Law's End (6 page)
Authors: Glenn Douglass
Tags: #adventure, #travel, #dog, #future, #space, #rescue, #supercluster
Above them the star strewn nighttime sky of
Beckstine was reduced to a featureless dark blue by the artificial
lighting from below. Like most of the worlds their species had
settled this one was a gas giant's moon far from the system's sun.
From here even if it were directly overhead the local star would be
difficult to pick out from more distant stars. Beckstine depended
on artificially generated lighting to provide what terrestrial life
had evolved to depend on, but it was never enough to turn the sky
more than a dark shade of blue.
With his smile turning mischievous Kassad
casually inquired, "Is this your first time in the cockpit?"
Before Greene could get a single word of
response out Kassad throttled up. The abrupt acceleration crushed
both of them more deeply into their acceleration chairs forcing the
unformed words from Greene's mouth with a huff. Even Canis in his
dog sized acceleration bed wheezed a protest against the sudden
pressure.
It was more acceleration than was needed, and
much more than was routine, although it did reduce the time to
orbit significantly. Most passenger liners would take an easy if
slow departure acceleration to keep their customer's comfort at a
maximum. The full power burn of Sabha's engines produced more force
than the average citizen of the hundred galaxies was ever likely to
experience.
Even under the heavy acceleration it took
minutes to wrest free of atmosphere and accumulate enough speed to
defy the body's gravitational pull. Around the Sabha the milky
white pressure wave its rapid climb had generated began to
dissipate and fade. As the increasing distance weakened gravity's
hold on the Sabha the thrust was reduced until they were lying on
their backs in a comfortable single gravity worth of
acceleration.
As Greene recovered Kassad keyed the
communications circuit to a final departure channel. "Beckstine
System Traffic Control, this is the Sabha clearance Three Romeo
Oscar Juliette, request routing to egress jump departure."
Unsurprisingly it took almost a minute to
receive a response. "Sabha, this is Beckstine System Traffic
Control. You are cleared to egress point Gamma. Have a safe
trip."
System Traffic Control was always the busiest
part of any traffic control network. Their responsibilities usually
extended out to the edge of their system and so integrated their
work with that of system defense and law enforcement in addition to
any ongoing mining or construction projects. Even under ordinary
circumstances they had to identify the correct translation scheme
for each new ship, and manage coordination with communications
delays of as much as an hour.
As the Gamma egress point lighted on the
cockpit display Kassad smiled approvingly at its nearness.
"Beckstine System Traffic Control, this is Sabha in transit to
egress point Gamma; thank you and take care." There was no response
and Kassad didn't expect one.
Warp drives only functioned reliably at
distance from a given gravity-well. In spite of this limitation
warp drives were the preferred method of travelling faster than
light. Along the main economic corridors (mains) that existed in
between galaxies, and then wherever there were barren stretches
within a galaxy it was rare to see jump capable vessels.
With a long reset time between jumps and a
history of safety issues jump drives had largely been relegated to
a role as a secondary system. Equipping a jump drive allowed a ship
to reach deeper into a galaxy. Using a jump drive in concert with a
warp drive made for complex but versatile navigation that could
reach virtually any spot in the hundred thousand galaxies.
Unlike warp drives the physics behind jump
drives allowed them to function even within a world's atmosphere.
Due to the reality that a jump drive would take everything within
its radius of effect to its destination point most polities
restricted their use. Usually they were only to be used in certain
designated areas in a policy that incidentally resulted in carrying
away any debris that might have been in that area and improved the
overall safety of orbital navigation. For the same reason ingress
too near an orbital zone was frowned upon, often to the extent of
incurring fines.
Rubbing the spots out of her eyes Greene
complained, "You could have warned me about that
acceleration."
With only a hint of amusement in his voice
Kassad agreed, "Yes, it seems we need to work on our
communication."
As if commenting in response Canis barked and
then purposefully worked his way down the ninety degree shifted
cockpit access-way.
Greene inquired, "Where's he going?"
Straight faced and distractedly, as he double
checked the math for their journey to Law's End, Kassad explained,
"Post lift off inspection."
It was something that Canis had been trained to
do before coming to crew with the Sabha. Most of the routine safety
checks were made to be quickly and easily accomplished which placed
them well within a dog's abilities. Pressure indicators fitted to
all airtight doors could be checked by sight, and the dog's
superior hearing could easily detect whistling of pinhead sized
hull breaches that would be inaudible to most species.
Half thinking that Kassad was joking with her
Greene inquired, "You do realize that Canis is an animal."
"Don't tell him that. Canis is more people than
animal." Kassad remarked, and not for the first time lamented that
the habit of keeping pets had fallen out of fashion thousands of
years before he'd met Canis, on the other hand Canis was hardly a
pet. "Dogs are a partner species, specialized to the task by tens
of thousands of years of breeding and cohabitation. I admit I
acquired Canis for a lone illicit purpose, but I've grown to
understand and appreciate his capabilities. The things Canis can't
do, and that I can, have proven surprisingly minimal."
Unbuckling from what had become more bed than
chair Greene observed, "You sound like a post-species-ist from
thousands of years ago."
The briefly popular and influential
post-species-ist movement had been borne out of the growing
terrestrial understanding of non-terrestrial biology. As
distinctions between life forms in the Terran eco-sphere grew ever
more slight, in comparison to the rest of the universe, the idea
that they represented a unified whole was inevitable. In the end
the movement's insistence that the entire terrestrial biome had to
accompany the species wherever it went was rudely debunked. Shortly
thereafter the entire movement fell apart, its adherents being
absorbed into less radical schools of thought.
Kassad chuckled as he locked in his approval of
the flight plan. "Most ideologies are built around some useful
truth, even if they do get virtually everything else wrong."
Turning away from his work Kassad addressed his passenger with a
friendly smile, "I'll be throttling down to seventy percent gravity
shortly. Why don't you settle in? We'll be maintaining this
acceleration for the next few days in order to match velocity with
the Law's End system, so you might as well get comfortable."
Unbuckling and after a bit of stretching Greene
returned to her quarters in stateroom number five. It was strange
seeing the ship's interior tilted ninety degrees. Cleverly angled
bulkheads and partitions meant that there were very few straight
drops of more than a half meter. Even the dog managed to get around
without noticeable difficulty.
It helped that the Sabha was only putting out
three quarters gravity in acceleration. With her cargo hold largely
empty she was well below the reactionless drive's rated load and
could have managed more. Under these conditions of constant
acceleration even steep slopes felt gradual under Greene's feet as
she worked her way to the stateroom assigned to her.
Greene's stateroom reminded her more of an
oversized coffin than a bedroom. It was an elongated box large
enough to permit sitting up or stretching out lying down but little
else. The bed was an elevated 'L' shaped mattress nestled into the
corner where the floor met wall and where on landing their roles
reversed. In the rear of the stateroom was a curtained off area to
conceal the rude hoses and nozzles that composed a typical spacer's
sanitation station. Everything needed to tend to bodily functions
was efficiently provided aside from meal preparation which was
available just outside in the hallway lounge combination.
'Lounge/hallway', Greene reminded herself that
was what the spacer's who travelled in ships capable of landing on
a world's surface called it. An area's primary use, or a surface's
use under acceleration, came first and its use when landed came
second. Confusing as it had always sounded to her ears the terms
floor/wall, ceiling/floor, and wall/ceiling made more sense now
that she was living it. A life adapted to constant change where
even up and down were rendered arbitrary states.
Of course Greene had spent most of her youth in
space, but that had always been on craft dedicated to work in
space. The complexities involved in designing a craft to withstand
atmosphere and gravity meant that most cargo and passenger haulers
simply carried smaller craft to shuttle between surface and ship.
Versatile all-in-one ships like the Sabha were almost exclusively
the product of military design specifications.
Greene found her luggage secured to the
wall/ceiling framing a recessed video screen she guessed could be
used for entertainment or communications. The small robot had
attached all of her luggage to small fold out panels in what had
been the ceiling. Now that they were under acceleration all of the
luggage could be accessed easily and without the need to detach
it.
There was nothing left to do but wait. Stopping
herself from going over everything that had happened in the past
two years for the thousandth time Greene sat upon the mattress.
Before long Greene's mind started dredging up the sequence of
events over the past two years she was now so familiar with, and
again she banished the thoughts. Looking around the small space she
realized the short week long journey was going to be a long
trip.
Chapter 4: "A Kingdom of Introverts"
"The most desirable of all characteristics
for spacecraft crew is that they be able to comfortably spend
prolonged time in isolation. A person who is not comfortable with
themselves will invariably make others uncomfortable during
prolonged voyages in a close quarter environment and negatively
impact on productivity. Outgoing extroverts need not apply."
-Excerpt from the Ceris Deep Space Ventures
Corporation Recruitment Guidelines
loosely to the bedding Greene couldn't get comfortable. She
repeatedly awoke in the midst of dozing off to find herself wedged
into the bed's corner. A bed with an angle in it was something that
it would take her time to become accustomed to. Pushing free of the
clingy sheet she determined to master use of the sanitation station
instead. Ten minutes later Greene emerged from her stateroom to
find Kassad reclining feet up with a book propped up on his
chest.
Kassad turned a page rather than acknowledge
Greene's presence which annoyed her into asking, "Shouldn't you be
doing something?"
"I am doing something." Kassad replied evenly.
"I'm reading a book, an old one. From back in the days after first
contact and everyone thought it might be The End." Then Kassad's
eyes widened and he added, "Very depressing."
"That's nice." Greene replied sarcastically. "I
meant shouldn't you be doing something with the ship?"
Kassad dismissed the notion with a wave of his
hand. "I could fly Sabha from my bed if need be… and I have." He
concluded, then going back to his book he added, "I'd have thought
a University woman would better appreciate a good book."
"I've enough literacy to do my job. I never
needed any more." Greene admitted, and then recited the popular
wisdom of the day, "Too much reading makes people
introverted."
"You're missing out." Kassad cast about for a
moment before recovering an identical book device from a pouch on
the back of a nearby seat and tossing it to Greene. "I've got the
cream of literary history on the system. It could help to take your
mind off things."
Catching the device easily in her off hand
Greene asked dubiously."Like what?"
"The collected autobiographies of Herself."
Kassad suggested a personal favorite.
Having attempted to read the works back in her
school days only to be overwhelmed with the alien ancientness of
the writing Greene wasn't keen to try again. "No, I meant what is
it that you think I need to take my mind off of?"
Closing the book he held Kassad looked upon
Greene with a gentle kindness. "You're not a traveler. You're not
accustomed to living in a small space, or keeping yourself
entertained," he changed his tone to mock horror, "knowing all the
while a thousand kinds of death are lurking just the other side of
the hull."
Beckstine was reduced to a featureless dark blue by the artificial
lighting from below. Like most of the worlds their species had
settled this one was a gas giant's moon far from the system's sun.
From here even if it were directly overhead the local star would be
difficult to pick out from more distant stars. Beckstine depended
on artificially generated lighting to provide what terrestrial life
had evolved to depend on, but it was never enough to turn the sky
more than a dark shade of blue.
With his smile turning mischievous Kassad
casually inquired, "Is this your first time in the cockpit?"
Before Greene could get a single word of
response out Kassad throttled up. The abrupt acceleration crushed
both of them more deeply into their acceleration chairs forcing the
unformed words from Greene's mouth with a huff. Even Canis in his
dog sized acceleration bed wheezed a protest against the sudden
pressure.
It was more acceleration than was needed, and
much more than was routine, although it did reduce the time to
orbit significantly. Most passenger liners would take an easy if
slow departure acceleration to keep their customer's comfort at a
maximum. The full power burn of Sabha's engines produced more force
than the average citizen of the hundred galaxies was ever likely to
experience.
Even under the heavy acceleration it took
minutes to wrest free of atmosphere and accumulate enough speed to
defy the body's gravitational pull. Around the Sabha the milky
white pressure wave its rapid climb had generated began to
dissipate and fade. As the increasing distance weakened gravity's
hold on the Sabha the thrust was reduced until they were lying on
their backs in a comfortable single gravity worth of
acceleration.
As Greene recovered Kassad keyed the
communications circuit to a final departure channel. "Beckstine
System Traffic Control, this is the Sabha clearance Three Romeo
Oscar Juliette, request routing to egress jump departure."
Unsurprisingly it took almost a minute to
receive a response. "Sabha, this is Beckstine System Traffic
Control. You are cleared to egress point Gamma. Have a safe
trip."
System Traffic Control was always the busiest
part of any traffic control network. Their responsibilities usually
extended out to the edge of their system and so integrated their
work with that of system defense and law enforcement in addition to
any ongoing mining or construction projects. Even under ordinary
circumstances they had to identify the correct translation scheme
for each new ship, and manage coordination with communications
delays of as much as an hour.
As the Gamma egress point lighted on the
cockpit display Kassad smiled approvingly at its nearness.
"Beckstine System Traffic Control, this is Sabha in transit to
egress point Gamma; thank you and take care." There was no response
and Kassad didn't expect one.
Warp drives only functioned reliably at
distance from a given gravity-well. In spite of this limitation
warp drives were the preferred method of travelling faster than
light. Along the main economic corridors (mains) that existed in
between galaxies, and then wherever there were barren stretches
within a galaxy it was rare to see jump capable vessels.
With a long reset time between jumps and a
history of safety issues jump drives had largely been relegated to
a role as a secondary system. Equipping a jump drive allowed a ship
to reach deeper into a galaxy. Using a jump drive in concert with a
warp drive made for complex but versatile navigation that could
reach virtually any spot in the hundred thousand galaxies.
Unlike warp drives the physics behind jump
drives allowed them to function even within a world's atmosphere.
Due to the reality that a jump drive would take everything within
its radius of effect to its destination point most polities
restricted their use. Usually they were only to be used in certain
designated areas in a policy that incidentally resulted in carrying
away any debris that might have been in that area and improved the
overall safety of orbital navigation. For the same reason ingress
too near an orbital zone was frowned upon, often to the extent of
incurring fines.
Rubbing the spots out of her eyes Greene
complained, "You could have warned me about that
acceleration."
With only a hint of amusement in his voice
Kassad agreed, "Yes, it seems we need to work on our
communication."
As if commenting in response Canis barked and
then purposefully worked his way down the ninety degree shifted
cockpit access-way.
Greene inquired, "Where's he going?"
Straight faced and distractedly, as he double
checked the math for their journey to Law's End, Kassad explained,
"Post lift off inspection."
It was something that Canis had been trained to
do before coming to crew with the Sabha. Most of the routine safety
checks were made to be quickly and easily accomplished which placed
them well within a dog's abilities. Pressure indicators fitted to
all airtight doors could be checked by sight, and the dog's
superior hearing could easily detect whistling of pinhead sized
hull breaches that would be inaudible to most species.
Half thinking that Kassad was joking with her
Greene inquired, "You do realize that Canis is an animal."
"Don't tell him that. Canis is more people than
animal." Kassad remarked, and not for the first time lamented that
the habit of keeping pets had fallen out of fashion thousands of
years before he'd met Canis, on the other hand Canis was hardly a
pet. "Dogs are a partner species, specialized to the task by tens
of thousands of years of breeding and cohabitation. I admit I
acquired Canis for a lone illicit purpose, but I've grown to
understand and appreciate his capabilities. The things Canis can't
do, and that I can, have proven surprisingly minimal."
Unbuckling from what had become more bed than
chair Greene observed, "You sound like a post-species-ist from
thousands of years ago."
The briefly popular and influential
post-species-ist movement had been borne out of the growing
terrestrial understanding of non-terrestrial biology. As
distinctions between life forms in the Terran eco-sphere grew ever
more slight, in comparison to the rest of the universe, the idea
that they represented a unified whole was inevitable. In the end
the movement's insistence that the entire terrestrial biome had to
accompany the species wherever it went was rudely debunked. Shortly
thereafter the entire movement fell apart, its adherents being
absorbed into less radical schools of thought.
Kassad chuckled as he locked in his approval of
the flight plan. "Most ideologies are built around some useful
truth, even if they do get virtually everything else wrong."
Turning away from his work Kassad addressed his passenger with a
friendly smile, "I'll be throttling down to seventy percent gravity
shortly. Why don't you settle in? We'll be maintaining this
acceleration for the next few days in order to match velocity with
the Law's End system, so you might as well get comfortable."
Unbuckling and after a bit of stretching Greene
returned to her quarters in stateroom number five. It was strange
seeing the ship's interior tilted ninety degrees. Cleverly angled
bulkheads and partitions meant that there were very few straight
drops of more than a half meter. Even the dog managed to get around
without noticeable difficulty.
It helped that the Sabha was only putting out
three quarters gravity in acceleration. With her cargo hold largely
empty she was well below the reactionless drive's rated load and
could have managed more. Under these conditions of constant
acceleration even steep slopes felt gradual under Greene's feet as
she worked her way to the stateroom assigned to her.
Greene's stateroom reminded her more of an
oversized coffin than a bedroom. It was an elongated box large
enough to permit sitting up or stretching out lying down but little
else. The bed was an elevated 'L' shaped mattress nestled into the
corner where the floor met wall and where on landing their roles
reversed. In the rear of the stateroom was a curtained off area to
conceal the rude hoses and nozzles that composed a typical spacer's
sanitation station. Everything needed to tend to bodily functions
was efficiently provided aside from meal preparation which was
available just outside in the hallway lounge combination.
'Lounge/hallway', Greene reminded herself that
was what the spacer's who travelled in ships capable of landing on
a world's surface called it. An area's primary use, or a surface's
use under acceleration, came first and its use when landed came
second. Confusing as it had always sounded to her ears the terms
floor/wall, ceiling/floor, and wall/ceiling made more sense now
that she was living it. A life adapted to constant change where
even up and down were rendered arbitrary states.
Of course Greene had spent most of her youth in
space, but that had always been on craft dedicated to work in
space. The complexities involved in designing a craft to withstand
atmosphere and gravity meant that most cargo and passenger haulers
simply carried smaller craft to shuttle between surface and ship.
Versatile all-in-one ships like the Sabha were almost exclusively
the product of military design specifications.
Greene found her luggage secured to the
wall/ceiling framing a recessed video screen she guessed could be
used for entertainment or communications. The small robot had
attached all of her luggage to small fold out panels in what had
been the ceiling. Now that they were under acceleration all of the
luggage could be accessed easily and without the need to detach
it.
There was nothing left to do but wait. Stopping
herself from going over everything that had happened in the past
two years for the thousandth time Greene sat upon the mattress.
Before long Greene's mind started dredging up the sequence of
events over the past two years she was now so familiar with, and
again she banished the thoughts. Looking around the small space she
realized the short week long journey was going to be a long
trip.
Chapter 4: "A Kingdom of Introverts"
"The most desirable of all characteristics
for spacecraft crew is that they be able to comfortably spend
prolonged time in isolation. A person who is not comfortable with
themselves will invariably make others uncomfortable during
prolonged voyages in a close quarter environment and negatively
impact on productivity. Outgoing extroverts need not apply."
-Excerpt from the Ceris Deep Space Ventures
Corporation Recruitment Guidelines
loosely to the bedding Greene couldn't get comfortable. She
repeatedly awoke in the midst of dozing off to find herself wedged
into the bed's corner. A bed with an angle in it was something that
it would take her time to become accustomed to. Pushing free of the
clingy sheet she determined to master use of the sanitation station
instead. Ten minutes later Greene emerged from her stateroom to
find Kassad reclining feet up with a book propped up on his
chest.
Kassad turned a page rather than acknowledge
Greene's presence which annoyed her into asking, "Shouldn't you be
doing something?"
"I am doing something." Kassad replied evenly.
"I'm reading a book, an old one. From back in the days after first
contact and everyone thought it might be The End." Then Kassad's
eyes widened and he added, "Very depressing."
"That's nice." Greene replied sarcastically. "I
meant shouldn't you be doing something with the ship?"
Kassad dismissed the notion with a wave of his
hand. "I could fly Sabha from my bed if need be… and I have." He
concluded, then going back to his book he added, "I'd have thought
a University woman would better appreciate a good book."
"I've enough literacy to do my job. I never
needed any more." Greene admitted, and then recited the popular
wisdom of the day, "Too much reading makes people
introverted."
"You're missing out." Kassad cast about for a
moment before recovering an identical book device from a pouch on
the back of a nearby seat and tossing it to Greene. "I've got the
cream of literary history on the system. It could help to take your
mind off things."
Catching the device easily in her off hand
Greene asked dubiously."Like what?"
"The collected autobiographies of Herself."
Kassad suggested a personal favorite.
Having attempted to read the works back in her
school days only to be overwhelmed with the alien ancientness of
the writing Greene wasn't keen to try again. "No, I meant what is
it that you think I need to take my mind off of?"
Closing the book he held Kassad looked upon
Greene with a gentle kindness. "You're not a traveler. You're not
accustomed to living in a small space, or keeping yourself
entertained," he changed his tone to mock horror, "knowing all the
while a thousand kinds of death are lurking just the other side of
the hull."
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