“You are being unreasonable.” Bei’s words misted on the air.
She shook out a black unitard, unzipped the front and stepped inside. Wiggling, she tugged the uniform over her green civilian tunic and pants. “I’m being optimistic. It’s one of my more attractive traits.”
Bei noted her body’s every bounce and jiggle. Her optimism wasn’t nearly as alluring as parts of her. Damn, but the woman got to him. “Not under these circumstances.”
After tucking in the extra material of her tunic, Nell zipped up the front of her evac suit. “Beijing, do you honestly expect me to live without doing everything I can to make sure you’re by my side?”
“Hell yes!”
Nell’s mouth dropped open. “That’s why I told Doc I was taking a nap and not to disturb me so I could sneak off. You’re so gung-ho to die for the cause and your people; you’re not willing to live for them. Well, now we live or die together.”
She kicked the door on the deck, then yelped and grabbed her booted toe when the panel didn’t move.
Shang’hai spoke above the ring of metal. “Admiral, the array is fully charged.”
“Fire forward cannons. Forty percent strength.” Bei joined Nell, reaching her side just as the induced magnet in the floor went offline. He grabbed the Enviromask from the locker, draped the straps of the plastic faceform around her neck then maneuvered the door into place before any emergency supplies floated out. “Nell, I—”
Nell clutched the facemask, holding it away from her throat, but her attention remained on the middle LCDs and a smile lit her face. “It’s opening.”
Bei extended the hooks from the soles of his boots to attach to the deck, then stood behind Nell and pulled her into his arms. On screen, the white edge of the wormhole roiled with black spots. Bei woke his avatar and began streaming the data through his mind. He added a red cross-hair to the screen so Nell would know where to look. For a moment, a circle around the targeted area changed to gray. When a black band formed between the white rim and the wormhole wall, a starry sky shimmered in the center. Bei’s avatar double checked the result. His knees shook. “We did it.”
Nell twisted in his hold to wrap her arms around his neck. Her laughter washed over him between her kisses. “We did it. We did it.”
Penig slapped the arm of his chair. “Aperture diameter is at one-three-zero meters. It’s holding!”
Bei squeezed Nell tight, part in an effort to keep her still and part to keep her from floating away and part because he was overjoyed that it had worked. “Alpha wave you are a go for Exodus. I repeat, you have a go.”
Doc’s face appeared in an inset on the middle screens. His grin echoed in his brown eyes. “Roger Willco. Alpha wave away. Maximum thrust, readying fusion engines. Six hundred meters and closing on exit.”
The dart-shaped
Beagle
s shot forward, separating into seven ship groupings. The closer they neared the star field, the tighter their V-formation grew. Despite the silence on the com, the WA buzzed with coordinating their efforts, all aiming at that one spot.
Bei watched the distance to the event horizon shrink. At five hundred kilometers, his avatar powered up the wardens and updated the trajectory. “Shang’hai, up array strength to forty-five percent.”
“Aye, Admiral.” Shang’hai’s avatar grinned. “Increasing strength to forty-five percent.”
Nell twisted in his hold. Her gaze focused on the two right LCDs. “Oh look, they’re moving.” A frown wrinkled her forehead. “Is it big enough to have them pulled out at the same time?”
The strings of life pods grew taut as the lead wardens towed their cargo toward the exit.
“Yes.” Bei’s avatar reassessed the clearance needed. The pod/warden chains would need two minutes to exit the wormhole, before being pulled out of range of the
America
. The trains had to go side by side. Bei measured the changes to the event horizon the new power had caused. “Aperture at one-five-zero meters and holding steady.”
The lights on the bridge went out, then burned a pale yellow. Nell tensed in his arms. “That can’t be good.”
“Fusion engines reporting fluctuations, Admiral.” Shang’hai’s avatar darted off toward the engine relays. “Compensating.”
Penig frowned while his bald avatar glared at the telemetry hub. “Delta probes reporting instability downfield of event horizon.”
“Cause?” Bei checked the beta wave’s progress. The strings of life pods were almost two hundred kilometers behind the alpha wave of
Beagle Class
ships.
“Unknown.” Penig shrugged, but his digital man had divided into four and each version was double checking the information.
“The first group is through.” Nell set her arms over his and her fingers laced through his.
Static scattered Doc’s face on the screen, but his voice remained strong and clear. “Alpha wave through.
Beagle One
reporting clear space. Single star, twelve planet solar system within 1.7 au.”
Joy, relief and hope exploded through the WA.
Bei reveled in the pop and sizzle of bright colored fireworks around him. He wanted to ask for them to transmit visuals, but didn’t dare. They couldn’t spare the power to boost the signal, to actually see their future home.
Nell squeezed his hands. “We’ll see it soon enough.”
Bei nodded but focused on sending his communication to the awaiting
Beagle
s. “Beta wave is two hundred kilometers from event horizon.”
The clock mocked his earlier optimism. At the rate the life pods were moving, they’d take almost twice as long to clear the exit as Bei and his team had planned. Bei maxed the wardens’ speed.
Penig jerked as a power surge zapped his avatar. The digital man scattered into pixels before reforming. “Nets holding, but I wouldn’t push it anymore, Admiral.”
Nell leaned back into Bei’s chest. Her ponytail tickled his chin. “The exit looks smaller to me.”
A data blip confirmed her assessment. Damn. The simulation had been optimistic. They might not even be able to hold the event horizon for ten minutes.
“Aperture down to one-three-eight meters.” Bei recalculated the trajectory. “Adjusting formation to compensate. One hundred meters and closing.”
The lead wardens of the strands of life pods pinched close together. A quivering wave travelled along the train. Bei tracked the last pods and end wardens. They remained attached.
The clock on the screens blinked then reset.
Penig cursed and his fingers tightened around the arm of his chair. “
America
is five minutes out, Admiral.”
Bei nodded, knowing his XO could see through the information streaming down his eyes. “Boost array power to seventy percent.”
The ship bucked underneath Bei’s feet, but the hooks in his boots held him tight. He winced as a shock traveled down his body. Nell’s hair stood on end from the static buildup.
“I’ve lost engine two.” Shang’hai’s pink-haired avatar disappeared. “Rerouting helium-three reserves. Main fusion engines at one hundred ten percent, Admiral. Transferring power to the array.”
“Aperture at one-five-five meters.” Bei acknowledged as the first warden skimmed the triple halo to enter normal space.
“We see them, Admiral.” Doc’s excitement rattled around the bridge. “We’re moving into position to help them clear the road.”
Another power surge dispersed Bei and Penig’s avatars. Bei gritted his teeth from the pain throbbing in his head. “Hold her steady, Shang’hai.”
Nell tugged the band from her hair and straightened the coiled metal. Wisps floated around her but the strap of her oxygen mask kept most of her hair against her neck.
“Delta probes report softening in the wormhole’s walls.” Penig strained against his restraints. His digital representation had lost cohesion. “Seven sensors are no longer transmitting.”
Nell wrapped one end of the straightened hair piece around his forearm and lowered the other end to the deck. Blue light sparked from the discharge of built-up electricity on his NDA. She jerked her head toward the screen. “Wardens are through.”
Bei nodded, acknowledging the relays of the cleared ships on the other side. The pods would be pulled to the side and the trek to the fourth planet from the sun would begin. “
Beagle
s clearing the exit. Gamma wave you have a go. Increase speed to point zero-zero-zero-niner lightspeed.”
“Aye, Admiral.” Chief Rome’s face appeared on the small insert on the far right screens. Near his head the saucer and rocket-shaped ships surged forward in groups of two. “Increasing speed to zero-zero-zero-niner.”
Inside the WA, Penig tossed a data packet to Bei. “
America
is two minutes out. Beginning final approach. Damn.”
Bei watched the gamma wave close on the exit while part of him monitored the last wave’s approach. “The
America’s
at the wrong heading. She’s going to miss the event horizon.”
If she slammed into the wormhole at her current speed, all hands would be lost.
The com stream bled verbiage. All said the same thing. The ship, her passengers and crew weren’t going to make it. Bei’s cerebral interface faltered, momentarily stopping his lungs, heart and thoughts.
Penig’s avatar frantically sorted through the data before collapsing into a heap. Lightning bolts flashed around him. “She’s too big to turn.”
“No!” Nell tensed in his hold before pounding on Bei’s arm. “We are not going to fail now. All ships to her port bow to manually push her on course.”
“Nell.” Bei’s voice quivered. He couldn’t bear the loss of those children, but he had to save some. “I don’t think.”
She raked her heel down his shin, before she turned and faced him. Her body vibrated, mirroring the anger in her blue eyes. “Tug boats do it all the time. Your ships can do it. For God’s sake, it’s just three lousy degrees.”
Tug boats. They still used them in Earth’s harbors, but he would never have thought to apply those principles to space ships. Bei nodded to his XO. It was worth the risk. “Do it.”
Penig’s lightning bolts faded. “Squadrons moving into place.”
Once the gamma wave cleared the event horizon, the far right screens faded to black. Bei focused on the two left ones. He zoomed onto the satellite squadron and winced as they made contact with the
America’s
hull.
Nell’s fingers bit into Bei’s forearms and she leaned toward the screens. “Tell them to fire engines when they have contact.”
Bei relayed the message. “
America
reporting damage to hull. No breaches.”
Penig tensed as his avatar processed the data before hurling it toward Bei. “One degree course correction.”
After opening the communication from Chief Rome, Bei repeated the ships’ status for Nell. “Exit clear for omega wave.”
Penig smiled. “
America’s
course is corrected. She’s heading for home.”
Bei tensed at the new batch of information from the sensors. “Aperture down to seven-five meters. Shang’hai!”
“On it.” Shang’hai sounded out of breath on the com. “I’ve lost auxiliary engines. Switching to main.”
Power surged and ebbed like ocean waves under his feet. Damn. This hadn’t happened in the simulation. Could they get the
America
and her escorts through? He checked the
America’s
schematics. She was eighty-nine meters wide. The
Starfarer
needed nine-six meters for clearance. He tightened his hold on Nell. “Maximum signal.”
“Aye, maximum signal.”
The hum of the engines stabilized. “Event horizon remains at seven-nine meters.”
Nell bit her lip, and her blue eyes were wide in her face. Color seemed to have fled her face. “The ships on the
America’s
hull won’t make it.”
“Shanghai, open that damn hole.”
“Engines critical, Admiral.”
Bei pulled Nell closer to him. He didn’t want to lose her, but if he chose to save her…
“Save them,” she whispered.
Penig slumped in his chair. His black eyes faded to charcoal gray. The surges in the WA were damaging his interface. “
America
and company are two-hundred-fifty kilometers from exit. Aperture at one-zero-one meters.”
“This is Admiral Beijing York to satellite squadrons. Break off escort and get your asses through that event horizon. Maximum speed.”
On screen, ships of various shapes dashed away from
America’s
arrow-shaped hull. Saucers, darts, rockets and round clusters became distinct shadows on the white background of the wormhole before melting into the darkness of normal space.
“
America
is on course.” Penig groaned. Light sparked across his mouth. The bridge fell dark, taking the visuals with it. Nell pressed her face against Bei’s chest. He felt the drum of her heart echo through him.
The hum of the engines faded. Bei entered the WA. Penig’s avatar lay in a heap of bits and bytes on the floor. Ashes from the burning telemetry hub swirled in the room. Smoke rose from the Nav and com units. The door to engineering and helm controls had been obliterated. “Shang’hai?”
Nothing.
“Shang’hai report.”
“She’s unconscious, sir.” A man’s voice, low and tight with pain, answered.
Bei’s relief faded quickly. It took a lot to knock out a Syn-En. Could his engineer recover and what of the
America
? “Wilson?”
“Aye sir.” Wilson’s breath rasped through the com. “The forward cannons overloaded and we got blowback. The EMP wiped out every system. I’m attempting to bring them online but I’m a little slow.”
Emergency lights cast a blue light on the bridge. Penig convulsed in his chair. Using his master code, Bei dissolved the XO’s avatar and knocked the man’s consciousness back into his body.
Nell fisted the front of Bei’s uniform. “Wilson won’t make it.”
Still in the WA, Bei merged all controls into one hub. Sensors detected the starcruiser at the event horizon. “
America’s
bow is through. Instability registering. Aperture fluctuating. Wilson, I need that power.”
Positive feedback in the com caused a high pitched shriek in the system. “I’m attempting to patch the line to the array now, but it’ll burn out our engines.”