Children of Hope (34 page)

“Aye aye, sir!” They dashed off.

“
Olympiad,
Thurman here. What in God’s name
—
”

The Captain took up his caller. “Don’t blaspheme.”

“Get out of the way! If we shoot through the fish we’ll
—
”

“Yes, I know. Fire on me and I’ll fire back.”

A stunned silence.

“Randy.”

I jumped.

“You’d better get your nephew. Thurman will need calming.”

“You want me t—t—t—to—”

“Bring the Stadholder to the bridge. There’s no danger just yet. I trust you.” He bathed me in his calm. “Hurry, though.”

I gulped. “Yessir. Aye aye, sir.”

“Seafort, have you lost your mind?”

I didn’t hear the response. Legs pumping, I raced to the ladder, down to Two, along the corridor. I skidded into the Dining Hall. “Anth? Are you here? Anthony!”

“Easy, joey.” From behind, he clapped me on the shoulder. I stifled a squawk. “The Captain wants you!”

“Are we under attack?”

“Yes. No, maybe not. He doesn’t think so!”

“Take a deep breath.”

“Run!”

Anthony stopped short. “A deep breath, or I won’t move an inch. Now another.” He waited me out. Fuming, I did what he required. “And one more. Slowly.”

I knotted and unknotted my fists. “Please, Anth. An outrider launched right at us. God, they make my skin crawl. Have you seen them? Hurry, Mr Seafort wants you.”

“Let’s go, then.” He linked arms with me, slowed me to his own pace. At the ladder he said, “Learn anything?”

“Panic doesn’t help. You always told me that.”

“Precisely.”

“It’s not really panic. I’m just excited.” And my stomach was in a hard, stubborn knot. We strode along the corridor. I said meekly, “Please don’t tell him.”

“No doubt he has other matters on his mind.” Anth peered through the bridge hatchway. “You summoned me, sir?”

I blanched. On the simulscreen a fish floated so close I could touch it. Colors swirled. Behind it, I caught a glimpse of the Station.

“Ah, yes. Pacify your man Thurman.” Mr Seafort’s voice was calm, but his fingers hovered over the laser safety switch. “Tad, don’t look away for an instant. If an outrider emerges …”

Anthony asked mildly, “What’s the situation?”

“I maneuvered
Olympiad
behind the fish. To hit the fish, Thurman has to hit us.”

“Why?” Anth seemed surprisingly calm under the circumstances.

“I didn’t want him to shoot it.”

“Why is that?”

“I want to see what it does.”

“It’ll grow an appendage,” growled Tolliver. “And wreck our tubes. Then we’ll have all the time in the world to study it.”

“Edgar, please.”

“No,
you
please.” Real anger infused Tolliver’s voice. “We’ve hundreds of lives at stake, and a colossal ship—”

“Be silent! I order you!”

Tolliver shot him a laser glance, but obeyed.

“I cherish you, Edgar, but you’ve made your position clear. Let me concentrate.”

Anselm raised an eyebrow, looked about for someone to share astonishment with, settled on me.

“
Olympiad,
maneuver away from the alien! This is the last time I’ll
—
”

“May I have the caller?” Anthony’s tone was cool. “Thank you. General Thurman, this is Stadholder Carr, aboard
Olympiad.
”

“Yes, sir. Tell that lunatic
—
”

“I declare a state of emergency. For the duration of the emergency I name Nicholas Seafort as operating commander in theater. Do as he says, sir, or face court-martial.”

“I
—
but
—
”

“Please acknowledge your orders.” He handed the caller back to Mr Seafort.

“Understood and acknowledged, Stadholder. Mr Seafort, I’m standing by for instructions.”
Thurman didn’t sound at all pleased.

Mr Seafort turned to Anth, his tone ironic. “Well done. You’re a match for Jerence in diplomacy.” Then, “Thank you, General. Please train your lasers on the fish. If it, or any other alien, nears my fusion tubes, obliterate it.”

“Yes, Captain. Gladly.” Thurman’s voice was dark.

“Avoid hitting my tubes, but disregard peripheral damage.”

“Midshipman Tamarov reporting, sir.”
Mik’s voice was muffled.
“We’re suited and in place on Level 1.”

“Very well.”

“May I speak, sir?” Tolliver. His company manners, no doubt.

“Go ahead.”

“You’ve isolated Level 2 section four, from above, below, and both sides. Why?”

“You’ll see in a moment. I’m waiting.”

“For what?”

“Outrider, sir!” Tad Anselm’s voice was shrill.

Everyone jumped, even Anthony and I.

“For that. Edgar, stand by the thrusters.”

On the fish’s body, colors swirled.

“
Olympiad,
Thurman here. Do you see it?”

The swirl blurred. The outrider was through. For a moment it remained on the fish’s surface, quivering. Then it launched itself. It grew in the screen.

It was the one that killed Kevin. No, it couldn’t be, but
…

I stumbled across the bridge, grabbed Mr Seafort’s hand, squeezed hard.

“Edgar, pull us away! Match velocities!”

“Match—where’s the bloody Pilot when we need him?” Tolliver stabbed at the controls.

The outrider drifted ever closer.

“I have full faith in you, Edgar.” The Captain’s tone was dry. Eyes glued to the screen, he pried his hand from my desperate grip, set me in front of him, massaged my shoulders.

The outrider was nearly upon us. Abruptly, Anselm switched views. Now the screen showed both the outrider and our own hull. The outrider would hit amidships, in the disks.

“Captain, pull clear and give me a shot!”

“Belay that, Thurman!” Mr Seafort’s voice was acid.

No atmosphere impeded us, but
Olympiad
’s mass was huge. Slowly, squirting prodigious amounts of propellant, the starship began to recede from the Station, and the fish. The outrider, between us, seemed to slow.

“Not too fast, Edgar.”

“You want stunt pilotage, in this behemoth?” Tolliver lapsed into dark muttering.

Mr Seafort kneaded my shoulder blades. “Steady, son.”

“I’m not your—” I bit it off. I was his son, now. “Sir, I’m …” I dropped my voice. “… scared.”

“Of course, so am I. Edgar, not too fast. Match, don’t exceed.”

“Look, sir, the fish!” Anselm.

I swung to the simulscreen, expecting to see the fish pulse, prior to Fusing.

Blowholes opened in its side. Wisps of propellant shot out. The alien form began to grow. Never mind him; he was two hundred meters distant. Where was the frazzing outrider?

“I’ll be damned,” said Tad. “The fish is following us. Why doesn’t it throw?”

“Captain?” Anthony’s voice was hesitant. “Are you sure this is wise?”

“Laser room to Bridge.”

“What, Ms Frand?”

“Mr, uh, Auxiliary Tech Dakko asks to speak to you.”

“Very well.”

A click. “Let me kill it, sir.
Please.
”

“Not yet, Chris.”

“It looks like the one who …”

“I know. Not yet.”

“I have the shot!” His voice was agonized.

“Wait, or be relieved.”

“You son of a bitch.” The line went dead.

“Shall I deal with him, sir?” Tolliver.

“Stay with the thrusters. Nudge the starboard array.”

“That’ll slow us.”

“Yes. Jess, seal all corridor hatches.”

“Aye aye, Captain.” The puter was all business.

Time stood still. In a daze, I watched the Station recede.

“Captain?” Anthony.

“I’m sorry you’re aboard for this, Stadholder. I put you at risk.”

“Oh, nonsense!” For a moment Anthony sounded so like Dad that my eyes welled. “But I understand Thurman’s confusion. What in God’s name are we doing?”

“Turning from genocide.”

Before us floated the outrider, its velocity almost perfectly matched with our own. Some sixty meters off our port side, it could neither recede nor advance. Behind it, the fish, somewhat erratically, kept pace.

“Careful, Edgar, keep them both between the Station and ourselves.”

“To infuriate Thurman?”

“Relieve me if you dare, Lieutenant, or behave.” Mr Seafort’s voice was sharp.

“Just a moment, I’m deciding.”

The Captain looked to me, rolled his eyes. Despite myself, I smiled.

“Now, Edgar, ever so gently, counteract our thrust.”

“That’s insane. The outrider will—”

“Go to your quarters. Mr Anselm, take the thrusters.”

For a long moment, Tolliver was still. Then, “I apologize, sir. I was out of line. Please disregard it.”

“Thank you. I’m glad to. Bear with me, Edgar. If I’m wrong, I’m horribly so, but …”

“Yes?”

“I want so to be right.” The Captain kneaded my shoulders.

I couldn’t feel us slow. I couldn’t see it on the screen. But, inexorably, the outrider began to close the gap between us.

Mr Seafort bent over his console, flicked a row of switches. His other hand gripped me tight. I wanted to pull my shoulder free, but didn’t dare. He’d be alone, and so would I.

Forty meters. Thirty.

Twenty.

The fish, behind the drifting alien, maintained its distance.

“Edgar, to port a trifle, and bring the bow up.”

“You want the outrider to hit?”

“Yes.”

“Where, exactly?”

“Level 2.”

“I was afraid so. When it melts through, we’ll decompress.”

Ten meters.

“Not if …”

Five meters. Two. It touched.

In horror, I stared at the screen. Holocams swept the hull. On the screen, the outrider clung to an outboard sensor.

The puter came to life. Alarms shrieked.
“Boarder detected! Decompression warning, section four Level 2!”

“Jess.” Mr Seafort stabbed at the alarm, bringing blessed silence.

“Yes, Captain?”

Mr Seafort took a deep breath. “Open the Level 2 airlock.”

“No!” Tad Anselm and Tolliver, as one. Tad’s words were a blur. “Not in our ship, sir. Please. Reconsider, I beg you.”

“There’s nowhere else.”

A console light blinked a warning red. I watched the screen with horrified fascination.

The outer airlock hatch was flush with the hull. Slowly, it slid open, revealing the compartment within.

The outrider quivered, ten meters distant.

“Level 2 section four airlock hatch opened.” Jess’s tone was urbane.

“Mr Janks, Midshipmen, stand ready to fire!”

Mikhael’s tone was uneasy. “At what, sir?”

“At an outrider. If it burns through the deck from below, exterminate it. Mr Ghent, you get that?”

“Yes, sir. I’m aiming at the overhead.”

“You’re suited?”

“You’d better believe it.” A moment’s pause. “Sorry, sir.”

A grim chuckle. “Noted.”

I murmured, as if fearful the alien might hear me, “Does it have eyes? Does it see?”

“You’ve been as close to an outrider as any of us, son.”

I shuddered. Must he remind me of that?

The creature flitted across the hull,

I clutched Mr Seafort.

It skittered into our lock.

“Oh, no!” A cry of dismay. I wasn’t aware I’d spoken until Mr Seafort patted me reassuringly.

“Cycle the lock, Jess.”

“Sir, my programming requires me to preserve—”

“Overridden. Log it and cycle the frazzing lock.” Mr Seafort’s tone was calm, but …

“Noted. Logged. Lock cycling.”

Mr Seafort keyed the corridor holocam. The view changed.

The section four corridor was deserted. The airlock hatch could barely be seen.

Someone pulled me aside. Anthony. He barely breathed the words. “Does he know what he’s doing?”

“How would I know?”

“You’ve been with him longer—”

“I’m not Navy, I barely know my way around the ship. I got Kevin killed. I—”

“Lock cycled, sir.” The puter. “Inner hatch open, outer hatch closed.”

“Randy, what’s your judgment?”

All our quarrels, all my resentments, fell away. God, I loved Anth so. When all was said and done, he trusted me. I put my lips to his ear, lest we be overheard. “Mr Seafort doesn’t know the aliens: who does? But … he’s wise, Anth. Wise and decent.” I found myself trembling. “If anyone could replace Dad, it’s he.”

Anthony whispered, “Good enough.” He clapped me on the shoulder.

“There he is!”
Tad pounded his console.

In the viewscreen, a shape flitted about the corridor hatchway.

I gulped, swallowing bile. If only it didn’t
quiver.

We watched.

The alien form skittered into the corridor.

“Close inner hatch.”

“Closed.” Jess. Console lights returned to green.

Tolliver bestirred himself. “Very well, it’s on board. How do we capture it?”

Mr Seafort said, “We don’t.”

“What, then?”

“See if it tries to burn through.”

“Of course it will; what else? The section’s empty.”

A sigh. “I know. It’s time.” Mr Seafort stood.

“Where do you think you’re off to?”

“These are my orders.” Mr Seafort’s tone was flat. “If I’m killed, destroy the outrider and the fish Outside.”

“If you’re killed, I become Captain, and follow my own orders.” Tolliver’s tone was savage.

“Jess, record. Modification in
Olympiad
’s standing orders that apply to any person assuming the captaincy. Upon my death, the Captain is to send the Stadholder groundside, give our passengers a day’s notice to join us. He’s to proceed to Kall’s Planet and home.”

“Recorded and Logged.”

Mr Seafort crossed to the hatch. “Edgar, be careful of decontamination. One slip and—”

Tolliver bolted from his chair, slipped between the Captain and the hatch. “I beg you, don’t do this.”

Frantically, I pawed at Anthony. “Where’s he going?”

“I must.” Mr Seafort made as if to go around, but Tolliver sidestepped him, barring his way.

“Edgar, I warn you …”

“Nick, for God’s sake, you mustn’t!”

The Captain’s voice was bleak. “For God’s sake, I must.”

I cried, “Where are you going?”