(eng) Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Diving Universe Novella 09 by Encounter on Starbase Kappa

Author:Encounter on Starbase Kappa [Kappa, Encounter on Starbase]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

6

The Fleet personnel had a genetic marker that allowed them to enter any area with a malfunctioning anacapa drive. The geneticists on the Fleet developed the marker early in the Fleet's history so that personnel didn't die if an anacapa suddenly went crazy. It also prevented non-Fleet personnel from entering a malfunctioning anacapa field. It was a safety measure for the ships. At least, that was how it had been designed.

If something disabled or crippled an anacapa on a Fleet vessel, the ship couldn't be boarded. It prevented ship takeovers, and a whole bunch of other threatening acts.

Apparently, though, it also caused a lot of problems in this future. The anacapas remained functional long past the time that the experts said the drives would. And they didn't just quit working. So far, he had discovered three separate problems with malfunctioning anacapa drives, and he was new to this place.

The Fleet always left staff behind when they closed down a sector base, and those staff members (usually volunteers) would intermarry with the locals. The genetic marker got passed on, but apparently not to everyone.

Anyone without a marker died in places like Starbase Kappa. And the death wasn't pretty.

Apparently, the Empire team that faced him now knew how rare survival was here, and found the fact that his crew could easily work in this environment suspicious.

Hell, he'd find it suspicious too, if he were in their position—especially if what Boss said were true: that the Empire was trying to control what it called stealth tech.

"Plus," the woman added, "we didn't see you entering this part of space."

He felt a little cold. They believed he had stealth tech—a cloak they couldn't penetrate. He wondered if they believed him part of Boss's group, or if they worried that another group existed.

"I'm not sure why you would have expected to see me," he said, in that same casual, comfortable off hand way he'd been speaking. He wanted this woman to relax around him, and so far, she hadn't.

She hadn't even changed her posture. She still blocked the civilian man who kept raising a hand, almost like a child trying to get the attention of an adult.

"Our postings don't lie," she said, as if it were a test. It probably was.

"We've already established that I didn't see the postings," Coop said.

She tilted her head, as if reluctantly granting him this point.

"We've posted most of this region, informing ships to turn away. We also state that anyone who gets through will be considered trespassers and might get shot on sight."

"Apparently, your postings aren't as numerous as you thought," Coop said. "And it sounds like they make idle threats, since we never saw a ship of yours on our trip here."

Once again, he hadn't lied. But he also knew why he hadn't seen any of those ships. He hadn't come the way that this woman expected, and he needed her to tell him how many ships there were, how far away they were, and what they knew—if anything—about the Ivoire.

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