“Respiratory problem. Air passages close up.” The hard edge of the bed board dug a trench across my spine and the packed earth was cool on my backside. One of Murdoch’s hands rested on my knee, the other held my shoulder. He was shaking. I was shaking, with the teary relief that followed an attack.
“Are you all right?” he said helplessly. “Does this... how long has this been...” He peered closer at my face. “Jeezus, you look awful.”
“Thanks.” I wheezed the word with as much sarcasm as possible. He was so close. I could sense every centimeter of his body in a way I didn’t remember having experienced before.
He didn’t seem to notice anything, and leaned back against the bed beside me. “Don’t be touchy. If you were on the station I’d hospitalize you on the spot.” He waved his hand at the tent. “What is this place? I got halfway in here and thought I must have made a mistake.”
My skin prickled where his arm and shoulder rested against mine. “It’s where unofficial refugees, illegal immigrants, and asylum seekers end up. Also anyone else who wants to stay away from the legal system.”
He grunted. “Lawbreakers, in other words.”
“And drug users. Runaways. Homeless.”
“Okay. I know what Earth was like in this decade, I read the history files.”
“You’ll find the details quite different.” I felt clarity return. “First things first. Is your ship intact?’
He shook his head. “Sorry. Guess you want to get out of here.” His voice was gentle.
Don’t get nice on me, Bill, I’ll break down. “Second, tell me how you got here.”
Murdoch grabbed the hard plastic chair and straddled it in another familiar pose.
I sat cross-legged on the bed to listen.
Five
“ A n Serat sent me,” said Murdoch. At my stare, “Make sense to you?”
“He must have met us here in the past. That’s why he had to make sure you’re here.”
He frowned. “But that’s... Anyway, you disappeared on your test flight. Big shock to everyone. But then Ensign Lee—you remember her? She mentioned to me that your signal cut out pretty close to where
Calypso
appeared. Aha, I say, and go to check on her navigational data, and she’s right.
“So I go and have a little chat with the other three engineers on your team. They tell me you might have been caught in an anomaly of some kind. They weren’t very upset, though. Gave me the impression they wanted me out of the lab so they could go back to work.”
I grimaced, half embarrassed. The three engineers and myself had agreed to keep the real content of the research secret; if it leaked, I was pretty sure the Invidi would try to stop us. I hadn’t intended to keep Murdoch out of the picture as well, even though that was how it turned out.
“After twenty-four hours we sent out search and rescue ships, as usual,” he continued. “Must admit, when they didn’t find anything over the next two days, I started to get worried too. I guessed you didn’t have a lot of emergency life-support equipment installed. We had to cut down the search after that—you know how it is.”
I nodded. If the missing person has no air left, there’s no rush to find them.
He tilted the chair farther forward to look intently at me. “I didn’t give up. But I had no evidence to give them that you were alive to be rescued.”
I half smiled. “There was no evidence.”
“Oh, yes there was.” He let the chair fall back with a bump. “I took a look at your research notes...”
“How did you do that?” I sat up straighter.
“I’m chief of Security, remember?”
“And?”
“And it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Mostly equations and blueprints. But it was obvious even to me that you’d installed something other than a flatspace engine. Which wasn’t in your project proposal, by the way.”
“We thought it was safer not to say exactly what we were doing,” I said.
“Like you didn’t mention salvaging
Calypso
’s engines in the first
“Are you all right?” he said helplessly. “Does this... how long has this been...” He peered closer at my face. “Jeezus, you look awful.”
“Thanks.” I wheezed the word with as much sarcasm as possible. He was so close. I could sense every centimeter of his body in a way I didn’t remember having experienced before.
He didn’t seem to notice anything, and leaned back against the bed beside me. “Don’t be touchy. If you were on the station I’d hospitalize you on the spot.” He waved his hand at the tent. “What is this place? I got halfway in here and thought I must have made a mistake.”
My skin prickled where his arm and shoulder rested against mine. “It’s where unofficial refugees, illegal immigrants, and asylum seekers end up. Also anyone else who wants to stay away from the legal system.”
He grunted. “Lawbreakers, in other words.”
“And drug users. Runaways. Homeless.”
“Okay. I know what Earth was like in this decade, I read the history files.”
“You’ll find the details quite different.” I felt clarity return. “First things first. Is your ship intact?’
He shook his head. “Sorry. Guess you want to get out of here.” His voice was gentle.
Don’t get nice on me, Bill, I’ll break down. “Second, tell me how you got here.”
Murdoch grabbed the hard plastic chair and straddled it in another familiar pose.
I sat cross-legged on the bed to listen.
Five
“ A n Serat sent me,” said Murdoch. At my stare, “Make sense to you?”
“He must have met us here in the past. That’s why he had to make sure you’re here.”
He frowned. “But that’s... Anyway, you disappeared on your test flight. Big shock to everyone. But then Ensign Lee—you remember her? She mentioned to me that your signal cut out pretty close to where
Calypso
appeared. Aha, I say, and go to check on her navigational data, and she’s right.
“So I go and have a little chat with the other three engineers on your team. They tell me you might have been caught in an anomaly of some kind. They weren’t very upset, though. Gave me the impression they wanted me out of the lab so they could go back to work.”
I grimaced, half embarrassed. The three engineers and myself had agreed to keep the real content of the research secret; if it leaked, I was pretty sure the Invidi would try to stop us. I hadn’t intended to keep Murdoch out of the picture as well, even though that was how it turned out.
“After twenty-four hours we sent out search and rescue ships, as usual,” he continued. “Must admit, when they didn’t find anything over the next two days, I started to get worried too. I guessed you didn’t have a lot of emergency life-support equipment installed. We had to cut down the search after that—you know how it is.”
I nodded. If the missing person has no air left, there’s no rush to find them.
He tilted the chair farther forward to look intently at me. “I didn’t give up. But I had no evidence to give them that you were alive to be rescued.”
I half smiled. “There was no evidence.”
“Oh, yes there was.” He let the chair fall back with a bump. “I took a look at your research notes...”
“How did you do that?” I sat up straighter.
“I’m chief of Security, remember?”
“And?”
“And it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Mostly equations and blueprints. But it was obvious even to me that you’d installed something other than a flatspace engine. Which wasn’t in your project proposal, by the way.”
“We thought it was safer not to say exactly what we were doing,” I said.
“Like you didn’t mention salvaging
Calypso
’s engines in the first
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