McGreery blinked first.
That's how I found us loading two thousand pounds of reactionary fuel onto the cargo deck of the Albatross thirty minutes later after sharing everything I knew with the leader of the Betweeners.
They had taken losses too. Their entire fleet of stolen tumbrils was grounded since when the signal rippled through the system, every spaceship they had outside of the caverns took to the sky with or without people on board and headed out-system. They think the other ships of their tumbril fleet were shielded by the ICE deposits.
But the pingers on the upper levels, which they had stolen from other Agri-Grids during the Pass and reprogrammed, were moving supplies in a storage cavern. The signal must have reached them, being closer to the surface like that, and they went berserk, going after anyone with an iso-pad or tools.
They killed a dozen men and women before his men, how had he put it, “Killed the hell out of the tin bastards.”
I told him how to ensure their tumbrils didn't fall prey to the same thing. He sent men out to break all the auto-nav crystals in their fleet. He had mumbled in understanding, “That's why our coms still work.”
Yup, he was a smart man. They had made an ad hoc com system which was separate from the information grid so they couldn't be traced. By not using the innocuous crystals supplied by Old Earth, they weren't susceptible to the malicious code.
I explained to him why Glitch wasn't affected by the signal, saying that, “Well... my pingers. They aren't like any other pingers.”
Then the man confused the hell out of me by prompting, “Wait. Agri-Grid A1? Special pingers? You're the tinker that Captain Peregradopolis took a shine to.”
I looked at him, and answered carefully, “Umm... yes?”
It became clear to me that he had some sort of obsession with my girl since he asked an awful lot of questions about her as I shared what was going on. If he wasn't one of the most wanted criminals in all of Prime, I might have gotten a little jealous since he really was a ruggedly handsome middle-aged man with some sort of interest in my girl.
He was skeptical about helping me, how did he put it, “Run off on a suicide mission to save the sanctimonious topsiders from themselves.” Until he asked, “And why shouldn't we just let them all burn? Then Prime would be ours, and we'd be free of the oppression.”
He was baiting me and I knew it. “Because you're smarter than that, man. How long do you think you will survive without supplies, and do you know how to run the Agri-Grids for food? And most importantly, you think the Sky Guard is rough, them simply defending the citizens from your plundering, what do you think the Galactic Federation Pacification Fleet will do when they find you here?”
I shrugged and answered for him, “They will bomb you from orbit, and, how did you put it? Kill the hell out of you all without a second thought.”
The man snorted. “No, please, tell me what you really think.” I had to strain to keep from smiling, reminding myself not to start liking the man. He was still a murderous pirate. Then he added, “So this is why the girl likes you.”
“Huh?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. If you even have a chance of making the launch window to go get yourself killed, we'd better load you up.”
Then he narrowed his eyes and looked up like he could see through a half mile of stone and into orbit where the floating cities inched ever closer to the atmosphere. He muttered, “This is exactly what I warned Abigail about twenty-eight years ago.”
Wait wait wait. Abigail? As in Abigail Peregrine? “You know Lady Peregrine?”
He chuckled. “Know her? I was married to the altruistic, naive fool. I took other separatists with me after I divorced her, since she refused to listen to my warnings.”
Mother of all crystal! “You... she...?” My eyes widened as another thought came to me as I watched his hauntingly familiar look of exasperation. I had an inkling why it looked so familiar now as I swallowed. Twenty-eight years? Vash was twenty-seven. She's never talked about her father because she had never known him. Was McGreery...?
I shook the thought out of my head and told him without giving away the existence of Prime's Dark Fleet. “I think she listened more than you may know, sir. And because she did, that may be what triggered all of this.”
Then I had to add in case my instincts were right, without giving away Vash's unique nature, “Captain Peregradopolis is the reason everyone on New Terra is still with us, she's keeping them all alive.”
I saw something in his eyes that told me all I needed to know. It was... pride.
As the last of the fuel was loaded onboard, I checked the time. I wasn't going to make this launch window by the time I loaded the fuel onto the Dodo.
McGreery asked before I took off, “So, little dirter, what if whatever sent that signal is still up there?”
I realized though our talks, that he hadn't been using dirter in a derogatory manner, he took pride in it. I shrugged at the question and said, “It can't be.”
He cocked an eyebrow, and I explained, whether I believed it or not, “Because if it is, this rescue attempt has already failed and we are all dead. And I can't think that way, or I can't do my job.”
He inclined his head in acceptance. Then like Vash, he stepped away from the Albatross and said, “Godspeed.”
The next minute the Albatross was shooting out of the cave system and taking to the sky, soaring back to A1 as I whispered, “I'm coming Vashon.”
Chapter 5 – On Orbit
I checked my tool pack and the relay assembly again to make sure they were secured and took my seat in the pilot's seat. Alright then. I was about to pilot us manually on what amounted to a controlled explosion into orbit to chase down a city that was hours away from becoming a fireball in the sky. I had a makeshift EVA suit and zero experience in zero gravity. What could go wrong?
I patty-caked the air at Flower who was checking to make sure I was strapped in securely, again, “I got this, lady. Go...” I kissed her on the optical port and said, “Love you. Tell the boys.”
She made a sad two-toned noise, then I smiled hugely when she stopped beside Glitch, then mimicked me and put her optical port against his and then trundled out of the tumbril and sealed the door.
Sai said, “Awww,” as she watched the scene through my com visor.
I smirked and mumbled, “Stow it kitty cat.”
She giggled, and Anna Germaine said, “We're in the launch window now. This is no time to be puttering about with niceties and...”
Vash interrupted her with a countdown in a mechanical staccato, “Twenty, nineteen, eighteen...”
I blurted, “For the love of crystal you lot!” Then slammed the grip forward that was labeled in bright red letters, “This one first, not the orange one!”
Ok, so I labeled things, even if my chances were slim, I didn't want to blow up on the spot. The air breathers and the plasma drives wound up, and then the world was tunneling around me as I was pushed back in my seat.
This thing may be space rated, but it certainly wasn't designed for ballistic launches, most Prime tumbrils used the free gravity assist of the gravitation wakes our system provided to get to orbit before firing their reaction engines and thrusters to maneuver. And it certainly didn't have the power reserves for an inertial dampening system.
I don't know who was screaming louder, Glitch, me, or Sai as the g-forces pressed me back in my seat and the straps holding Glitch to the cabin floor groaned in protest. My voice cracked as I warbled out in a high pitch, “New Terra, this is Fixit, goin' ballistic!”
I pushed my arm forward, it was like I had a hundred pound weight attached to it as I hit the big giant red button labeled, “Hit me second.” I could hear the turbopumps spinning up that would release the reactionary fuel and keep the tank pressurized.
Vash was saying with a tinge of concern, “You gotta do it now, Fixie.”
I was grumping, “I know, I know,” as I heard the air breathers cycle off. I knew t
he plasma drives would lose most of their efficiency in a few seconds and I had to ignite the rocket thrusters before that happened.
My arm shook with the effort as I moved it forward, I grasped the orange lever labeled 'Boom!' and said to my co-pilot, “Hang on boy, here goes.”
I pulled the lever.
A moment later we were screaming again, and Sai was screaming on their end when my chest felt like I was hit with a hammer. My eyesight tunneled again as I hovered on the edge of consciousness as our vessel shuddered and tore through the remaining atmosphere like a wraith. I chanted in my head, “Don't pass out, don't pass out, don't pass out,” as I kept the edge of the planet's curve on the third of four lines I had drawn on the windscreen, keeping the equator in perpendicular to the vertical line slashing through the others. What? I didn't have a computer to keep us on course for orbital insertion, so zip it.
My other hand on the joystick felt like it weighed as much as the Dodo herself as I forced us to keep on course. Then as the last of the fuel burned itself out and our acceleration slowed, I found I could breathe again and could think straight as my peripheral vision came back.
I looked around and then took in the readings on the iso-pad I had attached to the useless control panel. I smiled hugely as I unclipped my belts and pushed off from my seat with a single finger and floated to the windscreen to look at the planet rolling past below us. I said into the visor as Glitch unclipped to join me in zero-g, “New Terra, the Dodo is on orbit. Orbital path nominal. Everything looks five by five here, we'll see you ladies soon.”
I could hear the cheering before we lost their signal as we passed behind the planet. I was mesmerized by the moons that seemed so crisp and huge up here in space. Wow. I, Vega Hasher, was in space. I remember when I thought I'd never even see the floating cities in my lifetime. Space was a pipe dream as I'd never have been able to earn enough for a ticket even to the orbiting Agri-Domes, or the casino and pleasure ships that frequented the system.
But here I was in space, and likely going to die.
I heard a hissing and whistling and saw the windscreen start to crack from our makeshift repair.
“Um, Glitchy?”
He squeed out what sounded like, “On it, Fixit.”
A moment later he was slapping on one of the emergency hull patches that all vacuum rated vessels carried. We only had two, and now one was blocking half the window as the ceramic putty sizzled, bonding with the window and frame at the molecular level then solidifying harder than titanium.
I grinned at him and high fived him, sending us both tumbling back through the cabin. I giggled as I rebounded off the wall and pushed myself to the pilot's chair. I forced myself back into the seat and cut out the plasma drives, then made a couple minor burns with the maneuvering thrusters to refine our orbit so we could rendezvous with New Terra.
I swallowed hard as we passed Starlight City, the smallest of the cities, it was completely dark, not a single light in a city of over a hundred thousand. The only thing I could see that showed they even had power was the light from the huge plasma induction coils under the city which maneuvered the cities when they were in space.
I closed my eyes, it was just a floating tomb, like in my worst imaginings. All those people dead, and the Galactic Federation didn't even have to fire a single shot. The cowards. I don't know if I believe in a higher power, but I said a prayer for the people of Starlight City, just in case.
A couple hours later, both Glitch and I were plastered to the window as we stared wide-eyed at Gamadine, or Gama City, the oldest, and second largest of the Prime cities. There, behind the infernal shield that prevented any help or escape to the upper part of the city, between the soaring towers, there were pockmarks of light!
It looked like a dozen of those fire beetles that lit up the night dirtside. One of the Fluffers' favorite snacks. They would take to the air at night in flocks to devour the light emitting insects. It was always a sight to see.
As we passed at the closest point, merely five miles from the city, I could see the glow was coming from domelike constructs on the main promenade level. I almost shouted to Glitch. “The parks! The people fled to the parks!”
The two oldest cities, Gamadine and Tireial, were constructed before the protective shields were developed for future cities and they were outfitted with the shields at a later time. So the city parks were under crystal-alloy domes for when they went to orbit during Passes. The parks in the other, newer cities, would have frozen solid when they lost power, without temperature and environmental controls working under the energy shield.
The engineers of Gama City must have evacuated their three hundred thousand people to the parks. They'd have natural oxygen and CO2 scrubbing there if they didn't overcrowd them. I tried to remember the layout of the city from the data I read on the cities from the information grid whenever I got bored.
It takes a thousand leaves to provide oxygen for one person, but twice that to clean the CO2 from the air since the plants process less oxygen when CO2 is more plentiful. So that equates to roughly seven hundred plants per person. There are twelve parks on Gamadine. So with a twenty percent safety margin... I did some quick math in my head then balked. There wasn't enough. Over ten percent of their people would have to be left out, or the plants wouldn't be able to keep up.
I whispered as I looked back like I could see the city shrinking behind us. “Thirty thousand people.”
I steeled myself as we were almost out of Prime's shadow and would be able to reestablish communications. Then I nodded to myself. “Don't think of the thirty thousand, Fixit, think of the two hundred and seventy thousand they were able to save.”
Nodding again, like I could convince myself, I wondered how they were able to maintain heat in the domes, and they obviously had power for lights. The dielectric coating on the buildings! They were siphoning what little power they could from them. That would give them enough power for rudimentary environmental controls. I had to hand it to whatever tinker they had over there to bastardize the systems they'd need so quickly before the parks froze.
If they could do it here, maybe there was hope for Tireial as well?
As soon as we cleared the hemisphere, my visor flickered back on, and three eager faces were crowded into my view. Sai, Lady Peregrine, and Anna. Vash said before I could, “Fixie.”
I was nodding to myself. “New Terra, Dodo, we're here. Flight path is nominal for a zero-zero intercept in 307 minutes.”
They were all smiles, and I blurted before anyone could speak, “Gamadine is alive! They're all in the park domes!”
There was a look of shock on their faces for a few seconds before my words sunk in. Lady Peregrine was smiling. “Sarah, that old sneak. If anyone could pull that off, it's her.”
Sarah Stettler? The mayor of Gamadine? It was so odd to hear people talk like a mayor of an entire city is just a friend or peer.
Sai said, “We have teams rrready to deploy to the otherrr cities to effect rrrepairs and tie them into Vashon's neural net, once we can get thrrrough the shield and boarrrd the Dodo.”
Board the Dodo? Why didn't they just... then I remembered, all the ships and tumbrils moored at the docking ring around the city had gone out-system. The Dodo was the only space capable ship in the system on orbit. They had to use this patched up beast to conduct all of the rescues.
After we shared information and status, I almost winced when Lady Peregrine addressed the topic I didn't want to be in the middle of. “Vega. You... you spoke with the Betweener leader?”
She was almost speaking in code, dancing around what I may or may not have figured out. I didn't have time for games. “Yes. Your ex wanted me to tell you that he told you so.” I thought I heard Vash gasp over the coms. The other two ladies didn't look surprised that our leader had been married to the leader of the pirates who terrorized the skies of Prime.”
Then I accused, “If you had just let him know that Tau Ceti Prime was working on the problem ins
tead of hiding it from him, we would never have had Betweeners, and so many lives would have been saved.”
I couldn't believe I was siding with pirates. But it was just on this one point. And when had my level of respect for the ruler of Prime dropped so low?
She almost whispered like it was a prayer, “I couldn't. It was compartmentalized, and I wasn't the ruler yet.” There was actual pain in her voice. “I had been the Director of Sciences back then and was sworn to secrecy.”
Ok, I sort of understood that. And I did understand that they were trying to save orders of magnitudes more people than were lost in Betweener raids. I nodded, not knowing if I truly understood the complexities of the pressures she had been under when she kept the secret of the construction of a Dark Fleet from her then husband.
She looked from the room like she was looking at someone. Sai never looked that direction on purpose when we spoke, so I assumed that's where they had my girl hooked into the systems of the city. “Did... did McGreery tell you anything else?”
She didn't want me saying what I'm pretty sure I had pieced together, and I said flatly, “He didn't have to.” We stared at each other through the link. She heard my silent threat that she should tell Vash before I did. Then she inclined her head. By the lords of the cosmos, I had the most dysfunctional extended family.
I added with a dare in my tone, “And by the way, I told them Prime was granting them all pardons of all past crimes for the fuel donation.” This didn't seem to surprise anyone either. Our ruler just inclined her head yet again, looking perturbed that I had negotiated for Prime in her stead.
I had enough of playing tiptoe around family and state secrets, so I said, “If you will all excuse me, I have work to do here, and I'd like to talk to my girl.”
Fixit Adventures Anthology Page 19