Dubious Heroes: a novel Read online

  The rest of the filling went off without a hitch, which was nice, for a change. The storm was already picking up in intensity, blowing heavier bit of debris around us, as the last container was filled. The pump was shut down, and we shepherded the hose back toward the ship, mostly making sure it didn’t snag on anything as they reeled it back in.

  The Enigma was listing another three degrees, after the addition of the heavy load of water. Angie thought we were fine, and Eng concurred. Cozi, as usual, was worried that the strut might still suddenly fail. If that happened, she would tip over, and that would be it for her, at least until a salvage crew showed up. Cozi also felt that the increasing winds wouldn’t help the situation, and on this point, I had to agree.

  Once the hose was in, Kyra and I climbed back aboard. Thunder shook the deck as we clambered into the Engineering module hatch. The outer airlock door slid closed, muting the roar of the wind and rain. We headed up the core toward the Bridge, passing Cozi as he headed down. We reached the Bridge, and I plopped down in my seat. The Enigma shuddered, as a strong gust of wind slammed into us. I could hear a variety of thumps and clangs, as pieces of the jungle were flung against our hull by the storm.

  “Angie”, I said. “Get us out of here.”

  “Aye, Captain”, she said, and an alarm klaxon began whooping throughout the ship, followed by her voice.

  “Lift-off in sixty seconds”, she said. “All crew, prepare for acceleration.”

  I felt the vibration of the turbines, as they began to spin up. They’d get us off the ground, and up to about five thousand miles an hour. At that point, the scoops would open for the ramjets, and the serious acceleration would begin. We needed to hit around fifteen thousand miles per hour for escape velocity, but I suspected we’d be moving a lot faster than that, by the time we hit space.

  “What’s the tri-d look like?” I asked.

  “All clear”, Kyra said. “I don’t know where those cruisers are, but they’re not around here.” I caught the look she shot me, from the corner of my eye.

  “What kind of gees are we looking at on liftoff?” I asked.

  “Maybe six, with this load”, Eng said. “Add another three when the scoops open, and we start ramming air. But, that won’t be until around three minutes after liftoff. How long that will last will depend on how much of a hurry we’re in.”

  “That will depend on how much attention we attract when we takeoff”, I said. “Ideally, the faster the better, but at this point, let’s plan on escape velocity, then drop back to two gees. You copy that, Angie?”

  “I copy”, she said. “Liftoff in ten seconds.”

  I tightened my harnesses, as our seats all reclined to the horizontal position.

  “Five seconds”, she said, then, after a short pause, “Liftoff.”

  I was slammed down into my seat. Six gees was rough, but bearable.

  “Five thousand feet”, Angie said, counting off our altitude.

  “Tri-d is clear”, Kyra said.

  “Ten thousand”, Angie said.

  I checked the status screens at the helm. The engines weren’t even close to their capacity yet. I called up the weather radar on another screen. It was a lot more interesting, now that we weren’t stuck in the middle of it.

  “I have radar contact”, Kyra said. “Four bogeys, all likely UP interceptors.”

  “Altitude twenty thousand”, Angie said. “Ramjet ignition in twenty seconds.”

  “They’re closing fast”, Kyra said. “We have incoming. Two missiles. No radar or laser lock; they’re targeting us manually.”

  “Ten seconds”, Angie said.

  “Those missiles are coming fast”, Kyra said, the urgency in her voice.

  “Not fast enough”, Eng said, as the ramjets fired, and the darkness closed in again.

  I came to tasting something salty in my mouth. I touched my lips, then my nose, and saw blood on my fingertips. I wiggled my arms and legs; nothing seemed broken. The Bridge was quiet. It felt like we were still at two gees.

  “MedLab to Bridge”, Mike said, via the intercom.

  “Go ahead”, I said.

  “You’re awake”, he said. “Good. How are the others?”

  “Still out”, I said. “How’s everyone down there?”

  “I’m fine”, he said, “And so are Lola and Cozi. At least, they’re conscious. I’m on my way up.”

  “Copy”, I said. “Bridge out.”

  “Angie”, I said, “Status report.”

  “Velocity is twenty-nine thousand miles per hour, and we’re at two gees acceleration. We’ll cross low orbit threshold in two minutes. Are you okay?”

  “I think so”, I said. “It does feel like a spaceship dropped on me, though. What happened?”

  “I had to boost us up to nine gees. Those first two missiles were close, but they passed beneath us. Two of the ships were on an intercept course higher up, and both fired multiple missiles, all tracking manually. I estimated that at least three of the missiles would hit us, if we didn’t do something. So, I had no choice but to accelerate, and hopefully outrun them.”

  “So you accelerated to what?” I asked, knowing I wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “Fourteen gees”, she said.

  “Oh, shit”, I said. “I didn’t know we could even do fourteen gees, with the load we’re carrying.”

  “Neither did I”, she said. “To use an old Earth saying, I hit the gas and hoped for the best. Apparently, we still had engine capacity we weren’t using. I considered throttling up even more, but was afraid none of you would be able to take it. Anyway, the missiles all missed, and they haven’t been able to catch us.”

  “Well, that’s something, at least”, I said. “I can’t believe we survived fourteen gees; I didn’t think that was physically doable. As it is, I feel like I just went ten rounds with Kyra.”

  “I’m sorry”, she said. “It was only for twelve seconds; I was just trying to do the right thing.”

  “You did the right thing”, I said. “We may be hurt, but that beats being dead, any day.”

  “What thing?” Kyra asked, looking over at me. She’d had a nosebleed, too.

  “Outrunning those interceptors”, I said. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve been better”, she said. “Bitch of a headache, but it’ll pass. How are you, and the rest of them?”

  “Eng’s still out”, I said. “Cozi and Lola are fine, and Mike is on his way up. I’m guessing he was watching the telemetry from our couches.”

  The hatch onto the Bridge slid open, and Mike climbed up from the core. If the two gees was bothering him, it didn’t show.

  “And here he is”, I said.

  “And here I am”, he said. “What are we looking at here?”

  “I think Kyra and I are fine, but Eng’s still out.”

  “Sure you’re fine?” he asked, moving over to Eng, medkit in hand.

  “Nosebleeds and headaches”, Kyra said. “Anything I can do to help?”

  “Just stay put”, Mike said. “You need to rest for a bit, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt in two gees. Speaking of which, how long do we have to keep this up?”

  “We can throttle back anytime now”, Angie said. “Captain?”

  “Slow us down to one gee, please”, I said. “Keep us there the rest of the way back to New London. We still aren’t running the ramjets, are we?”

  “We switched to the main drive just before you awakened”, she said. “Throttling back to one gee.”

  I immediately felt the gravity begin to taper off.

  “What’s our ETA for New London?” I asked.

  “At this speed, two hours, forty minutes”, she said.

  I watched as Big Mike bent over Eng, examining him.

  “How is he?”

  “Let you know in a minute”, he said. He left Eng, and went over to Kyra. “Just sit back, and don’t move.”

  A minute later, and he was looking at my face, shining a light into m
y eyes, while having me squeeze his hand. I don’t know what it was for, but he seemed satisfied that I was okay.

  I unstrapped from my seat. I was still damp from the rain, and my wet underwear was making my ass itch. I was enjoying a hearty scratch, when Mike handed me the medkit.

  “Carry this, and follow me to MedLab”, he said. “I need to move Eng down.” Which was exactly what he did, hefting Eng as though he were no heavier than a child. He vanished with him down the core. I looked over at Kyra.

  “You fine with the Conn?” I asked. “Angie can run things, if you need to head down and get some rest.”

  “I’m okay”, she said. “I’m used to heavier gravity than you are. One of us needs to be on the Bridge, anyway.”

  “I’ll be back up shortly”, I said, and climbed down through the hatch into the core. It slid closed above me, and I rode the handlift down.

  I entered MedLab to find that Mike already had Eng on an exam couch, and was attaching a MedCuff.

  “Get me the x-ray unit, please”, he said. I took it from the storage locker, and handed it to him.

  “So, Cozi and Lola are okay?” I asked, as he powered up the x-ray, and began examining Eng.

  “They’re fine”, he said. “I went down and checked them first. Cozi has a headache, and I had to bring Lola around with a mild stimulant. I told both of them to stay put and get some rest.”

  “Damn”, I said. “How long were we out?”

  “Not all that long”, he said. “I sort of had a head start on you guys. I didn’t black out.”

  “Sure, you’re a big guy, but how is that possible?”

  “I’m a little more acclimated to high-gee environments than most people”, he said. For once, he wasn’t smiling. He moved the x-ray around Eng’s head, getting different views.

  “How is he?”

  “Cerebral hemorrhage”, he said. “A blood vessel inside his head ruptured. He didn’t just black out, he’s in a coma.”

  “Shit”, I said. “What do we do? Isn’t that normally… um… fatal?”

  “Not always”, Mike said. “So far, the bleeding is minimal, which means that the pressure on the brain hasn’t increased that much. I’m going to stabilize him, until we can get him to a real hospital on New London. The surgeons there should be able to handle this, no problem. We do need to avoid any further high gee maneuvers, though. No zero gee, eitherexcept when we have to; it causes the blood to pool.”

  “We’ll be maintaining one gee for the rest of the trip”, I said.

  “Good”, he said. “Call ahead, and let them know we have a medical emergency aboard, and to have a team standing by at the docks. If they need more information than that, put them through to me.”

  “Gotcha”, I said. “Have you seen this before?”

  “Around here, it’s more common than you’d think”, he said. “That’s due to a combination of powerful ships, a planet with a big gravity well nearby, and, no offense, a bunch of people who aren’t all that well acquainted with either. So, it happens. A couple of times a year, we get a ship coming back to port, piloted by the AI, carrying a dead crew. No offense to your AI, but it’s usually the humans doing the boneheaded things.”

  “Well, in her defense, while it was a pretty radical move, she had no choice. If she hadn’t we’d all be dead, anyway. She’s beginning to develop something of a reputation for saving our asses in new and interesting ways.”

  “That’s one way of putting it”, he said, and smiled. “I do believe this was my last water run. Used to be, the UP would harass us a bit, and maybe even take an occasional potshot at someone, but lately, they seem to have gotten serious about shooting down ships. If I’d known they were using missiles now, you’d have had to find yourself a new doctor.”

  “I think this was probably our last water run, too”, I said.

  “Wise choice”, he said. “Most people who screw up this bad usually don’t get a second chance. Don’t worry about Eng. You get us back in one piece, and he’ll be fine. As for the rest of you, let the AI run the ship, and you guys get some rest.”

  “Thanks”, I said.

  With nothing better to do, I went back up to the Bridge, and took a nap.

  Our landing at the New London port was anticlimactic, after the earlier events of the day. We touched down gently, the damaged strut not giving us any problems. Gravity on New London was low, maybe one quarter gee, making it just a little higher than on Luna. I could walk around without sticky shoes, while people used to higher gravity had to wear them. I couldn’t imagine how someone became acclimated to high gee enough not to black out at fourteen gees.

  Within minutes of our landing, a walkway tube was connected, and the medical team had Eng onto a stretcher, and off the ship. Big Mike went with them, and I would have as well, if not for the half dozen New London cops waiting for us at the end of the tube. Or, more accurately, waiting for me. All six were built like professional wrestlers, and all six were armed.

  “Captain Doon”, one of them, likely the leader, said.

  “Yes?”

  “By the authority of the New London Directorate, you’re under arrest, and your ship is hereby impounded. You’ll need to come with us, please.”

  Not exactly the welcome I’d been hoping for.

  Chapter 20

  It looked like today was my day for firsts; first time on a planet, and now, the first time I’d ever been arrested. One of the security team searched me, taking my pistol, Pod and even the knife I’d tucked into the top of my boot. I thought for a moment that they might somehow restrain me, but they didn’t, which made sense, I suppose. After all, New London wasn’t a big place, and if I got loose, they’d just find me again. Besides, with six armed escorts, it was a pretty safe bet that I’d be going wherever they wanted me to go.

  It was mid-evening, local time, so we didn’t encounter all that many people as they marched me along. A lot of those we did pass made a very obvious effort at not noticing us. Still, we avoided the main passages, and most of the people who might have been out.

  After a number of twists and turns, we reached an anonymous looking elevator which my six burly new friends and I all squeezed into. I watched the floor readout on the elevator wall, as we rose ten levels. I judged that ought to put us near the surface. I sincerely hoped they weren’t about to throw me out of an airlock.

  The elevator opened into an anteroom, maybe twenty feet long and a dozen wide. We entered on one end, and at the other, there was a wide, ornate doorway. The room was hewn from the native gray stone of the moon, as all of the passages and tunnels had been. Unlike the passageways, every surface here had been ground smooth and polished, and gleamed in the room’s dim lighting.

  While the stonework was beautiful, the most spectacular part of the room was the ceiling, composed of arched glass panels. I could see just a bit of the distant blue-green orb of Tzing Ma Chu. It was hard to believe that just a few hours earlier, I’d been there, walking on its surface.

  The room was certainly elegant, but the scattered gray chairs revealed its true purpose; it was just a fancy waiting room. The presence of two more guards, both wearing the same gray jumpsuits as my escort, both standing around looking bored, told me there was likely someone important on the other side of the big door. Someone interrupting their quiet evening because of me, I imagined.

  Apparently, I wouldn’t be kept in suspense for long. One of the door guards searched me again, while the other seven watched me alertly, lest I might overpower all eight of them, and seize control of the moon, and hopefully be done in time for lunch and a spot of tea.

  Prior to New London, I’d never met any of this strange little subset of humanity known as the British. Sure, I’d seen them on vids; anything medieval was bound to feature actors with the accent. I knew that Sir Francis Drake had been British, as well as William Shakespeare, the latter of whom they’d inflicted upon us in school. In person, they seemed friendly enough, although they did have a penchant for f
ormality, even in the smallest of ways. If they’d been this silly back on Earth, I could see why someone had booted them off their part of the planet, to this lonely little rock, a long, long way from home. I did remind myself not to underestimate this particular bunch, though. People who packed up their lives and headed across the galaxy to colonize virgin worlds tended to be made of pretty stout stuff. At least, more so than the ones who chose to stay behind.

  Once I’d been poked and prodded to their satisfaction, the other door guard walked me over to the big doorway.

  “Behave in there,” he said quietly, “Or I’ll space you myself.” Despite the cute accent, I had a feeling he meant it.

  “No problem,” I said, and I meant it, too. He studied me for a moment longer, before reaching over and touching the control panel for the door. The doors parted, and I took that as my cue to enter.

  I walked into a room that was almost a duplicate of the one I’d just left, though three or four times larger. Several polished stone columns supported a ceiling that was almost entirely made of glass. The panels were probably transparent plasteel, and as such, didn’t weigh all that much. The columns were there for decoration, then. It was vaguely reminiscent of some of the ancient architecture of Earth, possibly Greek or Roman, but I wasn’t sure. Yet another course I’d coasted through without learning much of anything.

  The entire wall opposite me was also glass, overlooking a stunning view of the surface. The gray decor and dim lighting bolstered the illusion that the room itself was outside. Several groups of chairs and low tables were scattered about the chamber, the tables constructed of either stone or glass. Some sort of classical music, almost melancholy, played softly in the background.

  If not for her white hair, I wouldn’t have noticed the woman standing by the column. The whole thing felt surreal, as though I’d been dropped into the middle of a film noire dream.

  The lighting and gray hues effectively camouflaged the woman, dressed as she was in all gray clothing, which looked to be some sort of layered gown. It hung all the way to the floor, and when she moved, and the material rippled and flowed in the low gravity, almost as if it were liquid. I recalled silk clothing I’d seen at a formal ball back on Luna, and thought it might be what her robes were made of.