Shiplord by Felix R Savage & Bill Patterson

Author:Felix R Savage & Bill Patterson [Savage, Felix R & Patterson, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, hard science fiction technothriller space opera
Amazon: B01MUS2YCA
Goodreads: 34203456
Publisher: Knights Hill Publishing
Published: 2017-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 28

“Have some more krak,” Alexei said, topping up Grigory Nikolov’s cup. His plan was to get Grigory drunk and see what came out.

“I should report you for drinking on the job,” Grigory teased with a gleam in his eye.

“To who?” Alexei said. He sipped the sweetish, potent liquid in his own cup and glanced around the hill. The party was winding down. Full-bellied rriksti lay in groups, listening to the music, chatting and cuddling. Linda Moskowitz and Koichi Masuoka had also lain down, although not together. They looked to be asleep. Alexei judged it safe to say, “Pobeda?”

The Pobeda would have been the Russian spaceship that met the SoD near Earth on its return, hijacking it and confiscating its expected cargo of alien goodies. Alexei had had orders to help with that. The malware installed on the SoD had also been a part of the scheme. He wasn’t sure what ditch the Pobeda project had died in, but it couldn’t be a coincidence that Pobeda meant Victory in English.

“Just a joke,” Grigory said. “The Pobeda is dead, long live the Victory! If we lose our sense of humor, we’re doomed.”

“Yes. So are you hijacking us?”

Grigory snorted. Peering with bleary eyes into the jungle, he said, “Is there anything here worth having? All I see is plants.”

“And aliens,” Alexei said, squeezing Nene’s hand, a gesture hidden from Grigory, as she was sitting on Alexei’s other side.

“You must be crazy to bring all these squids.”

“It’s a crazy universe.”

“Exactly! Look at me. I should have been retiring next year. Me and the wife had plans to buy a little place on the Black Sea. I’d have spent my days fishing. Instead I’m trying to save the human race.” Grigory shook his head. “Everything’s changed, Alexei Dmitrovich.”

Alexei nodded. He wondered if Grigory had changed. They’d had problems with each other on the ISS. Grigory was an old-school cosmonaut who made no secret of his belief that Alexei’s generation was Westernized and sissified. He was also in with the GRU clique who’d drafted Alexei into the Pobeda project.

Still, it felt great to have someone to speak Russian with again. Feeling guilty about leaving Nene out of the conversation, Alexei snuggled an arm around her back and drew her against his side. They’d been together for almost a year now and were getting sloppy about keeping their relationship private. After all, they had nothing to be ashamed of, did they?

“The government is relocating to Arkhangelsk,” Grigory said. “We survived Napoleon and Hitler, we’ll survive the squids! That’s what they say, anyway.”

The fatalistic way Grigory was talking resonated with Alexei’s own thoughts. The SoD now had no hope of overtaking the Lightbringer. Arriving at Earth two months after the Lightbringer would begin its deadly work, they might—might—have a chance to disable the alien behemoth in orbit. If successful, they could save the portion of humanity that had hidden in bunkers above the Arctic Circle. It killed him that that was all they could hope to do. But you can’t fight the laws of physics.

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