Chimera's Star by Glynn Stewart

Author:Glynn Stewart [Stewart, Glynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faolan's Pen Publishing
Published: 2024-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

Kay took over control of the hologram from O’Shea with a grateful nod, expanding it slightly and highlighting several key components of the structure.

“The Joint Museum has significant underground storage houses and, presumably, administrative spaces,” he explained. “We haven’t been given access to them, but between scans and the system datanet, we have a decent idea of their layout and locations, here.”

The underground levels flashed.

“Most importantly, the only access to the containment dome’s airlock system—that we can find, at least—is concealed in the lowest subbasement of the Joint Museum,” he noted. The airlock flashed. “Each of the airlocks is a lead-lined elevator that descends ten meters, accessing the limited open space inside the next level.”

“The various levels of the containment domes do appear to be used for storing lower-risk radioactive waste and byproducts,” O’Shea observed. “Because of this, there is an industrial lift connecting the exterior loading docks to the access floor.

“That isn’t on the official plans,” she noted. “We found it on the deep radar scans. I…” She shrugged. “I am not certain those scans went undetected, but no one has said anything.”

“There are seven domes and six outer layers before we reach the inner core,” Kay reminded his people. “The most complex structures are in domes six and seven, the outermost regions. Two through five appear to be little more than monitoring stations, with space for maintenance on the sensors and elevators.

“The central dome contains the Last Ship, and everything I have heard from the locals suggests that the entire central dome is a high-radiation zone. Which, yes, raises some fascinating questions about the Last Ship and what the hell happened to it!”

“Unfortunately, we have very little information on the layout of the ship in question,” O’Shea observed. “Otherwise, as I understand it, our Jump Mages could just… jump in and jump out.”

“Because of the lack of data, we need to go in on the ground, via the elevator airlock system,” Kay confirmed. “Tomas, our real joker in the deck here is that we have a fully functional amplifier and fully trained Jump Mages. Getting us out is going to be on you.”

The Ship’s Mage was silent for a few seconds, studying the map.

“Along with the computers, I presume?” she asked.

“Exactly. O’Shea?”

“That is what I was researching reezh reconstructionist technology for,” the engineer said. “We have rigged up a containment zone in one of the antimatter-missile magazines that should have plenty of space and will handle any level of radiation. I also have an interface set up that should be able to provide power to the system once we have it here.”

“The problem is that if the core loses power for more than a few hours, the data starts degrading,” Kay warned. “We have limited leeway there.”

“I have already set up three different possible power interfaces and have a team working on a fourth,” O’Shea said drily. “The first attempt will almost certainly fail. I do not expect it to take more than an hour to get power flowing to the data cells.

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