Nopossible star type, Chan thought, struggling vainly to catch up with Deb. Not just lost, way lost. We’re near a star of a type that can’t exist.
She had turned in midair and was resting with her back against a bulkhead. “What does it mean?” She was not even out of breath. “I thought this ship’s computer knew everything. How can we be near a star with no stellar type?”
“I don’t know.” Chan was eager to reach the control room, but he could use the breather. “The Geyser Swirl is one big mess of stars and dust and gas. Maybe we’re close to a star whose light is being filtered through the rest of it.”
“But shouldn’t the computer know that, too?”
It should. Chan shrugged. They started out again as the steady voice came once more over the audio system: ITEM SEVEN: ULF RETURNS INDICATE THE PRESENCE OF THREE OTHER SHIPS WITHIN TEN KILOMETERS OF OUR PRESENT LOCATION. EACH ONE HAS PROVIDED AN ID RESPONSE TO OUR CODED SIGNAL. THE SHIPS ARE:
ONE, THE FINDER , WITH A REPORTED CREW OF ONE PIPE-RILLA AND AN UNSTATED NUMBER OF TINKER COMPONENTS. CAMERON’S DREAM WAS ITS LAST PORT OF CALL, IT ENTERED THE FOMALHAUT FOUR LINK BOUND FOR THE GEYSER SWIRL LINK ON 79/03/07 STANDARD DATE, AND IT HAS NOT BEEN HEARD FROM SINCE. ITS SLANT RANGE DISTANCE FROM OUR CURRENT POSITION IS THREE KILOMETERS, AZIMUTH IS 81 DEGREES, AND IT SITS STATIONARY ON THE SEABED AT A DEPTH OF 110 METERS.
TWO, THE MINISTER OF GRACE , WITH A REPORTED CREW OF ONE OR MORE ANGELS OF SELLORA. AMBROSIA WAS ITS LAST PORT OF CALL, IT ENTERED THE SKYRILLAN LINK BOUND FOR THE GEYSER SWIRL LINK ON 79/05/11 STANDARD DATE AND HAS NOT BEEN HEARD FROM SINCE. ITS SLANT RANGE DISTANCE FROM OUR CURRENT POSITION IS EIGHT KILOMETERS, AZIMUTH IS 151 DEGREES, AND IT SITS STATIONARY ON THE SEABED AT A DEPTH OF 52 METERS.
THREE, THE MOOD INDIGO , WITH A REPORTED CREW OF THREE HUMANS. THIS SHIP WAS LAST OBSERVED IN THE VICINITY OF THE VULCAN NEXUS ON OR ABOUT 79/08/02. THIS SHIP IS IN MOTION, AND ITS SLANT RANGE DISTANCE FROM OUR CURRENT POSITION IS SEVEN KILOMETERS, AZIMUTH 37 DEGREES. THIS SHIP’S CURRENT DEPTH IS 29 METERS.
“Nothing about the Mood Indigo being sent here.” Chan and Deb had reached the control room, but he paused on the threshold. “I wonder what idiot decided that the first expedition was so secret that the next ship going in couldn’t be told. The Hero’s Return computer is no different from the rest of us — it only knows what’s fed to it. What else didn’t they bother to mention?”
The control room of the Hero’s Return was in keeping with the ship’s size. In its heyday three dozen officers had occupied the banks of communications and fire control consoles. Now the weapons had been removed, but the array of desks remained. Just three of them were occupied. Tully O’Toole sat over in one corner, staring at the lanky figure of Elke Siry. Next to him the physicist was curled up in a too-small seat like a praying mantis, ignoring everything except a quartet of data displays in front of her. A lock of blond hair hung over her forehead and she was gnawing at her lower lip.
Dag Korin sat in front of the main control console, his head slumped forward on his chest. He had one gnarled forefinger poised over the button that opened the circuit for oral commands to the ship’s computer.
“Hey, Dalton!” He had seen Deb and Chan at the threshold. “Got a question for you. Your team is supposed to come up with bright ideas once we’re in the Geyser Swirl, but I’m damned if I know whether we’re there or some place else. Anyhow, I figure you should have a say in this. Did you hear what the computer said about remedial action to stop us sinking?”
“I heard it.” Chan came across to Korin, Deb Bisson following. “But I don’t know what the computer is proposing to do.”
“That display shows the plan.” The General nodded to one of the screens. “Reduce the ship’s mass so the average density of the ship becomes lower than the water density, and we start ascending. I like that — I just don’t like the way the computer’s proposing to lower the density. See the listing? A lot of our mass is in the external defensive shields. Every one of them would have to be dumped into the sea. Even with that it’s touch and go, but without the shields I’ll feel as naked as a soft-shell crab. Anyone who feels like taking a potshot at us can blow the Hero’s Return to pieces.”
“All the ships that the computer has located are Stellar Group members.”
“I know. And isn’t that bad news? You know the Angels, it will be more of their `Violence is never the only alternative’ line of bullshit.”
“But we know they won’t shoot at us.”
“So what? I learned a long time ago that it’s a bad habit to waste effort counting your friends. It’s your enemies you need to look out for. We don’t know who might be just over the horizon. Anyway, what do you think? Let the computer do what it wants and dump the shields, or override it?”
“What are our other options?”
“None that I can see.” Korin nodded his head toward Elke Siry. “Unless our resident genius over there can suggest a different answer. She looks like she’s got her teeth into something.”
Chan could see it, too. Elke Siry’s face glowed with excitement. She was spitting out oral commands to the terminal in front of her, while at the same time hammering out with her hands a series of requests and instructions to the ship’s computer.
“Elke!” Dag Korin called across to her. “You have all the status reports. Do you see any alternative to allowing the ship’s external shields to be released?”
Elke Siry raised her head. The show of teeth was not a smile but a vicious snarl. “You expect me to worry about shields, when I have this to analyze?” She waved a thin hand to take in the displays. “Don’t you realize what we have here? Do what you like with the damned shields, it’s of no interest to me — and stop interrupting my work.”
The General glared. He said loudly to Chan, “You’d never know I was her legal guardian for five years, would you? But it’s pointless trying to talk to her when she has that look on her face.” He placed a finger on the button in front of him.
“You were the one who insisted on bringing her,” Chan said.
“Because she is a genius. Every army and every navy needs one — and no more than one. Most generals and admirals think it’s them, but usually it isn’t. We’ll find out what Elke’s so excited about when she’s finished her analysis.” Korin finally pressed the button. “Computer, d’you hear me? This is Dag Korin speaking.”
AUTHORITY RECOGNIZED.
“Good. And don’t play the idiot with me this time. Go ahead, dump the shields and take us up to the surface.”
OBJECTION TO THE LATTER COMMAND. THE SONAR REPORTS A ROUGH SEA STATE WITH SURFACE WAVES OF TWENTY METERS AND MORE.
“You mean after all that hassle we can’t go up?”
WE SHOULD NOT GO ALL THE WAY TO THE SURFACE. WHILE THE ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES REMAIN AT SUCH A HIGH LEVEL, THE SAFEST PLACE FOR THE SHIP IS THIRTY OR MORE METERS BELOW THE SURFACE. THE OFFSHORE SHELF SHOULD BE SAFE. THAT IS WHERE TWO OF THE OTHER STELLAR GROUP SHIPS ARE ALREADY WAITING OUT THE STORM. IT IS ASSUMED THAT YOU WILL WISH TO ESTABLISH CONTACT WITH THEM.
“Two ships? You said three. What about the other one?”
THE MOOD INDIGO IS PROCEEDING TOWARD A LAND MASS NINE KILOMETERS DISTANT FROM US. SUCH AN ACTION IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THIS SHIP FOR TWO REASONS. FIRST, THE HERO’S RETURN IS MUCH LARGER THAN THE MOOD INDIGO, AND OUR GREATER DRAFT MEANS THAT WE CANNOT GO WHERE A SMALLER SHIP IS ABLE TO PROCEED. SECOND, THE COURSE FOLLOWED BY THE MOOD INDIGO PRESENTS SUBSTANTIAL RISK. OUR BEST MODEL ESTIMATES THE PROBABILITY OF THAT SHIP’S DESTRUCTION BY NATURAL FORCES AT THE LAND-SEA INTERFACE AS NO LESS THAN 0.40. WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO COMMUNICATE THIS CONCLUSION TO THEM, SO FAR WITHOUT SUCCESS.