Part 5 (1/2)
Pierre checked her tank, then as the water splashed up on the porthole, he made his way around the central column, trying to stay as close to the center of ma.s.s of the s.h.i.+p as possible to keep the gravitational forces down. Just before he closed his own hatch door, he noticed that the latching mechanism for the metallic s.h.i.+elds over one of the outside portholes had failed and he could look out and see the deadly neutron star whirling by the porthole five times a second. Fortunately the gla.s.s was still holding pressure. As he was closing his hatch door, he saw a cl.u.s.ter of bright, starlike objects appear just outside the porthole.
06:55:05 GMT TUESDAY 21 JUNE2050.
”Holy Egg!” exclaimed one of the cheela crew as the small armada of cheela s.p.a.cecraft drifted in between the large glowing condensed asteroids. Engines working continuously to compensate for the constantly changing gravity field pattern caused by the out-of-position asteroids, the s.p.a.cecraft settled into a synchronous position some fifteen meters out from the hull of Dragon Slayer. They were near one of the viewing ports where the metallic s.h.i.+eld had been drawn back.
”Break out a flitter for me,” commanded Star-Glider.
”Yes, Admiral!” replied his second-in-command, Captain Bright-Star. Her tread'trummed a command into the crystalline hull of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p where it was picked up by the flitter launching crew on the opposite hemisphere of their spherical s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.
”May I accompany you on another flitter?” Bright-Star asked with an electronic whisper.
”Certainly. It is not often we get a chance to look at a human in the flesh. I understand they look very strange since the X-rays penetrate right through them and you can see the manipulator bones inside them.
In fact, I'm sure most of the crew would like an opportunity to see the Slow Ones. Break out some X-ray illuminators and take them over to that porthole to illuminate the inside.”
With the X-ray illuminators in place, the crew could see through the heavily tinted, fuzzy gla.s.s. The main deck was empty except for two large, jagged objects floating slowly by. They were nearly transparent except for a bent piece of metal embedded in a hole in one of them. Using the map of Dragon Slayer obtained from the archive files, Star-Glider was able to identify the hatch door to Pierre's tank. The hatch door was half open, and in the hatch Star-Glider could see a strangely shaped and colored blob. It was Pierre's head. At the center of the blob was a relatively dense violet structure with four holes in it. The bony skull was covered with blue-white flesh, while the top and bottom had faint yellow-white strands of hair.
”Why doesn't he close the hatch door?” Bright-Star asked.
”He is. It just takes a long time for the Slow Ones to doanything” Star-Glider replied. ”If you come back in a few turns, you will be able to see that the hatch door is shutting. But it will take a dozen turns before he gets it closed and latched.”
Another flitter joined them. Riding on top was Watson-Crick, Professor of Humanology at the Inner Eye Inst.i.tute and Chief Scientist on the expedition.
”Admiral Star-Glider,” he began. ”I recognize that our original plan had been to study the humans and their s.p.a.cecraft after the herder rocket has been fixed. But with all the humans in the protection tanks but one, and only the head of that one available for a.n.a.lysis, I was wondering if you might allow us some research time now, before Pierre closes his hatch door.”
”You wouldn't be asking if the legislature had only moved ahead on this project more quickly,” said Star-Glider. ”We would have been here two minutes ago and had three humans to study.”
”It is really too bad,” Watson-Crick agreed. ”Our modern instruments are much more sophisticated than the ones used the last time cheela had the opportunity to a.n.a.lyze a human.”
”When was that?” Bright-Star asked.
”Over a thousand greats ago,” Watson-Crick replied. ”Could we have a dozen turns, Admiral?”
Star-Glider considered. ”I'll give you a half-dozen. Then we'd better get on with the main purpose of the mission-fix that rocket and rescue the humans.”
The humanologists were greatly disappointed that all they had to study was a human head, andit was over two meters from the porthole. But they did what they could and were finished when only five turns were up.
06:55:06 GMT TUeSDAY 21 JUNE2050
”Well,” Star-Glider prompted as soon as Watson-Crick told him they were finished. ”A whole human second has gone by. Let's get busy and rescue them. Head out to that malfunctioning herder rocket, then ready the cargo s.h.i.+p to put its replacement engine in place.”
Bright-Star tapped the message into the hull with her under-tread. Soon the giant cheela s.p.a.cecraft, as big as a basketball, smoothly moved over toward one of the six glowing red ma.s.ses surrounding Dragon Slayer.
The tiny glowing s.h.i.+p approached to within a few meters of the gigantic stainless steel girders that held the failing rocket engine to the main body of the herder rocket.
”Be careful,” Star-Glider warned. ”Don't get too close. That stuff is as fragile as a Tiny-Sh.e.l.l hatchling.”
”Launch the cutters and collectors,”'trummed Bright-Star, and a collection of smaller spheres emerged from depressions in the side of the large spherical cruiser. The smallest of the tiny s.h.i.+ps were one-cheela flitter spheres, not much bigger than a cheela body. Each cheela brandished a long dragon-crystal cutter.
As large as swords, they were especially designed for this mission.
They approached the girders at selected joints and proceeded to slice through the hard steel of the beam as if it were fog. Other cheela directed larger robotic s.p.a.cecraft in a zig-zag pattern through the thrust chamber of the sputtering rocket engine. The extreme gravitational tides of the black holes inside the cheela s.p.a.cecraft tore the steel chamber into incandescent threads, the material compressing and sucking down onto the surface of the s.p.a.cecraft where it disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a tiny lump of degenerate matter on the surface of the sphere that rapidly spread out into a thin incandescent sheet. With the rocket chamber removed from the herder rocket, it was time to install the replacement engine that the cheela had brought with them.
”Bring up the cargo s.h.i.+p,” said Star-Glider. ”But, take your time and do it right, we have a whole turn before the rocket is due to fire again.”
The cargo s.h.i.+p moved up into the void at the rear of the herder rocket where the engine had been. The cargo s.h.i.+p, a sphere 360 millimeters in diameter, carried embedded in its surface the 144-millimeter doughnut-shaped engine. Both were dwarfed by the gutted remains of the 10-meter diameter herder rocket body.
”Engine in position,” Bright-Star reported.
”Release engine and remove cargo s.h.i.+p,” Star-Glider commanded.
The Jumbo Bagel and the cargo sphere separated. As the sphere moved off, violet force beams shot out from tiny b.u.mps on the glowing white doughnut, to grasp the girder cut-off points on the frame of the herder rocket. The violet beams varied in brightness as they brought the rocket under control. The tiny, but ma.s.sive, engine was now installed.
Star-Glider felt the sethturns tick away on the chronometer at the top of the console under his tread.
When the proper time came he gave the order.
”Activate inertia drive.”
The violet traction beams holding the engine brightened, and there was a warping of s.p.a.ce emanating from the hole in the doughnut. The star field to the rear of the herder rocket wavered. After a long wait of nearly a dothturn, the engine cut off, its job on this cycle of the rotation done. They would have to wait for eleven more dothturns before the engine would be called on again, so there was little to do but clean up and wait. Then there would begin the long tedious process of checking out the operation of the engine for a number of cycles before the expedition left the engine operating on its own and returned to the surface of Egg.
Star-Glider was pleased. The mission had been a success. Three of his eyes focused on those of his first officer.
”Announce a rest-turn, Bright-Star,” he whispered. ”And pierce the pulp-bags!”
But before the captain could'trum the official command, the admiral's electronic whisper had been picked up by the bridge crew. Soon Star-Glider heard subdued tappings echoing throughout the s.p.a.cecraft. He flipped a tendril at the captain, silencing her before she started to'trum the command into the deck. The two listened with their treads. They heard a rustle of eager treads hurrying toward the recreation area where the pulp-bags were stored. The wave-pattern of Star-Glider's eye-stubs developed an annoyed twitch. Bright-Star knew what was coming and picked up the sensitive edges of her tread as a roar shook the crystal hull undertread.
”BUT FIRST!!!” came the Swift-stopping shout from the Admiral's tread. ”An INSPECTION!!! A wet-eye-ball inspection!”
A shocked silence followed throughout the s.h.i.+p. The only sound coming through the hull was the throb of the idling inertia drive engines.
”Look at this place!”'trummed Star-Glider as he moved about the bridge, his tread tossing up bits of trash and dust, his tendrils flipping at offending insignia on junior officers that weren't held exactly horizontal to the local vertical.
”How can I expect the rest of the crew to keep this place s.h.i.+p shape when the bridge looks like a Flow Slow wallow!” He glided over a display screen in the deck, then exploded again.
”What Tiny-Sh.e.l.l-brained offspring of a Slink dribbled pulp juice on the screen?!? The taste of those spots burns my tread. I want that screen cleaned and I want this s.h.i.+p cleaned until I can put a wet eye-ball on any spot without blinking!!”
He stormed off to his private quarters and slammed the sliding door. He waited a few methturns, then concentrated on the vibrations coming through the hull. There was a subdued murmur as Bright-Star and the rest of the officers spread throughout the s.h.i.+p. Then there came the shuffling sound of the crew as they started the long overdue cleanup of the s.h.i.+p.
Star-Glider formed a tendril, inserted it into a pouch in his side, and pulled out a magnekey. He inserted the key into a slot in the side of his locker, slid open the door and pulled out a small bag of West Pole Double-Distilled, the best on Egg. Carrying the bag, he shuffled tiredly over to his resting pad, his body seeming to deflate as he relaxed his command posture and spread out on the soft decorated mat. He put the bag of pulp in his drinking pouch and with a powerful squeeze from his pouch muscles, broke the bag and started to squeeze the pungent juice through the thin membrane at the back of the pouch. He fluffed up his manipulator pillow, formed a small holding manipulator and laid it on the pillow. He then used a tendril to extract one of his twelve-pointed star-shaped admiral's insignia from its holding sphincter in his side. He brought the star near his drinking pouch, spit some pulp-juice on it, transferred it to his holding manipulator, and proceeded to buff it to a high polish with a well-used rag. To help pa.s.s the time, he flicked on his holovid and watched the final segment of theQui-Qui Revue. Qui-Qui was a little past her prime, but she was still the s.e.xiest female on holovid.