Heirs of the New Earth (24 page)

Growing more curious about what was going on within the human dome, Arepno requested permission to visit. An automated message from the human dome refused the warrior permission. He then decided that it was time to take matters in his own hands.

Arepno went down into the depths of the Rd'dyggian dome and checked out a space suit and a land rover. He drove out across the frigid, reddish surface of Titan. He pulled up a holographic map of the moon. Even so, he had to keep careful count of the nearly identical silver domes that he passed so that he didn't get lost. At last he found his way to the human dome. He drove to the airlock and was not surprised when he was again denied admission. Using an emergency override code he'd found on the Titan central computer, he was able to open the outer door. He stepped in and closed the door behind him. Again, he was not surprised when neither the inner door opened nor was atmosphere pumped into the chamber.

He tapped an intercom button. “This is Captain Arepno of Rd'dyggia,” he said, pushing his faceplate to the microphone so that his voice would conduct, “I was outside the dome on a routine survey when my map malfunctioned. There may have been micrometeorite damage. This is an emergency request for atmosphere so I may check my suit for damage."

The automated systems were programmed not to refuse that specific request. Soon atmosphere was pumped into the airlock. Arepno removed his helmet and breathed in the stale air. Then, he retrieved a small box from a pocket on his space suit. Opening it up, he held it to his mouth and exhaled. Tiny dust grains flew into the air—each one containing a micro-miniature camera and transmitter. He replaced the box, then replaced his helmet and leaned onto the intercom. “Suit checks out, please evacuate chamber and open the outer airlock door."

The precious atmosphere was drawn back in through the vents, along with the miniature cameras and audio sensors. They would be pulled through the human dome's recycling system them pumped throughout the dome.

The airlock's outer door opened and Arepno returned to his land rover and went back to his quarters in the Rd'dyggian dome.

Since returning to his quarters he periodically monitored the information coming back from the human dome using a headset that was not plugged into the Titan network. Even so, he only checked sparingly, assuming the Titans were spying on him in the same way he was trying to spy on the humans. Though he would have liked to unleash his cameras in the Titan's city, he didn't dare for fear they would be detected instantly.

For the most part, Arepno saw little in the human dome that interested him. The common areas between buildings were largely deserted. Occasionally, some lost-looking soul would step out of one of the government buildings and go to a familiar restaurant, only to find it closed, then either proceed to their housing unit or back to the office building they'd emerged from.

One of Arepno's cameras did find its way into the Ambassador's office. He lay on the floor, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Arepno could not tell by looking whether the Ambassador was alive or dead. However, he guessed that his mind was alive and absorbed by the Cluster—as was happening periodically to politicians on Earth.

Arepno turned his attention to reports of ships arriving at Titan. If he had been a human, he would have smiled. Instead, his purple mustache-like growth simply wiggled a little. John Mark Ellis’ ship, the
Nicholas Sanson
had appeared in orbit. He activated cameras on his ship in orbit and watched the
Sanson's
launch as it descended and was pulled into one of the human domes.

He then put on his headset and searched for signs of the craft's occupants. He finally located them on a camera that was hovering near the ceiling of one of the outer areas. The microphone was too far away for him to hear what was being said, but zooming in, he could see Ellison Firebrandt's daughter and Manuel Raton accompanied by a third human—presumably the launch's pilot. Another group of humans stepped from the Navy headquarters. It was difficult for Arepno to tell—especially since humans could be so similar to one another—but he thought the leader of the second group was Marlou Strauss, one of the human admirals. Strauss and her party pulled weapons and led Suki, Manuel and the other woman away.

Arepno removed the headset and considered a set of actions. Ellison Firebrandt had saved the warrior's life and the lives of his crew. The warrior turned and sent a scrambled signal to his ship to be relayed to the
Nicholas Sanson.
He then stood and waved his hand over a storage locker. The force field in the top dissipated and Arepno began pulling out the tools he would need for the next phase of the operation.

Aboard the
Nicholas Sanson
, Simon Yermakov paced back and forth. He was somewhat relieved to be away from Earth and the Clusters, but given what he'd learned about the Clusters’ activities at the center of the galaxy itself, he'd grown very uneasy. The Clusters needed to be stopped. He just never imagined himself so necessary to the process of stopping them. He dropped into the command seat and looked at the chrono display. There was no word yet from Laura, Fire or Manuel. In and of itself, that didn't bother him. For all he knew, it could take them a day or two before they learned something from the Titans. Still, the fact that Laura didn't check in soon after the shuttle landed was not at all characteristic.

Natalie Papadraxis inclined her head to the side, as though she was getting a signal. After a moment, she turned toward Simon. “I'm getting the strangest signal,” she said, her brow furrowed. “I wonder if the Proxom is still interfering with my communications implant."

Simon stood. “Can you put it on the intercom?"

She reached down and pushed a button on the holographic console. A series of chirpings, whistlings, long plaintive notes and growls issued from the speakers.

"If I didn't know better,” said Simon stepping toward the communication's console, “I'd say that was some kind of sea creature from Earth, like a whale or a dolphin."

Natalie's eyes went wide and looked up at Simon. “No, that's not from Earth at all. I just realized—it's Rd'dyggian."

"Why aren't we getting a translation?” asked Simon, kneeling down next to Natalie's console.

She touched several buttons and checked several displays. In the holographic tank at the front of the command deck, several yellow dots appeared, marking the position of ships. She pointed to one that was blinking red. “That Rd'dyggian ship seems to be sending us this. It's on a tight-beam frequency with an embedded decryption algorithm.” When Simon shook his head, she explained: “They're sending a coded signal right at us. When our computers intercepted it, it included some computer code that automatically installed itself in our computer and began decoding the signal."

"Why is it in Rd'dyggian?” asked Simon standing and moving toward the holographic tank. “Why didn't they just send the message in terro-generic?"

Natalie shrugged. “It's possible it was meant for another Rd'dyggian ship and we just happened to be in the way?"

Simon stepped into the display. “I don't see any other ships beyond us on that line of sight.” He shook his head. “Can you translate the signal?"

"Sure,” said Natalie with a vacant smile. She turned to her console while Simon continued to walk around in the holographic tank, trying to see whom else the Rd'dyggians may have been trying to communicate with.

A moment later, a singsong voice issued from the speaker. “This is Captain Arepno calling the TransGalactic mapping vessel
Nicholas Sanson
. This is an emergency. Dr. Suki Firebrandt, Manuel Raton, and another of your crewmembers have just been abducted by one of the human admirals. I will attempt a rescue. You should leave orbit immediately. Jump away from this solar system. Do not request permission. Rendezvous at Alpha Coma."

Simon licked his lips and shook his head. “What the hell does that mean? They were abducted? By a human admiral?"

Natalie looked down at her hands for a few minutes. Finally, she looked up at Simon. “I think Laura was afraid something like this might happen.” She reached into the little satchel she had on her belt and took out the slip of paper that Laura Peters had given her. “Laura said that if anything happened to them, we should send this message to Sufiro."

"Laura said?” asked Simon, throwing his hands in the air. “Just which one of us is supposed to be in command of this vessel anyway?” He took the note from Natalie and stalked toward the command chair. After taking a deep breath, Simon finally felt calm enough to look at the note. As he did, his eyes grew wide and his shoulders slumped as though the weight of being in the center of the crisis had just descended full force upon him.

"Do you know who this is for?"

"It's for Ellison Firebrandt, the pirate who founded Sufiro,” said Natalie, simply.

Simon nodded. “It's a call for help from the resistance on Earth.” He stepped forward and handed the note back to Natalie, then stepped back to the command chair. He sat there for several minutes looking down at the controls. He knew Kirsten Smart had not wanted him to command the
Sanson
and he knew it was because he was not decisive enough. Now, he was faced with the worst possible decision. If he left, he'd be abandoning not only Suki Firebrandt and Manuel Raton, but also a member of his crew. However, if what the Rd'dyggian had said was true, they would be rescued. He wasn't sure he could trust this Captain Arepno, but the Rd'dyggian had gone to a lot of trouble to get the message to the
Sanson.
He could return to Earth and ask Ellis and Kirsten what to do, but that would mean that Kirsten was right about him and he really wasn't capable of making a decision on his own. On top of that, Simon actually felt he should go to Alpha Coma and report what they had learned.

He brought up a chart and ran a couple of quick calculations. The jump points were already changing due to the Cluster's interference at the center of the galaxy. Even so, it would be easy enough to jump out of the solar system, deliver the message to Ellison Firebrandt, then continue on to Alpha Coma. If the Rd'dyggian was right, he'd have his missing crewmember back. If the Rd'dyggian had lied, he could return with help.

Standing up, Simon tucked the corners of his flannel shirt into his trousers, then stepped forward to the Pilot's console. “Natalie, inform crew that we're leaving orbit. Do not, I repeat, do not request permission to leave orbit from Titan Central Command."

Natalie smiled at Simon and then set about her task. In the meantime, Simon brought up his own version of the pilot's console and began searching for jump points. The one for Alpha Coma was more distant than he liked, but he charted course for it, taking note of other, nearby jump points.

"All decks report ready to depart orbit,” said Natalie.

Self-consciously, Simon looked back at the command seat, hoping there would be someone—Ellis, Ms. Smart, anyone—to give the order. He swallowed hard, then pushed the lever forward that fired aft thrusters. In the holographic tank a blinking red dot representing
Sanson's
position appeared and it began moving toward the jump point for Alpha Coma.

"The Titans have just ordered us to stand down,” said Natalie, all dreaminess gone from her voice. “They say they have armed missiles and will destroy us if we do not resume orbit."

"Tell ‘em to go to hell,” said Simon, through gritted teeth.

"Do I have to?” asked Natalie, eyes wide. “I don't think they'll like that much at all."

Simon's laugh bordered on hysterical. “Don't tell them anything, then.” He reached over to his own intercom. “Engineering, this is Yermakov on the command deck, I need all the power you can give me."

"What's going on up there?” asked Chief Engineer Mahuk. “Are we running away from Titan?"

"We are,” said Simon simply. He knew Ellis would say something like “cut the chatter, Mister.” Instead, Simon decided to tell the third in command exactly what was happening. “We need to get to Alpha Coma and get help. Things are going wrong way too fast."

Mahuk must have heard the quavering in Simon's voice. “Steady on, Simon,” he said, calmly. “You're the first officer and I'm right behind you, my friend. I'll give you everything I've got.” The first officer felt a surge of strength at the confidence that Mahuk showed in him.

"Oh no,” breathed Natalie. Simon looked behind and saw Natalie staring at the holographic tank, wide-eyed. “They've launched the missiles. They'll overtake us before we get to the jump point for Alpha Coma."

Simon looked up at the display and saw two new points quickly closing on them. He scanned the holographic display for new jump points. Seeing that they were passing near one, he altered course. The missiles turned in a leisurely arc and followed them.

"Simon, that jump point will take us out to the rim..."

"Strap in, Natalie,” he said. “Call an emergency jump warning.” He activated the intercom again. “Mahuk, get ready to jump on my mark.” He heard Natalie calling the emergency jump warning behind him. In the holographic tank, he saw the two missiles closing on them rapidly. A green light started blinking on his console. “Mahuk,” he cried. “Jump!"

Roberts hovered back and forth outside the old teleholo booth within the remains of the privateer vessel,
Legacy.
Ellison Firebrandt, his hair loose about his shoulders, stepped from the booth and nodded to his old friend. “It's as I suspected. They need our help on Earth."

Roberts took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he looked up and down the corridor they were in. “Is there no one else that can help?” When he saw the chiding look on Firebrandt's face, he held up his hand. “I'm not trying to run from a fight, old friend. But this is an ancient ship. We only have a skeleton crew available and—like it or not—we're two old men who haven't seen action in over fifty years."

"You're right on all counts,” said Firebrandt, retrieving a rubber band from his trousers’ pocket and tying back his hair. “The
Sanson
is going to make for Alpha Coma. Hopefully they can find help there as well, but the jump points are changing rapidly with the Cluster moving stars in the center of the galaxy. It may take them a while to make it to Alpha Coma and it may take some time for ships to make it back to Earth once they do. Mark, Edmund, and Fire need our help, now.” He reached down and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. “Call in the crew. Have them assemble on the battle deck."