ARC: Under Nameless Stars

by Christian Schoon

  “We seem to be rolling about in an uncontrolled manner, Captain Oolo. Is there no steering engine aboard this craft?”

  “Engaging thrusters would attract attention,” the Captain said. “I had all the other lifeboats launched automatically when we left the Helen. With luck, it will look like a malfunction and we’ll just be one boat among dozens.”

  Whatever the thing was that they were approaching, Zenn thought, it was bigger than anything ever built by humans – or by any Asent species humans had so far encountered. As they drew nearer the looming shape, she saw something on the outer surface nearest them, something that simply didn’t belong.

  It can’t be. I’m not seeing this.

  There was no mistake. Zenn could see script on the hull of the thing they were approaching. It read: LSAS Nova Procyon. Zenn remembered the name from news reports. It was a Procyoni military ship of some sort. About a year ago it had vanished in the Outer Reaches without a trace.

  “Captain,” Zenn said. “Is that… one of the Indra ships?”

  “Yes. The Nova,” Treth said. “She disappeared on a recon mission fifteen months ago. At the edge of the Enchara void. Her groom and I trained together.”

  “A ship from the Accord? Can it be?” Jules said, detaching himself from the wall and moving up to get a better look at the view screen. “But this is a very large spaceship, is it not? It goes on and on.”

  “What you’re seeing isn’t just the Nova Procyon,” the Captain told him. “The Nova appears to be part of an assortment.”

  “An assortment…” Zenn said. “Of what?”

  “Starships,” Treth said. She had lowered her face onto the eyerest of a small binocular-like device protruding from the bulkhead at one side of the control console. “I have counted thirty so far. There are many more. Most are too far to see their markings, but many are LSA designs. In addition to the Nova I have identified the Symmetry Dancer, the Delphic Queen, the Mizar Five and the Antara. They have all been connected one to the other.”

  “Are these all… the Indra ships that disappeared?” Zenn asked, finding the question almost too incredible to ask.

  “It seems probable,” Treth said. “There are also non-Accord craft I do not recognize.”

  “Can you detect damage, Treth?” the Captain asked.

  “It is difficult to say. But I do see evidence of scavenging.”

  “And the ships’ stonehorses? Our stonehorse?” Fane asked, going to stand by Treth. “Is there any sign?”

  “I cannot tell.”

  “So it is true. These are the lost Indra vessels,” Jules said. “Do you see waterships among them?”

  “Not possible to say,” Treth answered. Jules seemed to deflate. “We cannot view all the ships from this angle.”

  “Are there life signs?” Zenn asked.

  “Too soon to say,” the Captain said. “Using a full-strength probe would light us up like a beacon. Right now, we need to stow ourselves out of sight.”

  The lifeboat’s slow-motion trajectory brought them up close to the side of the Nova Procyon. A torn piece of hull plating yawned like a black wound in the ship’s side. The gap was filled with a jumble of large, round tanks and connecting hoses.

  “This will have to do for now,” the Captain said, bringing up a virt-screen from the control panel. “Treth, we can nudge ourselves in using air bursts from our atmospheric venting system. We shouldn’t be detected.”

  He and Treth worked at the controls and soon the lifeboat was nestled into the cavity in the Nova Procyon’s hull.

  “Captain,” Treth said once they’d stopped, “there is an access hatch in the hull, there.” She pointed to the view screen.

  “Let’s not be hasty,” the Captain said. “We may be able to modify the probe field.” He called up another screen. “If we can dial the power down low enough, we could send a signal through the hull without alerting anyone. It might be enough to tell us what we’re dealing with.”

  The Captain then pulled out one of the mem-crystals he’d taken from the Helen’s bridge and slipped it into the reader on the control panel. A screen popped up, and a schematic of the lifeboat’s circuitry appeared on it. “If we adjust the probe gain here… and here… we should be able to do a minimal scan of the Procyon’s near-field decks.”

  The Groom leaned in to view the display. “Yes. But such a low-power probe will take time to resolve any meaningful image.”

  “How long?” the Captain asked.

  “Ten minutes. Maybe more.”

  “Let’s get started.”

  After several more minutes, the Captain declared the probe was functioning. Now, he said, they must simply wait for it to accumulate data about what lay beyond the other ship’s hull.

  “This would be a good time to check inventories,” the Captain said, addressing them all. “Treth, if you’ll monitor the probe, I’ll see what we have in the supply locker. Sacrist, check the toolbox on the starboard side for anything that might be useful.”

  Zenn followed the Captain to the rear of the cabin, where he began sorting through the contents of a small locker.

  “Captain Oolo, I wanted to apologize. For lying to you.” The Captain said nothing but dipped his head at her, bringing his beaked face near hers. “I’m sorry I sneaked onto the Helen. But I had to.” His eyes grew larger.

  “You had to stow away on my ship?” the Captain said, chest feathers fluffing out. “And why was that?” he said, then returned to pulling things out of the cabinet, placing some of them into various pockets in his vest.

  Zenn took a deep breath – and explained. She told her story as quickly and coherently as she could.

  “This is… quite a tale,” the Captain said several minutes later, running a claw through his feathers. She noticed Treth and Fane had come up close behind her.

  “You are the daughter of the healer Mai Scarlett?” The Groom said. “There are few exovets who deal in the mind-ways of the stonehorse. Your mother’s work is… was well known among the groom’s union. The loss of her and her aide Travosk was noted and mourned by my union sisters.”

  “Travosk?” Zenn said. “No, mom’s lab-tech was Vremya.”

  “Yes,” Treth said. “Vremya Travosk. I recall from the inquest reports.”

  “That’s the soldier’s last name, the one who sat with us at the party,” Zenn said.

  “Yes, Lieutenant Stav Travosk,” the Captain said. “The Authority’s liaison with the Cepheians.”

  “Were these two related, do you think?” Jules asked.

  “I have no idea,” the Captain said. “I suppose it’s possible. Though it would be quite a coincidence.”

  “Well, it would explain his feelings about figuring out what was happening to the Indra ships,” Zenn said.

  “He spoke of this?” Treth asked.

  “Yes. At the dinner, the costume party on the Helen. He said he was committed to solving the Indra problem. He sounded… determined.” The memory made her wonder where the Lieutenant was now. In transit? Already back on Earth? If so, he’d surely know the Helen had been taken. Could he do anything about it? It seemed unlikely, but she allowed herself a flicker of hope.

  “Your own mother healed stonehorses?” Fane gave her an approving look. “You never said.”

  The computer’s voice sounded from the front of the ship. “Data collection complete.”

  A minute later, they all stood waiting expectantly around the pilot’s console as the Captain peered at the readout.

  “There are life signs. Fifty or sixty, at a rough guess.” The Captain pointed to the diagram on the hovering Virt-screen. “Most of them are here, amidships, in the main saloon.”

  “Saloon?” Jules said. “They are drinking?”

  “No. It’s what you call a large room on a passenger ship like the Helen,” the Captain told him. “Treth, what’s the standard crew complement on a Nova-class ship?”

  “Two hundred fifty, including civilian contractors,” the Groom said,
scowling at the diagram. “But the number shown here is barely sufficient to man the ship’s systems.”

  “Where are all the others, do you think?” Jules asked.

  Neither the Captain nor Treth had an answer.

  An ominous crack from the right side of the craft was followed instantly by a keening alarm and a bland but urgent digitized voice: “Interior atmospheric breach. Catastrophic pressure loss from the starboard hatchway. Estimated time to fatal depressurization: forty-five seconds.”

  “The seal on the access hatch is bad,” the Captain said. He bobbed his head anxiously at one of the Virt-screens. “Take whatever you can and move to the airlock. Quickly.”

  As Zenn grabbed her vet pack and threw it onto her back, small pieces of paper and debris began to leap into the air, fly past her and land near the hatchway, plastering themselves to its edges.

  Gathering together as tightly as possible, they all crowded into the lifeboat’s small airlock, where the Captain quickly keyed in a code on the wall panel to close the door behind them. It began to swing shut, but slowly. The soft whooshing sound from the leaking seal grew louder.

  “Pressure dropping fast,” Treth said. “When the inner door opens, we must move.”

  With a loud snik the small access hatch of the Nova Procyon cracked open, sending a cloud of dust into the lifeboat’s airlock.

  The hatch ahead was so small they had to pass through one by one. And with every second, the sound of air being sucked out of the lock grew louder. Finally, after Jules had squeezed through, Zenn followed him, and then Fane stepped through. Treth slammed the hatch shut behind him.

  “The mem-crystals,” the Captain muttered, eyeing the hatch. “I left them. They could have been useful.”

  “You cannot retrieve them?” Jules asked.

  “The airlock is impassable now,” Treth said. “It seems we are left with but one path.”

  They all stared at the dim, narrow passage stretching away before them. The Captain activated the lightpatch he’d found in the lifeboat’s supply locker and pressed it onto the front of his vest. In the pool of light it produced, they started down the corridor, the Captain leading the way, followed by Treth, with Zenn, Jules and Fane going next.

  As they made their way deeper in to the ship, Zenn saw that the Nova Procyon was a very different craft from the Helen. The impression was one of Spartan military economy – the metal-walled corridor was crowded with tubing and bundled wires, the ceiling so low they had to crouch at times in order to proceed. Broken furniture, empty supply containers and other trash lay scattered here and there. The still air was stagnant, and cold enough that Zenn could see her breath.

  The first cabins they peered into along the corridor had all been stripped of anything not fastened down. There was no sound except their own whispered exchanges and echoing footfalls as they picked their way down the litter-strewn passageway.

  With the lev-tubes inactive, it took them almost half an hour of climbing over obstructions, navigating garbage-clogged stairwells and forcing several stubborn doors before they approached their goal. The deck’s main saloon was now just ahead, and, as they edged closer, they heard the murmur of voices. The air became a bit warmer here and, strangely enough, carried the scent of smoke. The Captain put up an arm to bring them to a halt.

  “We’ll wait here. No talking,” he whispered. “Treth, take a look. Be careful.” The Groom nodded and crept silently ahead. The sight reminded Zenn of the stories she’d heard about the upbringing of the young Procyoni girls recruited to join the groom’s union, the military training they underwent as part of their education, the harsh living conditions and strict codes of discipline. It made her glad the Groom was with them.

  At the door to the saloon, Treth crouched, listening intently. Then she placed one finger to her lips to indicate silence and beckoned them.

  Zenn estimated there were several dozen people crowded at the far end of the room, their faces faintly lit by small fires burning in metal barrels scattered around the room. The people in the room clustered in small groups around the barrels, warming their hands. The smoke from the fires rose to the ceiling and hung there. At the center of the room, a smallish figure stood on top of a barrel. Even without seeing his face, she was quite sure who it was.

  “…and also,” the Skirni Pokt rasped, “I have assurances. From the Khurspex. You will be treated with more… concern. There will be greater rations.” The murmuring of the crowd grew louder at this, forcing Pokt to raise his voice.

  “This you should know…” He waved his short arms in the air for calm, and the noise simmered down to a restless grumble. “Our delegation is at work. It forcefully seeks your release. And your return to LSA space. Until then, remain calm. Comply with the requests of the Khurspex.”

  “Requests? You mean orders.” A hoarse male voice sounded from the crowd. The voice’s owner moved into a pool of firelight. He was tall, slender, and wore the tattered remnants of a Procyoni officer’s uniform. “They removed most of my crew. Tell us what is happening here.” The angry buzz had begun to grow again, rising up and filling the room.

  Many of those in the room wore ragged blankets around their shoulders, and were dressed in clothes that had been reduced to shreds, their faces unwashed, bodies undernourished and gaunt. It was only then, as her eyes adjusted to the fitful illumination, that Zenn saw there were also familiar faces mixed in among the crowd of strangers, passengers she’d seen on the Helen. Warming his clawed hands at one of the fire barrels was the Alcyon alpha who’d been playing cards with Jules. Among those standing around another barrel was Thrott’s Fomalhaut slave, though the Skirni himself was nowhere to be seen.

  “What about the others?” a woman’s voice called out. “What have they done with my husband?”

  Pokt again waved for quiet. “Your fellow travelers are quite safe. We are told they were relocated. To maintain other ships in this structure. That is all we know.”

  Another voice sounded from the darkness. “What about the rumors? That the Spex took them for slaves?”

  A Reticulan female wearing a ragged evening gown and oversized winter coat clambered up on a table near the back of the room and yelled, shaking her horned head in agitation, “How do we know our companions are even alive?”

  “As I said…” Pokt shouted down the rising commotion. “Spreading rumors serves no one. The Khurspex are not a murderous race. That is not their way. If they were killers, you wouldn’t be here now.” A grudging silence fell on the room, and Pokt lowered his voice again. “They are not killers but scavengers.”

  “They’re pirates,” someone shouted.

  “Yes,” Pokt agreed. “They have been taking ships. The LSA protests that. But they are not killers! Have they not kept you all alive?”

  “Yes, barely,” the Procyoni who spoke before called out. “And why? What is this thing they’re building? Why do they hold us here at all?”

  Another angry voice called out, “We’ve been captive here for months! Some of these ships been here for years! Why didn’t the LSA send rescue sooner?”

  “I repeat, your questions will be answered in time. Remain calm. Everything that can be done is being done.”

  Treth pulled back from the door, hissed through clenched teeth, “It is the Skirni who violated my chamber.”

  “The one who took our stonehorse?” Fane said.

  “Then he is lying to those people,” the Captain whispered, motioning all of them to move a safe distance back down the corridor. “If he took the Helen’s Indra, he may well be involved in the other disappearances. Skirni – hijacking starships. It is beyond belief. There must be more to this. Maybe we should hear him out.”

  “And maybe he should die like the blood-sucking skeenflea he is,” Fane muttered.

  “Quiet,” Treth said, nodding toward the saloon. “He speaks of us.”

  “…and we are concerned for their safety. There are five unaccounted for. They were not identified as being on
board the Helen of Troy after it arrived in Khurspex space.”

  “You mean they weren’t rounded up like the rest of us,” a female voice yelled.

  Pokt ignored this. “The missing ones include the Captain, who is an Ornithope. There are also a Procyoni groom and her sacrist. As well an Earther dolphin in a mobile-suit. We are most interested in the… safety of the young human female with them. She is seventeen Earther years. She stands of medium height, slender, with red hair. She and the others may have been disoriented in the confusion. I urge you to contact me if you see any of them. And your help will be rewarded. With additional food rations. I can be reached through your Khurspex hosts.”

  This was too much for the crowd.

  “Hosts! Hosts he calls them.” The commotion that rose was beyond Pokt’s control. Ten or twelve of the survivors surged forward and encircled the Skirni.

  “They are jailors! We are prisoners forced to do their labor.”

  “Where’s the rest of the LSA delegation?”

  “Why don’t you get us out of here?”

  As the angry group pressed in on Pokt, two previously unseen forms now stepped out from the shadows at the side of the saloon. Twice as tall as a human, moving on four legs, the creatures positioned themselves between the Skirni and the angry crowd, which now drew back like a wave receding from the shore.

  “Tell the Spex we need more food,” one of the throng yelled out, shaking his fist at the aliens.

  “Tell them we have no fuel. We’re freezing in here,” another shouted.

  The crowd’s anger at the Skirni now turned to jeers at both Pokt and the aliens that Zenn assumed were the ones they called the Khurspex.

  The two beings were tall enough that their heads brushed the twelve-foot ceiling of the saloon. They appeared to have both insectoid and mammalian traits, with an outer layer of leathery, ivory-colored exoskeleton over a dull white dermal layer. Their coloring was pale; so pale Zenn was reminded of permanent cave dwellers, their skin gone white in the absence of sunlight.

  Fane now stepped by her. She saw his eyes were very wide, his mouth open as if in shock as he stared at the aliens.