Read Online Tachyon Web by Christopher Pike - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Christopher Pike
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revolving into tiny individual candle-lights. “ Les kau tee mick .”
“No, that’s ‘I must be on my way.’”
“It doesn’t matter, Sammy can tell me what to say. Hey, why don’t we just learn the line: ‘I’m deaf, thank you, good-bye.’”
“Because then someone would want to take us to one of their doctors,” Eric said, putting the last of Cleo’s paraphernalia away. “Finished with our eyes?” he asked her.
Cleo held two of the green contacts up to the light. “Perfect.”
“Buckle down, everybody,” Sammy said. “Time to put on the brakes.”
Sammy wisely did not add: And see if we don’t kill ourselves.
Eric suspected neither of the girls fully realized how dangerous the deceleration would be; they had been far more tense before Jeret’s customs check.
Eric stowed Cleo’s case and took a seat between Strem and Sammy, fastening a crisscrossed elastic belt over his chest. He glanced at Strem and received a golden thumbs up – Jeanie had also oiled their hands – and it seemed somehow extra lucky.
Sammy rolled Excalibur until the ship’s nose was pointed toward the nova, then activated the graviton drive. Besides slowing them drastically, the drive would also, theoretically, repel the energy of the Kaulikans’ wide ion train. As the low hum began to shake the ship, changing swiftly into the brief high-pitched whine, Eric noticed nothing different than during their acceleration out of Earth’s orbit. A glance at the control console, however, revealed several additional indicators creeping into the danger zone.
They were now approximately twice the orbit of Pluto from the nova and were able to look at it through unfiltered windows. With added distance, the layers of expelled gas appeared denser, and it was pleasant to imagine they were watching the cooling birth of a super being’s central planet, and not the remains of a mortal’s dead solar system. How often, Eric wondered, were the eyes of the remaining Kaulikans drawn to their own windows, to see what had driven them from home?
Suddenly, a red haze began to blur the nova as a deep but soft drone filled the cabin. Eric did not know if the haze and noise was due to the overloading graviton drive or the impact of the changed particles on the ship’s force field. He hesitated to ask Sammy, who was, to put it mildly, very busy, staring without blinking at the information being fed to him by Excalibur ’s computers, his two hands instinctively adjusting the controls.
Eric was surprised at himself. He was afraid, but the emotion seemed somehow removed from him perhaps because, if the end came, he would not have a chance to know it. The drone reminded him of the sound of water flushing the hull of a plowing mini-sub, and he thought of the evening he had chased sharks with Strem in the warm sea of Baja, only hours after hearing of Strem’s wild vacation plans. It seemed as though it were years ago.
“How are we doing?” Strem asked quickly.
“If I can answer that question in a moment,” Sammy said, “we’re doing very well indeed.”
A nerve-taunting bell went off, and Cleo and Jeanie let out a cry. Sammy quieted it with the flip of a switch. They were committed. The drone thickened and got louder, becoming harsher, sounding more like the thunder of an approaching storm on an open prairie. The red haze changed to a yellow glare, hurting their eyes. Sammy lowered the shields, but the enforced blindness was dubious comfort. Eric’s chair began to shake violently, and he could feel the vertebrae in his spine rattling. He took a deep breath and didn’t bother to let it go.
“Is the drive overheating?” Strem shouted over the roar.
“No!” Sammy shouted back, “It’s melting!”
Eric heard the crack of sparks and smelled ozone. He wondered for a moment, if it were to end now, what he would miss the most.
There was a horrendous bump, followed by two more murderous blows. They could have been ramming walls of stone.
“No, that’s ‘I must be on my way.’”
“It doesn’t matter, Sammy can tell me what to say. Hey, why don’t we just learn the line: ‘I’m deaf, thank you, good-bye.’”
“Because then someone would want to take us to one of their doctors,” Eric said, putting the last of Cleo’s paraphernalia away. “Finished with our eyes?” he asked her.
Cleo held two of the green contacts up to the light. “Perfect.”
“Buckle down, everybody,” Sammy said. “Time to put on the brakes.”
Sammy wisely did not add: And see if we don’t kill ourselves.
Eric suspected neither of the girls fully realized how dangerous the deceleration would be; they had been far more tense before Jeret’s customs check.
Eric stowed Cleo’s case and took a seat between Strem and Sammy, fastening a crisscrossed elastic belt over his chest. He glanced at Strem and received a golden thumbs up – Jeanie had also oiled their hands – and it seemed somehow extra lucky.
Sammy rolled Excalibur until the ship’s nose was pointed toward the nova, then activated the graviton drive. Besides slowing them drastically, the drive would also, theoretically, repel the energy of the Kaulikans’ wide ion train. As the low hum began to shake the ship, changing swiftly into the brief high-pitched whine, Eric noticed nothing different than during their acceleration out of Earth’s orbit. A glance at the control console, however, revealed several additional indicators creeping into the danger zone.
They were now approximately twice the orbit of Pluto from the nova and were able to look at it through unfiltered windows. With added distance, the layers of expelled gas appeared denser, and it was pleasant to imagine they were watching the cooling birth of a super being’s central planet, and not the remains of a mortal’s dead solar system. How often, Eric wondered, were the eyes of the remaining Kaulikans drawn to their own windows, to see what had driven them from home?
Suddenly, a red haze began to blur the nova as a deep but soft drone filled the cabin. Eric did not know if the haze and noise was due to the overloading graviton drive or the impact of the changed particles on the ship’s force field. He hesitated to ask Sammy, who was, to put it mildly, very busy, staring without blinking at the information being fed to him by Excalibur ’s computers, his two hands instinctively adjusting the controls.
Eric was surprised at himself. He was afraid, but the emotion seemed somehow removed from him perhaps because, if the end came, he would not have a chance to know it. The drone reminded him of the sound of water flushing the hull of a plowing mini-sub, and he thought of the evening he had chased sharks with Strem in the warm sea of Baja, only hours after hearing of Strem’s wild vacation plans. It seemed as though it were years ago.
“How are we doing?” Strem asked quickly.
“If I can answer that question in a moment,” Sammy said, “we’re doing very well indeed.”
A nerve-taunting bell went off, and Cleo and Jeanie let out a cry. Sammy quieted it with the flip of a switch. They were committed. The drone thickened and got louder, becoming harsher, sounding more like the thunder of an approaching storm on an open prairie. The red haze changed to a yellow glare, hurting their eyes. Sammy lowered the shields, but the enforced blindness was dubious comfort. Eric’s chair began to shake violently, and he could feel the vertebrae in his spine rattling. He took a deep breath and didn’t bother to let it go.
“Is the drive overheating?” Strem shouted over the roar.
“No!” Sammy shouted back, “It’s melting!”
Eric heard the crack of sparks and smelled ozone. He wondered for a moment, if it were to end now, what he would miss the most.
There was a horrendous bump, followed by two more murderous blows. They could have been ramming walls of stone.
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