War of the Spheres by B V Larson & James Millington

Author:B V Larson & James Millington [Larson, B V & Millington, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-01-14T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

The small ship was ovoid and smoothly skinned. It looked better than the first time I’d seen it—more polished. It was disconnected from its moorings and ready to fly.

Dr. Fillmore was there, overseeing the process of readying the small vessel for the installation of the engine. When Colonel Hughes and I walked in, he did a comical double-take.

Eyes wide, he walked over to us, waving his hands with his palms out.

“Halt! No unauthorized persons are allowed near my ship! Hughes, you should know better. This man is a saboteur. A danger to—”

“He’s back on the project, Fillmore,” Hughes said flatly.

“What? How’s that even possible? Has the Ministry of Control gone insane?”

“Maybe,” she said, circling the ship with a languid pace. “But that’s how it is.”

“What about that fine young man—Lt. Shaw, wasn’t it? Where’s he?”

“He’s enjoying a long return flight to Earth,” I offered.

Fillmore glared at me, as if disbelieving the fact I had the gall to speak on my own behalf.

“This is outrageous!” he sputtered.

“Deal with it, Fillmore,” I said. “I’m here to stay.”

“Well, don’t get any ideas about planting a missile in Fairweather’s guts. I won’t stand for anything dangerous to come near her.”

“When are you going to launch?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“You see that? He’s prying for information.”

“We aren’t going to launch the ship,” Hughes said. “It’s too vulnerable. I’m worried now that these teleporting aliens are watching us. They might plan to take out our ship the moment we dare to slip from our moorings.”

“How can you test the engine, then?” I asked.

“Don’t tell him!” Fillmore interjected. “He’ll just blow something up! He’s an enemy of the state, I tell you!”

Hughes glanced at him in irritation, then slid her eyes back to my face.

“We’re thinking about attaching the entire thing to another ship,” she said. “Operating it as a modular addition.”

“You might as well tell the entire station,” Fillmore grumbled, but we ignored him.

I frowned at Fairweather thoughtfully. “What ship?”

“Whitman’s transport, I guess.”

“How can that work?”

“Our field-generating device doesn’t use a traditional form of propulsion.”

“I understand that,” I said.

Making a wild sound of frustration, Fillmore walked away from us. I, for one, wasn’t sorry to see him go, and I turned back to Hughes.

“The engine generates a field that surrounds whatever object is within range,” she continued. “The field can be quite large, actually. Everything in its radius will go with us into a warp-bubble—not just Fairweather.”

“Huh…” I said, thinking it over. “And you want to just switch it on, while Fairweather is aboard Whitman’s transport?”

“Yes. Fairweather was designed to control and carry the engine—but the field doesn’t have to be so limited in scope.”

“You’re saying we’ll just turn it on while we’re sitting in the hold? What makes you think Whitman’s cargo ship is safer from attacks than smaller ships are?”

“It won’t be obvious we’re there, for one thing. The transport will function as camouflage. Transports come and go every day here. We can fly out to a safe distance, and then engage the drive.

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