Read Online Lacuna: The Sands of Karathi by David Adams - Free Book Online
Authors: David Adams
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Wherever possible, I’ll make sure that the Sydney takes care of the rescue effort.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. “ When it happens.”
“When it happens,” Knight echoed.
----
Operations
TFR Beijing
“ Jump complete, Captain. Strike craft are launching and providing a defensive screen.”
Liao put her hands on her hips, taking a deep breath. “Very good, Mister Dao. Tactical, report.”
She glanced over to Jiang’s old console, where a fresh-faced Junior Lieutenant was scrutinizing his console with an intensity Liao found distracting. The man had big boots to fill–after the battle every single one of them were practically household names, even Jiang, whom he was replacing–but she would have rather he reported faster than he was so very obviously trying to.
Liao valued results, not delays, and she hated dramatic pauses.
“Scope is clean, Captain.”
“Very good.”
Kamal leaned closer to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “At least it wasn’t a trap, then. Not yet, anyway.”
She nodded at him, then looked at Lieutenant Dao. “Navigation, what’s out there? Where are we?”
“Looks to be a solar system, Captain. We’ve jumped to the Lagrangian point between a large planet and one of its moons. We appear to be in a binary star system. That would explain these readings, because something's playing havoc with the gravity wells in this location. Jumping into this system must be tricky. These coordinates wouldn’t have lasted much longer before drift made them useless.”
The nature of the coordinates were such that they did not represent a fixed point in space, but the ebb and flow of the gravitational forces around that point. Because of that, jump coordinates had to be recalculated every so often to account for natural drift and imprecision in the measurements.
Liao did not like the sound of that. “How much longer? Are we under time pressure?”
Was this the trap? Would the binary star system and its wild, distorted gravity make jumping out almost impossible? She shook her head. That didn’t make sense. The jump coordinates were given to Sheng many months ago. They were still active. Surely they would have some time.
“Difficult to say, Captain, but certainly not for a couple of weeks at least. Probably longer. Up to a month, perhaps.”
Relief came to her, and she smiled her thanks. “Excellent.” She stepped over to Dao’s console, leaning over his shoulder. “What can you tell me about that planet, Lieutenant?”
“The spectroscope shows a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. Extremely low levels of carbon dioxide and argon, indicating that there’s, well, uhh, probably no plant life there. Almost no water vapour, no industrial pollutants. Looks to be barren, Captain.”
“What about the surface temperature?”
“Based on the readings of the thermal cameras, I’d say it’s about forty degrees celsius down there. Hot as Hades, but survivable.”
Liao nodded. “We’ll pack lots of water then. Dispatch one of the Wasps to take an atmospheric sample. Make sure they don’t enter the heliosphere too quickly–those things aren’t rated for hot reentry.”
The popular conception of reentry was a fiery descent into the planet’s atmosphere, but that was only accurate for craft that orbited a planet.Orbiting required substantial velocity, which created friction as the craft began to encounter the resistance of the uppermost gasses. Although their craft would burn up if pushed through at orbital velocity, at a slower pace they could descend just fine, and the reactionless drives would slowly ease them down onto the planet’s surface without endangering the craft.
That tiny piece of technology allowed them to do so much.
Peng gave a hesitant nod. "I'll make sure they're careful."
“That’s good. Prepare to—”
“Wait. I’m detecting a signal. It’s faint.”
Liao inclined her head. “What kind of signal? Is it an audio transmission?”
Dao twisted
“When it happens,” Knight echoed.
----
Operations
TFR Beijing
“ Jump complete, Captain. Strike craft are launching and providing a defensive screen.”
Liao put her hands on her hips, taking a deep breath. “Very good, Mister Dao. Tactical, report.”
She glanced over to Jiang’s old console, where a fresh-faced Junior Lieutenant was scrutinizing his console with an intensity Liao found distracting. The man had big boots to fill–after the battle every single one of them were practically household names, even Jiang, whom he was replacing–but she would have rather he reported faster than he was so very obviously trying to.
Liao valued results, not delays, and she hated dramatic pauses.
“Scope is clean, Captain.”
“Very good.”
Kamal leaned closer to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “At least it wasn’t a trap, then. Not yet, anyway.”
She nodded at him, then looked at Lieutenant Dao. “Navigation, what’s out there? Where are we?”
“Looks to be a solar system, Captain. We’ve jumped to the Lagrangian point between a large planet and one of its moons. We appear to be in a binary star system. That would explain these readings, because something's playing havoc with the gravity wells in this location. Jumping into this system must be tricky. These coordinates wouldn’t have lasted much longer before drift made them useless.”
The nature of the coordinates were such that they did not represent a fixed point in space, but the ebb and flow of the gravitational forces around that point. Because of that, jump coordinates had to be recalculated every so often to account for natural drift and imprecision in the measurements.
Liao did not like the sound of that. “How much longer? Are we under time pressure?”
Was this the trap? Would the binary star system and its wild, distorted gravity make jumping out almost impossible? She shook her head. That didn’t make sense. The jump coordinates were given to Sheng many months ago. They were still active. Surely they would have some time.
“Difficult to say, Captain, but certainly not for a couple of weeks at least. Probably longer. Up to a month, perhaps.”
Relief came to her, and she smiled her thanks. “Excellent.” She stepped over to Dao’s console, leaning over his shoulder. “What can you tell me about that planet, Lieutenant?”
“The spectroscope shows a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. Extremely low levels of carbon dioxide and argon, indicating that there’s, well, uhh, probably no plant life there. Almost no water vapour, no industrial pollutants. Looks to be barren, Captain.”
“What about the surface temperature?”
“Based on the readings of the thermal cameras, I’d say it’s about forty degrees celsius down there. Hot as Hades, but survivable.”
Liao nodded. “We’ll pack lots of water then. Dispatch one of the Wasps to take an atmospheric sample. Make sure they don’t enter the heliosphere too quickly–those things aren’t rated for hot reentry.”
The popular conception of reentry was a fiery descent into the planet’s atmosphere, but that was only accurate for craft that orbited a planet.Orbiting required substantial velocity, which created friction as the craft began to encounter the resistance of the uppermost gasses. Although their craft would burn up if pushed through at orbital velocity, at a slower pace they could descend just fine, and the reactionless drives would slowly ease them down onto the planet’s surface without endangering the craft.
That tiny piece of technology allowed them to do so much.
Peng gave a hesitant nod. "I'll make sure they're careful."
“That’s good. Prepare to—”
“Wait. I’m detecting a signal. It’s faint.”
Liao inclined her head. “What kind of signal? Is it an audio transmission?”
Dao twisted
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