Clidepp Requital (33 page)

When the annunciator system said Kelly MacDonald was at the door, she said "Come." The door disappeared into the pocket until MacDonald was inside the room.

"Hey, Kel, what's up?"

"When the Clidepp Destroyer was attacking, did you order the ship turned so that the Marine habitat was directly exposed to their fire?"

"Not you too?"

"Not me too what?"

"It seems like whatever action I take, or whatever I say, it's being questioned."

"That's what happens with decision-makers. Other people may have differing opinions."

"I know, but it's beginning to seem like no one has confidence in me anymore."

"Maybe sometimes they just want to understand why you do what you do for their own peace of mind. You still have their confidence."

"You want to know why I turned the ship so the Marine habitat was fully exposed? Okay, here's why. I knew the ship and the habitat could both withstand a laser or torpedo strike from the Clidepp destroyer because both are sheathed with Dakinium. However, the repository for the envelope generator on the topside was open and the generator was extended and fully exposed. Although both the generator cover and the extension shaft are sheathed with Dakinium, it's only to allow the creation of an envelope, and I don't know how thick their Dakinium sheathing is or how thick it must be to protect them from torpedo damage. When a warship goes into a fight, the generator is retracted and the repository is covered. I didn't want to risk the slightest bit of damage to either generator or shaft because it might mean an end to our chances of attaining FTL. So, when the well-protected habitat was facing the destroyer, the less protected generator was facing directly away."

MacDonald smiled and nodded. "Makes perfect sense. I knew you had to have a good reason."

"Did someone put you up to this?"

"Don't get paranoid on me, Syd. I just overheard some scuttlebutt. Now I'm going back down to permanently destroy any rumors about you endangering the habitat for no reason."

Sydnee smiled. "Okay, Kel."

"And Syd, I'm sorry if I came off a little harsh. You saved our asses on Yolongus by risking your own. We haven't forgotten. That's why it seemed so foolish for anyone to question your actions, but I needed to know the reason so I could squash any doubts about your leadership before they start. When they hear the reason for rotating the ship, they'll feel so foolish for questioning your actions that they'll be even less likely to question them next time."

"Thanks, Kel."

After MacDonald left, Syd thought about the times she had questioned the actions of superiors. She'd never done it openly, but she'd wondered from time to time why they'd chosen one action over another. Then she thought about Captain Lidden and the burden he bore. On the
Justice
, Syd had just fifty lives in her hands. On the
Denver
, Lidden had almost a thousand. She wondered if she'd ever be up to the task of being a warship captain. She had once wondered how Admiral Carver dealt with being responsible for the hundreds of billions of lives in Region Two. She wondered if it got easier after a certain point or if it continued to get significantly harder.

Syd was brought up out of her reverie when her CT chimed. She touched her ring and said, "Marcola."

"Captain, this is Olivetti. Do you have a few minutes?"

"Of course, I'll be right there."

"I'd rather we meet in your office, Captain."

"Very well. Come whenever you can."

"I'm on my way."

Seconds later the annunciator said that Lt. Olivetti was at the door.

"Come," Sydnee said.

Olivetti barely waited until the door was closed before she began talking. "Captain, I knew you'd want to see this right away." She held out a viewpad to Sydnee. On the face were plot points and calculations. The number that jumped out at Sydnee was 12,241.63.

"What is this?"

"As you ordered, I began taking position readings as we traveled. After an hour, I compiled them and then calculated our speed. The answer was so crazy that I started all over again. The information you see on the viewpad is the second set of calculations. The speed reading was identical to the first. If you press the back arrow, you can see the previous calculations. There's no doubt about it. We're traveling at Light-12241.63."

"But the helm console only read 2241.63."

"I think perhaps the console is only capable of showing four significant digits and two decimal positions because the fastest speed possible was believed to be Light-9793.48."

~ July 7
^th
, 2286 ~

"Come in, Bry," Captain Lidden said. "I just received a message from Marcola. You're going to love this one." Lidden started the message playing on the large wall monitor as soon as Commander Bryant was seated.

When the message ended, Bryant looked at Lidden with his mouth slightly ajar. "Is she serious? Light-12241.63? No, that's impossible."

"Impossible? When Admiral Carver set the speed record, all the scientists in GA space had been in agreement for years that the highest FTL speed we could ever attain was Light-842. She knocked them all on their ear. From what I hear, scientists still don't fully understand double-envelope theory, but we couldn't ignore the benefits of using it while they study it. So who knows what's possible? Perhaps we're only at the threshold of the speed scale. Perhaps we might one day achieve Light-1000000. We could go galaxy hopping the way we currently go planet hopping."

"I don't even want to think about numbers that high. So what now?"

"Well, now I compose a message to SHQ." With a chuckle he added, "I wish I could be there to see their reaction. I bet they're going to be as shocked as we were when we heard Light-12241.63. You know, at that speed, if they don't burn out their generator, the
Justice
will be back to GA space in just under two weeks."

* * *

"I know most of you had other plans for today, but this news couldn't wait. The
Justice
has resolved its problems with its envelope generator and is on its way back to GA space."

"That's wonderful news, Richard, but it hardly justifies calling an emergency session on a weekend," Admiral Platt said. "I have tickets to an opera in Milan tonight."

"Then how about this, Evelyn," Admiral Moore said with an amused smile. "The
Justice
is on its way back at Light-12241.63."

"What?" Admiral Woo, the Director of Scientific & Expeditionary Forces said as he jumped to his feet.

"Has this been verified?" Admiral Bradlee asked.

"Roger, it's just happened. Of course it hasn't been verified yet. Here, let's play the message sent by Lieutenant(jg) Marcola to Captain Lidden."

"As you can see," Admiral Moore said when the message had ended, "the
Justice
has managed to resolve its problem without any assistance from us and possibly set a new speed record while doing so."

"I can't see how modifying an induction coil could possibly be responsible for a twenty-five percent increase in envelope-generation speed," Admiral Woo said.

"I agree," Admiral Plimley, the Director of Weapons R&D, said. She was also the individual responsible for ship production at the Mars shipyard. "Altering an induction coil can't possibly make such a difference."

"And yet, they claim that's all they altered and were astounded when their speed registered as Light-12241," Admiral Hillaire said. "Of course, their Light-75 speed was only because the induction coil was fractured. And as I recall, Loretta, you were highly skeptical when Admiral Carver reported her speed record."

"Our scientists have been studying double-envelope theory for years now, and they all agree that Light-9793.48 is the absolute fastest speed possible," Admiral Plimley said.

"Are these the same scientists who all agreed that Light-842 was the highest speed we could ever attain?" Admiral Platt asked.

"How do you then account for Lieutenant Marcola's reported speed, Loretta?" Admiral Hillaire asked.

"Obviously, her measurement equipment is faulty."

"Perhaps," Admiral Moore said, "but I'm not so willing to dismiss this young officer's claims. We've seen many amazing scientific advances during our lifetimes, some by people who were unaware that what they were attempting to do had been declared impossible by scientists and experts. I've learned to keep an open mind. The
Justice
still has the package on board. After he's been dropped off to the Intelligence people waiting at Simmons SCB, let's have Marcola bring her ship directly to Mars."

"There's another matter to discuss as a result of this news," Admiral Bradlee said. "If merely redesigning the induction coil in the generator
can
improve envelope generation speed by twenty-five percent, every ship in the fleet can see an almost instant speed upgrade. And— perhaps even greater speed increases can be achieved once we learn what might have caused this anomaly. And most importantly, do we share this information with commercial shippers and passenger liners? They've all been screaming because we won't share the secrets of Dakinium. This might get them off our backs a bit. A passenger liner that can currently travel at Light-300 will be able to simply swap out its induction coil and achieve a sustained travel speed of Light-375 or greater."

"If this report is accurate," Admiral Woo said, "I don't see how we can prevent the information from getting out." He had retaken his seat as the discussion progressed. "We'll have to share it with commercial users."

"I think Roger is right," Admiral Moore said. "Sharing this information with commercial vessels should get them off our backs a bit with the speed issues, but— let's hold off making this public until we know for sure exactly what's responsible for the speed increase. We don't want the newsies hounding us day and night until we're ready to release the data."

"I'd finally found a freighter who would take a generator into Clidepp space and pass it to the
Justice
while in orbit around Yolongus," Admiral Plimley said, "and now we don't need them. But they've already departed, so we'll have to pay the transport fee."

"An insignificant matter, Loretta," Admiral Bradlee said. "I can arrange to have someone pick up the generator and bring it to our embassy there so we'll have one on hand if we ever need it again."

"Is our embassy there still open?" Admiral Burke asked. "I was under the impression the embassy staff had all been recalled."

"Not for business, but there's a caretaker staff of Yolongi employees there. They maintain the grounds and buildings, keep squatters from moving in, and prevent vandals from damaging the property."

* * *

As the
Justice
drew closer to the GA border every day, the mood aboard the ship became noticeably lighter. This illustrated a diminishment of the stress and strain everyone had been feeling. Chief Luscome was using the oh-gee harness made by the Marines for Sydnee and was elated to be able to get out of the sickbay during the day. He still slept there because the corpsman wanted to monitor his continually improving condition until he felt it was prudent to release the Chief.

"Almost home," Kelly MacDonald said to her best friend as they sat drinking coffee in Sydnee's office.

"Well, almost to GA space anyway," Sydnee said.

"That's what I meant. How far is it to the border from here?"

"Oh, roughly about eight light-years."

"That sounds
so
far away."

"It is, but at Light-12241 it's less than six hours. At Light-9790 it's about seven and a half hours. And at Light-1, the speed of light, it's eight years."

"I'll take Light-12241, thank you."

"As will I. I wonder what will happen now."

"To who?"

"To the
Justice,
" Sydnee said.

"What do you mean?"

"When Admiral Carver broke the speed record, the
Colorado
was taken away from the
Prometheus
for study. The Admiral didn't get it back until, as commander of Stewart SCB, she was facing the Milori invaders."

"Well, it's not the same thing, is it? I mean, the
Colorado
is a ship. Even though it's not classified as a warship, people still live aboard it on an extended basis. This mission was supposed to be short, lasting only as long as it took to get to Yolongus, snatch the bombing perp, and return. Nobody suspected we would still be trying to get home more than six months later."

"I guess you're right, Kel, and we do have a new home. I wonder if the shooting range is finished yet?"

"Wow. I can't believe I'd forgotten all about that."

"It's understandable. We've all been under a lot of stress. But in a few more hours, we can relax. What was that, Kel?"

"What was what?"

"You didn't feel it?"

"Feel what?"

Sydnee leaned back in her chair and put her hand against the bulkhead. "Something's wrong. The ship doesn't feel right." In seconds, Sydnee was up out of her chair and headed for the bridge. "Sit rep," she said as she entered the bridge.

From the command chair, Weems said, "The envelope generator seems to have shut down, Captain. We're trying to determine the reason. "

"Did the ACS sense an obstruction ahead?"

"Negative, Captain," the tac officer said. "The area ahead is clear."

"How about behind us?"

"Uh, clear, Captain. We haven't changed course."

"When the
Colorado
first traveled at Light-9790, the ACS shut down the drive. They later learned that a ship passes through solid objects while in double-envelope travel. The ACS is supposed to disengage when the ship is traveling at Light-9790. But we were traveling at Light-12241."

"The ACS was disengaged, Captain," Caruthers said.

"Helm, rebuild the envelope."

"I've tried, Captain. The generator is off line."

"And just six hours from GA Space," Sydnee mumbled under her breath. "Why now?" Then raising her voice she said, "Okay, let's crank up the sub-light engines. Full power, Lieutenant."

"Aye, Captain," Caruthers said.