by Lori Beery
“Excellent!” I praised them. “I am very proud of all of you!” They all beamed with pride. “Since you have globes of energy, see if you can push yours toward the wall with the doors in it. Keep control of it. The goal here is to put distance between your sphere and you and remain in charge of it.” They moved their energy globes to the other end of the bay from us. They each had a vertical space to maneuver within. They began playing catch with themselves. They each propelled their globe up, keeping it from hitting the ceiling. As it fell toward the floor, they prevented it from striking the ground. They were able to repeat the process until the light energy faded away. “Nice,” I complemented their efforts. “Ready for the next task?” I asked them.
“What would that be?” Jacarr inquired.
“We are going to play catch and pass,” I replied. “We are all going to stay at this end of the bay. Please spread out and try to put some space between you and the next person. The one nearest this line will be the first catcher. It is the catcher’s job to control the weapon beam from the fighter. Once the catcher has done this, he is to pass the energy globe to the person closest to him. This will mean he will have to control the globe all the way back to himself and until the next person takes control. Once the second person is in charge of the ball, he passes it to the third person. When the last person gets the ball, that person will zero-gravity the sphere. The beam you will be catching will be fired near the doors. So remember how it felt to play catch at that end of the space while you physically remained at this end. When the energy sphere is tethered, that person becomes catcher. So we will rotate through the line. Everyone ready?” They chorused that they were. “Well, it looks like I will be the first catcher.” They chuckled. “Jacarr will you operate the fighter?”
“I would be delighted to,” he declared. He turned toward the fighter and launched it into the air. He flew it to the window side near the door end of the bay. He hovered the craft and fired the beam weapon.
I reached out mentally with the ward and snatched the beam. I converted it into a ball and began pulling it toward me. When I got it to within two meters, I passed it over to Beltrain. He took control of it and moved it to Jacarr. He managed it and fed it to Marleah. She took over from him and passed it on to Lucera. She handled it and sent it on to KwinJai. He took control of it and gave it to Dulain. He mastered it and tethered it in place. Dulain became the catcher. I took over the fighter and became second in line to Dulain. We continued until each of us had become the catcher.
When we started on the second time around, I relinquished control of the fighter to Marleah. Once I had shifted the globe to Beltrain, I mentally asked Marleah to fire again. I caught the new beam and pulled it to me. Again, I sent it on to Beltrain starting the chain over. I did this until we each controlled a ball at the same time. This pushed each of us to move in rapid succession. I was pleased! We successfully moved six energy globes through the chain without mishap. At the completion of my time as catcher, Dulain replaced me. By the time Beltrain finished his assignment as catcher, it was very late. I called a halt to our session. We left the cargo bay with no trace of our being in it at all, and certainly not for a whole day. Since it was so late, we would be eating replicated food in our suite tonight.
Chapter 15
We sat around the table in our suite after we had finished our meal. Everyone was tired. We had worked pretty hard today.
“What do we do with the energy globes if we use the ‘catch and release’ technique against the pirates?” asked KwinJai.
“The easiest thing would be to throw them at their ships,” I replied. “Unfortunately, we have yet to catch energy from a full size beam weapon.”
“So what are we going to do?” queried KwinJai.
“Tomorrow morning we are going to see what happens when Lucera ‘images’ a full size fighter,” I replied. “The salient concern will be: how much of an energy drain will it cause?”
“Haven’t we seen that the drain is increase based on the number of ‘imagining’ events and not on the mass?” asked Marleah.
“What we have seen does support that,” I answered. “But this is the largest object she will be ‘imaging’ so far. I don’t want her to overdraw the crystal ever again.”
“Thank you!” remarked Lucera. “Umm… I was wondering, what happens if a person drops below threshold?”
“That depends on whether there is a nearby power source or a trained person available,” I responded. “Worst case scenario is that neither are available. In that case, the person dies. If one or the other is nearby, then the person is generally saved. If both are available, the person is revived.” Everyone went very quiet. “By the way, each of you are trained,” I continued. “You can syphon energy from a crystal. The same technique applies to any other power source. You can use the energy to replace your depleting personal energy as you are feeding it to someone in need, or you can send it directly to the person below threshold.”
“You didn’t do that for me,” stated Lucera, confused.
“That’s true,” I told her. “You were near threshold. You were not below threshold. There is a very big difference between the two.”
“Oh,” she said softly. “In that case, I’m glad it turned out the way it did.”
“Me too,” I confided.
“Shouldn’t there be time tomorrow for a practice session between Lucera’s imaging and lunch?” inquired Dulain.
“Are you concerned that you will have nothing to do tomorrow morning?” I asked looking directly at him.
“I was hoping that we would be doing something,” he replied. He stressed the ‘doing something.’
“Indeed you will,” I assured him. “Once we get into the cargo bay tomorrow morning, we will see what happens when Lucera ‘images’ the fighter at normal scale. If all goes well, we will ask her to image seven one-tenth replicas. Our task will be to learn how to fly them in the vacuum of space.”
“Cool!” exclaimed Jacarr. “That will move us one step closer to being able to fly against the pirates.”
“Indeed,” I agreed.
“And if she is too tired to do so?” queried KwinJai.
“Then, the rest of us will practice our disassembly and assembly abilities,” I replied.
“On what?” asked Dulain. “The fighter?” I gave him a big smile. “Cool!” he exclaimed.
“How will that help us against the pirates?” asked Marleah.
“Consider the fighter,” I said. “There are safety measures in place to prevent catastrophic events. What if said features are disassembled in a pirate vessel?”
“It goes BOOM!” KwinJai supplied while he gestured graphically.
“Or what if we took advantage of said safety measures to cause critical systems to go off line,” I proposed. “We could render their ships useless.”
“That would be preferable to causing their death,” commented Marleah.
“I agree,” I stated. “But, if necessary, I will kill to protect this ship, Thendara Station and anyone I am responsible to protect.”
“I accept that,” she affirmed. “You are not blood thirsty,” she added with a glare at KwinJai.
“What?” he asked. “Ships do go BOOM when safety measures are nonexistent.” He repeated his gesture as he said boom. Marleah turned a horrified expression to me.
“Sadly, he is correct,” I said quietly. “I admit I should not have stated it as our first option. For that I ask your forgiveness.”
Her expression turned to a tight smile before she said, “You have it.”
I nodded to her and rose to my feet. “I would suggest everyone turn in,” I said addressing my Hexacle. “Tomorrow promises to be a long, tiring day.”
*****
By the twelfth turn the next morning, we had finished breakfast and arrived at the entrance to cargo bay four. We entered and gathered in the center of the space. KwinJai volunteered to erect the ward lining the interior walls of the bay and covering the crates
within. I felt the precaution was needed. I wanted to shield our activity from possible pirate scans. No need to alert them to the fact the Paradise had fighters on board.
“Are you ready, Lucera?” I asked.
“I think so,” she answered, a little unsure.
“You will do fine,” I told her as I gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I stooped and placed both spare crystals on the floor to the left side of her feet, one and then the other. I activated both of them. After the light had spread throughout each of them, I made a connection between them. The second crystal would syphon energy to the first when that was drained. I hoped this was an unnecessary precaution. But since my miscalculation, I didn’t want to chance it. I stood up. “When you are ready, please take the image from me.” She complied. “During the make-it-real process, draw power from the crystal nearest your left foot. Execute when ready.” She drew a thin thread of energy from the specified crystal. After a brief pause, she made the fighter real. The actual process was still a mystery. I could tell where and when it occurred, but I still couldn’t follow the actual steps. In any case, a full size fighter materialized in the cargo bay before us. “How do you feel?” I asked her.
She did a self-evaluation, a big smile slid across her face. “I feel great!” she told me. “I am not the least bit tired.”
“That’s wonderful!” I commented. I quickly glanced at the crystals. They both contained light energy. The one closest to her was not as bright as the second, but it was still shinning.
“I guess we are going to practice flying in a vacuum?” Dulain speculated.
“Yes,” I responded. “But before we do, I want each of us to work out the fighter’s control systems. No firing the weapons! Just lift it off the ground. Move it eighteen meters and set it back down. Who’s first?”
“Me,” volunteered KwinJai.
“Alright,” I said. “Everyone else form a cue behind him.” We lined up so that the order was as follows: Jacarr, Beltrain, Lucera, Dulain, Marleah, and myself.
None of us needed long to establish control over the vessel; the controls were exactly the same as the one-tenth scale versions we had flown yesterday. The issue today was getting use to the mass. We each went through the exercise. We each got the ship into the air. Hovered it, a different number of meters off the ground depending on the person. KwinJai lifted it twenty meters while Lucera only lifted it three. Flew it the short eighteen meters and allowed it to settle back to the floor again.
“Is everyone comfortable moving this ship?” I asked.
“Under these conditions, I am,” replied Jacarr.
“Me too,” answered KwinJai. The rest made similar responses.
“Good,” I commented. “Lucera, drop your image of the fighter.” She did. The fighter vanished. “Okay, take the image from me. Once you have it, image seven of them. Try imaging all seven of them at once.” I saw her take the image and replicate it six times. She held them in a circular pattern. Then, she drew power from the crystal she had used before. And after a moment, six one-tenth scale fighters appeared in a circle roughly in the space the actual sized fighter had occupied.
“I’m fine,” she informed me. She glanced at the crystal and smiled. It did not appear to have lost enough light energy to register. I returned her smile.
“Our next task is to fly these small vessels in a vacuum,” I told them. “While I go speak to the crewmen at the window, I want you to disassemble and assemble your fighter. Do erect a ward over your fighter with enough space for you to disassemble it where it is and assemble it twelve centimeters away. Don’t forget the safety measures inherent in the fighter’s design. There will be no BOOMs during the vacuum trial.” I finished the last statement looking directly at KwinJai. When he nodded solemnly, I cracked a smile.
I waited until they had each established their wards over their respective craft. I then headed for the door. By the time I had gotten through the ward, one of the crewmen was halfway down the stairs from the booth. He was slightly taller than I with short, cropped, red hair.
“Can I help you with something?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “Is there a way for you to simulate space conditions within the bay?” At his puzzled look, I added, “My team needs to learn to fly those fighters as if they were out in space.”
“I could vent the atmosphere into space and cut the gravity in the bay,” he said. “But, I will need to get the captain’s permission.”
“Let’s say that he gave his permission”, I responded. “How would you do it?”
“The easiest way would be to open the cargo bay doors to the hard vacuum of space,” he replied. “But that would lose us the cargo within the bay. To lower the rate of atmospheric loss, we would open the vent portals on the outside wall. It would take about ten minutes for the air to be sucked into space. – Cutting the gravity is just throwing a switch in the control booth.”
I was grateful that this man was human. His description was accompanied by mental pictures. “And how would you restore the atmosphere to the bay?” I asked.
“We would have to pump air back in from environmental,” he answered.
“Would this be a big drain on the Paradise’s systems?” I questioned.
“I would say yes because it is an unplanned occurrence,” he told me. “However, the Paradise is more than capable of bearing the load.
“Such a venting would be a noticeable event if another vessel were in the vicinity,” I stated.
“That’s true,” he confirmed.
“Is cutting the gravity in the cargo bay also a noticeable event?” I asked.
“Not as noticeable unless we were scanned by – say – pirates,” he said. “It is likely we would appear to have power problems. But, we would look a lot more vulnerable if we were venting atmosphere.”
“Do you need to get the captain’s permission to cut the gravity?” I queried.
“I will,” he admitted.
“I would like to go with you,” I proposed.
“Of course,” he said, gesturing me to follow him up into the booth.
When we got there, his coworker asked, “How do you do what you’ve been doing in there?” He gestured toward the window. My Hexacle was disassembling their small crafts and rebuilding them a short distance away. “It looks like magic,” he commented.
“I suppose it does,” I replied thoughtfully. “It is very similar to how deconstruction and construction nanites operate.”
“Even when the fighter’s appeared and disappeared?” he asked
“No,” I answered. “I’m sorry but I am not at liberty to explain.”
“Ah, so it is magic,” he responded with a grin.
“I suppose that explanation will have to suffice,” I reluctantly agreed.
“Hexator Nickoli,” the red-head interrupted. “The Captain wants to talk with you,” he said handing me a communication devise.
I took the devise and said into it, “Captain, this is Hexator Nickoli.”
“What is it you want to do?” he asked, alarmed.
“I want to create zero-G within cargo bay four,” I replied calmly. “My Hexacle needs to learn to fly fighters in a vacuum. And this is the first step. It does us no good to learn during combat.”
“That is true,” he told me. “Besides giving permission to cut the gravity, what else do you need from me?”
“Captain, your permission and the help of your crewmen will be sufficient,” I stated calmly.
“Hexator Nickoli, please hand the communicator back to Crewman Owens,” responded the Captain somewhat reluctantly.
I passed the communicator back to the red-head. He took it saying, “Captain, this is Owens.” After a few moments, Owens hung the devise in its place. He turned to me and said, “Sir, the Captain has given his permission. We are to follow your orders.” He said the last with a gesture toward his coworker.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” I responded. “I will contact you on your devise when we
are ready for you to cut the gravity.”
“Very good, Sir,” Owens told me. With that, I exited the booth and returned to my Hexacle.
Half of them had finished the ‘disassemble and assemble’ exercise. The rest of them were intent on completing their assignment. Since I wanted to explain our next goal only once, I joined the observers. We didn’t have long to wait. “Please scan your vessels to be certain everything is as it should be,” I advised. They complied carefully checking the fighters. When they were satisfied, they gave me their attention. “Comments?”
“I have a better understanding how things fit together,” responded Dulain. “It will probably be easier to troubleshoot should something happen.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I told him. “We may have to rebuild them from dust.”
“When do we practice in the vacuum of space?” asked Jacarr.
I smiled. “About that,” I began. “To keep any possible evidence of our activity concealed, we will be creating the vacuum in the bay. If we allow ship systems to create the conditions, the venting of the atmosphere from in here would draw unwanted attention to the Paradise.”
“So how do we create the vacuum?” asked Lucera.
“With wards,” I replied. “We are going to erect two more wards. The first one will be for our protection. It will be similar to the one we used to protect us from weapons fire. The second one will contain the vacuum. We will form it like a skin around our protection ward. Then we will expand it outward. The shield will push the air into the space between the second ward and the lining ward.”
“Won’t our protection ward burst open?” asked Marleah.
“Not if we build it thick enough,” I replied. “We will build a pipeline to the air circulators so our air will stay breathable. Once we have everything ready, we will signal Crewman Owens to cut the gravity.