by Robert Boren
“I’ll check, Captain,” JJ said.
“Thanks.” I looked at Nolan. “Where could we get more fuel if we need to?”
Nolan’s brow furrowed. “We’ve got enough for almost a year, right? Did you figure something out that we didn’t know before?”
“If we join forces with the Tristar, they might need more. Especially if we have to fight.”
“Captain, the Tristar hasn’t changed course.”
“Thanks, JJ,” I said. “Nolan?”
“Two problems with that, Captain. Boron would be needed in large quantities, and it’s completely controlled by the leadership in each Zone. Even if we were to get a supply, we’d need a way to make it usable. The process requires economies of scale that make improvisation impossible. If we need more fuel, we’ll have to get it from existing stockpiles.”
“You mean we’d have to steal it,” Tim said.
“Or we’d have to get it from the black market,” Nolan said, “and the Overlords have done a good job clamping down on that.”
“All right,” I said. “Just a thought.”
“I’ll do some searching around,” Nolan said.
“We aren’t classified as a military ship,” JJ said. “We could go to the Free Zone and get more fuel.”
“We’d burn a lot getting there,” Nolan said. “If we get there and can’t find a source, we’ll be stuck.”
“I thought we had almost a year’s supply,” JJ said.
“That calculation was based on normal usage around our current zone,” Izzy said. “Going that far on a jump at the high setting will burn about two-thirds of our fuel, according to the range calculator.”
“It’d be worse than that, because we’d have to do it cloaked,” Nolan said.
“Okay, let’s scratch that idea,” I said, my head still throbbing.
“We should stop the conjecture,” JJ said, “until we talk to the Tristar. Everything depends on that either way.”
“If things are as bad in the Central Authority Zone as we’re thinking, going to the Free Zone might be the only way to survive,” Izzy said. “We might have no choice, even if it’s a one-way trip.”
“If the Clan and the Central Authority are getting together, the Free Zone might not be free for much longer,” Nolan said.
“Okay, let’s end this discussion here,” I said. “I need to lay down and get this damn headache to go away. See you guys in a little while. If anything unexpected happens, let me know right away.”
“We’ll be fine,” Izzy said. “We’ve got more than 24 hours to travel.”
I left the bridge, heading for my stateroom, my mind spinning, the pain moving around to the front of my head. Where’s Vermillion? Part of me wanted to move as far away from him as possible. He’s keeping too many secrets. Is he playing the Clan against the Central Authority? Maybe, if things are as bad as Nolan’s source was suggesting. If that were the case, I’d probably be on his side. My stateroom door opened as I arrived, and I went right to the medicine cabinet, picking up my inhaler. I selected tension pain and inhaled, feeling the medication hit my system immediately, dulling the pain. Then I laid down and drifted off to sleep.
I woke to a call on my PA. It was Dr. Hazelton.
“Captain Clarke?” she asked.
“Hello,” I said, checking the time. I’d slept for more than eight hours. “What’s up?”
“Barney just came out of his first session.”
“Already?”
“Yes, he was doing so well that we sped it up,” she said.
“Is he sleeping now?”
“Yes, Captain, but not for long.”
“I need to cleanse,” I said. “Be there in an hour or so. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Of course, Captain. See you soon.”
I used the cleansing unit, then ate a protein roll, wishing that the Holographic unit was safe to use. I sent a message to Tim, asking him how things were going. He returned the message after about two minutes, saying that he was dozing, but everything was fine. I promised to relieve him after stopping by sick bay.
Deneuve was sitting next to Barney’s bed when I got there.
“He’s still asleep, huh?” I whispered.
Deneuve shook his head yes. “Hope we didn’t overcook him. He was absorbing the material way faster than the program was feeding it to him, so Dr. Hazelton sped it up.”
“He must be highly intelligent.”
“I could tell that before,” Deneuve said. “Look, he’s stirring.”
I watched as the Neanderthal’s eyes opened. He saw me first, panic washing across his face until Deneuve touched his shoulder.
“It’s okay, Barney,” he said softly. “How do you feel?”
Barney turned to look at him, eyes squinting slightly. “I’m scared.” His voice was a soft baritone, the pronunciation slightly off, like a small child’s.
“Don’t worry, nobody here will hurt you,” Deneuve said. “We fixed your arm. Remember?”
“What is this place? Is it your home?”
“It’s a space ship,” Deneuve said.
“What is that?” he asked, his eyes darting around.
“It flies us from one place to another,” Deneuve said calmly.
Barney’s brow furrowed. “Are those mean ones here? Where’s my bow?”
“You saw their space ship?” I asked. Barney looked over at me, his big eyes focusing intensely.
“Who is he?”
Deneuve petted his shoulder. “He’s our Captain.”
“What is a captain?”
“I’m the father of this place,” I said.
Deneuve nodded in agreement. “He won’t hurt you. He brought you here to heal you.”
Barney turned his head back towards me, his eyes still showing fear. “We saw a big thing drop into the lake where the fish are. Then they came out. They hurt my friends.”
“That’s why you were shooting arrows at them?” Deneuve asked.
“Yes. They were getting close to home.”
“Where was your home?” Deneuve asked.
“In the trees. I am hungry.”
I spoke softly into my PA, asking for some food to be brought in, then nodded to Deneuve.
“Some food is coming,” Deneuve said.
“I like your food. No bones.”
“Do you eat fish at home?” I asked.
“Fish, small land animals, and roots. Plants. Berries.”
Dr. Hazelton arrived with a tray of food, which she put on the rolling hospital table, shoving it over towards Barney. He ate with his hands, quickly, as if he was afraid somebody was going to take it from him, while keeping a wary eye on both Dr. Hazelton and me.
“You were hungry, Barney,” Deneuve said, flashing him a smile.
“Can you go home with me?” Barney asked him, his eyebrows up.
“Why do you want to go home?” Dr. Hazelton asked.
“The others,” Barney said, “but I can’t leave Denu.”
I smiled. “French a little hard to pronounce, huh?”
“The next round of training will get him past that,” Dr. Hazelton said. “I’m amazed at how good this worked.”
“You and me both,” I said. “Barney, did you see other men at home, other than the mean ones?”
“They never come anymore,” Barney said.
“They used to come?” Deneuve asked.
“They cross the salty water,” he said. “Before. My mother said.”
“But you’ve never seen them?” I asked.
“No, only the noisy ones that are mean.”
“You can hear them?” Deneuve asked.
“Yes, Denu,” he said.
“How long were the mean men there?” I asked.
“Since last walk.”
“Walk?” Deneuve asked.
“When our other home gets cold, we come by the lake.”
“They migrate,” Dr. Hazelton whispered.
“What is migrate?” Barney aske
d.
“Whispering doesn’t do any good,” I said. “He can hear way beyond what we can.”
Deneuve looked at Barney. “Migrate is moving from one place to another for food or warmth.”
“Is there more food where it gets too cold?” I asked.
“Yes, easy. Pick and eat food, get animals that eat too.”
“Thank you, Barney. I’d better get back to work.” I left sick bay, Dr. Hazelton following me.
“Maybe he doesn’t have valuable info,” she said as we walked down the hall.
“He just gave us some. The Clan have been there for a while. I’ll ask Nolan to check into the seasons on Valla Cappos. That should tell us if we’re looking at weeks or months.”
“Oh. Yes, that makes sense, Captain. Can we do the second round of training?”
“I think we should, as long as it doesn’t hurt him. How soon?”
“We need to give him a few days,” Dr. Hazelton said. “We should have Deneuve introduce him to the others, so he’s not scared every time he sees a new human.”
“Do that,” I said. “Talk to you soon.”
I went to the bridge.
{ 13 }
Amberis
I ’d been covering the bridge for most of the night into mid-morning, trying to doze in my captain’s chair for short periods. Izzy had been to her state room for several hours, as had Tim. Nolan retired earlier. I was hoping he got plenty of sleep. We were going to need him sharp.
“Anything happen, Captain?” Izzy asked as she walked onto the bridge.
“No. Did you sleep enough?”
“I did about as well as normal,” she said. “It’s rare that I get more than five and a half hours. How about you?”
“Dozed a little up here, but I also slept in my room before I got back.”
Nolan showed up, looking refreshed. “Good morning.”
I nodded at him. “Did you get my request about Valla Cappos?”
“I did, I’m afraid.”
“Uh oh, what’d you find out?”
“Valla Cappos has a very long orbit around its star, which is larger than Earth’s sun by quite a bit. Their seasonal cycle is much longer than normal as a result.”
“How long?” Izzy asked.
“Their complete cycle is four Earth years. They’ve been in the cold season for a year and a half.”
“Crap, so the Clan could’ve been there for that long?” I asked.
“Depends on how accurate the Neanderthal’s memory is,” Nolan said. “His people should be moving back to their other home in roughly six Earth months.”
“I didn’t get the impression that they’d been fighting that long,” I said. “Seems like it’d be a bigger deal with a lot more casualties.”
Nolan shrugged. “Maybe there was a big lag between being aware of the Clan presence and fighting with them.”
“Barney said he saw the ship land in the lake,” I said.
“We’re getting close to Amberis,” Izzy said, looking on her PA.
“Should be a few more hours,” I said.
Nolan smiled. “My module sped the ship up, remember? I never re-calibrated the time estimate algorithm.”
“Maybe you should do that, then.”
“I will, Captain. Might want to let JJ know we’re getting close. We should call the Tristar from orbit, in case we need to disappear quickly.”
I nodded, sending the call through my PA. Tim walked in, looking groggy.
“Good morning,” Izzy said.
Tim managed only a nod, plopping down into the first mate’s chair. “We’re close already. My nav alarm went off. Why early?”
“Nolan needs to adjust the estimator to account for his module,” Izzy said.
“That’s not done yet? Seemed to be pretty accurate.”
“For short trips it’s not as noticeable,” Nolan said. “I’ll get on it.”
JJ walked in. “Almost there already, huh?”
“Yep,” I said. “We want to attempt a call to the Tristar when we’re in orbit, assuming they’re out of their jump by that time.”
“Let me check their position,” JJ said, sitting down, eyes glued to her PA.
“I’m anxious to get some more news reports,” Nolan said. “Ought to be some interesting developments.”
“They’re no longer in the jump, Captain,” JJ said. “Can’t tell if they’re in orbit or on the surface. We’ll be able to tell when we’re out of the jump.”
Nolan turned towards me. “The estimation algorithm is fixed, Captain.”
“Thanks, Nolan. How does your module impact fuel calculations?”
“I took care of that before we took off from Valla Cappos,” he said. “We’re getting better fuel economy, by the way. Not by a huge amount, but the difference will add up over time.”
“We’re coming out,” Izzy said, her comment just before we all felt the static rush. Izzy turned on the cameras and the big screen. The blue-green planet was below us. “It’s beautiful.”
“Similar to Earth,” Nolan said. “Seasons are a little different, and their days are about an Earth week long due to their slower rotation, but otherwise there isn’t much difference. Gravity is a little heavier due to their large size.”
“How big is it?” Tim asked.
“About three times the volume of Earth,” Nolan said. “It’s closer to the size of my home planet. I’ll miss the added jump in my step that I get on Earth and other smaller worlds.”
“Trying the Tristar,” JJ said, eyes on her PA. “Connected to their COMM. Paging the Captain.”
“Put it on the main speakers and screen,” I said. JJ nodded and did that.
“JJ?” A gray bearded man’s face showed up on the screen, looking very relieved. “I’m so glad you’re alive. I feared the worst when Vermillion said you weren’t on the EVAC.”
“Cyrus, so glad you got away,” JJ said. “I’m on the Zephyrus.”
“I figured that was a possibility. Is Chairman Vermillion with you?”
I chuckled. “Hi, Cyrus. We were hoping he was with you.”
“Captain Clarke. You’re still on that little ship? Who’s got the New Jersey?”
“Vermillion said never mind. Given current circumstances, I’d much rather be on this ship.”
Nolan moved into view of JJ’s PA. “Captain Ostermann, I’m Nolan.”
“Heard of you,” Cyrus said.
“Why did you go to Aurora Calista?”
Cyrus’s brow furrowed. “Talking about that would break protocol.”
“We might be the last of the Corporation still alive, Cyrus,” I said. “I’ve shared everything Vermillion told me with the bridge crew and JJ. At this point I think we can speak openly.”
Cyrus was silent for a moment.
“I’ve done the same,” JJ said. “We all know the added capabilities of the Tristar.”
“Where are you guys?” Cyrus asked.
“Orbiting Amberis,” I said.
“Amberis? That’s in the middle of nowhere.”
“Exactly,” Nolan said.
“Why are you at Aurora Calista?” I asked.
Cyrus sighed. “I’ll probably regret this. Chairman Vermillion asked me to come here and wait for further instructions.”
“Did you get that order face to face?” Nolan asked.
“No, a message from him hit my PA as we were leaving the South Pacific base.”
“Dammit,” I said. “You’re cloaked, right?”
“Yes,” Cyrus said, “although Vermillion suggested I keep it off to save fuel. I didn’t feel comfortable with that.”
“Are you on the surface?” Nolan asked.
“Yes, near the equator. What do I need to worry about, JJ? I can still read your expressions, you know.”
“We were on our way there too,” she said.
“I didn’t see you.”
“Nolan removed the trace component from the cloaking device, and we’ve got that new Samson Drive module o
n this ship. You won’t see us.”
Cyrus laughed. “You mean that ship is more illegal than this one?”
“Afraid so, Captain Ostermann,” Nolan said.
“Why were you coming here, and why’d you change course?” Cyrus asked.
“Did Vermillion tell you that we were attacked by a Clan ship on Valla Cappos?” I asked.
“What? No.”
“We were, and I told him about it,” I said. “We assumed that the Clan was using natural worm holes to send ships with un-enhanced star drives. Valla Cappos is within seconds of a natural worm hole.”
“Crap,” Cyrus said. “There’s natural worm holes here. My science officer told me that earlier. I didn’t think much of it.”
“Yes, there’s a natural wormhole from the Clan Zone to that planet, and another natural worm hole to Earth.”
“You think the Clan did the railgun attacks?” Cyrus asked.
“That thought crossed our minds,” I said. “You really have no idea where Vermillion is?”
“That is correct. I need to man the battle stations. If a Clan ship shows up here, I’m not going down without a fight.”
“You’re cloaked,” JJ said. “No Clan ship is gonna see you.”
Nolan stood up. “We can’t count on that. The Tristar is still putting out the tracer. Corporation proprietary technology can no longer be considered under Corporation control. I suggest you connect me with your science officer, Captain Ostermann, so I can walk him through the software alteration to remove the tracer. Then I suggest you leave that planet immediately.”
“That’s illegal,” Cyrus said. “We had to agree not to do that to save our prototype program.”
I chuckled. “Cyrus, that’s the least of our worries right now. Make sure your shields are at a hundred percent and stay cloaked. I’d suggest you take Nolan up on his offer, and then perhaps we should meet someplace other than there.”
“Like where, for instance?” Cyrus asked.
“Someplace like our current location,” JJ said. “There aren’t any natural wormholes around here.”
Cyrus sat silently for a moment, sweat glistening on his forehead. “Okay, Nolan, I’ll put you in contact with our science officer. Her name is Dame O’Rourke.”
“Thank you,” Nolan said. He turned to me. “Captain, I downloaded everything in my channels. There are new documents from both the Central Authority and the Overlords, and a few news reports. We should wait on them until I’ve chatted with O’Rourke, though.”
