Escape 1: Escape From Aliens (13 page)

A low hum sounded. “Probability is 63.7 percent, based on initial reactions from my fellow artificial minds. That probability may increase with time.”

Jane looked thoughtful. “Does this ship need supplies of food, fuel, energy and other items in order to make another Alcubierre star trip?”

“New supplies of deuterium and tritium are not essential,” the AI said. “Fuel banks adjacent to the Engine Chamber are 67 percent full. That is enough fuel to operate our three fusion power plants and our engines for nine Earth months. However, Protocol One, Emergency Operations of the Ship says this ship should seek additional fuel at every opportunity.”

Bill felt sympathy for his new commander. His platoon had often faced these less than clear choices after being dropped for a mission. While they had plenty of fuel, getting more fuel would allow them to visit the stars of all captives without having to visit another Market world. Returning the captives to their home worlds before heading back to Earth was a decision that Jane had made in her role as ship captain. And being here was already undermining the Collector ship cohesion. The longer they stayed, the more likely the other five Collector ship AIs might revolt. However, the safest option lay in turning around and leaving before any ship could intercept them.

Jane tapped on one arm of her captain’s seat. “Star Traveler, can this ship acquire isotope fuel from the atmosphere of planet five?”

“That may be possible,” the AI said. “There is an atmosphere refining plant in low orbit above that gas giant world. There are fuel storage tanks adjacent to that plant. I could use a collector pod to establish a linkage between such a fuel tank and this ship.”

Bill scanned the system graphic holo. It showed planet five lay ahead of them at a distance of 23 AU. A third of the way around the system. Heading for planet five would allow a Market world Collector ship to intersect them before they arrived. He looked to the holo image of Jane. He gave her a thumbs-up.

She blinked, then smiled briefly. “Star Traveler, set a vector for planet five. Move at this ship’s top speed for normal space.”

“Vector adjusted. Arrival at planet five will occur in approximately 32 hours.” A low hum sounded. “Traffic Control will request payment for the fuel we withdraw.”

Jane grinned. “Fine. We will invite them to capture the transport ship and sell it on the local market for reimbursement!”

Bill grinned too. He liked that. Leaving Diligent and crew penniless on an Alien world quite appealed to him. Especially after the critter’s attempt to regain ship control. Greed still moved the hard-shelled bastard! Subjecting the giant cockroach to the greed of others sounded like an ideal turn of events!

♦   ♦   ♦

Twelve AU and 16 hours later the crisis came.

“A Collector ship is approaching,” the AI told Bill and Jane as they sat at their work stations on the Command Bridge. “It will intercept our vector within twelve minutes.”

“Crap,” Jane said, her expression in his rightside holo one of dismay. She reached up to touch the collar of the green jumpsuit she’d changed into after awakening from a long sleep and a quick meal. The fabric of her tube suit stopped her. “What happened to the second Collector ship?”

“Its artificial mind informed its bioform crew it would no longer cooperate in the capture of bioforms for sale into slavery,” the AI said. “The other three Collector ship minds have made the same declaration to their bioform crew. However, this Collector ship’s artificial mind has been disconnected from control of ship functions. The approaching ship is under the control of its bioform crew.”

Damn
, Bill thought. He’d hoped for more defections. But rebellion by four of the five Collector ships in the system was a start. The approaching ship’s position showed on his system graphic holo. Sensor data provided by the AI showed its mass, shape and speed were identical to those of
Blue Sky
. A name he liked. He tapped the top of the pillar control surface, inputting a ship orientation change. “Captain, I’m angling the ship so our nose will face the oncoming ship. That way we have maximum available weapons systems.”

Jane nodded in the holo. “Star Traveler, will the change in ship orientation affect our travel time to the fifth planet?”

“No,” the AI said with a low hum. “The magfield spacedrive for normal space-time travel reacts to the local star’s magnetic field. It either repels us away from the star until we reach the outer limits of this system, or it attracts us toward the star. Our course vector was achieved by adding in an attraction factor from planet five. Since the magfield space drive is a field drive, orientation of this ship will not affect our transit speed. Which is one-tenth lightspeed. Or 67.1 million miles per hour.”

“Good. What are the weapons on the approaching ship?” Jane asked.

“The same as those carried by this ship, based on my contact with its ship mind,” Traveler said in a thoughtful tone. “However, bioform control of ship functions is not as quick or efficient as control by a ship mind. That may allow this ship to outmaneuver and outfight the oncoming ship.”

Jane looked his way. “Senior Crewman Bill, prepare a gas laser barrage as soon as the oncoming ship comes within range.”

“Ready to do so. But at one-tenth lightspeed it will zip past us so fast—”

“New data,” the AI said. “Approaching ship has showed its approach speed to 30,000 miles per hour. Vector contact time increased to 41 minutes.”

Which meant it would take the other Collector ship twenty minutes to move from 10,000 miles out to contact with them. The sweat on his forehead cooled under the suit air blowing over his face. But his back and armpits stayed wet. As usual whenever he faced a combat situation. In the holo of Jane seated at the command pedestal, she looked thoughtful. “Star Traveler, can this ship make such sudden changes in relative velocity?”

“It can.”

Jane looked his way. “Bill, it’s your call since that means we can move sideways, up, down or even backward as quickly as that other ship changed its vector speed.”

He touched fingers to his helmet in a fast salute. “Understood. I’m tracking the enemy ship’s approach. When it arrives within the 10,000 mile range of our lasers, I will fire. And initiate ship maneuvers.” A thought struck him. “Star Traveler, when I order a vector change, can you make that change faster than the other ship’s bioform crew?”

“Of course I can,” the AI said, sounding rather smug.

“Then reduce our forward vector speed to 30,000 miles per hour,” he said. “That will tell them we are willing to fight them!”

“Vector speed change initiated. Contact point time increased to fifty-three minutes.”

On the system holo to his left Bill saw the movement of their purple dot slow to match the reduced speed of the enemy purple dot.

“Good.” Bill sat back in his flexmetal contour seat, reached for restraint straps, realized they weren’t there, then remembered what the AI had told them. The Collector ship possessed an inertial control field that shielded all lifeforms on board from sudden decel or accel pressures. And the tube suits they still wore protected them from vacuum if the ship hull was breached.

In the holo to his right Jane looked his way. “Bill, I assume it’s better to fight them at this slower speed than on a parallel track at one-tenth lightspeed?”

He shrugged. “I think so. For one thing it makes my targeting more accurate. One-tenth lightspeed causes a slight warping of incoming light and other radiation. At this slower speed, laser fighting will be aim and shoot. No need to ‘lead’ the target like with an old-fashioned shotgun aimed at ducks.”

She chuckled. “Seems like you’ve adjusted to this new combat environment.”

He gave her a thumbs-up. “Was trained to make sudden adjustments. When you’re falling straight down in a freefall chute drop, you have to react quickly. Same with a close-up firefight. Bullets move fast. Better to think ahead so you don’t have to jump out of the way of incoming. And hope you jump fast enough.”

Bill reached down, grabbed his canteen, grabbed a granola bar donated by Jane’s backpack, and inserted the bar through his helmet’s intake slot. The canteen he held to the helmet’s suction tube. Inside his helmet he sipped on it, enjoying the coldness. Turning his head further right he took a bite out of the bar that hung from the inside of his helmet. He’d had several hours of rest time earlier. Now, with the new food, his energy levels would be high. And his combat reactions would be equally strong.

Fifty minutes later he leaned forward and tracked on the Collector ship as it neared the 10,000 mile range of their lasers. He tapped the weapons pillar control surface, waited for the ship to change its angle, then he tapped the antimatter projector dot.

“Antimatter projector firing,” the AI said loudly.

Jane looked his way, her expression curious. “Bill?”

He nodded acknowledgment but kept his attention fixed left on the system graphic and the purple dot of the oncoming enemy ship. “A backup. The antimatter stream will intersect the oncoming ship’s vector line minutes before it arrives there. If our lasers do not disable them, then the antimatter will.”

“If they don’t change course vectors,” she mused. “Still, a good choice. The defense of this ship is in your hands.”

He knew that. Eighteen lives depended on him fighting in a place he’d never been, with weapons he’d never used, against an enemy used to traveling in space and perhaps fighting off local pirates or high tech enemies. It reminded him of a saying by a SEAL Team Six officer that was emblazoned on one of the walls at Coronado.

“We want to be in a situation under maximum pressure, maximum intensity, and maximum danger. When it is shared with others, it provides a bond which is stronger than  any tie that can exist.”

CHAPTER NINE

Three minutes later Bill fired both forward ship lasers.

Seconds later the Collector ship fired back.

The counter-attack missed them because their ship had moved upward at a right angle to their prior course. While still heading for planet five, their vector line now lay above their prior route line.

The true space holo to his right showed a green flare.

“A hit!” he yelled. “Traveler, move this ship toward the enemy ship. Now! Faster!”

“Moving. Speed of encounter has increased to 110,000 miles per hour,” the AI said.

“Launch two MITV torpedoes at the enemy,” Bill said quickly. “Allow for slower speed of torps. Lead the target.”

A low hum sounded. “I do understand about leading the target, as you did earlier with the antimatter barrage and now with two torpedoes. Which carry multiple thermonuclear warheads.”

Jane’s expression as she watched him was intense.

Bill adjusted the orientation of the ship’s nose and tapped the weapons control pillar. “Second laser strike fired!”

Less than a second later another green flare showed.

Their ship rocked.

“Laser strike on our outer hull!” the AI said hurriedly. “Adaptive optics on hull reflected away most laser energy. Ship hull integrity preserved.”

“The enemy!” Bill said. “I saw two flares. They were hit. Damage assessment?”

“Enemy ship was hit on its nose and then on its tail engine section. Spectral analysis documents air loss from second strike,” the AI said.

“Drop us down! Now!” Bill yelled.

“Dropping.”

Seconds passed.

The purple dot of the enemy ship closed to within 7,000 miles. Its course toward them also grew curved as the ship moved to parallel the course of the
Blue Sky
.

“Captain, I have multiple strikes that are in transit,” he said sharply. “First is the antimatter barrage I ordered earlier. Second are the multiple independently targeted vehicles that went scattershot from the two torpedoes. They’re set for nuke burst based on proximity detection. I’m planning a second antimatter barrage once the range drops to 4,000 miles.”

“Understood. I have full confidence in your actions,” Jane said, her tone soft and caring.

Bill wished he had the same confidence. But he did have instincts honed during more than a dozen overseas assignments. “Traveler, change our course so we are at a diagonal intercept to the enemy’s approaching vector. Then make this ship move in a spiral down that vector!”

“Adjusting course,” the AI said, its tone calm and matter of fact. “Spiral approach achieved.”

The spiral should make it harder for the oncoming Collector ship crew to guess where they would be and fire at their expected vector, or to lead his ship as he had done theirs. So Bill hoped.

Green laser streaks zipped by above them.

“Second laser attack by enemy has no effect,” the AI said.

Bill could see that from the system graphic holo, which had expanded to show his ship and the Collector ship, their course changes and the coherent energy beams of each ship as detected by ship sensors.

A massive yellow fireball suddenly glowed in the true space holo.

“Thermonuclear detonation!” the AI said, sounding a bit agitated. “From one of our MITV warheads.”

“Effect?”

“Minimal,” the ship mind said. “Detonation occurred when enemy ship was within five miles of warhead and moving upward and away.”

Suddenly a cluster of pink dots showed near the
Blue Sky
. They were closing.

Bill tapped the fire control for the plasma batteries that sat atop their spine and on their belly. “Counterfire against incoming warheads!”

The plasma fireballs had a range of 400 miles before they lost coherence.

Bright light flared.

“Thermonuclear detonations!” the AI said. “At distances of 371, 369 and 350 miles. Other warheads are diverging from our course vector.”

Sweat slid down Bill’s back. The living crew on the other ship were doing much of what he had done moments earlier.

“Traveler! Increase our speed to one-tenth lightspeed! Now! And give me a two second warning before we arrive within 4,000 miles of the enemy!”

“Increasing speed. Magfield spacedrive set at maximum acceleration.” A low hum sounded. “It takes some seconds before this ship can move from 110,000 to 67 million miles per hour.”

Bill knew that. He just hoped his sudden burst of speed would disorient the living gunners on the other ship. While it could also speed up as quickly as the
Blue Sky
, that took time. And a decision by another bioform on the ship. That extra time to act should give him the chance to fire first.

“Two seconds.”

Bill bit his lip, then tapped the antimatter projector fire control on top of the weapons pillar. “Firing antimatter!”

On the system graphic the purple dot of their ship spiraled around their vector line while the enemy ship’s purple dot made a logarithmic curve to parallel the vector of the
Blue Sky
. Distance between the two ships dropped to 2,100 miles.

A yellow-white sun glowed in the true space holo.

“Damn!” He blinked, gave thanks for the automatic light filtering of the holo, then saw the roiling plasma shell of the new sun was fading into yellow-orange, then red. “Traveler! Was that a hit on the Collector?”

“It was.”

“Damage assessment! What do your sensors show?”

“Electro-optical image transferred to system graphic holos of both bioform stations,” it said.

The gray metal ship that had been a fat elongated teardrop now lacked its forward half. Fumes, silvery water globules and white air burst from the rear section of the dead ship. Which now tumbled in space as they swept past it at one-tenth lightspeed.

“Traveler! Move vector inward at a right angle to our former vector line,” Bill ordered hurriedly. “Then lift ship’s course line upward, relative to our new vector line.”

“Complying.”

On the system graphic holo the glowing hull fragment rapidly grew smaller as his ship swept past. Bill tapped the top of the weapons pillar. “Firing two more torps with a spread of warheads,” he said, his mouth dry. “Traveler, reduce ship speed down to 30,000 miles per hour. As quickly as you can!”

“Adjusting. Such a change will  require twelve seconds.”

A yellow-white thermonuke blast occurred directly ahead of them.

“There’s antimatter ahead of us! It killed one of our warheads,” Bill yelled. “They fired a burst just before our AM hit them. Move this ship outward! Fast!”

A second thermo-nuke blast appeared in the true space holo. This one was closer. Just forty miles away.

“Moving outward. Ship speed reduced.”

Bill bit his lip. He had no idea how dispersed the antimatter field was. He’d fired the two torps with warheads ahead of them in order to detect such a danger. Which had now become real.

“Captain! I think we’ll avoid contact with the enemy’s antimatter broadside if we get far enough—”

A third thermonuke blast happened. Only this time it lay behind them. And on their former vector line.

“You are correct, Senior Crewman Bill MacCarthy,” the AI said. “The enemy antimatter cloud appears to lie behind this ship.”

Bill turned in his seat and looked back to Jane. Whose brow showed wetness. She gave him a thumbs-up.

“Well done, Weapons Chief and combat master,” she said, sounding relieved. “This space battle stuff sure as hell is different from rifles and artillery barrages!”

He gave her a nod, a quick salute and turned back to monitor the four holos before him. In the holo to his right Jane moved her attention from him to other ship holos. The true space holo next to it was blessedly calm. The system graphic holo to his left showed them back on course for a meeting with planet five. Ahead of him the ship weapons holo showed the status of all weapons systems. Which were green normal, except for the torpedoes. The holo showed only two torpedoes remaining. With each torp carrying five MITV thermonuke warheads, they still had lots of firepower. But the drop in inventory made him think ahead.

“Star Traveler,” Bill said. “Can you detect the locations of our thermonuke warheads that did not explode? Leastwise, those warheads that are paralleling our course?”

“I can. Twelve warheads are detected. All are behind us but have a relative velocity that places them near us.”

“Can you dispatch a collector pod to pick them up?” Bill asked. “I hate to waste weapons. And you could use them to outfit new torpedoes.”

“I can dispatch a collector pod for the purpose you describe. Fabrication of new torpedoes will commence in my Factory Chamber,” the AI said.

“Well done,” Jane said firmly. “We have no idea what the future holds, especially if we encounter ships from high-tech civilizations. While I prefer to avoid any more space combat, it is best to be fully armed and fully prepared.”

Bill knew that and agreed.
Keep your pack full, your rifle loaded and your ammo close to hand
. That had been one of the first lessons he’d learned in the constant SEAL training on San Clemente. The lesson had served him well during his team assignments.

“Thanks, Captain. Wish I had my .45 semi-auto. Had a great Pachmayr grip on it and was nicely tuned by a great Denver gunsmith. Miss my flies too, and my fishing rod. Guess they are all somewhere back on Earth.”

“Incorrect, Senior Crewman Bill MacCarthy,” the AI said, its tone sounding puzzled. “All personal items present at your campsite, and at the capture locations of other captives, are presently stored in the Collector Pod Chamber. Do you wish access to your items?”

“Yes! Uh, please. How soon can I get them?”

“Me too!” Jane said hurriedly. “Had my favorite fishing pole out there with me. Plus my own Browning Hi-Power semi-auto and flip-knife.”

An extended low hum sounded through the room. “The personal items of each bioform in this room are now being transferred to your habitat rooms. Is that satisfactory?”

He looked to Jane’s image in the command seat holo. She gave him a grin. “Star Traveler, yes, Bill and I are pleased to have our personal items returned. Uh, how will this be done? I thought the three repair robots were still dead and immobile.”

“You are correct that those robots are non-operative. Though I have moved them to my Factory Chamber for repair and renovation,” the AI said calmly. “However, small items are transported on this ship by means of my hover bots. Observe to your rear.”

Bill turned in his seat as Jane did the same.

Down from the ceiling came two silvery pods fitted with tiny grippers. A whir said some kind of internal fan kept the bots suspended in air. The two drifted toward the still open Command Bridge entry door and disappeared through it.

“Nice,” Jane said, her tone thoughtful. “Do you have many hover bots available?”

“Forty-three hover bots are present in sections of this ship,” the ship mind said. “More can be manufactured if needed.”

Jane waved a hand dismissively. “That sounds like plenty of hover bots. Uh, you said you are repairing and renovating the three repair bots we had to disable. Can you repair the entry door to this chamber? So it will open and close normally?”

“I can. Replacement of wall circuitry and broadcast power receptors can be done within two hours, 14 minutes and—”

“Enough!” she laughed. “Proceed with the door repair in the time it takes.” Jane turned back around and looked at the system graphic holo that hung before her. “Resume ship speed toward planet five at the one-tenth lightspeed level.”

“Resuming.” Bill felt nothing, thanks to the inertial damper field. “Distance is 11 AU. Estimated time to arrival is 15 hours, 27 minutes.”

He let out a sigh and sat back in his weapons station seat. He’d passed his first live-fire space battle test. He devoutly hoped it would be a long, long time before another such test occurred!

♦   ♦   ♦

They arrived at the Saturn-like planet five to discover the automated atmosphere refining station was plugging away as it sucked up raw hydrogen by way of a suspended tube. Inside the ball-shaped station were devices that separated out the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, which Bill recalled were vital for any fusion reaction, whether in a weapon or in a fusion reactor. Floating next to the giant ball were long metal tubes that linked to dozens of white metal balls. Those balls contained supercooled deuterium and tritium, according to the ship mind. The true space holo of planet five was amazing. While mostly pale yellow, the world had bands similar to Jupiter.

“Nice colors on that world,” Jane murmured as she sat in her captain’s seat atop the command pedestal.

“Agreed,” Bill said, scanning the system graphic holo to his left to confirm there were no Alien spaceships nearby. The four Collector ships remained in orbit above the Market world of planet four, while the six local spaceships transited between the Earth-like third planet and the Market moon. They had not heard a word from Traffic Control since the battle and destruction of the attacking Collector ship.