THE LOST COLONY Page 4

  “With this crew, we are provisioned for one hundred standard days -- provided some event doesn't cause us to vent atmosphere ... these are containment hatches -- the entire ship is set up so we can isolate a part of the hull in the event of damage.”

  “To prevent venting atmosphere,” Nyk commented.

  “Yes...”

  The three of them stood and gazed upon a large tank, lying on its side, with plumbing that ran from either end.

  “This,” Zane said, “is our warp coil.”

  “Impressive,” Nyk replied. “I wouldn't want to be standing here when it's triggered.”

  “The warp jolt doesn't come from the coil -- it comes from the rupture of normal timespace. It feels no different here than in any other part of the ship.”

  “Are those power conduits?” Nyk asked.

  “No -- cryogenic coolant.”

  “I've seen the warp coils that are in our shuttlecars. They don't require cooling.”

  “This is a much bigger vessel than one of your shuttlecars,” Zane replied. “Come -- let's look in Main Engineering.”

  They passed through another bulkhead and into a control room. Nyk saw the chief engineer and two mates watching status displays. A low thrum-thrum-thrum came from behind a bulkhead. “Behind there is the fusion reactor,” Zane said, pointing. “And, behind that are the hydrogen fuel tanks.” He pointed to a schematic diagram on the bulkhead. “Here are the helium vent ports.”

  “We vent the fusion byproduct?” Nyk asked. “We only have single-stage reactors?”

  “On a vessel as this, the additional power from two-stage reactors doesn't justify the additional weight and complexity -- better, instead, to use a larger one-stage reactor.”

  Nyk perused the control panels.

  “One of the tenders will be fueling us before we depart,” Zane continued. “We do that second watch.”

  “I thought Captain Hayt said we were manning only a single watch.”

  “Engineering is always manned,” the chief engineer replied.

  “It must be a lonely watch, then,” Nyk remarked.

  “Over here is the auxiliary bridge. We can run the ship from here if need be -- all the critical functions are replicated. With a skeleton crew, the second watch chief is responsible for all operations. Of course, we'll be in station-keeping -- but should anything arise, we'll have eyes on it at all times.”

  “Thank you, Chief,” Nyk said.

  “We'll continue our tour up two decks,” Zane said. “Directly above us is the cargo hold. It's empty and will stay that way.”

  “Won't we be carrying the comm relay in there?” Nyk asked.

  “It's too big. We have no way to get it below decks from the shuttlebay. It'll have to stay put there.”

  “We've already seen the shuttlebay,” Nyk said, “on our way in.”

  “That's right. The only other thing on deck four are the barracks, and we won't be using them on this voyage, either. We might as well go straight to deck three.”

  “We have a skeleton crew on a big, empty ship,” Nyk said. “At least we won't feel claustrophobic.”

  “Right,” Zane replied. “We won't be bumping into each other.”

  “I imagine on a seeding mission -- this would be one busy ship,” Andra remarked.

  “Yes, indeed -- we can accommodate five hundred colonists. We would need a full crew and we'd man both watches -- run the galley 'round the clock and hope our passengers behave themselves. Well, she and her sister are ready, willing and able if and when the next colony world is discovered. Missions like this one keep her limber. Come on, let's go up to the galley deck.”

  Zane led them toward the lift. “Deck three is sick bay, galley, and crew and passenger mess. We have no medic aboard, so sick bay is closed -- not even stocked. We have one cook in the crew. We'll leave the mess halls shut and take our meals in our cabins....”

  * * *

  “Your friend Zane seems personable enough,” Nyk said to Andra.

  “Yes -- he's a nice guy.”

  “How much did you see of him at Vebinad?”

  “Not an awful lot.” She giggled. “For a while he had a crush on Janna. It was before he realized how much the two of us resembled each other.”

  “Don't tell me more... I imagine you two had quite a bit of fun at his expense.”

  “Yes... He was a good sport about it. Of course, ax'amfinen aren't permitted love interests during academy. We are delivered to our assignees as virgins, and Destiny help anyone who isn't one.”

  Nyk slipped his arm around her and she leaned against him. The lift doors opened and he looked around the observation deck.

  “This is deck one -- observation lounge. We're actually standing outside the hull of the 501.”

  The deck was covered by a transparent dome. Upholstered benches lined the dome, with others set in geometric patterns.

  Nyk stood and looked toward the transit platform. “You get a great view from here,” he said.

  “I believe that's why they call it the observation lounge,” Andra replied.

  “Look -- you can see Floran City and Sudal from here... You can't appreciate the view from a packet viewport. You need to be standing in a place like this.”

  Andra looked aft. “There's the fueling tender,” she said.

  “It gives the second watch engineering crew something to keep their minds occupied. I understand some of the scouts can pull stray hydrogen from space and refuel in flight.”

  “Not this bucket?” she asked.

  “No -- not this one. Some of the newer ones... I'm just as happy we're leaving with a full tank. It wouldn't be good to run short on the other side of the galaxy.”

  She embraced his arm and kissed his cheek. “You are enjoying yourself -- aren't you?”

  “Immensely. I knew I was destined to be aboard one of these, one day.”

  “Shall we return to our cabin?”

  * * *

  Nyk lay on his back, staring in the dim light at the patterns made by the metal plates forming the ceiling of their cabin. Beyond those plates lay a layer of insulating foam, more plates forming the hull of the vessel, and then -- deep itself.

  Andra pulled herself against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He caressed her, and fingered her fine, white hair. She kissed his chest. “Mmm,” she said. “You have a way of making me feel loved like I've never felt before.”

  “It's because I love you, Andra.”

  “Mmm ... I know -- like I've never been loved before.”

  “You and Suki are the two I love most in the whole universe.”

  “You and Sukiko are the two I love most in the whole universe,” she replied.

  “Thank you for agreeing to come with me on this boondoggle. I was surprised you agreed so easily.”

  “It gives me a chance to use the skills for which I was trained,” she replied.

  “You were trained for political assignments -- not diplomacy.”

  “Diplomacy is one of the political arts -- don't you think?” She kissed him again. “The real reason I agreed is a selfish one.”

  “Selfish?”

  “Yes -- to spend time with you.”

  “It's the same reason I insisted you accompany me -- to spend time with you. Even if it's in a cramped bunk in a cabin on an ExoService bucket ... or, on a strange world, breathing strange air, drinking strange water and eating strange food.”

  4 -- Planetfall Varada

  Nyk was startled awake by the bong-bong-bong of a chime. He looked up and saw white indicators blinking over his cabin's viewports. The flash shutters began to close.

  “Andra -- Andra! Wake up.”

  “Mmmmph,” she said and rubbed her eyes.

  “We're getting underway.” He folded down a jump seat and belted himself in. Andra climbed out of the bunk, folded down another and fastened her restraints.

  The indicators flashed white to blue. A thud shook the ship and Nyk was thrown against his restraint. An
dra's overnight bag fell from a shelf onto the deck. Then a second jolt and a third. The warp indicators went dark and the viewport shutters opened.

  “Where do you think we are?” she asked.

  “I don't know.” He craned his neck to look through the viewport. “We slept through the start of the watch and the captain's briefing.” He pulled on his tunic. “I'm going to take a stroll to the bridge.”

  “I'll join you after my shower.”

  Nyk headed down the corridor and stepped onto the bridge. On the viewpane was a rust-colored planet. “Where are we?” he asked.

  “We're making planetfall on Nalos,” the first officer replied.

  “What's on Nalos?”

  “Nothing. It's what's in orbit around Nalos -- ExoService salvage yard. We're here to pick up a comm relay.”

  “How long will we be here?”

  “Well, that depends, doesn't it -- on how long it takes to find one that Zane and the chief can coax back into life.”

  “We've reached the coordinates,” the pilot reported.

  “Thank you, helm,” replied the first officer. He touched a control panel at his post and a rectangular object tumbling lazily in space appeared on the viewpane. “That's it -- taken out of service a hundred years ago.”

  An open transport with pressure-suited crew approached the relay station. “Are they from the salvage yard?” Nyk asked.

  “Yes,” the first officer replied. “They'll control its roll so our men can have a look- see.”

  “It looks like dangerous work.”

  “It is dangerous -- but these guys are pros.”

  One of the crew stepped from the transport. He paused for a moment and then activated his thruster pack. He approached the tumbling relay, his velocity matching its rotation and grabbed onto it. From a pack on his back he withdrew an object, secured it to the relay station, let go and headed back to the transport. Another crewman repeated the performance on the other side of the relay.

  “What are those?” Nyk asked.

  “Inertial sinks,” the first officer replied. “They'll control the rolling.” The relay station's tumbling slowed and stopped. “Ensign,” he called into a communicator, “you're on.”

  Another figure, riding a personal thruster like a motorcycle, approached the station.

  “Is that Zane?” Nyk asked.

  “Yes. He'll give it the once-over. The yard master tells us they have three others if this won't do.”

  “And, if none of them do?”

  “We'll make one do.”

  * * *

  Zane approached the bridge in his pressure suit and carrying his helmet in the crook of his arm.

  “Status?” the captain said.

  “It appears to be functional,” Zane reported, “but...”

  “But what, Ensign?”

  “The control cabin won't hold atmosphere. It seems the door seals are hardened from being in space for so long. Also, it's missing its gravity generator. Likely explanation -- it was scavenged years ago. We'll have to do our work in pressure suits and zero-G. It won't be easy.”

  “Ensign, where in your enlistment agreement did you see the word 'easy?'”

  “Nowhere, Sir. Some day, though, a Communications Corps technician will be cursing us through her teeth. We'll be able to work on it here in the bay during the crossing to Varada. We'll have gravity and atmosphere -- that'll make it easier. According to the yard master, this one was fully functional when taken out of service. I'll say this, Sir -- we couldn't find a more marginal specimen if we looked for one.”

  “Put a team together to bring it on board.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  * * *

  Nyk stood holding hands with Andra as they stood in the observation lounge looking aftward. The scout had maneuvered so the house-sized relay station was directly aft, and had matched its velocity. The shuttle bay clamshell doors swung open.

  Four open cockpit thrust tractors, manned by crewmen in pressure suits left the bay and headed toward the relay. Two before and two aft, they hooked cables onto it and began towing it toward the open bay. The gap between the scout and the comm station narrowed.

  He watched two more crewmen wearing thruster packs drag cables out from the bay. These they hooked onto the relay. With the tractors hauling to the aft to keep the cables taught, they began to draw the device into the shuttle bay.

  “It looks like a tight fit,” Nyk remarked. “Let's go below. When will we have another chance to see the outside of a comm relay this close up?”

  He headed for the lift and exited on the shuttle bay deck. Peering through the view panel in the pressure door he could watch the crewmen winch the relay station inside. A pair of crewmen placed roller dollies under the station. He could feel scraping transmitted through the deck.

  The clamshell swung shut and he could hear the bay pressurize. The pressure door slid open as the captain stepped from the lift car. Zane removed his helmet and wiped perspiration from his brow. “We brought it in, Sir,” he reported.

  “So I see.”

  “Chief will start fueling the fusion reactors. As long as it's in the bay, we might as well go over the exterior -- make sure the antenna couplings are all sound. I'll install comm protocol upgrades. We'll have it ship-shape before we reach Varada, Captain.”

  “That's more like it, Ensign.”

  Nyk approached Zane. “We're giving this away?”

  “That's the plan.”

  “Aren't we afraid the Varadans will learn some secrets? Like our comm ciphers?”

  “This will be parked outside their heliopause. They won't be able to reach it -- their fastest shuttle would take ten years to make the transit ... one way. If you'll excuse me, I want to get out of this suit and start breathing life into this thing.”

  * * *

  Nyk wandered around the shuttlebay regarding the relay station. He poked his head into the docking tunnel and saw Zane sitting at a vidisplay running diagnostics. “Come on up,” Zane called to him.

  He pushed a stepstool under the docking tunnel and clambered inside. “This is so much smaller than the one near Earth. Is that the crew cabin?”

  “Yes,” Zane replied. “No one will want to spend any more time aboard this one than necessary -- not without atmosphere or gravity.”

  “How is it coming?”

  Zane put down his diagnostic panel. “I have the comm equipment upgraded. This one only has two hundred channels, but it'll do for the Varadans for years to come.” He poked some switches. “Assuming it stays running that long. Right now, we're running it on ship's power.”

  “The reactors don't work?”

  “So far, the chief hasn't been able to get the fusion reactors fueled -- they leak hydrogen.”

  “That's not good.”

  “He has one of his mates in the machine shop fabricating a new set of cryogenic couplers which should do the job.”

  “Zane -- what's it like?”

  “What's what like?”

  “What's it like being a male ax'amfin? I'm sorry if my question seems too forward.”

  He smiled. “Nykkyo -- Andra has told me some of her experiences with you. I won't consider anything too forward coming from your lips. Being a male ax'amfin is pretty much like being a female one except for the gender thing.”

  “That's a rather glib answer.”

  “It's the best I can do. Actually, Nykkyo -- you and I have much more in common being men than Andra and I do being ax'amfinen. I think it's easier being a man. Ax'amfin features are more striking on a woman, don't you think?”

  “I'd say so.”

  “It must be difficult having your physical appearance define your whole life. That part of it is more difficult for the women, I think.”

  “Don't you ever wonder?”

  “Wonder what?”

  “What it would be like to fulfill an ax'amfin assignment?”

  He smiled again. “Nykkyo -- the day they told me I failed to make the final cut w
as the happiest of my life. It meant I was free to fulfill my own dreams.”

  “The ExoService?”

  “I've wanted to do this since I was a kid. You have to realize what it's like growing up with these features. My parents worked long and hard with genetic counselors before they created an embryo with the right features for the finishing schools. They knew time was running out on my mother's biological clock.

  “Finally they had all the features -- the light skin, the blue eyes, the white hair ... certain innate cognitive abilities. It all lined up with the profiles. There was one small problem called a Y chromosome. It was either implant or start over. There's always Rote Academy, they consoled each other.

  “Rote accepted me -- on a provisional admission.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It meant they'd pay my parents only twenty-five percent, with the rest held in trust until I successfully completed the program. Of course, Rote doesn't pay for boys what Vebinad does for girls in the first place. Here I was -- a double disappointment for my parents. I didn't want to go. When I washed out, they saw their graduation bonus vanish into thin air. I haven't spoken to them since. They accuse me of deliberately failing.”

  “Did you?”

  Zane smiled. “Like I said, it was the happiest day of my life.”

  “Are you enjoying the Service?”

  “For the most part. They recognized my talents for the comm stuff during basic training. I got my certificate, but lacked the rank. So, they fast-tracked me through officer's training and assigned me to this barge. Most comm officers are first lieutenants -- or better. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It's not like I could pick my commission. It works both ways -- there's no line of crew out there waiting to man this bucket.”

  “The 500s perform a critical function,” Nyk replied. “When the next colony...”

  “And, when's THAT going to happen? It's been three hundred years since Lexal was seeded. In the meantime, we run a skeleton crew and make short cruises to keep our systems ship-shape...”