Chapter 37 The Long Passage (Prelude)
01
Someone stepped in front of me, hiding the forward display, breaking my concentration.
'Captain?'
I looked up. 'Yes, First?'
'My watch, sir.'
I glanced at the chronometer on the console before me. 'Ah, so it is. That went quickly.' And so it had.
I was connected to the ship's systems and its rocket engines via my com link and focused on bringing the ship up to speed while keeping it precisely on course. This involved manipulating the output of the eight balancing rockets circling the single main rocket engine driving the Lost Star.
The thrust of the main engine is aligned with the central axis of the ship. The weight distribution of the ship, even before fuel and cargo are considered, is not quite symmetrical, and when loaded with fuel and cargo, the functional axis of the ship never quite aligns with the main rocket's thrust, so that the smaller balancing rockets are used to compensate for the asymmetry of the ship. In addition, each engines' output changes slightly as they settle into their burn and as the engineers tinker with their precious engines, pumps, and injectors, so that a pilot has to subtly but constantly explore and adjust the output of each balancing rocket to keep the ship's thrust vector aligned with its predetermined course – keeping all the dots perfectly round and aligned on the forward screen being the visual clue. Minute flaws in the ship's course over time and great distances can make for a wide miss at the end of a voyage.
With this constant tinkering, my watch at the helm had flown by, quite agreeably so. Riding the nine rockets is why pilots become pilots.
'She's all yours, Vyn,' I said standing up and only then feeling the four hours of intense concentration in my back and shoulders. Still, with three pilots I wasn't likely to have many turns at the helm. Assuming I remained captain, that is.
I stretched the kinks out and went through the change of watch ritual to bring her up to speed on the status of the engines. Then, after a quick survey of the ship's status, I stepped around to my quarters for a quick refresh before going up for a meal.
I hit the light.
'Kill that Neb-blasted light,' she growled huskily.
I killed the light. 'Ah, Min, you're up. Way too early, I suspect.'
She was a long dark shape sprawled in one of the office chairs faintly seen in the wan light of the nebula in the dimly glowing view-panel on the bulkhead.
'If you've any hope of avoiding wandering out of an airlock, Captain, you're going to need a better explanation of why I'm here than I believe even you can invent. You take your orders from me, mister, at least that was my understanding, and there was nothing in them to cover this.'
'Ah, yes, that's my understanding as well,' I said, warily settling into the chair opposite hers.
'Ha! So you say! Ah...' she started to exclaim, before grabbing her head.
'Why don't I just try to explain,' I said carefully and softly. 'You can just listen. I assure you I've my story well-rehearsed...'
She waved a hand.
'Right. I was so spooked by my inexplicable fear of seeing you, that after we talked, I went up the medic-bay and checked again for tracers again. I discovered that I did have a tracer in me after all. Back of my neck. The med-scan found it. It must be inert when out of range so the radio scan I first ran back didn't pick it up. Stupid of me not to make a more extensive search. Discovering my trace, I feared I wasn't the only one tagged. Could Vyn or Ten be tagged as well? They were determined to travel with you and I could hardly ask them to undergo a med-scan without telling them why – our understanding tied my hands, you see...'
'Ha!' she muttered.
'I didn't want to get in trouble with you,' I said with a smile. She may've glared at me, but it was too dark to be sure.
'Anyway, the trace tag made me think that you were likely in immediate danger. Vyn and Ten might protect you, or merely lead the assassin to you. With just hours to sailing, I felt that I needed to take immediate action,' I paused.
'I want to make it clear that in this, I acted solely as your friend, not as your employee.'
'Ha!' she croaked again. 'You've no such privilege.'
'Well, then, let's say I acted on impulse, just as you had when you took off for Sanre-tay without consulting me.'
'I can do as I please. I'm the owner.'
'True, but a careless one. You made this all possible. Vyn and Ten neglected to give more than an informal notice of their intent before the 48-hour deadline. And you, having skipped once before on Calissant, were either careless or figured that as owner you were above Guild contracts, and failed to cancel yours as well. In any event, I'd the legal authority to order Vyn and Ten to collect you since all of you were under Guild contract. They strongly objected, but had no real choice as I was within my rights to your services as a pilot and to order them to enforce that right.'
I paused. 'I wonder if you're really that careless. Not canceling your contract was a minor concern, and being the ship's owner I could see how you'd think it wasn't important. Still, you didn't remove your kit from your quarters... '
She said nothing. Didn't expect her to. 'Tell me some day... Anyway, I'd a compelling reason and a right to bring you on board and chose to exercise it. The responsibility rests entirely with me. Questions?'
She just sat still and silent, head in hands.
'Really Min, it advances your plans. Saves credits on a tourist passage while giving you a chance to experience the tramping life. I'll not be able to pull the trick again so you're free to go your own way once we reach Zilantre. I doubt our enemies will get to Zilantre before we do, so we're already one step ahead...' I paused to decide if I needed to say more. My encounter with the assassins had two edges, tell her and it'd only play into her fears. Keep it my secret, and it weakened my case for shanghaiing her. I decided that keeping Min on board was more important than trying to justify my actions and there was nothing she could do about that now.
'So all, in all, I feel I did what I needed to do, as friend, partner and employee.'
'And that's your defense?' she asked after a while.
'Yes.'
We sat in the dark and silence for a while before she gathered herself to stand. I followed suit. We were under power, so there was a slowly growing pseudo gravity aboard ship now.
'You're right about one thing – I came to see you too soon. Can't think, and the sound of your voice hurts my head,' she said softly.
'I covered your watch this time, Min. Figured I owed you that much... So go back to sleep. You've got eight hours to recover. Then you can pilot your ship for the first time.'
She walked to the doorway, paused, turned and said 'Thanks, Captain.'
Even in the dark, it wasn't hard to tell she was being sarcastic.
As she slid the door-panel closed behind her, I let out my breath. That went well. It'd been a very long day and the bar was rather low.
02
Near the end of the fifth watch, after a brief nap, I glanced in on the bridge to see that the new watch was on hand, and turned to the main access well and climbed the stairs which circled it – the pseudo gravity made using the access well unhealthy – to start the nightly tour of my kingdom. I walked the companionways of the crew and passenger deck, stopping to chat with Lili and Illy on the awning deck, before climbing the last stairs to stand in the dim hollow silence of no. 4 hold, unfamiliar now with the addition of two drones and two quarter container boxes. I made certain everything was still secure, and walked back down to the various offices and workshops of the deck below the bridge and down into the noise and bustle of the engine room. It's a perfectly useless procedure. The ship's sensors monitor everything. But while I'm no more superstitious than any other spaceer, I'm not any less, and this nightly tour had become a ritual that, I felt, kept – quite irrationally – the Neb at bay. A ship's a tiny sliver of a world in an endless sea of lifeless vacuum and deadly radiation, so keeping it s
afe and secure, in any (however irrational) way is a spaceer's priority, and even more so for a space ship's master.
I climbed up from the engine room and entered my quarters by my office.
Once more she was waiting for me. She was resting on the edge of my desk in her black and white uniform and long mech-legs. She must have been waiting since she had come off her tick at the helm. While waiting for me, she had taken the time to get angry again. She looked fit and icy.
'Why, hello, Min. You're looking much better,' I said, just to put a bold face over my petty annoyance. It's her ship, I suppose, but turning up in my office to scowl at me every time I stepped out would get old.
'I'm feeling much better. I can deal with you now,' she replied fixing me with a cold glare.
'Of course. Best to put this behind us,' I said with what I hoped came off as studied carelessness, adding, 'Now that we're shipmates,' just to vent my annoyance. It'd been a decade or more since I was last in this position. Actually, in exactly the same physical position, though in those days it was Captain Miccall glaring at me from his desk. There wasn't much to choose from between the two angry glares.
'I hired you, Litang, in part, because I wanted a captain that wasn't going to try to boss me about and treat me like a child. So you can imagine my dismay on discovering that you not only feel free to disregard my direct orders, but don't mind making a fool of me aboard my own ship as well. I've heard your excuses. I appreciate your concern, but I resent the implication that I can't handle my own affairs.'
'I'm sorry. That wasn't the case. I had information you didn't have and...'
'Which you could have simply passed on to me.'
'Yes, I suppose...'
'But instead you just decided on your own to do what you felt like doing.'
I closed my eyes for a moment and answered, 'Yes.' Keeping this type of conversation short is always the best option. I'd found that out fifteen years ago.
'Am I that incapable of handling my own affairs?'
'No, not at all. I hold you in the highest regard. I wouldn't be your captain if I didn't. But in this case I had information that you didn't and given the complexities of the situation, undeniable evidence that our enemies were actively hunting us, a sailing deadline, with Vyn, Ten and your fate all knotted together, I chose to act decisively. I figured we could sort things out when everyone was out of immediate danger.'
She considered that for a moment.
'I believe, Litang, that you have formed an erroneous impression of me. It has led you to gravely misinterpret our relationship. I employed you to run my ship, not my life. You seem unable to separate the two. You've made me a laughing stock aboard my own ship. I can't forgive you for that.'
'A laughing stock? Where did you get that idea from?'
'A fool, then. I can see the amusement in their glances.'
'Listen Min. They're aware you're in danger from enemies out of the past, and that I take that threat seriously. That alone explains why I acted. What amuses them is the idea that I, for some reason, think I can shanghai my owner with impunity, especially knowing that I'm such a cautious fellow,' I replied with a wary smile.
'And they're wrong.'
'Yes.' Apparently very wrong.
'It's another reason why this isn't going to work.'
'I don't see why it'd make any difference at all. Now that we're all on board, that idea can be put to rest.'
'Oh, it will be. However, in the end, it's not what they think. Or what you think, but what I think. And I think I made a mistake.'
I just watched and waited.
'I know enough about a ship's society to realize that now is not the time to correct that mistake. But you understand, Captain, that the time to correct my mistake will be upon reaching Zilantre. Need I spell out what I mean?'
'No. I get the drift. Nothing more need be said.'
'It'll be better for your future if you discover you can't work for me, rather than the other way around,' she added grimly.
'Yes, of course.'
'Until then we'll operate as we'd originally planned. I'll do my best to make this easy for both of us. It's a long voyage and there's no sense in making it an unpleasant one. I'll take the opportunity to learn the tramp business as a pilot as we had originally talked about while you carry on as captain. I trust you'll keep this conversation strictly to yourself. I'm sure we both want to serve on a happy ship.'
'Yes, of course. I realized this was one of the possible consequences of my actions, so it's not unexpected. I can hardly complain. My loyalty is to you and my shipmates, as it always has been,' I replied with a somewhat forced smile.
Ten years ago I would have turned and stumbled out of the office. This time the office was still mine, for the moment, so Min heaved herself to her feet and with a faint nod, stalked out.
I let out a breath. It could've been worse. The bar was very low.