Starhawk (5 page)

“LOCKING IN BARTON'S
World on the forward scope,” said Benny. “Full mag.”

It was a misty disk, mostly dark because it was facing away from the sun.

Priscilla looked over at Jake. “How do you put a bomb on an interstellar?”

“It would be pretty difficult unless you're one of the techs with access. Or the pilot.”

“Priscilla,” said Benny, “it's time to go to cruise.”

“Okay,” she said. “Do it.”

Benny shut down the thrusters. It was like having a heavy weight lifted off her chest. “Gotta do that again sometime,” she said.

Joshua called from the
Gremlin
:
“We see you.”

“Better let me do this,” said Jake.

Priscilla nodded.

“Josh,” he said. “Who are your passengers?”

“High-school girls, Jake. They're from the Middle East. They've all won science awards. This was supposed to be their prize, a flight to the Lalande Monument. Oh, and there's a teacher.”

Jake closed his eyes. “Where'd the bomb come from? Any idea?”

Priscilla listened to the faint whisper of moving air and the occasional bleep of the electronics.

Then Joshua was back:
“If I'd known that, we'd never have left port. It was low yield. Just enough to take out the engines. The
Gremlin
has been hauling supplies for one of Kosmik's terraforming operations.”
Jake growled something about the antiterraformers.
“It looks as if somebody just wanted to disable us. And send a message. But the mission was changed at the last minute, and we were pressed into service when the tour ship that was supposed to carry these students didn't pass the maintenance inspection. Whoever put the bomb on board discovered what had happened, apparently didn't want to risk killing a bunch of high-school kids, and called in a warning. That's how they found out.”

“We have a problem,” said Jake.

“I can guess,”
Joshua said.
“You can't support twelve more people, right?”

“That's correct.”

“That was the first thing I looked at when I heard you were on the way. But if the
Thompson
gets in reasonably close on its jump, we should be able to make everything work.”

“Most of his passengers are teens,” said Priscilla. “They won't use as much oxygen as adults, will they?”

“In fact,” Jake said, “they'll use more. Kids breathe deeper, or something.”

“So what the hell are we going to do?”

“Don't panic, okay?” Jake's voice was cold. “No matter what happens, stay calm.”

“I'm not panicking.”

“Good.”

“Benny,” she said, “how many can we take on board?”

“The maximum we can support, Captain, including you and Captain Loomis, would be ten. No more than that. Assuming everyone breathes normally.”

Priscilla turned frightened eyes on Jake. “That means we have to
leave
four of them? To go down when the
Gremlin
falls out of orbit?”

Jake shook his head. “The
Thompson
's due here in, what, another day or so? We just have to buy some time.”

“How do you suggest we do that?”

“The
Gremlin
should have a lander. We can put a couple people in their lander and launch it. Then bring the rest of them over here and put two more in ours. That should work fine, as long as the
Thompson
gets here reasonably quickly.”

“Oh. Sure,” she said. “I wasn't thinking.”

“Why don't you ask him about the lander?”

She took a deep breath and called over. “Josh, this is Priscilla Hutchins. I'm working with Jake. Do you have a lander?”

“Yes. But it was damaged in the explosion, Priscilla.”

“Would we be able to use it?”

“Not without causing another explosion.”

She looked back at Jake. “That shoots that idea.” Her training hadn't incorporated anything like this. “Barton's is a living world, isn't it? Is there any chance we could just get them out and take them down in
our
lander? To the surface?”

“Unfortunately not, Priscilla,” said Benny. “The atmospheric mix here isn't breathable.”

“There's still a way out,” Jake said. “We can support three people in our lander for about nineteen hours. That's a little tight, but we should be okay.”

“That still leaves one unaccounted for.”

“We'll have to squeeze one more on board. It'll be a strain on life support, but we should be able to manage until the
Thompson
gets here.”

 * * * 

JOSHUA SENT PICTURES
of the students, a group shot of them at the spaceport just before they boarded the shuttle, another photo of them gathered around a guy in a pilot's uniform. Everybody was smiling. One of the girls was a blonde. Joshua stood in the middle, in his silver-and-blue uniform. She'd seen him several times in the Cockpit and Skyview. He was a big guy with a loud laugh, one of those people who thought he could do anything.

There was also the teacher, identified as Shahlah, the daughter of Jamal Touma, who was the sponsor of the program. She was about Priscilla's age. Attractive.
“This is the first year for the award,”
said Joshua.
“It's to be an annual grant, and Shahlah wanted to be present. She's apparently the person who persuaded her father to make it all happen. The award. The ride to Lalande. The whole game.”

 * * * 

THE
GREMLIN
WAS
a Delta-class freighter. It had a reputation for reliability, and it had become a favorite carrier for Kosmik. Its hull, steel gray with an oversized cabin, was imprinted with the Kosmik logo, a hawk carrying a scroll.

The ship gleamed briefly in the light from the distant sun, then disappeared across the terminator into the nightside of Barton's World. “Benny,” said Priscilla, “how long do you estimate it can remain in orbit?”

“Two and a half hours. I would say three at most.”

Barton's World looked remarkably terrestrial. Big continents with long mountain chains, lush green forests, wide oceans, and snowcapped poles with large, white, fur-bearing animals. Enormous lizardlike creatures prowled jungles and plains. “What's wrong with the atmosphere?” she asked.

Jake passed the question to Benny. “Too much carbon dioxide. And only about half of the requisite amount of oxygen. Biologists believe that something killed off early life-forms that absorbed carbon dioxide. The local equivalent of plankton. Oxygen concentrations dropped to half, carbon dioxide concentrations rose, and forests spread. That pushed the temperatures up, and the oceans warmed. The result was to drive the carbon dioxide out of the ocean and into the sky, where it became a fixture. Unbreathable.” He paused. “I can go into a detailed explanation if you wish.”

“That's okay,” said Jake. “Thank you.”

Priscilla had already turned him off.

“All right.” Jake pointed at the display. “Let's concentrate on getting lined up with the
Gremlin
.”

 * * * 

TAWNY WAS OUT
of the closet, and Priscilla was waiting as the
Gremlin
came around the rim of the planet, back into the sunlight. Shahlah appeared on-screen and delivered a tight smile.
“Welcome to Barton's World, Priscilla,”
she said. She was gorgeous. The photo hadn't done her justice.

The kids cheered when they looked outside and saw the
Copperhead
. Then the captain appeared. The all-right-I've-got-it attitude she remembered from the Cockpit was down a notch. “We're glad to see you guys,” he said.

Priscilla nodded. “Glad to be here. We ready to start, Captain?”

“Sooner the better. One thing, by the way: The kids don't know we're going down. They've been told they're being moved to other ships because of the engine damage. I haven't gone into any additional detail.”

“Okay. They're going to have to do a spacewalk to get over to us. Will that be a problem?”

“They already know about that.”

Had the
Copperhead
been one of the newer vehicles, say, a Mariner-class, they could have docked the two ships and taken the children off directly. But Priscilla didn't even have direct access to the
Gremlin
with the lander.

 * * * 

JAKE CLIPPED AN
imager onto his vest so Priscilla could watch everything. Then he put on one of the Flickinger units, picked up the second one, which constituted their entire supply, and went out through the air lock. Priscilla watched him cross to the
Gremlin
. Joshua, Shahlah, and the girls were waiting for him.

The students all appeared to be about seventeen or eighteen, and they looked both relieved and worried. Relieved, she guessed, because Jake was there; worried about doing a spacewalk.

Jake turned off the Flickinger field. “This is Captain Loomis,” said Shahlah. “He's come to give us a ride.”

He shook hands with her and with Captain Miller, and turned to the passengers. “Hello, ladies,” he said, as if they were all cruising on the Nile. His manner suggested this was all routine stuff. No problem. We do this all the time. “It's good to see you. Weren't there any boys who won a prize?”

Several of the students smiled. Others frowned, indicating they hadn't understood.

“Captain Loomis,” Shahlah said, “the boys get a separate flight. We've come a long way, but we haven't come that far.”

 * * * 

JAKE AND JOSHUA
had gone onto the bridge and were talking in low tones.

“I know,” Joshua said.

“But we can take everybody. You and I should stay with the
Gremlin
until it's ready to go down. That'll save some air on the
Copperhead
.”

“We've already talked about that,” he said. “Shahlah will stay also.”

“You sure?”

“She insists.”

“All right. We stay as long as we can. Then we'll cross over and move three people into our lander. We'll be pushing life support a little. But it should be okay.”

“I hope so.” Joshua took a deep breath. “If we get through this, Jake, I'll take you to dinner.”

They laughed. “We'd better start moving the kids. How many suits do you have?”

“Two.”

“Okay. I brought an extra one with me. Priscilla, you listening?”

“I'm here.”

“Some treats would be nice. I'll be over with the first batch in a few minutes.”

 * * * 

PRISCILLA'S JOURNAL

This does not feel as if it's going to end well. The
Sydney Thompson
is still more or less twenty hours away.

—November 17, 2195

JAKE ARRIVED WITH
three girls and their luggage. All were breathless after doing a spacewalk wearing no protection other than their air tanks and a harness that seemed to do nothing more than produce a soft glow. They filed into the passenger cabin, rolling their eyes and laughing and exchanging comments in Arabic. At that moment there was no need for a common language. Priscilla and Jake helped them out of their gear.

Priscilla brought out juice and cookies, and they did introductions. The girls were Adara, Lana, and Ishraq. “Make yourselves at home,” she said.

Jake was putting the Flickinger units and air tanks into a plastic bag when Priscilla asked him to join her on the bridge.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“No. I just need to ask you something.” When she was sure no one was close enough to hear, she lowered her voice. “Listen, Jake, I can go over and stay on the
Gremlin
. There's no need for you to do it.”

Jake took a deep breath. He looked impressed. “Well, that's very generous of you, but no. Let's leave things the way they are. Anything else?”

“Jake, you're the real pilot on this flight. If there's a problem, you need to be here.”

“We've got a problem, and I'm here. This is what I get paid for.”

“Jake—”

“Forget it. Your job, whatever happens from here on out, is to get these kids home.” She opened her mouth to respond, but he held up a hand indicating she was to be quiet. “This is
my
responsibility. We're all going to survive, so don't worry about it. In any case, I don't want to have it on my record that I allowed a student pilot to board a ship with problems.” He looked back at her without cracking a grin. “If I did that, I'd never be able to set foot in the Cockpit again.”

“Jake, if there's a problem, I'm not certified to solo with this ship.”

“Doesn't matter. I'm certifying you now.”

“All right. How about we flip for it?” One of the girls, Adara, was watching them through the open hatch.

“Keep your voice down, Priscilla. And no.” He looked at the overhead. “We're not flipping for anything.”

“Why not?” Somewhere in a deep, dark place, she wanted him to refuse her. To keep saying no, he was the senior officer, it was his responsibility. “Jake—”

“Because it's my call. Because you're a woman.”

That was irritating. “Women and children first.”

“That's the tradition.”

“It's a bit old-school, isn't it?”

“Listen, just take care of things here, all right? Do that, and we'll be okay.”

“You have a plan?”

“Yeah.” Jake waved at Adara. Smiled. She smiled back and turned away. “It's simple enough. When we've got all the children over here, Shahlah, Josh, and I will stay with the
Gremlin
as long as we can. Then when we have to, we'll come over here and move into
our
lander. We should be able to live off its air supply until the
Thompson
shows up. That way we won't put any additional pressure on the ship's life-support system.”

“I don't think that's a good idea,” she said.

“Why not?”

“How are you going to know when you have to come over? You wait a few seconds too long, and you'll all go down with the
Gre
mlin
.”

“You have a better plan?”

“Why not put the lander alongside the
Gremlin
? You'd be able to get to it quicker.”

“We can't run the engines. There's too much chance it would get blown away when we start running into atmosphere. No. It's okay. We'll be careful, and we'll leave in plenty of time.”

“How long—?”

“We've got a couple of hours on the
Gremlin
. Then, our lander should be able to sustain three people for about nineteen hours. If the
Thompson
's still not here, we can fall back on the Flickinger units. We've got five sets of air tanks between the two ships. That'll give the three of us an extra four or five hours each. We should be okay.”

“What happens if it
doesn't
get here in time?”

“You know, Priscilla, I never realized you could be so negative. We are doing what we can. If you can't handle your end of this, you should find another line of work.” He looked down at her. “Anything else?”

She stared into Jake's brown eyes. Shook her head. “No, sir.”

He turned away and went back to gathering the Flickinger equipment. When he'd finished, he pulled the bag into the air lock. Then he said good-bye to everybody. “Be back in a few minutes.” He activated the field, and the hatch slid down. Priscilla heard the low, muffled sounds of decompression.

Ishraq appeared beside her. Her smile turned into a frown. “Priscilla,” she said in English, “are you okay?”

“I'm fine.” She was grateful her offer to go in his place had been rejected. And it embarrassed her. Coward, she thought.

 * * * 

THE THREE GIRLS
wore jumpsuits with
GREMLIN
emblazoned on the back, and the scroll-carrying hawk on the front. They spread out on the seats in the passenger cabin. “We have some games in the library,” Priscilla said. Ishraq translated for Adara. Lana apparently had enough English to get by.

They seemed happy to hear about the games although nobody made a move to consult the library. They were pretty, the way teenage girls always are. Adara said something and Ishraq translated: “How serious is the problem with the
Gremlin
? They don't want to tell us.”

Priscilla sat down with them. “It's serious, but they'll be okay.”

Lana chewed her lip, and Adara raised both hands to her mouth and switched her gaze to Ishraq while assuming an I-told-you-so expression. Then all three were talking. What's going to happen now?

“We're playing it by ear,” said Priscilla. “The important thing, though, is that you're safe here.”

“I mean,” said Ishraq, “is something going to happen to the
Gremlin
?”

“I'm not sure what'll happen with the
Gremlin
. But you won't go back to it. You'll be going home with
me
. Or on the
Thompson
.”

Lana's eyes showed anger. “All this trouble,” she said, “because a lunatic put a bomb in the engines. Captain Miller thinks it has something to do with terraforming.”

“That's the general suspicion,” said Priscilla. “Listen, would you guys like more to eat?”

That promoted another exchange. But they decided they'd had enough. And then they began to laugh and point at something behind her. When she turned, she saw Tawny.

The cat distracted them for a few minutes. But eventually Ishraq began looking around and frowning. “Priscilla, are we going to be able to fit everybody in here? This ship seems kind of small.”

“We'll be okay. As soon as the
Thompson
gets here, we'll be able to spread out a bit.” She smiled. “One day, you'll be telling your grandchildren about this.”

Lana folded her arms.

“Are you cold?” asked Priscilla.

“Oh, no. It's very comfortable in here. I was just thinking—” She hesitated. “Coming over from the
Gremlin
was scary.”

“Was that the first time you've been outside a ship?”

“Yes. For all of us.”

“Well, you guys did pretty well. The first time I went out, I had heart palpitations.”

“Really?” said Ishraq. Tawny had climbed into her lap. “You don't look like somebody who'd scare very easily.”

“You don't know me well. But I'll tell you, if somebody walks out of an air lock out here, and her heartbeat doesn't pick up a little bit, she's a pretty tough cookie.”

Barton's moon hung in the dark sky. She wished the diamond monument were visible somewhere, but she'd already checked. It was on the other side of the world.

 * * * 

COPPERHEAD
LOG

So far so good.

—November 17, 2195