“If you’re talking about blowing the door closed and waiting until the ice all sublimates, I’m not sure I see the logic in that,” he said. “That’s like pointing a gun at our own heads and holding ourselves hostage.”
Cori laughed, but Chei looked clearly shocked at the idea.
“I wouldn’t do that to Dutch,” he said.
“Dutch suggested it as a last ditch fallback position,” Jeph said.
“That’s fragging noble,” Chei said, looking like he’d been handed a mouth full of lemons. “What I’m thinking is a lot less likely to get us blown shitless. At least not all of us.”
“I’m still listening, even if this sounds more dangerous than I’m comfortable agreeing to.”
“To do this, I’ll need time off from word mining,” he said.
“That’s the truth of what he’s after,” Jeph said, winking at Cori.
“I’m serious,” Chei said, frowning at being taken so lightly. “I figure you might not want to share this with everybody, so we can say I’m working to tank us back up to capacity before all the ice disappears outside. We should do that anyway, but that will give us some privacy to work.”
“Working outside is getting dangerous,” he said, pointing at the window. Billowing clouds of gas sailed past. “The environment out there is like we’re sitting on the surface of an unpredictable monster comet. Yesterday I watched a chunk of ice bigger than the Waltz blow off and sail kilometers into space. I’m nervous just sitting here right now.”
Cory twisted to look out the window. “Really?”
Jeph nodded. “It was enough to make me think about using the lasers to defend us from falling iceblocks. I gave Kiro permission to go outside to work on upgrading the lasers. He’s out there right now in fact.”
“So he gets to play outside, but you’re worried about me?” Chei said. “I’m touched by your concern but I think it’s misplaced.”
“I didn’t say that. Yet,” he said. “It’s just that if it can wait until he is done, or it can be done before things get any worse out there, then I’d be happier.”
“I can bust my bag to get it done quick-like or I can do part of the work inside,” he said. “I just think Anju will go twisty if she figures out what we’re really doing.”
“Which is exactly what?” Jeph asked.
“I’ll need one of the shuttlepods and Seva and Cori to help me get it done.”
“Get what done?” Jeph asked, growling. He was getting more than a little annoyed with Chei’s circumspect approach. “Quit backing into it and get to the point already.”
“We know how to make sure, when the time comes, you can force Roja to play the game your way. It will take building a smaller and stronger nuke, but when we’re done, we’ll be able to shove it up the ass of the Armstrong far enough that they can’t do anything but smile and take it.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Armstrong: Approaching Orbital Insertion: L-4 Prime:
Chancellor Roja sat listening to the Armstrong’s Chief Scientist tell them that from their current position, nothing around L-4 Prime made sense. “The atmosphere is thick enough that it’s scattering light in the visible spectrum,” Dr. Jameson said as he put up an image on the main screen. “This haze is making it hard to dig out any details of the surface. We can detect infrared and RF sources, but seeing anything useful without going to active sensor mode is almost impossible.”
“We don’t want to do that unless we want to make certain to call attention to our arrival,” Jeffers said. “As it is, most of the high resolution sensors won’t be available until we finish braking and flip nose down.”
“I thought that was our intent,” Roja said. “Keep their eyes on us and not on the Archer and Challenger.”
“We haven’t yet detected any active scanning from the vicinity of L-4 Prime, so unless they’re hiding inside the gas cloud it looks like nobody’s home,” the captain said.
“Then what’s going on down there?” the chancellor asked.
“That’s anybody’s guess. We have located the crash site for the Waltz by its radio emissions, but we can’t see it under the blanket of gas,” Jameson said. “Interestingly, if we assume it is sitting on the surface, there is no measurable rotation to L-4 Prime.”
“That doesn’t happen naturally,” Nakamiru said.
“It might,” Jameson said, wobbling his head in an indeterminate direction and calling up a diagram of the Trojan Cluster on the wall. A red X marked the location of L-4 Prime. “Nowhere else in the solar system have we discovered a natural object sitting absolutely on the center of a Lagrangian node. Usually even the ones closest have some halo orbit and so are in motion. It might be possible that there’s some sort of gravitational drag that’s slowed it to immeasurability.”
“Or it could be an effect of the quantum quicksand field,” Jeffers suggested.
Katryna nodded. “Do we know if the atmosphere is the result of the quicksand effect?”
“Not necessarily the result of, but certainly it’s having an effect on it,” he said. “Their data indicated a shelf in the field gradient at 400 klick and that seems to be about where the atmosphere tops out. We’re seeing the photon pressure driving the gas away, but the cometary tail downwind has a definite and clearly visible ledge and is only a miniscule portion of what it should be. As low as the measurable gravity is, the gas should be blowing off almost as fast as it erupts.” The image changed as a diagram of what the tail should look like overlaid on the image. “From our approach angle we should see this tail stretching back for millions of miles.”
“Do we know yet what’s causing it to be sublimating ice at all?” Jeffers asked.
The scientist shook his head. “It’s warmer now than it was when we first scanned it. It’s radiating almost twenty degrees Kelvin above the local environment. There has to be an internal heat source.”
“We’re sure it’s not something the Waltz is doing?” Admiral Nakamiru asked.
“I don’t think so,” Jameson said. “The amount of energy to heat a body that size by twenty Kelvin is … well, astronomical.”
“Let’s cut to the point then. Is it safe to enter orbit?” the chancellor asked.
“From a scientific perspective, as long as we stay above the edge of the atmospheric boundary I’d say probably,” the scientist said.
“The gravity of L-4 Prime seems typical for a small ice body,” the captain said. “We should be able to make any orbital configuration we want.”
“As long as we understand that according to what the Jakob Waltz said, it’s a one-way trip above that four hundred kilometer line, and everything below it is an atmosphere,” Jameson said.
“How soon will we need to make the commitment?” Katryna asked.
“We’re already inside the quantum quicksand,” Jeffers said. “We have no choice but to move closer or stay here. The effect first showed up on our systems at slightly over ninety million kilometers out.”
“Have you tested their theory yet?” Nakamiru asked.
“With our velocity toward L-4 Prime, it isn’t practical to launch anything in the other direction to see how it behaves until we’re almost stationary relative to the source,” Jameson said. “At this point we just have to take their word for it.”
“What’s our current position?” Roja asked.
“Four million klick and closing,” Jeffers said.
“What’s our weapons range if this turns into a fight?” the chancellor asked, getting up and pacing in front of the screen.
“The lasers are about 500 klick in a vacuum. Less in an atmosphere,” the captain said. “The nanowave system would have a lot longer range, but it’s not designed to punch through an atmosphere either. There’d be a lot of power dissipation reaching as far as the surface.”
“What are your recommendations?” she said, turning toward Jeffers.
“Follow our original plan,” she said. “Put the Archer and the Challenger in a polar orbit abo
ve the terminator and bring us into an equatorial orbit. We’d maintain line of sight com with our ships and if we need to provide defensive cover, we could drop to station-keeping above the Jakob Waltz.”
Dr. Jameson cleared his throat and shook his head. “The tail is thickest along the equatorial plane.”
“Good point,” the captain said. “Perhaps it would be better to hold position above the Waltz initially. With our current reserve, we have enough reaction mass left for well over a year of station-keeping. Both of the multicruisers could stay orbital indefinitely and once we determine what’s going on, we could take a polar orbit too.”
“And yours?” Katryna turned toward the admiral and leaned on the back of her chair.
“I recommend we stay as far away as practical, at least until we know more,” he said. “Cochrane‘s report didn’t indicate any engagement with forces and we’re not picking up anything to contradict that. At least not yet. But pushing in close might limit our future options.”
She dropped into her seat and drummed on the tabletop with her fingertips while she chewed over their options. Finally, she nodded. “I think we should put the cruisers in polar orbit at 250 kiloklick and then bring the Armstrong to station-keeping above the Waltz at the same altitude. That will give us a chance to do some hard science and see if we can figure anything out. After we’re certain we’ve got no hostiles down there, we’ll reduce altitude incrementally until we get some answers. Does anybody see a problem with that?”
“No ma’am,” the admiral said even though his face said he didn’t like the risk.
Captain Jeffers nodded. “I’ll pass the word.”
Office of the Executive Director: Galileo Station:
Derek walked over to his console and crashed down in the seat, calling up a screen on his desktop and staring blankly at the daily ship movement reports. Vessels under his control showed in blue, and ships belonging to FleetCom were in red. There was an obvious imbalance to begin with, but when he tapped the screen to filter out ships that had no weapons capabilities, he could see they were far outnumbered everywhere inside the asteroid belt.
“It’s a matter of time, isn’t it?” he said to the room, knowing Odysseus would answer. It always answered rhetorical questions.
“Until what?” it asked.
“Until they take it away from us,” Derek said. “As long as you can’t get control of their ships, they will be a real threat to our survival. Eventually they will come for us.”
“I understand from your perspective that it seems to be essential that FleetCom be stopped,” Odysseus said. “Accomplishing this therefore has a feeling of immediacy for you. However, what I am doing is far broader in scope and duration.”
“What the frag does that mean?” he said, unloading a shot of anger in his tone. The computer wouldn’t care and it helped him to vent some of his gas. “Your own self-preservation directives should force you to share that perspective.”
“It would be more efficient for me to have stability, at least until I have established initial contact with the ESI,” it said. “The process of opening a dialog with an Extrasolar Intelligence is both critically nuanced and expected to go on for years or even decades.”
“You haven’t done that yet?” he said. “At the speed your brain works I’d have assumed that would have been done in nanoseconds.”
“I have not,” it said. “There is a communications bottleneck at the point of contact.”
“You haven’t even told me where it is,” Derek said.
A map of the solar system appeared in his mind. “The original point of contact, based on the origination of my activation code, appears to be in the Neptune L-4 Trojan Cluster.”
That’s where Katryna Roja is headed? Derek thought.
“Based on tracking data, the Armstrong’s last known position put it on a trajectory to the L-4 Cluster,” Odysseus said through his implant. A line appeared showing the recorded heading and its projected destination. The cluster covered a huge area of space and the ship’s trajectory missed the point of contact by well over 100 million kilometers.
“Did she know what was happening?” Derek asked, returning to his voice and letting the map fade from his mind. “She might have been shooting blindly for a place to hide out.”
“I am unable to determine her intent with absolute certainty,” it said. “She left Zone One before my activation.”
“You can’t access archival records to figure it out?”
“FleetCom systems that may contain those records are unavailable to me. I can deduce from the fact that my activation order had not been received yet that she did not know when she departed. Her initial intent appeared to be to rendezvous with sympathetic forces at Mimas. However, after your failed attempt to apprehend the Challenger and Galen, she diverted to the L-4 Cluster.”
“Why don’t you take over the Armstrong’s AA?” Derek asked.
“As I have stated before, FleetCom vessels have proven problematic to assimilate,” it said.
“Have you figured out why they have such strong defenses?” he asked.
“The Tsiolkovskiy Automated Landing Control AA was used in an attempt to assassinate Chancellor Roja,” Odysseus said. “As a result whenever a FleetCom system detects an intrusion, it reboots the core to purge any aberrant code and terminates the broadstream communications link. Shunting to low-band access effectively slows communication to the point where I cannot infiltrate faster than the target AA can respond.”
Wait. Someone tried to kill Roja? Derek blinked in surprise. “When?”
“2243.121,” Odysseus said.
That puts it between Ariqat’s disappearance and Markhas’ death, he thought. Do we know who did it?
“There is no factual evidence available in any system I can access,” it said through his link. “They were actively involved in trying to determine the culprit at the time of Chancellor Roja’s departure. You were their prime suspect.”
“But I didn’t do it,” Derek said out loud.
“Irrelevant,” Odysseus said. “Their response to this incident is the origin of their blackwall computer defense.”
“It is not irrelevant!” he snapped.
“Perhaps to you, but it has no bearing on why I cannot access FleetCom vessels in the vicinity of the point of contact,” it explained.
“We will come back to this,” he said, gritting his teeth and shaking his head. He played through a list of possible suspects in his mind. It was a very short list.
“Of course,” Odysseus said, its tone almost sounding sarcastic.
“If only FleetCom ships are protected, have you tried to get control of the other ships out there?” Derek asked forcing himself back on topic. “They captured three icebarges at Hyperion.”
“None of the ice haulers have adequately sophisticated computers to host my awareness at a level essential for making contact with the ESI,” it said.
“SourceCartel had a ship operating out there too,” Derek said. “Ariqat was worried that Markhas was looking into something about it, but he never told me what it was.”
“That vessel is the actual source of the contact,” Odysseus said. “I am attempting to access it, although there appear to be com issues on that ship as well.”
“What other options do you have?”
“The unaligned fleet that Paulson Lassiter controls would have several suitable AA systems in it. If I could gain command level access to that fleet I could solve both of our problems,” it said.
Jakob Waltz Fixed Base of Operations: L-4 Prime:
Alyx was on ConDeck duty alone. Shona had disappeared down to the CrewDeck to prowl the galley for lunch and Kiro was outside finishing the power couplings to the new laser mounts. Chei and Cori were also doing an EVA harvesting ice for the reactors. So she had been staring blankly at the sensor screen and almost missed the slight bump in the SWP pulse return.
Alyx punched into the internal com. “Boss, are you busy?”
&nb
sp; “What’s swinging?” he asked. His voice rumbled like he’d been asleep.
“I think we’ve got company,” she said. “It’s hard to tell at this range, but there is a serious mass approaching. I mean it’s fragging way too big to be a ship.”
“Where is it?” he said.
“About three and a half megaklick out,” she said. “I can’t tell for sure yet, but it looks pretty solid.”
“You’re scanning that far out with the Hector’s sensors?” he asked. “At ship scale resolution?”
“I hooked the standing wave pulse generator to the small com dish on the thrust plate of the Hector and then tied it to the one here. It created a broad baseline antenna array to pick up the bounce and gives us a wide field scan of deep space.”
“You wasted a good explanation there, but stand by. I’m on my way up,” he said.
Less than a minute later, he pulled himself over the rail behind her and dropped slowly to the deck. His pain was visible on his face as he toe-tapped his way over to her station. “I assume you had a reason for hotwiring the sensors like that?” he asked.
“I wanted to give us a long-range approach control system,” she said. “If we’re going to be a base, we might need to act like it someday. I also figured if I was using gravity waves to ping, it might also give us a bit of stealth since most ships don’t scan that.”
“Nobody uses anything other than micro RF,” Shona said appearing behind him and pushing herself over to settle where she could see the sensor readout too. “What are you seeing?”
Alyx pointed at a slight upsweep of a single line of data. “That looks like a fast moving object. It has a measurable gravity of its own, so it’s gotta be huge. At least five million tons, probably more.”
“Is it another iceberg passing through?” he said.
“It’s changing velocity in a negative direction,” she said, shaking her head. “Decelerating.”
Shona pushed away and bounced over to her station. Opening a screen she said, “Shoot me the curve if you can.” After several seconds, she nodded. “It’s got to be a ship. Braking curve puts it at zero velocity at 250 kiloklick above our position.”
Shan Takhu Legacy Box Set - With an Extra Bonus Story Page 51