Andromeda Day and the Black Hole (3 page)

And today looked to be no different. Andi
clung to the side of the elevator as the ship shuddered. It felt as if they
were being fired upon. She jumped from foot to foot in her impatience to get
there more quickly, and then fell out of the doors as they opened and spewed
her onto the floor of the bridge.

“Lying around, Andromeda?” Deneb cast her
an amused glance. “Come on, get on your feet and give me a hand.”

The large room known as the bridge formed
the top section of the upper cube of the
Antiquarian
. The ceiling and
all four walls were constructed from Carbex, and they gave a breathtaking view
of the part of the Galaxy through which they were travelling. To a newcomer the
effect could be quite unsettling as it seemed as if you were actually sitting
out in space, but Andi was used to it, and spent a lot of her free time up
there, studying the star systems first hand rather than from computer files.

The center of the room was taken up with a
huge workstation, the middle of which was inlaid with a Liquid Crystal Display
computer screen on which Andi could call up the plans for every chartered star
system of the Milky Way, along with details of the planets, such as their
geology, geography, and temperatures, and the civilizations that lived on them.

A curving table dominated the front of the bridge,
running from one side of the room to the other, in which were set various LCD
screens displaying details about the ship and the star systems through which
they were travelling. In the center of the table sat the Waiter’s main
terminal. From here Deneb could control the course and speed of the ship, the
weapons relay, and other important functions like life support. He sat there
now, studying a geophysical survey of the planet that hung before him like a
child’s ball thrown up into the stars.

Andi joined him there hurriedly, scanning
the view before her, surprised to see no ships nearby. “Who’s firing on us? I
felt a jolt.”

He turned around and drew her towards him
with a hand. “Nobody— it was stray fire from the planet’s surface. The Plions
were right— it looks like there’s a war going on down there.” The Plions were
the last civilization they’d traded with—on the outer rim of the star system,
who had told them what they knew about Thoume and its people.

Sure enough, as they looked down on the
large planet, its breathable atmosphere making it look very much like Earth—purple-blue
skies and swirling white clouds—she could see small explosions on the
landmasses, and the black scarring of burned cities.

“Not a good idea,” Andi said. “Come on Dad,
let’s pass on to the next system, we don’t want to get caught up in a war.” She
was disappointed at not being able to make contact with the planet. The Plions
had said that there was a rare tetragonal crystal known as Indigo Quartz
present on Thoume. They’d even shown Andi and Deneb a few pieces they’d bought
on a trading mission to the planet. Andi and her father had stared wide-eyed at
the beautiful crystal, which had glowed a soft purple flecked with silver
sparkles. Indigo Quartz, the Plions had explained, was not only beautiful to
look at, but its complicated crystalline structure also helped in the
development of psychic powers.

Deneb—not one for ‘witchy’ stuff, as he
called it—had snorted at that and continued to talk about the crystal trade and
how much a piece could expect to bring off-world, but later Andi had asked one
of the Plions about its alternative uses. The Plions had explained that the
crystal helped an individual to channel his or her power of thought. Its use depended
upon one’s own ability—for some, it strengthened their telepathic talent, for
others it gave them greater sensitivity to people’s feelings, yet others
discovered their ability to heal was greatly increased. Andi knew that crystals
had been used on Earth for many centuries to channel energies. However, the
Plions had explained that the power of Indigo Quartz was supposed to exceed
other kinds of crystal more than tenfold, and it was therefore in great demand.

Andi had been looking forward to getting
some Thoume artifacts to add to their displays on board, and she was also
secretly hoping to acquire some of the Quartz to investigate her own psychic
abilities. Deneb, of course, had also hoped to come by some for more material
purposes. But now it looked as if they would have to pass it by.

Deneb, however, had other ideas. “Are you
mad? Were you listening when they mentioned the Quartz?”

“Of course I was. I’d love to get hold of
some. But there’s a war going on!”

He dismissed her comment with a wave of his
hand. “There’s always time for trade.”

“In the middle of a war? Have you had your
brain removed? Who’s going to be interested in buying and selling when they
could die at any moment?”

“Haven’t you learned anything about
business, Andi? There are always those who are willing to use the misfortunes
of others to make a profit.”

“Including you?”

He glared at her.

She glared back. “And what about getting
your own head blown off, aren’t you worried about that?”

He grinned then. “Come on now, you know I
have nine lives.”

“Hmm.” She sighed. “I just don’t know how
many you’ve used up.” She came a bit closer and held his hand. “Come on, Dad,
it’s not worth us risking our lives for a few pieces of crystal.”

“It’s not just that…” His voice trailed
off. She watched him fight with himself as if debating whether to tell her
something. But after a while he looked away, studying the screen in front of
him. “I’m going down,” he said shortly. “Don’t try to talk me out of it.” Not
looking at her, he pressed a button on the large keyboard in front of him. “Waiter?”

“Yes, Deneb?” the Waiter said pleasantly.

“Can you page Jack please?”

“Yes, Deneb.”

Andi watched as her father programed in a
circular orbit around Thoume, high in the atmosphere, out of reach of their
ground radars. She wondered what he had been going to tell her. His words
implied that there was more to his visit than merely acquiring the Quartz. But
what else could he possibly want, apart from more artifacts?

She remembered back to their visit to
Plion, where Deneb had requested a meeting with one of their ambassadors. She’d
asked if she could accompany him, but he’d refused. She’d not thought much about
it at the time, after all she was only fourteen and Deneb didn’t confide in her
about the business of running the ship. But he hadn’t been in a good mood when
he came out of the room. At the time she’d assumed the Plions had turned down
some request for an artifact that Deneb had his eye on—now, however, she
wondered what their conversation had concerned.

“What are you going to do?” she asked
eventually, realizing he wasn’t going to tell her anything more.

“Go down in the
Sparrowhawk
and see
if I can talk to someone who will let us have a few bits and pieces. No-one’s
answering any communication out here.”

“Well, I’m coming too. It’s the only way I
can keep an eye on you.”

“Okay.” He looked over at her. “See that
pig flying past the planet?”

She was unperturbed. She’d not been off the
ship for ages and was desperate to feel real ground beneath her feet. “So how
are you going to talk to them, then?”

“I’ll use my clip.”

“That will help you translate their
language, but how will you speak back to them?” Andi had invented an interpreter
clip for use aboard the
Antiquarian
. It consisted of a small receiver
worn inside the ear by all the staff that transmitted a signal sent from the
translation clip attached to their clothing. It enabled all those on board to
be able to communicate without having to make everyone learn the different
languages. It was a marvelous invention, but it was of little use off-ship—although
the clip would attempt to translate a foreign language using the patterns of
speech that it already knew, if the other person wasn’t wearing a clip they
wouldn’t understand the replies given.

It wasn’t so much of a problem for Andi
because her electronic brain gave her a head start with learning languages, but
it wasn’t so easy for Deneb. He was quick, but not always quick enough, and it
had led to problems on more than one occasion.

“Remember Tanaraq?” she reminded him.

Deneb pulled a face and she knew he was
thinking about the moment he’d replied to a Tanaraq question and instead of
saying the compliment he had intended, it had come out, apparently, as one of
the rudest insults in their language. Needless to say he’d returned to the ship
that day empty handed and more than a little embarrassed.

He was quiet for a moment, and she
struggled to read what he was thinking. She knew, after what had happened to
her mother—after what she herself had gone through—that he felt a need to
protect her. But she was fourteen now, and she was desperate to get off the
ship. She said nothing, but her eyes begged him to let her go.

He smiled then, reached out, and tucked a
stray hair behind her ear. “You look more and more like your mother every day,”
he said, a catch in his voice. He cleared his throat. “All right, you can come.
But you must promise to do as I say—no going off on your own or anything.”

“Yes, Dad,” she said, knowing perfectly
well that it would have to be she who stopped Deneb getting into trouble rather
than the other way round.

The elevator doors opened and out stepped
Jack. It was an unusual, Old-Time name for someone who looked distinctly unlike
an Earth person, but it was the best translation Andi could come up with for
the guttural word that Jack had told her was his name in his own language. Jack
was from a planet called Ocasta that the
Antiquarian
had passed only a
few months after it had left Earth. Jack had jumped at the chance to become
part of the crew. Andi had never asked him why he had to leave his home planet,
although she was aware that Deneb knew, but she suspected it was something to
do with a woman, because he carried a picture inside his pocket, and she often
caught him staring at it when he thought she wasn’t looking.

Jack was, like most of the species in the
Galaxy, humanoid, but there the similarity to Earth people ended, because his
skin was a nutty dark brown and wrinkled like a dried-up cloth, although Andi
guessed he wasn’t much older than Deneb. He had short stubbly hair that stuck
straight up like a hedgehog, and his eyes were a very odd color, a sort of
light pinky-brown.

He was a gentle man, very loyal to Deneb
and Andi, and, being the member of the crew who had been with them the longest,
had slipped easily into the role of Deneb’s second-in-command.

“I’m here,” he announced unnecessarily,
walking onto the bridge. Andi’s clip interpreted his deep, guttural voice, although
she knew enough of his language to be able to understand him anyway, and often
replied to him in his own tongue.

Andi smiled at him. “Good morning.”

Jack nodded. “Good morning, Andi. I see
that Deneb’s getting us into another scrape.”

“Of course,” she said wryly. “But this time
I’m going down to the planet to keep an eye on him.”

“We weren’t being fired on,” Deneb stated. “It
was stray fire from the planet. Look, Jack, we’re going to go down and see what
we can find. I’ve programmed the
Antiquarian
to orbit round Thoume. Keep
communications open will you, in case we need you?”

“Of course.” He caught Deneb’s arm as he
passed, his wrinkled skin like a gnarled branch lying across Deneb’s sleeve. “Don’t
take any chances. Especially not with Andi there.”

“Do I ever?” Deneb left the question
unanswered and grabbed his daughter’s hand. His face was alight with the
excitement he felt at going down to the planet’s surface, and Andi found
herself comparing him to the explorers that formed their own display in their
museum: Old-Time ones like Marco Polo, Columbus, and Cook, who had provided the
early knowledge of the landmasses on Earth, and New-Time ones like Alkaid, who’d
made the first Anti-Matter Drive space flight, and Spica, who’d been the first
woman to leave the solar system. Andi imagined that their faces, too, had held
the same spark of excitement and absence of fear.

Or was it absence of sense? Certainly her
father seemed to lack the inner caution that most people had. But then perhaps
if everyone were afraid to take the first step, Earth people would never have
gone anywhere.

After crossing the bridge, Deneb pulled
Andi with him into the elevator. “Quarters, first level,” he directed the
Waiter.

“Yes, Deneb.” The elevator started to
descend.

Deneb turned and smiled at her. “So, are
you ready for your first big adventure?” His eyes seemed to spark with
excitement, like lightning across a dusky sky. “Remember, don’t go getting into
any trouble.”

She grinned at him. “I think it’s me that
should be saying that to you, if your past expeditions are anything to go by.”

He pulled a face at her, and she stuck out
her tongue as they made their way out of the elevator and along the green
corridor to their quarters. They had a suite of rooms next to each other and,
leaving him at his door, she jogged along to her own quarters.

She pressed her thumb against the pad on
the door panel and, after a few seconds, the door slid aside silently. “Lights,
please,” she requested as she entered, and the Waiter raised the lighting to
her specified daytime level.

Her suite consisted of four rooms. To the
left was a day room which housed the Virtual Reality pad where she attended
class and enjoyed the occasional hour on the Playdeck. It also had her main
computer station, an exercise bike, books, and other recreational items. The
central room was a lounge, with a large sofa and two comfy chairs, and an LCD
screen on which she could watch any of the hundreds of micro-discs of films and
documentaries in the
Antiquarian
archives. There was also a fridge and a
small heating unit so she could prepare her own food if she didn’t want to go
down to the mess. The third room was her bedroom, smaller than the main room
but still a fair size, with a large closet containing her relatively meager
selection of clothes. Off this was her bathroom, with a shower and drying unit.