Lacuna: The Spectre of Oblivion (27 page)

Liao was struck knowing this was the second time she had bartered for technology using information. Perhaps, she mused, she would have Rowe install a larger database on the
Beijing
to store more of Earth’s media.

“We need a way to disable Ben’s jump device, temporarily at least, so we can assault his vessel.”

“We have several ways of doing this. However, they are valuable technology, since we use them to escape Toralii Alliance ambushes.”

Liao felt an itching under her mask but fought the urge to scratch. “As a show of good faith, we are happy to let you read the full report before you make your decision.”

Paar regarded her curiously. “A very interesting show of faith, Captain, to surrender your bargaining chip with nothing in return.”

“Nalu tells us that the Iilan are reclusive, but fair. My reputation as a warbringer has spread to even your ears, Speaker Paar, but I am like you. I would trade everything I’ve done for a reputation as a fair, just leader who keeps to her word. I would prefer that over all the adulation of the Kel-Voran, of the Toralii, and of the other warlike species in the galaxy. That is not who I am.”

Paar, strangely, seemed to smile with his eyes, rather than his beak. “Very well, Captain. If that is your desire, I can assure you that we will evaluate your report and derive a conclusion. Please, you can remain here, if you wish, while we confer and evaluate the information for ourselves.”

*****

Liao floated in the strange fluid for what seemed like an hour. In a ship with no walls, the Iilan floated away with her briefcase, and Liao, out of politeness, didn’t follow him. Soon he was lost in the sea of Iilan, the closest ones giving her curious looks but saying nothing to her.

Finally the Iilan returned, floating towards her in the faintly glowing green fluid.

“We evaluated your report,” Paar said, his tone slightly hesitant and reluctant.

Not a good sign.

“I see,” Liao answered. “It contains all we know. I’m sorry if it was insufficient.”

“It was… primitive,” Paar answered, “with numerous misspellings and poor grammar, but it also contained a surprising amount of information as well.”

Damn that woman, Liao thought. She could at least have used a spell checker.

“Accordingly,” Paar said, “while the information is not of insignificant value to us, it is not, on its own, worth one of our more treasured secrets, although the speculation side of the report was informative. Whoever wrote it seemed to have a great love for the technical and an affinity for understanding things on a basic level.”

Liao felt a clenching in her chest but nodded diplomatically. “I see.”

“However, it is also the opinion of our leaders that yours is an honest species. Strong and impulsive, yes, but those feelings can be tempered out of you in time. We see much promise in you, and we see little future in our continued research here at Majev-tor. We will move on to the other singularities in a generation or two, but we wish to do some good before we do. We have decided,” he said, “to grant you the least of the technologies you can use to accomplish your goals; we will grant you one single device, with a single use, in exchange for the report, despite the significant discount this would present… on certain conditions.”

Liao released a breath she didn’t realise she was holding. “Conditions. Go on.”

“The device will be returned to us, and it will be returned unopened and unexamined. Analysis of your report has given us insight into the methods you use to study things. We will take precautions against such attempts. They will not be pleasant for you.”

Liao nodded. “We won’t peek inside Pandora’s Box.” She held up a hand to mollify Paar’s confusion. “A Human legend. I’ll throw in the story for your personal reading; don’t worry. Please, go on.”

“We want Ben’s jump drive intact, if possible, or full salvage rights if it is not. Additionally, we want any data acquired during the battle, or any other information about this technology you find.”

“Agreed. We’ll give you whatever is left, and whatever we know about the jump drive, we’ll share with you when we return your device.” She reached up and adjusted the mask slightly. “Is there anything else?”

“Not at this moment.”

The wall of the ship behind her extended out, reaching for the
Beijing
.

“Then you may return to your vessel. We will send through the device within an hour, along with instructions to employ it.”

*****

Liao’s Office

TFR
Beijing

“They fucking call this a
weapon
?” Rowe upended the tiny package onto Liao’s desk. A small circular device with a button on top clattered to her desk, along with a six inch square sheet of some rubbery material that bounced when it hit the wood. “I think you got robbed, Captain.”

“Well, let’s not be hasty. What is it?”

Rowe picked up the rubbery slip, holding it up to the light. “Nothing, it’s blank.”

Liao could see writing on the opposite side. “Turn it around.”

“Oh, wait, it says, ‘Please see other side.’” Rowe flipped it in her hand and began to read. “Measure the distance between your ship, currently, and the edge of Majev-tor. Be within half that distance, and push the button. All jump drives within the area will be disabled for a period of six times the time you spent aboard our vessel.” Rowe turned it over, then again. “That’s all it says.”

“Well, they seem to like their technology simple, just like the Toralii.”

Rowe made a disgusted face. “Simple? Those Iilan fuckers are serious chowderbuckets. If it doesn’t take a doctorate to operate it, I couldn’t give a fuck about it.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

The redhead’s face lit up. “Did you know the defibrillator was invented before CPR?”

“I hate you, Summer.”

Rowe leaned forward, reaching out and pinching Liao’s cheek. “I know you do, Cappy-Cap.” She smiled and withdrew her hand. “Anyway, let’s teleport across the galaxy and blow up a robot, okay?”

“Sure.” She took a breath. “Let’s go do that.”

*****

Operations

TFR
Beijing

“We are ready to jump, Captain.”

Floating beside the jump console, Liao gave one last look at the Iilan ship, then reached for her key. Before she could withdraw it, however, alarms blared around them, and the Operations room was illuminated by emergency lighting.

Rowe called over the din. “Captain! The jump drive has activated!”

“What?!” Liao glanced at Kamal, who looked similarly confused, his key still in his hand. The jump drive should not have been active.

“Restoring gravity,” said Jiang, tapping at her keyboard.

Liao felt gravity return, using the console to steady herself as she floated back down. “Report! Jump drive status?” Her tone conveyed her displeasure, her gaze locked on Rowe, the grip on her console as tight as iron.

“Cooling, Captain. It got a little heated, but it should be ready to jump again shortly. Eight hundred degrees Kelvin... seven hundred, dropping.” Summer pushed back her seat, giving a loud, relieved sigh. “Whatever happened, it looks like it was just a temporary glitch. It was probably the alien thingy, or maybe the damn thing just wanted to go somewhere, then changed its mind. The
Sydney
had a similar issue during their shakedown cruise… It could be a glitch in the system that we’re only just now starting to see. Maybe it’s the new jump drive or some manufacturing flaw.”

Closing her eyes a moment, Liao reached up and dragged her hand down her face. “Find out what the hell happened,” she ordered, straightening her back and folding her arms in front of her chest. “If my ship is going to spontaneously start to jump without my express authorisation, then just as spontaneously
stop
, I want to know
exactly
what’s going on. Disassemble the whole jump assembly and examine it piece by piece. Audit the system code line-by-line if you have to. I want answers, and I want them as soon as you can get them to me.”

Rowe gave a nod. “Aye aye, Captain. We’ll start looking into it immediately.”

Liao stepped over to Rowe’s engineering workstation, leaning over the woman’s shoulder. The two read the scrolling text on the computer monitor which Liao only understood a fraction of but which Summer seemed to comprehend, nodding occasionally in thought.

The incident nagged at her. It felt wrong, and she knew—somehow knew—that this was no ordinary system glitch. Jump drives didn’t just spin up, then just as suddenly power down. A million possibilities swirled through her mind. Was it Ben’s influence, or the Iilan, or their strange device, or interference from Majev-tor? Or was it just, as Summer said, some kind of glitch?

But perhaps that wasn’t it. Yes, the events were suspicious, but that wasn’t it. There was something else that was eating at her, gnawing at the back of her mind, drawing her attention away from the scrolling diagnostic text and forcing her mind to other things. It was like having the name of a song on the tip of her tongue, hearing its melody in her head and reproducing its tune, but being unable to articulate its name.

Then the question and the answer jumped into her head, fully formed.

“Allison,” she murmured.

Summer twisted in her seat, raising a curious eyebrow. “Hmm?”

Liao smiled down to her chief engineer. “Sorry, just thinking aloud.” She paused. “Do you like that name? Allison?”

The redhead stared at her as though she were crazy. “Sure, it’s nice I, uhh, I guess... Why?”

Liao’s smile grew, and she slid one hand to Rowe’s shoulder, the other gently resting by her side, the tips of her fingers playing with the fabric of her uniform. “For my girl,” she answered, “I think I’ve picked out her name. I’ll have to check with James first, of course, but…”

Rowe shrugged and went back to work while Liao felt her eyes drawn to the external monitoring viewer which displayed an image of the stars outside. She had seen such a view countless times, of course, but for some reason at this particular moment, she felt drawn to it.

She stared at the view, her warm smile remaining, as though some missing piece of the puzzle that was her life had just slotted into place. The nagging feeling immediately faded away to nothing, leaving her with a sense of completeness and serenity that outstripped any comparable feeling she’d had in her lifetime.

Allison
. She would name her child Allison.

*****

Operations

One hour later

“We figured out what it was.” Rowe jabbed a finger down at the box. “The device. It emits the same kind of radiation that our jump drive does, but much, much stronger. It’s like shining a floodlight on a shadow puppet show—the device’s radiation blocks the way the jump drive works at a fundamental level that I could explain, but I know you’d just get mad and yell at me if I tried.”

Liao listened as Rowe spoke. “Correct. How did you discover it was the device?”

“Basically, we found fluctuations in the jump drive’s power consumption. The closer we brought it to the jump drive, the worse the fluctuations got. So we figure it’s screwing it up.”

“Okay,” said Liao, “how do we fix it?”

“We can’t,” Summer replied, “but we
can
move it to the bow of the ship and stick it in a Faraday cage. That should keep its influence on the jump drive to a minimum.”

Liao considered. “Do it,” she said, “and make sure we get the jump drive working as soon as possible. The Iilan will be wondering why we haven’t jumped out yet.”

“Well, that, or they’re chuckling to themselves, knowing that our jump drive will be screwed up.” Rowe tapped her finger on her console. “Guess we know it works though.”

“Yeah, a little
too
well if you ask me.” Liao looked to the door. “Go. Fix my ship.”

Summer grinned and skipped out of Operations, and Liao was left to her command console, left to the huge wall of nothing that ever so slowly grew out to meet them.

Allison…

She was aware of Iraj looking over her shoulder, but she didn’t say anything, the two of them staring at the monitor intently.

*****

Operations

TFR
Beijing

A day later

Everything was ready. The plans were made, the pieces in place. The
Beijing
hovered in the Mars-Phobos L1 Lagrange point waiting for the very last signal to be given so their operation could begin.

Liao hadn’t discussed the name with James, so focused was she on the upcoming battle, but she would talk to him the moment they had some free time.

The
Sydney
had not reappeared. This fact, now of growing concern to Liao, caused her some degree of worry. They had agreed to wait until the final jump preparations to discount the ship’s presence, a time which had now arrived.