Under the Heavens by Ruth Fox

Author:Ruth Fox [Fox, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CamCat Publishing

She loaded the data packet into the computer and drew the kanji on her hand to make it run. Then she left Deck One. In order to overhaul the navigational array, she’d need to be on Deck Thirteen. Which meant she wouldn’t get back to Deck Seven, and Wren, for at least two hours. Crap.

Well, there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t let Seiiki continue to fly without knowing it was following the right path.

She took the ramp, jogging as quickly as she could. The gel pulled at her skin and the tightness was desperately uncomfortable. She wondered if the stuff was healing her properly. Stepping onto Deck Thirteen, she felt the vibration of the engines more keenly than usual. She stopped at a junction station and pulled up a map—she hadn’t done much with the navigational array, and it was really just a nexus point of circuits from various locations on the ship, almost indistinguishable from every other circuit on this level. The station directed her to a panel at the aft end of the corridor. A console sat atop it, allowing for minor manual adjustments, but she’d need to check out the workings. She levered the cover off with a screwdriver and looked at the confusing jumble of wires within.

“Computer, play the instructions for running navigational array diagnostic,” she said.

“Of course, Kim. First, locate the central circuit board. This is my link to the navigational array. Can you see it?”

“Yes,” Kim said. It was a hand-sized board with multicolored wires spiking from its back like an echidna she’d once seen in a book. She followed the computer’s instructions, carefully running her own scanning tools over the wires and uploading the detected information to the computer, which then matched the data to the navigational chart Edgeward had sent through, to detect that the information they were receiving was correct. Seiiki, and in fact all ships, relied on the positions of the stars to navigate—most specifically, pulsars, which were typically old and thus more reliable in their positions and brightness. It was a relatively failsafe system, even for those venturing into new regions of deep outer space, as Seiiki was.

“Everything seems in order, Kim,” the computer said, after she’d run the fourth test.

Kim’s brow furrowed. “This can’t be right.”

“But is that not a good sign, Kim?” the computer asked. “Our systems are functioning correctly.”

“Edgeward doesn’t think so,” Kim replied.

“Perhaps it is they who are incorrect,” the computer suggested.

At first Kim’s mind snatched at this easy explanation, but her skepticism was soon back. It was too easy.

“Computer, when was the deviation from our course detected?”

“I am unsure, Kim. The deviation was not noticed by me.”

Kim mulled over this. “When does Edgeward’s data say they noticed the deviation?”

“The data packets they sent over tell me that their inbound ships department notified them at 0521 today.”

“So, not long after I put Wren in that room,” she said.

“I am afraid I do not—”

“Never mind,” she snapped. She backed away from the navigational array and backtracked to the junction station.

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