“We’ll come back or find a different asteroid, come on.” Pheno moved to grab Eddientis’s closest tentacle, but the Ertryd effortlessly evaded and gently pushed Pheno further into the exit tube.
Ti pulled Pheno down the corridor. “We have to go; we’ll draw them away from Eddientis. They won’t come here unless we stay.”
“I don’t know.” Nevertheless, Pheno moved reluctantly after Ti. He last saw Eddientis pressing its tentacles into the blue goo of the command center sphere.
Ti stopped at a six-way intersection. She looked around.
“I think we go straight,” Pheno said, moving forward.
Ti put a hand on his arm. “No, it’s down then left then straight—”
“That’s the next intersection,” said Pheno.
“We’re losing too much time. Follow me.” Ti jackknifed and disappeared into the bottom tube.
Pheno snorted and rolled his eyes but followed. He would never allow Ti to confront a boarding party alone; and with her wacked sense of direction, she probably swam toward their entry point.
She swam left at the next junction then straight, right, straight, up, right, left, straight, down, and left. Midway along the corridor she paused with a smirk at the airlock.
“Freak,” said Pheno.
“You like it.”
Pheno grinned.
In the ship, they hastily unsuited.
“I’ll—I’ll—pilot—fire—the—ship—weapons,” they blurted at the same time.
“Deal,” said Pheno.
“Deal,” said Ti.
Pheno locked the pilot’s harness around him and pressed the big green button while Ti turned the co-pilot’s seat toward what Pheno guessed as the combat console. The ship’s autopilot maneuvered away from the spaceport at a clip that surprised Pheno.
He turned to Ti. “This ship can move.”
She shook her head staring out the dorsal portal. “Not good. The ion thrusters turned us so quickly because a bubble of ionized gas has enveloped the spaceport. More ions, more thrust.”
“And the downside is . . .”
“Gas, like in a planet’s atmosphere, ionizes when bombarded by subatomic particles or superheated into plasma like in a giant explosion or . . . collision.” Ti peered at the display in front of her. “Weird, this bubble is positively charged. It shouldn’t be this large or stable. Where did all those electrons go?”
“Bottom line it for me,” said Pheno.
“Ertryd has caught up.” Ti frowned.
“And all that debri—”
Ti nodded. “Yep, Eddientis will be crushed.”
“We’ll come back for it after we draw the pursuer off and, somehow, lose them,” said Pheno. “Figure out how long we have before the debris strikes Eddientis’s asteroid.”
“I’m on it,” said Ti.
Pheno grasped the yoke. He didn’t know how to fly the ship in truth; but he had at least watched Eddientis pilot the craft. Pheno had never seen a gun fired, even when the soldier died, much less shot one. Besides, shooting things seemed like something Ti would be in to because she had.
He pointed the bow away from the asteroid in the opposite direction from Ertryd’s approach and pushed the accelerator forward. From the cockpit windows, Pheno watched the reflectors slowly unfold in four directions. The process took an agonizingly long time; and when the accelerating lasers fired into the reflectors, the light looked depressingly dim. The ship gained speed as the photons from the laser light bounced off the reflective surface of the sail, slowly at first then faster and faster.
Pheno switched his view screen to the rear camera. Eddientis’s asteroid had shrunk noticeably with distance, but he now saw the pursuing ship without magnification. They were closing the gap too fast. Pheno realized, with a mixture of relief and fear, that the pursuers had shifted trajectories to intercept their ship instead of Eddientis’s asteroid.
“Well, I’m pretty much done,” said Pheno.
“I’m targeting their ice shield. They’re still in the outer reaches of the debris field. If I can melt the shield enough, they’ll have to slow down or risk a wayward speck of dust tearing their ship apart.” Ti fired the gun. A large blue dot appeared on the center of the closing ship’s ice shield.
“Kind of anti-climactic,” said Pheno, watching his screen.
“What, you were expecting a piercing noise, flash of light, followed by a testosterone-fueled explosion?” asked Ti.
Pheno shrugged and nodded.
“Really? In space?”
“Stop acting like I’m stupid, Nerdling.”
Ti quirked her brow. “Nerdling?”
“Yeah, I said it,” said Pheno.
Ti smirked. “Oh, you big, strong, handsome man, why don’t you look out the starboard portal?”
Pheno looked left.
Ti rolled her eyes. “Your other starboard.”
He looked right, blushing. “Ack! Why is the sail’s frame glowing?”
“The bad guys fired their big, bad gun to melt it off and cripple our itty bitty ship.”
Why, why do I love her?
Pheno fired the starboard bow thruster. The ship turned to port. The metal framework’s glow eased and a bright light reflected off the sail. Their port turn sharpened. Pheno shunted power from starboard to port sails. Their turn eased and acceleration increased as the attacker’s laser now propelled their starboard sail.
“Not bad, Sigma Boy.”
The pride in Ti’s voice thrilled Pheno. He had surprised himself too.
The pursuing ship matched Pheno’s turn. They had to track him in order to close the distance, but the pursuit left no way to avoid the steady melting of their ice shield by Ti’s laser.
The glare from the starboard sail vanished. A faint orange glow emerged from the port sail’s support structure. Pheno tacked to starboard and reversed the power flow. I can do this all through the rotation.
“They’re coming in too fast,” said Ti. “They’ll run us down before we reach terminal speed or melt their ice shield enough to harm them.”
“We need options,” said Pheno.
“I’m thinking!”
So was he.
“What if we turned around, folded our sails, and used our thrusters to ram one of their sails?” asked Pheno. “Would we survive?”
Ti threw her hands up. “I have no idea.”
“So you can predict the impact of two planets, but two space ships is beyond you?”
“And do you think, Lab Boy, that the oncoming ship will make no effort to evade or counter our attack?”
“Can you hack them?” asked Pheno.
“If we got close enough and I had enough time, yeah, I guess it’s theoretically possible, but unrealistic.”
“Ok, the next time they target a different sail, I’m going to come around hard and ram one of their sails,” said Pheno.
“I’ll target that reflector’s supporting arm to ease the impact on us,” said Ti. “Let’s hope our ice shield saves us.”
They waited in silence. Pheno stared at the glow on his dorsal sail. When it disappeared he flicked his gaze between the three remaining reflectors, watching for the telltale glow on their support structures.
“There, the ventral sail!” said Ti.
Pheno looked down. The structure extending from the bottom of the ship blushed orange. “Here we go!” He directed all the power to their ventral sail, fired the bottom thruster, and initiated the complex process of retracting and stowing the other three sails.
Their ship flipped; although, this wasn’t obvious. In space, nothing feels the same as in gravity. A slight tug on his harness and the fading orange glow on the ventral sail’s structure provided the only indicator that he now moved upside down and backwards. “Firing thrusters. Folding ventral sail.”
Had he been floating free the flip or deceleration would have sent the hull to meet him, but now Ti and he moved seamlessly with the ship. A gentle push against his back marked the decele
ration. The bow camera showed the other ship racing toward them.
“Have they sped up?” asked Pheno.
“No, we’re slowing, so they’re closing the distance faster,” said Ti.
Pheno leaned toward the screen. “They’re retracting their sails.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Ti’s hands flew over her terminal. “They can’t slow or retract fast enough. Keep the thrusters on full; aim for the dorsal sail.”
Pheno saw a blue spot appear on the dorsal sail’s support structure followed by the blush of heating metal. He aimed for the expansive reflector when a movement on the ship’s side caught his eye. “Their ship’s breaking up!”
Ti pulled up the front image. “That’s a missile. They’ve fired at us.”
“Can we destroy it?” asked Pheno.
She shook her head. “This ship has no countermeasures. It’s built to hold off pirates, not fight interstellar battles.”
The missile grew larger. “So we’re dead?”
Ti nodded.
“I’m going to aim for their hull. Maybe our wreckage will take them out and keep Eddientis safe.”
“At least until the debris storm hits,” said Ti.
Pheno looked at her.
“Do it,” she said.
He looked back at the screen. The missile was almost upon them. This is it . . . Pheno closed his eyes, which surprised him. Nothing happened. When he opened them again, the missile had disappeared. In its place floated a cloud of fine shrapnel. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. One moment it bore down on us, the next—poof, gone.”
Behind the approaching ship, in the distance, a light blinked on Eddientis’s asteroid then the ship chasing them disintegrated.
“Wow,” said Pheno.
“Did you see that?” asked Ti.
“The light or the ship’s destruction?”
“Both,” said Ti.
“I think Eddientis saved us,” Pheno said, “though I’m not sure how.”
“Raise the sails but keep the thrusters on full. If we return at full speed, we may be able to rescue Eddientis before the debris hits,” said Ti.
Pheno clearly saw the debris field looming behind Eddientis’s asteroid now. From this distance, everything looked small. Given the massive fragments hitting the remains of Ertryd earlier, Pheno had no doubt the fatal strike approached.
The sails slowly unfurled. Lasers fired once the reflectors locked in place. The combination of sails and thrusters soon overcame the ship’s inertia and accelerated them toward the asteroid. Pheno studied the ship’s controls. They had burned a third of their fuel in the dogfight and course reversal. That seemed like a lot, but it’s hard to judge when you have no idea how much you need.
“How long until we reach Eddientis?” asked Pheno.
“About twenty minutes,” said Ti.
Pheno looked at the asteroid in his forward display. It seemed much closer than when their pursuers disintegrated and approaching faster every second. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure. The numbers—what?” Ti squinted at her display. “How—you better slow us down. We’re almost there.”
Pheno shook his head. “I don’t underst—”
“Fire the thrusters!”
The view in the forward display jolted Pheno. They were almost upon the asteroid at a lethal collision speed. He opened the bow thrusters to full burn. His eyes widened. As the engines fired the asteroid turned sharply. Their ship now raced sideways along the rock.
“How are you turning so fast?” asked Ti.
“I’m not,” said Pheno. “The asteroid is.”
“Impossible, that station had no movement when we arrived. There’s no way it could move unless . . .”
“Unless what?” asked Pheno.
“Debris from Ertryd struck a glancing blow, sending it toward us with a spin,” said Ti.
Pheno watched the asteroid’s side race past. Their ship decelerated but still closed with the rock at an uncomfortable pace, particularly with something spinning out of control.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Pheno.
“Focus, match the rock’s spin to dock.” Ti’s terse attempt to inspire confidence through command failed when her voice cracked on “spin.”
Pheno stared at the controls. How do I match the spin of something sliding toward me sideways? He looked to the display. The spaceport came into view, centered on the display, and stopped. “Has your feed from the bow frozen?” asked Pheno.
Ti frowned at the display then looked at her controls. “No, I’m reading a continuous stream of bits. The asteroid stopped.”
“Uh, huh, with the spaceport in front of us. That’s . . . convenient,” said Pheno.
Lights shown around the airlock where they had originally docked.
“We need to talk with Eddientis,” said Pheno.
Ti nodded.
The ship’s autopilot docked them with a quick but gentle coupling.
They donned their space suits and emerged from the airlock into a brightly fluorescing corridor with a moderate current moving them toward the command center.
“This is new,” Pheno said.
Ti remained silent.
Their many tentacled friend floated in the middle of the command center as they had left it. Tentacles moving in all directions.
“This ship being awesome!” said Eddientis.
“Ship?” asked Ti.
“Are you doing all these things, Eddientis?” Pheno asked.
“Obviously, it is; sometimes I wonder if you’re faking smart,” said Ti.
“That kiss didn’t last long; did it?” asked Pheno.
Ti glanced sideways and smirked. “Nope.”
Pheno rolled his eyes. He felt more like frowning, but thought life would be safer if he gave what he got.
“You kissy kissing?” asked Eddientis.
“Uh . . . well, see . . . we didn’t kiss so much as fall into each other.”
Pheno raised a brow.
Ti blushed scarlet. “Um . . . yeah.”
What’s up with the red? “Eddientis, did you destroy that ship?” asked Pheno.
Eddientis flipped in place. “Yes!”
“How?” asked Ti.
“I’m prionic!” said Eddientis.
“Come again?” asked Pheno.
“Is that contagious?” Ti’s smirk tilted to decant the laughter she fought to suppress.
Eddientis stopped moving. “What being contagious?”
“Ti wants to know what prionic means,” said Pheno.
Ti crossed her arms. “No, I don’t.”
“Fine—I want to know what you mean.”
“The ship’s trainer showed me the current—”
“Why do you keep calling this asteroid a ship?” asked Ti.
“Because being ship,” said Eddientis.
“This rock moves using its own propulsion?” asked Pheno. “That’s how we reached you so quickly? You came to us.”
“You pour truth.”
“Can you get us out of here before the debris field reaches us?” asked Pheno.
“Being easy to flow but to where?” Eddientis asked.
“Trelia,” said Ti.
“The next asteroid.” Pheno’s response roused a glare from Ti. “What? We have to figure out a plan. Maybe something on the next rock will help.”
A slight drift to one side quickly offset by a counter flow from as yet undiscovered jets signaled their departure.
Ti’s eyes widened. “Wow, the ship’s moving.”
“Brilliant, Ti.” Pheno expected a flush of blue but she grinned instead. “So, Eddientis, what’s prionic about you?”
“Me, I being prionic, half of the whole.”
Pheno shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“Ertryd technology swims with wetware. I am blend with ship to make flow.”
“Wait, so you’re some sort of genetic computer that completes the circuit?” ask
ed Ti.
“Prionic!”
“I’m confused.” Pheno tried to grab one of Eddientis’s twitchy tentacles. “Stop moving!” The touch of something alive slipped through his fingers. “Eddientis, are you a robot?”
“No, I being Ertryd.”
“I get it,” said Ti. “Genetic computing occurs at the cellular level. Eddientis is both an Ertryd and a computer. Pretty freaky. I thought everyone abandoned genetic computing once quantum computing went mainstream.”
“Ertryd kept washing on genetic shore,” said Eddientis.
“So this ship only works for you or another Ertryd, like that drill thing?” asked Pheno.
“You taste truth.”
“How do you hack prionic technology?” Ti mumbled to herself.
Eddientis moved away from her.
“I’m not going to hack you, Eddientis. I’m just—it’s so secure.” Ti shook her head. “We hack bits, ones and zeros, but you—you’re calculating in proteins.”
“Viruses,” said Pheno. “You could use them to rewrite the genetic code.”
Ti smiled at him. “Impressive, Pheno, I thought you were technically illiterate.”
“I know about the concept from the genetic engineering class you regularly skipped, but I can’t actually splice genes.”
“Wait, I registered for that class?” asked Ti.
“I’m being dried about this conversation.” Eddientis had curled its tentacles around its mantle leaving only the eyes visible.
“We’re your friends, Eddientis.” Pheno opened his arms. “We’re not going to hurt you. I’m just observing that Ertryd technology isn’t immune to tampering even though it requires a living Ertryd to contr—”
Eddientis unwrapped suddenly. “Stop being talking; someone hails us.”
Chapter 9
“Why do you touch with words instead of proteins? Why being there gas breathers on your post? Why have you swam from position?”
Pheno and Ti crowded behind Eddientis to see the screen despite the irate barrage of questions and the lack of visual cues in expressionless Ertryd faces. The Ertryd on view was only the second one Pheno had seen. It looked quite a bit larger than Eddientis. Its thick tentacles moved in a slower, more menacing ripple than Eddientis’s twitchy, darting movements. Pheno’s throat tightened at the thought of one of those massive coils constricting around his neck. Do Ertryds grow throughout their lives? He couldn’t remember what the XenoBio thinker had said.
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