Skye Object 3270a (21 page)
Authors: Linda Nagata
Tags: #Nanotechnology, #Science Fiction, #Alien Worlds, #Space colonization, #Life in space
It took them only a few minutes to get aboard. Ord revived again as soon as it hit air, while Skye dove straight into Devi's arms for a hug that soon included Zia, and Buyu too.
“Did you hear it?” Skye said. “The lifeboat sent a signal! Devi, you were right.”
He shrugged. “I don't know, Skye. It might have been an all-clear, but . . . there haven't been any answering signals. Not one. We've been listening.”
“Oh.” Black disappointment washed over her. She didn't know what to say. She turned to look for Tannasen.
He was speaking to the ship, discussing the best way back to the end of the elevator column. After a moment, he looked up at their little group. “There are a lot of people in Silk who are happy to know you kids are still alive.”
“It didn't work,” Skye told him. “No other lifeboats have responded.”
“Not yet, anyway.” Tannasen's eyes glinted in good humor. “What's the speed of light?”
“What?”
“The speed of light. Basic knowledge.”
Devi said, “Three hundred thousand kilometers per second.”
“Give a sterling report to my favorite student! That's how fast a radio signal travels. Now answer this: How far is the outer edge of the nebula?”
Devi looked at Skye, giving her a chance to answer. She shrugged. “A long way. It takes . . . two hours? No, two and half hours for Kheth's light to travel that far. I remember hearing that somewhere.”
“Absolutely right. So if a lifeboat is as far as the outer edge of the nebula . . . ?”
“Then it will take two and half hours just to receive the all-clear,” she mused. “And another two and half hours before we hear its responseâ”
A strangely familiar, whistling note erupted in
Spindrift
's main cabin. Listening to it, Skye felt a shiver run down her spine. “Hey. That sounds likeâ”
“The lifeboat's signal!” Zia finished for her. “Is it an answer?”
“It has to be,” Buyu said. “And a lot sooner than five hours. Ados, we did it!”
Tannasen's brows rose, as his face broke into a grin. “Well of course five hours was only an estimate,” he said. “A lifeboat that was closer wouldn't take nearly so long to respond.”
Each waking lifeboat sent out its own all-clear signal, relaying the message across a vast swath of space surrounding the star called Kheth. Some of the lifeboats were years of travel time away, trapped in long, lonely orbits that would loop around Kheth only once in many centuriesâif they were left undisturbed.
That wouldn't happen now. City authority could no longer deny the lifeboats existed. Solar sails were blooming throughout the nebulaâand being shredded almost as quickly, though this time their DIs had been warned that this was a natural hazard, and not an attack.
The people of Silk saw the golden glints in the night sky and demanded that every lifeboat be gathered in. The loudest voices belonged to the oldest real people like Yulyssa, who had long ago faced the violence of the Chenzeme and survived. They were the first to say what everyone knew in their hearts to be true:
In a dangerous universe, it
'
s our duty to help one another survive.
E
arly one evening, not long after their return to Silk, Skye and Zia arrived at the rooftop apartment of Siva Hand. City lights gleamed below them as they walked through the garden and up the stairs to Devi's rooftop observatory.
Devi sat on the railing, silhouetted against the milky wash of the nebula. His telescope loomed beside him, while Buyu stood on his other side, leaning against the rail.
“So we're all together again,” Zia chirped. “How shall we get in trouble this time?”
Skye hadn't seen much of anyone since she'd gotten back. There had been hearings to attend, and disciplinary meetings and the obligatory media interviews. In the end, the city council decided to forgive rather than punish. It was the politically popular thing to do.
Ord dropped off her shoulder as she traded a hug with Devi, and then a soft kiss. She felt a bit awkward. Maybe he did too. Maybe that explained the unfamiliar tension she felt in his arms and in the muscles of his back. Did his smile seem forced?
“Look through the telescope,” he said softly.
“Why? Have you found another lifeboat?”
“Sooth. It's the farthest away yet.”
She bent to peer through the eyepiece at a faint gold gleam, wondering how many years it would be before this “cargo child” was brought into Silk. Even the nearest lifeboats would take months to retrieve.
“Tannasen's going out after them,” Devi announced. “He's leaving in a few days.”
“So soon?”
Zia laughed. “On the way down the elevator, Tannasen told me that he hasn't spent more than ten consecutive days in the city since
Spindrift
was made.”
Devi said, “He's offered me a berth.”
Dead silence greeted this announcement. Skye turned slowly away from the telescope, almost afraid to breathe, afraid that something might break inside her. But to her surprise, nothing did.
Oh, it hurtâworse than hitting the end of a four kilometer cordâbut underneath that she was . . . not exactly happy, but
pleased
. And proud. Devi had been wanting something like this all his life.
Skye smiled. It wasn't that hard to do. She took his hands in hers. “You've accepted?”
He could not quite meet her gaze. “Not yet.”
“But you will?”
“I don't know. It's for two years.”
“That's a long time,” Buyu suggested.
Was it? Skye would be all of sixteen when he got back. That didn't sound so very old anymore. She squeezed Devi's hands. “I'm going to miss you.”
He scowled. “I haven't said I'm going yet.”
“Oh you're going,” she told him. “I think you should.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “I am going to miss you. You know that.”
He looked at her suspiciously. “You're trying to get rid of me, aren't you?”
She thought it best not to answer that. “You'll have to write me lettersâ”
“Listen to you! You can't wait to see me gone.”
“âand make lots of exciting discoveriesâ”
“Skyeâ”
“âand . . .” Her voice caught. “And things will be different when you get back. I'll be different. Older. Devi, I haven't been an ado for very long.”
He looked down at their clasped hands. “Sooth. That's part of it too.”
So he did understand.
Zia sidled up to Skye and put an arm around her shoulder. “Don't worry about this ado, Devi. I'll take good care of her. Make sure she stays out of trouble.”
“Oh that makes me feel better.”
Zia tapped her chin thoughtfully. “You know Skye, maybe we should lobby for a change in the sky jumping regs, push for a 5K leap?”
Buyu groaned. “Zia, I always knew you were the smart one. But before you two plunge to your deaths, let's go collect that meal Chef Carlisle owes us. We've got reservations in fifteen minutes.”
Skye laughed. She let go of Devi's hands, and shrugged out from under Zia's arm. “Ord! We're going.”
Devi slipped off the railing. “Hey.” He touched her shoulder. “You're sure it's okay?”
“Sooth.” And it was.
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The Nanotech Succession
is a collection of four stand-alone novels set in a shared story world, beginning in the present day and reaching into the far future. Following the timeline of the story world the books are:
Tech-Heaven
The Bohr Maker
(winner of the 1996 Locus Award for Best First Novel)
Deception Well
Vast
Other Story Worlds
Goddesses
(winner of the 2000 Nebula Award for Best Novella)
Limit of Vision
Memory
Skye-Object 3270a
(young adult)
Writing as Trey Shiels
The Dread Hammer
**
Skye Object 3270a
is Linda Nagata's first work of young adult fiction. All other books listed above are written for the general marketplace.
Linda Nagata grew up in a rented beach house on the north shore of Oahu. She graduated from the University of Hawaii with a degree in zoology and worked for a time at Haleakala National Park on the island of Maui. She has been a writer, a mom, a programmer of database-driven websites, and lately a publisher and book designer. She is the author of eight novels including
The Bohr Maker
, winner of the Locus Award for best first novel, and the novella "Goddesses," the first online publication to receive a Nebula award. She lives with her husband in their long-time home on the island of Maui.
Find her online at:
