stop doing that!”
My husband stood in the open doorway, and didn’t look a bit sorry for scaring ten years off my life. “These quarters are already occupied?”
“Yeah. By me. Back on Terra.” I swung my hand around. “Joe replicated everything that was in my old room.”
He studied the stark, colorless decor that had been the latest trend three years ago. “It is not very appealing.”
Three years ago.
“He hasn’t changed a thing since I left. I just realized that. Joe has the entire mansion redecorated every six months, and yet this room hasn’t been altered in the slightest degree. There’s even a copy of a pair of old muddy boots I left behind.” I didn’t know whether to be amused, or sick. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not sleeping here tonight.” Or ever. “How are things going with the computers?”
“It will take several hours for the core to ascertain there are no errors from initialization.” Reever held out his hand. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
He took me down another eight levels, to sixteen, where Medical was supposed to be located.
Level sixteen was Medical. The entire deck was one huge medical treatment facility.
“Only the best for Cherijo,” I muttered under my breath as I walked around. “Look at all this stuff, Reever. Diagnostic simulators, full medsysbank array, multispecies drug and plasma synthesizers, and if I’m not mistaken”—I opened a panel and looked into what had to be the most advanced surgical suite I’d ever seen—“yeah, there it is. My own personal paradise.”
Jenner padded in, and planted himself next to my ankle. Absently I picked him up and started stroking him.
Reever was busy fiddling with the database. “Your creator knows you very well.”
I closed the panel without going in. “My creator doesn’t know that I’d trade all this fancy tech in a heartbeat for a chance to be a FreeClinic trauma physician again.”
That seemed to surprise him. “You would return to Kevarzangia Two?”
“If it wouldn’t put the colony in danger, yeah, I would.” I picked up a new style of syrinpress I’d never seen before. “No chance of that, I’m afraid.”
A signal came in over the main console, and Reever acknowledged it.
It was Xonea. “ClanBrother, ClanSister, we are reading some minor fluctuations in the flightshield surrounding the Truman . Are you experiencing any power loss within the vessel?”
“No, Xonea.” Reever frowned. “Have you located the source of the fluctuations?”
“It appears to be coming from the stardrive. It would be best to run a simulation on it before we transfer your passengers.” The screen went blank for a moment, then Xonea’s face reappeared. Suddenly he wasn’t smiling anymore. “Our signal is being jammed. We are reading multiple vessels closing—
The console went dead. Something smashed into the side of the Truman , sending me, Jenner, and Reever sprawling on the deck.
We ran back to the helm, and found our three ships were surrounded by a horde of star vessels in attack formation. No one was firing on anyone, from what we saw on the viewer, but the Perpetua was spinning out of control, showing huge, new gaps in its hull.
They wanted to be sure we couldn’t use it.
“Thank God we got everyone off,” I said as I went to the communications station and secured Jenner in a storage compartment next to the unit. He didn’t like that, naturally, but he’d have to yowl for now. “ Truman to the Sunlace . Xonea, what’s your status?”
His signal came in, audio only. “We have sustained damage to the Command control and ship’s Operational, along with minor casualties on four levels. Are you and Reever unharmed?”
“Yes.” I looked at the viewer. “Where did all those ships come from?”
“We do not know. Even now they do not appear on our scanners. Salo speculates they are using some form of energy shunt to conceal their ships and stardrive functions.”
That
My husband stood in the open doorway, and didn’t look a bit sorry for scaring ten years off my life. “These quarters are already occupied?”
“Yeah. By me. Back on Terra.” I swung my hand around. “Joe replicated everything that was in my old room.”
He studied the stark, colorless decor that had been the latest trend three years ago. “It is not very appealing.”
Three years ago.
“He hasn’t changed a thing since I left. I just realized that. Joe has the entire mansion redecorated every six months, and yet this room hasn’t been altered in the slightest degree. There’s even a copy of a pair of old muddy boots I left behind.” I didn’t know whether to be amused, or sick. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not sleeping here tonight.” Or ever. “How are things going with the computers?”
“It will take several hours for the core to ascertain there are no errors from initialization.” Reever held out his hand. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
He took me down another eight levels, to sixteen, where Medical was supposed to be located.
Level sixteen was Medical. The entire deck was one huge medical treatment facility.
“Only the best for Cherijo,” I muttered under my breath as I walked around. “Look at all this stuff, Reever. Diagnostic simulators, full medsysbank array, multispecies drug and plasma synthesizers, and if I’m not mistaken”—I opened a panel and looked into what had to be the most advanced surgical suite I’d ever seen—“yeah, there it is. My own personal paradise.”
Jenner padded in, and planted himself next to my ankle. Absently I picked him up and started stroking him.
Reever was busy fiddling with the database. “Your creator knows you very well.”
I closed the panel without going in. “My creator doesn’t know that I’d trade all this fancy tech in a heartbeat for a chance to be a FreeClinic trauma physician again.”
That seemed to surprise him. “You would return to Kevarzangia Two?”
“If it wouldn’t put the colony in danger, yeah, I would.” I picked up a new style of syrinpress I’d never seen before. “No chance of that, I’m afraid.”
A signal came in over the main console, and Reever acknowledged it.
It was Xonea. “ClanBrother, ClanSister, we are reading some minor fluctuations in the flightshield surrounding the Truman . Are you experiencing any power loss within the vessel?”
“No, Xonea.” Reever frowned. “Have you located the source of the fluctuations?”
“It appears to be coming from the stardrive. It would be best to run a simulation on it before we transfer your passengers.” The screen went blank for a moment, then Xonea’s face reappeared. Suddenly he wasn’t smiling anymore. “Our signal is being jammed. We are reading multiple vessels closing—
The console went dead. Something smashed into the side of the Truman , sending me, Jenner, and Reever sprawling on the deck.
We ran back to the helm, and found our three ships were surrounded by a horde of star vessels in attack formation. No one was firing on anyone, from what we saw on the viewer, but the Perpetua was spinning out of control, showing huge, new gaps in its hull.
They wanted to be sure we couldn’t use it.
“Thank God we got everyone off,” I said as I went to the communications station and secured Jenner in a storage compartment next to the unit. He didn’t like that, naturally, but he’d have to yowl for now. “ Truman to the Sunlace . Xonea, what’s your status?”
His signal came in, audio only. “We have sustained damage to the Command control and ship’s Operational, along with minor casualties on four levels. Are you and Reever unharmed?”
“Yes.” I looked at the viewer. “Where did all those ships come from?”
“We do not know. Even now they do not appear on our scanners. Salo speculates they are using some form of energy shunt to conceal their ships and stardrive functions.”
That
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