“Why close the lock?” Natalya asked. “It’s not like the ship couldn’t jump with the door open.”
Zoya shrugged. “Locked room mystery if the ship ever got found?”
“So whoever programmed this horror show planned on killing the test pilot, then throwing the ship out into the Deep Dark to hide the evidence?” Natalya asked.
“Who was supposed to be the target? Us or somebody else?”
“It’s us,” Natalya said. “We’ve been on this for weeks now. This goes way beyond embarrassing the management to take over the project.”
Zoya sat and stared at the console for several long moments. “What if it’s not that simple?”
“How so?”
“What if somebody wanted to steal the ship?”
“Whatever for? It’s a mess,” Natalya said. “Any half-assed designer with a shred of knowledge could do better than this in a weekend.”
“I don’t know, but if the goal was to make the ship disappear—along with the crew—it seems odd that they’d jump us into a relatively clear spot in the Deep Dark.”
“Not like they could jump us into a star,” Natalya said.
“That’s true but there are a lot of dirty places out here. Many of them marked on the charts. Why not jump there where the probability that the ship would be destroyed is greater?”
Natalya let that idea play around between her ears for a bit. “What if it’s not the ship? What if it’s something on it?”
“Like what?”
“The comms array?” Natalya asked.
“Not installed,” Zoya said. “What good would it do anybody if it were? Not like they can’t bribe somebody to give them one. There are thousands of them flying around out here.”
“Nothing makes sense,” Natalya said.
“I can’t argue that,” Zoya said. She consulted her console. “We’re just coming up on the reverse vector. Capacitor will be at two-thirds power in a bit over a stan.”
“We’ll have enough velocity to go through the hole?”
“Yeah. We won’t be going very fast, but fast enough to slip through a hole.”
“You jumping direct to Ravaine?” Natalya asked.
“That’s what we agreed, wasn’t it?”
Natalya nodded.
The long-range scan bipped.
Zoya pulled up the display and swore. “Somebody’s closing on us.”
“Somebody or something?” Natalya asked.
“Judging from the deceleration profile, it’s manned. They’re coming fast and braking hard. They’ll close on us in under a stan.”
“We need to be somewhere else by then,” Natalya said.
“Much as I’d like to know who’s out there, I agree. Now if there’s only someplace we can jump to.” Zoya flipped through the astrogation data and pulled in a sector barely one BU away from the shipyard. “Yeah. We actually jumped to it on our way back from that last messenger run. Right distance. Fairly large region. Clean.”
“Will we have enough capacitor to jump before they catch us?” Natalya asked.
Zoya worried her lower lip between her front teeth as she tapped keys and stared at the console. “Yes. Should have. Probably.”
“You’re not filling me with confidence, Zee.”
Zoya tapped keys and ran a finger over the screen. “Yeah. Programmed. Jumping in half a stan.”
They sat, waiting. Watching the capacitor fill, even as the fuel for the thruster fuel level fell.
“We going to make it in time?” Natalya asked.
Zoya shrugged. “Can’t tell. They’ve changed their deceleration profile. They’re not slowing as fast so they’ll be here sooner.”
“Won’t do them much good if they’re going too fast when they go by.”
“Good point,” Zoya said after staring into space for a couple of ticks. “We’ve got the juice now. Course is locked in. When do you want to go?”
“Now is as good a time as any to find out if the drive still works.”
Zoya grinned and punched the button.
Chapter 39
Deep Dark
2366, May 29
NATALYA PEERED THROUGH the armorglass at the sprinkling of stars. “Did we jump?”
Zoya nodded, her hands busy on the console. “Yeah. At least here we have the advantage of knowing we’re not likely to get hit by a stray rock.”
“Or picked up by somebody who wants the ship more than us. Anything on long-range?”
“Not yet,” Zoya said. “Short-range shows a Barbell pulling away from us. Vector’s consistent with a jump out of Ravaine.”
“How close are we to jumping home?” Natalya asked.
Zoya keyed an engine burn on the navigation panel. “We’ll be ready to go by the time we’re lined up.” She consulted a meter on the panel. “No more than a stan.”
Natalya settle back in her jumpseat and pondered. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Oh?” Zoya asked, glancing back over her shoulder. “What’s giving you that feeling? The runaway thrusters? The airlock opening us to vacuum? Or maybe the preprogrammed jump to nowhere?”
“Where’s Ernst? He knew where we were jumping. Why didn’t he follow?”
Zoya frowned. “Good question. He was on track. Only had to charge his capacitor.”
“Echo One, Serendipity. Over.”
Natalya felt her eyes widen and Zoya snapped back to her console. “Serendipity, Echo One. Over.”
“Echo One, I’m so glad to hear your voice. I have you on the edge of my long-range. I’m maneuvering to match vectors now. Over.”
Zoya shifted windows and nodded. “Roger, Serendipity. I see you. We’re lining up for a jump home. Over.”
“Echo One, Serendipity. I should be alongside in a few stans. Do you have enough atmosphere to wait for me? We should talk before you jump back. Over.”
Zoya glanced back at Natalya. “As long as the water holds out, we’re good with oxygen. Probably as much as another whole day.”
“Scrubbers will be fine for that amount of time. We’re a little short on food, but I can live on coffee that long,” Natalya said. “I’d really like to know what happened after we jumped and how he happens to be here now.”
“You can’t suspect him of sabotaging the ship. He tried to talk us out of testing it.” Zoya frowned. “You’re the only one who thought this was a good idea.”
“I still think it is,” Natalya said, rubbing at her nose. “Or can be if we can use this to smoke out the rats at the yard. Ernst might be able to help with that.”
“What are you thinking?” Zoya asked.
“If we jump back in with Ernst, his arrival can mask our jump. He can probably get us into a docking bay without anybody being the wiser.”
“And once we’re there?” Zoya asked.
“I think there’s an advantage in having people think we’re lost in the Deep Dark.” Natalya said. “I want to know how Downs did this—and who’s behind him.”
“What good will that do?” Zoya asked. “Does Alison strike you as the kind of administrator who’d space somebody?”
Natalya slumped back into her jump seat. “Not really.” She paused. “But sabotage of a critical project, attempted murder? That’s going to be harder to sweep under the rug than a little skimming off the construction budget.”
“Echo One, Serendipity. I should be alongside in four stans. Over.”
Natalya nodded. “My gut says wait.”
“My gut says it’s been a long time since breakfast, but all right.” Zoya keyed her mic. “Roger, Serendipity. We’ll wait. You got any sandwiches? We left without lunch. Over.”
“Roger, Echo One.” Panko’s voice sounded like he was trying not to laugh. “Lunch is on me. Serendipity, out.”
“Now what?” Zoya asked.
“You want me to spell you so you can stretch your legs?” Natalya asked.
“It seems like a lot longer but we’ve only been out here a few stans,” Zoya said.
“I’m good for the moment.”
Natalya settled back in her seat and rested her head against the bulkhead behind her. “Fair enough,” she said. “Wake me if something else happens.”
“If something else happens, I’m guessing you’ll know as soon as I do,” Zoya said with a chuckle.
Natalya closed her eyes but she didn’t sleep. Her mind kept working on the problem. Somebody wanted them dead and she wanted to know why.
THE Serendipity closed to within a kilometer of the ship, only its marker lights visible against the starry background. At that distance, it appeared no larger than a child’s toy. “Echo One, Serendipity, over.”
“Go ahead, Serendipity,” Zoya said.
“One moment, Echo One.”
Natalya sat and watched for several long moments. “What’s he doing?” she asked.
Zoya frowned at her console and flipped a couple of toggles. “He’s painting us with microwave. I’m bringing up the tight beam receiver.”
“At this range he may fry it before we link it up,” Natalya said.
“As long as he doesn’t fry us ...” Zoya said.
The speakers crackled a couple of times before Panko’s voice became clear as the tight beam system synced up. “Serendipity, over.”
Zoya patched the mic into the tight beam array. “Serendipity, Echo One.”
“Echo One, Serendipity. What’s your status? Over.”
“Serendipity, Echo One. We’ve got atmosphere for about twelve stans. It’s going to be tight docking unless we get very lucky with the jump. The system is peeling oxygen out of the potable water and that tank is almost full, so we could—theoretically—last a lot longer. The mains have a bit of fuel. We had enough to reverse course and we’re saving some for docking. The ship itself is mostly intact. Over.”
“Roger, Echo One. I can tow you if it comes to that. You need food? Over.”
“Serendipity, Echo One. We’re fine for the moment, but it’s been a long time since breakfast. Over.”
“Roger, Echo One. How do you want to handle this? Over.”
Zoya looked at Natalya. “You want to talk to him?”
Natalya nodded and Zoya transferred the mic to Natalya’s suit. She pointed.
“Serendipity, Echo One. Over.”
“Go ahead, Echo One.”
“Serendipity, Echo One. Are your towing grapples good enough to jump us into Ravaine? Over.”
Zoya’s eyebrows rose as the pause lengthened.
“Roger, Echo One. I believe so. As long as the ship doesn’t pull any new maneuvers. Over.”
“Serendipity, Echo One. Perfect. Get us snugged in and we’ll pull the breakers and come aboard. Over.”
“Roger, that, Echo One. You can tell me about it when you get here. Serendipity, out.”
“Echo One, out.”
“We’re not going to jump ourselves?” Zoya asked.
“We have no idea if the ship will even make another jump.” Natalya said with a shrug. “This way we’ll be aboard his ship with food and water. We can get out of these suits and try to keep the ship from doing anything else strange.”
Zoya snorted and turned to her console as Panko’s ship closed on them.
“Echo One, Serendipity. Ready to latch on. Over.”
“Serendipity, Echo One. Ready when you are. Over.”
Natalya watched over Zoya’s shoulder as the other ship linked up the towing harness. The engineering schematic showed Serendipity as slightly larger while the towing fields snugged the prototype to the ship’s ventral side.
“Echo One, Serendipity. I show full latch on my end. Over.”
“Roger, Serendipity. Same here. We’re ready to come aboard. Do you have a line you can toss us? Over.”
“I can do better than that, Echo One. Secure the ship and stand by at the lock. Over”
“Will do, Serendipity. Echo One, out.”
Zoya pulled her seat belts off and stood, flipping her helmet into place while Natalya worked her way aft. She stopped with her hand on the breaker.
“Zoya? We can’t actually pull the main breaker.”
“Why?”
“Airlock needs power to cycle.”
Zoya stuck her helmeted head into engineering. “Of course. Shoulda thought of that.”
Natalya started flipping switches on the main components on the small room. Rather than pull the breakers, she disabled each device in turn starting with the kickers and moving methodically through engineering until she got to the Burleson drive. “That should keep us mostly out of trouble,” she said.
Zoya nodded and went back to the lock.
Natalya joined her in the small cubby, squeezing in beside her and closing the inner door.
Movement outside the port made her flinch before she saw Ernst Panko’s helmeted face peering in from outside. He gave a thumbs-up signal and held up a D-ring with a lifeline.
Their suit speakers crackled for a moment before Ernst’s voice came through. “Ready out here. Open her up.”
Zoya keyed the lock and the air pressure dropped, deadening the sound around them until the only thing Natalya heard was the sound of her own breathing and the blood rushing through her ears. When the pressure dropped to vacuum level, Zoya opened the outer door and joined Ernst hanging on the life line like laundry hung out to dry.
Ernst handed her a short chunk of line connecting two D-links and then passed another to Natalya.
They each clipped a link to their suits and the other around the lifeline.
Natalya stepped out of the lock and closed the door behind her.
Ernst led them up the line, hand over hand into the slightly larger lock on the Serendipity. There was room—barely—for the three of them and Ernst keyed the outer door closed, starting the lock’s cycle.
Zoya popped her helmet as soon as they stepped aboard the ship proper. “Thanks,” she said.
Ernst nodded. “That’s why we have a chase ship for these runs. Just in case.”
“How’d you happen to be here?” Natalya asked, pulling her arms out of the suit and beginning to feel a little more human and a lot less like a sausage in a stuffed casing.
Ernst finished shucking off his suit, hanging it in a locker just across from the airlock. “I’m embarrassed to say your jump caught me flatfooted without a charged capacitor. By the time I told Alison what had happened, I only had enough charge for a short jump. That location you gave me isn’t in my database. This one is on a direct line and I figured if you had to hop back in short jumps, you’d most likely hit it.” He ran a hand over his scalp and looked at the deck with a little laugh. “I was actually surprised when you showed up. I figured I’d jump out to you once I had enough capacitor.”
Zoya raised an eyebrow in Natalya’s direction. “What did Alison say?”
Panko looked up at her. “Find them.” He turned and headed toward the galley at the bow. “Food, fluid. Let’s get moving toward the jump vector while you eat.”
Natalya’s stomach rumbled so loudly Panko looked back at her. “Sorry,” she said. “Been a long time since breakfast.”
Panko smiled and nodded at the seats around his small table. “Have a seat. Sandwiches all right? Fresh bread. Cheese. Some ham.”
“Where do you get fresh bread?” Zoya asked.
“I make it.”
“Here?” she asked.
“Don’t get too excited. It’s just a civilian-grade bread machine. Throw in some flour, water, yeast, sugar, and salt—push the button and come back in four stans. The ingredients stay fresher longer than the bread would, and it gives the ship a great homey smell while I’m working.” While he talked, he pulled sandwich fixings out of the cupboards and coolers. “Beverage?”
“Coffee?” Natalya asked.
“Uh.” Panko shrugged. “Water. Juice. Tea. I’ve got the coffeemaker but good beans are hard to find.”
Natalya nodded. “We’ve found the same thing, but I’ve got some back on the Peregrine. Water, please.
”
“I remember,” he said. “That’s a lot better coffee than I’m used to at the yard. Zoya?”
“Water’s good for me, too,” she said.
Panko pulled a couple of covered cups from a rack and filled them with ice water from the cooler, placing one in front of each woman. “Help yourself. I’ll get us moving and then we can talk while we cruise into the yards.”
“Can you sneak us into the dock?” Natalya asked.
“If I just fly into my normal berth, nobody will think twice. It would never fly, though. Alison is going to be on the blower as soon as we jump in. We can’t keep the ship secret, but we may be able to do the next best thing.”
Panko plopped into the pilot’s couch and started punching keys. A low rumble worked through the ship while Zoya and Natalya helped themselves to the sandwiches. “You were almost on the vector,” Ernst said after a few ticks. “We’ll be ready to jump in half a stan.” He turned the couch to look at them. “So? What happened?”
Zoya swallowed a bite of sandwich before answering. “After the thrusters started firing by themselves?”
“Yeah. You managed to stop that.”
“I pulled the main breaker,” Natalya said. “The thrusters were cross-wired to a different switch and I didn’t have time to try them all. I pulled the main and then shut off all the individual circuits until we found the one that went to the thrusters.”
“Fast thinking.”
Natalya shrugged and took another bite of her sandwich.
“What happened then?”
“When we got the ship restarted, the computer didn’t come back up so we refreshed the console,” Zoya said. “It didn’t reboot immediately. Just a message about how long we could hold our breath.”
“From where I was sitting, it looked like you lost a lot of air. I saw a plume of crystallized water even from way back there.”
“The inner lock opened first,” Natalya said. “A second later, the outer door opened and sucked all the atmosphere out of the ship except for the engine room. I’m not sure about that door opening in like that.”
“It’s always a fifty-fifty thing whether to design the door opening in or out. I suspect the design team went with opening in to guard against an engine room explosion,” Panko said. “If the engine room malfunctions and punctures the hull, the rest of the ship still has atmosphere.”