by David Brin
“3-(alpha-Acetonylbenzyl) — 4-hydroxycoumarin al-kalide mix?” She looked uncertain for a moment then her jaw dropped. “Why, that’s Warfarin! So it’s one of Culla’s dietary supplements! Well then how the hell did a sample get into Dwayne’s pharmacopoeia?”
Jacob smiled ruefully, “I’m afraid that misunderstanding was all my fault. I absentmindedly picked up a sample of one of Culla’s beverage mix tablets back aboard the Bradbury. I was so sleepy then that I forgot about it. It must have gone into the same pocket where I later stashed Dr. Kepler’s samples. They all went together to Dr. Laird’s lab.
“It was just a wild coincidence that one of Culla’s nutrient supplements happened to be identical with an old terrestrial poison, but boy did it have me going in circles! I was thinking Bubbacub slipped it to Kepler to make him unstable, but I was never very happy with that theory.” He shrugged.
“Well I, for one, am relieved the whole thing is solved!” Martine laughed. “I didn’t like what people were thinking about me!”
It was a minor discovery. But somehow clearing up one small, nagging mystery had transformed the mood of those present. They talked animatedly.
The only pall came as Pierre LaRoque passed by, laughing softly. Dr. Martine went to ask him to join them, but the little man just shook his head, then resumed walking in a slow path around the rim of the ship.
Helene stood next to Jacob. She touched the hand that still held Culla’s liquitube.
“Speaking of coincidences, did you take a close look at the formula for Culla’s supplement?” She stopped and looked up, Culla came up to them and bowed.
“If you are finished now, Jacob. I will put thish shticky tube away.”
“What? Oh sure, Culla. Here. Now what were you saying, Helene?”
Even when her face was serious it was hard not to be struck by her beauty. It’s the initial “falling” of love that, for a time, makes listening to one’s lover difficult.
“…I just saying that I noticed an interesting coincidence when Dr. Martine read that chemical formula aloud. Do you remember earlier, when we were talking about organic dye laser’s? Well…”
Helene’s voice faded away. Jacob could see her mouth move, but all he could make out was one word: “…coumarin…”
There was trouble erupting below. His channeled neurosis had mutinied. Mr. Hyde was trying to stop him from listening to Helene. In fact, he suddenly realized, his other half had been holding back its usual tithe of insight ever since Helene had hinted, in their conversation at the edge of the deck, that she wanted him to give her the genes she’d be taking to the stars when the Calypso jumped.
Hyde hates Helene! he realized with a shock. The first girl I’ve met who could begin to replace what I’ve lost (a tremor, like a migraine, threatened to split his skull) and Hyde hates her! (The headache came and went instantly).
What was more, that part of his unconscious had been holding out on him. It had seen all of the pieces and hadn’t let them surface. This was a violation of the agreement. It was intolerable, and he couldn’t figure out why!
“Jacob, are you all right?” Helene’s voice was back. She looked at him quizzically. Over her shoulder he could see Culla, looking down at them from near the food machines.
“Helene,” he said abruptly. “Listen, I left a small box of pills by the Pilot Board. They’re for these headaches I get sometimes… could you please look for them for me?” He brought a hand up to his forehead and grimaced.
“Why… sure,” Helene touched his arm. “Why don’t you come with me? You could lie down. We’ll talk…”
“No,” he took her by the shoulders and gently turned her the right way. “Please, you go. I’ll wait here.” Furiously, he fought down panic at the time it was taking to get her away.
“Okay, I’ll be right back,” Helene said. As she walked away Jacob sighed with relief. Most of those present had their goggles on their belts, per standing orders. The competent and efficient Commandant deSilva had left hers at her couch.
When she had gone about ten meters toward her destination, Helene began to wonder.
Jacob never left any box of pills by the Pilot Board. I would have known it if he had. He wanted to get rid of me! But why?
She looked back. Jacob was just turning away from a food machine with a protein roll in his hand. He smiled at Martin and nodded at Ghen, then started to walk past Fagin to get out onto the open deck. Behind him Culla watched the group with bright eyes, near the gravity-loop hatch.
Jacob didn’t look like he had a headache at all! Helene felt hurt and confused.
Well if he doesn’t want me around, that’s fine. I’ll make a pretense of looking for his damned pills!
She started to turn when, suddenly, Jacob tripped on one of Fagin’s root pods and went sprawling on the deck. The protein roll bounced away and fetched up against the Parametric Laser housing. Before she could react, Jacob was on his feet again, smiling sheepishly. He walked over to pick up the food ball. Bending over, his shoulder touched the barrel of the laser.
Blue light flooded the room instantly. Whooping alarms howled. Helene instinctively covered her eyes behind her arm and grabbed for the goggles at her waist.
They weren’t there!
Her couch was three meters away. She could picture where she was exactly, and where she’d stupidly left the goggles. She turned and dove for them, coming up again in one movement, the protectors over her eyes.
There were bright spots everywhere. The P-laser, shoved out of plumb with the ship’s radius, was sending its beam bouncing about the concave inner surface of the Sunship’s shell. The modulated “contact code” flashed against the deck and dome.
Bodies writhed on the deck near the food machines. No one had approached the P-laser to shut it off. Where were Jacob and Donaldson? Were they blinded in the first instant?
Several figures struggled near the gravity-loop hatch. In the flashing, sepulchral light she saw that they were Jacob Demwa and the chief engineer… and Culla. They… Jacob was trying to shove a bag over the alien’s head!
There was no time to decide what to do. Between intervening in the mysterious fight and eliminating a possible danger to her ship, Helen didn’t have to choose.
She ran over to the P-laser, ducking under faint, crisscrossing trails, and tore out the plug.
The flashing points of light stopped abruptly, except for one that coincided with a shriek of pain and a crash, near the hatchway. The alarms shut off and suddenly there was only the sound of people moaning.
“Captain, what is it? What’s happening?” The voice of the pilot rang out over the intercom. Helene picked up the mike from a couch nearby.
“Hughes,” she said quickly. “What’s ship’s status?”
“Status nominal, sir. But it’s a good thing I had my goggles on! What the devil happened?”
“P-laser got loose. Continue as is. Hold her steady about a klick from the herd. I’ll be back to you soon.” She released the mike and raised her head to shout. “Chen! Dubrowsky! Report!” She peered about in the dimness.
“Over here, skipper!” It was Chen’s voice. Helene cursed and tore off the goggles. Chen was over beyond the hatchway. He knelt over a figure on the deck.
“It’s Dubrowsky,” the man said. “He’s dead. Fried through the eyes.”
Dr. Martine cowered behind Fagin’s thick trunk. The Kanten whistled softly as Helene hurried over.
“Are you two okay?”
Fagin let out a long note that sounded vaguely like a slurred “yes.” Martine nodded once, jerkily, but she stayed clutching Fagin’s trunk. Her goggles were skewed over her face. Helene took them off.
“Come on, Doctor. You have patients.” She pulled at Martine’s arm. “Chen! Go to my office and get the aid-kit! On the double!”
Martine started to get up, then sagged back shaking her head.
Helene gritted her teeth and hauled up on the arm she held, suddenly, snapping the older wom
an upwards with a gasp. Martine staggered to her feet.
Helene slapped her once across the face. “Wake up, Doctor! You’ll help me with these men or so help me I’ll kick your teeth in!” She took Martine’s arm and supported her across the few meters to where Chief Donaldson and Jacob Demwa lay.
Jacob moaned and began to stir. Helene felt her heart rise when he took his arm away from his face. The burns were superficial and they hadn’t touched the eyes. Jacob had his goggles on.
She steered Martine over next to Donaldson and made her sit. The chief engineer was badly seared along the left side of his face. The left lens of his goggles was smashed.
Chen arrived on the run, carrying the aid-kit.
Dr. Martine turned away from Donaldson and shuddered. Then she looked up and saw the crewman with the medical bag. She held out her hands for it.
“Will you need help, Doctor?” Helene asked.
Martine spread instruments on the deck. She shook her head without looking up.
“No. Be quiet.”
Helen called Chen over. “Go look for LaRoque and Culla. Report when you’ve found them.” The man ran off.
Jacob moaned again and tried to rise up on his elbows. Helene got a cloth from the fountain nearby and wet it. She knelt by Jacob and pulled on his shoulders to get his head onto her lap.
He winced as she dabbed gently at his wounds.
“Oh…” he moaned and brought a hand to the top of his head. “I should’ve known better. His ancestors were tree swingers. He’d have to have a chimp’s strength. And he looks so weak!”
“Can you tell me what happened?” she asked softly.
Jacob grunted as he groped beneath his back with his left hand. He tugged on something a couple of times. Finally he pulled out the large bag the protection goggles had come in. He looked at it, then tossed it away.
“My head feels as if it’s been sandblasted,” he said. He pushed himself up into sitting position, wavered for a moment with his hands on his head, then he let them drop.
“Culla wouldn’t happen to be lying unconscious around here, would he? I was hoping I turned into a fighting fool after he knocked me dizzy, but I guess I just blacked out.”
“I don’t know where Culla is,” Helene said. “Now what…?”
Chen’s voice boomed over the intercom.
“Skipper? I’ve found LaRoque. He’s at degrees two-forty. He’s okay. In fact, he didn’t even know anything was wrong!”
Jacob moved over next to Dr. Martins and began to talk to her urgently. Helene stood up and went to the intercom next to the food center. “Have you seen Culla?”
“Nossir, not a sign anywhere. He must be on flip-side.” Chen’s voice dropped. “I had the impression there was a fight going on. Do you know what happened?”
“I’ll get back to you when I know something. Meanwhile you’d better relieve Hughes.” Jacob joined her by the intercom. “Donaldson will be all right, but he’ll need a new eye. Listen, Helene, I’m going to have to go after Culla. Lend me one of your men, will you? Then you’d better get us out of here as fast as you can.”
She whirled. “You just killed one of my men! Dubrowsky’s dead! Donaldson is blinded, and now you want me to send someone else to help you harass poor Culla some more? What madness is this?”
“I didn’t kill anyone, Helene.”
“I saw you, you clumsy oaf! You bumped the p-laser and it went crazy! So did you! Why were you attacking Culla?”
“Helene…” Jacob winced. He brought a hand to his head. “There’s no time to explain. You’ve got to get us out of here. There’s no telling what he’ll do down there now that we know.”
“Explain first!”
“I… I bumped the laser on purpose… I…” Helene’s shipsuit fit so snugly that Jacob would never have thought she had the snug little stun gun that appeared in her hand. “Go on, Jacob,” she said evenly.
“…He was watching me. I knew if I showed a sign I’d caught on, he could blind us all in an instant. I sent you away to get you clear and then went after the goggles bag. I kicked the laser free to confuse him… laser light all over the place…”
“And killed and maimed my men!”
Jacob drew himself together. “Listen, you little nit!” He towered over her. “I turned that beam down! It might blind but it wouldn’t burn!
“Now if you don’t believe me, knock me out! Strap me in! Only get us out of here fast, before Culla kills us all!”
“Culla…”
“His eyes, damnit! Coumarin? His ‘dietary supplement’ is a dye used in lasers! He killed Dubrowsky when he tried to help me and Donaldson!
“He was lying about that laser plant back on his home planet! The Pring have their own source of coherent light! He’s been projecting the ‘adult’ type Sun Ghosts all along! And… my god!” Jacob punched at the air.
“…if his projector is subtle enough to display fake ‘Ghosts’ on the inside of a Sunship shell, it must be good enough to interact with the optical inputs of those Library designed computers! He programmed the computers to tag LaRoque as a Probationer. And… and I was next to him when he programmed Jeff’s ship to self-destruct! He was feeding in commands all the time I was admiring the pretty lights!”
Helene backed away, shaking her head. Jacob took a step toward her, looming large with fists tight, but his face was a mask of self-reproach.
“Why was Culla always the first to spot the humanoid Ghosts? Why were there none seen during the time he was with Kepler on Earth? Why didn’t I think, before this, about Culla’s reasons for volunteering to have his ‘retina’ read during the identity search!”
The words were coming too fast. Helene’s brow knit with tension as she tried to think.
Jacob’s eyes pleaded. “Helene, you’ve got to believe me.”
She hesitated, then cried out, “Oh shit!” and threw herself at the intercom.
“Chen! Get us out of here! Never mind strap-in warning, just put on max thrust and crank up the time-compression! I want to see black sky before I blink twice!”
“Aye sir!” came the reply.
The ship surged upagainst them as the compensation fields were temporarily overcome, sending both Helene and Jacob staggering. The Commandant held onto the intercom.
“All hands, keep your goggles on at all times from now on. Everybody please strap in as quick as you can. Hughes, report to the loop-hatch on the double!”
Outside, the toruses began to pass by more rapidly. As each beast fell below the rim of the deck, its rims flashed brightly as if bidding them adieu.
“I should have caught on too,” Helene said dismally. “Instead I turned off the P-laser and probably let him get away.”
Jacob kissed her quickly, hard enough to leave her lips tingling.
“You didn’t know. I’d have done the same thing in your shoes.”
She touched her lips and stared past him at Dubrowsky’s body. “You sent me away because…”
“Captain,” Chen’s voice interrupted. “I’m having trouble getting the time-compression off automatic. Can I keep Hughes here to help? We’ve also just lost maser link with Hermes.”
Jacob shrugged. “First the maser link to keep word from getting out, then time-compression, then the gravity drive, finally the stasis. I guess the last step is to blow the shields, unless the other steps are sufficient. They should be.”
Helene toggled the intercom. “Negative, Chen. I want Hughes now! Do what you can alone.” She cut the switch.
“I’m going with you.”
“No you aren’t,” he said. He put his goggles back on and picked up the bag from the floor. “If Culla gets to step three we’re cooked, literally. But if I can stop him part-way you’re the only one who’d stand a chance of piloting us out. Now please lend me that gun, it could be useful.”
Helene handed it over. At this stage argument would be ridiculous. Jacob was in charge. She had no ideas of her own.
The quiet
thrumming of the ship changed its rhythm, becoming a low, uneven hum.
Helens answered Jacob’s questioning glance. “It’s the time-compression. He’s already started slowing us down. In more ways than one, we haven’t very much time.”
25. A TRAPPED STATE
Jacob crouched in the hatchway, ready to dive back behind the combing at the sight of a tall, gangling alien. So far, so good. Culla hadn’t been in the gravity loop.
The turnaround route to flip-side, the only route, might have been a good place for an ambush. But Jacob wasn’t particularly surprised that Culla wasn’t there, for two reasons.
The first was tactical. Culla’s weapon operated on line-of-sight. The loop curved very tightly, so the humans could approach within a few meters without being spotted. An object thrown around the loop would travel most of the way with undiminished velocity. Jacob was now sure of this. He and Hughes had thrown several knives from the ship’s galley when they entered the loop. They found them near the flip-side exit in a puddle of ammonia from the liquitubes they’d squeezed ahead of them as they walked the topsyturvy passage.
Culla could have been waiting just beyond the door, but there was another reason he had to leave his, rear undefended. He had only a limited amount of time before the Sunship reached a high orbit. After they got into free space the humans “would be safe from the tossing of the chromospheric storms, and the tough, reflecting physical shell of the ship could deflect enough of the heat of the Sun to keep them alive until help came.
So Culla had to finish them, and himself, off quickly. Jacob felt sure the Pring specialist was by the computer input, ninety degrees around the dome to the right, using his laser eyes to slowly reprogram past the machine’s safeguards.
Why he was doing it was a question that would have to wait.
Hughes picked up the knives. With the bag, some liquitubes, and Helene’s little stunner, they composed their armory.
Classically, since the alternative was death for all of them, the answer would be for one man to sacrifice himself so the other could finish Culla off.