Part 25 (2/2)
”That the Skyarcher didn't make it?” He nodded. ”Yes.”
Chandris shook her head slowly. Disbelievingly. ”It killed them. Burned all the electronics and optics out of their s.h.i.+p and just... killed them.”
Kosta nodded again, looking at the display. At the stars and, just barely visible now, the pattern of lights indicating the Angelma.s.s Central s.p.a.ce station. ”We stopping at Central or going on to Seraph?”
”Probably the latter,” Chandris said. ”There's no need to stick around unless either Hanan or the Gazelle need immediate attention. Central isn't set up for major long-term work.”
”Yeah.” Kosta looked at her. ”That radiation surge. From the way Hanan and Ornina were talking, it sounded like this wasn't the first time it's happened. You ever seen one before yourself?”
Chandris gave him a long, cool look. ”Two men just died out there,” she said, her voice even colder than her eyes. ”Is it too much to ask for you to put your scientific curiosity into storage for a while?”
”I'm sorry,” Kosta said quietly. ”Did you know them well?”
”Hardly at all,” she said, turning back to stare at her board. ”I only talked to the owner once, back when I was trying to get a job. Before I found Hanan and Ornina.” She shrugged, a slight movement of her shoulders. ”He wasn't very nice to me. Sarcastic and pretty nasty.” She snorted a sound that might have been a sort of laugh. ”It's funny, you know. When I first came here I wouldn't have cared a two-ruya reek if a frag like that got himself sliced. Look at me now.” She shook her head.
Kosta nodded, searching for something to say. ”At least you tried. That has to count for something.”
She looked at him again, a faint sheen of contempt in her eyes. ”This isn't a university final, Kosta,”
she growled. ”This is real life. There's no partial credit given for effort.”
He winced at her tone. ”That's not what I meant.”
She sighed, the anger fading from her face. ”I know.”
For a few minutes they sat together in silence. Kosta was just wondering whether he ought to leave
when Chandris stirred. ”You were asking about the radiation surge.”
”Yes,” Kosta nodded. ”I was wondering-”
”I remember the question,” she cut him off. ”I've heard stories of things like this happening, but I've
never been this close to one before.”
”Any idea what might have caused it?”
She shrugged. ”You're the expert. You tell me.”
”That's the problem,” he said. ”I can't. According to everything I know about black holes, what just
happened should have been impossible.”
She frowned at him. ”What do you mean, impossible?”
”I'll show you. Come on back to my seat and I'll call up the data from my experiment.”
”I can bring it up from here.” She fiddled with her board, and a moment later a page of numbers
appeared on one of the displays. ”Okay, you've got access-that part of the board, there.”
”Thank you.” Kosta keyed in the plotting/extrapolation program, set it running. ”Now, let's see just what this looks like...”
The numbers vanished, to be replaced by a fuzzy pink cone with an equally fuzzy dark blue line
down its axis. Kosta gazed at it, a s.h.i.+ver running up his back. ”I'll be d.a.m.ned,” he murmured.
”What?” Chandris asked.
Kosta pointed, noting vaguely that his finger seemed to be shaking a bit. ”The blue line in the middle
is the surge of radiation,” he explained. ”The pink cone is where there was no radiation at all.”Chandris looked at him. ”No radiation?””None. At least, not in the frequencies my sensors were set for.”She looked back at the display. ”But...””Yeah. I don't suppose you'd have any records of those other surges aboard, would you?””I don't know,” Chandris said grimly, reaching for her board. ”Let's find out.”
CHAPTER 22.
The baby was asleep, her eyes pinched shut against the gentle night-light in the room, a delicate pattern of veins crisscrossing her eyelids. Occasionally she stirred, waving her tiny hands around or making them into fists, and once made a series of sucking motions with her mouth.
Sitting in the semi-darkened room, sipping at a mug of cold tea, Kosta watched her sleep.
He'd been there perhaps twenty minutes when the door opened behind him. ”Dr. Qha-? Oh, hi, Jereko,” Gyasi interrupted himself cheerfully. ”Aren't you supposed to be out at Angelma.s.s or somewhere?”
”The trip ended early,” Kosta told him. ”If you're looking for Dr. Qhahenlo, she's down the hall in the lab.”
”No rush. Who's that, baby Angelica?”
Kosta felt his lip twist. ”That's her name, is it? I should have guessed.”
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