Dubious Heroes: a novel Read online

  “Alright, alright”, she said, and smiled. “But only until we make port. No further.”

  “Deal”, I said. “Lola, as you yourself pointed out, we don’t have any cargo. If you would continue filling in at medical, and the related duties, like handling life support, I’d appreciate it.”

  “I’ll do my best”, she said. “Better hope none of you get sick.”

  “Angie, make a note of the assignments, and also make sure everyone has the access they’ll need.”

  “Aye, Captain. I didn’t want to interrupt, but I have that confirmation. There’s good news and bad news”, she said. “The good news is that the survey system was quite right, and we now know where we are. The bad news is that we aren’t even in the galaxy anymore. We’re just outside the Milky Way, which puts a very long way from home.”

  “So what’ the big deal?” I asked. “Plug the coordinates in for home, hit the switch to transit, and let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  “It’s a little more complicated than that”, Eng said, with the patience evident in someone dealing with an idiot child; namely, me.

  “Someone explain it to me”, I said. “Please.”

  “Well”, Angie said, “We were headed for Tau Ceti Three, which is eleven light years from Sol. The most distant human colony is out around Betelgeuse, which is thirty-four light years from Sol. At present, we’re two hundred twenty seven light years from Sol.”

  Everyone sat silently, sober looks on their faces. I wasn’t sure why.

  “Maybe I’m just dumb”, I said. “I get that we’re a long way from home, but I still don’t see the problem.”

  “It’s like this”, Eng said. “The longest transit DEC recommends is twenty light years. It has to do with something called gravitational refraction, which, with distances over twenty light years or so, causes problems re-inserting into normal space at the point you were aiming for. Essentially, you get the same result as if you’d transited near a gravity field. Basically, space is pretty much flat, until you start dealing with really long distances, then what are normally insignificant distortions add up.”

  “Okay”, I said, still not quite getting what the problem was.

  “I can’t believe we even know where we are”, Cozi said. “What are the odds?”

  “Better than you think”, Eng said. “I’ve done thirty-two transits in my career. This is the second that went wrong. Long story short, we made it back. But we did not tell anyone about it, since we were, shall we say, on an undocumented voyage. And we’re another good example- no one knows this ship even exists, let alone that it’s missing. Which means there won’t be any brass bands playing for our miraculous return. Personally, I think there are a lot more bad transits than are documented. Wouldn’t surprise me to find out DEC is trying to keep a lid on it.”

  “How did your first bad transit happen?” Cozi asked.

  “The same way most of them probably happen”, Eng said. “The captain was trying to shave a couple of weeks off of a cargo run, and engaged the star drive a little sooner than he should have. Most of the time, you get away with it. Sometimes you don’t.”

  “And sometimes the ships go away, and no one ever sees them again”, Lola said.

  “This is true”, Eng said, and shrugged. “But when you’re running cargo, trimming a couple of weeks off of each run makes a big difference in your profits. People pay more for faster delivery, for one thing.”

  “Look, this is interesting, but how does it pertain to us?” I asked. “So we make a bunch of small hops; we’ll still get there. Won’t we?”

  “Yes, we will have to take a lot of small transits”, Eng said. “But bear in mind, every transit has to be carefully plotted out, and in most cases these days, the re-entry points are already programmed into the astrogation system; points where it’s safe for us to re-insert into our… universe. We’re so far out, we’ll have to make about a dozen transits and for most of those, we’ll be forced to pick out a point in space that looks empty, and hope there aren’t any anomalies near that point that we can’t see. You know, stuff with gravity, like black holes.”

  “So what you’re saying is that getting back is going to be risky”, I said. “And there’s a chance we still might not make it.”

  “That’s my take on it”, Eng said. “The survey system can help some. It seems to have a large database of galactic bodies, plus, if we’re willing to take the time, we can use the telescope and a little old fashioned astronomy to get a better idea of where we’re headed before we go there.”

  “I’m all for taking the time”, I said. “Anyone have any thoughts on where we ought to go?”

  “I think Tau Ceti Three still sounds good”, Eng said. “There’s a wide variety of colonies there, and we can probably put into one of the smaller ports pretty quietly. Assuming you’d rather not attract attention.”

  “It also depends on what you have in mind to do, when we get there”, Kyra said.

  “I sort of thought we’d play that by ear”, I said. “But I’m all for keeping a low profile. Hey, who wants to learn some astronomy? I hear we’re going to need it.”

  “That probably ought to be me”, Eng said. “As your XO, I’m in charge of astrogation, anyway.”

  “Alright”, I said. “Anyone here not like Tau Ceti Three?”

  They all sat quietly.

  “Let’s do this, then”, I said.

  And, we did.

  Chapter 16

  I thought I might be able to relax once we made our last transit, but that wasn’t the case. Now, we are back in explored space, outside of the Tau Ceti Three solar system. We’d just done twelve transits in a row, and there had been the dread of having another one go wrong. It had taken almost three weeks, but during that time, we’d been in unexplored space, and our chances of encountering another ship were pretty slim.

  It would take us, at one gee, almost two months to make our way into the Tau Ceti system. Logically, I figured that if there were raiders back in our home system, then there were probably some around here, too. I had a suspicion that pirates tended toward the shoot first, ask questions later philosophy, which didn’t bode well for anyone encountering them, whether you had any cargo or not, which, incidentally, we didn’t. The idea bothered me enough that I finally went looking for Kyra, even if it meant risking her ire.

  To say she had been in a bad mood lately was an understatement. She seemed to spend most of her time in the gym, her quarters, or pulling her shift on the Bridge. We’d all discovered it was a lot easier just to leave her alone.

  I didn’t find her in the gym, but with Angie’s help, I found her in one of the cargo bays, practicing what appeared to be some sort of martial arts exercise. She glanced over at me when I entered, but didn’t stop. I watched her for a couple of minutes, before saying anything. It was like a little contest, to see who would blink first, and as usual, she won.

  “What’s that called?” I asked.

  “Tai Chi “, she said. Her movements were deliberate but fluid, like a dancer in slow motion.

  “What’s it for?”

  “It teaches you control, discipline, and precision”, she said. “It’s also a form of meditation.”

  “Oh. Sorry to bother you”, I said. “Can we talk for a minute?”

  “Depends”, she said. “About what?”

  “I’ve been worrying”, I said. “Is there any way we can make ourselves less vulnerable to attack?”

  “If there was”, she said, “Don’t you think I’d be doing it?”

  “Apologies”, I said. “You’re right.”

  “Look”, she said, stopping her exercise. “You had your first run in with some of the bad guys, and it scared the shit out of you. That’s perfectly normal. I don’t like getting raided any more than anyone else does, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. Bear in mind, it isn’t something that happens very often. In the case of Cooper’s Dream, my guess is that we were set up by someone who knew what we were carrying, a
nd where we were taking it. There’s also a good possibility that our distress call convinced them to hang around, and see if anyone else showed up. They probably scanned you with a millimeter-wave radar, saw the empty cargo holds, and decided it was easiest to just destroy the Enigma, and any survivors from the Cooper, and move on. But the point is, they had to have advance knowledge; it’s just not that easy to find a ship out in space.”

  “Maybe I’d feel better if we weren’t cruising around defenseless”, I said. “If someone shows up and starts shooting at us, I’d sure as hell like to be able to shoot back.”

  “In that regard”, she said, “We’re in complete agreement. But even purely defensive measures like the Ming Shu has are expensive, and unless you have a stash I don’t know about, that’s money you don’t have. As for actual weapons, you can buy them, have them built someplace, or steal them. Probably be cheaper to just swipe a UPDF Cruiser.”

  “Yeah, right”, I said, and then saw that she wasn’t smiling. “You’re serious? Steal a United Planets Cruiser? How often has that happened?”

  “Never”, she said, “At least to my knowledge. I’d imagine it has happened, though; there are quite a few people wandering around out there with more balls than brains. Even if it did happen, I wouldn’t expect the UP to put out press releases about it. If you decide to give it a shot, let me know. You can drop me off at the nearest asteroid, beforehand.”

  “The Ming Shu did disable a UP cruiser”, I pointed out, “albeit, a small one.”

  “They key word there is disable“, she said. “There’s a huge difference between knocking out a ship, and capturing one. On a UPDF ship, that difference would be the armed UPDF troopers. Even a small cruiser, like the one that the Ming ran into, will have a couple of them aboard. On top of that, the rest of the crew is also armed and has had at least some combat training.”

  “It’s not like I was considering it”, I said. Well, she had mentioned it, so naturally I thought about doing it.

  “Bullshit”, she said, and smiled briefly. The cargo bay seemed to warm up a couple of degrees. “You figure out where we’re going yet?”

  “At this point no”, I said. “But we’ll have to decide soon, so we can make our course adjustment. I’m busy today, but Eng suggested we all have a meeting tomorrow and talk about it.

  “How are you and Eng getting along?” she asked, as she started the Tai Chi again.

  “Fine”, I said. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together, learning the ship’s systems. He’s also trying to teach me to be a captain, but I’m not supposed to know that. Your doing?”

  “Eng’s a competent guy”, she said. “Pay attention, and you’ll learn a lot from him.”

  “So why isn’t he a captain? He seems more than qualified.”

  “He is”, she said. “I think it’s more a matter of choice. Some people prefer handling the details, and a good captain can’t do that. Eng is doing what he likes to do.”

  “So, how are you feeling now?”

  “I’ve been fine for a while”, she said, “more stiffness than anything.”

  “Have you given any thought about what you’ll do when we get to port?”

  “Yes, I have”, she said, sweeping one arm in a slow arc, until she was facing away from me. I would’ve bet she was smiling.

  “It’s not like I’m trying to be nosy”, I said, when she didn’t continue.

  “Yes, you are”, she said. “But, for what it’s worth, I don’t have any specific plans yet.”

  “Any general plans?”

  “Generally, I intend to find those bastards who raided the Cooper and shot me. Nobody shoots me and gets away with it.”

  “Unless they kill you”, I said.

  “If someone shoots me, they’d damn well better kill me, or plan on looking over their shoulder a lot, because I will be coming for them.”

  “What if we were of the same mind about these guys?” I asked. “Granted, I didn’t get shot, but they were definitely trying to kill all of us, and I’d love to have a word with them about that.”

  “But it’s not going to be your top priority”, she said.

  “No, it won’t be”, I conceded. “At least, not right away. Still, it would be a priority. First though, I’d like to get this ship properly outfitted. And that’s something I could really use your help with.”

  She stopped again, and stood contemplating me, hands on her hips.

  “I’ll think about it”, she said, and walked out of the cargo bay. I stood alone for a moment, and then followed her out.

  I decided to have the crew meeting in the recreation room. The Bridge was a bit tight for five people, and only had four seats, anyway. Cozi and Eng were playing chess at one of the tables, while Kyra and Lola sat silently in the separate overstuffed chairs. I leaned back against another table, where I could see everyone.

  “I don’t suppose we can put this off any longer”, I said. “At the moment, we’re headed for the planet Tzing Ma Chu, which has the biggest port in the system. From what I’ve heard, I’m not so sure that’s where we want to go. Both Kyra and Eng have been there before, and the rest of us haven’t. I thought we ought to go over this together, in case anyone has any questions, or maybe even some new ideas. Eng?”

  “There are some advantages to Tzing”, he said. “It’s the only settled planet in the system, the only one that can be settled, really. We need work done on the exterior of the ship, and it’s a lot cheaper to have it done someplace with a breathable atmosphere. I could use a little fresh air myself, too.”

  “Okay”, I said, “So why shouldn’t we go to Tzing?”

  “The UP”, Kyra said, “And a group of idiots called the Council of Mao, who are the UP’s puppet government. The UP keeps a pretty tight reign on the place, since it’s the only real source of air and water in the system. On the planet, surveillance is very heavy. Not as bad as, say, Luna, but it’s getting that way.”

  “So someone will notice when we show up”, Cozi said.

  “Count on it”, Kyra said. “And they’d likely be asking questions none of us want to answer.”

  “That leaves us with the other colonies in the system”, I said. “From what I’m told, there are eight of them, not counting orbital stations, or robotic mining operations.”

  “The two moons of Tzing Ma Chu would be the best alternatives, in my opinion”, Eng said. “Both have excellent ports, though neither has an atmosphere. The closest to Tzing is the ice moon Panchen Itan. It’s loaded with frozen hydrogen, nitrogen, and other gasses, though not much water or oxygen. It’s essentially the fuel depot of the system, so nearly all ships will stop in there. The port has a first class shipyard too. On the downside, Tzing completely controls the place.”

  “And the other one?” I asked.

  “That one’s a little tricky”, Eng said. “The moon is named Bok Hai, which is what the government on Tzing Ma Chu and they UP call it. But it wasn’t colonized by the Chinese. About forty years ago, a band of European refugees from Earth settled the place, started calling it New London, and declared their independence from the government planetside. My information is dated by a few years, but the last I heard, both Tzing and the UP were largely ignoring them. The thing is, the moon is loaded with valuable minerals- uranium and gold among them. New London trades with Tzing for air and water, and with Panchen Han for fuel. Like Luna, they grow most of their own food in hydroponics farms. But if either the planet or the UP gets sufficiently ticked off at them, things would not go well for the place.”

  “We have no idea what it’s like there now?” I asked.

  “Nope, Eng said. I looked over at Kyra, and she shook her head no.

  “We’re already picking up comm signals, since we’re in the system, but talking to anyone would be a pain; we’re still so far out, the delay is about an hour, each way. I’ll make a point of watching the news feeds, and maybe see what’s going on there before we arrive”, Cozi said.

  “So, as
ide from not knowing the current situation there”, I said, “Are there any other drawbacks to New London?”

  “Everything is expensive there”, Eng said. “Very expensive. But the port and shipyard are good, and generally, the people are friendly, particularly if you’re not from the planet or with the UP. Also, the mining operations are very active, and about half of it is owned by small, independent operators. Because of them, there’s a lot of opportunity for small cargo haulers. Like us.”

  “Then unless someone objects”, I said, “We’ll head to New London, nee Bok Hai. Angie?”

  “Sir?” she said.

  “Alter our course for New London, and maintain one gee acceleration.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “What’s our ETA?”

  “I’m projecting fifty-one days, nine hours, and sixteen minutes”, she said. “I should do a brief attitude burn as soon as possible, to correct our course.”

  “Whenever you like”, I said.

  “Attitude burn in five seconds”, she said, and a moment later, I felt the vibration of the attitude jets through the deck plates. I imagined I could feel the ship shift in space, and maybe I could; the inner ear is pretty sensitive.

  “I know everyone has stuff to do”, I said, “So let’s wrap this up. Please give some thought as to what you want to do when we get there. Anyone have anything else?”

  No one said anything, which figured. They’d all been in enough meetings to know that the quickest way out of one was to keep your mouth shut.

  “Cozi”, I said, “Concede that game. We have an appointment in my quarters.”

  “Since when?” he asked.

  “Since you promised to fix the toilet in my ‘fresher, a month ago.”

  He sighed, and followed me out.

  “You really should find a Medical Officer when we get to New London”, Lola said, as she slid a pawn toward my side of the board. We were in my stateroom, playing a game of chess, which had become a daily ritual for us. We’d work on things around the ship, mostly patch patrol, or working on the remaining finicky doors and hatches, whenever I wasn’t doing a shift on the Bridge.