The Deep Dark Well
Read The Deep Dark Well Online
Authors: Doug Dandridge
The Deep Dark
Well
A Novel of the Far
Future
By
Doug Dandridge
Pandi caught the movement out of the corner of
her eye. Something in motion among the stillness of the station. Her body
tensed as she slowly turned toward the movement, not sure what to expect.
Some kind of animal was
her first thought, as she watched the thing moving in her direction. It was
all the way across the long room, a hundred meters or more, and she wasn’t sure
if it had even spotted her yet. It behaved as if it hadn’t. Its six legs
moved in a most peculiar manner, rotating up and over as the long body slid
forward. Not like the movements of a beast.
Its skin seemed to be
made of a series of small scales of equal size. It had no discernible head,
just a continuation of the long body. No mouth, no ears. Spots on the forward
scales could be eyes, or something else?
A robot of some kind
was her second thought, though like nothing she had ever imagined. She
couldn’t guess its purpose from its configuration. Slowly she put the helmet
on her head, not wanting make sudden movements that might alarm it. She pushed
a button above the faceplate, engaging the helmet sensors. The creature leapt
forward in her vision, as the face plate magnified the image.
Definitely some kind of
robot
,
she thought, wondering if it might be dangerous. On infrared it glowed an even
orange color, no apparent power-generating center, as if the entire robot was
equally power producing and using. Suddenly her faceplate went blank, opaqued
over as if struck by a bright light. That was when she knew she was under
attack.
Dedication
This novel is dedicated
to writer Charles Sheffield. Your words of encouragement kept me going through
the hard times of putting my words on paper. Thank you. You will be missed.
Contact me at
[email protected]
Follow my projects at
http://dougdandridge.net
Follow my Blog at
http://dougdandridge.com
Follow me at
@BrotherofCats
Copyright © 2011 Doug
Dandridge
All rights reserved.
This
ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be
re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book
with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If
you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for
your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank
you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Books by Doug Dandridge
Doug Dandridge’s
Author Page at Amazon
Science Fiction
The Exodus Series
Exodus: Empires at War:
Book 3: The Rising Storm (Coming Spring 2013).
The Deep Dark Well
Series
Deeper and Darker
(coming Summer/Fall 2013)
Others
Fantasy
The Refuge Series
Doppelganger:
A Novel of Refuge
Others
Sign
up for my Newsletter at
Mailchimp
to receive news about upcoming projects, releases and promotions.
Chapter 1
Twinkle twinkle little
star
I only see you from
afar
Up above the world so
high
Before I reach you I
will die
Deep space astronaut's
ditty
July 9, 2087. Kuiper
Belt, Sol System.
"Look at the size
of that friggen thing," growled Zhokov, his sour breath washing over the
crowded bridge of the
Niven
as he leaned over to get a look out the view
port.
Damned Russian bastard
, thought Pandi Latham,
shrugging a shoulder in an attempt to get his big paw off of her. Always
making overtures toward her, all the way out here from Harrison Base.
"Just how big is
it?" asked Captain Michael Morrison in his clipped British tones. "I
have never seen anything that big outside of one of the habitats."
Pandi still thrilled to
the sound of that cultured voice, even as the captain said he was enchanted by
her soft, Alabama drawl. Luckily they had paired up early in the mission, and
he had made his claim to the only available female clear to all of the other
males of the crew. All the other males with the exception of Zhokov that is.
"Almost 2,900
meters in length," said Pandi, looking at the display of her Doppler laser
station. She looked up and out of the viewport at the dark bulk of the ship
illuminated by the running lights of the
Niven
, and the faint rays of
the far distant yellow dwarf star they called home.
"Nobody in the
system ever put anything that big into space!" said Morrison. "At
least nothing that was meant to travel."
"What about the
deep space freighters?" said Lee.
Yeah, right
, thought Pandi.
Nobody even bothered to comment on that statement. Sure, some of the ion
freighters were well over three K's in length. But those were stick figure
ships, shaped much like the three hundred meter length of
Niven
, with a
long boom protecting the crew compartment from the fission reactor, and the
length of the particle accelerator tubes making up much of the rest of the
ship's length.
This thing is massive
, she thought,
at least four
hundred meters along its narrowest dimension
. It appeared like what one
would imagine a space going passenger liner to look like, some centuries into
the future.
"Start
transmitting video back to Harrison," ordered Morrison, as the
Niven
jerked with the push of its lateral thrusters, making the last adjustments to
match vectors with the strange vessel.
"Aye, sir,"
said Lee, making sure the com laser was aligned on the base, four and a half
billion kilometers away and moving farther every second. "They should
receive our first transmissions in 4.28 hours."
Suddenly the
Niven
shuddered, as if all of the attitude thrusters had fired in a sequence intended
to cause the most disruption possible. Pandi looked over at the pilot console
in front of Morrison. No indicator lights were on.
"Engineer,"
shouted the captain, "check on the attitude subsystems."
"Aye, sir,"
said McIntyre, the engineer, looking over his board. "No activity on the
thrusters."
"Illumination,
captain?" asked Pandi, hands hovering over the spotlight controls.
"No sign of
activity, is there?" he replied.
"No sir,"
replied Pandi, looking over her passive scan displays, "Still a small flux
of gamma radiation. Either fusion or MAM."
"Ma'am?"
asked Zhokov, looking at Pandi with a leer.
"Matter-antimatter,"
said McIntyre. "The annihilation of the two opposites gives off energy in
the form of gamma radiation."
"But no change in
its status, Pandora?" asked Morrison.
"No, sir,"
said Pandi, grimacing at the use of her given name. Morrison was normally very
proper with her, she knew. But he must be using the name that only her lover
could get away with to relieve the tension. Of course it was a two edged
sword, she thought. The use of her real patronym also reinforced the fact that
the attractive redhead, the only woman on board the cramped ion explorer, was
sleeping with the captain. As much as Pandi loved sex, and sex with Morrison
was very good indeed, she was still only a one-man woman, at least one at a
discreet period of her life.
She looked at the small
mirror she had set over the upper display screens. Her long red hair was set
in a braid to keep it out of her way in the zero gee environment. Laugh lines
around her deep blue eyes, heart shaped face covered with fair skin and a light
dusting of freckles. Not bad for having had her forty-fourth birthday just five
days ago. Michael said her body was still fine, athletic with small perfect
breasts, even if her coveralls disguised her shape.
"Go ahead,"
said Morrison, still staring intently at the shape framed against the bright
cloud of stars that made up the disk of the Milky Way.
Pandi's fingers flew
over the touch pad, flooding space with bright illumination as she maneuvered
the banks of lights to bring the mass of the intruder under coverage. Her
breath caught in her throat as the beams of lights played across the hull of
the ship. As impressive as it had looked looming out of the darkness, it was
even more so under the glare of the lights.
"Looks like
somebody or something didn't mean this baby well," said McIntyre, nodding
at the huge cylinder of the spacecraft. Huge half globes of silvered metal lay
at one end of the long vessel, a curved prow at the other. An enormous oblong
of shimmering transparency, half a kilometer long, lay near two thirds of the
way from the bow. The cause of the lifeless condition of the ship was also
apparent. For almost two kilometers along the near side of the ship ran a pair
of gaping wounds in the skin, where supporting ribs were exposed to the vacuum
of space. The far tract ran over the transparency, leaving a gaping hole in
the dome. Further across the hull lay another gaping hole, this deep into the
hull itself.
"What the bloody
hell would do that?" asked Morrison. "Meteors?"
"Not likely,"
said Zhokov. "They would have to be two of them, both traveling in
parallel and striking just right to cause such a pattern."
"Shells?"
said Pandi, letting the excitement of the moment get past her revulsion of the
Russian. But he had fought in the Geneng Wars. He knew better than any of
them what were the capabilities of weapons of heavy destruction.
"The lines are too
even," said Zhokov with a smile. "Shells would have left a line of
holes joined at the edges. Those lines are too straight. More likely a beam
weapon of some type. But something a lot more powerful than anything we know
of."
"Is it Alien or
human?" asked Lee.
"Based on the
level of technology apparent in its size I would vote for alien," said
McIntyre.
"Me also,"
said Zhokov. "Based on the damage done by the beam weapon."
"I would say
human," said Morrison, "based on the improbability of another species
using English as their primary language."
Niven
had drifted up over
the top of the ship on her plotted path to circumnavigate the intruder. A bank
of lights illuminated the hull to the front of the control bubble of the huge
vessel, and all eyes strained to make out the arch of letters across the hull,
as well as the line of letters and numbers to the front.
HERNAND
C7942
Niven
shook violently yet
again, as if all the thrusters had gained a magnitude of power and were
determined to shake the ion explorer apart. Crew grabbed for whatever they
could to steady them, as eyes searched displays to see what was happening.
"What the hell is
causing that?" yelled the captain.
"Nothing on the
monitors," said Pandi. "Doppler laser shows that the alien is also
shaking at the same resonance."
"Some kind of
energy our particle detectors can't pick up?" asked Morrison.
"That's
impossible," said McIntyre. "All energy is is fast moving
particles. We should be picking them up."
