In the Black by Patrick S. Tomlinson

Author:Patrick S. Tomlinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

* * *

“I said maximum thrust, Kivits.”

“But we have no way to replenish our annihilation fuel, Derstu. Whatever we burn, we cannot replace.”

“Yes, I was here for that,” Thuk said. “They need to think us desperate. Desperate enough to burn through our supply on a sacrificial charge. So, we consume a small fraction of our annihilation fuel to keep the ruse going and draw them across the line.”

“Very well, Derstu. I withdraw my objection.”

“Thank you. Tiller, maximum thrust. Unless anyone else has something to contribute?”

No one did. The Chusexx responded to the tiller attendant’s input.

“Maximum thrust, Derstu,” the tiller alcove reported.

“Shall we ready our light-spears and javelins?” Kivits asked.

Thuk stretched a midarm. “If it will make you feel better.”

Several attendants chortled softly until a stern look from their dulac clicked their mandibles shut. Still, it had the defusing effect Thuk had hoped for.

“It would indeed, Derstu.”

“Very well, then. Charge light-spears and unsheathe a flight of twelve javelins. Confirm the human ship’s range and velocity with a focus beam. Let them know we stare down a shaft at them.”

The harmony busied itself with preparation. For his part, Thuk sat back in his chair and took a moment in simple appreciation of their efforts. His crew was efficient and competent, like a well-run mound. He couldn’t take credit for it, of course, they’d been selected for duty aboard the Xre’s newest and greatest ship of war, after all. They had floated to the top long before he’d been given the dubious honor of serving them.

Still, if he had to be derstu, this was a fine harmony to—

With the suddenness of a bolt from the heavens, the Chusexx bucked sideways and threw Thuk painfully into the side of his chair, hard enough to knock the air from his chest. He felt one of the plates on his abdomen give way with a snap. The mighty ship’s bones groaned around them as if it, too, was in agony.

“What the seething Abyss was that?” Kivits shouted before Thuk caught back up to his breath.

“Reports are scattered and confused,” Hurg said, her voice high and tight like a plucked string.

“Somebody sing,” Thuk wheezed, his vision blurring at the edges from the pain. “What’s happened to our home?”

“Thrust is falling away,” the tiller station’s attendant shouted. “Compensating … no effect. Engines unresponsive. We’re tumbling.”

“Can you stabilize?”

“No, Derstu. Three thruster clusters are misfiring. There’s a short somewhere in the control sequence. They’re exacerbating the tumble.”

“Cut them out of the power grid and reassess. And Kivits, put our javelins back into hibernation!”

“Already engaged.”

Another jolt shook the floor beneath their feet, not as sharp or hard as the first, but even more alarming, because as soon as it ended, so did the artificial gravity. Everyone scrambled to find purchase on their chairs, footrests, or the ribs of their alcoves to avoid floating free in the cavern.

“Now what?” Thuk demanded angrily.

“Source energy’s down. Switched to backups. Gravity system resetting.”

“Leave it until we know what’s happening, we may need the power elsewhere. Why’d source energy shut down?” A new, sharp alert tone answered Thuk’s question.

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