by T. Y. Carew
“Why are you stationary? Anything wrong with the ship?”
“We’d never be able to outrun them, and at least standing still means they’ve stopped shooting. The shield is still up, for now.” As if to confirm her claim, the tentacle that had connected with the ship dropped from its surface. Another one took its place.
“We could try to fry them,” said Vinty at her side. “Want me to try?”
“What? Run a current over the hull? Isn’t that likely to disable all our electronics, too?” Mattie asked.
“Maybe.”
“Well, then no. Hold on a sec.”
“Mattie, here’s the plan,” Xander interjected. “I’m sending Drew in a small shuttle over to you. It’s one that you know well—Porteus. Behind your cruiser is a transporter. Drew’s task is to ferry everybody on board the Andromeda to safety. Are you able to direct the shuttle between your cargo bay area and the transporter stationed right behind you? It’s only a small distance.”
“Should be able to do that,” she said. “But I’m a little worried about the hive and the fighters.”
“Leave that to me,” said Xander, and in the next moment Mattie watched an impressive display of laser fire courtesy of Trey. The fighters were catching up with the Contessa, but their aim was off. It took Mattie a minute to put two and two together and arrive at the realization that the things she had tampered with before the Contessa’s arrival must have been the Beltine fighters’ ranged guns.
Vinty directed everyone on board the ship to the cargo bay and then looked to Mattie for further instruction.
“You go too,” she said, but Vinty shook his head.
“We’ll go together.”
Mattie closed her eyes reluctantly and felt for the Adamanta in Porteus. It was close, and there was plenty of it to get hold of. The metal reacted as if it recognized her touch, which made her smile. Either she was getting better at controlling the unattuned metal or researchers were missing something important. She made a mental note to pass on her observations and focused on landing Porteus safely inside the Andromeda.
***
Tyra did another tight loop, making it easy for Trey to aim at the opening in the hive’s wall from where the tubes were issuing. His fire found its target, but didn’t seem to have any effect.
The fighters pursuing the Contessa kept firing, and their laser bolts kept shooting past into open space, but so far only one of them had hit Contessa’s hull.
“Gee, those Dairos are crap shots,” Trey sniggered into the comms and let out another volley, this time aiming at the visible cannon turret that was rotating on the hive’s hull to point at the too-fast Contessa.
“Mind in the game, Trey,” Xander cautioned him. “And make sure those hoses don’t attach themselves to the cruiser. We don’t know what to expect from them. Tyra, once more on the same loop minus 2.5.” Tyra did as instructed and Contessa moved away from the hive once more. As they fell back, Trey shot a few more bolts at the tentacle closest to the Andromeda and watched it fall back.
So far, Drew had taken Porteus across to the Quasar six times. Xander wondered how many more times he would have to make the trip to make everyone safe, and whether Mattie would be able to continue to cart them from one to the other using only the strength of her mind.
“Drew,” Xander called. “You able to talk?”
“Yes, boss, I’m here,” he responded.
“How many people left?”
“Umm… I’d say I’ll need between six and eight more trips. Got most of the kids over, ‘cause they don’t take up much room, but most of the crew is still waiting to go.”
“Got you. Fast as you can, okay?”
“Roger that, Colonel.”
Xander turned back to face the hive and waited for the Contessa to get close again. “Fire,” he ordered, and Trey followed with a volley so well aimed, it completely severed the cannon from its base on the outer wall of the hive.
“Haha, good one!” he cheered, wondering why they’d never been able to manage that kind of hit before.
Chapter 14
Mattie was beginning to tire. The transfer of people took no more than two minutes one way and two more the other, but for those two minutes of the shuttle’s journey the intensity of her concentration was extreme. Already the pain in her head was unbearable. For the first time ever, she felt tears coursing down her cheeks to mix with the blood pouring from her nose. She couldn’t stop them, and she couldn’t stop moving the shuttle from one place to the other. Those people’s safety depended on her ability to keep doing what she did best—convince a metal to do her bidding.
Beside her, Vinty whooped and cheered every time the Contessa did a pass over the hive and managed to cause some damage. He kept a running commentary, seeing as she had her eyes closed.
“Oooh, that hosepipe thing got a little too close,” he said as the lights flickered, then quickly followed it with, “That’ll teach them. Go, Contessa!”
In any other circumstances his silly commentary and enthusiasm would have made Mattie smile, but the situation was dangerous and she was in so much pain. She had no idea how long she’d kept doing this and how much longer she could keep it up, but to stop and ask would mean to let the exhaustion catch up with her. Besides, if she stopped now, she’d never be able to pick it up again.
Mattie was vaguely aware of conversations going on between Vinty and someone else, and thanks to his commentary and the flickering lights she could tell when things got dicey, but all her focus was on the task in hand.
And then, all of a sudden, the lights went out and didn’t come back on.
Mattie landed the shuttle back on the Quasar then opened her eyes to complete darkness. As soon as she mentally let go of Porteus, her headache eased. She wiped her sleeve over her face in an unaware gesture, and asked, “What’s happened?”
Movement to her right told her where Vinty was, and soon she caught a glint of small light as he came nearer.
“They got two of those tentacle things onto the Andromeda and short-circuited our shields. I reckon it’s time we suited up and got going, too.”
Mattie accepted the spacesuit and snaked it up over her legs and torso, but was too exhausted to shove her arms in. Vinty helped her with the last of it and handed her the helmet. “We can walk most of the way with it off, but I’m not sure what to expect when we get to the cargo bay, so we’re best to seal it up before we open the last hatch. Agreed?”
Mattie nodded before realizing he probably couldn’t see her. “Yes,” she said.
“Okay then. Now, grab hold of me and don’t let go. I can find my way in the dark, but you’d probably get lost in this rabbit warren of a ship.”
Mattie grabbed hold of one of his arms with her spare hand and together they began walking towards safety.
***
Xander watched with horror as two of the hoses hit the cruiser at the same time and fried its shields. The Contessa had been too far away to prevent it.
The whole ship was now in darkness. Was there a way to get the shields back on line for this antique cruiser? And was there a way to get the message to Mattie to make her way out to the cargo bay, too, where a ship the size of the Contessa could possibly land and collect the remaining passengers? He tried to transmit the thought to her telepathically, though he didn’t believe in such things.
Laser bolts from the Beltine fighters shot past the Contessa once again, and instead of hitting her, disappeared into space.
“Trey, can’t we lose those damn fighters?” he said in his comm. “Leave the hive for a minute and get rid of those bothersome flies.”
Trey did as instructed and downed the fighters with ease, one by one.
“Colonel,” Tyra shouted all of a sudden. “The hive. It’s moving away, with the Andromeda in tow. We’ve got to do something!”
“Shit.”
The hive was picking up speed, and while Xander was pretty sure the Contessa could keep up with it, he didn’t want to
risk an intergalactic chase where other—innocent—civilian or commercial craft could get damaged, not to mention those left on board the cruiser itself, Mattie included.
“You’ll have to land the Contessa inside the Andromeda’s cargo bay.”
Tyra gave him a look that questioned his sanity.
“I know it’ll be tight, but I see no other way of getting the rest of them out. Do you?”
Tyra didn’t answer. Just shook her head and directed the Contessa to the aft of the cruiser.
***
Mattie was returning to the cockpit from having settled four of the children in her cabin. Four more were in Drew’s, and the two remaining teachers had taken Xander’s cot. When she’d seen the Contessa slide in through the jaws of the cargo bay, Mattie couldn’t believe her eyes. With a sigh, she realized she was years away from being able to execute such a maneuver, if she ever got as highly expert at piloting a ship as Tyra was. What skill that Lentarin possessed!
No more than five minutes had passed since the Contessa had landed in Andromeda’s cargo bay and everyone had been ushered inside. Vinty alone had lingered in the cockpit, and Mattie heard his voice now, mere steps from the hatch.
“How quickly can you get your ship out?” he asked Tyra.
A short pause from the Lentarin, which made Mattie smile. She could just picture the look on Tyra’s face. “Ten seconds.”
“You sure of that or boasting?”
Mattie walked in as Tyra’s eyes flashed menacingly and she smiled making sure all her teeth were visible. Vinty shuddered.
“If she says she can do it, she can,” Mattie said, deliberately stepping between the two. “Why are you asking, Vinty?”
Tyra turned to her screens and began pressing the sequence of buttons that would get them airborne and out of there.
“Well, someone ought to shoot down that hive, oughtn’t they?” Vinty answered.
“I’m afraid I’m just too tired to do that,” Mattie said.
“Tyra, tell the Quasar to head home, FTL,” Xander said from the doorway.
“Already done,” she answered. “They’re on their way. Drew muttered about being stuck on a strange ship, but he’ll be okay.”
“Ready for take-off?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Permission to do one more thing, Captain of the ship, sir,” Vinty said to Xander.
“Depends,” Xander hedged. “We’re a bit short on time. I don’t know how long we have until the Beltine deploy the rest of their fighters, and I don’t want to take hits with so many civilians on board.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Vinty said, grinning. “See, I know this ship inside-out. It’s got an old style cooling system for the stores. Takes a lot of gas to keep all those cold stores cold, and there’s lots of them. The whole front of the ship is lined with them, right under the main deck.”
Xander scratched his chin and Mattie looked at him inquisitively.
“I take it you know where the isolator valve is.”
Vinty grinned and nodded gleefully.
Mattie’s brain finally caught up with the men’s thinking. “Wait. Won’t that be dangerous? I mean…”
“Reckon I’ve got about thirty seconds to get back here. Ten if I don’t bother with the suit. That gives your pilot here another ten to get out and ten more to get some distance. I’m not saying we won’t feel it, but…”
“But the hive will feel it even more,” Xander finished.
“I figure we should do it.”
But Mattie was horrified. “You want to open the valves, then run back here, and without oxygen? In the dark? Are you nuts?”
Vinty and Xander grinned at each other. “It can be done,” Xander said at the same time Vinty said, “It’ll be easy.”
“But won’t the gas explode when it comes in contact with the oxygen in the air-mix?” Mattie asked.
“That’s the idea,” said Xander. “Now if we’re gonna do this, we need to do it now. Vinty?”
“Ready,” the old pilot said. “See you in a minute.” He stripped off his cumbersome protective suit and closed the airlock hatch behind him. A moment later, the darkness of the cargo bay swallowed him.
“Tyra, be ready,” Xander said, and the Lentarin nodded.
“All set.”
Mattie’s gaze was glued to the hatch porthole. Silently, she counted the seconds. One… two… three… How long could a human being hold their breath? What about while running? Didn’t muscles use more oxygen during exertion? Mattie checked her chronometer. Forty-six seconds since Vinty had stepped off the Contessa.
Suddenly, a harsh yellow light bloomed at the back of the cargo area, illuminating the corridor through which Vinty had led her earlier. But where was Vinty?
“Tyra, engage engines,” Xander commanded, but Tyra had already reacted.
“Wait,” Mattie shouted. “We can’t leave Vinty behind.”
The dark outline of a man staggering on his feet suddenly appeared. Mattie grabbed the airlock handle and twisted, but Xander’s arm coiled around her middle and drew her back so forcefully she found herself on the other side of the cabin.
Xander open the airlock and stepped in. “If we all die because of this, Mattie, I’ll…” He shook his head and didn’t finish his sentence, instead launching himself out the ship and towards Vinty, who collapsed at Xander’s feet. Mattie and Tyra watched, transfixed, as Xander hefted the man over his shoulder and made his way to the Contessa as fast as his legs could carry him.
The rip of a tongue of fire lashed through the air in the cargo bay, hungry for the last trace of oxygen in the cruiser, and Tyra lifted the craft at the same time Xander slammed the hatch door shut behind him.
Mattie ran to the dash and punched the air and pressurization button to give the two men in the airlock enough air to breathe as Tyra slinked the Contessa out of the dying ship and away. Mattie sank in the co-pilot’s seat just as the airlock hatch opened and Xander fell through into the cockpit.
“Tyra,” he panted, “call Trey. Vinty’s in trouble.”
Mattie was by his side in a moment. The Andromeda’s pilot’s clothes were welded to his skin, and so black Mattie couldn’t tell where they ended and his flesh began. When he’d opened up the valves so that the coolant gas would mix with the oxygen in the ship’s air supply and explode, he’d clearly miscalculated how fast the chemical reaction would take place, and how swiftly the ball of fire would consume its way through the cruiser. While she’d felt appalled at his decision to discard his protective suit, she had to admit that Vinty would be dead now if he’d taken the safe route and worn it. As it was, he’d not gotten away scot-free. The man was moaning in pain, his breathing shallow and labored.
Xander sent Mattie to the controls and asked her to calculate the Contessa’s FTL coordinates for their return back to Netera while Tyra and Trey stabilized Vinty. He himself sat in the gunner’s seat and took aim with the heavy artillery. The Andromeda bloomed into a huge ball of fire, and its forward momentum propelled her into the hive. Mattie wondered how come the Andromeda was moving forward. Last she’d seen it, Vinty had the engines on shut-down. The only way this could happen was if the man had run to the deck, started up the engines and set the ship on a forward path, all in the dark, and then opened up the valve to allow the coolant gas to mix with the remaining oxygen on board.
She turned her head to watch Trey and Tyra work on the man who was just an old captain to everyone who knew him. To her, Vinty was a hero.
The Beltine mother ship may have been able to weather the hit were it not for the well-aimed heavy fire from the human fighter ship The Lady Contessa, whose crew caught a glimpse of its final disintegration just before FTL speeds turned the universe around her into a dark blur.
Chapter 15
The news bulletins reported that the rescue of the Andromeda had been a complete success, with no loss of life, despite the fact that the cruiser itself had been a write-off. Doctor Cardew’s name w
as mentioned no less than four times per broadcast, and General Kelton had made a brief appearance to thank her for lending the use of Porteus to the rescue teams, which had been of crucial importance during the rescue, and for lending to the military the use of Quasar V for the transport of civilians back to Netera.
“Gah! To think that woman got away with it again! I hate that about the human race.”
Drew gave the Lentarin a sideways glance and said through a crooked smile, “Really? Bit late to turn racist on us now, don’t you think? Do I have to worry about being murdered in my sleep on my next mission?”
“You should probably worry about that all the time,” Trey quipped.
Xander watched Drew make a mock-terrified face and chuckled. “But it hasn’t turned out all that bad for our side either,” he said. “I guess Simon was right—any publicity is good publicity. Kelton’s just told me he’s had preliminary talks with four or five really wealthy and influential people who are all extremely interested in funding our Adamanta research. So investors are coming forward, and a supervisory group is being set up to prevent history repeating itself.”
“That’s good,” Mattie said, smiling. “I wonder if I know any of them. I shook hands with so many the night of Doctor Cardew’s function.”
“Well, you know one of them for sure. The Excelsior Captain’s widow. I am doing all I can, and I know Kelton will support me in this, to get clearance for these select few to see all the more classified stuff, like the main military research labs and maybe even the joint project we have with the Cordak.”
“Here’s hoping,” said Trey. They all clinked glasses and sipped their drinks. “I still think we were lucky the Beltine didn’t launch any more fighters while they were towing the Andromeda away,” Trey continued. “I wonder why they didn’t. And why they didn’t bail out when it was clear the Andromeda would hit them full-on.”
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that,” Xander said. “They acted really oddly this time around. Even their aim seemed off.”