Part 28 (1/2)
”What are you thinking of. Admiral?” Lunzie asked in a soft voice.
”Hm? Oh, Doctor. Nothing. Nothing of importance. Just thinking of my son He's in the service. Means to go far, too, and see if he doesn't.”
”You miss him,” she suggested, intuitively sensing that the old man wanted to talk.
”Dammit, I do. He's a fine young man. You're about his age, I'd say. You . . . you don't have any children, do you?”
”Just one; a daughter. I'm meeting her on Alpha Centauri.”
”A little girl, eh? You look so young.” Coromell coughed self-deprecatingly. ”Of course, at my age, everyone looks young.”
”Admiral, I'm closer to your age than to your son's.” Lunzie shrugged. ”It's in the s.h.i.+p's records; you could find out if you wanted. I've been through cold sleep. My little girl will be seventy-eight on her next birthday.”
”You don't say? Well, well, that's why you understand all the ancient history I've been spouting. You've been there. We should talk about old times.” The Admiral shot her a look of lonely appeal which touched Lunzie's heart. ”There are so few left who remember. I'd consider it a personal favour.”
”Admiral, I'd be doing it out of blatant self-interest. I've only been in this century two years.”
”Hmph! I feel as though I've been on this s.h.i.+p that long. Where are we bound for?”
”Sybaris Planet. It's a luxury spa. . . .”
”I know what it is,” Coromell interrupted her impatiently. ”Another dumping ground for the useless rich. Phah! When I get to be that helpless you can arrange for my eulogy.”
Lunzie smiled. The server bowed next to her, presenting a deep balloon gla.s.s like the one the Admiral had, washed a scant half inch across the bottom with a rich, ruddy amber liquid. It was an excellent rare brandy. Delicate vapours wafted out of the gla.s.s headily as the liquid warmed in the heat from the fire. Lunzie took a very small sip and felt that heat travel down her throat. She closed her eyes.
”Like it?” Coromell rumbled.
”Very nice. I don't usually indulge in anything this strong.”
”Hmph. Truth is, neither do I. Never drank on duty.” Coromell cupped the gla.s.s in his big hand and swirled the brandy gently under his nose before tipping it up to drink. ”But today I felt a little self-indulgent.”
Lunzie became aware suddenly that the background music had changed. Under the lull of the music was a discreet jingling that could have been mistaken for a technical fault by anyone but a member of the crew. To the crew, it meant impending disaster. Lunzie set down her gla.s.s and looked around the shadows.
”Chibor!” She hailed a mate of Perkin's staff who was pa.s.sing through the immense chamber. She looked up at the sound of her voice and waved. ”I was looking for you, Lunzie. Perkin told me . . .”
”Yes! The alarm. What is it? You can speak in front of the Admiral. He doesn't scare easily.”
Coromell straightened up, and set aside his gla.s.s. ”No, indeed. What's in the wind?”
Chibor signalled for a more discreet tone and leaned toward her. ”You know about the engine trouble we've been having. It was giving off some weird harmonics, so we had to turn it off and drop out of warp early. There's no way to get back into warp for a while until it's been tuned, and we jumped right into the path of an ion storm. It's moving toward us pretty fast. The navigator accidentally let us drift into its perimeters, and it's playing merry h.e.l.l with the antimatter drives. We're heading behind the gas giant in the system to s.h.i.+eld us until it pa.s.ses.”
”Will that work?” Lunzie asked, her eyes huge and worried. She fought down the clutch of fear in her guts.
”May do,” Coromell answered calmly, interrupting Chibor. ”May not.”
”We're preparing to go to emergency systems. Perkin said you'd want to know.” Chibor nodded and rushed away. Lunzie watched her go. No one else noticed her enter or leave the holo-room. They were involved in their own pursuits.
”I'd better go up and see what is going on,” Lunzie said. ”Excuse me, Admiral.”
The gas giant of Carson's System was as huge and as spectacular as promised. The rapidly rotating planet had a solid core deep inside an envelope of swirling gases thousands of miles thick. A few of her fellow pa.s.sengers had gathered on the s.h.i.+p's gallery to view it through the thick quartz port.
The captain of the Destiny Calls Destiny Calls increased the s.h.i.+p's velocity to match the planet's two-hour period of rotation and followed a landmark in the gas layer, the starting point of a pair of horizontal black stripes, around to the sunward side of the planet, where they stood off, and held a position behind the planet's protective bulk. The green-and-yellow giant was just short of being a star, lacking only a small increase in ma.s.s or primary ignition. The planet's...o...b..t was much closer to the system's sun than was common with most gas giants, and the sun itself burned an actinic white on the s.h.i.+p's screens. Telemetry warned of las.h.i.+ng arms of magnetic disturbance that kicked outward from the gaseous surface. This was the only formed planet in this system, and s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sing by were required to use it when aligning for their final jump through the spa.r.s.ely starred region to Sybaris. Still the planet's rapid rotation and the ma.s.sive magnetic field it generated meant that here gases and radiation churned constantly, even on its dark side. Lunzie suspected they were closer to the planet, which filled half the viewport, than was normal, but said nothing. Other pa.s.sengers, the more well-travelled looking ones, seemed concerned as well. The captain appeared a few minutes later, a forced smile belying his attempts to calm his pa.s.sengers' fears. increased the s.h.i.+p's velocity to match the planet's two-hour period of rotation and followed a landmark in the gas layer, the starting point of a pair of horizontal black stripes, around to the sunward side of the planet, where they stood off, and held a position behind the planet's protective bulk. The green-and-yellow giant was just short of being a star, lacking only a small increase in ma.s.s or primary ignition. The planet's...o...b..t was much closer to the system's sun than was common with most gas giants, and the sun itself burned an actinic white on the s.h.i.+p's screens. Telemetry warned of las.h.i.+ng arms of magnetic disturbance that kicked outward from the gaseous surface. This was the only formed planet in this system, and s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sing by were required to use it when aligning for their final jump through the spa.r.s.ely starred region to Sybaris. Still the planet's rapid rotation and the ma.s.sive magnetic field it generated meant that here gases and radiation churned constantly, even on its dark side. Lunzie suspected they were closer to the planet, which filled half the viewport, than was normal, but said nothing. Other pa.s.sengers, the more well-travelled looking ones, seemed concerned as well. The captain appeared a few minutes later, a forced smile belying his attempts to calm his pa.s.sengers' fears.
”Gentlebeings,” Captain Wynline said, wryly, watching the giant's surface spin beneath them. ”Due to technical considerations, we were forced to drop out of warp at this point. But as a result, we are able to offer you a fabulous view seen by only a few since it was discovered: Carson's Giant. This gas giant should have been a second sun, making this system a binary without planets, but it never ignited, thereby leaving us with a galactic wonder, for study and speculation. Oh . . . and don't anybody drop a match.”
The pa.s.sengers watching the huge globe revolve chuckled and whispered among themselves.
The Destiny Destiny waited behind the gas giant's rapidly spinning globe until they were sure that the particularly violent ion storm had swirled past and moved entirely out of the ecliptic. The first edges of the storm, which an unmanned monitor had warned them of the instant they had entered normal s.p.a.ce, filled the dark sky around the giant with a dancing aurora. waited behind the gas giant's rapidly spinning globe until they were sure that the particularly violent ion storm had swirled past and moved entirely out of the ecliptic. The first edges of the storm, which an unmanned monitor had warned them of the instant they had entered normal s.p.a.ce, filled the dark sky around the giant with a dancing aurora.
”Captain!” Telemetry Officer Hord entered the gallery and stood next to the captain. ”Another major solar flare on the sun's surface! That'll play havoc with the planet's magnetic field,” he offered softly, and then paused, watching to see how the captain reacted. The chief officer didn't seem overly concerned. ”This will combine with the effects of the ion storm, sir,” he added, when no response was forth-coming.
”I'm aware of the ramifications, Hord,” the captain a.s.sured him and tripped his collar mike. He spoke decisively in a low voice. Lunzie noticed the change in his hearty tone and moved closer to listen. The captain observed her, but saw only another crew member, and continued with his commands. ”Helm, try to manoeuvre us away from the worst of this. Use whatever drives are ready and tuned. Telemetry, tell us when the storm's pa.s.sed by enough to venture out again. I don't like this a bit. Computer systems, get the ceramic brick hard copies of our programming out of mothb.a.l.l.s. Just in case. Inform Engineering. What's the period for magnetic disturbance reaching us from the sun, Hord?”
”Nine hours, sir. But the flame disturbances are coming pretty close together. I estimate that some are coming toward us already. There's no way to tell, too much noise to get anything meaningful from the monitor.” Both officers looked worried now. The com-unit on the captain's collar bleeped. ”Engineering here. Captain. We're getting magnetic interference in the drives. The antimatter bottle is becoming unstable. I'm bringing in portable units to step it up.” The captain wiped his forehead. ”So it's begun. We can't depend on the containment systems. Prepare to evacuate the s.h.i.+p. Sound the alarms, but don't launch. Gentlebeings!” Everyone on the gallery looked up expectantly. ”There has been a development. Will you please return immediately to your quarters, and wait for an announcement. Now, please.”
As soon as the gallery cleared, the captain ordered the Communications Officer to make the announcement over s.h.i.+pwide comsystems. When Lunzie turned toward the gallery's door to go back to the holochamber, everything went dark, as the s.h.i.+p abruptly went onto battery. The emergency lights glowed red for a brief instant in the corners and around the hatchway.
”What the h.e.l.l was that?” the captain demanded as the full lights came back on.
”Overload, probably from the solar flares,” Hord snapped out, monitoring his readouts on his portable remote unit. ”We'll lose the computer memory if that happens again. Watch out, here it goes!”
Lunzie dashed back toward her cabin through flickering lights. Interstellar travel is safer than taking a bath, less accidents per million, she repeated the often-advertised claim to rea.s.sure herself. No one was ever in two incidents, not in this modern age. Every vessel, even one as old as the Destiny Destiny, was double-checked and had triple back-ups on every circuit.
”Attention please,” announced the calm voice of the Communications Officer, cutting through the incidental music and all the video and Tri-D programs. ”Attention. Please leave your present locations immediately and make your way to the lifeboat stations. Please leave your present locations and make your way to the lifeboat stations. This is not a drill. Do not use the turbovators as they may not continue to function. Repeat, do not use the turbovators.” The voice was interrupted occasionally by crackling, and faded out entirely at one point.
”What was that?” A pa.s.senger noticed Lunzie's uniform and grabbed her arm. ”I saw the lights go down. There's something wrong, isn't there?”
”Please, sir. Go to the lifeboat stations right now. Do you remember your team number?”
”Five B. Yes, it was Five B.” The man's eyes went huge. ”Do you mean there's a real emergency?”
Lunzie shuddered. ”I hope not, sir. Please, go. They'll tell you what's going on when you're in your place. Hurry!” She turned around and ran with him to the dining hall level.
The message continued to repeat over the loud-speakers.
The corridor filled instantly with hundreds of humanoids, hurrying in all directions. Some seemed to have forgotten not only which stations they were a.s.signed to, but where the dining hall was. Emergency chase lights were intermittent, but they provided a directional beacon for the terrified pa.s.sengers to follow. There were cries and groans as the pa.s.sengers tried to speculate on what was happening.
The crowd huddled in the gigantic holo-room near the metal double doors to the dining room, milling about, directionless, babbling among themselves in fear. The holo-room was the largest open s.p.a.ce on the level, and could be used for illusions to entertain thousands of people. At one end of the room, several dozen humans, unaware that anything was going on around them, were fending off holographic bandits with realistic-looking swords. In a cave just next to the doors in the dining room, a knot of costumed cavedwellers huddled together over a stick fire. At that moment, the illusion projectors in the alcoves shut off, eliciting loud protests from viewers as their varied fantasies disappeared, leaving the room a bare, ghost-gray sh.e.l.l with a few pieces of real furniture here and there. The costumed figures stood up, looking around for s.h.i.+p personnel to fix the problem, and saw the crowds bearing down on them into the newly opened s.p.a.ce. They panicked and broke for the exits. More pa.s.sengers appeared, trying to shove past them into the dining hall, yelling. Fights began among them. Into the midst of this came the child-caretakers with their charges. The head of child care, a thin Human male, spoke through a portable loudspeaker, paging each parent one at a time to come and retrieve its offspring.
”Listen up!” Coromell appeared from his alcove with Don behind him. ”Listen!” His deep voice cut across the screaming and the mechanical whine of overtaxed life support systems. ”Now listen! Everyone calm down. Calm down, I say! You all ignored the emergency procedures in the dining hall. Those of you who know what to do, proceed to your stations, NOW! Those of you who don't know what to do, pipe down so you can hear instructions over the loudspeakers. Move it! That is all!”
”The doors are shut! We can't get through!” a large Human woman wailed.
”Just hold your water! Look! They're opening right now.”
The engineers appeared in a widening gap between the huge double metal blast doors between the holo-room and the oxygen-breathers' dining hall. The crowd, considerably quieter, rushed through, grabbing oxygen equipment from crew lined up on either side of the doors. Stewards directed them to the irised-open hatchways of the escape capsules and ordered them to sit down.
Coromell, with Don's help, continued to direct the flow of traffic, pus.h.i.+ng water-breathers in bubble-suits and frantically shapechanging Weft pa.s.sengers toward the access stairway to the water environment.
”Attention, please, this is the captain,” the chief officer's voice boomed over the public address system. ”Please proceed calmly to your a.s.signed evacuation pod. This will be a temporary measure. Please follow the instructions of the crew. Thank you.”