Tachyon Web (15 page)

She accepted the suit and he showed her how to put it on. The fit was lousy – it was too big and her broken arm didn’t help matters – but it would last her the distance to
Excalibur
.

The air lock was not equipped with a lift. He had to carry the ten four-gallon bottles up onto the deck one by one. The cart, however, could be folded and he was able to fit it through the hatch, saving himself several backbreaking trips between the air lock and the ship.

When the two of them were assembled on the hull, the coolant at their feet, Vani began to have trouble maintaining her balance; the surroundings were eerie enough for Eric’s star-traveled instincts, and she apparently didn’t go outside often, if ever. He took hold of her good hand, worried how her injured arm was holding up without the sling, and they set off at a careful pace, the cart rolling smoothly over the metal floor. It occurred to him that he had not even checked to see if she had gotten the right stuff. He would have given a lot to be able to read her mind as the bulk of
Excalibur
began to loom out of the night.

She hesitated at the entrance to the air lock. But as he began to unload the bottles, she stepped inside and leaned in a corner, supporting her wrist. She was scared but he could see a gleam in her eyes through the faceplate.

He was praying that the whites in Sammy’s eyes didn’t frighten her. If they did, he wasn’t taking off his contacts. Or his wig, for that matter.

Sammy was not there to greet them in the cargo bay. Strem and company must be keeping him busy, Eric thought. He pulled off his suit and helped Vani out of hers, once accidentally tugging on her sore arm, causing her to wince. She stared at the many stacked cartons and he pointed to her opant jacket.

“
See, I told you I had thousands of them
,” Eric said.

Yet, she did not understand what the strange ship and cargo meant. He lugged the coolant bottles to a capped pipe in the rear corner, then got Sammy on the intercom.

“Shall I pour it straight in?”

“By all means. Is it ethylene glycol?”

He popped the top of one of the containers, took a sniff. “A vintage year.”

“I’m going to enjoy watching the temperature go down.”

“I’ll be up on the bridge in a minute.” He added, “If Vani chokes when she sees your face, don’t take it personally.”

When he had the coolant safely circulating around the Preeze Cap, Eric led Vani toward the control room. Every nook and cranny fascinated her.

“
I have never seen a ship like this. Where are its rockets?
”

“
It doesn't have any.
”

“
But how does it...?
”

She stopped. It was a tribute to her fine manners that she did not faint. Sammy, who must have been shaving while they’d been coming through the air lock, was clean-faced and trying to stand up straight, as he greeted her in the sleeping-quarters hallway.

“
Boo
,” he said.

“Smile,” Eric said.

Sammy smiled. Vani looked from each of them, back and forth, then slowly reached out and grasped Eric’s white locks, pulling off his wig. He held his breath. She pointed to his eyes, as if to say, the same as your friend’s? He nodded. He waited. She was thinking. At least she was not screaming bloody murder. Her hand again reached out, this time brushing his real hair.

“
Your hair is as black and mysterious as deep space. Is that where you are from?
”

He nodded.

She smiled. “
That is good.
”

His warm relief was a sensation worth remembering for future reference when things might go bad.

They led her to the bridge, to a seat at the main console where both their languages could be immediately translated. The control room, particularly the holographic cube that held a three-dimensional transparent image of her home ship, had Vani enthralled. Sammy adjusted a microphone for her benefit, then leaned over and whispered in Eric’s ear, “The Guard is holding them in a room, not questioning them. Strem has the impression they are about to be transferred.”

“To where?” he whispered back.

Sammy shrugged. “Who knows. What are you going to tell her?”

“Everything.” Eric bent over and slipped his green contacts out. He had not realized how irritating they were, nor had he known just how beautiful Vani was. Seen without the blur of the dye, her eyes were polished emeralds, her soft golden face a picture of all he had tried in vain throughout his adolescence to draw in his mind. Even Sammy appeared taken by her grace. The strangeness of his uncovered eyes did not appear to bother her at all.

“We are from another solar system,” Eric said, simultaneously hearing the Kaulikan equivalent spoken over the bridge’s speakers. “Our home world is hundreds of light years from here.”

She touched the control console gently, the revelation obviously going deep inside her. She showed not a hint of disbelief. “
Did you come all that way in this tiny ship?
”

“Yes.” He remembered his remark in the garden. “In the blink of an eye.”

“
Are there forests and mountains on your world?
”

“Yes. And on millions of worlds in the galaxy.”

Sammy looked worried at the direction the conversation was taking. Eric ignored him. His last words had started a bright hope burning in Vani; it was almost a tangible glow that could be seen without the aid of the opant coat. He was not going to let it go out.

“
Why have you come to my people?
”

“We passed too close to the nova. We lost our coolant. Our ship was in danger of exploding. We saw your fleet. We needed a source quick. That is why Strem and two others of our friends tried to take the coolant from your engineering department.”

“
But we would gladly have given it to you.
”

Eric shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “We are not supposed to be here. We were not sent here by our people. We felt it would be dangerous to reveal our true identities.”

“
We would not have harmed you.
”

Sammy spoke. “We were afraid, and still are, that you would be anxious to obtain our technology.”

Vani’s glow dimmed. “
You cannot help us?
”

“We want to,” Eric said.

“But it is not our place to interfere with your people’s destiny,’ Sammy added hastily.

“
This ship can fly to the stars
,” she whispered to herself, shaking her head. It was like she was a condemned prisoner being shown a door out of jail, just before being told that the door was probably locked.

“
Eric, you could take me to Lira? I could see it tomorrow?
”

Sammy answered before he could. “If our government would permit it.”

Vani turned to Sammy. “
Would they?
”

“They haven’t so far,” Sammy said reluctantly. The answer contained its implications. A dark thought entered Vani's heart, as it had previously entered Eric’s.

“
Did your government know Kashi was going to be destroyed?
”

“We’re not sure,” Eric said quietly.

“
But with ships like this…
” She gestured. She was no dummy. The strangers must have known. And done nothing. “Why did you show me this ship, Eric?”

“I guess I wanted to…ah…take you back to my world.” It was a hell of a guess.

“Eric,” Sammy began.

“Shh.”

“
And leave my people?
” she asked.

He didn’t answer, feeling ashamed.

She glanced at Sammy. “
It does not matter. I know it would not be allowed.
” She stood. “
I should be going back.
”

Eric jumped to his feet. “Oh, no, don’t go!” He took her by the shoulders. “Vani, nothing is decided yet. Stay, give this a chance.”

“
But what can you do? What can I do?
”

“The best we can. And unless we try, we’ll never know what that might be.”

“
But I take care of fruit trees. I know nothing important.
”

“To us, you’re full of the unknown. Stay? Please?”

She looked out of
Excalibur
's windows, at the stars, wavering. “
My world now feels so small to have to return to.
”

“You’ve missed your study period, anyway.”

She chuckled at the absurdity of his remark. “
Will you tell me more about the mountains?
”

“I’ll show you movies of them. You’ll stay?”

“
I will stay. For now.
”

“Good. We can fix that arm of yours in no time. Sammy, we have a Healer aboard, don’t we?”

Sammy returned to his place at the helm. “Yes. But let’s not forget some pressing business. Our friends are still being held captive.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” He steered Vani back to her chair and leaned over Sammy’s shoulder, reopening the implant channels. Three blinking orange dots inside the cube’s model of Vani’s ship represented his friends’ position. “Strem, can you talk?”

(“Yes,” came the whispered response. “We’re still in this damn room. There are two guards at the door. They’ve tied our hands behind our backs.”)

“We’re tracking you,” Eric said. “You’re in the second wheel. How are they treating you?”

(“They haven’t offered to feed us, but they haven’t hurt us or anything. Okay, I suppose.”)

“Why do you think you’re to be transferred?”

(“I heard the Kaulikans say the word. Hey, what’s your rescue plan?”)

“We’re working on it. We’ve got the coolant.”

(“How did you manage that?”)

“I
asked
for it. The Preeze Cap is cooling as we talk.”

(“Just don’t leave without us,” Cleo said, not sounding so hot.)

“Cleo? Jeanie? How are you two holding up?”

(“I’m scared,” Jeanie whispered. “Can you really get us out?”)

Eric looked at Sammy, who shook his head. “We’ve got some good ideas,” Eric said.

(“You got that Kaulikan chick with you?” Cleo asked.)

“Vani is here,” he said. “Stand by, I’ll get back to you in a minute.” He broke the connection. “Well?”

“It’s fortunate we can at least speak to them. Do you really have a plan?”

“We’ll send the Kaulikans a message. ‘Release our people. We mean you no harm.’ Send it now, in fact.”

“And if they refuse?”

“We could bargain. They have something we want. We have something they want.”

Sammy turned off the translator, leaving Vani in the dark. “We don’t speak for The Union. We can’t give the Kaulikans the details of the graviton or hyper drives.”

“The Patrol doesn’t speak for The Union either. Those coldhearted military creeps…”

“We have to think of another way,” Sammy interrupted.

“Like what? Hell!”

“What is it?”

He pointed out the forward window. A dozen bobbing lights were approaching
Excalibur
. Kaulikans on foot. His stunning the people at the air lock must have keyed the Guard to their position. A sensor beam on the console began to flash a warning. Sammy checked the readings.

“We’ve got a small craft above us,” he said. “Rocket powered, slow and fragile.”

“Can we bring the graviton drive up to power?” Eric asked.

“I was hoping to cool off for a while longer.”

“With an angry mob outside?”

Sammy nodded, putting his hands to the controls. “I’ll take us off into space.”

“Wait! We should stay close.”

“Why? I’ll just take us out a million miles.”

“No. I want to stay right on top of things.” Eric had a reason why he didn’t want to leave fluttering around the fringes of his subconscious, but it refused to come up to where he could grab it. Yet, he was sure it would be a mistake to dart off. “Put us in the tail of their ion drive. They won’t be able to reach us there.”

“We’ll have to waste energy on our force field.”

The individuals approaching up the dark alley were getting dangerously close. Eric had seen a film of someone getting caught in the force of a graviton flux being brought up to power. It had not been a pleasant sight. “Do it!” he ordered.

Excalibur
began to hum as they lifted off the rotating wheel, the on-board gravity wavering slightly as the ship adjusted to the absence of the centripetal force. He watched the hand-held lights shrink beneath them as Vani’s home fell away. But suddenly a brilliant searchlight swept the bridge. It was the craft their sensors had spotted. He could see the red flares of rockets through the glare, nothing else.

“There’s another three approaching rapidly,” Sammy said.

He threw his arms over his eyes, wincing, “Are they armed?”

“They appear to have lasers. I’m not sure what else.”

“Close the window shields. Get us in the ion wake.”

“They could throw atomics at us even there. I’d rather not have to mess with those.”

“We must stay here. They’d be fools to try to destroy this vessel.”

The external panels descended, cutting off the outside. Eric turned to the holographic cube in order to follow their movement away from the Kaulikan starship. The drone they had experienced on their initial approach to the fleet returned. But this time they were neither on the brink of collapse not at the end of a mad deceleration, and
Excalibur
was able to handle the torrent of energy.

“I’ve got us five miles from the tail of the ship,” Sammy said a moment later. “Is that close enough for you? I don’t want to strain our force field more than I have to.”

“Yes. Can our sensors work through the turbulence?”

“Poorly. I can spot their small craft flitting around the fleet, but that’s about all.”

“Are they coming out to look us over?”

“No. We may have lost them, for the time being.”

Eric reconnected the translator and went over to kneel by Vani’s side. Throughout the commotion she had say quietly, holding her sore arm. “We’ve moved a few miles away from your world, where we won’t be disturbed.”

She glanced at the ceiling. “
What is that strange sound?
”