The Bright Black Sea (55 page)

'Had a conversation with him, actually. He's rather
leery of our saddle extension. He says that our cut down rocket
engine will run a lot rougher, something about eddies and vortexes
in the flow causing unbalances in the output which will put
additional strain on the securing bolts, of which there are now
less off since we moved it down. He thinks any flex or give in the
saddle extension could cascade into something dangerous,' I
replied, calmly filling my mug with a spoonful of leaves. 'I know
getting advice from a ghost sounds completely insane, and perhaps I
am, but well, the Four Shipmates claimed to have dealings with Glen
Colin as well, so I may be no more insane they were. I guess it's
your call...'

'Are you feeling quite right, Wil?'

'You know how I'm feeling. I'm feeling something's
wrong, but I can't say for certain if it's me or something outside
of me... I believe I'm still in control, but well...' I trailed off
with a shrug, and filled my mug with boiling water. 'But Glen Colin
was real enough in his own way, and he talked sense, so I'm
actually feeling saner than I have for a while. What the engineers
think of me when I mention the saddle extension issue is another
story.'

'Excuse me, I didn't mean to listen in, but...'

Min and I turned to find Lilm standing just outside
the bistro bay.

'But I think I can offer an explanation for what I
think you're experiencing.'

'I'd certainly welcome one, Lilm. Though I can't
imagine what it could be.'

'What you're experiencing is a known phenomena,
common in the Canjar drifts. I recognized its touch four or five
days ago, but I didn't dare to say anything until I knew the worst
could not be avoided – didn't want to come off as an hysterical old
lady. But now that I know it isn't just me, I guess I'm going to
need to act. I suspect others are dealing with similar issues.'

'Like what?' asked Min. 'I'm not seeing ghosts.'

'Neither is Riv,' she replied. 'It affects some
people more than others. Don't know why. It's been many years since
I felt the touch of wyrm weather. I know I'm pretty sensitive to
it, so I wasn't sure anyone else was feeling it.'

'Wyrm weather?'

'Have you ever heard of dream dragons or dreaming
dragons?'

'They're one of the legion of mythical dragons in
spaceer yarns... Like the one with the silver asteroid sized egg
that Uncle Hawk claimed put that long dent in the hull.'

'Well, there are those dragons, and there are the
real ones. The real ones are likely just natural phenomena
personified. I prefer the term wyrm weather rather than dream
dragon. The scientist who studied the phenomena called it a
singularity. But perhaps I'd best start at the beginning...

'Please,' I said. 'I haven't heard of dream dragons,
but I've heard a lot of stories about drift dragons. I've always
taken them as old spaceer yarns. Something out of the unbelievable
file of Four Shipmate tales...'

'As you know, I'm drift born, and went to space in
the drifts, the Canjar Drifts, to be precise. A lot of weirdness in
the Canjar. Seems to be a cosmic stress point of some sort. Anyway,
this type of singularity is quite common in the Canjar and nearly
impossible to avoid. We referred to it as “wyrm weather” when we
sailed through it. I assure you it does exist, and was real enough
for the Unity to spend several thousand years investigating the
phenomena, only to decide thirty thousand years ago, it might be
better if it didn't exist, after all. They marked the known
singularities as “uncharted, dangerous” on the charts and simply
rerouted the charted space lanes around these singularities. But
even outside the deep drifts, the old stories lived on as a
fantastic feature of spaceer yarns. And yes, they can be dismissed
as spinning a little dark drift space sickness into a supernatural
tale, but, as I'm sure you realize, Captain, it's not quite the
same.'

'Well, I'm not sure just what I realize. That's part
of my problem... What exactly are we facing? What can we expect.
And what can we do about it?'

'If you look up wyrm weather or dream dragons in the
oldest versions of
Vinsong's Practical Guide to Ship
Management,
or
Pengrove's The Ship
Master's Guide,
you'll find they treat the subject as
undocumented phenomena, semi-myths, but nevertheless offer concrete
advice on how to deal with it. I'll get to what they said, and how
we dealt with it in the Canjar in a minute. But first, let me tell
you what I know about wyrm weather.

'The experience made me curious enough to search all
the accounts of the phenomena I could find right back to the
original Unity surveys. They're still available, you just have to
dig very deep into the archives to find them. You know the Unity.
Certainty is the Unity's ideal. Anything or anyone, that is
unpredictable or unknown is pushed to the moons and drifts, or in
this case, deeply buried in scientific reports with obscure
titles.

'Anyway, the Unity sent scientific expeditions out to
investigate the phenomena throughout the first ten thousand years
of the Unity. They came up with various theories about what they
called a singularity. One was that it was a result of a corruption
of the cosmic code that allowed things to happen which couldn't
have happened with uncorrupted code. The fractal universe school of
thought explained the singularities as sections of the fractal
universe that've been either damaged or mutated into strange
configurations that allows unconscious ideas to take semi-forms.
Multi-universe scientists suggested that the singularities are
spots where our universe touches another one and the interface of
these two universes allows limited interaction between the two.

'Oh, they had theories enough, but they could never
prove any of them, and so, after thousands of years of fruitless
scientific investigations, the Unity officials decided just to turn
a blind eye to the phenomena. All the research was filed deep in
the archives and officially forgotten and as I said, all the known
singularities in Unity space were marked “uncharted and dangerous”
on the charts and the space lanes bent to avoid them. However, the
deep drifts – beyond Unity surveys, these singularities remained on
our charts, and in the Canjar, at least, nearly impossible to
avoid, though we stick to the fringes whenever possible. Most deep
drifteers, especially if they ply the Canjar, have experienced wyrm
weather, whose yarns based on that experience have been woven into
the mythology of the drifts, sometimes taking the form of one of
the various mysterious dragons that are said to live in and on the
nebula. In this case, dream dragons. In most of those tall tales,
when you get too close to a dream dragon, you're either drawn into
their dreams, or they wake up and enter your mind.'

'But you don't believe it's really a creature, do
you?' asked Min.

'No. But , nobody knows just what it is. But whatever
it is, the effects are real. It affects some people, like Wil here,
or myself, more than others. We can experience strong waking dreams
or hallucinations. Most people just get an uncomfortable sense of
an unseen presence, the feeling of things moving just beneath the
surface of their awareness.'

'That's it. Is it dangerous? Can it take control of a
person?'

'We considered it mostly harmless – of course we knew
what it was when we felt it. In mild cases the symptoms can be
easily treated. In the more sensitive people, dreams take on a
semblance of reality. You can see and hear them, perhaps even feel
them. They may not seem to be your dreams at all – they can
sometimes be the memories or dreams of your shipmates as well,
which makes them seem so strange since you don't know their source.
Some are very different, some are familiar. We dealt with this on a
regular basis sailing the Canjar and when you experience it often
enough, it becomes familiar enough not to matter much. On the ships
I served on, we often had regular phantom visitors every time we
crossed certain wyrm weather sectors. And we did try to keep to the
fringes of them.'

'Like Glen Colin.'

'Aye, and sometimes the visitors could be seen by
more than just one person.'

'Still, I'm not sure wyrm weather is any more
explainable than a ghost,' I muttered. 'They're almost the same
thing...'

'It's still a known effect. Some of the finest minds
of the Unity found it real enough to study it for a thousand years.
And at least everyone knows what it is we're dealing with, and that
it is mostly unpleasant, but harmless...'

'So why isn't this wyrm weather singularity on the
charts marked uncharted and dangerous?' asked Min. 'We're in Unity
space, and far from the first ship to sail from Azminn to
Zilantre.'

'I suspect that we're well off the optimal track
because of our main engine shutdown and likely in uncharted space.
Earlier ships may've either missed it or just briefly skirted an
edge of it. And the main space lane to Zilantre comes from the
Aticor system, so there'd have been no reason to chart this route
very extensively. We're likely the first to ever sail through this
particular stretch of the Nebula, and so likely the first to sail
through the full effects of this singularity.'

I nodded. It made sense. 'From your experience, what
can we expect going forward?'

'I can't say for certain. At our speed this must be a
massive singularity for its effects to have been felt for five
days. I think, however, it may be peaking. Seeing Glen Colin as
vividly as you did suggests we're near the center. Still it'll
likely be four or five more days before we're clear.'

'If I'm seeing Glen Colin, what might others be
experiencing? And could I or anyone else be a danger to the
ship?'

'Oh, the visions are usually harmless if you know
what it is that's causing it. Because I'm both very sensitive and
have had a great deal of experience dealing with the effects, it's
hard for me to judge how intensely others, especially others who've
never experienced it, are dealing with it. I've never known a wyrm
dream to actually take control of a spaceer. And once you know what
you're dealing with, you can usually discount its effects, taking
your Glen Colins with a grain of salt. Still, I know of some
spaceers who get so entangled in them that they prefer to sleep in
a sleeper-pod until the ship is out of the weather while others,
like Riv, and, I gather, Talley here, don't feel anything at all. I
suppose it's possible that someone might do something under the
influence of the wyrm weather to endanger the ship. You hear third
hand yarns of that, though I've never known it to happen. Still,
ships do disappear in space and drift dragons are often blamed. If
a ship's lost with all hands, there's no one to say how it
happened. The best way to deal with it, if I might be so bold, is
to first make certain everyone aboard knows what's going on and if
necessary, sent to the med-bay for treatments to dull the effects
of the visions. The ship should be secure enough to counter any
sort of unusual action on the part of a crew member, but I suppose
it wouldn't hurt to be extra vigilant.'

'Will they believe me?'

She shrugged. 'If they're experiencing the phenomena,
I think they'll welcome an explanation. I'll provide you with the
Unity studies of the phenomena that you can make available to
everyone. You can send all the data out as a memo for all to read.
Those affected should find the explanation reassuring. The rest
don't need to believe.'

'I suppose, though I'm not looking forward to the
skeptics...'

'I suspect that most everyone is feeling its effects
to one degree or another. Trust me, your explanation will be
welcomed.'

'And what can be done to mitigate the effects?'

'Spending the duration in a sleeper-pod works for
some people, but others have such vivid dreams that cure may be
worse than the disease. The med-bay can provide some anti-anxiety
meds if necessary. Mostly just knowing what's going on is enough.
Think of the yarns they'll be able to spin...'

'Aye, there's that... Forward me the files you have
and I'll send out a memo right away,' I said, adding with a nod to
Min, 'With your permission, of course.'

'By all means, Captain. Thank you Lilm, for this
information. I can see it's already put Wil here more at ease.'

03

I lingered over my cha, reviewing my encounter with
Glen Colin, and the days leading up to it. Putting a name and
assigning a reason for my feelings had, indeed, made me feel much
better about things. I did, however, have one decision to make –
what to do about the engine saddle extension. Do I take the advice
of a wyrm weather hallucination and order it strengthened, or just
forget about it? I'm not more superstitious than the next spaceer,
but I'd a strong feeling that I shouldn't ignore a ghost's warning.
But I could sleep on it.

It was into the sixth watch by the time I'd composed
and sent out the memo, so I debated giving no. 4 hold a miss this
time. But I felt a certain loyalty to my new feline friends – and a
superstitious need to complete the ritual – so I decided to go back
up and finish my rounds.

I found that knowing what was causing my unease only
went so far to ease it. By the time I swung out into the dim short
passageway between the two strongrooms, I needed to take a deep
breath and remind myself that those dark currents were a known
phenomena. Everything was so quiet, but I could almost my heart
beating. I assured myself it was effects of the singularity, but
still... I'd just glance in and retreat to my quarters.

I hadn't taken more than a few steps into the
companionway between the two strongrooms when was a subtle rustling
and a scurrying of cats scampering along the deck and bulkheads to
greet me. It seemed like dozens of them, though I counted only
seven swirling around my feet meowing their greeting when the rush
had subsided. Still you know how quantum our cats are. And yes, in
the dimness, they were all grey.