Heirs of the New Earth (26 page)

Simon turned back to his own console. “We're approaching the jump point. Give me some direction.” He backed off the forward thrust.

"Gravitational density increasing about twenty degrees to port,” said Natalie.

Simon called up a holographic representation of a steering column. As he turned the ship, she called out, “Gravitation density now increasing fifteen degrees below us.” He pushed the column forward dropping the ship's nose. “I guess they've closed to firing range,” said Natalie.

"Why's that?” asked Simon.

"They've just launched two missiles."

"Keep your eyes on the gravitational density and warn the crew that jump is imminent. I want everyone strapped in and ready to go."

"Two degrees back to starboard,” said Natalie, then she sounded the first jump warning. As Simon turned the ship, her display started blinking green. “I think we're right on top of it.” She looked over at her other display. “The missiles are closing pretty fast."

Simon shut down the forward thrust. “We're getting out of here.” He pushed the intercom button. “Mahuk! Jump now!"

Used to the long, protracted mapping jumps as he was, Simon gasped when the indicators already showed that the jump was complete. He gaped at the display for a moment, then looked back at Natalie. “Did the missiles interfere with jump?"

"No,” said Natalie. She changed the holographic display at the front of the command deck so it showed the blue-green world of Alpha Coma ahead of them. “We arrived right on target.” She pushed a button and several red dots appeared around the planet.

"What are those?” asked Simon.

"Military vessels,” said Natalie with a shudder. “I count thirty-two of them.” She turned and looked at Simon. “I hope none of them start shooting missiles at us."

"As long as they're not Titan ships, I think we'll be okay,” he said, trying to sound reassuring, but afraid he heard something of a shudder in his own voice. “Call Herbert Firebrandt and let him know we're back. I want to talk to him."

Roberts let himself into Ellison Firebrandt's cabin. He looked around and smiled. The room was paneled in wood except for a couple of lighted alcoves that were covered over with stained glass. A brass lantern swung gently back and forth on a chain. He pondered for a moment how long it had been since he'd seen the lantern swinging, instead of standing still. Firebrandt reclined in large, overstuffed chair, snoring.

The first officer nudged his hover chair closer to the captain, as his smile melted into a worried frown. He thought about his own arthritis and looked at Firebrandt's white hair. With a look back at the door, he thought about the inexperienced crew and hoped that what they were doing was not simply the folly of two old men who'd grown bored of farming. He reached out and touched Firebrandt gently on the forearm.

The captain startled awake and sat up. “What time is it?” he asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Ship's hull integrity is good, sir,” said Roberts, deliberately not answering the captain's question. “Junior Kimura reports that the EQ engines are ready for jump."

Firebrandt looked at Roberts as though seeing him for the first time. Looking beyond his first officer, he saw the swinging lantern and nodded, as though his brain had finally caught up with what was happening. The captain reached over, took his pipe and tamped it full of tobacco and lit it. “Then we're ready to jump to Earth?” asked Firebrandt.

Roberts shook his head. “There's a problem.” He hovered over to a chart table on the opposite side of Firebrandt's cabin. He brought up an image of the galaxy. “I've scanned for five jump points and none of them are where they should be."

Firebrandt stood and joined Roberts by the chart. He blinked at the image of the galaxy and tried to recall long-unused navigation skills as he sucked on the pipe. Finally he removed the pipe from his mouth and slapped his forehead. “Of course. The Cluster is moving stars around at the center of the galaxy,” said the captain. “That's going to muck with all the jump points."

Roberts nodded and he felt a burning sensation in the pit of his stomach. “I'm afraid we may have jumped into orbit for nothing."

Firebrandt returned the pipe to his mouth and stared at the chart. He commanded it to show the positions of Earth and Sufiro, then walked around staring at it from several angles. Finally he looked at Roberts. “There are Clusters at the center of the galaxy and there are Clusters at Earth, right?"

"Right,” said Roberts slowly, not sure that he followed how this fact helped them.

"If the Clusters at the center of the galaxy are maintaining an open EQ channel to Earth, we can trace that and follow it right to Earth."

Roberts shook his head, still not following. “That would only do us good if we were at the center of the galaxy."

The captain smiled around the pipe stem. “Precisely. The black hole at the center of the galaxy is the single largest gravitational source. We can jump to that from anywhere."

"You've got to be kidding,” said Roberts, sitting back in the seat of the hover chair. “No ship besides the Cluster has ever survived traveling to the center of the galaxy."

"Why?” asked Firebrandt, stepping back toward his chair.

"You know why as well as I do, sir,” said Roberts, turning to face the captain. “A ship that tried to jump to the galactic core would be ripped apart within minutes—not to mention the radiation surges we'd have to endure."

The captain turned on his heel. “How many minutes would a ship have?"

"I don't know,” said Roberts, thinking. “Maybe fifteen minutes. Twenty at the outside."

"You'd have that long to find the jump point and trace it,” said Firebrandt.

Roberts looked down and sighed. “I don't know, sir. That's asking a lot."

Firebrandt stepped toward Roberts and knelt down beside him. “I know, but we've got to try. We've got to get to Earth to help Edmund."

Roberts looked up, meeting Firebrandt's gaze. “Do we, sir? Or, is this just some attempt by an old man to regain lost glory?” He pointed to the door. “We have an inexperienced crew out there. There's a good chance we'll die in the center of the galaxy."

The captain ripped the pipe from his mouth. “According to the message I got from Swan, if we do nothing we will be dead—everyone on Sufiro will be dead. Like it or not, the people on Sufiro have always looked to me as a leader. Sitting around on Sufiro and continuing with my comfortable life while hoping that someone, somewhere is going to save my ass from the bad guys is not leadership. If there's any chance that we can help stop the Cluster, we've got to do it.” The captain stood and replaced the pipe, then stepped over to a place where there was a nail in the wall. He pointed to the nail. Roberts remembered that was the place where the captain's privateer's license used to hang. “We may have been privateers, but when you signed aboard my vessel you took a vow to protect the Earth. Are you breaking that vow, Mr. Roberts?"

Roberts swallowed hard. “Sir, I thought you once said that Earth abandoned you."

The captain removed the pipe and looked down at his feet. A moment later, he looked back up at his first officer. “Yes, I did say that ... but I've come to realize that I can't abandon Earth. Abandoning the Earth will mean abandoning our people on Sufiro.” He stepped over and knelt down next to Roberts once again. “Now, can you make this jump happen, or can't you?"

"I can try, sir,” said Roberts, firmly.

"How long will it take to set up?” asked the captain.

"Meet me on the battle deck in half an hour. We'll either be ready to go then, or I'll be able to give you a revised estimate,” said Roberts. He turned his chair and floated from the cabin to the battle deck, a worried frown etched into his features. He knew the captain was right, but that didn't ease the feeling of taking a bunch of people who were barely trained into a situation for which they weren't really prepared. However, as he hovered into the command deck, he saw Juan Raton at the gunner's rig. Juan had been kidnapped from his home and taken to work in the mines in Tejo. Juan fought with Edmund Swan to get the New Granadans out of the Erdonium mines. Roberts hovered alongside Anne McClintlock—a computer specialist. Though her father was one of the founders of the New Granadan continent on Sufiro, her brother led the invasion that Edmund Swan along with Manuel and Juan Raton helped to fight off. The people currently aboard
Legacy
had been forged in battle, just as any crew before had been.

Roberts detailed the captain's plan to Anne McClintlock. She nodded grimly and said, “It's a dangerous plan, but it just might work."

He let out an unconscious sigh of relief and they began their calculations. They plotted several possible jump points, then looked at possible paths out of the galactic core. “If we jump here, I think we'll maximize our chances for finding the Cluster's EQ signal back to Earth.”
Presuming the Cluster has a signal back to Earth,
he thought, but didn't say.

"I agree,” said Anne. She ran a calculation and pointed to a set of numbers that appeared on the display. “We need to jump from these coordinates."

Roberts took his hover chair over to the wheel console, raised himself up so he could reach the controls and entered the coordinates. Meanwhile Anne set up the scanners to search for the Cluster's EQ transmission to Earth, trace it and enter the jump parameters into the computer.

Half an hour later, Ellison Firebrandt strode onto the battle deck and looked around.

"We're en route to our best-estimated jump point,” reported Roberts. “We'll be ready to jump in about two minutes."

"Excellent,” said the captain with a smile. He looked back at Mary Seaton. “Start preparing the jump engines."

"We're all set to go when you give the word,” she said. Though her voice was calm, Firebrandt could see the sweat on her forehead.

"We're at the jump point,” reported Roberts. He reached over, shut off the thrusters, and then drifted back over to the computer console next to Anne McClintlock. Once again, he lowered the chair to the grating and clamped it onto the deck.

"Sound the jump warning,” called the captain.

"All decks report ready,” reported Anne.

"Jumping,” called Firebrandt as he pushed the button on the wheel console.

In spite of the fact that he was seated in the hover chair, Roberts felt as though the floor had fallen out from beneath him as the ship fell into the galactic core. Colors swirled and drifted like some kind of psychedelic smoke drifting around his head from the captain's pipe. He looked around and saw the captain on his knees, gripping the handles on either side of the ship's wheel for dear life. He thought he could hear the old man's determination to see the mission through right as the ship came out of jump.

Anne belched loudly next to Roberts and then stood and stumbled out of her chair. Roberts quickly looked around. “Scanners came on line; they're searching for the EQ jump point."

Anne got herself to her feet, held her stomach and ran to the head.

"Gravitational stresses on the hull are off the scale,” said Mary from the engineering console. “I have no way of estimating hull integrity.” She stood up and stepped over to the captain. “Even if we find that jump point, we may vaporize the minute we jump,” she said.

The captain's nod was barely perceptible. He looked over to Roberts. “Turn on the display. While we're here, let's at least take a look."

The galactic core became visible in the holographic tank. Anne came out of the head, her hair hanging straggly around her face and gasped at the sight. Firebrandt stepped forward and stood next to Roberts. They both looked at light being warped around the black hole and the millions of stars that surrounded them, bathing the battle deck in light. “This sight alone almost makes the trip worthwhile,” mused the captain. He continued to gaze spellbound at the image. Finally, he saw a silver glint and pointed. “There,” he said. “There's one of the Clusters.” They saw it fire a yellow beam at a star and the star began to move. A loud groan from the ship's hull broke the captain's reverie. “Make sure everyone remains at jump positions,” he called. “We're going to need to get out of here in a hurry."

"Sir, we've got a lock on the Cluster's signal,” said Roberts. “I'm feeding coordinates to your station now."

As Firebrandt started moving the ship toward the coordinates, there was a loud pop, like a gunshot. There was a second pop, followed by a scream. The captain looked up and saw Juan Raton kneeling on the deck, his hand to his arm. A third pop sounded, and the captain saw that the rivets around the battle deck were giving way.

Mary Seaton rushed to Juan's side and carefully pulled his hand away to look. “It just grazed him, she said. “But I'm sure it hurts like hell.” She quickly reached down and untucked her blouse and tore off a corner, folded it and handed it to Raton who put pressure on the wound. She then strapped him in and returned to her station just as another groan sounded throughout the ship. The mechanic thought she heard the sound of structural supports twisting.

"We're at the jump point,” reported Roberts. “We better get out of here."

"I couldn't agree more,” said Firebrandt and he activated the jump.

Eva Cooper double-checked a series of sensors attached to Samuel Coffin's all-but-lifeless body. She then activated the life support monitor that was on the nightstand next to Coffin's bed. His heartbeat seemed to be strong and steady as was respiration; kidney function was nominal. She breathed a sigh of relief as she reached down and patted his hand. “Hang in there,” she whispered.

She stepped from the room. Out in the hall, she discovered that a door that she assumed belonged to a closet was open. She poked her head in and was surprised to see daylight illuminating a set of stairs. She climbed the stairs and found herself on a platform of sorts on the roof of John Mark Ellis’ home. Standing by one railing was Kirsten Smart, looking out toward the ocean.

Kirsten looked around and saw Eva. “They call these structures widow walks,” said Kirsten, pointing out similar platforms on other houses. “They say the wives of sailors used to come up to these and watch for their husbands’ ships to return from the sea. There is a great view of the bay,” she said, pointing. “I even think I see G'Liat and John Mark's boat."