“The Marigold.”
“Marigold! That’s a lame name. Lame name. Hey, I just made a rhyme. We can call it Lame Name. That’s still better than Marigold. No, wait, I know, we can call her Thor’s Hammer. What do you think about that, Commander? Or, maybe Thor’s—”
Drew tuned out and swallowed several times to settle his stomach. They progressed smoothly around the bow of the Reagan and away from the station toward the east end of Spud.
“Hey, Barnes, detour in closer to the armature,” Drew ordered, needing to assert his authority in front of the man. “I want to see how the repairs are coming along space-side.”
“Sure—not a problem.”
A burst from the side thruster produced a sharp-angled turn back toward the armature. As they neared, the commander switched on the shuttle’s floodlights to illuminate the damaged section. At the sudden assault of blinding light, several EMU-garbed workers twisted awkwardly about, swiping their gloved hands across their throats in the universal “kill” motion. Barnes cut the floodlights and increased the intensity of their running lights. The maintenance crew responded with grateful waves and thumbs up. They returned to the task of positioning a large panel over a portion of the hole created by the Diak laser blast.
Drew linked his com to the foreman’s, broadcasting the communication over the shuttle’s speakers. “Shorty, it’s looking good. We still on schedule?”
“Thanks, Chief. Yeah, we should be finished with the heavy lifting by tomorrow, then another week to refit the interior bulkheads and establish environmental integrity. I see we got a new toy.”
“Yep. Courtesy of the Reagan. Carry on, and let me or Curtis know if you need anything.”
The shuttle pulled away from the armature and continued around the east end of the pockmarked asteroid. Spud didn’t so much resemble a potato close-up. Alliance-member and non-member planets had installed an assortment of scientific monitoring equipment and telescopes amongst the pockmarks. The sole condition required that the resulting data be shared equally among the represented races. Drew knew from talks with station-based scientists over the years, that Earth didn’t adhere faithfully to that condition. He figured the others picked through their data as well before sharing.
As they drew closer to the backside of Spud, its distant sun—dubbed “Warvan,” though the name was seldom used—shown brighter.
The attack came so suddenly, no one in the shuttle knew what was happening except, mercifully, Travis Barnes. He’d evidently spotted the Diak ship a split second before it spotted them. He activated their shuttle thrusters in alternating bursts that sent little Marigold into a spiraling maneuver away from Spud and Dark Landing. Lacking weapons or speed, they had no other defense. Thanks to Barnes’s save, Drew watched as a salvo of Diak’s lasers missed them by a few yards.
Drew issued a mayday to security dispatch, while Barnes transmitted his own call for help to the TSF fleet. He held tight as Barnes put the shuttle through an amazing array of twists and turns, toward and away from the Diak ship, back and forth, narrowly evading each laser burst. One successful hit would blow the fragile, unshielded craft to bits.
Muscles taut, anticipating the blast that would eject him into space, and dizzy from the erratic movement of the shuttle, Drew tried to orient to Spud and restore his equilibrium. Suddenly, the Marigold leveled off. The Diak ship was framed in their port window for one second before it disintegrated into particles. The cavalry had arrived just in time.
Barnes swore when a second Diak ship appeared starboard, but it turned away. Drew watched it retreat and then blink out of sight. There one moment, gone the next. Still trying to grasp what’d happened, he spotted yet a third enemy ship headed right at them.
Barnes recommenced their spiraling maneuvers, but that ship passed by as well, its pulse streams directed away from the Marigold, probably firing at whichever ships had come to their rescue. As the shuttle continued to twist and turn, the chaos was inexplicably augmented by the shuttle’s shrieking proximity alert and flashing lights. With a head-snapping jolt, their thrusters stilled. The shuttle floated, alerts sounding, lights flashing, but unchallenged in a field of giant asteroids, none of which remotely resembled Spud.
Barnes cut the alarm and lights.
The sudden withdrawal of movement, light, and sound unnerved Drew worse than the chaos they’d left behind.
“Fook!” Nikko said.
~ ~ ∞ ~ ~
Drew took a breath and looked around the shuttle to be sure everyone was still strapped in and uninjured.
“Travis?” Letty’s voice was plaintive. “What just happened?”
“I think we went through a wormhole.”
“Not possible,” Drew said. “I didn’t see a wormhole. There weren’t any buoys or other markers. Besides, we don’t have wormholes this close to the station.”
“That’s the problem,” Travis responded. “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t one of ours. We were twisting about, but I never saw the edge distortion. It must have been shielded.”
Toby broke the ensuing silence, “Wow! Look at the size of those fooking asteroids.”
“Toby!” Letty reprimanded.
“What’s that?” Curtis asked. “At about ten o’clock.”
Drew looked where Curtis indicated. At first he thought he saw a planet horizon, but the edge was spiked and irregular. He tried to piece together the bits he could see in between the dimpled asteroids, many twice the size of domed sports arenas on Earth. As his gaze shifted from one gap to the next he realized it wasn’t just at ten o’clock, it was all around-the-clock. It was big.
“It’s a ship . . . isn’t it, Commander?” Toby’s asked in obvious awe.
Barnes navigated the shuttle through the field to a spot less dense, which provided a better view of the object while still keeping the craft concealed. It was a space station, at least five times the size of Dark Landing. And a sea of ships surrounded it. The armada consisted of variously purposed spacecraft. Several thousand that Drew associated with Earth destroyer-class vessels, were armed with projectile railguns as well as plasma accelerators. Thousands more were lighter gunships of the same type that had attacked the station. A few larger models he assumed were command ships. It seemed the Diak had learned all they needed about Alliance defense capabilities—or the lack of them—and was poised for invasion.
With a light touch on the port thruster, Barnes positioned them closer to the nearest asteroid, keeping the shuttle concealed but leaving a view of the station through an overhang. He issued a command that changed the window from normal to telescopic. Within a millisecond the small section of station they could see jumped to fill the entire shuttle window.
Nikko reacted with a short, high-pitched scream, and Drew realized that Letty was holding his own hand in a vice grip. He might have found either action remarkable under different circumstances.
The magnified image revealed multiple levels with rows of large, oval viewing ports positioned equidistant on each level. At least they looked like viewing ports, but no light shone through. In between the neat, uniform levels jutted uneven, multi-shaped projections, many of which were cluttered with smaller, even more oddly shaped projections. Together they resembled abstract piles of scrap metal. Drew spotted a circular object he swore was a cog wheel, but its purpose escaped him.
As they scrutinized the station, a fast-moving Diak ship broke across their view. They watched the station and armada for more than an hour, and then Barnes moved the shuttle in to hug the asteroid as close as he dared, blocking their view. He unstrapped Toby and led him back with the rest of the group, putting him in the seat across from Letty.
“So, this is a pickle,” Barnes said.
Drew laughed. As always, it was his go-to reaction in these situations, and he couldn’t help himself.
Barnes continued. “Our only hope is to locate the reverse wormhole and warn the Alliance. It must be nearby. I suspect that’s why the Diaks concentrated their explora
tory attacks in the Zeta Quadrant. But this shuttle has no range. The oxygen generator will run pretty much indefinitely, well beyond our need for it. And I’ll disable the gravity inductor to conserve power. But without water or food, we don’t have a lot of time.”
Letty half-heartedly held up her two-liter water pouch and box of sandwiches.
Barnes nodded and smiled at her pitiful offering. “Any suggestions?”
While wormholes existed in clusters, when measured against the vastness of space, the distance between them would still exceed shuttle range.
Drew set aside his personal dislike of Barnes. “You’re right. The Diaks obviously have access close to Zeta Quadrant. Our best bet is to follow one of the Diak ships. How we do that without being discovered—assuming we can even keep up—is a problem. Who knows how far we might need to travel? . . . which circles back to the food and, more importantly, water issue.”
“What if we do locate another wormhole and it drops us somewhere outside the K.U.?” Curtis asked. “We’ll be worse off than we are now.”
“It’s a risk we have to take. We’ll worry about it when it happens,” Barnes said, looking at Drew. “Chief Cutter, can I have a word with you up front?”
Drew squeezed past Letty and moved with Barnes to the command station.
Barnes kept his voice low. “Who’s in charge here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Only one of us can be in charge. We need to agree whichever one of us it is, the other won’t undermine him.”
“You take it,” Drew said. “You’re the captain of the ship.”
“Yeah, but you own the ship,” Barnes countered.
“Not really. If anyone owns it, it’s CoachStop or the Zeta Quadrant co-ops. I’m serious, Barnes, you take it. I promise not to challenge you as long as I can make suggestions along with everyone else.”
“I encourage it. If you’re sure then . . . ?”
Drew nodded. “By the way, are the asteroids blocking the Diak scans? I’m surprised they haven’t already picked us up.”
“The asteroids should block us if we stay put and disable our instruments,” Barnes said. “But I doubt they have their scanners activated anyway. In the middle of an armada that size, scanning would overwhelm their systems. Besides, what have they got to be afraid of here?”
Drew turned to find Toby in his seat next to Letty.
Curtis was scrounging around in the aft lockers. “There’s some kind of drink dispenser back here,” he called out. “I don’t know what it served, but there’s probably a liter-and-a-half of stale water in its reservoir. And a box with about a hundred packs of peanuts too.”
“Buckle up everyone. I’m cutting the gravity,” Barnes announced.
Curtis returned to his seat. Drew took the seat Toby had vacated. As he adjusted the straps, a slow-moving shadow crossed the skylight.
Chapter 34: Toby’s Plan
Everyone crouched low in their seats in an absurd attempt to duck from the ship that was passing above them. It moved in eerie slow motion. English letters appeared spelling “Reagan,” along with her registration numbers, “404-E-132.”
Diak nanoids doing what they do best, Drew thought. The chances of the Alliance surviving against an armada that large were insurmountable, but if Alliance defenses were unable to distinguish the attacking ships from their own, at least the end would come quickly. They sat in silence for a minute after it passed from sight.
“Mag-locks,” Toby whispered into the unnatural stillness.
“What, honey?” Letty asked.
“We can hang like bats upside down.”
“Toby, you’re not making any sense.” Letty ruffled the boy’s hair. “What are you trying—”
“Hush, Letty,” Travis ordered.
Letty glared at him, but before she could retort, Drew spoke up. “Toby, you’re one smart little bastard.”
“Drew,” Letty said, without her usual fervor.
“That eliminates the range issue,” Curtis said.
“Would someone please explain to me what we’re talking about?” Letty asked.
“Da. Ken hung leek bot.”
“Thanks, Nikko. I’ll take this,” Barnes said from his seat at the command station. He paused for a second, watching Nikko closely.
He’s obviously more afraid of Nikko than Letty. Wise, Drew agreed. Nikko versus Letty, now there’s a match I’d like to see.
Barnes went on. “Letty, what our little genius is suggesting is that we attach the shuttle to the bottom of a Diak ship using its magnetic mooring locks, then hitch a ride instead of trying to following it.”
“Oh! Toby, that’s brilliant.” She bent down and kissed his forehead. Toby smiled sweetly back. As soon as she looked away, he turned to Drew, his smile transforming from sweet to smug.
Another shadow passed quickly across the skylight, a second ship, this one smaller and faster. The shuttle appeared to be lurking within an established flight pattern. If so, they might go unnoticed by departing ships. But to ships approaching the station in the same corridor, the shuttle’s smooth, white exterior would make a striking contrast against the dark asteroid. Their chances of being discovered would increase tremendously.
“We might be able to pull it off if we attach to one of the larger ships,” Drew said.
Barnes shook his head. “I’m not sure. It looks like they’re in the final stages of preparation. I doubt one of the larger ships will go over now. More likely one of the smaller ships will make a recon run, hopefully a gunship. Anything smaller than that we couldn’t hope to catch, let alone lock onto.”
“Wouldn’t any ship other than one of the largest feel something when the mags kick in?” Drew asked.
Barnes was studying a display on his console. “The shuttle’s so light, its mags are self-regulating. They’ll apply minimal hold, increasing gradually to accommodate low to no-gravity conditions. If I approach at the right angle, the result should be negligible to the host ship, but it’s not going to be easy. We’ll be trailing the ship for several seconds to match its thrust and accurately position ourselves for mooring. If there’re other ships in proximity, they’ll see us.”
“You think we’ll see the wormhole on approach? We may decide to drop instead of going through,” Curtis said in a tight, measured tone.
When neither Drew nor Barnes responded, Letty asked, “Why would we do that?” She watched as the four men exchanged looks, finally settling on Drew. “What?”
“Even if this works, which frankly is a long shot, once we’re back in Alliance territory and warn everyone, they won’t be able to mount an effective defense against an armada that size. Don’t you see?”
“No,” Letty said, watching him intently.
“When that armada comes through, the first thing they’re going to do is destroy Dark Landing and the ships defending it. Even if we forewarn the Alliance planets, not one of them has the ability to hold out against the numbers and firepower we just witnessed.”
“So . . . if there’s nothing we can do, at least we’ll be home,” Letty said, putting her arm around Toby. “We’ll have a better chance there than we do here.”
“Letty, there is something we can do,” Travis said softly. “That’s what Curtis means. We can try to collapse the wormhole so the armada can’t get through. But it would have to be done from this side.”
“Oh,” Letty said, barely above a whisper.
“Besides the peanuts and some iffy water, there’s a maintenance EMU in the back,” Curtis said. “We could draw straws.”
Letty didn’t need an explanation this time. “I want to be included.”
“No,” Drew said quickly. “No one’s going to agree to that.”
“I insist. It’s not fair—”
Barnes stopped her. “Drew’s right, Letty, it’s not going to be you. Besides, Toby needs you.”
“There must be s-some other way,” Letty’s voice broke.
“I go,” Nikko said f
irmly.
“And I’d start a petition to rename Dark Landing in your honor, Nikko,” Curtis said. “But you’d never get that suit above your knees.”
Barnes ended the discussion. “We’re not drawing straws, and no one’s going except me. I’m captain; it’s my job. No arguments.”
“But none of us can fly this thing,” Drew protested.
“Letty can. But even if she couldn’t, I can teach you what you need to know in a few minutes.”
“How would you close the wormhole?” Letty asked, diverting the discussion.
“You learned how wormholes are stabilized in school,” Barnes said.
“Well, I know it’s held open by a ring of exotic matter but, truthfully, I can’t remember much more than that.”
“Close. Exotic matter appears in curved regions of space-time. Wormholes produce enough exotic matter to be self-sustaining, but that matter must be redistributed in order to expand and stabilize the wormhole. That’s where the Blanchett ring comes in—it’s a shell of infused exotic matter encircling the wormhole, holding it open.
Noticing Toby’s rapt attention, Barnes directed his lesson to him. “A guy by the name of Thibault Blanchett developed the exotic matter infuser. It has a longer technical name, but that’s essentially what it does. The direction in which the exotic matter is infused determines the direction of travel, which can’t be reversed once it’s established. Anyway, an infuser is a physical unit. If the exotic matter flow is terminated—by destroying the infuser, for example—the hole will collapse. But not immediately. It could remain open long enough for the Diak to detect the problem and correct it. But if we introduce ordinary matter into the ring, the hole will close in a flash, literally.”
“And how do you—” Letty stopped. “There has to be another way.”
“What if the Diaks use a different method than we do?” Drew asked.
“I don’t see how they can. I mean . . . high school physics. It may look different, but it has to perform the same way. Regardless of mechanical engineering, the introduction of normal matter will do the trick.”
Drew realized the success of the plan, from locking onto the Diak ship to closing the wormhole, fell squarely on Barnes. There was no way to distribute the responsibility equally. This was a suicide mission for Travis. Shame at the fleeting sense of relief he felt washed over him. What the hell, Drew, be realistic. There’s no chance of this working. We’re all going to die.
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