Castaway Resolution

by Eric Flint

  “That makes sense,” Whips interjected. “But still, power needed to drive through the water is related to the cube of the velocity. I’d think if you could do fifty easy before, even thirty shouldn’t be straining it now.”

  “I think so,” Sakura said, “but Tav’s probably right to lowball it. That means we have leeway in case something breaks down. There’s nothing wrong with finding out we can do it faster. Remember, too, we’re going to be loading Emerald Maui down a lot more.”

  “Stuffing her to the gills, to be accurate,” the sergeant said. “Since we don’t know what the consequences of this strike will be, we have to be ready to live as long as we can on board Emerald Maui. Maybe we’ll get lucky an’ just be able to land on another continent safely, maybe not, but let’s make the worst-case bet.”

  “No argument from me, Sergeant,” Saki said. She frowned at the projected map. “You know, Tav, I think this might be a better course.” She caused a line with several curves to appear.

  “Why? That makes our course longer.”

  “Yes, but it also puts some islands in between us and anything that might be coming outward. Maybe not much protection, but wouldn’t every little bit help?”

  “Hm. Yes, you may be right. Flash ignition won’t be a problem for us inside Emerald Maui, of course—our tail will be facing the blast, and no one will be looking at it—so what we mainly want to avoid is impact and damage from whatever the impact throws up. That could be giant waves—though the models are still really fuzzy on that—and debris thrown up and coming down.”

  “Some of that might take a while to come down, too,” Caroline added. “That kind of impact can eject material into orbit, or near-orbit and drop back down after several hours.”

  “Still, not likely any of it will hit us straight on, and Emerald Maui’s proved she’s tough,” Tavana said, pride evident in his voice. “This old girl can take anything we ask her to go through.”

  “Let’s hope that continues,” Campbell said. “Still, I like the idea of putting as much of pretty much anything between us and a dinosaur-killer.”

  “Okay, then we will follow Saki’s plan,” Tav said. “It should not be difficult; we do not need to go to any precise place, just run fast and not run into anything.”

  “Remember to be careful when we first leave,” Pearce interjected through the omnis. She was, Saki knew, down on the beach loading everything they wanted to carry into Emerald Maui—at least, everything that they didn’t need right now. “Not only is there still debris left from the first strike, but now the island-eaters have made a bunch more. Zoom in from satellites shows a lot of junk in the water and some of it’s drifting near us.”

  Saki grimaced. “Part of the problem of being a floating continent—you drift right along with all the junk.”

  “That will slow down our departure speed,” Tavana said, studying the images Pearce had indicated. “We couldn’t go fast at all bringing the kids back, and from those pictures it’s even messier. We’ll have to do the first five, ten kilometers pretty slow.”

  “And we have to assume there might be other things we’ll run into to slow us up,” Campbell said, “which brings us right back to those pessimistic speed assumptions. Keep ’em that way.”

  “Will do, Sergeant,” Sakura said. “Pessimism is our middle name now!”

  “Okay,” said Tavana. “So if the engine gives out, what do we do then?”

  “Tavana!”

  Campbell started to chuckle, but then she heard him cut off. “We laugh, but it might be worthwhile to think out even that situation. Say we get out a few hundred kilometers and something happens—another piece of floating island gets stuck in the intake or something. What can we do? Is there anything we can do? Will we survive? Think about it, everyone. Sure, we hate to think of that kind of disaster…but—”

  “—but,” Sakura picked up, “Lincoln’s been throwing disasters at us all along, so maybe looking forward wouldn’t be a bad idea. The reactor we can rely on, though, right?”

  “I’d think so. Anyone have a reason not?”

  “Only if we ran out of fuel. It’s not even close to its overhaul interval and we’ve mostly not been pushing it.” Xander displayed the current statistics. “So yes, if you’re doing disaster planning you can at least count on having power available. Just maybe not the engine, if something happens.”

  “Great. Well…I guess it’s something to work on. Whips?”

  She saw that Whips had made his way, slowly and painfully, to the stream nearby and was luxuriating in water flowing over him. “Ooooohhhh that’s good. Um, yes, I can work on that, Saki. There might be something we could do, but the more of these problems we solve the more…what was that name? Roog Gold-something?”

  “Rube Goldberg,” the sergeant said. “You mean if we keep having to improvise pretty soon it’ll get ridiculous.”

  “Something like that. But I’ll think about it.” The Bemmie slowly waved his tentacle-arms through the water. “One thing I won’t argue with is that it can’t hurt to plan ahead.”

  “Darn right,” Saki said. “Sure beats the heck out of having to figure it out after.” She stood up and opened up one of the nearby equipment boxes. “Right now, though, I plan to go to some fishing. Want to come with me, Tav?”

  Tavana smiled. “I would love to, Saki!”

  “Just don’t forget to actually do some fishing,” Whips said, his skin patterning into a laugh.

  Sakura stuck out her tongue, then laughed herself and, linking arms with Tavana, set out toward the shore.

  Chapter 44

  “This is going to be crowded, isn’t it?” Xander said, looking around.

  “With twice as many people and the extra supplies, no way around it,” said a buzzing voice.

  Xander managed not to jump, and turned to look at Whips without being too tense. I’m getting better.

  He doubted that he’d ever be able to see a raylamp without his pulse skyrocketing, but his brain was finally letting the differences—and there were a lot of them—between the slimy predators and Bemmies come to the fore. Whips’ mouth still creeped Xander out, but it was less instinctive a reaction than it had been. “Guess not,” he said. “But it’s actually…kinda nice. All the empty seats used to remind me how alone we were, and now, well, we aren’t.”

  “And thank God for that,” Campbell said, stepping in from the cargo area. “Neither group would’ve done half as well as both of us together.” He turned toward a thumping noise in back. “Maddox, watch it! You gotta put all that back and secure it!”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Speaking of securing,” Xander said to Whips, “let’s get you strapped in. You’re not going to load any cargo and Laura’d rather you stayed still.”

  Whips gave a bubbling sigh, but rippled a pattern that Xander thought meant reluctant agreement. “Guess we might as well.”

  Xander laid out the harness with bracing plates and watched as Whips undulated himself onto the support structure. That motion was also a bit disquieting, as it did echo the rippling motion of the raylamps.

  “That bothers you, huh?” Whips’ voice wasn’t annoyed, more dryly amused.

  “Sorry. A little, but it’s a lot better—a lot better—than it was.”

  “I can sense it. Smell, movement, all that—you’re more just uncomfortable than terrified.”

  “A lot better. But,” he tried not to look too embarrassed, “still not great.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You had a good reason, unlike lots of people I met before who just didn’t like us for no real reason at all.”

  “Being mobbed by completely different creatures isn’t a good reason,” Xander muttered, as he carefully secured the straps around Whips. In theory, Whips could do this himself—his three arms were extremely dexterous and had an astonishing range of motion—but he was still recovering and there was no need to force him to do the work.

  Whips’ retort was a sound that was a cross bet
ween a growl and a balloon losing air, utterly dismissive. “It’s not a logical reason but it’s a good reason. Friend of mine, Smokerunner, when he was young he got attacked in the smokes—the vents that cloud the water—and barely escaped. For about three years after that he freaked out whenever the water got cloudy, and, well, most of the time the water’s at least a little cloudy. Took that long for the Elders and the therapists to get him back on level. So don’t feel bad, you’re doing great.”

  “Thanks, Whips. That means a lot coming from you.” He pulled two more straps. “How’s that feel? Loose? Too tight?”

  “Pretty good—tighten the ones around my tail just a little bit, maybe two, three centimeters?…yeah, that’s good. Now you can just hook everything in.”

  “Right.” The Bemmie’s crash webbing and support, the substitute for human crash couches, was secured to the floor and wall with self-tightening hooks that were locked onto restraining loops on both surfaces. It only took a few moments to get them all attached.

  “Good job, Xander,” Laura said as she came in. “Telemetry confirms you’ve got it secured right.”

  “Let’s hope that was wasted effort,” Whips said. “I don’t want to actually test how well this secures me in a crash!”

  “Ha!” Tavana laughed from in front. “The plan, it does not include any crashing, but the meteor has to cooperate.” The big Tahitian boy strapped himself into the pilot’s position.

  “I see Sakura lost the coin toss,” Xander said with a grin.

  “Unfortunately,” said the girl in question, entering from the main hatch, carrying two rolls of bedding which she tossed to Campbell, who disappeared in back to secure them. “I wanted to take her out of port.”

  “But this is just as well,” Tavana said. “You have not actually driven Emerald Maui before. You will take over later—we have about ninety hours of driving to do, after all!”

  “Sure you don’t want me to do it, Tavana?” Campbell asked.

  “If you would rather do it, Sergeant, I will unstrap and move,” Tavana said, but Xander could hear the reluctance in his tone.

  “Naw, son, you did fine before, I’ll let you keep the conn, unless the captain says otherwise.”

  “As you were, Tav,” Xander said.

  “That reminds me—everyone on board yet?” the sergeant asked.

  “Almost,” came Pearce Haley’s voice. “We’re on our way with the last of the cargo. Campsite’s basically empty except for the table and wood chairs that we’re not taking.”

  “Who’s doing last walkaround?” the sergeant asked. “And it ain’t gonna be me—last time I did that, I ended up damn near eaten.”

  Xander and the others of Campbell’s crew laughed, even though the actual event—watching the sergeant slide down into blackness as Emerald Maui (or LS-88 as she was then) took off into the sky—had been one of the most terrifying moments any of them had ever experienced.

  “I am doing that as we speak,” came Akira Kimei’s voice. “I am also optimistic that I will return uneaten.”

  “Don’t go tempting Murphy, now. I think Lincoln’s got that old imp on speed-dial.”

  Xander took a quick tour around Emerald Maui, making sure everything was in readiness. There actually was still a fair amount of room in the one-time shuttle, but they’d need all of it since they were going to be living in her for a minimum of about four days and possibly for weeks, depending on exactly what happened when the dinosaur-killer hit Lincoln.

  Satisfied that everything was under control, Xander went and used the tiny bathroom before going to his couch, directly behind Tavana, and strapping in. Caroline began fastening herself down next to him. “All ready for our big move?” she asked.

  “I hope so. We’ve got as much food as we could get and preserve some way, all the equipment we could salvage, the reactor’s hot, drive shows green. Tav just checked out the control surfaces and they’re all responding.”

  The forward port was slowly responding to the nanorepair instructions that Whips and the others had figured out, but it was still so fogged by scratches that only vague shapes could be made out.

  Tavana, however, made a quick gesture and suddenly there was a clear, bright image of the early-morning sunlight slanting over the green water of Lincoln’s ocean. “The repairs by our smallest crewmembers are holding fine,” he said. “Both forward cameras generate this image, gives us good stereo capability. I can get rear images too, if I need them. Everything looks good.”

  Maddox came in from the back and strapped in on Xander’s other side. The rest of the castaways followed, with Sergeant Campbell coming in and securing the cargo door behind him before taking his position to the far side.

  Looking around, he saw only one missing member. “Mr. Kimei? Are you almost done?”

  “Just arriving, Captain,” Akira Kimei answered, his use of the title completely serious. “I found a few very small objects worth keeping; other than that there’s nothing left behind. Shall I cast off the mooring ropes?”

  Xander looked around, then nodded. “Do it and come on board.”

  “That reminds me,” Campbell said. “On board a ship, there’s only one captain. Laura, it’s got to be either you or Xander; just the way it’s worked out.”

  “Not you?” Sakura asked in surprise.

  “I handed that job over to Xander, wouldn’t be right for me to just grab it back. But your mom, seems to me she’s been your captain.”

  “No doubt about it,” Akira said as he entered.

  Laura Kimei looked over at Xander. He felt suddenly very young and scared. “Ma’am,” he said, “You’re welcome to the position, if you want it.”

  She tilted her head as if considering it, then smiled. “Xander, this is your ship. You and the sergeant and Maddox, Tavana and Francisco, and Pearce Haley, that’s how you came here. We kind of lost ours. Like the sergeant, I think it’d be kind of rude for me to take it away from you…Captain.”

  Wow. That feels…like she just lifted me up to the sky and then dropped a hundred tons on me.

  Xander swallowed, then took a breath. “Thank you, Dr. Kimei. I’ll try to live up to that trust. Okay, Sergeant?”

  “Don’t worry, I’m still here to advise when needed. As for the rest of you, you remember ship rules. Captain’s the boss, the boss of everyone. Even me, even you. Hope it won’t come to matter much, but if it does, we all listen to the captain. Got it?”

  There was a chorus of “yes” from the others in the ship, and that weight seemed to settle on top of Xander like a suit of massive armor. Authority and responsibility. He agreed with the sergeant; he hoped he’d never have to use it.

  But for now, there was a simple exercise of his power to make. “All right then, everyone. Let’s get moving.” He looked forward. “Tavana, take us out. Heading due east, follow the course as plotted.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Tavana said cheerfully.

  Emerald Maui grumbled, the water jets coming to life in the shallows, gulping a little air along with the water and spewing it out in a bubbling stream. A vibration passed through the ship, built into a constant awareness of motion as the trees visible to one side began to swing away, replaced by green sea and small, bright patches of floating debris.

  Slowly, Emerald Maui began to gather speed, and headed towards the rising sun as her passengers cheered.

  Chapter 45

  “Trapdoor shutdown in five, four, three, two, one…”

  Sue was on OSV Sherlock’s bridge as pilot Amberdon counted down to their return to normal space. It was, by ship standards, a spacious and comfortable room, with stations for pilot, communications, deployed operations command, and sensing and data analysis. “Spacious” naturally meant something different to a spaceship crew. The bridge was only about the size of a living room, meaning that only a meter or two separated each station from the next.

  The darker-than-dark of Trapdoor space vanished, replaced by the vast star-sprinkled expanse of normal space, dom
inated by a brilliant sun dead ahead of Sherlock. “We’ve arrived in-system, Captain,” Pavla Amberdon said cheerfully. “Transition was unremarkable, all systems show green.”

  Captain Ayrton nodded. “Communications? Anything?”

  Everyone was quiet for a few moments as Commander Gariba the comm officer, observed and directed a survey of the various RF bands, his deep-brown face furrowed in concentration.

  After a short time, he sat back. “Nothing definite, Captain. There’s the usual hash of RF coming from a couple of the gas giants, some strange low-frequency signals that seem to originate from the habitable planet, but nothing I can definitely tag as human in origin.”

  Lieutenant Machado looked disappointed and dropped back into his seat at Deployed Operations. “So no one here, you think?”

  “Well, it’s not good,” Gariba said. “If they’d landed and everything was in order, you’d think that sending out a beacon would be top priority. But then again, it’s been well over a year; so they might’ve decided the resources used were better used elsewhere,” Gariba said. “Or if their transmitter has limited power, it might only send a ping out every so often. Or if it’s on the planetary surface, it’s turned away from us at the moment. Well, was turned away from us at the point we entered.”

  That was always a key point to remember when operating on solar-system scale; even light and radio took time to get to you. “How far did we come out from the target?”

  “We’re about a billion kilometers out,” Pavla answered promptly. “Figure about a one-hour signal delay in and out.”

  Sue looked at the screen, then back at the Captain. “Captain Ayrton, why don’t we jump in closer?”

  “Don’t see any reason why not. For either of our missions, it’d seem likely that a habitable world will be a focus of investigation. Any hazards to navigation we should note?” He looked at the only person who hadn’t spoken yet, sitting with the glaze-eyed look of someone watching omni retinal displays that completely blotted out the regular world. “Tip? You have anything for us?”