by Ryk Brown
“And their chief administrator would not likely allow the use of their facilities for our purposes,” the commander surmised.
“No, she wouldn’t. Although if you send me back into her office and let me loose on her, I’m pretty sure I could convince her.”
Commander Telles’s eyebrow shot up at the implications. “This is a covert operation. Assaulting the administrator would likely…”
“I was kidding, Lucius,” Jessica said, interrupting him. “Even if we could get a clone ready more quickly, there’s still the problem of getting it to Nathan’s cell.”
“Indeed. The odds of being discovered before we can reach Nathan are already extremely high. Dragging a comatose clone will not help matters,” the commander agreed.
“There is only one way to make this work,” Jessica said. “Portable Consciousness Capture Device. Doctor Sato said it was developed for use by people working in remote areas, usually in high-risk jobs. The Nifelmians normally back up their state of consciousness at regular intervals, like once a Nifelmian month, or something. Maybe less, I’m not sure. Some of them even have a replacement body in stasis, waiting for them, just in case. Worst case, they lose a month of memories. But that requires regular visits to a backup facility. They’ve been working on a bio-neural link that would be implanted in the base of their necks, and connected to a transceiver. The idea is to upload their consciousness the moment their heart stops beating, before brain death occurs. In the meantime, their EMS units carry the portable capture device for field use.”
“And this device can be used on Captain Scott?”
“Yes, but again, because he isn’t Nifelmian, there’s a higher risk of memory loss, and even personality disorders. However, Doctor Sato admitted it’s all speculation, based on the problems they had more than five hundred years ago. Their technology has improved greatly since then, so there’s at least a chance that Nathan will come through it with both his personality and his memories intact.”
“Odds?”
“She kept sticking to fifty-fifty,” Jessica replied. “I think she’s afraid of getting my hopes up.”
“Too late, I see,” Commander Telles commented, noting her enthusiastic expression.
“At least it’s a chance,” Jessica replied.
“How big is this device?” the commander wondered.
“From the way she described it, I’d say it’s small enough to fit in a field pack,” Jessica told him.
“How soon can she get us this device, and teach us how to use it?”
“She needs to convince someone else to join her. She just does the cloning. The device is all tech.”
“Does she have someone in mind?”
“She didn’t say,” Jessica said. “But I got the impression she did.”
“How do we contact her?” Telles asked.
“She gave me this comm-unit,” Jessica explained, pulling a small electronic device out of her pocket and showing it to the commander. “It works much like ours. She said it would work from anywhere in their system, so I don’t even have to be in orbit over Nifelm.”
“You will need to return soon. We must get this device, and get trained on it as soon as possible.”
Jessica looked at the commander, her eyes narrowing. “Why? What’s happened?”
“We got word from one of our operatives on Nor-Patri this morning,” the commander began.
“You have operatives on Nor-Patri?” Jessica was stunned.
“For several weeks now.”
“How the hell do they get messages back to…”
“It is not important, Jess. Captain Scott has been convicted. His execution will take place in ten Patrian days.”
Jessica sank down in her chair, her hope ripped away from her again. “How long in Earth days?” she barely managed to find the courage to ask.
“Fifteen and a half,” Commander Telles replied. “Do you think you can become fluent in Jung before then?”
“Just watch me.”
* * *
“You know I would go with you if I could,” Yanni reminded Deliza, as they stood at the base of the Mirai’s aft cargo ramp.
“You have to finish your work here,” Deliza said. “I understand that. Besides, it will only be for a few weeks. And I promise, if possible, I will try to return before then, even if only for a few days.”
“I still don’t see why you can’t hire someone to take care of your family’s holdings. After all, we have twice daily comm-drones between the Sol and Pentaurus sectors.”
“It is imperative that I diversify my family’s holdings, and move as much of our wealth as possible outside of the Pentaurus cluster. Many of our lands have already been seized by the nobles, and they will do everything within their power to get control of my father’s fortune. I must invest it elsewhere…markets where the nobles have no influence.”
“I know,” Yanni said, looking down.
“Just work twice as fast, so we can be together that much sooner,” she teased.
“Would that I could.”
“You about ready, Princess?” Josh asked as he and Loki passed behind her and ascended the ramp.
Deliza rolled her eyes, annoyed by the moniker.
“You hired him,” Yanni reminded her.
“I’m starting to question that decision,” Deliza admitted. She kissed Yanni, then turned and headed up the ramp, turning back halfway to wave goodbye.
“Ramp coming up,” Marcus announced, as Deliza reached the cargo bay.
“I hate having to lie to Yanni,” Deliza said as she approached Jessica, who was standing at the front of the cargo bay.
“You’ll be able to tell him the truth, eventually,” Jessica promised. “For now, it’s better this way.”
“I do not disagree.” Deliza took a deep breath and let it out. “Where to now?”
“We go to Nifelm and pick up Doctors Sato and Megel, and then take them with us back to Corinair, where you will help them acquire the equipment and materials they need to set up a cloning lab.”
“We just waltz in and take a couple of Nifelmian citizens away, and no one will complain?”
“They’re meeting us at a remote location, away from the biospheres.”
“And no one will miss them?”
“That’s all I know,” Jessica insisted. “Besides, it’s a planet full of clones. There are probably a few thousand of each of them running around.” Jessica smiled, but Deliza just looked confused. “Why is it no one laughs at my jokes?” Jessica said, as she turned and headed up the gangway to the main salon.
“You know, cloning is highly frowned upon on Corinair,” Deliza warned, ascending the gangway behind her.
“That’s why we want to keep it secret. Along with other obvious reasons. Besides, it’s only for a few years.”
“Everyone, prepare for liftoff,” Loki’s voice called over the ship’s intercoms.
“It’s not going to be easy to make this all happen so quickly, and keep it secret,” Deliza said, as she took a seat on one of the couches.
“We already have a plan,” Jessica told her, also taking her seat. “You set up a corporation…imports and exports, commodities trading, shipping, maybe buy some buildings and such. And of course, you’ll have to set up an R&D lab, where your two top scientists will be developing new products to bring to market, all in secret, of course.”
“That’s a rather ambitious plan,” Deliza commented. “I just hope we still have enough funds to make it happen.”
“So do I,” Jessica replied.
“Jump to orbit, complete,” Loki’s voice reported. “We’ll be starting our jump series to Nifelm in five minutes.”
“Well, if you’ll excuse me,” Jessica said, rising from her seat. “Naralena a
nd Commander Telles are waiting for me in the guest cabin. I’ve been warned I have a lot of studying to do.”
* * *
“You do realize how tight that is,” Loki said, a skeptical expression on his face.
“It’s not that tight,” Josh disagreed.
“The hell it isn’t.”
“It’s more than four times the Mirai’s size,” Josh pointed out.
“But it’s at the end of a one-light-year jump, Josh! That cave’s a pin hole, at best!”
“Can we make the jump or not?” Jessica asked.
Josh and Loki answered simultaneously, but still with opposite opinions.
“That’s encouraging,” Naralena commented sarcastically.
“The Mirai’s jump navigation computer is precise enough to successfully make the jump,” Deliza pointed out.
“The precision of this ship’s jump drive is not in question,” Loki explained.
“We’ve made jumps from further out,” Josh reminded Loki.
“In a Falcon!” Marcus exclaimed.
“Those jumps weren’t into caves, Josh!” Loki added. “We’ll have very little room to maneuver in there. And this ship, as nice as she is, isn’t that maneuverable.”
“I say she is.”
“How do you intend to stop?” Loki challenged.
“And slamming into the wall is not an acceptable answer,” Marcus added.
“This ship’s deceleration thrusters are woefully underpowered for such a maneuver,” Loki continued.
“We jump in backwards,” Josh suggested, off the cuff. “Problem solved.”
Loki rolled his eyes. “Great, so all our control inputs will be reversed.”
“No problem!”
“Jesus, kid!” Marcus scowled. “Where do you draw the line?”
“Not here, that’s for sure.”
“We won’t be going that fast when we jump, will we?” Jessica wondered.
“No, we won’t,” Josh confirmed, “and Loki knows that.”
“I’m right here,” Loki objected.
“He’s just very risk averse.”
“I have to be, flying with you,” Loki defended. He turned to Jessica. “Can’t we just jump into the valley in front of the cave, and then slide inside to hide, rather than jumping directly into the cave?”
Jessica looked at Commander Telles. “It’s not like there are any enemy ships around.”
“The Nifelmians do have communications and survey satellites,” the commander said. “If they happen to be looking at that valley when we jump in, they will detect our jump flash.”
“And do what?” Jessica asked. “They don’t have any military. The best they could do is to send an airship out to investigate. By that time, we’ll most likely be gone. And even if we aren’t, it’s not like they’re able to stop us.”
“We are attempting to execute a covert extraction,” the commander reminded her.
“Being covert won’t be of much use if we slam into a wall and die,” Marcus pointed out.
“Quite true.” Commander Telles took out his data pad and studied the screen thoughtfully.
“What is that?” Jessica asked.
“The orbital paths of the Nifelmian satellite networks,” he explained. “I asked Ensign Sheehan to scan their orbits during your last visit to Nifelm.”
“Good thinking.”
Commander Telles did not respond to the compliment, but continued studying the data pad instead. “There is a small window of forty-seven seconds, during which no satellite will be in position to detect our jump flash, assuming their orbital paths have not changed since these scans were obtained.” He looked at Josh and Loki. “I assume that will provide you with adequate time to jump into the valley, and move the Mirai inside the cave, to avoid detection.”
“Piece of pie,” Josh declared. Loki just glared at him.
Marcus grumbled in disapproval.
“We have to time the departure jump as well,” Loki reminded him.
“Jumping out is the easy part,” Josh insisted.
Commander Telles looked at Deliza.
“What?” she asked.
“It is your ship, your highness.”
“Don’t call me that.” Deliza sighed. “It may be my ship, but it’s your operation. Therefore, it should be your decision, not mine.”
“Do we get a say in this?” Marcus wondered.
“You do not,” Commander Telles replied. He looked at Josh and Loki. “Prepare to jump us in, gentlemen,” he ordered, handing his data pad to Loki.
“Yes!” Josh said, enthusiastically.
“Lord, help us,” Marcus declared, as he turned and headed down the short ladder from the Mirai’s cockpit to her main deck.
Loki sighed. “Maybe you should all strap in.”
“Will it make a difference?” Jessica wondered. “If we slam into a wall, I mean.”
“No one is slamming into any walls!” Marcus shouted from the deck below.
“Even at low speed, there will be considerable turbulence due to the sudden displacement of air when we jump in,” Loki explained. “It will likely be even worse, since we are jumping into a narrow canyon.”
“Very well,” Jessica replied, taking the jump seat at the engineering station behind Loki. Commander Telles folded down the jump seat behind Josh, and buckled in as well.
“You want me to do the jump calculations, or are you going to do them?” Josh asked Loki.
“What do you think?” Loki replied, as he entered the jump parameters into the jump-nav computer.
Josh smiled as he glanced back at Jessica and Commander Telles. “Nothing to worry about, people,” he announced, confidently. “Like I said, it’s a piece of pie.”
“Cake, Josh,” Jessica corrected, as she tightened her restraints. “The expression is ‘a piece of cake’.”
“He knows what it is,” Loki mumbled, annoyed by Josh’s intentional error. “Come to two seven zero and pitch up four point two three seven degrees, relative to the system ecliptic. Reduce speed to five meters per second.”
“That’s practically a dead stop, Loki,” Josh protested.
“That’s the idea.”
“You’re taking all the fun out of it.”
“There’s no way I’m letting you jump in backwards,” Loki insisted. “Five meters per second.”
“Fine.” Josh made the adjustments, altering the Mirai’s approach course relative to where the jump-nav computer calculated the planet would be at the time of their jump. “You got that jump ready yet?”
“Be patient,” Loki insisted. “There are a lot of variables to consider for this jump.”
“We’re secure back here,” Marcus announced over the ship’s intercom.
“That should do it,” Loki decided.
“You double-checked it?” Jessica asked.
“Are you kidding?” Loki replied. “I quadruple-checked it. We jump in one minute.” He looked at Josh. “I’m assuming you won’t mind if we use the jump sequencer for this one?”
“If it will make you feel better,” Josh replied.
“It will.” Loki activated the Mirai’s auto-jump sequencer, allowing the ship’s autopilot to take control up to the moment of jump. “Jump sequencer activated. Auto-flight has the ship.”
Josh placed his hands on his knees, ready to take the controls the moment the jump completed.
“Forty seconds,” Loki warned. “Lift thrusters show ready, reactor is at full power. Ranging and terrain-following sensors are set to maximum sensitivity.” He glanced at the jump sequencer display. “Twenty seconds,” he announced over the intercom.
“Twenty seconds.”
Naralena swallowed hard.
“They know what they’re doing, right?”
“You jumped into a Koharan lake,” Marcus commented. “In a frickin’ mini-sub! This should be a breeze for you.”
“Much bigger target,” Naralena mumbled, her eyes shut tightly.
“Josh and Loki are the best pilots around,” Deliza assured them. “Just don’t ever tell Josh that I said that.”
“Don’t worry,” Marcus replied. “The boy’s ego is big enough as it is.”
“Five seconds,” Loki voiced warned over the intercom.
“Three……two……one……”
The Mirai’s windows turned opaque as the jump flash washed over the ship. They shook violently, as if slapped by an unseen hand.
“Jump complete!”
“Oh, yeah!”
“Lift thrusters at forty percent!” Loki reported.
“Firing decel thrusters! Full power!” Josh announced, pushing the deceleration thruster throttles all the way forward.
“Cave entrance in ten seconds!” Loki warned.
Josh looked out the forward windows. Despite its size, the cave opening looked surprisingly small. For a brief moment, Josh wondered if the terrain maps provided by Doctor Sato were correct.
“Forward speed dropping!” Loki announced. “Two meters per second.”
The mouth of the cave moved closer, as the Mirai slid low over the ground, nearly brushing the tops of trees. Josh pulled the deceleration throttles back to zero as he twisted the flight control stick to the left, causing the Mirai to yaw quickly to port.
“What the hell…!” Loki cried out in surprise, as the ship rotated around. “What are you doing?”
“Parking,” Josh replied calmly.
Three seconds later, the ship had rotated one hundred and eighty degrees. The mouth of the cave swept over them, now from behind, moving away from the Mirai’s bow. Josh quickly brought the main engines up a bit to further slow their descent. A quick glance at the terrain-following sensors display told him the floor of the cave was reasonably level, with no protrusions below that might damage the ship. “Drop the gear!” he ordered.
