“Because of the gravitational distortions of the wormhole,” Piaffè answered.
“Here we go,” Ian reported from the control chair. Through the glassite windows on the front of the Express, they saw the wonderful yet horrible maw of the wormhole through which Piaffè was leading them.
∞∞∞
Moving silently on its appointed rounds, the patroller Midnight completed yet another circuit of its quadrant. Inside, the young captain chaffed at the dullness of his routine. He had signed up for adventure, not this tedium! Flying a groove in space, even though it was near the capital planet of Shalimar, was far from his dreams of glory.
Just as Captain Barbar was about to check in with his control commander, his attention was distracted by a flash of light far out in front of his ship. He double-checked his forward sensor array to verify that a transit tube was indeed forming in space within easy striking distance of Shalimar.
While he watched, the space around the point where he’d seen the flash began to swirl in a cosmic cloud of light. Then to his surprise it disgorged two vessels, one very small and almost invisible to his sensors. The other was an old freighter.
Fully expecting the tube to release a fleet of Red-tail invaders, Captain Barbar mashed down on the mic switch.
“Patroller Midnight calling in a full alert for sector 23F-47!” he all but yelled into the mic. “Unknown bogies appearing from what looks to be another transit tube!”
“We detect it too!” returned the terse reply from his commander back at the mothership. “Vectoring help as we speak. Hold your distance and keep reporting. Don’t engage until reinforcements arrive!”
Captain Barbar bristled at the subtle rebuke.
“Acknowledged,” he replied through clenched teeth. Like I would really attack a Red-tail fleet alone!
Backing his patroller away from the unidentified objects, Barbar performed another sensor sweep to confirm what his eyes were telling him. To his surprise, there now only appeared to be one object!
Confused, he swung his optical magnifier into place and squinted into the eyepiece. All he could see was what appeared to be a civilian freighter several times the size of his own one-man patroller. There was no sign of the second object he’d seen ever so briefly.
At least I thought I saw it, he told himself.
Resisting temptation, Barbar held position and prepared to photograph the unidentified ship. Just as he looked through the lens, he saw the mystery ship shimmer and disappear! Shocked, he performed another sensor sweep and it likewise showed nothing!
“Patroller Midnight, report,” his comm barked. “What is the status of those objects?”
“Patroller Midnight reporting,” Captain Barber replied as he continued both visual and sensor sweeps. “Situation unknown. And it’s not a Red-tail fleet. It was just two bogies. One was an old freighter, and I have no idea what the other one was. And now they’ve disappeared!”
“Please repeat,” his commander said. “You said they disappeared?”
“That is correct,” the captain responded reluctantly.
“Which direction did they go?” his commander asked. “I’ve got ships converging from several different directions.”
“I didn’t say they left, sir. I said they disappeared. One second they were there, the next they vanished right in front of my eyes.”
“Explain yourself,” his commander sternly ordered.
“The first object disappeared almost immediately after the flash,” Captain Barbar reported. “The second ship, which looked like an old freighter, that I also observed very briefly, shimmered then dropped off of my scope. I was looking right at it when it vanished.”
While this exchange was happening, Ian and Lyyle were listening in.
“Think we should tell them?” Ian asked from the control chair. “Otherwise that captain is gonna have nightmares tonight.”
“Probably,” Lyyle admitted. “Right now I’m just happy we made it through that wormhole! Using the combined effect of that little ship’s slipstream coupled with our repulsion field did the trick!”
“You think they saw our little friend?” Ian asked.
“He says he did, but I don’t think he’s sure,” Lyyle said. “As I said, that hull shape and surface make it almost impossible to see. I knew where to look and I still lost him for a while.”
“Well, we have company coming,” Ian said with a glance at the detector screen. “And some of it is mighty fast!”
Just then two little ships shaped like flattened ovals hove into view. Shortly afterwards, several other larger ships appeared, including a freighter painted Mica blue with an Imperial star on its side. Ian let out a low whistle.
“What’s that ship?” Lyyle asked.
“That’s something I never thought I’d see,” Ian said. “That is the private ship of Empress Ane herself.”
“What about those two little ships flitting about?” Lyyle asked. “Boy, can they move! They make the bigger ships look like slugs!”
“I read about those two in a magazine a while back,” Ian answered. “The pink one is called Baby and is usually seen with the Empress’ ship the Mary Belle. The little blue one is called Mee. It’s the same class as Baby. That’s about I know about them except to say they’re a special class of vessel.”
Lyyle watched the antics of the little ships and saw how they’d hover around the Mary Belle for a minute then disappear in a flash of light before returning just a quickly to her side.
“I guess we better make ourselves known,” Lyyle said. “They’re giving that scout captain a pretty rough time.”
“Do it,” Ian said. “Obviously, they can’t see us. Might as well face the music.”
∞∞∞
Not far away from the action, the little Jibbah ship floated undetected by any of the other ships present. Piaffè was amused by their antics, especially the two little ships flying around. Then the Cahill Express shimmered into view when Lyyle deactivated the Optiveil system. Piaffè saw the other ships react at their sudden appearance and then converge on the Express from all directions.
While this was going on, the little blue ship stopped and moved directly toward the Jibbah ship. Piaffè prepared to flee but he knew his ship could never outrun the incredibly fast little ship. Then the little ship stopped directly in front of him.
“Who are you?” the little blue ship asked in what sounded like a whisper. Piaffè was surprised to hear the question in his own language.
“I am Piaffè,” Piaffè said cautiously.
“Are you hiding?”
“Yes.”
“Oh goody!” the little blue ship said. “I like to play hide and seek!”
“Well, don’t tell anyone I’m here,” Piaffè said. “It is not safe for me.”
“Ok,” the little blue ship replied. “I’ll keep your secret.”
“Thank you,” Piaffè said, relieved that he may have found a friend. Then a thought struck him. “What is your name?”
“My name is Mee,” the little ship said. “Do you want to play?”
“I have to go see a friend,” Piaffè said. “He is on a planet you call Mica.”
“Oh, you mean Ert!” Mee said happily. “He’s my friend too! He told me how to find you and how to say your words.”
Piaffè was startled. “He taught you how to speak my language?”
“Sure,” the little ship said. “It’s easy for me. But my friend Bobby can’t do it yet.”
“Bobby? What is a Bobby?”
“He is my captain,” Mee said. “He is inside me now.”
Piaffè looked and saw a young human waving at him.
“Do you want a ride to go see our friend?” Mee asked. “I can get you there real quick!”
“That would be nice,” Piaffè answered. “Just don’t let those other ships see me. Ert said it is important that I not be seen.”
“I can do that easy,” Mee replied.
The little ship drew close with it
s grappling arms extended toward the Jibbah ship.
“Let me hide you in my arms,” Mee added as the arms took the little Jibbah scout in a mechanical embrace.
“Bobby is telling my mommy that we are going on a trip!” Mee continued. “She says it’s alright, but she wants my big sister to go with us.”
Piaffè couldn’t imagine how a ship could have both a mother and sister, but he was aware there were many things he didn’t know about these strange bipedal creatures.
Without warning, the little pick ship appeared beside her brother. She looked at the Ovid ship in her brother’s arms.
“Should I even ask?” she said.
“Only if you can catch me!”
Instantly, the two ships were off in a flash. As they accelerated many thousands of times faster than the Jibbah ship could go on its own, Piaffè wondered how he would explain this to his elders when he returned home from this mission.
∞∞∞
Back on the Cahill Express, two friends looked at each other when they saw the two little ships flash away. “Well, there they go,” Lyyle said. He turned back to his console.
“And here we go as well,” Ian said when he received a signal on the comm. “Looks like Ert’s handiwork again. They want us to go with them to the Ebilizer Institute. I think we finally have someone interested in the Optiveil.”
“It’s about time,” Lyyle stated.
Ian advanced the throttle. “I told you we should have gone there in the first place.”
Out through the front windows, Ian saw the other ships form a protective ring around the imperial ship.
“I just never figured we’d have a royal escort!”
Chapter Thirty
The door to the lab clicked shut and immediately the lights came up. The tired man blinked his tired eyes and then headed for the coat tree in the corner.
“Good morning, my friend,” Professor Angle said as he took off his coat. “You’re up early this morning.”
Stepping over to the brewing stand on a sideboard, he was surprised to see the teapot already hot and his cup filled and steeping. “And I see you made tea for me! How did you do it?”
“A little trick I picked up recently,” Ert replied. “A new friend developed the process and I borrowed his technique.”
“Thank him for me,” the professor said. He took his cup of steeping tea and returned to his desk.
“And as for being up early this morning, that depends on which morning on which planet you’re talking about,” Ert said. The professor ignored the trap.
“You still haven’t explained what you’ve been up to lately,” the professor remarked. “I know it has something to do with your little friends, but that’s all you’ve actually let me in on. However, I do note a hint of happiness, so I suspect whatever enterprise you’re involved in came out successfully.”
“In that you are correct,” remarked the Horicon computer happily. “A number of situations have been resolved to my satisfaction.”
“Care to tell me about them?” the professor asked. “Indulge an old man for once. It’ll help the morning go faster.”
“Well for one, I became curious about a missing planet,” Ert began. “My old records showed a planet called Vogel that your charts don’t show.”
“Where did it go?” the professor asked. “Was it destroyed or something?”
“It didn’t go anywhere. Instead, they hid it behind a masking system they call the Optiveil.”
“How?” the professor asked incredulously.
“They used a form of molecular refraction to hide it from visual and sensor detection,” Ert said. “A most ingenious system, if I may say so!”
“That’s amazing!”
“And the technology has been adapted to a ship now,” Ert continued. “In fact, it is my new friend that has it on his ship and is making it available to the Axia.”
“That could be a tremendous advantage to the Axia.”
“The technology is being studied as we speak,” Ert said. “I arranged for my friend and his ship to go to Shalimar to the Ebilizer Institute. They are already working on a way to adapt it to a new type of fast attack recon ship recently launched.”
“You should take a bow,” the professor said as he applauded lightly. Immediately, the holographic image of a Horicon appeared and bowed accordingly.
“What else are you guilty of?” the professor asked after the image faded.
“Should I also bow to your implication?” Ert asked. “Remember, according to your own computer scientists, a computer can’t feel emotion. Logically, it would follow that it cannot feel guilt either. Thus, I claim not to be guilty of whatever you may charge me with.”
“A jury would never convict you,” the professor said.
“However, they would convict you,” Ert shot back. “I can see the headline now—Renowned University Professor Claims Computer Feels Emotion.”
“I look forward to the trial,” the professor chuckled. “Now, what else have you done lately?”
“You mean besides updating the logs of those so-called archeologists excavating on both Horicon and that human planet they found?” Ert said. “Nothing much.”
“I hesitate to ask,” the professor cringed.
“You’ll be happy to know that your human scientists are working to adapt a new detection system that just happened to fall into their hands,” Ert said smugly.
“And how did that happen?” the professor asked. “Was it through your little friends?”
“Only indirectly,” Ert answered. “I had my new human friend put together a variation of the detection system jointly developed by the Horicon and the Jibbah. It was on their ship when they landed at the Ebilizer Institute.”
“But we don’t have that technology!” the professor protested. “You explained that yourself one day when we were discussing Horicon artifacts!”
“But you see, that discussion was about the badly damaged units found on Horicon itself,” Ert replied. “My new friend actually had a few pieces of old Horicon probes onboard his ship. To him they were just curios to be traded and displayed.”
“It makes you wonder what other treasures are sitting on shelves all over the galaxy just gathering dust.”
“So as a result, soon the Axia should be able to not only detect the Red-tail transit tubes before they completely form, but may one day actually be able to seal them at their source,” Ert said. “The only hard part was finding scientists within your scientific community who were willing to set aside their preconceived notions and consider something new.”
“Here, here!” agreed the professor as he raised his teacup in toast.
“And it should continue,” Ert said. “I encouraged the exchange of information between those who developed the Optiveil system and scientists at the Ebilizer Institute. An envoy for trade is in route to Shalimar, along with a contingent of scientists from Vogel.”
“Sounds too good to be true.”
“Not to worry,” Ert remarked. “I’ll keep it on track, along with some friends there at the institute.”
“My, aren’t you becoming the networking expert!” said the professor.
“If you’ll consider that my original programming was to network planetary infrastructure back on Horicon, you wouldn’t be surprised,” Ert said. “Now, what is waiting for me in your briefcase today? It is bulging more than normal.”
Before long, the professor and the ancient Horicon computer were deep in shoptalk about new designs for computers, which was more to Ert’s liking.
∞∞∞
From: deagle>gss.rodartc.ro
To: hasselfarm>gss.bv.er
Dear Mom & Dad,
Can you believe it? Ace signed off on my field training this week and now I can return to Rodar for my final training and captaincy certification. I was beginning to think I would be here forever.
The last step of my field training was a visit to Shalimar where Ace posted my scores with fleet command. He w
as actually friendly and gave me very high marks on all of my training modules. He’s off now applying his particular brand of torture to another new scout student.
And speaking of friendly, I made a new friend this week. Or rather, I should say I made a potential new friend this week. And I saw the strangest thing. I had to stop by the Ebilizer Institute to pick up a new upgrade for one of the sensors on my trainer. While there, I met a man, a space trader named Ian Cahill, and another man named Lyyle something-or-other, a scientist from a planet called Vogel. As it turned out, Cahill had inadvertently stumbled upon a lost planet (Vogel) where their scientists have developed the most amazing technology.
I know you won’t believe it, but they discovered a way to mask a whole planet from any visual or sensory detection, and then they adapted it to mask Ian’s ship. I didn’t believe it either but I happened to be in the hanger when they demonstrated it for the president of the institute. One moment the ship was there and the next it was invisible. They had installed it on Cahill’s old freighter, which to tell the truth really wasn’t anything special, that is, until it disappeared right in front of my eyes!
Later that evening I ran into Ian and Lyyle in the chow hall, so we sat and talked for a while. Wouldn’t it be something if they could adapt that new veiling system to Axia scout ships? (hint hint) Can you imagine whole fleets being able to remain undetectable, and the advantage it would give us fighting the Red-tails?
Next day... Sorry about that break. I had to get some stuff done before heading back to school. I’m in route back to Rodar now. I hope to hear from Stan Shane soon, but I know he’s on a mission somewhere. Ert said Stan is up to his elbows in alligators, whatever that means, on a planet in the Sol star system, where ever that is. Anyway, I can’t wait to get out there and see what the universe has in store for me. Gotta go. Let’s stay in touch.
Love —- Delmar
P.S. Ian Cahill and Lyyle met Ert. I’m not sure of the whole story, but somehow or another Ert helped rescue them from the Red-tail galaxy. Don’t ask me how they got there, but I guess with Ert, anything is possible... D
P.P.S. Oh yeah, one more thing. I just now spoke to Ert about Stan. He said Stan is working on a closed planet called Sol-3. Together they are trying to debug their computer system from information about the Axia. Ert said it’s a real mess. He said Stan is also working with one of the local inhabitants of the planet, which seems odd to me. I didn’t think Axia citizens were supposed to interact with the local population. Oh well, Stan knows what he’s doing. I don’t know why, but Sol-3 seems familiar to me, as if I’ve heard of it before, or it is related to me somehow. I can’t place it right now, but it will eventually come to me.
Space Trader (Galactic Axia Adventure) Page 23