Warpath

by Randolph Lalonde

  Chapter 39

  New Ground

  After dealing with crewmembers who broke regulations for over two hours, while Frost’s gunnery team practiced firing their giant rail gun turrets all morning, Jake was ready for some quiet experimentation. He sat in the Captain’s seat with a view of the bridge in front of him, and a view of the Flight Operations Centre above and in front. The floor was transparent, and they were connected through an independent communications system so he could speak to his Executive Officer whenever he needed to.

  Stephanie sat in front of her pedestal style console in a high seat with the Flight Operations Team in front of her. The bridge and the Flight Operations Centre were reversed and miniature versions of the same thing on the Triton, made to direct everything that went on inside and outside the Revenge. Stephanie had her staff sorted out, and the consoles ready, they no longer needed help from the Triton to track and control launched fighters or other craft.

  “We are ready, Sir,” Stephanie said through their communications link. “Triton reports ready as well.”

  “All departments report ready?” Jake asked his bridge staff.

  “All departments ready,” Agameg replied. “I’m excited.”

  “Activate dimension drive,” Jake ordered. He watched the status of the drive and the energy fields around his ship, ready to cancel the test at the first sign of trouble. A flash of light signalled the opening of a rift in space ahead of them.

  “Reading normal radiation, there is an energy tunnel with directionality pulling at our ship, but we are holding,” Kadri, the new Science and Sensor officer reported.

  “Triton is launching their drone,” announced Stephanie.

  “Launch ours as soon as theirs is through,” Jake ordered. He watched as the first drone disappeared into a rift in space that was invisible to the naked human eye.

  “Our drone is away, approaching the rift at high speed,” Stephanie said.

  Their drone disappeared seconds later. Jake silently admitted that he was just happy to see one of their autonomous ship launchers work, none of them had seen practical testing.

  “Rift is closed,” Kadri reported. “Minimal residual radiation, most of what I’m seeing isn’t exotic at all, anyone scanning would think it was energy and particles left over in the wake of a large ship. Almost exactly the same as our current hyperspace technology.”

  “Now we wait for a signal from our drone,” Stephanie said. “We should see something in about thirty seconds.”

  “What about our drive?” Jake said. His console told him it was properly powered down to standby mode. “Anything in the details that could be trouble?”

  “No power build ups, no anomalies at all,” Finn said. “Everything is working as expected.”

  “Good.”

  “Our drone has made it across, and is signalling using a micro-wormhole through normal space,” Stephanie said. “Data is coming in, the drone is undamaged. It had to make constant course corrections so it didn’t collide with the Triton’s drone.”

  “What about their drone?” Jake asked.

  “The same, they report that their drone suffered no damage, even when it tried to break through the wall of the energy tunnel. The tunnel moved with the drone, but the containment did get weaker. The drones were being squeezed together though, and it took most of their thruster power to keep from colliding.”

  “Okay, so far we’re learning a lot,” Jake said. “Get ready for the next test.”

  “This is fast, Jake,” Minh-Chu said. He looked excited. “That’s a light year every twenty minutes. No deceleration or acceleration time, just really fast through dimensional space, then full stop.”

  Jake couldn’t help but wonder what kind of foe the Edxi would be, if they had mastered dimension drive technology. It created many tactical problems, and he was already starting to rethink his decision to skip adding cloaking systems to the Revenge. “That is much faster than what anyone has right now,” Jake replied. “Let’s finish testing so we know we won’t kill ourselves trying to use this thing.”

  Four hours and five tests later, the Revenge had expended a quarter of its drones, and all the results coming from the Triton and their own systems were telling them that it was safe technology. They’d tested both drives as well, and the results told them the same things. The only issue with the dimension drive was that bodies travelling together would be attracted to each other, making any kind of journey taken with multiple ships a dangerous proposition.

  “It’s our turn,” Jake said. “All hands, we are going to attempt to use the dimension drive to travel with the Revenge. This will be a one-minute long trip.”

  “Dimension drive is charged,” Finn said. “Ready.”

  “Helm is ready, Sir,” Ashley said.

  “Open the door, navigation,” Jake said.

  “Hey, that’s not bad,” Minh-Chu whispered.

  “Dimension drive activated, rift open,” Agameg announced.

  “There is a viable corridor,” Kadri said.

  “We’re going in,” Ashley reported.

  At first there was no difference in what they were seeing with the naked eye, the view was the same. Jake’s console told them that they were entering a funnel like energy doorway that led to a slightly curved energy tunnel, or corridor as Kadri put it. A brief creaking sound filled the cabin and suddenly none of the readings he saw past ten metres away from the hull made sense. Inside the transit corridor, it looked like normal space with an energy much like gravity pulling them forward at great speed, but outside it was nonsense.

  The view inside the bridge displayed on the walls was of a blue-white expanse of twisting energy. Glowing bodies of shadow drifted between eddies of light. “We’ve got to learn how to scan this space,” Jake said.

  “First we have to find out what we’re seeing,” Kadri replied.

  They exited through another tear in space and Jake immediately saw their drones on his tactical display. “Predictable, stable, easy to manoeuvre,”

  “And fast!” Minh-Chu said. “No difference in speed between us and the drones.”

  “How’s our hull?” Jake asked.

  “Sensors aren’t picking up any cracks or other damage,” Finn said. “Sending our army of skitters out to perform a close scan, it should take about half an hour.”

  “All right, move us out, we want to be well clear when the Triton arrives,” Jake said.

  “Getting out of the way,” Ashley said, firing the main thrusters and accelerating away from their arrival point.

  “The Triton is signalling that it is about to enter its own rift,” Liara announced.

  The Revenge moved well out of the way and decelerated, and the crew waited. Seconds later, the Triton arrived, as though coming out of nowhere and stopping instantly after moving at a great speed.

  “Captain,” Kadri said. “I’m scanning the Triton’s hull and can’t find any flaws. It matches our previous scans perfectly. Their scan data of us is the same. I’ll admit I don’t understand everything about this technology, but I’m going to clear it for longer distances.”

  “Captain Anderson is hailing us from the Triton, Sir,” Liara announced.

  “Put her through,” Jake replied. The image of the Triton Command area of the Bridge, with Oz sitting in the middle seat and Ayan sitting beside him, appeared on the front wall of the Revenge’s bridge. “This technology works,” Ayan said. “The information and schematics that Lorander provided got us over the hump, and it’s working reliably. Not only that, I understand why it works. We’ve always had theories that there are infinite dimensions, but this proves it and takes advantage of our most advanced science in that field.”

  “So you think it’s safe to use it for travel?” Jake replied.

  “Considering what these drives do for us, yes,” Ayan replied. “The energy corridor does not appear as a natural phenomenon, it’s completely the result of a subsystem inside the drive, I can pinpoint all the subsystems and
tell you what they do, I’m sending the document to your engineering team now so they can start performing component by component checks.”

  “Congratulations,” Jake said. “You may be one of the first humans to understand this technology.”

  “Thank you,” Ayan said, distracted by the work she was doing on her console. “I think it’s time for us to go to the Iron Head Nebula,” Ayan said. “The technology is ready, and once your people look at this information, they’ll be ready to use it safely.”

  “We weren’t ready to use it safely before we went through the dimensional tunnel?” Minh-Chu muttered under his breath. “I really am going to go outside in a shuttle next time you test new toys.”

  “All right, so we recall our drones, finish our integrity scans and the rest of our good scientific practices, then we get moving?” Jake asked.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Oz replied. “Don’t forget to send your crew’s email packet through a wormhole pointed at Haven Shore before we go, it might be the last mail call we get for a while.”

  Chapter 40

  Balance and Truth

  Captain Valent was actually glad to be summoned to the infirmary by their new lead medical technician, Ensign Levine. The distraction was welcome. Even though he was about the business of running a ship, which was a sixteen hour a day job where he was always on call, he still found himself thinking about the strange space they were moving through. If one thing went wrong, they could be flung into an unpredictable maelstrom of strange energies and objects. When he managed to bury those anxieties, and he happened upon a quiet moment, he remembered the people who he missed most.

  He already wished he could have brought Alice along, and wished he could check on her, even using Crewcast. What made matters much worse was that he knew that Governor Anderson, the last research doctor he knew and the only one he trusted, had inherited everything from the Fallen Star and was busy relocating it. He was also doing an intense study of Doctor Messana’s research into curing Alice, and was optimistic. Whether he could use the ill-gotten methods if they were effective was another question, one which Jake trusted Governor Anderson with.

  He wished he could speak to someone about his daughter back home, and the developments there, but Ayan didn’t transfer from the Triton before they entered the dimensional rift. She had too much research to finish there, and it was the best thing for the fleet. Jake understood, and felt childish for missing her already, but there it was. So, he endlessly read reports – no matter how boring or trivial – checked systems, and ran efficiency simulations while sitting in the Captain’s chair. That was, until the Ensign called him down to the infirmary.

  Jake had to admit that he found Ensign Zachary Levine, their new doctor, amusing. Ensign Levine was born on Kambis and raised on Tamber in a small mining and manufacturing town. He was trained as a medical technician by the local military and had a decades experience in the field and in space. Everything about the man’s service record made him the perfect candidate to lead the Revenge’s medical team. Another thing Jake liked about him was that he was in no way interested in experiments or long-term research.

  The infirmary was neat, clean and surprisingly busy. There were still people who needed their obligatory stop shots. They were lined up outside and there was an injured crewman he didn’t see straight away. Jake sat on one of the treatment beds like any other patient, a narrow bot with a smiley face painted on its flat, featureless face. “The medical technician will be with you shortly,” it said.

  Jake could hear the groans of a patient behind a curtain. “You’re not a medical bot, are you?” Jake said to the slender droid that greeted him, looking for the bots that he’d managed to get his hands on for the Revenge. He could only see one of the four-armed, circular machines.

  “I am not. I’m a receptionist and host bot that has been serving Medical Technician Levine for four years. He found me in a junk heap while he was serving on the Plains of Gusette and decided that I could be useful at holding non-critical objects, cleaning and speaking to patients while they wait. It was a glorious day when he turned me on and put me to a finer purpose, serving ailing humans.”

  “Who painted that on you?” Jake asked.

  “What? Is there something on my face?” the droid asked, mildly alarmed.

  “Never mind,” Jake said.

  “Someone forgot to activate the medical features on their vacsuit,” Jake heard Ensign Levine say to the patient behind the curtain. “No wonder you broke your leg. Let me show you how to activate all the features of your suit so it protects you next time.”

  “Wait, aren’t you going to treat my leg first?” asked the patient behind the curtain.

  Jake had an idea that he knew what was about to happen, but listened quietly. “Do you need anything, Captain?” the hospitality bot asked.

  “No, just be quiet, I want to hear this,” Jake said.

  “As you wish, Sir,” replied the hospitality bot.

  He listened to what was happening on the other side of the curtain closely. “Well, since the technology in your suit would fix your leg the same way I would, I’ll activate it so you never forget to enable it before your shift again,” Ensign Levine said. “Let me show you, the activation is right here under the critical systems control menu on your command unit.”

  A yelp of surprise and pain signalled to Jake that the suit, and the emergency medical systems had been activated. He knew that nanobots had been injected, the suit gripped, stretched and flexed to set the bone properly, and in a moment the bone would be mended. “Son of a Bitch!” the patient shouted. Ensign Levine most likely neglected to activate anaesthetic on the man’s suit.

  “You can swear all you want in my med bay, but don’t insult my mother,” Ensign Levine said as he emerged from the curtained area of the infirmary, his attitude perfectly pleasant. “Now, your leg is fine, but you can take a minute to relax, and man up before you get back to work. I need that bed.” He turned to Jake, who was thoroughly amused. “Captain! I didn’t expect you to report in so quickly.”

  “Good to meet you,” Jake said, shaking Ensign Zac Levine’s hand. “Welcome to the Revenge.”

  “Good to be here, thank you for my infirmary,” he replied. “I was surprised when the Governor tapped me for this job, I couldn’t wait to get back to space.”

  “I’m sorry about Kambis,” Jake said.

  “Not your doing,” Ensign Levine said. “So, what brings you in, balance issues?”

  “Yes,” Jake said. “I think its just part of my recovery. I wasn’t able to walk at all a few weeks ago, but thanks to physical therapy, I’m on my feet, but I’m not steady yet.”

  “Log says you went for a jog this morning,” Ensign Levine said, bringing up a holographic display of Jake’s records using his hospitably droid. “Have you ever gotten dizzy while sitting?”

  “A few days ago, yeah,” Jake said.

  “Okay, let me do a quick scan here.” Ensign Levine pointed a small box at Jake’s head and clicked it. He looked at the scan results using the holographic display and nodded. “Your brain is getting conflicting information from your eyes and your inner ear. Your suit’s diagnostic missed it because it calibrated with the problem in place. It got tricked into thinking that it was a normal defect for you.”

  “So, the balance issue isn’t a normal thing for my kind or recovery,” Jake said.

  “Not at this stage,” Ensign Levine said as he accepted a small pointed tool from a round medical bot. “Look over there, Captain,” he told him.

  Jake did as he was told and Ensign Levine put the device he was holding into his ear slightly. He felt a cool pinch. “Lay down for a moment, you’re going to get real dizzy in a sec.”

  Jake barely made it to a flat position before the world seemed to spin. “That’s normal?”

  “The nanites I just sent into your head are correcting the inner ear problem, so you’re going to be very dizzy for a minute or two. You can expect severe di
zzy spells for a few hours following.

  “What was it, exactly?” Jake asked.

  “A tiny abnormal growth on the vestibular nerve connecting the inner ear to your brain. After we’re done here, the chances of it recurring will be very low, but your command and control unit will know how to take care of it.”

  “Captain Valent, please report to the bridge,” announced Lieutenant Commander Liara over the intercom.

  “And we’re done here,” Ensign Levine said. “Just take it slow for the next few hours, and your equilibrium should restore itself. Trust your suit, it’ll help you walk upright while you’re trying to find your balance. Oh, and you’re confined to the completed areas of the ship for the next two days.”

  “Is my balance going to be that screwed up?” Jake asked, sitting up. A wave of dizziness overcame him and he slipped off the treatment bed. The world seemed to wobble around him as he fell on his side.

  “Wow, you went down pretty fast there,” Ensign Levine said with a chuckle. “Sorry I didn’t catch you, Sir, I didn’t have a chance.”

  One of the medical bots pulled Jake up onto his feet, and he had to admit, he was anything but steady. “I have to get to the bridge,” Jake said.

  “Okay,” Ensign Levine said, taking Jake’s command and control unit into his hand and programming his vacsuit’s artificial muscle layer to do all the balance and walking work for him. “Marionette time,” Ensign Levine said. “Now, when the bot lets go, just go limp.”

  The medical droid backed away, and Jake had a moment where he couldn’t catch his balance, then it partially subsided. “Can’t really catch my balance here,” Jake said.

  “I’ll have Marion here follow you to the bridge,” Ensign Levine said, gesturing to his hospitality bot. “She’s good and sturdy, just put your hand on her head and let your suit do the work. Oh, and you may feel some nausea, your suit will treat that as it comes up, pun intended. That’ll get you to the bridge, but you’re staying in your chair for the rest of your duty shift, then straight to your room. A bunch of balancing exercises will come up when you get there. Do them for an hour at least before you go to bed.”