Children of the Old Star (17 page)

"That should not be too difficult,” said Meiji. “We are preparing to send out the Ogilby Fleet in about six weeks. We are still looking to fill several key positions.” She held out her slender hand. “Let me see your résumés."

Ellis handed the wafer-like disk to the woman. She eyed the old disk skeptically for a moment, then took it away, undoubtedly to a reader somewhere else in the office. Coming back a few minutes later, she viewed the disk contents using the holo terminal on her desk. “Lieutenant John Mark Ellis,” she said slowly. “I see you commanded a destroyer. Why should I hire you for a mapping mission?"

"I'm looking forward to new challenges,” piped Ellis. “I admit, a mapping vessel is quite different from a military ship, but I'm sure I can learn."

"You've been in a command position,” said Meiji, leaning slightly forward. “We likely as not, have no such openings, how do you feel about taking the back seat to someone."

"After commanding a ship, it won't be easy,” admitted Ellis. Internally, he debated whether or not he should push for a command position. From the background, it would be extremely difficult to hunt the Cluster. Still, it was better to get into a position where he might encounter the Cluster than not. Certainly it was better than being first officer in the military where his decisions and independent thoughts would, at best, be tolerated. “I took orders a lot longer than I gave them. I can adjust and I want to learn."

Meiji looked at the disk in her hand and her lip turned up slightly. “You are from Nantucket. Did you ever sail with a man named Samuel Coffin?"

Ellis’ eyes went wide. “I know Old Man Coffin very well. He was one of my favorite teachers."

Without expression, she continued scanning the disk. She looked at McClintlock. “You look familiar, Mr. McIntosh.” Clyde McClintlock shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Meiji said nothing further. Undoubtedly, she had seen McClintlock's face on the news. Inwardly, Ellis congratulated himself on thinking up McClintlock's alias and phony background. If nothing else, it gave her pause when addressing the colonel. Also, McClintlock's white hair had been such a striking feature, the simple color change seemed extremely effective.

"I'm not sure where you would have seen me,” said McClintlock putting on his best Sufiro drawl. “I've been a cook in Nuevo Santa Fe for a number of years."

"Good cooks are hard to come by on mapping ships.” Meiji scowled. “The money isn't very good. Why would you want to sign aboard a space vessel?” The real beauty of the alibi, thought Ellis, was that Meiji could call Ellison Firebrandt, the commander's grandfather and he would happily confirm the story without question.

"I want to get out and see the stars.” McClintlock smiled his warm, trusting smile.

"Not much to see,” said Meiji. “There are few windows aboard interstellar space vessels, Mr. McIntosh."

"Suits me,” said McClintlock. “I might get space sick."

Meiji snorted almost indistinctly. Finally she looked at G'Liat. “I think you are a little over-qualified for any position."

"We should talk in private,” said G'Liat, deeply solemn. Meiji nodded. With that, she and the Rd'dyggian stood and left for another part of the office. McClintlock looked questioningly at Ellis. Ellis simply shrugged in response. At last, the warrior and the mathematician returned. The Rd'dyggian moved slowly and gracefully so Meiji would not have to move quickly to keep up.

"You three are quite a group.” Meiji put her hands behind her back. “Mr. Ellis, you will command the TMV
Nicholas Sanson
, flagship of the Ogilby fleet. I will get you signed up for the appropriate briefings. From your résumé, I see that you understand command. Also, Samuel Coffin is one of the best navigators I know. The fact that you studied with him has influenced my decision. However, you have a lot to learn about mapping vessels.” She turned on her heel and faced McClintlock. “Mr. McIntosh, you will be the cook on
Sanson
."

"What about G'Liat?” asked Ellis.

"
Sanson
maintains an official representative of the owners. G'Liat will be on her staff,” said Meiji. “All of this is pending the collection of several favors, but all of you have records strong enough to support this decision. That, and G'Liat's recommendation, make me feel that this is not too stupid."

"Thank you,” said G'Liat with a slight bow. With a motion, the warrior led the trio out of the office.

As they stepped out of the building, Ellis noticed it was twilight. Soon the stars would appear. Not long after, Ellis would return to his rightful place among them.

Part III

The Search in Space

At last, the great thunderbird spoke. “What do we do? I like these humans. They respect us and pray to us. When they dream of us, they gain some of our power. That power makes them relatives of ours in a way."

-
From the Brule Sioux legend of the Great Thunderbird.

A TALL SHIP AND A STAR TO STEER HER BY

Suki Firebrandt Ellis and Manuel Raton chartered a small sailboat for the trip from Hyannis Port to Nantucket. As they came into port at the island, Manuel shook his head. “Will you look at that? It's almost exactly like Roanoke."

Fire nodded and smiled. She hadn't realized just how much she missed Nantucket until she saw the white and gray buildings superimposed on the greenery of the island. She pointed out a seagull hovering near one of the sails.

Manuel laughed. “Do you know how long it's been since I've seen a real bird? I almost forgot about them."

Old Man Coffin met Fire and Manuel at the pier. He helped them carry their belongings to the old Ellis house. As they unpacked, Coffin seemed to be in a dark mood. Fire took Coffin and Manuel to a restaurant in the village for lobster. As they ate, Coffin looked to Fire. “I'm glad you're back. I guess I'll need to pack my things and move back to the shack."

Fire's glass of wine stopped midway to her lips. She set it down slowly. “Why?"

"Well,” began Coffin, “seeing as you are back, I didn't think you'd want me kicking around the old house."

"Nonsense,” said Fire. Manuel turned to look at Fire. She kicked him in the ankle making him swallow a bit of lobster too quickly.

"Of course not,” sputtered Manuel. “You're welcome to stay."

The next day, Fire walked to the offices of the Maria Mitchell Association. She was met with gasps of surprise. “We were getting ready to put out a new job ad,” explained Dorothy Harriman, the observatory director. “We thought you'd decided to stay on Sufiro forever."

Fire sighed and bit her lower lip. “Go ahead and write that ad,” she said, almost sadly. “But, don't place it yet. I haven't decided whether or not I'm back permanently or not."

Harriman whistled. “So, you really like it out there on that frontier planet?"

"It's home,” explained Fire.

"So, why'd you come back?” Harriman rubbed liver-spotted hands together. Fire suspected that Harriman secretly coveted the Association Directorship.

"This is home, too.” Fire shrugged. She went to her office and turned on the computer and was confronted by more mail than she wanted to deal with. She was tempted to delete the entire list. Thinking better of it, she saved it aside and opened a holographic viewscreen to the Earth Library database. She began a search for books having to do with the Titans.

Although John Mark Ellis knew the importance of stellar mapping vessels, he had never actually seen one until the day he was to take command of the TMV
Nicholas Sanson
. It was true that he had seen his share of holographic pics and vids, but nothing could compare to the view he had as he approached the ship aboard a TransGalactic shuttle from Earth. The military vessels he was familiar with were little more than functional black cylinders bristling with gun ports; a single glowing, blue Erdon-Quinn generator dominated the back of the ship. The ship Ellis saw through the view port was nothing like that. This new ship simply took his breath away.

During the previous six weeks, John Mark Ellis had spent time studying mapping vessels. As such, he knew that everything he saw had a purpose. Still, the almost feminine curves of this new ship aroused a sense of wonder within the captain. It seemed inappropriate to name the ship, “Nicholas.” The ship was still a cylinder, but eight fan-like sensor arrays swept back toward the vessel's stern. Ellis couldn't help but think of sails when he saw the sensor arrays pivoting subtly, sensing the gravitational interactions of many stars. Each of those arrays controlled a seemingly petite EQ generator. The glow from each surrounded the ship like a halo. Military ships were built for powering their way through the fourth dimension to a new location. This ship was built for precision rather than power. It would feel its way along, charting the subtleties of gravity's ever-changing pathways, ultimately allowing all other ships to thrust their way through the void.

G'Liat and McClintlock were already aboard the
Sanson
. McClintlock had spent five of the past six weeks brushing up on his cooking skills. Fortunately, his military training had included some time in the mess hall, learning how to cook for large numbers of people. Growing up on Sufiro, he had learned how to make food taste good. He went aboard
Sanson
about a week before to get familiar with the kitchen.

G'Liat had been summoned aboard
Sanson
by the owner's representative almost immediately. Ellis felt uncomfortable that G'Liat had not been around to help plan for their voyage. The more he was alone, the more agitated Ellis became. One night, while on Earth, Ellis watched a news broadcast about a Zahari ship attacked by the Cluster. Seeing the image of the Cluster, the captain couldn't help but think of the numbing effect it had on his mind. Ellis sucked noisily on his pipe stem, hoping G'Liat would be able to teach him how to cope with the sight. The last thing he wanted was to be paralyzed the next time he saw the spheres. Whether the paralysis was due to fear or some hypnotic effect didn't seem to matter. Still, the captain realized that the training time had been necessary. To carry out their goal, commanding
Sanson
would have to be second nature.

"We're preparing to dock, sir,” announced the shuttle pilot.

Ellis nodded ascent, settled back in the chair and smiled to himself. He had a ship to command. In principle, he could take it wherever he wanted. With it, he would find the Cluster and find out what the visions in his mind were. He would find out why the Cluster killed and try to use that knowledge to stop it. No longer did he have to answer to an admiral. The captain was lost so deeply in thought he didn't feel the shuttle latch onto the ship. He jumped when the pilot tapped him on the shoulder. “You may disembark, now, sir,” she said.

Ellis sighed, then nodded. Standing, he grabbed his duffel bag and stepped through the airlock onto the deck of his ship. The graviton generators aboard mapping vessels were set to about eighty percent of Earth gravity. The captain's shoulders slumped slightly when he realized that the only person there to meet him was G'Liat. Ellis rubbed his beard, knowing better than to expect the formality of reviewing his crew upon boarding a civilian vessel.

G'Liat nodded to the captain. Ellis shook his head as he examined his comrade. The Rd'dyggian wore a white shirt with tan trousers and a jacket. The clothes seemed like they would be more in place on a human businessman than on a Rd'dyggian warrior. “I'll take you up to the bridge to meet your officers. Then I'll escort you to Ms. Smart."

"That's Kirsten Smart, the owner's representative?” Ellis looked around noticing the wood trim framing walls painted an off color of white.

G'Liat nodded once and held out his hand, indicating that Ellis should follow. The captain flung his duffel over his shoulder with ease and walked behind G'Liat as the warrior led the way to the lift. As they walked, two men—one big and burley, the other short and lanky—stepped out of a room. Ellis nodded to the two men. The men nodded and continued walking down the hall. Just as G'Liat and Ellis were about to step into the lift, the ship lurched gently to the side. Dropping the duffel, Ellis had to put his hand on the wall to stabilize himself. “What the hell?” he grumbled.

"Watch your step,” warned G'Liat. “This being a mapping vessel, we're more sensitive to the structure of space itself. You're used to graviton generators that automatically compensate for these little bumps."

"I know.” Ellis scowled. “The graviton generating equipment can interfere with the precise operation of the sensor equipment. I guess I'll just have to get my sea legs back."

The two men, a programmer named Isaac and a cartographer named Quincy, turned in time to see their new captain miss-step.

"Is that Captain Ellis?” asked Isaac in a hushed voice. He noted Ellis’ blue navy jacket, the epaulet still present, hung askew. He also noted the captain's beard. “A little scruffy to be a captain, don't you think? ‘Spose Kirsten will make him shave off that beard?"

"He seems like he'd be more at home with sails than EQ generators,” said Quincy. “Could be worse, though. Simon could've gotten the captain's job."

"Simon, at least, has experience with mapping vessels,” countered Isaac. “Why do I feel like I'm sailing with Captain Ahab?"

The clean, pale blue walls of the lift impressed Ellis as he and G'Liat rode to the command deck. In fact, the entire ship seemed to have far more color than he was accustomed to from his military days. Though unusual to him, the color did seem to add a level of cheer to the vessel. Ellis wanted to ask G'Liat a dozen questions, but the lift only took a minute to move the four decks from the docking bay to the command level.

As the doors opened, Ellis gasped. It looked as though one could walk the length of the deck and dive into the oceans of Earth. In fact, as he watched, someone walked out and stood on the North American continent with a wand, writing notes in the “air.” Ellis pursed his lips and shook his head. All he could think of at the moment was a stanza from Emily Dickinson. “And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped down, and down—And hit a World, at every plunge,” he said. G'Liat simply inclined his head.