by Terry Mixon
Annette made one pass over the top of the volcano, looking down as she inverted her fighter. There was water down inside the caldera. Her scanners couldn’t penetrate to the bottom. It was as impenetrable as the ocean.
She weighed the option of going down and immersing her fighter, but decided it wasn’t worth it. It would take her hours to search the water inside that thing. Time better spent looking for the prisoners over a wider area.
Raul watched the fighter arc across the sky from his hiding place in a deep crevice near the excavated landing pad. Once it vanished, he waited for it to come back. If the pilot had spotted anything out of the ordinary, he’d come back for a second look.
Nothing.
He had to admit that he was surprised. Even with the positive face he put on for Commander Giguere, he’d secretly expected their enemies to recapture them quickly. This type of convenient escape only happened in fiction.
Once he’d convinced himself that they were still safe, he made his way up the crack until he could see down into the caldera from a small ledge. Whoever had built the concealed landing area had done so in a way that made it invisible from above. Based on the coating they’d found on the rock inside it, it was shielded against scanners.
Someone had wanted to be absolutely certain that no one knew about this hidden facility.
He made his way back down the crevice and to the landing area. He walked past the powered-down cutter and stopped where the rest of them had gathered next to the sealed hatch.
Lieutenant Bakersfield—Commander Giguere’s engineering officer—was still working on it. Personally, he was about ready to suggest something more forceful. Living out of a cutter would be uncomfortable enough, even if it had power. Without power, it would be horrible.
“Are you certain that you’re going to be able to open that hatch, Commander?” he asked politely.
The man nodded. “I’ve already got access to the control panel, sir. I’m just trying to figure out which sequence of codes will trigger the hatch to unlock. This isn’t a very difficult entry. It really wasn’t meant to keep people out.”
Raul raised an eyebrow. “Truly? It seems to me that locks are made specifically for keeping people out.”
“Perhaps it would be better to say that this lock is only meant to keep honest people honest. Anyone could force their way in without much difficulty. We’re only working this carefully in an attempt to keep the hatch intact.”
Moments later, the light above the lock turned green, and they all heard the sound of bolts retracting.
The man grinned at Raul. “See? Piece of cake.”
Those of them with stunners raised them as the hatch slid open. The short corridor just inside was initially dark, but the overhead lights came on as soon as Commander Giguere stepped inside.
“It still has power,” she said. “That can’t be good. An operating fusion plant will lead them right to us.”
Raul shook his head. “I think not. While I was outside, I saw a fighter fly overhead. If it had detected either the cutter or a fusion plant, it would’ve come back. Whatever is down here, it’s well shielded. That makes it very interesting to me. I love secrets. Especially when they belong to other people.”
The woman smiled a bit. “Then let’s go see what they’re hiding.”
19
Kelsey watched Carl work at his borrowed console. The young scientist was always so focused. Once he’d settled in, it seemed as though he’d forgotten the rest of them were on the bridge.
He’d tried to explain some of the mathematics and flip physics to her, but she’d waved him off. She knew her limitations.
The probes they’d posted in the Rebel Empire system showed no enemy traffic. Of course, that could change at a moment’s notice. She’d taken the precaution of positioning a probe on the other side of the multiflip point and two more watching that system’s regular flip points.
The distant probes would send their information back to them at light speed, so it was always possible that someone would arrive in the system while they were conducting the test. That was a risk, but one they’d have to take.
This would be the perfect time to use one of Carl’s FTL coms, but she still worried that a passing Rebel Empire ship would detect something. The temptation was strong, but she resisted the impulse.
She turned toward Carl. “It looks as though the system is clear. Proceed with the test.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Carl manipulated his controls, and the probe she was watching through her implants vanished. It had successfully flipped, but they wouldn’t know for another minute if it went to the system they knew about or somewhere completely new.
The timer counted down, and the probe reappeared on their scanners. It began streaming data immediately.
Kelsey didn’t even need to wait for Carl to speak to know that his frequency tuner had worked. The system the probe had arrived in wasn’t the one they’d fled through. This one was occupied.
“The probe appears to have gone to a different system,” he said after a moment. “I’m detecting radio transmissions. Lots of them.”
“So I see. Congratulations. What can you tell me about this new system?”
He turned in his seat to face her. “Even at a glance, it’s easy to tell that it’s heavily occupied. I’m detecting hundreds of grav drives moving around. There are also signals coming from multiple areas of the system as well.
“Based on this information, I believe this new system is more heavily occupied than any Rebel Empire system we’ve seen to date. Ma’am, I think this might be a core world.”
“It’s far too early to make that kind of assessment,” she said. “We’ll continue examining the data and allow the facts to lead us where they do. Make sure to shunt all this to operations. I want our intelligence staff combing through what you’ve picked up.
“A minute’s worth of data isn’t enough to make any kind of assessment. Was there anything close enough to the multiflip point to detect the probe?”
“No. The multiflip point is far enough off the beaten path to prevent anyone from detecting a ship flipping in. The probe is completely safe.”
“It’s a little early to send a ship, but that’s good information to have. Get the probe back on station and have it monitor for an hour. That should give us a better baseline of how many ships are in the system, whose they are, and which system it is.”
He nodded. “The system is definitely occupied by humans. The unencrypted traffic is in Standard. I may be able to identify it based on the visible stars.
“That’s not something that the Old Empire needed to do, but I’ve made progress updating their flip charts to consider the most prominent stellar masses in our section of the explored galaxy. At the very least, I should be able to roughly place which sector the system lies in.”
“Do that,” she said. “Now that you’ve proved your theory is correct, can you tell if this is the only other possible destination?”
“Not without trying a number of additional test flips. The theory I’m working under says that energy inside a specific range should lead to a single destination. We need to determine how wide a window of energy is required for a specific branch.
“Theoretically, there could be as many as a dozen more. I suspect there will be fewer. The fact that its gravitational energy signature is so much weaker on this side indicates that it has more branches from this side than in the Rebel Empire system. Say five on this side, three on the other.
“Those are just numbers I’ve thrown out for comparison. I won’t be able to make an educated guess of how many branches there are until I have an adequate baseline. That means we need to find more multiflip points to examine.”
“I’m certain that we’ll find more as we proceed, but we might not have the time to examine them as thoroughly as you’d like,” Kelsey said. “Do the best you can in figuring this one out while we don’t have someone breathing down our necks.
“Yo
u said you had other probes prepared. Just how long do you think it will take you to figure out how many branches this multiflip point has?”
“I’ll be able to define the window of frequencies that leads to this new system inside half an hour. We might discover other destinations in the process. Once I have that information, it should only take three or four hours to probe all the potential windows.
“It’s possible that some energy ranges won’t actually take the probe anywhere. They might be dead zones of some kind. The theory indicates that’s possible too. Also, based on the size of the window, it should allow me to determine whether or not a ship is capable of flipping to the target system.”
Kelsey frowned. “I thought that once we had the ability to tune our flip drives, we would be able to pass through to any of the destinations.”
He made an ambivalent gesture. “That assumes we’ll be able to successfully incorporate these tuners into our flip drives. I’m extremely hesitant to recommend modifications to our existing hardware. It’s just too dangerous.
“It looks as if the ghosts tried to build a tuner into the liner’s flip drive. It burned out. There are significant limits to how much we can affect the frequency ranges on existing drives. The ship’s overall mass plays a role too.
“Eventually, we’ll be able to build new flip drives that have built-in tuners. Then we should be able to access all the possible branches in these multiflip points. Until then, our options might be limited.”
She felt herself sighing. He was right. They absolutely couldn’t take a chance of stranding one of their ships.
So, they’d be restricted to exploring systems that the carrier could transit to—if any. Thankfully, they didn’t have to take the Dresden orbital any farther. Once they finished transferring the prisoners down to the surface, they could move it into the outer system.
“Are you going to be able to guess at the tonnage a particular destination will allow?” she asked. “Or if a ship’s drive is even capable of reaching that system?”
He nodded. “Persephone has a very robust flip drive. While I can’t say it’s tunable, we can focus the output a little more tightly. That should allow her to make the flip into most of the systems on the other side of the multiflip point.
“I’m pretty sure the same is not true of Audacious. The more multiflip points I examine—and the more we transit—the better my future guess will be. I’ll also need to attempt designing an external frequency tuner for Audacious. If I can, that might open up some possible destinations the carrier can reach.”
“The ghosts probably had large ships. Maybe not in the same class as Audacious, but that means it’s possible. Back to work and find us a way home. We don’t transit unless you find something interesting.”
With the search for the escaped prisoners showing no signs of immediate success, Kelsey knew they had time to examine this multiflip point in detail. Frankly, she was looking forward to learning more about the new system. It would distract her from worrying.
“They’re not on this island,” Talbot told Annette. “I’d hoped it would be that easy, but we’ll have to expand the search.”
The two of them sat in the temporary building the marines had erected on the island. The fighter pilot rubbed her face. “This is going to give me ulcers. How in the world did this happen? We had them locked down on a ship full of our people. Not only did they knock out their guards, they waltzed right down to the flight deck and stole a cutter. Who does that?”
He felt his lips quirk into a wry smile. “I seem to remember my wife pulling off a few stunts like this. We underestimated them.
“Look on the positive side. They didn’t kill any of our people, so her mother is probably safe. As an added bonus, they have to listen to her bitch about everything. You can insert the obligatory mother-in-law joke here.”
She gave him a quelling stare. “I wouldn’t let your wife hear you say that. Logically, I know you’re probably right, but that doesn’t help.
“We have to do something. We can’t just leave her here. Lord knows what she could tell them. Probably nothing militarily significant, but she knows the name of our home world. The marines and the pilot definitely know too much.
“If the Rebel Empire figures out where to come looking for us, they’ll exterminate us. We absolutely cannot leave without recovering every single prisoner that escaped. Heaven help us if they’ve spread any classified information to the people down here. If they have, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
“We’ve had ships ferrying people down to all the populated locations,” he said. “The missing cutter is not anywhere near the colonists.”
“They could be moving underwater,” Annette said. “Their speed shouldn’t be tremendous, but they could be in any number of hidden locations at the bottom of the ocean by now.”
“We’ve dropped listening buoys all around the islands,” he said. “Cutters normally don’t have to worry about making noise. Their engines vibrate in a manner that will produce a detectable signal of their passage, if they come close enough to a buoy.
“With them scattered all around the occupied islands, our escapees are not going to be able to come close to the colonists. As we clear each island, we can focus more of our forces on the rest. We’ll very shortly know that the landmasses are clear.
“Then it becomes a waiting game. Their supplies aren’t infinite. The cutter isn’t designed to keep their air clean indefinitely or carry enough food and water for an extended hide. They’re going to have to find a place on the surface. One where the colonists have planted food they can eat. When they do, we’ll find them.”
Talbot rubbed his face. “I just hope nobody finds us before we do.”
20
It took several hours to satisfy Veronica that they’d examined every square centimeter of the abandoned base. By her estimation, the hidden facility had housed roughly a thousand people. It hadn’t done so in quite some time, though. A thick layer of dust coated everything.
That made it very easy to determine that no one had been inside the base in hundreds of years.
In fact, the dust was so extreme that it made exploring the facility a filthy, choking experience. Clouds of the damned stuff rose any time someone dared step on it.
They’d retreated to the cutter and scavenged some emergency breathing masks. Those at least allowed them to both breathe and see.
Once they’d finished exploring the base, she sent her officers off to the edge of the lake to clean up. That required loosening some of the uniform constraints. It wasn’t as though they’d brought any luggage. They only had the clothes on their backs.
Each of them washed their uniform and hung it from the cutter to dry. That left them sitting around in their underwear. Not exactly something Command would be pleased about.
Too bad.
Commander Castille bit into a survival bar. “I expected more from this place. You know, a secret lair filled with sharks wearing lasers. That sort of thing.”
She chuckled. “Well, the joke’s on us, then. This damned place is uninhabitable. If there’s anything hidden, it’s under a pile of dust.”
“Why do you think they built it?”
She shrugged. “My guess is that the people running from the revolution built it. They wanted to avoid paying for their crimes. They shielded the fusion plant and this landing area damned well.”
“They left a number of computers. Have we tried accessing them yet?”
“I tried to get into a few, but they’re all locked,” she said. “That isn’t to say my people can’t gain access. They’re just going to need time to work on them.”
Castille smiled sardonically. “We seem to have an abundance of time. Until we can be certain that our erstwhile captors have departed, we’re stuck here. Judging from the amount of dirt inside that place, preparing quarters for our use is going to be a time-consuming, thankless job.”
Veronica had to agree. She hated housecleaning on the best
of days. This took it to a whole new level.
“While we couldn’t gain access to the computers, that doesn’t mean we didn’t find any information,” she said. “We picked up a number of tablets the builders left behind. We plugged them in. Once they’ve recharged, we’ll see if there’s anything worth recovering.”
She gestured toward their still-unconscious prisoners. “What about them?”
Castille considered the four. “The marines won’t talk. The pilot probably won’t, either. The woman is a possibility, though.”
“She’s going to wake up soon. Do you think she’ll have useful information?”
He shrugged. “I have personnel files from the station in my implant storage, and she’s not anywhere in them. She doesn’t look anything like a freighter crewman, so I doubt very much they picked her up off one of the in-system craft.
“Based on her clothing, she’s someone of substance. Since she doesn’t have implants, I might venture someone from a powerful mercantile family. We don’t have many people on Dresden that fit into that category, and they’d all have implants. Her identity is a mystery.”
One look at the woman’s fingernails confirmed she hadn’t worked a day in her life. No, she was wealthy. Most likely powerful too. At least until their captors got their hands on her.
Perhaps they’d captured her on the way to Dresden. It wasn’t as though they had any insight into the roster of captives these people had. It was almost certain that they hadn’t intended for Veronica to see this woman at all.
It was going to be interesting watching Commander Castille interrogate her. While wearing nothing but his underclothing.
She gestured toward the ceiling. “How long do you think they’ll continue looking for us?”
“A long time,” he said with a grunt. “We know things about them that they probably wouldn’t like our superiors hearing.
“We don’t know any of the important parts, yet. Where they’re from being the biggest question. Somehow, I don’t believe that they come from the system the crazy computer had pinned down.