by A. C. Ellas
Each time he Chambered as he worked his way across the Tarasch system, he took massive sets of readings, compiling an enormous amount of data on local conditions, variants, sun storm activity and the core of the instability. Cai looked at the data from every angle, running his ‘puters to the ragged edges of their capabilities as he came to a conclusion that defied conventional wisdom.
Tarasch had a supergiant star in orbit with two white dwarfs, both of which were feeding off the giant. This was believed to be the cause of the instability, for the supergiant flared frequently as material was siphoned off. Cai wasn’t so sure now. He had plenty of data, so he ran his computers full tilt again, modeling the system based on his theory. To his surprise, the data matched. In every case, every test that Cai could devise, the modeling and the data supported his theory. Tarasch had a singularity at its heart, hidden by the interactions of the three stars in rapid orbit around each other and it. The stars were orbiting just fast enough to avoid being captured by the event horizon, but the stresses the singularity placed on the stars as it tried to suck them in was the root cause of the instability of the system.
As his model unfolded from the current to prediction of the very near future movements, Cai pulsed a course correction to Questral, accelerating to the maximum that his hull could withstand. If his model of Tarasch was correct, a massive flare was imminent as the dwarf gamma slewed around the giant alpha. Of course, he didn’t include that in his course data, so a minute later, Ortat was calling, Cai, what are you doing?
Cai walked through the data quickly. Since Ortat had trained him, they understood each other well enough for Cai to explain the situation briefly. Ortat looked at Cai’s raw data, the modeling and then the conclusion. The young Astrogator-elect had made a significant discovery, and if the predicted flare came, he’d prove himself beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Laughing Owl and Questral were screaming out-system, almost to the hardpoint when they both recorded the massive flare.
Cai reached out with everything he had and seized the hardpoint before it could move. Once he had it, he threw a magline at Questral.
I have the hardpoint, Cai pathed, Link for the jump to Sol.
Raz didn’t hesitate, catching the magline, he docked Questral on the Laughing Owl, the two ships belly to belly. Laughing Owl’s shields expanded as Raz shut down so as not to throw off Cai’s calculations.
Cai ripped the jump as easily and as smoothly as if he’d been alone, with hours to crunch the numbers instead of the minutes he’d taken. He emerged in the outer reaches of Sol system less than point oh five percent variance from the target point he’d aimed at. The Questral released, resuming travel under its own power as Cai pulsed his jump data and course to Earth orbit.
* * * *
The Questral remained silent as Cai exited the Chamber and went directly to his bed. He slept for twelve hours, completely exhausted. When his six entered his bedroom and made use of his body, he didn’t even notice, sleeping blissfully through the entire thing. Sra, however, did notice it. He glared at Ortat. “I told you to cancel that subroutine!”
Ortat swallowed, his face pale. “I did cancel it! I don’t know what’s going on here, because the cancel order went through without a hitch.”
Sra’s eyes widened as he rapidly reviewed the data, proving that Ortat hadn’t lied. “I want full diagnostics as soon as we hit Earth orbit. Once the Laughing Owl is secure, knock ‘em out and find the problem. I want Cai and his six fully checked out and this problem fixed before Cai has to deal with a full crew!”
* * * *
He woke up, still groggy, but parking the Laughing Owl in Earth orbit was a cakewalk. He looked down at the blue planet spinning beneath him and realized, for the first time, that he would never again set foot on it, or on any planet, for Astrogators were not permitted to leave their ships.
Ortat contacted him. Astrogator Cai, well done. Please move the Laughing Owl to berth forty-eight.
Cai replied, Yes, Trainer. Thank you. He changed his velocity, using thrusters to allow the space station to catch up to him, and he pulled the cruiser into the proper alignment an hour later, barely kissing the bumpers as the station lines snaked out to capture him in their cradle. The docking tube extended, sealing against his main airlock, and once the pressures equalized, Cai unlocked his airlock for the first time, opening his ship to the station. He hooked the ship to station power as he spun his systems offline. Then, he exited the Chamber, feeling a sense of regret.
Ortat showed up quickly, escorting a group of Guild medics. Cai stared at them, and all their equipment before his gaze transferred to Ortat. “Is there a problem, Trainer?”
Ortat nodded once. “Astrogator Cai, we need to run a full diagnostic on you and your six before you can go back out.”
Cai raised an eyebrow. “That sounds okay, but there must be a catch, or why would you sound so nervous about it?”
Ortat licked his lips. “We need to take you down to the guild hall to run the tests.”
Cai’s eyes widened. “I thought I couldn’t leave the ship? Won’t the neurologics die?”
Ortat sighed. “We can rig a repeater that will fool the ship. You’ll fall asleep in here before we transport you, and you won’t wake up until you’re back here, so from your end, no effort is involved. All I need is your consent; you’re no longer a trainee, but a full Astrogator with all the rights and privileges thereof.”
Cai blinked then nodded his understanding. “I consent, Trainer, if you really feel that this is necessary.”
“Yes, I do. Thank you, Cai.” Ortat gestured to the bedroom. “Go ahead and lie down while we set up the repeater.
Cai yawned agreement as he walked into his bedroom, sprawling across the bed without bothering to undress.
It wasn’t long before the medics came in. They plugged a device into his data port and he knew nothing more. If anyone had been aboard, they might have remarked on the strange procession of Guild personnel escorting a floating pallet and followed by an Astrogator’s six.
Epilogue
Nicholas Steele sat across the desk from Admiral Becher, trying to feign an air of nonchalance.
Becher looked at him after a moment’s perusal of some hard-copy papers. “Captain Steele, unfortunately we can’t let you keep the Scarlet Dragon. I’m sure you can understand that a ship that large needs an experienced hand at the helm.” Becher smiled sympathetically at Steele’s carefully masked disappointment.
“I understand, sir,” Steele replied politely. Internally, he thought, No doubt about it, I’ll get a garbage scow or a broken-down scout without jump capability.
Admiral Becher continued smoothly, “We would like to offer you the command of an older ship called Laughing Owl. But I ask that you hear me out before you accept or decline the command, Captain, since the situation would be…interesting.”
Steele raised an eyebrow, he’d never heard of the Laughing Owl before, and he knew the name of every active-duty interstellar ship the Corps had. “What situation, sir?”
“Usually, we assign new Captains such as yourself to ships with experienced Astrogators, and vice versa, of course.” Becher’s smile was actually warm. “But if you accept this command, the situation will be truly unique, because you will both be new.”
Steele cocked his head. “Is that why I haven’t heard of the ship?”
Becher nodded. “Laughing Owl’s been at Hevertich for years, being rewired and revamped. The ship’s registration number is 193, and it had a decent record of service under its original Astrogator.”
“What can you tell me about Laughing Owl’s new ‘Gator?” Steele asked immediately, intrigued.
Becher’s eyebrow went up. “Are you accepting command?”
Steele took a deep breath and rolled the dice. “Yes, sir.”
“In that case, Captain, I can tell you that Cai is quite exceptional. Laughing Owl is not a permanent assignment for him, he is
slotted for the second Star Wolf class heavy cruiser. He’s one of only eight ‘Gators to meet the requirements, and in fact, he exceeds the requirements by a large margin. But he’s young, and we’d rather give him some experience and seasoning before he takes a Star Wolf than stasis him.
“The Guild Trainers describe him as intelligent, quick, precise and artistic. He brought the Laughing Owl here from Hevertich via Tarasch. He completely mapped and modeled the Tarasch system and accurately predicted a massive solar flare. He piggybacked the Questral through the jump from Tarasch to Sol.”
Still trying to mask his elation at the thought of getting to work with Cai, Steele blinked. “Why? I mean, if a piggyback was necessary, shouldn’t the larger ship have carried the smaller one? Questral’s much bigger than any light cruiser.”
Bacher grinned boyishly. “Same thing I asked. Here’s the answer. One, it was Cai’s final exam for becoming a full ‘Gator. Two, Cai already had a lock on the hardpoint, he reached ten thousand klicks past his ship to grab the hardpoint before the flare could shift it. And three, Cai is much stronger than Raz, the Questral’s ‘Gator.”
The implications gave Nick pause. An over-powered cruiser…oh, the fun he was going to have.
“Actually, you’ve a real opportunity here. Laughing Owl’s ‘Gator is much stronger than the norm for that class. Between the two of you, I expect that the stories will be quite interesting.”
“We’ll do our best, sir.” Nick wasn’t about to admit he already had ideas. “What can you tell me about him personally, as opposed to professionally?”
Becher shrugged. “Young Astrogators aren’t noted for having personalities, you know. He’s supposed to be very focused, very intense and extremely intelligent. The only really personal thing the Guild saw fit to mention about Cai is that he is apparently gay.”
Nick smiled slightly as his heart skipped a beat at the last part. He’d never heard of a gay ‘Gator before, but then, ‘Gators were good at keeping secrets. Of course, the fact that Cai was gay was giving him the strangest urge to do a happy dance right there on the admiral’s desk. He said quietly, “I’m sure we’ll get along fine, sir.”
Becher raised an eyebrow. “His sexuality doesn’t bother you?”
“No, sir. I’ve had gay friends from before I went to the Academy. I’ve always thought that a person’s sexuality was their private business. So long as Cai can keep his orientation out of our professional relationship, there will be no problem.” But he was very, very interested in exploring a personal relationship with Cai.
* * * *
Cai woke up gradually, sensing the ship around him before he was even half awake. He could actually feel the temperature variations on his hull as he orbited the Earth, even though he wasn’t in his Chamber. He could even feel the faint caress of the solar wind as it beat against him.
A thought tickled the back of his mind, making him focus a little more. Cai, whispered the thought, Cai, wake up.
Cai opened his eyes, awake now and lying on his own bed. He had a sense of the time gap…over a week! He shook his head and got up. Ortat was in his front room, of course.
“Trainer,” he acknowledged groggily. One of his six handed him coffee, which he sipped gratefully.
Ortat nodded. “Astrogator, we think we’ve fixed the problem. If it recurs, notify us, and we’ll determine what to do next.”
“What problem?” Cai asked with a yawn as he sat down. “And why did it take so long to fix?”
“We shut down the sex subroutine,” Ortat said, “and yet your six continued to use you after that. That, we felt, was a real problem, requiring the full diagnostic.”
“What did you find out? What caused it?” Cai asked sharply, slightly alarmed.
“You caused it,” Ortat said, to Cai’s surprise. “According to our data, you subconsciously felt that the usage of your body by your six was their right or something. Even though our subroutine was cancelled, yours still operated and the six behaved accordingly. We had to remove your subroutine, that’s what took so long. There is a chance, however, that your subconscious mind will reinitiate the subroutine. If it does, we need to know.”
Cai finished his first mug of coffee. “What will happen if it does?”
“I don’t know, but you’d probably be pulled until your subconscious could be repaired.”
Cai grimaced and nodded. “I understand, thank you. What’s the status of my crew?”
Ortat smiled at Cai’s unsubtle subject change. “The first of them are due to arrive later today. Your use of Tarasch got us here ahead of schedule, which gave us the time for the diagnostic without delaying the crew any.”
Cai raised an eyebrow. “Who will I be getting as captain?”
“Captain Nicholas Steele.” Ortat grimaced faintly.
Cai noticed Ortat’s facial expression. “How many years has he been a captain? What’s his record like?”
Ortat’s grimace became more pronounced. “You’re his first command.”
Both of Cai’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I thought new ‘Gators got assigned to experienced captains?”
“Usually, yes. But admiralty thinks the two of you are…compatible. You’re both young, exceptional and prone to push the envelope. Have you heard of the Scarlet Dragon affair?”
“The what?”
“The Scarlet Dragon—one of the patrol cruisers. It was attacked by a new alien force nobody knows anything about. The captain and most of the senior officers were killed. A young lieutenant managed to assume command and get the ship out of immediate danger. He then lured the attacker into range of a heavy cruiser, which finished it off. The lieutenant was both commended and promoted.
Cai smiled slyly. “Captain Steele was the lieutenant, I presume?”
“Your presumption is correct. He’ll arrive later today.”
Cai began to ask, “Is he—”
Ortat cut him off. “We don’t know what his sexual orientation is, Cai.”
Cai flushed at Ortat’s remark. “I wasn’t going to ask that,” he replied. “I was going to ask if he’s aware that I am new as well?”
“You were thinking about it, Cai,” Ortat smirked. “I know you too well for you to get away with pretending that you weren’t wondering. But to answer your other question, yes, he is aware of your level of experience.”
To be continued…
About the Author
I’ve long since embraced my inner nerd. I revel in my Greekness and in my Geekness. I have two lives—the mundane reality of life here on earth and the far more interesting life in my head. I love ancient history, ancient forms of combat, target archery, sabre fencing, anything to do with horses, organic food and sustainable farming. Most especially do I love science fiction and fantasy of all varieties, especially conventions, which are the only gatherings on earth where I can find many people just as strange as I am.
You can contact me at [email protected] or through my website www.ac-ellas.com