Law's End (21 page)
Authors: Glenn Douglass
Tags: #adventure, #travel, #dog, #future, #space, #rescue, #supercluster
Reading the analysis from the sensor software
the operator answered, "A thin cloud of gas moving at high
velocity."
Rolling her eyes at the report Captain Andrews
was reflexively dismissive. "Space is full of gasses."
Trying to ignore the sarcasm the sensor
operator explained, "It's moving approximately on a course and at a
velocity expected for the target vessel."
While the report was encouraging Andrews didn't
let her pleasure show in the slightest degree. "A cloud of gas is
not a ship."
Annoyed by the rebuke the sensor operator
retorted, "The cloud is composed of nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen.
My guess is that their hull is ruptured and leaking."
Rapping her fingers on the remains of the
command chair armrest to emphasize each word Andrews demanded, "So
where's the Sabha?"
In spite of the sensor operator's best efforts
at self restraint sarcasm defined their response. "I've narrowed
the search region down to something smaller than the average
stellar system."
Being a firm believer that the only way to get
good performance out of crew was to pressure it out of them Andrews
persisted, "And you haven't found them yet… why?"
Realizing that attempting to placate the
captain was a losing proposition the sensor operator attempted the
even more improbable task of reasoning with them instead. "Sir,
they've gone dark and are somewhere inside a rapidly expanding
cloud of sensor obscuring gas that is currently a quarter of an
astronomical unit across and growing. This means that the only way
I have to track them is to look at the stars in that region until
something obscures one of them. I don't have to tell you that there
are not a lot of stars this far out in Laniakea."
Adding more belligerence to her dismissive tone
Captain Andrews snapped, "None of that concerns me. I don't care
what you have to do just find me that ship before…"
The sensor operator cut off the captain
shouting with malicious glee. "Found them! Relaying sensor track to
tactical."
Bolting upright in the command chair Captain
Andrews slammed her fist into the much battered armrest ordering,
"Tactical, put a warning shot through her."
The Deck Officer, who had been dealing with the
routine affairs of running the ship from an auxiliary console
station, spoke up, "Shouldn't we issue a warning first?"
Annoyed by the interruption Captain Andrews
clarified herself for the official record saying, "We're still too
far out for a clean shot and they're too close to the Law's End
barrier. I want a solid firing solution with a confirmed hit before
tipping our hand. I don't want them rabbiting out into normal space
and end up having to track them across half of Laniakea." Noting
her Deck Officer's still disapproving expression Captain Andrews
smiled shark-like, "Don't worry we'll just put a little hole
through them to make them think twice about trying to run."
A Lawship could get away with a lot if the
situation could be presented to a review board properly. With all
the uncertainties of Lawless space Captain Andrews felt she could
push a little further than usual. With the backing of University
approval a review board would have to be severely pressured to find
against any thinly justified action she undertook.
******
Aboard the Sabha time passed in silence. They
were waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Armhamon to demand
their surrender or open fire on them. As if to spite their
anticipation nothing happened.
To find some relief from the stress Greene
demanded of no one in particular, "Are we going to make it?"
With a flippant air Kassad replied, "I'm going
to make it." He leaned over as if to look at Greene, his eyes
wandering blindly, and then said with a chuckle, "I'm not sure
about you. It seems like the pressure is going to get to you."
For a full second it sounded as if an enormous
drill had been put to Sabha's hull. It could be felt as a harsh
vibration even more than it was heard. The sensation resonated
through the ship and through the acceleration couches bolted to
it.
"What was that?"
"I think we've taken a hit. What does the
sensor track say?"
"There's a trace of dots."
"They're shooting at us."
Chapter 15: "Bleeding Out"
"Loss of pressure is a scary proposition.
Not the bulkheads blowing out and air whistling out of your lungs
aspect either as they give you training for that so when it happens
it seems almost normal. No, what's scary about a loss of pressure
is trying to figure out where you're going to get more air to
replace what you lost."
-Excerpt from interview with veteran spacer
Gilles Montague.
cockpit cabin meant that too little of Greene's voice could make
the short trip from her mouth to Kassad's ears. Neither of them had
remembered tie Greene's suit systems into Sabha's information
network. Taken together with their diminished senses they both
existed in ever shrinking pockets of reality utterly isolated from
the universe around them.
That first shot was followed by Armhamon's
warning blaring across the emergency channel that Greene couldn't
hear but was very clear in Kassad's ears. "Sabha, this is the
Lawship Armhamon. You are in violation of the Code of Law. Failure
to match velocity and course for boarding will be taken as hostile
action and you will be fired upon again with intent to
disable."
Needing no further prompting Kassad reached for
the throttle. His hand bounced numbly off the control. Without
sight or sense of touch Kassad was forced to guess at where the
throttle control was through muscle memory. His hands grasped at
air or clawed at the console surface only occasionally coming into
glancing contact with the throttle.
Greene's own vision was so impaired that it was
as if she were looking at the world down the length of a straw. She
couldn't tell what Kassad was trying to do or how poorly he was
managing it. Questions spoken or shouted received no response
leaving Greene to look on wide eyed and helpless.
Once again Sabha was hit with the brief and
powerful vibrations produced by metal being vaporized in vacuum.
Sabha bucked as if a thing alive and responding to a painful
prodding. The sensation sent the equilibrium of both Kassad and
Greene spinning into further disorientation.
A sudden burst of pressure across his body
indicated to Kassad that he'd finally grasped the correct control.
With determination he tightened his grip and pressed what he
thought to be the throttle forward. Confusingly the pressure of
acceleration did increase but not in anything proportionate to his
efforts. Putting the entire discontinuity off to the results of
neural degradation Kassad kept his grip as firm and steady as he
could.
******
"They're rabbiting." The Armhamon's sensor
operator announced.
Knowing that there was no way of predicting
with accuracy the position of the still light seconds distant
erratically accelerating vessel would be Captain Andrews ordered,
"Put down a dense spread of fire along their projected course." The
projected course being a statistical best guess about where the
ship would be when the shots fired actually arrived.
At any significant distance in space putting
weapons on an actively evading target was a guessing game. Even at
a short distance of five light seconds there was a five second
delay in the feedback from weapons discharge, to the impact or miss
of the attack, and then five seconds more for the information about
the success or failure of the attack to reach the attacker. As a
result captains on the offensive universally preferred targets that
weren't maneuvering, and this generally meant attacking without
warning.
Operational rules for Lawships meant that the
best Captain Andrews could get away with was a 'lucky' warning
shot. After that the Armhamon's copious firepower could only cover
so much of the projected path that covered an immense amount of
space. In the end they'd have to track down the offending vessel,
now marked with the unmistakable and unique scar of a Lawship's
laser.
******
Sabha lurched and shuddered. This time it was
not another hit but instead the result of the final fumes of fuel
being sucked unevenly through her twin engines. The disparity in
thrust sent Sabha in to a slow flat spin along her final
trajectory.
From within his sensory deprivation cocoon
Kassad guessed at the meaning of what little information reached
his still very active mind. It was with a fair bit of surprise that
he found the entire situation more annoying than distressing. Being
so far removed from the events around him had an effect of removing
the weight of responsibility for making decisions about his ship
and passengers as he no longer had the information necessary to
make them. It was a relief of a weight that he only noticed in its
absence.
In the other acceleration chair in Sabha's
cockpit Greene struggled to make sense of what she was seeing.
There was an overlap of images that she feared might just be
hallucination following the complete loss of her vision. One was of
the through the straw view of the world around her and another was
a ghostlike rendering of the world as it should have been, but
twisted in unreal ways.
With a mental effort Greene separated the
images. What she was left with was a picture of Canis in his
pressure suit straddling the center console. From his own
acceleration couch Kassad gripped one of the dog's legs as if it
were a control lever. Even stranger were the tints that everything
was painted in, like wavering and washed out water colors, and
Canis so close in his gleaming blue and white pressure suit.
Suddenly the color was very blue. Not the blue
of sky, but like the blue of some idealized ocean, it was almost
phosphorescent. It became more vivid and real the longer she stared
at it.
As if the Sabha were trying to get Greene's
attention the central wireframe display flashed in an angry red
brilliant, piercing, and painful. Streaming checklists flashed in
and out of existence in hues of blues and green. Abruptly it all
disappeared leaving the cockpit dark and still.
Gradually it all came back again as an
integrated whole in Greene's aching brain. The lights and colors
and even the sounds began to return to their proper place. The
twisted upside down and sideways world within Sabha was no longer
back and white and wrong.
Reaching past Canis Greene shook Kassad's arm
to inform him, "You're holding Canis by the leg."
With the images in his head beginning to
conform to the expected reality around him Kassad looked down to
see the truth of Greene's words. Releasing Canis' hind leg from his
grip Kassad flexed his hand and wiggled his fingers. Sight was
returning slowly but his hands already felt mostly normal again.
Pain also returned in escalating waves and the brutal throbbing in
his shoulder was joined by a violent stabbing in his head.
In spite of his discomfort Kassad took stock of
the situation as quickly as possible. His eyes scanned the reports
Sabha presented him through a haze of over bright colors and
blinding glare. As he began to piece together their immediate past
one hand absently returned the throttle for the now spent reaction
engines to a neutral position.
After a few seconds reconfirming his distrusted
senses Kassad announced, "We're clear of Law's End, and the jump
drive came online and engaged as programmed."
Moving the conversation back to the confusing
mess they'd just been through Greene asked, "Were we shot?"
It took a few more seconds to focus his eyes on
and make sense of the relevant data entries. "Yes, looks like we
took a hit's midsection. It's sealed, along with the
micro-meteorite breech, and Sabha automatically began
re-pressurizing the effected compartments. Automated medics aren't
reporting any issues. I think we're good."
With a sigh Greene allowed herself to let go of
hers fears. "So we're safe."
"Yes." Kassad said and then blurted, "Ow!"
grasping his head in both hands as a sharp stabbing pain ripped
through it.
Stretching her jaw in a vain attempt to relieve
the pressure she could feel building behind her eyes Greene said,
"I feel it too, like my head feels like is being
overinflated."
Kassad shook his head. "It's not just my head.
It's my joints, fingers, and toes. I don't even want to think about
my shoulder."
As Kassad spoke Greene's awareness of the other
pain in her body awakened and trying to massage the pain out of her
elbows Greene grimaced. "Still this is better than being in Lawless
Space."
the operator answered, "A thin cloud of gas moving at high
velocity."
Rolling her eyes at the report Captain Andrews
was reflexively dismissive. "Space is full of gasses."
Trying to ignore the sarcasm the sensor
operator explained, "It's moving approximately on a course and at a
velocity expected for the target vessel."
While the report was encouraging Andrews didn't
let her pleasure show in the slightest degree. "A cloud of gas is
not a ship."
Annoyed by the rebuke the sensor operator
retorted, "The cloud is composed of nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen.
My guess is that their hull is ruptured and leaking."
Rapping her fingers on the remains of the
command chair armrest to emphasize each word Andrews demanded, "So
where's the Sabha?"
In spite of the sensor operator's best efforts
at self restraint sarcasm defined their response. "I've narrowed
the search region down to something smaller than the average
stellar system."
Being a firm believer that the only way to get
good performance out of crew was to pressure it out of them Andrews
persisted, "And you haven't found them yet… why?"
Realizing that attempting to placate the
captain was a losing proposition the sensor operator attempted the
even more improbable task of reasoning with them instead. "Sir,
they've gone dark and are somewhere inside a rapidly expanding
cloud of sensor obscuring gas that is currently a quarter of an
astronomical unit across and growing. This means that the only way
I have to track them is to look at the stars in that region until
something obscures one of them. I don't have to tell you that there
are not a lot of stars this far out in Laniakea."
Adding more belligerence to her dismissive tone
Captain Andrews snapped, "None of that concerns me. I don't care
what you have to do just find me that ship before…"
The sensor operator cut off the captain
shouting with malicious glee. "Found them! Relaying sensor track to
tactical."
Bolting upright in the command chair Captain
Andrews slammed her fist into the much battered armrest ordering,
"Tactical, put a warning shot through her."
The Deck Officer, who had been dealing with the
routine affairs of running the ship from an auxiliary console
station, spoke up, "Shouldn't we issue a warning first?"
Annoyed by the interruption Captain Andrews
clarified herself for the official record saying, "We're still too
far out for a clean shot and they're too close to the Law's End
barrier. I want a solid firing solution with a confirmed hit before
tipping our hand. I don't want them rabbiting out into normal space
and end up having to track them across half of Laniakea." Noting
her Deck Officer's still disapproving expression Captain Andrews
smiled shark-like, "Don't worry we'll just put a little hole
through them to make them think twice about trying to run."
A Lawship could get away with a lot if the
situation could be presented to a review board properly. With all
the uncertainties of Lawless space Captain Andrews felt she could
push a little further than usual. With the backing of University
approval a review board would have to be severely pressured to find
against any thinly justified action she undertook.
******
Aboard the Sabha time passed in silence. They
were waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Armhamon to demand
their surrender or open fire on them. As if to spite their
anticipation nothing happened.
To find some relief from the stress Greene
demanded of no one in particular, "Are we going to make it?"
With a flippant air Kassad replied, "I'm going
to make it." He leaned over as if to look at Greene, his eyes
wandering blindly, and then said with a chuckle, "I'm not sure
about you. It seems like the pressure is going to get to you."
For a full second it sounded as if an enormous
drill had been put to Sabha's hull. It could be felt as a harsh
vibration even more than it was heard. The sensation resonated
through the ship and through the acceleration couches bolted to
it.
"What was that?"
"I think we've taken a hit. What does the
sensor track say?"
"There's a trace of dots."
"They're shooting at us."
Chapter 15: "Bleeding Out"
"Loss of pressure is a scary proposition.
Not the bulkheads blowing out and air whistling out of your lungs
aspect either as they give you training for that so when it happens
it seems almost normal. No, what's scary about a loss of pressure
is trying to figure out where you're going to get more air to
replace what you lost."
-Excerpt from interview with veteran spacer
Gilles Montague.
cockpit cabin meant that too little of Greene's voice could make
the short trip from her mouth to Kassad's ears. Neither of them had
remembered tie Greene's suit systems into Sabha's information
network. Taken together with their diminished senses they both
existed in ever shrinking pockets of reality utterly isolated from
the universe around them.
That first shot was followed by Armhamon's
warning blaring across the emergency channel that Greene couldn't
hear but was very clear in Kassad's ears. "Sabha, this is the
Lawship Armhamon. You are in violation of the Code of Law. Failure
to match velocity and course for boarding will be taken as hostile
action and you will be fired upon again with intent to
disable."
Needing no further prompting Kassad reached for
the throttle. His hand bounced numbly off the control. Without
sight or sense of touch Kassad was forced to guess at where the
throttle control was through muscle memory. His hands grasped at
air or clawed at the console surface only occasionally coming into
glancing contact with the throttle.
Greene's own vision was so impaired that it was
as if she were looking at the world down the length of a straw. She
couldn't tell what Kassad was trying to do or how poorly he was
managing it. Questions spoken or shouted received no response
leaving Greene to look on wide eyed and helpless.
Once again Sabha was hit with the brief and
powerful vibrations produced by metal being vaporized in vacuum.
Sabha bucked as if a thing alive and responding to a painful
prodding. The sensation sent the equilibrium of both Kassad and
Greene spinning into further disorientation.
A sudden burst of pressure across his body
indicated to Kassad that he'd finally grasped the correct control.
With determination he tightened his grip and pressed what he
thought to be the throttle forward. Confusingly the pressure of
acceleration did increase but not in anything proportionate to his
efforts. Putting the entire discontinuity off to the results of
neural degradation Kassad kept his grip as firm and steady as he
could.
******
"They're rabbiting." The Armhamon's sensor
operator announced.
Knowing that there was no way of predicting
with accuracy the position of the still light seconds distant
erratically accelerating vessel would be Captain Andrews ordered,
"Put down a dense spread of fire along their projected course." The
projected course being a statistical best guess about where the
ship would be when the shots fired actually arrived.
At any significant distance in space putting
weapons on an actively evading target was a guessing game. Even at
a short distance of five light seconds there was a five second
delay in the feedback from weapons discharge, to the impact or miss
of the attack, and then five seconds more for the information about
the success or failure of the attack to reach the attacker. As a
result captains on the offensive universally preferred targets that
weren't maneuvering, and this generally meant attacking without
warning.
Operational rules for Lawships meant that the
best Captain Andrews could get away with was a 'lucky' warning
shot. After that the Armhamon's copious firepower could only cover
so much of the projected path that covered an immense amount of
space. In the end they'd have to track down the offending vessel,
now marked with the unmistakable and unique scar of a Lawship's
laser.
******
Sabha lurched and shuddered. This time it was
not another hit but instead the result of the final fumes of fuel
being sucked unevenly through her twin engines. The disparity in
thrust sent Sabha in to a slow flat spin along her final
trajectory.
From within his sensory deprivation cocoon
Kassad guessed at the meaning of what little information reached
his still very active mind. It was with a fair bit of surprise that
he found the entire situation more annoying than distressing. Being
so far removed from the events around him had an effect of removing
the weight of responsibility for making decisions about his ship
and passengers as he no longer had the information necessary to
make them. It was a relief of a weight that he only noticed in its
absence.
In the other acceleration chair in Sabha's
cockpit Greene struggled to make sense of what she was seeing.
There was an overlap of images that she feared might just be
hallucination following the complete loss of her vision. One was of
the through the straw view of the world around her and another was
a ghostlike rendering of the world as it should have been, but
twisted in unreal ways.
With a mental effort Greene separated the
images. What she was left with was a picture of Canis in his
pressure suit straddling the center console. From his own
acceleration couch Kassad gripped one of the dog's legs as if it
were a control lever. Even stranger were the tints that everything
was painted in, like wavering and washed out water colors, and
Canis so close in his gleaming blue and white pressure suit.
Suddenly the color was very blue. Not the blue
of sky, but like the blue of some idealized ocean, it was almost
phosphorescent. It became more vivid and real the longer she stared
at it.
As if the Sabha were trying to get Greene's
attention the central wireframe display flashed in an angry red
brilliant, piercing, and painful. Streaming checklists flashed in
and out of existence in hues of blues and green. Abruptly it all
disappeared leaving the cockpit dark and still.
Gradually it all came back again as an
integrated whole in Greene's aching brain. The lights and colors
and even the sounds began to return to their proper place. The
twisted upside down and sideways world within Sabha was no longer
back and white and wrong.
Reaching past Canis Greene shook Kassad's arm
to inform him, "You're holding Canis by the leg."
With the images in his head beginning to
conform to the expected reality around him Kassad looked down to
see the truth of Greene's words. Releasing Canis' hind leg from his
grip Kassad flexed his hand and wiggled his fingers. Sight was
returning slowly but his hands already felt mostly normal again.
Pain also returned in escalating waves and the brutal throbbing in
his shoulder was joined by a violent stabbing in his head.
In spite of his discomfort Kassad took stock of
the situation as quickly as possible. His eyes scanned the reports
Sabha presented him through a haze of over bright colors and
blinding glare. As he began to piece together their immediate past
one hand absently returned the throttle for the now spent reaction
engines to a neutral position.
After a few seconds reconfirming his distrusted
senses Kassad announced, "We're clear of Law's End, and the jump
drive came online and engaged as programmed."
Moving the conversation back to the confusing
mess they'd just been through Greene asked, "Were we shot?"
It took a few more seconds to focus his eyes on
and make sense of the relevant data entries. "Yes, looks like we
took a hit's midsection. It's sealed, along with the
micro-meteorite breech, and Sabha automatically began
re-pressurizing the effected compartments. Automated medics aren't
reporting any issues. I think we're good."
With a sigh Greene allowed herself to let go of
hers fears. "So we're safe."
"Yes." Kassad said and then blurted, "Ow!"
grasping his head in both hands as a sharp stabbing pain ripped
through it.
Stretching her jaw in a vain attempt to relieve
the pressure she could feel building behind her eyes Greene said,
"I feel it too, like my head feels like is being
overinflated."
Kassad shook his head. "It's not just my head.
It's my joints, fingers, and toes. I don't even want to think about
my shoulder."
As Kassad spoke Greene's awareness of the other
pain in her body awakened and trying to massage the pain out of her
elbows Greene grimaced. "Still this is better than being in Lawless
Space."
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