Running With Argentine (26 page)

On
Paladin III

The Paladin-system
wasn't as well developed as the other Asperian systems they'd so far
encountered, but it was still impressive by People's Republic standards.

Paladin III and Paladin IV were the only planets in the
habitable zone – that ringed volume of space that was the right distance from
the star so that planetary temperatures could support life.

Paladin IV was an interesting place. It had once held an
atmosphere and the basins of former oceans were clearly visible. Maybe it had
once held life, but those days were millions of years in the past.

It was also only about 40% of the size of Paladin III, which
probably meant that gravity was a nuisance. Even Aerial, where Marco’s
Porcelain
People
were from, had more gravity than that.

Except for what were obviously mining operations in the
asteroid belt and the moons on several of the system’s gas giants, Paladin III
was the only inviting planet – and it was lush.

They space-docked at the planet’s only moon and made
arrangements to offload their cargo.

Before he'd even ordered the hatch open, the Petulengro family
was off the ship and aboard the courtesy shuttle that would take them to the
station on the moon's surface. Argentine had caught Nico by the arm, but by
then most of the family was already gone.

Nico had promised they would all return. The thought that
they might not had risen the chief's spirits slightly until he’d realized
they’d left much of their personal belongings aboard…

Mandi and the lieutenant had escorted the professor to the
local shipping guild to verify completion of their contract.

Argentine had asked everyone else, at least, to stay on
board until they returned.

Following Mandi's advice (which was still something
Argentine wasn't comfortable with), and once all their moon-side business had
been taken care of, he and Sami had flown Mandi down to the planetary surface
in their shuttle.

They were to meet with Paula Silva.

She was old.

She was also somewhat regal. Sitting in a rather ornate but
comfortable chair, she carried herself with her chin up and a sparkle in her
eye.

Mandi and Paula embraced emotionally like the old friends
they'd claimed to be.

Paula then waved over Sami…

"You must be the bright young astrogator I've heard so
much about," she said.

Argentine frowned.

As Mandi stepped back beside him to make room for Sami and
Paula to huddle in conversation, Argentine started to ask how Paula knew about
Sami when Mandi handed him a data chip…

Actually, it was a banker's key.

"This is the University's payment," she said
quietly. "It's double the agreed-upon amount."

Argentine raised an eyebrow…

"It's combat pay," she clarified.

"There wasn't any clause in the contract about combat
pay," he whispered back.

"No, there wasn't. And you should really remember to do
that the next time you negotiate a contract."

"So, how did you…"

Mandi sighed… "Can't you allow a girl any mystery? I
just let the professor know that we were all leaving this sector and if they
didn't give us a bonus we'd make sure that he and his university's involvement
with Trinity were made public knowledge."

"Oh, I guess I don't have any problem with that."

"And now you have the funds to re-provision the ship,"
Mandi continued.

Argentine nodded. It was true; she was doing what she’d said
she would do.

"And is that what we’re really doing?" he asked.

"Is
what
what we’re really doing?"

"Are we really leaving this sector of space?"

Mandi turned both of their attention back to the pair seated
in front of them. Huddled with their heads together, they were both giggling
like little girls…

"I think that's entirely up to them…"

ΔΔΔ

"So you're
an astrogator," Paula said again.

"Yes, I am," Sami replied as she sat down beside
her.

The petite woman leaned her head forward and Sami naturally
leaned in to hear her…

"I am too!" Paula said with a sparkle in her eye.

"Really!" Sami said with delight.

Paula laughed.

"A junior astrogator, actually," she said. "I
was only sixteen years old when we lost our ship and I was stranded here."

"That must've been terrible," Sami commiserated.

"It was a long time ago and most of the emotion has
gone out of the memory," she said while patting the top of Sami's hand.
"What I remember the most… What I miss the most… Is riding the space-time
surf…"

"You mean Dreamspace?"

"Yes, that's what your people call it. But under any
name it's magnificent," she reminisced.

"Yes! I know… So even at that age you actually did get
to lose yourself in skip?" Sami asked.

"Oh yes, I had just completed my twenty-third skip
before everything happened…"

"Twenty-three?" Sami said with surprise.
"That's more than most professionals start out with here!"

"Yes, our culture and standards were somewhat different
than yours. And fourteen of my skips were tethered…"

"Tethered?"

Paula sighed.

"It's another technology you don't have… An astrogation
student and a mentor can actually mentally link when entering skip and ride the
surf together. It's a great way to learn the craft."

Sami was fascinated. She'd never met anyone so old, and yet
so… Vibrant.

Paula motioned Sami closer again…

"Now, dear… I want you to tell me all about yourself.
And then, well… Then I've got a secret to tell you…"

ΔΔΔ

Mandi and
Argentine had walked out of Paula's home and back onto the street.

The two 'girls' had been deep in a conversation that didn't
look to be ending anytime soon.

"You've gone to a lot of trouble to make this
happen," Argentine commented.

"Some things are important."

He let that sink in. Somehow, he didn't think it was a
flippant remark on her part. He'd always known there were hidden depths to this
woman; was this the time to admit that not all of them might be ignoble?

He took in their surroundings…

They were in a city, amidst rolling hills, on a mildly busy
street. It was deceptively rustic; there weren't many powered vehicles but
plenty of bicycles and people afoot.

The buildings, as well as the street, appeared to be made of
stone and all shared a common wall. There appeared to be as many shops,
restaurants, and markets as there were apartments or homes.

The sidewalks were busy with people and the day was just
beginning. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted down the street and both the
system’s star and the planet’s lone moon were still in the sky.

Mandi walked over to a vendor and returned after a moment
with a unique piece of soft bread. She pulled it apart and handed him half…

"This is good!" he said with some surprise.
"What is it?"

"You've never had a croissant before?"

Just then, the front door behind them opened and Sami
wheeled Paula out.

"We can go back to the ship now," Sami said.

Argentine frowned for just a moment…

"Paula, our ship really isn't designed for wheelchairs.
We may have to…"

Paula laughed. "You have nothing to worry about, young
man. I can walk when I need to; I'm just not very quick about it. So if you
want to get back to your shuttle before nightfall it's probably a good idea
that you push me."

Earth
2346 A.D.

Captain Jaime
Ramires had never taken a wife.

It wasn't for a lack of opportunity. With dark eyes and an
athletic build, most women considered him attractive.

From a personality standpoint he was a dichotomy; from being
quick to smile and gregarious in conversation, he could transform in a moment
to a steely eyed and decisive leader of men and women.

He was charming, engaging, ambitious, and totally focused on
the mission at hand…

Women found him to be mysterious and alluring while men
found him formidable. He wasn't a bodybuilder, but if someone bumped into him
they could easily go to the ground. He was dense and solid – and strong…

Most of the men that served with him or sparred with him
would've been surprised to learn he was only 5'8" – he made a big
impression.

Captain Ramirez hoped that the Admiral's faith in him wasn't
misplaced; he prayed he was up to the task. As they often did, his thoughts
wandered back to that initial briefing…

"Before I fully explain what your mission is I need to
give you some background," said major Jacoby.

"You are aware, of course, of certain ruins and
artifacts that have been discovered throughout human space?"

When Captain Ramirez nodded, the major continued…

"What you're not aware of is that there's been a major
discovery on Betelgeuse VII."

"So," Captain Ramirez asked. "Are we not
alone after all? Have we finally found other intelligent life?"

Shaking his head major said, "No. At least not current intelligent
life. But that's just the point… What we are discovering is that life used to
be abundant throughout all of known space. There was, however, an extinction
event that wiped it out."

"I thought by definition
extinction events
were
limited to a single planet?"

"Until relatively recently we did too, but we can now
say conclusively this is not the case. Somewhere between eighty and ten million
years ago all intelligent life was eradicated from at least this portion of our
galaxy."

"That is disturbing," the captain mused. "But
I'm not sure I understand how that applies to my mission?"

"Don't jump the gun, Captain," the admiral jumped
in. "Let the major finish."

"Yes, sir."

"What you need to know," the major continued.
"Is that what we discovered on Betelgeuse was an incredible research
archive. It had been designed to survive eons."

"The construction and technology was way beyond our
current abilities," the admiral jumped in again.

"It is absolutely astounding that any part of it
survived these millions of years since the last extinction."

"Are you kidding me… Sir?" Captain Ramirez heard
himself say. "Are you telling me we can actually decipher the research of
another intelligent species?"

"Captain, your question brings up several points.
Race
might be more an appropriate word than species. The records are highly
fragmentary but the Betelgeuseans were bipedal and remarkably similar to us.

"But that's not the bombshell…

"You see, we were able to determine what they were
researching."

The major paused for good effect…

"They had discovered a number of other extinction
events. They determined that, at what we think was about every eight million
years or so, an extinction event happened – over and over again."

"And what else did they determine," Captain
Ramirez asked.

"They didn't," the major finished. "Their
civilization ended."

"Don't you see," the admiral summed up. "They
were far more advanced than we are and they saw it coming – and they still
couldn't do anything about it."

Going
into Dreamspace

Approximately
one week later the Pelican was re-provisioned and ready to go.

The chief had taken the time, and their newfound financial
resources, to repair some backup systems and load up on certain filters and
parts that were hard to manufacture.

When Argentine had inquired about what he was spending the
credits on he'd been told not to worry… "I just thought it was about time
we had some redundancy in our oxygen scrubbing systems and the like."

It took a full thirty seconds for that to sink in and when
Argentine looked up, the chief could barely control his laughter.

The entire crew was in a good mood.

The week hadn't started that way, however…

Dr. Amaya (they still didn’t know her first name), had started
out cordial enough but had turned into a holy terror for the first few days
they'd been in-system. Fortunately, she’d mostly kept to her cabin after until
just yesterday when she'd reappeared all nice and normal – as if nothing had
ever been wrong.

She hadn't shirked her duties, though. Argentine suspected
she had done most of her work while everyone else was asleep, but she’d taken
great care of Gossip and had even set the ship's pharmacy to manufacturing
certain medical compounds that she couldn't believe our backwards society
hadn't known about…

Anyway, Gossip was still bedridden, but at least now he was
back in his own cabin and was expected to make a full recovery.

The Petulengro family had been helpful to the chief with his
maintenance but had kept themselves busy mainly with their comings and goings.
Not that Argentine really cared one way or another, but he had made a mental
note just this morning to ask Marco about some of the larger packages he'd seen
various family members bringing aboard.

The other thing that was helping everyone's mood, Argentine
surmised, was that it was finally sinking in that they just might have a chance
to score big on this one.

Right after they’d brought Paula Silva aboard, he’d had
everyone assemble in one of the now empty cargo bays. He'd explained what they
were thinking and made it clear that anyone could opt out…

But once they left dock everyone was expected to be
committed and to act and abide by crew rules, but up until that point everyone
was welcome to take their time to think about it right up until they sealed the
hatch.

One of the Petulengro teenagers had asked what the crew
rules were…

Lieutenant Stark had clarified that they were damn well
whatever the Captain said they were. That had seemed to settle the issue.

Argentine had put a lot of thought into this. He clearly
remembered what had happened the last time he’d given his crew the option to
bug out, but he just couldn't see purposely taking them all into danger without
their knowing the score. He had a pretty good idea that what he now thought of
as his core officers would stay, but as for the rest…

Maybe it was the fact that he was really getting the hang of
this command thing; maybe he really was building up a loyalty amongst his crew?
Or maybe it was just the potential size of the reward for finding the lost ship
that energized everyone's greed… But for whatever reason, they all decided to
stay.

ΔΔΔ

"We’ve
just passed the heliopause and we're free of the system’s gravity well,
Captain," Barry reported.

Two days ago they'd undocked from their orbital platform and
had started spiraling up the gravity well.

Today was the big day.

Paula had spent most of the time up until now in her cabin.
Once a day, with Sami's help, she would venture out to the mess and interact
with the crew. She quickly became a favorite and with the possible exception of
the chief, everyone bought into her story.

Argentine knew that his friend was still somewhat skeptical
and as for himself… He wasn't really sure what his feelings were…

He wanted to believe that Mandi was finally leveling with
them. But when it got right down to it he wasn't sure if he was more excited
about finding an advanced ship, or about validating that she wasn't totally
full of sheep dip.

At any rate, this was the big moment and almost everyone,
including Paula, had crowded onto the bridge to experience it…

"Sami, is our course plotted?" he asked.

"Plotted and entered, Captain. We're ready to
slip."

"Okay then," he said as he looked around the
bridge. "Put us into Dreamspace on the magic vector."

Each bridge station had, of course, its own view screen. But
they were small enough that most of the crowd couldn't see one. And it really
wouldn't have made much of a difference if they could… Slipping into Dreamspace
was an exercise in watching a star field explode, leaving behind only a fuzzy
gray ball of lint.

"Well, that was exciting," commented the chief
dryly.

"Sami, how long do you estimate we’ll be in
Dreamspace?"

Argentine already knew the answer, but he wanted everyone
else to hear…

Whether Sami recognized everyone's need to be informed, or
whether her communion with the ship's Dreamspace sensors put her in a euphoric
and talkative mood, she went on to explain…

"With Paula's help…" she said – and then paused to
smile. "I think I've figured out why no one could ever find the Roosevelt.
Her sensors and skip motors would be superior to ours and from what Paula has
explained I think their training was too.

"I don't think most astrogators could match such a long
and complicated skip. I mean, not that I'm trying to pat myself on the back or
anything… But, uh…"

"We all know you're talented, child," the
lieutenant said not unkindly. "Just explain it to us."

"Well, by pushing myself I think I've got a chance to
match them. And because we know the last vector that was preprogrammed into the
ships computers, we think it's a good bet it's the vector they used to slip
into Dreamspace."

"But why wouldn't they have changed their vector?"
the chief wanted to know. "Maybe their captors wanted to go someplace
else?"

It was Paula that answered the question…

"I don't think they changed it because they didn't have
an astrogator aboard," she explained. "By a coincidence the ship’s
senior astrogator, my mother, wasn't with the other senior officers when they
were captured. Now I doubt the Captain would've wanted them to know that, so
someone else probably played the part."

"Then why go ahead and make the jump?" the chief
insisted.

"Because as naïve as the Captain was in certain ways,
he was very shrewd in others. I suspect that he wanted to get them all away
from any reinforcements so that he could retake the ship without
interference."

"But it didn't work," the chief finished for her.

"No, it obviously didn't… Or they would've come back
for us."

Argentine wasn't sure what everyone else was left thinking,
but as for himself… He was starting to dread what they might find on that ship.

ΔΔΔ

Eventually,
Sami got around to answering the original question…

"I've programmed a twenty-one day skip," she
announced.

Most people on the bridge exchanged a furtive glance or two;
Argentine didn't know about them, but he'd never been in Dreamspace that long.

"And how many more skips do you think we’ll have to
make after that?" the chief wanted to know.

Sami, looking surprised, said, "None. We’ll start our
search when we exit Dreamspace, but if I've calculated wrong, if I'm not
relatively close to her original jump parameters… Well, we’ll never find
her."

"This is our only chance," clarified Mandi.
"If that ship made a second skip we’ll have no idea what vector to
follow."

And you're just sharing this with us now?" the chief
asked.

"It doesn't change the risk/reward assessment,"
she responded. "Paula and Sami both agree that it would be highly unlikely
that the ship made a second skip."

"Wait a minute," said the chief. "This isn’t
adding up. You told me we needed to be carrying at least six months’ worth of
provisions… Now you're saying it will only take one skip to find her?"

Sami was never quite totally 'with the rest of us' while the
ship was in dream space, but she was following along well enough to interject
before Mandi could fire back a response…

"Chief?" she said. "How far could a ship
drift in two hundred years?"

"What? I don't know… It would depend on its
velocity."

"It would depend on its velocity, its mass, and the
shape of space-time itself that the ship passed through. It could take a very
long time to search through all the possibilities," she concluded.

One way or another, it seemed that they were in for a long
ride.

That's why Argentine was stunned when three days after
leaving Dreamspace they found… something.