Lacuna: Demons of the Void

by David Adams

  Liao tugged on her uniform jacket, nodding up to Commander Sheng. “Very good, Command. Warm up sub-light engines and bring reactors two and six to full power. Keep the remainder on standby. Prepare to disengage umbilicals and mooring clamps.”

  “Aye, ma’am.”

  Voices called back and forth throughout Ops, punctuated by the tap-tap-tap of fingers on keyboards. Then, Lieutenant Dao called from the navigation section. “All systems clear.... we are go for lift-off.”

  Liao turned to her XO. “Commander Sheng?”

  “Aye, Captain?”

  She paused a second or two to savour the moment. “Commence lift-off.”

  Sheng just nodded ever so slightly. “Sub-light engines at full. Bearing: zero mark zero mark zero. Straight up if you please, Mister Dao.”

  “Aye sir, engines at full. Lifting him up.”

  The ship shuddered briefly as it strained against the moon’s gravity, and for a moment it seemed as though it would not move at all. Then, as though breathing out a sigh of relief, the ship slipped free of its lunar berthing and began to ascend.

  The helmsman, Mister Dao, spoke up again. “We have cleared the mooring scaffold. We are away. Altitude: six metres and climbing. Ten metres. Fifteen...”

  “Very good, Mister Dao. Climb outside the moon’s gravity well. Steady as she goes.”

  Slowly, like a long, thin Zeppelin floating away from the ground, the craft climbed out of the moon’s grasp. As the ship grew higher, its velocity increased until finally it was sailing calmly through space. The gravity grew less and less... and Liao began to feel queasy. She fought the feeling with all of her considerable willpower, mentally willing herself not to hurl.

  Finally, at approximately five thousand kilometres, the artificial gravity was slowly eased on. Soon the deck’s pull became equal to what they would have experienced on the moon, then gradually increased towards Earth normal pull.

  Finally, Dao spoke again. “Sixty thousand clicks distant from the launch zone. We are currently passing the Lagrangian point L2, heading outbound. We are free of the moon’s gravity well.”

  There was a cheer from the entire Ops crew, although the XO and Captain merely smiled triumphantly to each other. Liao noted, with a little concern, that Sheng seemed a little less enthused than she. Shrugging it off for the moment, Liao picked up the ship’s intercom and engaged it.

  “Attention all hands, this is the Captain speaking... we are away.”

  Lifting her finger from the ‘talk’ key, Melissa gestured to the helmsman. “Mister Dao, set course for Waypoint Alpha en route to Jupiter. All engines ahead full.”

  The helmsman’s grin spread from ear to ear. “Aye aye, Captain. Setting bearings for Waypoint Alpha, all engines ahead full...”

  Liao stood from her chair, nodding to her First Officer. “Nicely done, Commander Sheng.”

  “Thank you, Captain. Just make sure to note that in your log.” He shrugged a little. “So, six weeks out from Jupiter,” he offered, folding his hands behind his back. “Just a small hop around the block. Here’s hoping for smooth sailing.”

  “The Tehran’s journey was uneventful,” Liao observed, motioning towards the doorway to the Captain’s office. The two officers crossed the floor of the Operations room and stepped into her private office, closing the door behind them. “Here’s hoping ours is the same.”

  “You keep saying that,” Sheng mused, flashing a smile in her direction. Liao couldn’t help but notice that the smile was just a little bit more than professional. Not flirtatious, though, but... something else. She paused a moment, as though unsure of how to proceed now that they were alone. She DID intend to spend more time with her XO...

  Perhaps he was just nervous, but Liao got the distinct impression that he didn’t like her. After some thought, she answered his question. “I suppose I’m hoping that if I keep saying it, it’ll come true.”

  “You don’t think it will?” He inclined his head. “I know the people who built her, Captain. The Beijing is a fine ship and she-”

  “He.”

  “...of course. He.” Sheng tilted his head. “You have some doubts about the ship’s capabilities? I thought you were satisfied with everything...”

  She shook her head, firmly. “No. This is the finest ship mankind can make. I have no doubt as to the power of his arms or the strength of his hull. It’s primarily new technology, yes, but it’s all been tested now on the Tehran and most of the main issues have been resolved. I’m certain of the Beijing’s capabilities and I know he’ll carry us through. Rather, I worry for the future...”

  Liao reached up for the glass cabinet hung on the wall, taking out a pair of glasses. She went to pour a pair of drinks, but hesitated somewhat. The glasses had special significance to her; She had last shared them with James. For some reason she just couldn’t put her finger on, it felt wrong to do the same with Sheng.

  But that was silly. She began pouring, putting several cubes of ice in each with the small tongs.

  Sheng, watching her pour, continued. “...You wonder if the Beijing is a match for the Demons.” He chuckled. “Interesting. When I was visiting Captain Knight he insisted that it was the visitor that poured the scotch...”

  Smiling wryly, Liao cast a glance his way. “Isn’t that everyone’s worry? They levelled three cities back on Earth, seemingly without a care in the world. They could have kept going... wiped us all out. They only stopped because they wanted to. And I’m not Captain Knight. How is the Sydney, anyway?”

  “It has its problems,” Sheng admitted, downing his glass a little too fast for Liao’s liking. Obviously sensing her displeasure, Sheng rattled the empty glass. “I don’t really like scotch.”

  “My mother said never to trust a man who couldn’t drink scotch. Would you prefer champagne instead?” She reached for the bottle. “So, any thoughts on why the aliens stopped their attack when they did?”

  “Your mother’s very wise, and maybe that energy weapon of theirs is limited. Isn’t it a little bit too early in the day to be drinking so much?”

  Liao shook her head. “You don’t use everything you have in a battle right away. If you do, and it doesn’t work, you’re defenseless. Even if their weapon only had three shots, they had an ace up their sleeve. I’m certain of it.” Relieved that Sheng was no longer interested in her hard liquor, Liao finished her drink then washed and stored the glasses back where she found them. Reaching into the cabinet she retrieved two of the taller, thinner champagne glasses and poured, handing Sheng one. “Oh, go on. It’s a special occasion.”

  Sheng seemed pleased with the latest liquid offering, swirling it slightly and sniffing to sample the aroma. He clinked his glass to hers then put the drink to his lips, tasting it. His reaction, from what Liao could tell, was very positive. “I’m sure their ships are capable of more than they’ve shown us. And this is French? As in, actually from Champagne?”

  “We’ll find out in due time, I suspect. And yes... it’s the genuine article.”

  The pair drank their modest half-glasses of the immodestly priced drink, then Liao packed them away. With her hand on the cabinet’s door, she hesitated a moment, studying her own faint reflection in the flat glass window.

  “In due time,” Sheng echoed, his voice solemn.

  *****

  Captain Liao’s Office

  TFR Beijing

  Space

  Day 9 of the shakedown cruise

  Liao worked on her paperwork. A Captain’s life was paperwork; it seemed never-ending. And although Liao did not mind it, its mere existence proved to be a significant distraction from the actual business of captaining.

  A buzzer at the door caused her to put down her pen. “Yes?”

  The door swung open, revealing the happiest redhead in the world.

  “Goooooood evening, Captain Liao!”

  Melissa nodded at the thoughtful use of her title. It seemed as though Rowe might actually be catching on to military protocol, someth
ing that pleased her greatly. The woman was highly animated as she practically bounced into the room, her curled hair bobbing as she moved.

  “What do you have for me, Rowe?”

  “Just my weekly report, Captain!”

  Liao took it, but did not have time to read it in full. Instead, she placed it to one side, folding her hands in front of her. “I’ll make that bedtime reading,” she remarked, grinning slyly. “I’ve been having trouble getting to sleep some nights and I find your reports usually help.”

  “Probably. I never could write anything interesting. Do Hoare logic and propositional calculus, yes, but write an essay? Read a novel? Phht. I got a perfect score in math and failed English. What does that tell you?”

  Liao didn’t have an answer for that, so she simply nodded her head and hoped the question was rhetorical. “I see. Well, how about you give me the Reader’s Digest version? How’s the ship holding up?”

  Summer positively beamed. “Pretty good, actually. The nuke reactors are humming along nicely. We had a malfunction in artificial gravity on deck six at 0200 - right during my shower - but that’s fixed now. Just a subtle race condition in the micro-controller array; it seemed that the scheduler wasn’t actually achieving atomic transactions under some circumstances, so we weren’t getting mutual exclusion-”

  Liao felt her aggravation quota slowly filling. “In layman’s terms, Summer. I’m not a...” she gestured to the other woman vaguely. “...a computer person or whatever you are, okay?”

  Summer laughed. “Okay, sure, sure. Well, anyway, see, the micro-controller is an eight-bit system and whatever fuck-monkey coded this thing was passing in eight bit numbers, right, but you see, it’s expecting a signed-”

  “More layman, if you please.”

  Summer stared a moment. “Computer machine broke. I fixed it.”

  “Good, that’s what I wanted to hear.” Liao casually tapped on the desk with the tip of a finger. “Will it happen again?”

  “No. At least, it shouldn’t as long as we’re not mixing unsigned and signed...” she stopped, holding up her hands. “...no, it shouldn’t. I’m pretty sure.”

  Liao thought a moment. “Anything else to report?”

  “Eh, nothing much. Sheng’s inbox had to be cleaned out again. He’s getting so many messages with encrypted images attached, and we didn’t plan on keeping so much data on the ship’s servers, so we have to repeatedly allocate him more storage space. Nobody else is having any problems...”

  Liao nodded. It was puzzling that her XO would be receiving those kinds of messages, but she dismissed it.

  Summer smirked. “He should probably cut down on his porn consumption.”

  Liao raised an eyebrow. “Is it pornography? Did you see what the messages were?”

  “Uh, no. I don’t know what they were; I didn’t see. Generally if guys are getting heaps of pictures in their inboxes it’s usually photographs of cats with funny subtitles... or porn.”

  Melissa nodded. “Okay, thank you, that’s been most helpful. Let me know if you find anything else. You know where to find me.”

  “Tragically undersexed and working yourself to an early grave, right?”

  Liao smiled a little. “Right. Good night, Summer.”

  *****

  Corridor

  TFR Beijing

  Day 19 of the shakedown cruise

  “So what do you want on your grave?”

  Liao was just walking past the deck to the Waste Management room when she overheard familiar voices - Lieutenants Jiang, Dao and Ling all chatting with Summer Rowe. Although there was always something for the Captain to do, on this particular occasion Liao decided that she should “gain an insider’s perspective” on what the crew talked about when she wasn’t around.

  Or eavesdrop, in the urban vernacular. She leaned up against the bulkhead beside the door, listening to the conversation.

  Melissa heard Dao chuckle. “There’s an old saying... ‘To live in hearts left behind... is not to die’. I like that one.”

  Jiang’s voice was next. “I see,” she commented, sounding curious. “So you’re... a family man, then?”

  “Mmm, well not yet, but I want to be some day, you know?”

  Jiang’s voice again. She sounded pleased with that answer. “Heh, that’s... that’s very sweet. I’d probably have... ‘I’m with stupid!’ or something. Nothing deep or philosophical. That’s not me...”

  Ling spoke up next, his quiet voice hard to hear. “I have no idea what I’d write. I don’t like to think about death... especially not here, so far away from home.”

  There was a general murmur of agreement and Summer’s voice reached her ears. “I want... ‘Han shot first.’”

  Liao rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe Summer sometimes. Making her way further down the ship’s corridors, she left the conversation behind her and focused on her work.

  *****

  Operations

  TFR Beijing

  Space near Jupiter

  Day 43 of the shakedown cruise

  “Radar contact!”

  Alarms rang out from the radar section. Twisting around to look at Lieutenant Ling, Liao glanced over her shoulder, her eyes wide.

  “Report, Mister Ling!”

  Liao’s command was terse, sharp and more energetic than she had intended. Their radar operator, Ling, hesitated a moment before speaking.

  “I’ve got a radar contact. Letting the long-range emitter come around again so we can confirm it... confirming... confirmed. Sir, a contact appeared on long-range radar during our last sweep. Distance... approximately fifty seven thousand kilometres off our port side.”

  Radar waves moved at the speed of light. Liao knew that at that distance, it would take about half a second for their radar signal to reach the target and an equal time to return. She frowned slightly; why didn’t they see them until they were so close? The contact was practically right on top of them.

  The contact (if it was a ship) could see the Beijing almost immediately, of course, but... it was safe to assume that whatever technology the Demons had, it was equal to theirs or greater. So if they could see the Demons, the Demons could see them too. Perhaps they had been watching them for some time and only just now decided to make themselves known...

  Liao tapped her fingers on the metal of her command console. “Fifty seven thousand... that would put it…”

  Dao, the navigator, finished her sentence. “…smack dead in the L4 Lagrangian point, between Jupiter and the Sun.” Dao’s implication was immediately obvious to everyone in the room. Their proximity to the Lagrangian point explained it all. The ship had appeared there, using a jump drive.

  It was them. The Demons were in the solar system.

  But what were they doing here, so far from Earth? Liao burned with curiosity. She folded her hands together behind her, straightening her back and turning her whole body to Ling. “What’s that ship’s speed and heading?”

  A moment’s pause while Ling examined his monitor. The Ops room was as quiet as a tomb and Liao leaned forward expectantly.

  Finally, Ling spoke. “Stationary, holding on the L4 point. Based on the radar reflection it’s weighing in at... approximately fifteen thousand tonnes. Length: sixty metres, the size of a standard patrol boat. Much smaller than the ship that attacked Earth.”

  Sheng inclined his head. “A scout?”

  “Possibly,” answered Liao, frowning and leaning forward in her chair. “But scouting for what...? Are the Demons checking up on their handiwork? They’re a hell of a long way from Earth... I’m disinclined to think they travelled who-knows-how-many light years to end up at the wrong planet...”

  Sheng didn’t have an answer to that. He merely shrugged. “It isn't given to us to question our good fortune. Let’s report this finding back to Task Force Command and terminate the shakedown cruise early. Helm, prepare to...”

  Liao leaned forward over her console, frowning. “Belay that command.” She looked up
at Sheng’s shocked face. “I have absolutely no intention of turning tail and running, Commander. This vessel is on his shakedown cruise – a test of his capabilities. Given the opportunity presented to us, I fully intend to test all aspects of its performance.”

  Sheng stared down at his commander, open mouthed. “You’re going to engage them? Surely you can’t be serious.”

  “I am serious,” she replied. And then as an afterthought, “and as Rowe might say... don’t call me Shirley. Power up the railguns. Load all missile tubes, and charge the hull plating. Helm, intercept that ship. Maximum sub-light. All hands to general quarters.”

  The klaxon of the ‘general quarters’ echoed throughout the corridors of the ship. This was the crew’s signal to adopt their battle stations. Immediately the crew sprang into action; the heavy steel doors to the Operations room, and all over the ship, slid closed. This prevented a breach in any one section from spreading.

  Liao glanced over her shoulder. “Communications, relay to Task Force Command what we have found. Inform them that we will be engaging the enemy momentarily.”

  “Aye, sir!”

  Sheng shook his head violently. “Captain! I must protest; this vessel is still being tested. It is not combat ready…”

  “…And yet despite this I have every faith in this ship and her crew,” Liao replied, her tone even. “And I expect my orders to be obeyed. That hostile ship is significantly smaller, and presumably weaker, than the one that attacked Earth. Its appearance represents the perfect moment for us to test the Triumph class vessels in combat.”

  “Presumably weaker?” Sheng practically spat out his words. “We have no idea what that ship can do, or if our weapons can even harm it. The mere fact that they’re here, and the intelligence we’ve gained from observing them, is invaluable!”

  “I would have thought you’d appreciate the chance to bloody their noses, Commander Sheng.” Liao regarded him curiously. “After what happened in Beijing, I would have thought you’d jump at the chance...”