Lacuna: Demons of the Void (6 page)

Click. Click. Click.

“Pen. Away.
Now
.”

Giving a dramatic sigh, Rowe stuck the pen into her breast pocket.

“...Anyway. So the hull is plated indestructium. The superstructure is an aluminium-titanium-steel alloy, with various composite components scattered all around her. Artificial gravity and inertial dampeners are both based on a modified Reactionless drive, eight nuclear reactors, an interesting weapons suite, a complete Reactionless drive for sub-light motion and, of course, a jump drive.”

Liao’s heels clicked as she walked down the corridor. “Artificial gravity kicks in when?” She paused to sign a piece of paper which was thrust at her by a petty officer, then motioned for Rowe to continue.

“When we’re further away from the moon’s gravity well and the artificial gravity of the colony itself. Otherwise... bad stuff happens.”

“Good. Well, you’re right so far,” Liao observed, the two of them passing various marines who stood to attention, “Tell me about the weapons suite.”

Rowe laughed. “A true military gal. Right, well, the ship’s primary weapons are her nuke suites. Ten launch tubes, all arranged on the vessel’s uppermost deck. They can also be loaded and fired via the railguns, but not nearly as fast as the ferrous projectiles that are built for that. It’s also
hilariously
unsafe.”

“Okay, railguns. What can you tell me about the railguns?”

Summer grinned an impish grin. “Well, they’re twin magnetic accelerators running the length of the ship. At maximum power, each fires a six kilo projectile at about a tenth of the speed of light. Great for punching holes in whatever you want at an entirely unfathomable distance, but it doesn’t do
that
much damage compared to the nukes. Of course, the nukes are much shorter range and much slower, so...”

“...so they’re better if used up close.”

Summer nodded. The two of them climbed up the ladder to a deck above. Liao held open the hatch as Summer clambered through, then she set it down with a dull
clank
.

“What about the jump drive?” asked Liao, straightening her back and resuming walking.

Summer laughed. “Strictly – and I mean
strictly –
offline. Our shakedown cruise is cruising along at sub-light only. Even if we get to a Lagrangian point, we
don’t
want them to know that we’ve kept up development on the thing.”

Liao let just the tiniest smile grace her lips, nodding. “Good.” There was a brief pause, as though to give gravity to her next statement.

“You know your stuff... glad to see you’re worth keeping around after all. Welcome to the crew, Summer. Any questions?”

Summer gave a fierce grin, motioning to the sidearm on Liao’s belt. “Do I get a gun too?”

It was such an inane question that Liao really didn’t know how to respond to it at first. Finally, she just nodded. “I see no problem with civilians being issued sidearms while they’re aboard, if the situation warrants it.” She paused, staring at the red-head. “...Why?”

Rowe’s grin was a mile wide. “Because, you know,
XKCD
. They had this comic where they rated ‘potential action movie one-liners from most-probable to least-probable. And when we find the Demons, I’m dying to pull out my gun and just go, ‘Bangarang, motherfucker,’ like, from Peter Pan, the original novel. …Seriously, that’d be
so awesome
.”

Liao stared, seriously reconsidering her choice to arm the strange woman. “That’s... that’s something else, Summer. Good luck with that.”

Summer wandered off and Liao, putting Rowe’s strangeness out of her mind, busied herself with dozens of endless tasks as befitted the Captain of such a titanic vessel. It wasn’t until the clock (synced to Earth time) was well past midnight that she finally visited her quarters for the first time. The
Beijing
’s lodgings, even for the Captain, were spartan but sufficient for her needs.

Liao required little, but it was nice to sleep in her own bed.

In the morning, Liao rose to the sound of the buzzer outside her quarters. Throwing on a thick green bathrobe, the woman made her way to the hatchway. Twisting the seal and opening the door, she was greeted by a welcomed sight – James Grégoire, looking nearly a decade older since their adventures in Sydney, but still with the same warm smile on his dark-skinned face.

“Look who decided to drop by,” she quipped, opening the door a little wider. Her smile matched his as she beckoned him to enter.

“I can wait for you to get dressed, if you like,” he remarked, raising an eyebrow.

Liao just gave a cheeky grin. “I went through a co-ed boot camp, Captain... no need to be coy. I’m quite used to it all by now.”

The two entered her quarters. Liao watched as, with surprising agility and confidence, James fetched a pair of glasses (flipping them in the air as he did so), ice from the small fridge, and some scotch. The woman boggled. She had
scotch
?

It seemed as though she had not yet learned as much as she should have about the ship and its contents.

As though sensing her reaction, James just gave a light-hearted chuckle. “Apologies for seeming as though I know your ship better than you do, but the layout is completely identical to the
Tehran
,” he remarked, pouring her a glass. “Even comes fitted with the same booze.”

“
Now
we’re talking,” grinned Liao, taking her glass with both hands. There was a brief silence as the two regarded each other. James’ dark hand brought his glass to his lips, breaking the spell.

“How do you find the ship?” he asked, the ice in his glass clinking as he drank.

Liao swirled the glass of bronze liquid in her hand, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s a fine command. Far more advanced than any surface vessel... Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it, much less been in command of it. There’s... there’s a lot to learn, and there’s so much...” her voice trailed off.

James inclined his head curiously. “What’s wrong?”

“...Nothing.”

Grégoire tilted his head thoughtfully at Liao’s disposition. “You have some doubt about his capability? His crew?”

Liao shook her head vigorously. “No.”

“Then what? In Sheng?”

Liao paused a moment, thinking about her answer. “I suppose,” she admitted, sipping from her glass. “He’s young and unproven, but aren’t we all... except you old man.” A playful wink. “And, well, I know that he has high ambitions... the problem is, all three Pillars of the Earth have Captains now. How long does he plan to wait for the Task Force to build more? Does he honestly think he can earn his own command working under me?”

“I don’t know,” James answered, “but I’ve also heard that... heard he’s ambitious. I know he lost a lot of family in Beijing. Maybe he’ll be out for revenge... and that’s a good motivator as long as it doesn’t cloud your judgement. On the other hand, maybe he’ll fear the aliens a little
too
much. He does insist on calling them demons, after all. I suppose time will tell on that front.”

“I suppose it will.” A pause. “You don’t think they’re demons?” Liao’s question was laced with curiosity.

“Well... what do
you
think they are?”

Liao shrugged. “I think that ordinary men can be demons so I don’t see why these aliens can’t be. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t believe in the supernatural, James, but... certain acts of depravity can never be forgiven. If someone acts as a demon, then in my mind, tar them with the brush that fits. Why not call them demons if they’re so eager to earn that moniker?”

“Melissa...” James smiled at her, lifting his glass to her as a toast. “I happen to agree with you, but hear me out. Our ancestors – humanity’s ancestors – named anyone with birth defects demons. They named the gibbering mad folk demons, or people with epilepsy or narcolepsy, people with mental illnesses that caused them to hear voices were thought to be possessed... the causes for all these things were eventually found, in time, and now we don’t blame these perfectly valid medical explanations on ‘demons’. We no longer fear and hate the unknown, revelling in our ignorance... Instead, we find the unknown to be a curiously enthralling place, something that encourages us to better ourselves.”

James knocked back a little more scotch, smiling still. “So it’s not that I disagree with your assessment, but just that I detest the label. It is a rubber stamp for that which we do not understand... and I believe that
all
things have a reason behind them.”

“Makes sense.”

The man leaned forward a little, growing a little serious. “Do you doubt
yourself
?”

Liao couldn’t answer that question right away. She stared into her drink, considering her response. When it came, it was measured and even.

“I know I can command this vessel,” she said, sipping at her drink. The burn on her throat helped relax her. “...and I will give this endeavour my all. But so much rests on what we do here... rests on our actions… rests on sheer, blind, dumb luck. We're going out into space with basically no idea what we're about to face... if anything. And if the Demons – aliens – whatever, come... and we fail... if we fail here, then…”

“…then don’t fail.”

Liao gave a cocked, uneven grin. “That simple, hey?”

*****

Operations

TFR
Beijing

Lunar Drydock

The next few weeks passed faster than Liao cared to think about. She was able to spend a surprising amount of time with James, and his presence was of great assistance as the ship underwent its final preparations. Liao and James enjoyed an easy, close friendship and she found the Belgian man’s company to be an essential part of unwinding from the stresses of leadership.

But now, finally, the great day was upon them.

Liao sat in her Captain’s chair in the starship’s Operations room, a heavily built structure packed with computers. The area was sometimes known simply as “Ops”. Buried deep within the vessel’s forward section and running along the ship’s centre axis, it was the most armoured and protected of all the sections, along with the jump drive, nuclear reactors, atmospheric processors, and weapons and ammunition storage. Sheng stood next to her as she took her seat.

A fresh-faced Junior Lieutenant (the Chinese equivalent of an Ensign) handed Sheng a printed message. Her XO read it, then nodded to Melissa. Sheng’s voice was charged with excitement as he spoke. “Final tests complete, Captain. All sections report alert status. Systems are green across the board.”

This was the signal – it was time for launch. From its berth on the lunar surface, the crew had conducted every conceivable test they could... Now, the only way they could stress the ship further was to take him out for a spin.

Liao tugged on her uniform jacket, nodding up to Commander Sheng. “Very good, Command. Warm up sub-light engines and bring reactors two and six to full power. Keep the remainder on standby. Prepare to disengage umbilicals and mooring clamps.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

Voices called back and forth throughout Ops, punctuated by the
tap-tap-tap
of fingers on keyboards. Then, Lieutenant Dao called from the navigation section. “All systems clear.... we are go for lift-off.”

Liao turned to her XO. “Commander Sheng?”

“Aye, Captain?”

She paused a second or two to savour the moment. “Commence lift-off.”

Sheng just nodded ever so slightly. “Sub-light engines at full. Bearing: zero mark zero mark zero. Straight up if you please, Mister Dao.”

“Aye sir, engines at full. Lifting him up.”

The ship shuddered briefly as it strained against the moon’s gravity, and for a moment it seemed as though it would not move at all. Then, as though breathing out a sigh of relief, the ship slipped free of its lunar berthing and began to ascend.

The helmsman, Mister Dao, spoke up again. “We have cleared the mooring scaffold. We are away. Altitude: six metres and climbing. Ten metres. Fifteen...”

“Very good, Mister Dao. Climb outside the moon’s gravity well. Steady as she goes.”

Slowly, like a long, thin Zeppelin floating away from the ground, the craft climbed out of the moon’s grasp. As the ship grew higher, its velocity increased until finally it was sailing calmly through space. The gravity grew less and less... and Liao began to feel queasy. She fought the feeling with all of her considerable willpower, mentally willing herself not to hurl.

Finally, at approximately five thousand kilometres, the artificial gravity was slowly eased on. Soon the deck’s pull became equal to what they would have experienced on the moon, then gradually increased towards Earth normal pull.

Finally, Dao spoke again. “Sixty thousand clicks distant from the launch zone. We are currently passing the Lagrangian point L2, heading outbound. We are free of the moon’s gravity well.”

There was a cheer from the entire Ops crew, although the XO and Captain merely smiled triumphantly to each other. Liao noted, with a little concern, that Sheng seemed a little less enthused than she. Shrugging it off for the moment, Liao picked up the ship’s intercom and engaged it.