To Flail Against Infinity by Valentine J. P

Author:Valentine, J. P.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nixia Publishing LLC
Published: 2023-03-31T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“A SKIFF?” CHARLOTTE’S voice echoed through the cavernous hangar. “The soulship’s a skiff?”

“Her name is Lucy,” I said pointedly, “be polite.”

Charlotte froze. “Wait. She can hear us?”

“Of course she can. She’s right there.” I nonetheless raised my voice as I added, “Hi, Lucy!”

“Cal!” Lucy’s response resounded from across the room. “What happened to you?”

“The learning process.” I stroked my chin in mock thoughtfulness. “At least that’s what people keep calling it. I couldn’t tell you what I’ve learned for the life of me.”

Charlotte snapped to attention, her right hand leaping to her brow and holding there like her life depended on it. “My apologies, venerable ancient. I meant no disrespect.”

Without turning his head, moving his mouth as little as possible, Nick asked under his breath, “Wait, should we be saluting?”

Xavier mirrored Charlotte’s gesture without hesitation.

I raised a hand to my mouth to hide my laughter.

“None taken,” Lucy said. “You must be Charlotte. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise, ma’am.”

“Xavier, Nick,” I introduced them, gesturing unnecessarily to each. From our nightly calls, Lucy already knew Nick was the teen and Xavier the giant.

“It’s an honor, venerable one,” Xavier echoed Charlotte’s formality as Nick struggled through a sloppy left-handed salute.

“It’s good to finally meet,” Lucy replied. “I’ve heard so much about you all.”

“Only the worst of it,” I said, taking off across the hangar towards the open ramp. I’d never actually seen Lucy in g-dock before, departing roofie and arriving on Fyrion through a zero-g gangway. It made for the best view I’d ever seen of her as a whole.

She stretched some forty feet long from tail to tip, with a familiar long window running along each side. It was tinted dark enough that I couldn’t see in.

Four cylindrical qi drives made up the bulk of her propulsion, each some five feet in diameter and twelve long. They sloped sleekly inward to join seamlessly with her hull, the fifteen feet of interior width scarcely enough to support more than one or two passengers for any trip longer than a few hours. Two triangular wings tripled her width, not remotely a large enough span to support atmospheric flight, but she had vertical boosters for additional lift.

Her nose came to a rounded point, a further aerodynamic edge for her original purpose of ferrying passengers from a ship or station in orbit down planetside.

The pulse cannons on the underside of each wing stood out like a sore thumb, a weapon of war grafted onto a ship that’d never been built for combat. I wish I’d had a chance to see her use them against the void horde. I knew she’d killed far more void beasts than anyone else that day. Someone—either her or some local ground crew—had washed the black blood off her.

The loading ramp led us directly into the viewing deck at her front, where the meeting table had arisen from the floor to hold a set of flutes and a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket.

Charlotte kept her eyes respectfully forward as she boarded.

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