Attunga

by Peter Wood

‘We’ll get away. Once I turn off the multi-spectrum beam our stealth protection will come into effect and most of the missiles will be confused.’

  Wirrin interrupted. ‘How long for our Comets to get to K74?’

  ‘They’ll go at high G so it will be nearly two hours.’

  ‘That can’t be right. You just said it was less than that from K74 with only 10G and the Comets are twice as fast as that.’

  ‘The Comets have to be stopped when they get there. It’s a different calculation, Calen.’

  ‘Wombats! I’m not thinking right. Of course it is.’

  ‘That’s not good enough.’

  ‘Why not, Wirrin? It’s the best they can do.’

  ‘If it’s the rogue organising this then I bet he’ll have everything happening at once and that means the K74 asteroids would be on their way before our Comets can get to K74.’

  ‘Not by much … twelve minutes.’

  ‘Yes, but it would be better to stop them before they started.’

  Calen shook his head. ‘I’m getting confused by all these times.’

  Wirrin wasn’t, and Thom was trained for this kind of planning so he wouldn’t be either, but it was worth twenty seconds to build a clearly labelled timeline on a section of the display for easy reference.

  ‘Calen, send another transmission to Pirramar and Quambi telling them to watch carefully for any sign of the Cadre ships moving towards those asteroids. I’m sure they’re already doing it but I think it’s very important. Explain everything we’ve been talking about.’

  Wirrin turned to Thom. ‘Thom, I might be able to get the picofactory working for us.’

  ‘I hope so and I can tell you’ve already got some ideas.’

  ‘That sounded very dangerous when you said most of the missiles would be confused, so I’m wondering if we could make some sort of anti-missile or jamming device for any that weren’t? And maybe I could build some sort of stealth drone like we used at Freedom, but designed to disable a drive engine?’

  ‘Forget about anti-missiles, Wirrin. We’d need hundreds, or even thousands, and our little ship simply hasn’t got enough resources. A jamming device could be perfect but it would have to be incredibly powerful because as soon as it was released it would rapidly fall behind. A drone to disable Cadre engines would be brilliant.’

  ‘How long would the jammer have to last?’

  ‘Ideally for at least nine or ten seconds while our high G takes us out of range.’

  ‘What about the stealth drone idea?’

  ‘It sounds brilliant but it would use a lot of material and I doubt if we could make more than one.’

  ‘I had another idea, too. Tell me what you think about this.’

  Thom listened, then spluttered, which wasn’t a good idea under double gravity.

  ‘Wirrin, that’s brilliant. You should be in charge of security. The AIs might be able to help, but I doubt it.’

  Despite his body straining against the extra G, and his mind straining against what was ahead, Wirrin was pleased. He now had something to get his teeth into. The immediate priority was a request to Pirramar.

  ***

  Half an hour later Wirrin finished his planning for a missile-jamming device. Part of that time had been taken up with Calen, who, tense and quiet, had only relaxed when word came through from Sonic that all the enhanced dolphins were aboard the Comet and that he was safe and busily occupied with his dolphin version of the InfoSystem.

  More time was taken with Thom in a discussion about the best use of the limited resources for the picofactory but nothing could be resolved till they knew more precisely the amount of materials the different projects would need.

  ‘Thom, I figure we can allow ten per cent of our resources for the jamming devices. They’re very small and we’d be able to make two effective deployments before we ran out.’

  ‘How do you define a deployment?’

  ‘You said they’d need to work for at least nine or ten seconds and they don’t. They’re so powerful they’d burn out after 2.9 seconds and we’ll have to release four of them at very carefully timed intervals.’

  Thom thought before answering. ‘A series of releases like that is much better than a single one because it keeps the jamming in closer proximity to the ship. We really need to allow for seven deployments though, not just four. Is there anything you can do about that?’

  ‘I’ve got an idea but it means cannibalising parts of the ship.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I can design a techbot to dismantle and process ship components like non-essential walls or the grav-bunks, and make it with the picofactory. It would use up resources but we’d gain overall, maybe enough for two or three more deployments.’

  ‘Do it. Anything that can make a difference is important. Can you tell me how strong the jamming signals are?’

  Wirrin found the information and flashed it on Thom’s display.

  ‘Is that real? Just as well I asked. I’ll have to protect our scanners for the duration or they’ll be fried.’

  Wirrin jumped on that statement. ‘Could we get them close to the Cadre ships and put their scanners out of action?’

  ‘That’s a good idea but it won’t work. Their units are much heavier duty than ours and not nearly as sensitive. It’s the sensitive parts, which give us our advantages, that I have to be careful about. Calen, I’m going to teach you some basic manual operations of the ship so you can take over if something happens to me or Wirrin.’

  Calen gulped. ‘Okay! You think there’s a possibility I might need to?’

  ‘Using the maximum G that Wirrin has given us will be vital and you’ll cope with higher levels than Wirrin or me. If we reach an effective 5G in here I mightn’t even be able to move my hands.’

  ‘And you think I might? Thom, all my experience is in water, and that’s practically zero-G.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter. You push yourself every day and your oxygen distribution and circulation levels are way better than ours. That’s what counts. When you’re ready we’ll do some trials and see what happens.’

  Wirrin left them to it and started on his engine disabler project. His own plans needed every moment he could cadge.

  ***

  Wirrin closed his eyes and forced his mind to slow down. He was on top of the engine disabler but this next project was proving trickier than expected and, pressured and frustrated, he knew it was time to take a break. The last hour had been eventful with Thom and Calen training with the ship controls, and then when that was finished, they’d had an eleven-second trial at the absolute maximum acceleration the ship could generate.

  Wirrin didn’t like it. At just under 5G in the cabin, an invisible force trapped him in his seat and the effort to move his hands was too much after four or five seconds.

  Thom lasted about the same time but Calen, proving their point, somehow managed to keep his control all the way through.

  He said a repeat for each of the seven Cadre ships would be far too much but Wirrin and Thom both expected that when the time came his recuperative ability and determination would pull him through.

  Calen asked about options if they couldn’t return to the habitats but Thom cut him short because, for now, they needed to keep positive. Next there was the distraction of the release and successful triggering of a single missile-jamming device.

  Half an hour’s break would be ideal, but five minutes was all Wirrin would allow himself.

  ***

  Wirrin snapped his eyes open to check on times. Seven minutes. He’d relaxed, or the best version of that he could manage with double weight, and gone slightly longer than he meant.

  So, an hour and twenty minutes till the ship matched velocity with the asteroid, and fifty minutes before acceleration was cut back to just under the limits of the grav-compensators.

  Thom and Calen were motionless in their seats with their eyes closed. That would end with the change to single G and they’d become very busy, especially Thom.r />
  The next check was on the progress of the techbot. Yes, it was doing well, and there was enough reclaimed material built up for an extra five jamming devices.

  Now, time to focus on the InfoSystem.

  ***

  Red warning lights flashed briefly.

  Pirramar’s image flickered into existence.

  ‘Thom, Wirrin, Calen. Our situation is now critical. Nine pairs of Cadre ships are connecting with asteroids, two of which have already begun accelerating in our direction, and our correlators indicate a ninety-eight per cent probability that Warrakan will be impacted by the large asteroid.’

  Chapter 36

  The trio stared, transfixed in disbelief, shock, and horror, while Pirramar bade them do what they could and directed both Thom and Wirrin to some technical information he was sending. When the holo flickered off, Wirrin, his mind awhirl, sat for a moment till a soft sound twisted his attention.

  The G force switched to normal and Thom and Wirrin leapt from their seats and rushed to enfold Calen in a powerful group hug.

  ‘I don’t understand. How can they want to hurt people?’

  This question had arisen with every encounter against K74, and the trio, in their bafflement at such an alien outlook, often discussed it with each other, trying various explanations and theories.

  ‘Think about it later. Right now we can help to stop it and you know we’re good at that. Remember, Sonic will be waiting for us when it’s over.’

  Wirrin sensed the tension ebb as Calen turned and, with the slightest smile, responded to Thom’s typical and practical attempt to ease the moment.

  ‘I know. I’m all right. Get back to your controls and I’ll watch what Wirrin’s doing.’

  They hugged again with a special feeling of closeness before moving back to their preparations.

  ‘Are we all ready? I’m switching the extra G back in for another twenty minutes and then we’ll have half an hour at normal before match-up. Calen, I’m sending two simulations to your console. The first one is straightforward practice with ship controls you’ve already learnt and the second one’s to link that with multi-visuals.’

  ‘Multi-visuals?’

  ‘It just means keeping an eye on more than one display. We’ll need a separate screen for each Cadre ship.’

  ‘Seven at once? Don’t you do this automatically with the ship’s electronics?’

  ‘Not when we release those jamming devices. All the high-level stuff will get damaged if I don’t turn it off and it’s right when we apply that maximum G, so I might be too busy, or not even functioning.’

  Wirrin watched Calen think that through.

  ‘So this is why we had the experiment with the eleven seconds of high G? I thought all I’d have to do was something basic, but this means controlling the ship at a really critical moment.’

  ‘You might be, but I’ll have a range of pre-sets organised for you and it won’t be as hard as it sounds. You’re already good with the visuals and when you complete these sims you’ll know exactly what to do.’

  ***

  ‘A major development, Thom. Our AIs on the companion Comets for Quambi have taken over the two Cadre ships controlling one of the nine asteroids and completely disabled them. That asteroid is now rendered harmless and the companions are in pursuit of another. In nineteen and a half minutes the first Comet from Warrakan will match velocity with the leading asteroid and endeavour to neutralise it. Minutes after that all our Comets will be in contention.’ Pirramar finished, rather abruptly, and Wirrin and Calen couldn’t help smiling at Thom’s satisfied grunt.

  ‘Five minutes to grav-normal and thirty-five minutes to match-up. Eliminating that asteroid is great news because it shows that the mobile AIs will be able to stop the others.’

  It did sound good and Wirrin wondered how long it would take for the two companion Comets to reach another asteroid. It wouldn’t be long because their acceleration was way superior. Yes, really good, because when the other Comets with AIs arrived there’d be a total of five ships disabling the Cadre aggressors.

  ***

  What a relief! Wirrin felt his confidence lift with the abrupt easing of the heavy hand of thrust.

  The grav-compensators were now able to cope and maintain the cabin at normal Earth gravity. No more straining to do the simplest thing. It was time to initiate and oversee his special tasks for the picofactory.

  The holo alerts flashed red and Wirrin instantly put his picofactory monitoring on hold. Why the alerts? Pirramar had been appearing without them quite routinely for hours. Something must be wrong.

  ‘Wirrin, be prepared for an attack on your electronics when the Cadre ships become aware of your presence. I’m transmitting a protective package that should be sufficient but you’ll need to integrate it with your ship’s security systems. The situation here is in full crisis with the negation of our ability to control Cadre ships.’

  Wirrin felt his chest tighten.

  ‘The Quambi companions approached a second asteroid and were hit with an unprecedented level of powerful and complex priority-trap signals which, while not damaging, required the activation of their quarantine zones and resulted in the loss of their ability to neutralise the Cadre ships.’

  Wirrin briefly wondered why. It must be something to do with the extra time required to work through the quarantine interface.

  ‘An attempt to stealth in and disable the Cadre drives was blocked by the presence of a large number of K74 surveillance drones and proximity mines as well as the continuous detonation of small nuclear devices in the asteroid’s wake. The companion Comets are moving to initiate an alternate strategy, which will require the concerted effort of every Comet. Our available time has now shrunk to critical levels.

  ‘Thom, a logistical overview of what is happening is now resident in your InfoSystem and in the remaining twenty-seven minutes before your engagement you will need to consider the effects of reduced stealth ability and deadly atomics on any actions you take.’

  Pirramar’s serious demeanour shifted to a smile.

  ‘We have a special transmission for you from the Comet.’

  The holo shimmered and transformed to the dolphin pool on the main deck where Sonic, positioned at his InfoSystem, was looking directly at them.

  ‘Our greatest adventure yet brothers. We will thwart the power games of the Cadre and tomorrow we will dive together in our favourite sea caves.’

  A trill of sound burst forth, sending the hairs of Wirrin’s scalp tingling, then died as the holo cut off.

  ‘What was that? He gave me goosebumps.’

  Calen shook his head wonderingly. ‘I’m not exactly sure. I picked up danger, excitement, urgency, and a sense that he wanted us there with him. The only time I’ve heard him make a sound anything like that was against the tiger shark at Monkey Mia.’

  ‘You heard all that? I mostly thought he was encouraging us. Calen, you need to concentrate on the simulations.’

  ‘And you need to centre yourself before the match-up, Thom. Turn your brain off for the next fifteen minutes.’

  Wirrin caught the amused nod of assent as Thom deliberately settled in his command chair and closed his eyes. A few seconds of contact with Sonic had done wonders for them all.

  Well, time to focus on the picofactory. The next fifteen minutes while Thom was quiet would probably be the last opportunity to concentrate without interruption.

  ***

  ‘Your stats with the multi-visuals are looking great, Calen. I knew you’d pick it up quickly. The next round will be for real.’ Thom nodded. ‘Wirrin, Pirramar’s last report has been worrying me. How much raw material do we have left for the picofactory?’

  ‘Hardly any. I’ve kept a small amount for emergencies and there’s nothing left we can safely cannibalise.’

  ‘Use it. I want you to design a remote collector to harvest material from the asteroid. If you can manage that we’ll try and stock up enough material to build an extra engine dis
abler in case we lose our stealth. Can you finish that in the next ten minutes?’

  ‘Um! I’ll try.’

  Wirrin turned to his InfoSystem with ideas already rushing through his mind. An external collector would need stealth but that was no problem. It just meant incorporating the specifications from the engine disabler, which, with its chameleon function, was almost as advanced as the ship itself. It would need a decent size cargo space too. Not good. The limited resources would be too big a constraint. Unless …

  Very pleased with himself Wirrin hummed with satisfaction and focused on his InfoSystem.

  ***

  ‘It’s done! The picofactory will have the modifications implemented in another eight minutes.’

  That was three minutes over Thom’s time line but there was nothing to be done about that.

  ‘Modifications? The techbot can’t go into space. I thought you’d have to design something completely new.’

  ‘I used the engine disabler unit instead. It’s already got stealth and a drive so I replaced the disabler section with a collector module. That meant I could use nearly sixty per cent of the emergency resource materials to attach external cargo containers instead of only twenty-five per cent. It means nearly three times as much cargo capability and when the unit returns it’ll only take a moment to disconnect the containers and swap the disabler module back in.’

  ‘External? That will spoil the stealth.’

  ‘No it won’t. I linked the containers with the unit’s chameleon function. The stealth won’t change.’

  ‘Dingoes, Wirrin! You’re a genius. Will that mean enough material to build a second disabler or will we need more scrounging trips?’

  ‘Plenty, and some left over for surprises as well as keeping our five per cent emergency level. The process from launch to return will take at least nine minutes though, so I don’t think there’ll be time for any other trips.’

  Thom frowned.

  ‘This is going to hold us up. If our stealth’s going to be compromised we need to get the extra disabler launched before they know about us.’ He thought for a moment. ‘We’ll stealth to the leading face of the asteroid and get the remote collector launched as soon as it’s ready. It means a hold-up of almost twenty minutes but if the disablers can stop two Cadre ships it definitely will be worth the delay.’