Edge of Extinction by Robert Szmidt

Author:Robert Szmidt [Szmidt, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Time Travel, Military
ISBN: 9781680574319
Google: i3zAzwEACAAJ
Publisher: WordFire +ORM
Published: 2023-05-02T18:30:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

THE ULIETTA SYSTEM, ZEBRA SECTOR

11/14/2354

There was a good deal of tension at the end of the third jump. Darski realized that the ma’lahn had had enough time to track down the convoy and discover its true purpose. The fact that the electronic reconnaissance corvettes didn’t detect any anomalies in the transit systems didn’t mean that the Aliens hadn’t passed on the intel. Not wanting to betray the position of a hidden probe, they could have waited until after the convoy disappeared into yet another wormhole; or maybe their technology simply surpassed everything Humankind was familiar with.

On Ulietta, Darski and his people could encounter exactly the same situation as on Smeug, albeit with not so happy an ending. Although, thanks to the Admiralty, the convoy had been fortified with eight destroyers and three cruisers, it was almost certain that the enemy lurking near the exit point would easily deal with even such an escort.

As no one was hoping for a fluke this time round, the orders were clear. In case of detecting t’iru, all ships would immediately proceed with the subspace jump protocol. To complete the jump, they needed twelve seconds—and their bow shields had to endure that long.

Is it at all possible? Darski asked himself as he was being enveloped by his armchair cocoon. In theory, yes. But we’ll see in the next couple of minutes …

He’d left nothing to chance. The convoy would disperse the moment it exited the wormhole. As the auxiliary engines would be activated several seconds before, the ships would make a tight turn already in Euclidean space and then would take a slightly different course. In other words, the formation would scatter similarly to the cosmic debris created due to an asteroid collision.

Darski hoped that a single t’iru—he didn’t suppose the Aliens would send any more of their liners to engage such a small enemy squadron—wouldn’t be able to effectively shell a dozen targets at once. The simulations, however, were grim when he replaced a single t’iru with two live vessels. It was clear that if the ma’lahn showed greater caution, the convoy would become a cloud of slowly dispersing plasma in just a few seconds.

The final countdown; and right after it, an instantaneous change of scenery. Within the wormhole—outside space and time, where the speed of light wasn’t an absolute limit—seconds passed so pokily as if the timer was clogged with tar. Darski, whose body was filled with adrenaline to the brim, more than once got the impression that the time stopped. He glanced over the instrument readings, and when he returned his gaze to the black digits in the top right corner of the screen, they were still showing the same time. At some point, he wished he’d set the timer to milliseconds; perhaps then he could see the flow.

But … if whatever happens next is going to end me, I’d rather time slowed down even more, he thought.

Blip. Another second.

Blip. And another one.

All the controls of the commander’s console remained green, although

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