Burnt Ice (47 page)

‘I wonder if water has flooded
that deck — and the whole thing is one solid block of ice?’

‘That would be logical, Harry.
Thing is, no matter its state, it should still be ejectable. If we could
encourage that to happen we could attach a couple of AG motors to it and tow
the sleepers up out of the atmosphere — then thaw the poor buggers out at our
leisure.’

‘Begs the obvious question, boss.
How come the AI on the ship is not telling us any of this?’

‘It’s stuffed, Jan. Just keeps
repeating that first message, over and over. Fritz has tried everything he
knows to jolt it back into sentience.’

‘Right then. Rick has released
the info from the library signals. It is transmitting what appears to be a
continuous stream of data to a specific point on the closest moon. Some of the
data recovered from that stream matches what we recovered long ago. So there
must be a second Octopoid Library on the moon. I have had the astro drones look
at it — if there is a structure there it must be subsurface. Now, here is the
data from the drone we left behind when we first came through here. I have
broken it up into blocks for each of you to work your way through, but the main
points are that it found pristine tech on the other side of the nearest moon,
and it also identified other alien tech in orbit, which is of interest to us
too. Now, we instructed it to dock with the artefact as we were leaving and, as
it approached, the artefact accelerated away, flew down through the atmosphere
then dived into the ocean. The drone instead attached itself to the library
and, according to its log, the library also activated a large AG unit within
itself and slowly descended to land where it is now, some days after the artefact
landed. You will also note that the transmissions from the Octopoid Library
only started months ago, pretty much at the time we transited the local star
and were escorted home. So, we have a lot of questions as to what is happening
here, and very few answers.’

‘Suggest that we go onto a
twenty-four-hour shift, Michael,’ Stephine said. ‘I have a feeling that I know
what may be occurring here: the way that the artefact looked after Veg and I
entered it to escape the urchin; the way it changed to accommodate you, Marko,
when you allowed it the time. There are legends of arks from our past — what if
that thing was one? If so, it should be relatively easy to locate on the
planet, as it will be taking in viable examples of all the biological types
after it has created biospheres within itself to transport them somewhere else.
We all know just how precious life is. While it is not exactly rare, diversity
is hugely valuable, nonetheless. Your thoughts, Rick?’

‘I concur, Stephine. It is
logical. If we had known that you’d left an intel drone here that long ago,
Michael, one of us Haulers would have returned to retrieve the data. I have
dispatched a series of pickets to my fellows, as this whole sector is now of
paramount interest to us. The timings are very interesting, indeed. I have
deployed all my own astronomical drones because there will be a reason that
things are happening at the current pace. Logic would conclude that a great
clock is ticking down for this planet, or the local star. We are not monitoring
any pre-nova events or pulsars that would damage this star, so we can expect
either an impact event on the planet by a wandering body or, what is more
serious, a transitioning black hole. Whichever one it is to be, we should know
within a few days.’

‘Yeah,’ said Fritz. ‘All well and
good I’m sure, but there was a huge amount of music I did not retrieve from the
library first time around. Looking at the power of the data stream going to the
moon and considering the time it has been doing so, I would say that the
library will have copied everything it has in about twenty-one more hours.’

‘Really? Are you sure, Fritz?
That is a hellish short amount of time.’

‘You want to check my
calculations, major? You go right ahead.’

‘No need, Michael,’ said Rick. ‘He
is correct. What is interesting is why you decided to come now — something to
be debated at another time. Harry, I need to borrow you. With Michael’s
permission, of course. Time to do a little crewing for me again, old friend.’

‘Granted, of course, Rick. Can I
ask what you are doing?’

‘Harry is going to help me
retrieve the other Octopoid Library from the moon. You, Michael, are going to
get that crew off the Gjomvik ship. Don’t look so concerned, my friend, as you
are about to get your wish. You will get to see a little of my capabilities.’

Michael saw a very old soul
smiling across at him. He realised that he was in the middle of something far
bigger than just an information retrieval and rescue mission. He looked from
Rick to Stephine and Veg and saw another very old connection full of deep
caring and respect; he wondered, for the nth time, why things just seemed to
happen around him and his crew.

‘Michael, I have deployed an
engineering lifter to help you out. It is capable of retrieving whatever you
desire from the Gjomvik ship. We refer to them as Pincers, but I am sure you
will come up with a better name if you see fit. Normally, I would have left you
alone to this task, but I believe that we have little time before the LPs
throughout this sector will be affected in a serious way by the coming event.
Do whatever you need to do — and do it quickly. All LPs are linked by lines of
energy and force. When one is dramatically affected they all are, which is why
they are so jealously guarded by us.’

‘OK, people. You heard the man:
start your preps, grab a shower or whatever, as you have exactly ten minutes to
sort yourselves. And while you are doing that I want everyone to start thinking
of what we can expect on that wreck. Harry, we will see you whenever we do.
Twenty-one hours until the Octopoid Library on the planet stops sending. Right.
Rick, how long before we have to be gone?’

‘I am sending down three tankers
to the planet to load up on water for fuel. I will do a series of micro jumps
and then have us at the local interstellar LP within five hours of leaving
orbit. If I were you, I would work on forty hours as a deadline to dock with me
and be on our way.’

Marko sprinted to his cabin,
grabbed a very quick shower and a change of clothes, then jogged back to his
work station. He activated the remaining cameras on
Basalt’s
hull to
watch what was happening around them. Three huge, torpedo-shaped craft
separated from
Rick
and started down towards the planet, as a fourth
craft, which looked like a very big crab with its legs tucked up against its
body, also came into view from above. It started moving purposefully towards
Basalt.
On one of his screens an image of the human Rick appeared, greeted him, and
then proceeded to tell him everything he needed to know about the lifter that
was moving in to dock with
Basalt.
He realised that other images of Rick
saying different things to the others appeared at the same time.

The smiling face of the major
appeared in a segment of all their screens.

‘Right-o, guys! I am remaining
here to oversee everything, and also have the drones recover that orbiting
alien tech. Grab your suits and load aboard the lifter. Stephine, please take
your craft down. I need you as orbiting cover. Wow, will you look at that!’

~ * ~

Three

Above
them
Rick
split into three segments, one moving towards
Basalt
and the other two jumping away towards the moon.

‘Patrick, this is
Rick
partition three. Hold exactly where you are. I am going to hard-dock you
against my hull exterior, so we can position ourselves almost exactly above the
wreck and library. All craft, please, a small reminder — do not intersect the
line between the Octopoid Library on the moon and the one on the planet. I don’t
think that it would damage you, but I do not want any interruption of that
signal.’

‘Michael, I am leaving Nail with
you for company.’ Stephine said.

‘Thanks, Stephine. Kind thought.
Marko, one of these days, please make him some hands so at very least he can
make tea!’

Marko smiled at the rude jibe
that Nail fired back. Passing him on the spiral staircase, they quickly nodded
at each other. On the hangar floor, Marko waited for the others to arrive. As
soon as they were beside their individual suit containers he powered down the
gravity to ten per cent of normal, making the hauling of the containers across
to the smaller cargo airlock easier. Glint grabbed the other side of Marko’s
container, lifting it into the airlock, then loped back to grab his engineering
one as well.

Once the five of them were inside
with their two suits each and the additional container of two days’ food and
drinks, Veg sealed the airlock and cycled them through into the lifter. The
smell coming from inside the lifter was that of a well-maintained engineering
workshop. As soon as they stepped into its airlock their individual HUDs
deployed, showing them the layout of the craft and where they needed to be. Jan
saw that there were locks for their suit containers beside the airlock, so
before anything else was done they secured them. As they were about to leave
the area to go forwards to the bridge a door opened, showing them the galley A
small drone appeared, grasping the provisions container and towing it away.

‘What’s the bet that when we get
to the galley it will all be put away in the cupboards and the fridge?’

Veg laughed.

‘Yeah, well, knowing
Rick
and how he operates, that is one bet I will not take you up on, Marko.’

They walked up the short
corridor, passing an ablutions station. The door at the end slid open showing
them the compact egg-shaped cockpit which jutted down and forwards of the
lifter. Fritz climbed into the first pod with Marko opposite him, leaving Jan
and Veg to walk down a few steps to take the pilot’s and commander’s seats.
Glint occupied the observer’s pod at the rear of the cabin. Marko settled into
the couch, which promptly formed around him. The screens re-formed, offering
him optimum viewing. He checked the fuel states, then the engines and
thrusters. Everything was ready to go, except the water tanks were only at
seventy-five per cent of capacity

‘We are good to get this show on
the road, guys.’

‘Thanks, Marko. Fritz, tell the
boss that we are sorted and ready to drop.’

‘He says that Stephine has
already started her descent and we should as well.’

‘Airlocks and all hatches are
showing secure. Airlock disengaged.’

As Marko watched, Jan used a
small manoeuvring joystick to slide the lifter away from
Basalt
and down
towards the planet. Once clear of
Basalt
and the slowly approaching bulk
of
Rick,
she engaged one of the primary thrusters and aimed straight
down, building to a speed of four hundred kilometres an hour to cover the
distance to the sea’s surface in fifteen minutes.

The main Octopoid Library sat,
serenely, to their left, towering above them. Jan flew a circuit one kilometre
out from the wreck as they considered their options. Kilometres away, the three
tankers hovered above the wave tops with multiple hoses reaching down into the
sea, taking up and filtering tens of thousands of tonnes of water. Marko
stepped up his glasses’ magnification, deciding the tankers must also be
processing the water: tonnes of salt were being blown downwind from their
sides. There was a movement in the corner of his eye. Looking across and down,
he saw the entire outer hull of the cockpit turn transparent.

‘Hey, this is so nice. Do you
think that Rick would mind terribly if we pinched this whole machine?’

‘Only if you want to walk home,
Marko!’ Rick responded. ‘Jan, don’t be afraid of damaging anything on the wreck
or sliding off it. The Pincer will grab anything if you tell it to, and will
automatically compensate should the wreck start to move. If what we suspect
will happen
does
happen, the wreck probably won’t exist in a few days’
time.’

‘You’re right, Rick. And this is
a lovely machine to fly.’

Veg spoke up. ‘Jan, see that
airlock — the one closest to the library above the surface? Yeah, that one. OK.
Go towards the nose about another fifty metres. How about you hover and we’ll
have a look?’