The Bright Black Sea (128 page)

'I have the ship, Captain,' said Botts, as it fired
the steering rockets to swing the ship away from the Tenth Star. I
could feel the slight tug of inertia as the ship began to stir.

Even as the ship began its swing, its main engines
sprang to life – at max thrust – pushing us into our chairs as the
ship began to accelerate.

'What in the bloody blazes! I exclaimed. 'Botts! Have
you short circuited? We're not in that big of a hurry!'

Botts' eyes glowed brightly. 'Sir!' And said nothing
more

Different steering rockets began to fire, also at max
thrust, pushing us awkwardly against the arm rests of our
chairs.

'Botts? What are you doing?' Had it gone berserker on
us?

'Captain, Order the ship to be abandoned immediately.
I have been replaced at the controls of the ship, The pilot bot has
taken control again, and now has control of the ship's systems. It
appears to be steering the ship for the shell reef, and I suspect
it has been programed to destroy us. You need to act without delay,
Captain,' it said, broadcasting to everyone aboard,

Vinden. The dead will tell no tales of the Pela.

'To your assigned boats, everyone,' I ordered over
the com link. 'Botts, send Botts II to the gig, you'll be aboard
the longboat. Riv, Kie, see to the gig, Molaye, the long boat.
Move.'

We staggered to our feet, under the twisting
pseudo-gravity of the main and steering engines maximum thrust. Riv
and Kie stumbled off for the engine room access to the gig. Molaye
looked to me. 'Captain, you're coming...'

'Of course. Go. I'm right behind you. Get everyone of
your group aboard the longboat. Now.'

As I spoke, Botts also shook himself, as if to free
himself from the ship, and tore out of the bridge. A moment later,
it was broadcasting on everyone's com link, 'Do not wait for me. I
am going to attempt to sever the pilot bot's link to the ship's
controls and regain control of the ship. I cannot guarantee I will
be able to accomplish the task before the ship reaches the reef, so
do not delay on my account. Get the boats off before the rocks
become too thick.'

'Do you need help, Botts?' I asked.

'No. During the voyage I explored the inner hull and
charted the pilot bot's location and its network connections. It
resides in an armored pod located in one of the fuel tanks and its
link to the ship's systems is, for the most part, hidden and not
easily accessible within the ship's support structures. I did,
however, find one accessible spot in that link that I can reach and
possibly sever, but the conduit is heavily armored and will take
time to breach. I've collected a plasma salvage axe and I'm making
my way to it now. There is nothing you can do. Just see that
everyone gets clear of the ship. You have less than two minutes
before we'll be in the outer fringes of the reef. '

Riv broke in. 'The bloody access hatches won't open,
Skipper. Tried the manual over-ride. No go. We're locked out of the
gig.'

'Molaye?'

'Same here.'

'Damn. Damn. Damn!' I said.

'You will need to disable the power unit to the
access port,' said Botts over the com link, and flashed to everyone
a diagram from the ship's manual showing the control boxes near the
access ports and highlighted where the power line could be reached
and severed. 'A plasma axe should do the trick. Without power,
they'll open manually.'

'Right. Everyone not hacking on the power line suit
up. We'll be taking hits very soon.' I said, staggering over to the
bridge's emergency spacesuit locker.

'Are you coming up, Captain? asked Molaye again, over
the com link.

'I'm donning my suit and will be up shortly.' Botts
seemed unperturbed, and I didn't care to sound panic stricken in
comparison. Though I was close to it.

I sat down and slipped the loose fabric suit on –
mechanically making the needed connections as I did, I cursed
Vinden, over and over again. We'd worn the suits often enough, so I
could curse him and still swiftly suit up.

There was a loud, shuttering screech as we sideswiped
a small meteor.

'Captain, we'll have the hatch open in less than a
minute. Get up here, now,' said Molaye via my com link speaker.

'On my way.' Taking charge already, though it looked
to be too late. 'How are you doing Botts?'

'I've made a scratch in it.'

I hoped that was robot humor.

The ship shuttered again, staggering me as it
sideswiped another rock.

'How are you doing Riv?

'All present. Sar's hacking away. Sparks are flying.
Another blow should do it...We'll be in shortly.'

Right. Nothing more to do. I opted for the small
access ladder rather than the main well – it was easier to hang on
to and it led directly to the longboat access port.

Another rock bounced off the hull, setting the ship
to ringing. Any of those rocks would've destroyed the ship had we
been traveling at interplanetary speeds. It was only the fact that
we were traveling at a relative crawl – a ship the size of the
Starry Shore
takes its time to build up any sort of
velocity, even with the engines at max – which meant they bounced
off of us, rather than blowing us to atoms on impact. However, the
longer the rockets blasted full out, the denser the shell-reef
became, the more likely we'd hit a rock large enough that wouldn't
bounce off. Which, I thought, if it happened really soon, would be
our best hope – we might survive the impact – there was a great
deal of hull between us and the bow of the ship to absorb the force
of impact. But it had to be soon.

'We'll be able to take to the boats in a minute or
two, Botts. Get to the longboat if it doesn't look like you can
sever the link,' I panted, as I climbed up the rungs set in the
bulkhead, past the crew. We had to be accelerating at more than 1
gee, so climbing was hard work in the space suit and uncertain
motion of the ship as it encountered more and more small
asteroids.

'I am built of D-matter and don't need air. I can
survive a crash far better than humans, Captain. Don't wait.Get the
boats away before the rocks get too thick and dangerous.'

I reached the awning deck and swung out into the
companionway. The longboat the crew had collected in the little
alcove by the access hatch was close at hand.

'We've got it open. Get up here, Wil.' I could hear
her speaking aloud as well as via my com link.

'I'm here...' I called out just as I was blinded by a
brilliant flash and deafened by a great crash that sent a black,
tidal wave of debris flying down the companionway at me. Something
big and fast hit my legs, knocking me off my feet and sending a
sharp wave of pain up through my body, followed by another stunning
blow to my chest taking my breath away. Smaller pieces peppered me
as my vision or the lights flickered and went out. There was a high
pitched shriek and the breath was drawn from my lungs as the deck
opened up to the vacuum of space.

'We've been hulled! Button up!' I heard Molaye yell,
as I weakly, and ineffectively, tried to pull the spacesuit's hood
over my head.

Blackness.

04

It took some time to recognize Illy. I was afraid I
was seeing her from the far side of the event horizon, so it took a
very long time to form and deliver a mumbled question. 'Where am
I?' or sounds to that effect.

'The medic bay. You're born to die a cha
planter.'

'The gang?'

'All survived. You're the worst case.' That wasn't
entirely reassuring. I seemed surrounded by the med bay machines, I
thought of old Captain Miccall...

'My ship?

'Botts says he'll get us home.'

'You're not lying?'

She shook her head 'No, We survived.'

My vision was just clear enough to see her and knew
her well enough to know that she wasn't lying, so I closed my eyes
and let go.

Later, when I awoke again, I was a little clearer
headed, though I found I couldn't move – I was strapped in an
accelerating healing unit covering my chest and my lower legs as
well. I lay reviewing events over and over, until Illy appeared
again.

'Feeling stronger, Captain?' she asked.

'Some. What's our condition?'

'Stable. Botts was able to sever the link and take
back control just as we hit the rock that knocked you out. It
managed to swing the ship around, and with volley after volley of
anti-meteor missiles smash the biggest rocks in our path as we
decelerated. The ship sustained damage, mostly to the bow and cargo
hatches, but Botts says it'll get us home, although we'll need
several weeks to put things back together before we start. So you
can just relax. Molaye has everything well in hand, and there'll be
plenty to do even after you've been mended.'

'How long will that be?'

'Two more days under the full set of healers, and
another five days of intermittent treatments should get you back to
your old self. All you need to do is relax, get better, and stay
out of Molaye's way.'

'What happened to me? I remember the breach on the
awning deck, and well, nothing much afterwards.'

'You were hit by debris. Broke both of your legs, and
damaged your ribs and lungs. Molaye reached you in time to prevent
you from being sucked out through the breach with the atmosphere,
and managed to secure your spacesuit hood so you didn't suffocate
straight off. It was touch and go for both you and the ship for a
while there and it took almost half an hour before we could get you
to the medic bay. You were sailing pretty close to the event
horizon, Wil, but you pulled through.'

'I guess I retired a little early.'

'Oh, you'll be back before we sail. Don't worry.'

I wasn't worrying. Captain Merlun had taken charge,
and she was welcomed to it. I'd a feeling that the current state of
the
Starry Shore
would've broken my heart, if I was still
her captain.

Later, my shipmates were allowed to come around to
yarn under the watchful eyes of Molaye and Illy. I counted noses
and they were indeed, all accounted for. All looked worn, but put
on a good show of being in good spirits, so I just concentrated on
getting whole again.

Three days later I was sitting up in the medic bay,
still connected to the medic unit by a few portable units and
cables – my damaged bones and tissue had been rebuilt but not
completely restored.

'How'ya feeling Captain?' asked Molaye as she and
Botts entered the med-bay.

'As good as I look,' I replied.

'I was hoping for a better report. Still, that'll
have to do. Illy says you're well on the mend, so I thought I'd
best fill you in on our status and prospects.'

'You needn't. I'm not taking charge again. You've
paid your dues. Keep at it, Captain Merlun. You've been running the
ship for years, anyway.'

She just laughed, and said, 'I'm sure we'll argue
about that all the way home. 'Still, I'm sure you're anxious to
hear my status report. Think of it as a courtesy, if you want.
Doesn't matter to me. '

'I'm pretty sure I don't want to hear it, but lift
anyway.'

'The good news is that all the critical systems are
repairable. The bow is pretty smashed in and the hull has a whole
new set of nice long dents. We were holed only once, in no.4 hold,
the one that put you here. That's sealed. We have enough fuel in
the remaining auxiliary tanks to get us home, but it would be a
very long trip, on our own. But we'll get to that in a moment,'
Molaye went into the details, which I won't bother to record, save
that from what I could gather, reading between her optimistic
lines, the
Starry Shore's
next port of call would be the
flats of & Kin's, or some such spaceship grave yard. The damage
to the hull seemed likely beyond repair. 'So you see, Captain, the
main damage is to the forward hull, so the
Starry Shore
can
still get us home, thanks to Botts, once again.'

'I don't know how we can repay you, Botts,' I said,
turning to it, standing silently next to Molaye.

'My pleasure, and my duty, Captain. It is what I was
built for. And having heard our status, I now have a proposal to
make, with your permission.'

'Of course, please do.'

'As Molaye mentioned, with the remaining fuel our
voyage home could be a very extended one since I will have to
proceed very slowly until I can determine our position to conserve
fuel. And , depending on our vector relative to our desired target,
we could be faced with a very long voyage – ten years or more can
not be ruled out at this point.

'However, the Directorate being aware of our
situation and eager to repay you for your services to the Mountain
King would like to return the favor and offer aid that would
significantly increase our chances of returning to the Neb within a
reasonable time frame. The Directorate likes to keep obligations in
balance.'

'So do I, but I should hate to think they owe us
anything. All we did was honor our Guild obligations to aid a
distressed spaceer. I prefer to think our relationship with both
you and the Directorate are based more on friendship than
obligation.'

'That being the case, I see no barrier to proceeding
with the Directorate's proposed plan.'

'Which is?'

'Once I have us out of this reef and can determine
our location, the Directorate would dispatch a replacement ship for
the
Starry Shore
. They propose an Ividar 96 box SilverStar
Liner, along with a cargo of machine made trade goods. They would
dispatch it with robot pilot to rendezvous with us. We would take
possession of it and the robot pilot would take charge of the
Starry Shore
to pilot it to the Inner Drifts.'

'That is too generous – an Ividar SilverStar is worth
far more than the
Starry Shore
, even without a cargo. It
seems out of proportion to whatever services I may have performed
for them.'