Read Online Starship Home by Tony Morphett - Free Book Online Page A

it was with Guinevere. Talent, practice, and the amplification of her talent by the entire structure of the starship was what allowed her to avoid the constraints of Einstein’s physics, and travel across the Galaxy without exceeding the speed of light.
    ‘Time’s a river through the dry land of space,’ she explained to Harold. ‘We leave dry land, and travel along the river, never touching land again till journey’s end.’
    All four of them were scattered about the starship, repairing her. She had shown them where the Slarn weapons were kept, and had explained their use. The stubby flanged staffs were more than weapons, they were multi-purpose tools as well.
    They could be used to provide light, weld metal, and move objects with a kind of tractor beam. The same tractor beam could be used like a vise to keep objects in place while working on them with another Slarnstaff, as the new crew of the Guinevere very quickly decided to call them as they used their Slarnstaffs to cut and weld together torn areas of the crystalline substance within Guinevere’s walls.
    At first they were disconcerted to find that they were actually cutting and welding what amounted to parts of Guinevere’s brain and central nervous system, but she urged them on. ‘Cut and join, lest we all die,’ she said, and explained that, in a meditation state, her mind would feel the cutting and welding, but not interpret it as pain. She could place herself beyond pain for the time it would take.
    They worked around the clock. The Slarn could come back at any time, and if they did, their work would be in vain. They lived on ship’s food, hard biscuits which were a green-brown color, and a sort of thick blue gruel which they squeezed from flexible bottles.
    And the Wyzen “helped”. If the Wyzen had not been quite so lovable, her “help” would have driven them crazy. They would put down a tool, and look up a moment later to find it gone, being rolled along the floor and pounced on by the Wyzen, who was sure in what passed for her mind that her claim to the tool was as valid as their own.
    Three days later, four exhausted people were together again on the bridge, chewing on khaki biscuits, sucking on bottles of blue gruel. Schematic diagrams of the internal workings of the starship were scrolling across the screens.
    ‘The rest of you need a shower,’ Meg said.
    ‘I think maybe all of us need a shower, Meg,’ Zachary said.
    ‘Eat up your nice yuk, Harold,’ Zoe said, and stroked the Wyzen under the chin. The Wyzen put her head back and purred.
    ‘I love this stuff,’ said Harold, finishing his blue gruel and tossing the empty bottle over his shoulder. ‘It’d make great hacking food, you could program forever without having to stop for meals.’
    Zoe made a face. ‘Boys’ll eat anything.’
    ‘Pick up the bottle,’ said Meg, and glared at Harold until he complied.
    The diagrams kept scrolling through on the screens. Suddenly they stopped, vanished, and again the stars could be seen.
    ‘Well?’ Harold was back on his couch after picking up the bottle.
    ‘There are no gaps left in the Web of Force,’ Guinevere told them. ‘My body is whole again, but very weak withal.’
    ‘Can you do it, or not?’ Zachary asked her.
    ‘There are tales of ships who entered wounded on the river of Time and came not out again. Mayhap, this time, being weak…’
    ‘Please don’t scare us,’ Meg said. The known she could deal with. The unknown was a different matter.
    ‘Nay, Meg, good Brother Death is not to be feared.’
    ‘Not by machines.’
    Suddenly the screens went dead and there was silence.
    ‘You there Guinevere?’ Harold asked.
    The silence continued.
    ‘Guinevere, please?’ Zoe said.
    ‘Tell cranky Meg that I am Guinevere, maid, starship, human soul. No engine or machine.’
    ‘I, ah … I guess you wouldn’t like to try an apology on for size would you Miss High and Mighty Henderson?’ Zachary, like all of them, had not had