Though Hell Should Bar the Way by David Drake

Author:David Drake [Drake, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781481483131
Amazon: 1481483137
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2018-04-03T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

We extracted from the Matrix about the right distance from the unnamed planet’s primary. We were on the wrong side of the primary though, where the world we wanted would be in another half circuit.

I felt too awful to even pretend to be pleased with my astrogation. I’d had a reasonably easy time with extractions before now. Even veteran spacers talked about how bad they felt after an extraction, so I’d been congratulating myself for being one of the lucky ones.

I’d been one of the lucky ones. This time I felt as though my flesh had been replaced with half-melted ice cubes which then had been poured back inside my skin. I was shivering so badly that I had difficulty entering the new course data.

“Inserting into the Matrix,” I said. “Now.”

I closed my eyes as I pressed Execute this time, because I didn’t want to think about what I was doing. Entering the Matrix meant that I’d have to extract again, and right at this moment I’d almost rather have died than do that.

If other people feel this way, how do they manage to keep on doing it? I thought.

We shuddered into the Matrix. It was a short hop, crossing the orbit; probably less than three hundred million miles. We could even have managed it using the High Drive in the sidereal universe. I didn’t feel quite miserable enough to start the calculations for that, because I knew it would be a matter of weeks or even months; but I was almost that miserable.

“I feel awful,” Monica said. “Someone is chopping on my head with an axe.”

Lal sat with his head in his hands, saying nothing. I guess it was all of us. Maybe it had just been an unusually bad extraction.

A telltale on the display winked at me. “Extracting,” I said and threw the toggle.

It was as gentle as sliding into warm cream. I muttered a prayer. I hadn’t prayed before the extraction because I didn’t in my heart of hearts believe in divine powers. I was willing to thank powers that might not be, though, rather than not be courteous in case they were real.

We were above our destination at about a hundred thousand miles. I made quick calculations and entered a High Drive burn of just under three minutes to kick us into orbit so that we could pick a landing spot. Lal was on the striker’s seat but Monica came and stood beside me, gripping the back of my couch when we entered free fall.

The world below was half deep ocean, but the other half was a shallow sea with thousands of islands. Mostly the islands were arrayed in strings and circles. Even where the land didn’t break surface I could see patterning on the bottom.

There were no signs of human involvement, but many of the islands were green, especially around the fringes. The ship’s optics weren’t good enough for me to make out details.

“I guess it doesn’t matter where I land,” I said. “We’ll have water regardless.

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