Peggy Sue (The T'aafhal Inheritance) (48 page)

The stricken ruler bellowed and attempted to strike back at his offspring. The Commodore pushed his spine in deeper, saying: “You contemptuous old blowhard, you killed the best of my siblings to satisfy your bloated ego and now you have killed the fleet. We are all going to die, but I want you to precede the rest of us into the void.”

The King gurgled as two more ships blossomed into expanding clouds of dust and vapor. As High King Lewnhallooshna expired, those on the bridge raised their spines in salute to Commodore Bonnahaamshna, who alone among them had the courage to commit regicide. Then the flagship was consumed by a great explosion as a burst of superluminal particles knifed through its hull and detonated the ship’s store of antimatter.

Bridge, M’tak Ka’fek

“Sir,” called Bobby from the helm, “it looks like the Peggy Sue just transitioned into alter-space.”

“Too right! They got away,” bubbled Sandy, sitting next to him.

“Thank you, Mr. Danner,” Jack replied, relief loosening the unconscious tension in his shoulders. “Aput, Dr Ogawa, great shooting! Did you see the Peggy Sue’s transition on your targeting displays?”

“Yes, Captain,” Mizuki replied for the gun crew. “It is hard to describe in words but the representation of the Peggy Sue on the display altered and then faded into the distance rapidly.”

“That’s right, Sir,” added Aput. “I could only follow it for a few seconds after it left 3-space.”

“So things can be sensed in alter-space just after they leave 3-space. I wonder if that means they can be detected just prior to emergence?”

“Under some conditions it is possible to track and even fire on ships in what you call alter-space,” said the AI. “In fact, I sent a superluminal neutrino transmission to the Peggy Sue as they transitioned.”

“What did you tell them?” asked Jack, annoyed that he had not thought of sending such a message on his own.

“That the alien fleet was destroyed and not pursuing them on the transit to Earth. Also that all on board were alive and well and not to worry,” said M’tak. “Of course, that is assuming they have the wherewithal to decode the transmission.”

“Are the screens operational?” the Captain asked.

“Yes, Sir,” replied JT at the engineering station. “Though I don’t know how effective they will be if we get struck by that incoming alien plasma.”

“My shields are more than capable of handling the weapons utilized by the alien belligerents. Unlike your more primitive design, my shields use curved spacetime gradients to create a lens that refracts and redirects any incoming radiation. The matter-antimatter plasma structures employed by our late opponents will detonate when they strike the outer shields and the resulting radiation will then be harmlessly routed around the ship.”

“You can route radiation all the way around the ship?” asked JT.

“It is usually sufficient to simply send the energy off at an angle, but yes, it is possible to route electromagnetic radiation around the ship and have it exit on its original vector.”

“That means you can make the whole ship invisible, right?”

“Yes, Mr. Taylor, under normal conditions it is possible to route all visible and lower frequency EM radiation around the ship so that it cannot be observed. Such subterfuge is only useful against primitive foes, however.”

“Dude!” exclaimed Bobby, “That’s still way better than a Romulan cloaking device.”

“And I still say you’re
mad as a gum-tree full of galahs
, Bobby,” quipped Sandy. “Throwing a wobbly every time some piece of scifi kit turns out to be real.”
 

“What?” said Bobby, totally confused buy his Australian copilot.

“I’m just happy we made it. If Aput and Mizuki hadn’t nutted out that particle cannon things would have gone cactus, totally pear-shaped.
”

“Undoubtedly, Miss McKinnett,” the Captain said with excess sincerity. Then he grinned to let the young officer know he was only teasing her.

“Sorry Sir, didn’t mean to yabber on like that,” said Sandy, blushing. “Just happy everything came up trumps is all.”

“I fully agree with you, Lieutenant. Now if we could just return to trying to get the engines running…”

Captain’s Quarters, Peggy Sue

With the ship safely away in alter-space, Ludmilla ensured that there were no new injuries that needed attention and that her existing patients were resting comfortably before retiring to the cabin she shared with Jack. Looking around the familiar space she was almost overwhelmed by emotion.

Oh Jack, my Jack! Are you still alive?
Tears welled in her eyes and, grabbing the back of the chair at Jack’s desk, she shook them off angrily.
I am not some little girl to fall apart because her boyfriend has runoff. He will either come back or he won’t… but what will I do if he doesn’t?
 

The ship’s computer interrupted her thoughts to announce “Isbjørn is at the door, asking to see you. Should I let her in?”

I don’t want anyone to see me falling apart like this!
“No, I wish to see no one.”

“I’m sorry, Dr Tropsha. But she insists on seeing you,” the computer replied. “She has pointed out that she is capable of opening the door by force if necessary.”

“Der’mo! let her in.”
Perhaps it will not be obvious to a bear that I was crying.
She heard the sound of the door opening and the she-bear’s footsteps on the carpeting.

“Ludmilla? Are you all right?” called Isbjørn’s deep contralto.

“Yes, Isbjørn. I am perfectly fine,” said the exasperated and embarrassed Ludmilla.

“Some of the people in sickbay said you left looking upset, so I came to make sure you were OK. I know that getting separated from your mate is harder on you humans than we bears—our males aren’t much for sticking around so we are used to getting by without them.”

“Just because Jack is gone does not mean that I am falling apart!”
Just wait until I see the medical staff again!
“We have been apart and facing danger before.”

“Yes, I know dear. Bear and I have been apart more than together, but I still miss the big lug. Of course, before, I always knew he was still on the same planet—not ten light years away in a different star system.”

Ludmilla’s eyes threatened to tear up again. “I’m sorry, I had forgotten that Bear was with the Captain on board that alien ship.”

“JT too,” added Isbjørn. “Though Gretchen is so busy being captain she probably has not had time for that to sink in yet.”

“We are all big girls, Isbjørn, but thank you for checking on me,” Ludmilla said with a sniffle. After a second’s hesitation she threw her arms around the bear’s neck and hugged her. “I was feeling sorry for myself, but I’m better now. Thank you.”

“Your welcome, Ludmilla. Besides, I’m sure they are all right. With Bear, the Captain and JT all together it’s the Universe that needs to watch out. According to the Ambassador, the alien fleet that was following us was destroyed by the M’tak Ka’fek.”

“Really, how do they know?”

“They said something about a message in a burst of superluminal neutrinos that arrived just as we dropped into alter-space.”

“I think that the Ambassador knows more than they are willing to tell us, some times,” Ludmilla observed. Then, touching her comm pip, she called: “Ambassador, I understand you received a message from the M’tak just before we left 3-space. How do you know that it is authentic?”

“The message was encoded in T’aafhal; The pursuing aliens were not advanced enough to use such a mechanism; The Captain included a message for you, would you like to hear it?”

“Yes, of course!”

The simulated voice changed to a fair imitation of Jack, saying, “
Luda, please forgive me, but I would rather you hate me than to have stayed together and watched you die along with the rest of us. This way you and most of the crew will live to see Earth again—and with any luck so will we. I will come back to you, I promise.”
 

Ludmilla inhaled sharply, her breath catching in her throat. “That must have been Jack, only he calls me ‘Luda’. Thank you Ambassador.”
Well, at least they are still alive…
 

Bridge, M’tak Ka’fek

“Captain, we may have a problem,” said M’tak, as the first wave of alien plasma bursts slashed into the floating debris field. A nearby derelict flared brightly and broke into several large pieces, which drifted inward, toward the center of the graveyard. Watching the plasma induced fireworks the Captain replied a bit distractedly. “I thought you said that your shields could handle the plasma torpedoes with ease, M’tak, what’s the problem?”

“It is not the impact of the plasma fire on the ship that concerns me but a side effect of the bombardment. The exploding plasma bursts are knocking some of the derelicts out of orbit. The wreckage is spiraling into the massive object at the center of the debris field.”

“Are we in danger of being knocked into the gravity well?”

“No, Captain. The problem is what could happen when several million metric tons of matter hits the surface of the degenerate matter object.”

“The AI is right, Captain,” added JT. “That infall of matter could result in an explosion—possible a very big explosion.”

“If it was just the matter from the wreckage the resulting explosion would probably not exceed 10
²⁵
joules—the equivalent of a few billion megatons,” the AI stated.

“Why do I detect a ‘but’?” asked Jack, attention now fully focused.

“Pardon me, Captain,” said Mizuki in a quiet voice, “but massive objects made from degenerate matter—neutron stars for example—have a tendency to collect gas in a surrounding disc. When instabilities in the accretion disk allows some of the gas to crash onto the neutron star the result can be a violent eruption. Such outbursts are among the brightest stellar eruptions ever recorded.”

“And if the object at the center of the debris field has been collecting gas over time, the junk raining down on it will probably trigger a massive eruption,” finished JT.

“Precisely, Captain,” confirmed M’tak.

“How big an explosion are we talking about here?” asked Jack.

“An exact answer is difficult, but it could range from trillions to quadrillions of megatons. Moreover, a torrent of high-intensity X-rays will be released.”

“Are the gravitonic drives about ready? It sounds like we need to get out of this neighborhood as soon as possible.”

“Not yet, Captain,” said M’tak, “but even accelerating at 200 G may not get us clear in time.”

“Captain,” JT called from the navigation station. “It looks like there is developing instability in the central object. We need to be somewhere else, now!”

“Give me options, M’tak,” Jack ordered.
After all we have been through I don’t relish the idea of being killed by a cosmic garbage dump.
“Can we escape into alter-space?”

“Negative, Captain. There are no nearby alter-space transfer points. We could use a more advanced form of superluminal transport, though there are risks involved.”

“Captain! It’s erupting!” shouted JT.

“Get us out of here, M’tak,” yelled Jack. “Risks be dammed!”

“Yes, Captain.” Even as the AI answered the ship began to rotate around its center of gravity, until it was aligned on a clear path out of the debris field. Ahead and to the sides, dead ships blossomed with light reflected from the near nova force explosion unfolding behind the M’tak.

In front of the bow, space distorted as though a lens had appeared directly ahead of the ship, magnifying the view of the stars behind it. Defining the edge of the lens, space bent forming a ring-shaped mirror. Stars reflected by the torus began to move along the mirror’s surface, flowing from the inside of the ring to the outside. The M’tak surged forward, toward the center of the lens, through what looked like a mirrored doughnut encased in whirling stars.

Through the Ring of Stars

The ship’s passage through the portal of whirling, distorted stars seemed to unfold in slow motion, but only a few minutes actually passed. The ring of stars passed aft of the ship and dissipated, falling apart like a smoke ring on a windy day. As space surrounding the ship returned to normal, stars once again became fixed points of light. The only problem was that many of those points of light were no longer in the positions they occupied before the passage.

“What the hell just happened?” asked Rosey Acuna of the other Marines.

“I don’t know,” replied Joey Sanchez, “but that registered an 8.5 on my weird-shit-o-meter.”

At the navigation station, JT was busy trying to locate familiar but not too distant stars to triangulate a position. “Captain, I have a bad feeling about this. I think we are a long, long way from home.”

“Define ‘a long way’, Mr. Taylor,” Jack replied.

“More than a thousand light years minimum, Sir, given the shift in nearby star positions.” This pronouncement did not immediately register with everyone on the bridge, but Bobby’s head whipped around to stare at the science officer and a few seats away, Mizuki’s mouth fell open.

 
M’tak, is he right? Where are we?
 

Mr. Taylor is correct, Captain,
replied the ship’s AI.
We are now nearly 1,500 light years from the Sirius system. The nearest star is
a G3V star of roughly solar metallicity. I will highlight it on the main display.