A Larger Universe (47 page)

“Can you remove the carbon composite hull without damaging
the cables?” Tommy asked.

The mechanical guild master’s smile was guarded.  “If we are
very careful.”

Before Tommy could answer, the master from the electrical
guild asked, “How are the computers powered?  The ship is big enough to have a
fusion generator.”  He nervously wiped his face with his sleeve.  “If we hit
that we could destroy the entire moon.”

“We have plenty of time,” Tommy replied.  “Be careful.  Make
sure you know what you are moving before you move it.  But get that ship
disassembled.”

#   #   #

During the next three weeks, the mechanical guild worked
around the clock to remove the ship’s outer skin, leaving its internal skeleton
and flooring.  With that done, the electrical and communications guilds
carefully moved the boxes from above and to the sides of the drive, their
connections intact, to the hanger floor.  Then the artisans built scaffolding
under the drive cylinder, and the boxes underneath it joined the others.

The electricians had been more than careful as they pulled
the ship apart.  Every connection had been examined.  Every wire traced.  In
the end, they didn’t find anything resembling the fusion generator on
My
Flowing Streams
.  They did find that every box was daisy chained to another
box by two cables, one thicker than the other.  The daisy chain ended for both
types of cable in connections on the face of the drive.  The thinner wire ended
in a male plug inserted into a familiar female jack on the side of the drive. 
The thicker cable also plugged into the drive and sent Tommy searching for the
same spot on the drive in
The Peoples’s Hand
, where he found the same,
unused, connection after torching through a wall.

The cables supported the plan he had discussed weeks before
with Leegh; an approach that required that the Kadiil ship drive be identical
in every way to the drive they partially understood.  He had no plan at all
without that.

#   #   #

"Were you able to recognize the sensors the ship
uses?"  Tommy asked the master from the Communications Guild.

"Most of the hull installations were burned
away."  The guildmaster pointed at some scraps of metal on one side of a
strip of hull.  "This gravity sensor isn't much different from the one we
built.  And this has to be the remains of a radar transmitter.  A number of
each were scattered on the hull."  He led Tommy to another hull strip.  "This
is the base of a radio antenna."  He pointed to another burned device. 
"This is some kind of optical sensor.  We found several."

"What about the connections inside the hull?"
Tommy asked.  "Were they intact?"

"Yes."

"It's time to call a meeting," Tommy said.

They met in Tommy’s guild hall.  The meeting included
everyone in the Computer Guild, everyone in the Communications Guild, Leegh,
and all of her interested relatives. 

When everyone had settled down, Tommy climbed on a temporary
platform.  "First, some background," he said in the lords' language. 
"We have given the boxes we found inside the ship a thorough examination,
and none of them appear to be damaged."

"Why are they dead?" asked someone in the crowd.

"Leegh has a theory," Tommy said. 
"Leegh?"

Leegh gave a low, buzzing, almost inaudible whistle. 

Tommy smiled behind his hand.  She didn’t like his leaving
out her title of "Lord" in front of these humans.

"Exiting behind the nova wave front exposes a ship to a
tremendous electromagnetic field.  Our ships are made of metal, which, except
for the installations outside the hull, protected our electronics from the
field's effects.  The Kadiil ships are hulled with a carbon-ceramic composite. 
The field must have gone right through."

"How can you be sure the electronics inside the boxes
are not damaged?" asked another voice.

"We cannot be," answered Tommy.  "The only
way we can tell for sure is by trying to restart the computer that operated the
ship."

When order was finally restored, Sanos expressed everyone's
concerns.  "Tommy, if you do that we could all be killed.  The Kadiil ship
is inside
The People's Fist
and protected now.  You are asking us to
take a chance on killing everyone."

"I would be if the computer were still connected to the
drive.  Has anyone found evidence of another type of weapon?"

He let the discussion continue for a while.  When the
buzzing finally died down, he raised his voice.  "They have a weapon that
can destroy anything from ships to planets.  Why would they need anything
else?  If the computer is detached from the drive, we should be safe.  The real
questions are, can the computer be restarted, and how can we learn anything if
it can?"

Sanos stood.  "Tommy, we have examined every part of
those boxes searching for a
boot
button and found nothing.  The boxes’
exteriors are featureless, except for the cables that connect them to each
other and to the sensors, radio transmitter, and the drive."

Vent stood.  "Some of the computers you brought restart
themselves after a power failure.  We could try that."

"If that were the case, why are they still dead?"
Sanos asked.

"Maybe because the power was not disconnected,"
Vent suggested.  "We have no way to know until we disconnect the power and
then connect it again."

“Are we sure nothing but power goes through the thicker
cable?” asked Leegh.

That started another round of discussion, ending when Tommy
said, “If anyone else has a different solution, please present it.”

When no one spoke he continued, "Has anyone found the
location of the small dimensional tunnels?  Restarting the computer might
reestablish those.  We will want that later, but not for our first test."

"Your artisans and I have located those," Leegh
said.  "I believe we can disable the apparatus that creates the tunnels
without affecting anything else."

"What is going through the tunnels?" Tommy asked.

"We found a small radio transmitter and receiver
focused on each one."

"Good,” Tommy said.  “We have something for output to
go with all of the input I plan to give it.

"Here is what I have in mind.  I want to attach one of
our computers to each data cable going into the computer:  the drive, the radio
receiver, every radar receiver, and gravity sensor.  Unfortunately, we do not
have a way to duplicate the optical sensor technology, but maybe that is all
right.  The Kadiil must have used them for navigation just as we do.  Without
those, it will depend on its other sensors and cannot establish its location
independently of what we send it.  I want our radio receivers in front of those
micro tunnel radio transmitters, capturing every bit they transmit.  The Kadiil
computer is blind, deaf, and dumb.  When we get through, it will be able to see
only what we send, and we will capture whatever it sends for analysis.

"What it sees has to be consistent with what it would
expect, at least at first.  I want teams of artisans from my guild and the
Communications Guild working on that.  Leegh and I will work on understanding
the data the computers send to and from the drive.  We will meet here on a daily
basis to coordinate our progress and discuss problems.

"Any questions?"  He waited for a moment. 
"Sanos, you and Vent get with the masters from the other guild to set up
the teams.  I will be available to help with the programming, but I would
rather you try first."

#   #   #

Sisle waited for him at the door to his Lord’s chambers with
Potter in her arms.  "We haven't seen much of you lately.  Do you have
time for a walk in the Commons?"

She wore one of the dresses he had bought for her: 
something not too different from the tunics in shape, but the material had thin
vertical blue stripes on a white background, which showed off her flawless skin
and made her seem taller.  All her new dresses ended just above the knee.  She
didn't have a preference, and he had insisted.  He enjoyed looking at Sisle's
legs, and the seamstresses had been eager to do what the human lord wanted. 

He took Potter from her arms.  "I need to get to work,
but a few minutes won't make any difference."

When they were in the Commons, he put Potter down to explore
the grass beside the trail as they walked. 

"Aren't you afraid he'll get lost?" she asked.

"Not anymore.  Watch him.  People think cats can't be
taken for a walk.  They can be, just not the way you would take a dog for a
walk."

"A dog?"

"Another animal domesticated by humans, like the horses
we talked about, but closer to the size of a cat," he replied.  "We
had one when I was younger.

“Before I was taken," he added after a moment.

Sisle was soon smiling at Potter's antics.  Potter ran
ahead, fell behind, caught up, and then explored by the trail until they
passed, only to dash around them again.  Their path formed the center of his
activities, so he was always with them, but never walking by their side.

She put her arm inside Tommy's and pulled it close. 
"Are we getting out of here?"

Tommy clasped her hand in his before answering. 
"Sisle, I won't lie to you.  I don't know.  All we can do is try.  I want
everyone else to believe we will, though."

She laid her head on his shoulder as they walked.  "Am
I free now?"

"As far as I'm concerned, you've been free since the
day I first took off your collar.  No one will put it back on."

She slid her arm around him and pressed the side of her body
against his.  "That means I'm free to tell you how much I like you." 
She stopped and pulled him around to face her.  "I want to be your woman,
if you'll have me.  Really your woman."

Tommy looked awkwardly to the side.  "Sisle, you just
asked me if we’re going to get out of here.  Do you believe we are?"

"I believe you'll find a way to save us."

"So you believe we’ll both be on Earth some day?"

"You’ll make it so."

"Things might be different on Earth."  His voice
was almost a whisper.

She pulled away from him.  "You don't like me."

He took her elbows in his hands.  "Sisle, I think I'm
in love with you.”  He closed his eyes and took a breath.  “I'm not sure what
that means, but I think I am.  I think I want to spend my life with you.  But
first we must return to Earth.  Then you can be certain I'm the right person
rather than the only person."

She stamped her foot--a gesture that was almost lost on the
straw-covered dirt floor.  "Why are you so much braver in front of a crowd
than you are with me?  Am I asking so much?  Why can't you just take what I
want to give you?  Any of the warriors would."

"Maybe that's a good reason why I shouldn't.  Can we
please wait?"

Her hands moved up behind his shoulders and pulled him
toward her.  "Not for everything," she said as she placed her mouth
against his.

A loud shout from the direction of the central column broke
them apart.  “Master Tommy!  Master Tommy!  Are you here?”

Tommy shouted back.  “Here!” and waited as one of his
apprentices ran toward them.

The boy leaned over, his hand on his knees trying to catch
his breath.  Finally, he gasped, “One of the directors broke out of her
chambers!  Other Nesu and some of the warriors joined her!  They are trying to
retake the ship!”

Tommy heard Sisle gasp and felt her hand give his arm a
painful squeeze as she jerked him halfway toward her. 

Her free hand gripped her bare throat.  “No!” she whispered.

Her swim in her pool lasted much longer than anticipated. 
She had expected to be dead within an hour of leaving the bridge with the other
council members.  Eventually, she tried to contact Ull, without success.  Then
she opened her door to walk to Ull’s chamber and received a shock almost bigger
than destruction by the Kadiil:  three strange warriors barred her way with
sticks drawn.

She directed her grinding whistle at the warrior with the
crossed sticks of a squad leader embossed on his belt buckle.  “Where is my
regular guard?  What are you doing here?”

His reply made the hair on her back stand on end.  “I am
sorry, Lord Las, you must remain inside your chamber.  Master Tommy’s orders.”

“Master Tommy’s orders!  How does that feral give orders to
one of the council?  Get out of my way!”

The three stood solidly, their sticks held in front with
both hands, away from their bodies.  They easily evaded her claws and blocked
her attempts to shove her way through.  The three of them outweighed her by
over three times and were much faster. 

The collars!  I will put an end to this!
  Her hand
darted inside the pouch to the belt around her waist.  Before the warriors
could react, she had the cylinder in her hands.  The twist and click took an
instant.

Nothing happened!  She twisted the cylinder all the way and
clicked the button again. 

“I am sorry,” the squad leader said again.  “We no longer
wear your collars.”  He stroked his bare neck.  “You should return to your
chambers.”

“Where is this feral--,” she began, then started again, “I
want to speak with Master Tommy.  Will you tell him?”

The three warriors looked at each other.  Finally the leader
shrugged, “I will tell him, but he is very busy trying to defeat the Kadiil.”

“Trying to defeat the Kadiil?  That is impossible!”

“Master Tommy does not think so.”

#   #   #

Las sat on the edge of her pool, splashing her webbed toes
through the surface of the water.  Four weeks had passed since the feral had
taken over her ship.  Her every attempt to leave had been rebuffed.  Her
requests for contact with anyone outside her chambers had been ignored.