Blindspace by Szal Jeremy

Author:Szal, Jeremy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473227491
Publisher: Orion

30

Chasing Infinity

‘I think,’ said Juvens, with mischief shining in his eyes, ‘ours is bigger than yours.’

The Kaiji’s corvette looked like a cross between an elongated shark and an obese stingray. The hull was carved out of black, blue, and purple metal that resembled geometric coral, machinery gleaming underneath. Lights, weapons and railguns were barnacled along the sharp-edged curves. The concentric blue-purple lights along its thrusters and upper nacelles were still flaring hot from its recent touchdown into our auxiliary hangar, bringing the smoky smell of a supercooling engine-core. You never knew what to expect with alien spaceships, but this stunning feat of engineering and craftsmanship was in a league of its own.

And yes, it dwarfed every other corvette in our hangar.

I’d warned Juvens we’d likely be seeing a firefight, but he looked ready for war with a thick combat harness strapped over his black and gold armour. With the countless buckles and pouches, he could have carried half an armoury on his person.

‘I commissioned this ship personally, straight from the manufactory. A Class F6 Rhamivo Corvette,’ he told me as heat and steam hissed out from the fuselage. Our armoured boots clunked against the dark, polished decking as we hiked up the ramp and through the hexagonal corridors, smelling vaguely of oiled machinery and leather, like the seats of a new spaceship. No loose wires peeking out, no exposed pipework, yet nothing felt sterile. It was like being inside the galaxy’s most advanced and exuberant piece of hardware. ‘Of course, everyone else wants the newer, faster models. Speed is good. But massive guns are better.’

‘I’d imagine that was a selling point for you,’ I said.

Juvens tilted his horns towards me. ‘It’s important to know your priorities.’

A set of doors slammed shut ahead of us and he made an annoyed sound. ‘I forgot about this,’ Juvens grumbled, his back to me as he hunched over the panels. ‘Damned security lock is pheromonally-linked. I’ll log you as crew and that won’t happen again.’

So much for nothing here being organic. ‘So, you’re saying your ship doesn’t like the smell of humans.’

‘It’s not the ship. It’s the little bastards living inside the ship you need to watch out for. They maintain life-support. They’re bad-tempered and humourless, which makes them fun to tease.’ Juvens tilted his horn towards a little porthole above him, where a wheezing, lazy-eyed creature that resembled an octopus was watching us, throughly annoyed. Tentacles thrashed as it dived back into the recesses of the ship. There had to be a whole swimming pool’s worth of liquid in the ship to maintain them.

Seriously, what was with all these aliens using squids and whales to maintain their ships?

I shook my head as the door dilated open and I followed Juvens to the front cabin. A dozen seats occupied the broad command space, facing a wraparound forward viewport, scrolling with neon-blue readouts. The pilot was strapped into a control pod shaped like a bisected egg. Ribbed cables erupted from his black flight suit, plugging him straight into the ship’s central mainframe from the wetware sockets in his forearms.

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