Torchship (35 page)

“I’ll see what I can do.” He dusted off.

Guo came down by climbing on the underside of the ladder. “I’ve
got the water tanks cross-pumped, sir. We’ve been putting the cold water into
empty tanks. I’m going to start dumping the warm tanks one at a time so we’ve
always got an empty to fill.”

“Good work.”

Mitchie looked after Guo for a moment as he went around the
ship, then went back to scanning the line for troublemakers. A few minutes
later water began spreading out from under the ship. The landing pad was
perfectly flat. The whole cavern wound up a finger deep. The line still hadn’t
ended.

“I think I figured it out,” said Mitchie.

“Oh?”

“They do think we might be an AI trojan from Swakop. So they
pointed us toward the nearest Ushuaia AI target and hoped we’d destroy each
other. AIs always attack each other over humans.”

“That . . . makes a scary amount of sense,” said the
captain. “I wonder if Steelhome has convinced System Control we’re human yet?”

“Nah, they probably just think this is some incredibly
devious ploy.”

***

Alexi lay in his bunk. The ship had to be back in the
Demeter system if they were actually in a gravity well. He didn’t let it
distract him from his project.

The fools had given him a fork and spoon with one meal. They
hadn’t noticed when he’d only returned the fork with the dishes. Now he’d found
the roughest surface in the stateroom, one of the welds holding his bunk to the
bulkhead, and was rubbing the handle of the spoon against it. Every day it grew
a tiny bit more pointed. He was patient. He would take all the time needed to
make his weapon.

Alexi paused in his scraping and held his breath to hear
better. Voices. The babble of a crowd. Were the thieves giving tours of their
booty? Or hiring more crew by promising shares of his inheritance to them?

He thought about it. New crew could be an opportunity for
him. The Diskers were careless and lazy. Surely they’d put the new ones on
feeding him. He could subvert them, win their loyalty, and become captain. He
smiled at the mental image of Schwartzenberger being forced out of his own
airlock.

The hard part would be starting the conversation. The new
crew would have been told all sorts of lies about him. He’d have to intrigue
them, soften them up before giving any orders.

Once he had his opening words figured out he said them out
loud for practice. “How’d you like to know the real story of this ship?” That
was terrible. Not talking to anyone for two weeks had his throat stiff. He’d
have to practice that some.

But first he needed to get the handle of that spoon a little
pointier.

***

The police blower returned, escorting a small truck. The
line scattered as water sprayed over them. Schwartzenberger pulled out his
handcomm. “Billy?”

“Busy, boss. Reseeding the hydroponics sheets with
max-oxygen again.”

“A truck showed up with air-processing gear. We’ll need the
crane.”

“God be praised. I’m on it.”

Mitchie raised her eyebrows. “Did Billy just pray?”

“Sounded like it,” said the captain. “He must have run the
life support numbers.”

Opening the cargo hatch took Billy, Guo, and a sledgehammer.
The welds had been mostly on the port side so they only opened the starboard
hatch. Lowering a pallet didn’t slow down the line. Several men from the “no”
group helped load boxes onto the pallet. Unloading it was more complicated.
Once the boxes were in the hold each one had several children sitting on top.

The line finally had an end. The trickle of new refugees had
stopped. Some of the no group had already left. The maybes were getting
nervous. Schwartzenberger called Billy to talk numbers.

“Now this is assuming we can believe the labels on those
boxes, and get them running soon,” cautioned the deckhand. “It works out to
nine days.”

“Not enough to get to Argo then. What if we add sixteen
more, call them full adults?” Schwartzenberger could hear the sliderule
swishing over his handcomm.

“Takes us down to seven days. We’re on a steep part of the
feedback curve.”

“That’ll get us most places in this system.” There was no
need to get the maybe group’s attention, most of them were staring at him. He
waved at them and pointed at the end of the line. They scrambled into place.

The captain walked halfway to the no group, far enough back
to draw if someone lunged for him. “We’re going to lift off as soon as we have
everyone settled. Best y’all be on the other side of that hatch before we do. I
thank you all for your cooperation.”

They called back a jumbled mix of thanks, blessings, and
hopes he’d watch after their children. Schwartzenberger gave them an embarrassed
wave and went to tell Abdul and Guo to belay pumping. The apprentice actually
reeled up the hose and secured its hatch. The captain didn’t have the heart to
interfere with his optimism.

He was the last one up the ladder after unhooking it. The
hold was a madhouse. People lying everywhere, all talking, a few helping Billy
set up the additional recyclers. He was glad they’d rearranged the containers
to bury the loot under empties in case of a customs inspection. Last thing they
needed was a refugee breaking into one in search of a comfortable spot.

Bing was conferring with a few volunteer organizers. He
broke in to ask, “How are they getting settled?”

“Good! We’ve got all the second and third trimester ones in
the dorms, at least they’ll have beds for accel. Most brought blankets or
something.”

“How soon will you have them ready for lift?”

Bing chuckled. “Lift whenever you want, sir. This is as good
as it’s getting.”

Schwartzenberger opened his mouth, closed it, nodded, and
went to the bridge.

Mitchie greeted him with word that the last stragglers had
cleared the cavern and Control had sealed it off. “When can we lift?”

“Now.”

“
Fives Full
to Steelhome Control, request permission
to lift.”

“Granted. We’re going to dump pressure. You are clear to
lift when it’s stable.” The hatch over their heads opened to space. Air rushed
out. The water on the pavement boiled until only a slick of ice was left.

Mitchie called “Up ship!” on the PA and gently boosted the
ship up the tunnel. Schwartzenberger smiled grimly at the sight of another of
his crew treating this landing pad as if it would ever be used again.

Demeter System. Acceleration 10 m/ s
²

“Good luck,
Fives Full
. Steelhome out.”

“Good luck to you.
Fives Full
out,” replied the
captain.

Mitchie reported, “On course for Ossa.” The gas giant had
two inhabited moons and a space station to dump their hitchhikers on. Though if
the Navy didn’t get control of things they might have more trying to board.

“Good. Now let’s see if that’s where we really want to go,”
said Captain Schwartzenberger. The plotting table had been neglected in
non-human space. Trajectories avoiding all known gravity sources were easy
enough to do on paper.

Mitchie added the Argo gate and several outposts listed in
the almanac to the table. “Having so much fuel takes the fun out of this game.
The delta-V we can get out of a close fly-by isn’t much when we’re on
continuous burn.”

“That’s not my worry,” said Schwartzenberger. “I want to
have alternates in case a swarm beats us to Ossa.”

“Ah.” Mitchie re-opened the almanac. Soon she had the
plotting table as cluttered as they’d ever had it. The gas giant was still
their target. Nothing else offered as many chances to re-air.

Four hours out of Steelhome she spotted an array of plumes
moving in on them. Radar confirmed they were on a crossing course. A few more
pings revealed they were accelerating at fifty gravs to match their vector. “Crap.
No way we’re evading them. I can try to plume them as they close then switch
up.”

“Do your best,” said Captain Schwartzenberger.

Before plumes could be an issue the incoming ships opened
into a loose circle and matched courses outside the danger zone.

The radio crackled. “
Fives Full
, this is House 17,
commanding Fighter Squadron Sierra Five. Over.”

“
Fives Full
here,” answered Mitchie. “Thanks for
introducing yourselves.”

“We have been tasked as your escort. Please comply with all
convoy instructions until released to independent running.”

“Acknowledged.
Fives Full
is operating in convoy. It’s
nice to have you boys along, just in case.”

“Thank you for your cooperation. Be advised that this is not
a just in case escort. Part of the swarm headed for Steelhome has diverted in
your direction.” That voice sounded damn familiar but she couldn’t place it.
She hated the term ‘swarm.’ Why couldn’t they just say ‘more AI ships than we
can count?’

“House 17, you are a bundle of joy. I’m surprised they could
spare you from supporting Steelhome.”

“That rock has more guns than two cruisers. They don’t need
our help.
Fives Full
, please maintain current acceleration and change
vector to—” House 17 proceeded to read out a great many digits.

“Navy, please remember you don’t allow us to carry the gear
needed to reach that level of precision. This is an analog ship. Can I have
that with five significant figures in each vector component?”

House 17 gave the simplified course with a minimum of
sarcasm. Mitchie warned everyone to hang on then pivoted the ship.

“Damned if I can see anything on that line,” said the
captain from the plotting table.

“
Fives Full
, we see you within ten minutes of arc.
Nicely done for prehistoric tech.”

“Thank you, Navy,” answered Mitchie with excessive
sweetness. Suddenly she placed the voice. “Housefly 17, do you have a tattoo of
a dragon biting your left nipple?”

The squadron commander was silent. His pilots filled the
empty air. “Buss-sss-ted.” “Oh, oh, you’re in trouble.” “Remember, Skipper,
anything you say on an open channel may be used against—”

“Knock it off!
Fives Full
, who are you?”

“I told you I was a pilot.”

“Michigan?”

The pilots erupted again. “He remembers her name! It must be
true love.” “Don’t be a fool, girl, run!” “Skipper and Michigan, sitting in a
tree—”

“Lock it up! Pilot Long. I’m very pleased to meet you again.
I’d like to know how you wound up
here
.”

“That, Housefly 17, will take a lot of beers.”

“Did you really jump in from Swakop?”

“Yes. After looking at Old Earth through a telescope.”

That silenced the fighter squadron for a minute. Housefly 17
finally said, “We’ll all buy the beer for that story. Heck, Jimbo just put on
senior grade, he still owes us a party. You can have his beers.”

“Dammit, Skipper,” said Jimbo, “I don’t make you pay for my
girlfriend’s drinks.”

“We all chipped in to pay for your girlfriend,” quipped
another pilot. Housefly 17 let the bickering go on.

A previously-silent voice broke in. “Skipper, report from
Fleet. Our swarm just cut the corner. They’re accelerating up our vector.”

“Can you track them, Eyes?” asked Housefly 17.

One of the fighters pivoted and cut thrust. “Have them on
Doppler, sir,” said Eyes.

“
Fives Full
, how much acceleration can you give us?”

“Lots,” answered Mitchie. “But we’ve got kids on bare decks
and pregnant women in plain cots. Won’t take much to hurt them.”

“Shit. Give me another two gravs. Let’s see how they react.”

“Aye-aye.” Mitchie opened the ship’s throttle.

“They’re matching,” said Eyes.

“Put it back down,” ordered Housefly 17. Mitchie complied.

“And they’re back where they were,” reported Eyes.

“Thanks for resource-constrained AIs,” muttered the
commander. “We’ll let this run out for a bit then take our next action.”

***

In the hold Bing made an announcement. “In case of sudden
maneuvers we normally ask passengers to strap in. Since we’re not set up for so
many we’re going to give you something to hold on to instead. The deckhands are
spreading a net over the deck. Please help unroll it as it passes over your
heads. We’ll tie it down so it’ll give you better support if we need to
maneuver the ship.”

Abdul helped Billy wrestle the cargo net out of its niche. “What
is this thing for?”

“In case we get a pile of crates we need to strap down, or
something big that doesn’t have attachments. Last used it on a reactor shell.”
Billy showed him how to unhook a recessed handhold and lock it around one of
the net lines. “We’ll tie down the edges as it unrolls. Then go back through
the middle and get as many spots as we can.”

“Is this going to keep them from getting hurt?”

“It’ll keep them from all sliding into a pile against the
wall.”

***

“Skipper, the swarm has hit the quarter-million klick mark.”
Mitchie thought for a moment and decided that had to be Eyes, the recon pilot.

Housefly 17 said, “
Fives Full
, we’re going to leave
you for a bit. Ensign Greer will stay as escort. Stay out of trouble.”

“Good luck, Sierra Five,” said Mitchie.

All but one of the fighters flipped around and tripled
thrust. In an instant they were out of sight behind
Five Full’s
torch plume.

Mitchie got out of her acceleration couch and stood by the
plotting table. Captain Schwartzenberger had updated their position and
velocity marker. “Looks like we’re headed for nowhere,” she said.

“Yep. If we didn’t have those piles of DU I’d be worried
about refueling.”

“I wonder why the Navy wants us here.”