Farthest Reef (16 page)

“You feel guilty. I know. That’s fruitless,” said Mary. “A waste of energy. You should worry about things you can do something about.”

“I think this is something I’m supposed to worry about, Mary,” said Alex. “Whether it makes sense or not, it won’t go away.”

“You’re developing a maternal bond to the clicks, Alex. Be careful.” She pinched his ass.

“Yo!” Alex bellowed. “Don’t squeeze the fruit!”

Soon Alex and Mary were in bed again, and he was indeed able to forget about the clicks. They awoke an hour or two later with the dome again closed over them.

“Jeeps!” said Mary. “I left my sandwich out there.”

What woke them was the second pulse of
Goddard’s
drive. Again the wave came, stronger and longer lasting than the others. This time, Alex and Mary passed out.

When they awoke a pale yellow vapor was being ventilated from the room. The air stank of sulfur. “
Medical aid was nearly summoned for both of you, but according to my readings your convulsions were negated by the aromatic the medical staff discharged into your pod.”
The computer’s vocal charm was on full. “
If you need assistance, the medical staff will be summoned immediately
.”

“No!” Alex coughed and, when he could manage it, said, “Don’t worry, I won’t sue. But you can answer a question. Will the next pulse be worse?”

“
In duration only,
” said the computer. “
The gee-pulse is now at maximum power.
”

“Dingers,” said Alex.

“This area of space is free of micrometeorites, Alex.”
The computer’s voice took on a soothing tone. “
But they are not a concern since we are in null space.
”

“Will we get sick, again, computer?” said Mary.

“Not if the aerosol medication has worked.”

“Relativistic space?” said Mary. “We’re in la-la land?”

“I guess,” said Alex. “But here we still are.” He looked around the dome.

The feeling was leaving them now, but their hearts were pounding. “Jeez, Alex. It’s like we ran a mile.”

The dome turned green, as before, and a moment later it snapped open. “I guess it’s lucky we fell asleep in the right place,” said Alex.

Mary just rolled her eyes. She left the bed carefully this time and managed not to crumble, but she turned and looked back at Alex when she reached the alcove between bedroom and den. She braced against the door sill and turned to face him. “Was this in that manual I didn’t read?”

“I believe so,” said Alex. “I never said you’d like it.”

“Well,” sighed Mary. “It’s new. It is that, certainly.” She forced a smile as she stumbled into the bathroom and threw up noisily.

When the episode was over some color returned to Mary’s pale cheeks. “I want to get out of this place,” she said. “Just for a while.”

Alex agreed wholeheartedly, so they both dressed in foam suits, though Mary protested at first, and asked the computer to call a cab.

“
State your destination
,” said the computer.

“We’ve been invited to the bridge,” said Alex. “Or did you forget that?”

“
State the parties who you’ll be joining.
”

A few minutes later the computer directed them to a door in the lower floor. Directly outside was a small alcove large enough to hold a half dozen people. Waiting beyond the alcove and pressed tight to it was the bright yellow cab. When they exited the house, its door slid open, revealing a powder blue cushioned interior. Mary jumped eagerly in the cab and patted the seat beside her. Sitting cross-legged with her pink suit unzipped to the waist, she looked about as inviting as anything Alex could recall. He was pressed close to her and the door was closing.

They couldn’t see anything as the cab sped off through the tunnel, nor was there much motor sound, only the sound of rushing air. The roof of the cab was a curving, seamless black cowl that allowed minimal headroom for its occupants. The material it was made from looked like glass, but try as he would, Alex couldn’t make out any motion behind it.

He could tell they were moving because the cab didn’t travel at a constant pace, and every so often they felt a slight bump that Alex guessed was the car sliding over a section where the tubeway connected to the structure of the ship. The trip took only a minute, but by the time they arrived he had decided that pneumatic pressure coupled with some other system had driven the cab. A section of the cowl suddenly slid back and they found themselves looking at an alcove like the one at their house. This one was bigger and the double doors that opened bore the words ‘MASTER CONTROL’.

Johnny must have been expecting them, for he was standing at the doors facing them with an outstretched hand. Alex took it in his as he and Mary stepped onto the bridge. “Nice to see you in the flesh,” said Alex. “Mary and I would like to know how sick you intend to make us before we get to Bubba.”

Johnny laughed. “I understand the aromatics did the trick. No?”

“I suppose,” said Mary as she scanned the room.

It looked like a small amphitheater. In the center was a ring of consoles where Captain Wysor, Johnny, and two co-pilots sat. Beyond that was another ring of workstations, with a support staff of a dozen or more. Captain Wysor waved to Alex and Mary and went back to his console. Everyone seemed to be concentrating on work.

“We’re doing a position check,” said Professor Baltadonis.

“You don’t know where we are?” said Mary.

“Certainly we do,” said Johnny, smiling. “ Interstellar space.”

“You can do better than that for ol’ Alex and Mary, can’t you, Professor?” This from a figure seated nearby, covered head to toe in a foam suit. “It’s me, Alex,” said Tony, pulling off his headgear.

“Dingers, Sciarra,” said Alex. “I knew you were here but how come they got you working?”

“This isn’t work, Alex.” Sciarra was smiling happily, but his glasses magnified sleepless eyes. “Look at it,” he added. “That’s where we are.” He was pointing to the ceiling of the room directly above the com. Suspended there was a large black hemisphere that reminded Alex of Johnny’s bubble. But as he looked at it he realized it wasn’t black at all but seemed to contain a few lights and rods.

“What?” said Alex.

“Put on these,” suggested Tony, handing Alex his goggles. “You need a closer look.”

When Alex’s eyes adjusted to the goggles, he looked at the globe once more. When he turned his head so that the glasses centered on the black sphere a red ring flashed into his field of view, centered on the globe. There was a moment of darkness, then he was seeing a three dimensional view of space. In the center was the sun. At the sphere’s perimeter was another sun, but this one had two worlds orbiting nearby. Between the two was a shaft of blue light extending a short distance. The entire display was flickering and shifting positions in the globe.

“It’s not supposed to do that, is it?” asked Alex.

“When we’re resetting the computer,” said Tony. “Give me back my gear now, Alex, so I can find our trail.”

Alex handed Tony the glasses. “Absolutely.” He turned to face Johnny. “You invited us a while ago, Professor. Did we come at a bad time?”

“No, it’s a good time. We’re lost and need all the help we can get finding our way to Lala Land,” said Tony, smiling and rolling his eyes.

“We’re still calling it Lalande, thanks,” said the Professor.

“Is there really a problem?” asked Mary.

“A critical situation,” said Johnny.

“The problem isn’t with the drive, Alex,” whispered Tony. “But with the computers.”

Johnny took a white cloth from his pocket and mopped his brow. “We have the new SXG4s … full of crystals … electro-sauce they call it. You’ve probably read about the organic computers. Well, they weigh less than metal ones.”

Sciarra laughed. “They’re made primarily of water … we can drink its brain if we have to. Interesting idea, huh?”

Mary ignored Tony’s comment and squinted at Johnny. “Go on, Professor.”

“It’s having … trouble … conceptualizing its … new reality,” said Johnny. “We’re not sure why.”

“It’s a machine,” said Alex, his voice lacking sympathy. He looked at Mary. “If it isn’t a machine, it shouldn’t be aboard, should it?”

The Professor scratched his thick gray hair. Alex noticed that Johnny was starting a beard, and so was Tony.

“Can’t you talk to it?” asked Mary, sounding more polite than Alex.

“It’s thinking about it,” said Johnny. “That’s all it says.”

“Let Mary try,” said Alex.

“What?” said Mary.

“Just an idea,” said Alex, holding up both hands. “It just occurred to me that if you broadcast to it, you might find a way to tap into its problem.”

Johnny raised both eyebrows. “Okay,” he said. “We do have a Sensor on board. Well, Mary?”

Mary eyed Johnny suspiciously for a moment, then a smile crossed her face. “Guess I’m on the clock, too.”

“The clock,” said Tony. “That’s the core of the issue.”

Johnny nodded. “It happened after the first jump … something like a virus. It started small, but with the second jump, it extrapolated itself.”

“We’re in worm space, for god’s sake,” said Mary. “I can’t hear anything out there … and the computer’s having … issues?” She put both hands on her hips and looked at the foam mesh flooring. “Sure, let me step in and fix this up.”

Alex couldn’t help laughing. Mary lifted her head and eyed him darkly, then she looked at Johnny. “What do I do?”

“I don’t know,” said Johnny. “It was Alex’s idea.”

“Explain the situation,” said Alex. He pointed to the center of the room. “I’m looking at the bubble over Captain Wysor and it’s showing a flickering display of our route, right? Doesn’t that mean it’s still working?”

“The display’s from the computer’s memory. A replay of our last known position,” said Tony. “We managed to retrieve it before it went off line … to ponder.”

“Ponder?” said Mary.

“That’s what it said,” said Professor Baltadonis. “We were doing a position check and the error message came up on the guidance systems screens.
‘I will ponder this’
. That’s what it said.”

“Can’t you use the stars for navigation?” asked Alex.

“No. They are not reliably observable in worm space.” From his expression, Johnny had obviously thought of that.

“Has the computer checked the stars?” asked Mary. “Can’t it compensate for the distortion and do indirect comparisons of observed and memorized star positions?”

“I guess it could. It’s continuing to receive data,” offered Tony.

“It’s processing the data,” added Johnny. “But the problem is that, while we’ve done it before, we still don’t understand worm space. So far we’ve managed many flights, but they’ve all been measured single bursts. Now we are doing something new, using an untested method to get to another star.”

Alex and Mary looked at each other in surprise.

“Nobody put it that way before,” said Alex.

“You’re seeing the problem,” said Johnny. “We’ve doubled our power signature once and we’ll do it once more. That’s the plan.”

“Why not jump all at once?” asked Mary.

“We haven’t the power, Mary. It requires enormous energy to distort space, creating a wormhole. We’ve devised a way to do it in stages. Crossing over eight light years of space requires high speeds at the outset of the journey. Then, two timed bursts of the gee-pulse engines create and maintain the wormhole. Next, a powerful midstream pulse secures the course and … hopefully … keeps a channel open so we can send messages home.”

“Messages? How will you do that?” asked Alex.

“A rail gun in the ship’s tail section,” said Tony. “Gold pellets packed with encoded crystal sets. Very small. Launched magnetically into the wormhole behind the ship.”

“Messages home,” Mary mused. “Mission packets. I thought there wasn’t a way to do that.”

“We’re not sure there is, Mary,” admitted Johnny. “If it works, the packet will follow the hole as it snaps back, like a rubber band, to its point of its origin. This is theoretical, of course. The real trick will be for someone to find the packets when they get home.”

“When is that?” Mary’s brow was knitted.

“That’s a good question. They might start coming back immediately. We won’t know until we get back to Earth ourselves.”

Tony raised a gloved finger. “Um … we’ll be sending a continual data stream, nevertheless?”

Johnny nodded. “Yes, of course. And for that it’s important we get a navigational fix on our position.”

“You don’t need Mary for a Nav fix,” observed Alex.

Mary smiled. “There’s nothing Alex or I can do here. Can we go explore the ship? By ourselves?”

Mary’s question took the Professor by surprise. “What? It’s dark now,” he said. “You’ll see it when we reach Lalande.”

“How long will we be there?”

“Maybe a year,” said Tony. He shrugged. “More?” He looked at Johnny for confirmation.

“One thing at a time,” answered the Professor. “The problem at the moment is getting there.”

“I think have it, sir,” said a woman seated at a console nearby. “Tell the computer to forget about the time factor with regards the stars.”

“We’s got us a hero,” bellowed the voice of the Captain. “Bring her a geebrew … a Ganny geebrew. Is that you, Denni?”

“Yes, sir,” said a young black woman, standing up and taking off her helmet. “It was just a catalogue problem.”

“Give ’er two geebrews if she wants ’em,” roared Wysor. “She sav’d our collect’ve colons.”

A few minutes later the sphere over Captain Wysor was updated with the corrected star chart. With the problem solved, everyone in the room seemed to relax.

Mary was still eager to leave. “Is the cylinder pressurized? And is it warmed?” she asked Johnny, smiling beguilingly.

“I believe so. Why?”

“I want to visit it. I want to walk by the lake. I want to see it in the dark.”

Captain Wysor stood and removed his visored helmet. He put it on his seat and said something to one of his staff before joining the group standing near the door. The Captain put his arms around Alex and Mary, hugging them both. “I’m glad you two’r along f’ the ride.”

“We feel the same, Captain,” said Alex, pulling free of the man’s vise-like bear hug.