Nothing else happened.
“Should I start scanning the system?” Yuskeya asked.
I shook my head. “I think we’ll hold off a bit longer. Let’s see if we can get a bigger visual picture of what’s here. Rei, maneuvering jets only, let’s circle around without getting any closer. Just a nice, slow, steady crawl.”
I resisted the urge to rub my forehead. I could really use something for this headache, but now was not the time to leave the bridge, or let the crew see anything else amiss.
“I can’t maintain a perfectly consistent distance without taking any readings,” Rei said skeptically.
“Eyeball it,” I told her.
And so we began one of the strangest surveys I’ve ever performed. Rei piloted the ship slowly around the station, and the rest of us watched it roll past on the screens.
“Luta,” Hirin said as we moved away from our initial observation point, “did you notice that one of those spikes seems to be pointing directly at the wormhole we came through?”
“I hadn’t noticed, but I’m glad there’s no weapon in the end of it.”
“Captain, I’m getting readings that indicate a second wormhole in this system, nearby,” Yuskeya said. “And no, I’m not scanning,” she added. “Passive data reception only. We picked up its radiation signature.”
“Interesting. Can you pinpoint it?”
“Not yet, not without actively scanning. I’ll tell you when I get a better fix.”
“What do you think it is?” Maja asked, her eyes locked on the “station.”
“It is not Chron construction, I feel certain,” Cerevare said.
“Why not?”
The Lobor shrugged. “Perhaps it is a feeling only, but it is too different from the Chron artifacts we have observed. And too much like the ship that pursued the Chron through the wormhole. Did any of you feel that those two ships were constructed by the same species?”
Baden shook his head. “No. They felt too different. And this feels completely different from the artifact moon.”
“Agreed.” Cerevare nodded.
“Here’s a question,” Viss said over the ship’s comm. “How did anyone get through that asteroid field going toward the wormhole, and maintain the right velocity and approach to engage a skip drive and enter the terminal point safely? And not once, but twice, since both ships came through separately?”
“And how is that field even there?” Gerazan asked. “It’s not part of an orbiting belt. It’s as if it’s suspended there.”
“Too many questions, not enough answers,” Rei complained. “And too much chatter. I’m trying to do a delicate job, here.”
Baden turned to Gerazan with a grin. “Don’t pay any attention,” he said in a conspiratorial stage whisper. “She loves to work under pressure. She just wants everyone to appreciate it when she does.”
“Baden, if I didn’t have my hands full trying to keep this ship safe—”
“I know, I know, I’d be in for it. But you do, so I’m not worried.”
Gerazan’s face twitched, as if he didn’t know whether to smile or not.
“They’re always like this when we’re in a life-threatening situation,” I assured him. “For some reason it keeps them focused on the task at hand.”
“Got a reading on that wormhole,” Yuskeya said. She tapped in a few coordinates, and one of the screens showed a long-range view with the wormhole artificially highlighted in green.
“What’s wrong with the view?” Maja asked. “It’s like the picture is unsteady or something. Something’s moving.”
“You won’t believe—” Yuskeya started, but Hirin cut her off.
“There’s a second asteroid field obscuring the entrance to that wormhole as well?”
Yuskeya gave him a raised eyebrow. “Okay, maybe you will believe it. You’re exactly right. There’s another asteroid field there. The movement of the asteroids is distorting the image.”
“And unless I miss my guess,” Hirin continued, “another one of those big spikes is pointing directly at that wormhole.”
“Hirin Paixon,” I said in my best annoyed-wife voice, “how about this? We’ll grant your genius if you stop showing off and get on with your theory.”
He inclined his head in a mock bow. “Anything for you, Captain. I think this is some kind of guard station, set up to stop transit through the wormholes. Or at least to control who goes through them. I’m willing to bet that there are more than two wormholes in this system. I think this is a nexus system, like MI 2 Eridani or Mu Cassiopeia, and there may be a wormhole for every one of those larger spikes.”
“Beta Comae, too. But none of those systems have this many wormholes,” Baden argued. “Four each, right?”
“We’ve never found more than five in a single system,” Yuskeya agreed.
“Which is why I think,” Hirin added with a flourish of his hand, “that if you have a system with this many wormholes present, they may not all be naturally occurring. I think at least some of these have been constructed by a race of such obvious technological advancement, that we’d better hope and pray they like us when we meet them.”
We were still gaping at him when the ship alarm sounded softly to notify us that we were being scanned.
“ON THE ALERT, folks,” I said. I was surprised to feel the prick of sweat on my forehead, and brushed it away with the back of my hand. Was something in this system causing the ship to overheat? Yet no warnings came in from ship systems.
“Yuskeya, can you tell where it’s coming from?”
“Definitely originating from the station,” she said. “It’s nothing invasive or dangerous. Just a general scan like we’d run ourselves to see where a ship came from or possibly its composition. Should I try to block it?”
“No, not if you don’t consider it dangerous.”
“Burst drive is ready if you need it, Rei,” Viss said over the ship’s comm.
“Captain?”
I shrugged. “Where would we go? Let’s sit tight and see what happens. But stay ready, Rei.”
The scan continued for maybe another half-minute, then stopped. The station and the ship fell silent again.
“Maybe it’s automated?” Baden suggested. “It might run at intervals whether there’s a ship in the system or not. No-one’s tried to say hello to us still.”
“Captain Paixon?” Jahelia Sord’s voice came over the ship’s comm. “Would you mind telling me what that alarm was about?”
“Not now, Sord,” I snapped, and signalled to Baden to shut down her access to the bridge audio. I didn’t want her listening in to this.
Rei pushed away from the pilot’s board and turned to me. “We’ve been flying around this thing, we’ve been scanned, and nothing else has happened. Why don’t we stop babystepping? Trying to hide in plain sight makes me feel freneza; I’d rather fly up to the front door and knock.”
“We could run a scan of the station,” Yuskeya suggested. “They scanned us, so it’s only fair.”
“Yes, and what if there’s no word in their alien vocabulary for ‘fair’?” I felt annoyed. We’d cast our lot already by taking the wormhole into this system, and I was tired of waiting for something to happen—but I didn’t know which way to jump. I shrugged out of my jacket and into shirtsleeves. The bridge felt unbearably hot. Why was no-one else complaining? “Al inferno—to hell with it,” I growled. “We might as well find out what we’ve gotten ourselves into.”
Hirin shot me a puzzled frown, and I realized how sharply I’d spoken.
“We’ll take it slow,” I said, willing my voice calm and steady. “Yuskeya, run a general scan of the station, looking for the same sort of data we got on that spider ship. Nothing invasive. Rei, be ready to kick that burst drive over if someone doesn’t like what we’re doing.”
The scan brought no response. “All right then, let’s head out to that second wormhole and investigate the asteroid field.”
“Burst drive?” Rei asked.
We reached the asteroid field quickly under the burst drive. It was the twin of the one we’d had to navigate to enter the system—asteroidal debris tumbling haphazardly, but clustered around the wormhole terminal point.
“So what do you make of that? Anyone?”
“It’s got to be a security measure,” Hirin insisted. “Yuskeya, can you get a reading on that spike I thought was pointing in this direction?”
She huffed. “Like that’s necessary. You know you’re right about this, Hirin.”
He grinned. “I know, but make an old man happy and confirm it, would you?”
I rolled my eyes. All this joking around was getting on my nerves. We were in deep trouble here, couldn’t they see that?
After a few seconds, Yuskeya glanced up from the screen. “Konfirmi. The spike is trained on the center of the wormhole.”
“So let’s get out of the direct line of fire, shall we?” Baden asked, an uneasy edge to his voice. “Those spikes appear to mean business. Of what kind, I’m not sure, but definitely not a kind I want to intercept.”
“Another radiation signature detected, Captain. Another wormhole.”
“Of course it is,” I grumbled, wiping my palms down the sides of my jeans. “And what’s in front of this one? Let me guess. Another asteroid field?”
We circuited the system, finding in all nine wormholes to correspond with nine large spikes on the station. Every wormhole entrance was guarded by an asteroid field—the field itself seemingly contained within static boundaries, while the asteroids moved normally within it. We weren’t scanned again, and no other vessels appeared. The station remained silent except for that one solitary scan.
“Viss,” I said finally, brushing a droplet of sweat from above my lips, “is there something in this system that’s causing the heat in the ship to go so high? Or is there a problem with the environmentals?”
“I—don’t think so, Captain.” There was a pause, while he presumably checked readings. “I don’t find it unusually warm down here.”
“Me neither,” Maja said. “Mother, are you all right?”
“Fine,” I said shortly. “Maybe I’m concentrating too hard.”
“It’s probably quite possible to chart a safe course through one of those asteroid fields, provided you didn’t have to do it in a hurry,” Hirin said, from one of the unmanned bridge boards he’d commandeered to, as he put it, “work something out.” “Rei and Luta got us through one, and they had no time to prepare at all. Granted that they’re the two best pilots in Nearspace,” he added, “but even so . . .”
“Dad, you aren’t suggesting we try to go through one?” Maja asked. “We don’t have a clue where any of them go!”
“Not true,” Hirin answered. “We know that one of them goes one skip away from Nearspace. Who’s to say that more of them aren’t that close? Or possibly right into a Nearspace system? It’s not like every square kilometer of Nearspace has been explored. We could be closer to home than we think.”
“Hirin,” I said, “I think it’s pretty clear that someone or something has gone to great trouble to make it difficult to get through these wormholes. I’d at least like to know who and why before we try to go through one. Let’s not forget those spikes that make Baden so nervous.”
He, and Maja too, I noticed, turned to me with surprise evident on their faces. “What? Do you think I have to agree with every damned thing you say, just because we’re married?”
“Mother? Why are you yelling?”
“I’m not yelling!” I had to take a deep gulp of air, because it was so hot on the bridge I felt like I might suffocate.
“What do you suggest, then, Luta?” Hirin said in a deceptively mild voice. I knew he must have something planned.
“These alien bastardos, whoever they are, are responsible for this mess. I guess they like playing god, controlling who goes where and when.” I flung myself into the chair. “Well, I’m tired of playing their games.” The insistent, escalating pounding in my head was driving me forward. I knew exactly what I wanted, and I didn’t know why we’d been pussyfooting around all this time. I wanted answers.
“We’re going to go and make contact with whoever is in that station,” I said. “And we’re going to do it now. Rei, turn this thing around and take us to the station. Engage the burst drive.”
“Luta? Are you all right?” Hirin stood now from the board he’d been using and crossed to me. I jumped up from the chair and stood in front of it, arms crossed as if I were guarding it. I wondered vaguely why I’d done that. Hirin’s expression held the same question.
“I’m fine,” I said impatiently. “I have a headache and it feels like the inside of a supernova in here. Viss, check those temperature controls again!”
“Uh, sure, Captain,” he said. “I think they’re within normal range, though.”
“Just check the damn things.”
Rei had followed my orders and brought the ship about, turning us to head toward the dark, gelatinous-looking alien station. The ship lurched slightly as the burst drive kicked in, and I stumbled a little. Hirin reached out to catch me, and I slapped his hand away, ignoring his bewildered exclamation.
“Rei, don’t stray into the direct line of sight between any of those spikes and the wormholes. Baden’s right, they could be dangerous. Baden, when we get within five hundred clicks, send out the standard Nearspace hailing message on all frequencies. We’ll see if anyone’s home on that disgusting piece of space garbage.”
I caught a silent communication pass between Hirin and Yuskeya. I realized everyone else except Rei had also turned to stare at me.
“What? Keep your eyes on your boards! We don’t know what these ansulos could be planning.”
They continued to stare at me.
“Luta, you’re tired out,” Hirin said finally. “Why don’t you come down to our quarters and have a rest?” He put a hand on my arm, and his flesh felt shockingly cold.
I jerked away from his touch. “Right, so you can take over? You want to play captain? I don’t think so, old man.”
Yuskeya had left the navigation board. “Captain, is your headache worse? You should have told me, I can give you something for it. Come into First Aid, and we’ll try something else, okej?”
“Those shots!” I stared at her with sudden realization and hatred. “That’s what’s making me feel like this. You did something, megero, put something in those shots—and I suppose everyone knows about it, do you? I can feel it! You’re all against me!”
A tiny, faraway part of my brain was telling me that I was shouting, asking me why I was shouting, and why would I call Yuskeya such a horrible name? But I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “And why is it so goddamned hot in here?”
That’s when my legs buckled. Sparks obscured my vision like stars going supernova in a distant galaxy. Arms held me, voices babbled around me, but they were all faint and far away and I felt myself slipping, slipping into a darkness where there were no alien artifacts, no mysterious wormholes, no fearsome space stations. Where it was soft, and quiet, and blessedly, blessedly cool.
Chapter 19 – Jahelia
Nothing Left Behind
MY PRISON CELL on the Tane Ikai was a surprisingly comfortable room—with a well-locked door. As far as the crew knew, I was effectively cut off from the rest of the ship. Fine. If they wanted to shut me up and forget about me, that meant they wouldn’t spend too much time wondering how I spent mine.
But when I’d politely commed Captain Paixon and asked to be brought into the loop, she’d cut me off rudely and abruptly without a word of explanation.
Even before that, I’d connected my datapad (and thus, Pita) to the computer console in my room, and Pita had gone to work to reconnect to the network. They hadn’t broken a physical connection, only a digital one. I felt pretty confident that Pita would be able to crack that. They weren’t expecting me to have anything like he
r.
When Paixon had refused to talk to me, I asked Pita, “Can you at least bypass the comm lockout so I can listen in on the bridge?” I had minuscule earbuds and a throat touch mic so that I could subvocalize and she’d hear me, and her responses were for my ears alone.
Her answer sounded clearly inside my head. She chuckled. “We’re still locked out of full network access, but I think I can get you audio. Give me a few minutes, and we’ll be in.”
Moments later, when the bridge feed came online, I was surprised to hear Luta Paixon say in a trembling and enraged voice, “You did something, megero, put something in those shots—and I suppose everyone knows about it, do you? I can feel it! You’re all against me! And why is it so goddamned hot in here?”
I barely had time to wonder who she’d called a bitch when all hell seemed to break loose on the bridge.
“Catch her!” That was Baden Methyr’s voice.
“Luta!” another man shouted. Her husband, I figured. I hadn’t seen him yet, but I knew all the names from the crew manifesto for the Tane Ikai well enough. He was in his nineties, so I decided to call him Gramps. A jumble of bumping and thumping came over the feed, so either a fight had broken out or she’d collapsed and people ran to help.
“Get her into First Aid,” a woman said. She had a commanding tone that I recognized, the Protectorate officer—Yuskeya Blue. She’d at least been polite and professional—even if she regarded me with a disapproving eye—when she installed me in my quarters.
“What’s wrong with her? Headaches again?” another female voice demanded. The pilot this time, I thought, or maybe Paixon’s daughter. “Something’s seriously wrong. Who goes crazy and passes out from a headache?”
More babble and urgent discussion bubbled into my brain from the feed, but as eager as I’d been to eavesdrop, it all faded and blurred into a wash of background noise. My mind replaced it with memories of another woman, increasingly prone to headaches, fits of inexplicable anger, sudden nosebleeds, and finding every room too hot.
“Jahelia, por la amo de Dio, will you open the window?” My mother rubbed at her greying temples with the knuckles of two clenched fists.
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