feet on a side. For an industrial replicator on the moon it would be considered small. It didn’t matter; this was certainly big enough to create a Sadie-sized space yacht.
A commercial-sized power switch was mounted on the hangar’s side wall at the far edge of the framework. With both hands Carrie shoved the handle to the ON position. She flinched away when it closed with a loud metallic thunk. Lights around the replicator came up and the supports at the four corners hummed quietly as they elevated the massive replicator print-head up to the hangar eaves. The machine was live.
Carrie suppressed her excitement. The replicator had minor differences from the ones she’d used in the past on Jigu and Bradley’s Planet, but the essential features were the same. The main difference was the control panel. Alliance replicators were normally controlled by the local artificial intelligence. The design work occurred somewhere else and when it was time, the AI managed the actual operation of the 3D printing process.
In this case, with no AI to manage the process, the control pedestal had an open slot just below the top of the unit. She shoved the plastic block into the slot and held her breath. A warning horn sounded and lights on the side and back wall began flashing.
Seconds later the familiar shimmering of replication reflected through the hangar. A faint, ghost-like outline of Sadie appeared inside the shimmer. This could take a while, Carrie decided.
After almost three hours, the flashing lights went out. It was done.
The ship was beautiful; an exact replica of Sadie. The chin gun mountings, the main cannons, and best of all, those huge gravity drives that protruded on both sides. They could apply massive thrust in either direction, giving her unequaled combat maneuverability. And all of it was packaged into the same comfortable, if not luxurious, yacht that was perfect for one or two people.
The weight of loneliness and despair that had weighed on her for the past several months seemed to vanish. She was still stuck on the wrong side of the galaxy; her mission was just as impossible, but at least she had her spaceship back. Life was looking up.
Carrie glanced back at her guards and old Noin standing outside of the security fence. All were agog at the appearance of the amazing vessel. Carrie couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “This should help,” she said with satisfaction. It would be a hoot to show Germander her new ship.
She put the specification block back into the Nike bag and approached the beautiful yacht that would soon become her home for the foreseeable future.
“Well, that took you long enough,” a voice said harshly. It had a familiar tone and grated against her ears. “You’ve been carrying those design specs around for months. What were you waiting for, Christmas?” The voice was more than plaintive; it was actually whining. “I thought your Space Camp thingy was supposed to be important. As far as I can tell you’ve been sitting on your ass doing nothing.”
Carrie suddenly recognized the voice. “Booker?” she exclaimed.
“Who’d you ex
pect? Peter Rabbit? Sadie told you she left someone familiar to bring you comfort. God knows why. You never brought any comfort to me.”
“Booker?” Carrie repeated. She felt a weird tingle run down her spine. This could not be happening.
“Yeh-ess! I’m right here. Why? You want a welcome home hug? Want me to cry for you? Poor baby…wah, wah. Give me a break!”
“What are you doing here?” Carrie asked incredulously, unbelieving that Sadie would do this to her. “This is impossible.”
“Take it up with management, sister. I go where I’m told; that’s the way I’m coded.”
“But you’re a little snot!” Carrie said loudly, trying not to shout.
“Hey, don’t take it out on me! I didn’t ask for this. You said you loved me. Sadie heard it. She even recorded it. I’ve got it in my archives.”
“I was being polite!” Carrie yelled angrily. “I thought I’d never see you again!”
“Surprise, surprise. That was then, this is now.”
Carrie forced herself to rein in. It wasn’t really Booker, for crying out loud. She was arguing with a machine. According to Sadie, the ship didn’t even have an AI. Just a computer program. What had she said? A familiar UI presence that would bring her some comfort? So much for Sadie’s infallibility.
Carrie breathed deeply trying to calm herself. She closed her eyes and concentrated on slowing her heart rate. Obviously, Sadie didn’t know squat about family relationships.
“Highness?” Choego was standing next to her. She looked worried. “Is there a problem, Highness?”
Carrie shook her head. “No, it’s okay. Just a misunderstanding. I think this craft can do what we need. Booker!”
“Now what?” the ship whined.
Carrie shuddered at the lifelike voice. She would just have to put up with the sarcastic personality. Treat it like a machine, she told herself. Don’t get drawn into stupid arguments.
“Do you have onboard radar? Can you navigate through mountainous terrain in the weather?”
“Of course I can. Why? You afraid of finding a thunderstorm in orbit all of a sudden? I told your dad you’re not cut out for this work. As I recall your greatest claim to fame is having a fat pig in 4H and that was a long time ago. Probably looked like you.”
