William Forstchen - Into the Sea of Stars

"I've backplotted the heading," Stasz interjected, breaking the melancholy silence. "If acceleration ceased at current speed they would have left Delta Sag three hundred and ninety-seven years ago."

"How far to Delta Sag, Stasz?" Ellen asked.

"Two months."

Ellen looked at Ian with a challenging smile.

Ian hesitated, trying to buy time. "We've got to be logical about this one. First there is a wealth of infor mation aboard this ship. This could keep an archaeological team busy for the next century. It's the first time anyone from our modern age has stepped aboard a vessel from the twenty-first century."

"Come on, Ian, stop being such a historian and start thinking like an explorer," Ellen replied. "I'm not interested in dead things, I want living people to sample. One of those things"-and she shuddered, — "in there might interest you as you cut 'em up to see what they had for breakfast, but that information is useless in my book. They came from this Delta Sag, I want to go there and find out more."

"There's the next point to consider, as well. This col ony was murdered. Someone or something out there killed them. They could kill us!"

Now his emotions were taking hold.

They hesitated for a moment on that one and Ian pressed in. "I think we should stay here, study this one in further detail, and knowing there is something hostile out here, we have every legitimate excuse to return back home, report our findings, and then get back to our lives."

"From what I've heard of your Chancellor," Stasz interjected, "I don't think the sight of you four would be very welcome."

"To hell with the welcome," Ian replied. "What can he do to us? We found a colony and that's that."

"A dead one, Ian," Richard said. "I think our dear Chancellor is more interested in living proof than a float ing morgue. Remember his famous comment at last year's board meeting: 'I am not an intellectual, I am an admin istrator.' That administrator will not be pleased with a dead Colonial Unit 181. He'll want live finds, finds that occur after the three years mandated by his office. Anyhow, my curiosity is aroused. Hell, we've come this far, why not finish it and go on to Delta Sag?"

"I'm curious, too," Stasz said.

Ian knew they were beating him; he had expected that from the beginning. For some strange reason their curi osity had been whetted. The fear of this attacker now acted like a candle drawing the moth in.

He looked at Shelley, but her only response was a shrug and a smile. Finally she leaned over and whispered.

"Come on, Ian, stop acting like a historian. The people aboard that ship are dead. Think of the chance of meeting some that are alive."

Ian looked back out at the turning wheel. A rumble ran through the Discovery and suddenly there was a faint return of gravity as Stasz piloted them up between the twin toruses. A flickering glow shone through the com munications bay of Colonial Unit 181, and in the cold light he could make^out the bodies floating on their eternal voyage.

At least that fear was gone. He had felt himself encased within a haunted fragment of the universe, as the souls of the dead still traveled on a journey that in another seven hundred years would bring them within sight of their an- cestoral home.

He knew, as well, that even though they were departing, the ghosts would stay with his soul. The ghosts would come to haunt him in his nightmares of bodies floating in out of the darkness.

Stasz rotated the Discovery, and the nav computers took over. Soon they were pointed straight in at a steady blue light. Ian closed his eyes and braced for the jump that would take them to Delta Sag and the answer that all but he wanted.

Colonial Unit: 27

First Completion date: 2031

Primary Function: Friends of the Light Colony. Anglo- American Peace Activist Group. In response to the growing concern over the second Kwajlein incident, this was the first of the "peace experiment" units that led the way for over one hundred Utopian concept colonies.

Evacuation Date: According to Copernicus Base Record, June 6, 2086; however, Mars Base Hatley claims unit left nearly nine months later. Beaulieu believes Mars Base confused this with the "Second Friends of the Light Colony."

Overall Design: Standard Cylinder, first generation, 1200 meters by 300 meters.

Propulsion: Standard Modification Design, strap-on ion packs mounted to nonrotational central shaft.

Course: Galactic Core.

Political/Social Orientation: Unit 27 was the first of the "Utopian" experiments modeled after the early-nineteenth-century Utopian movement; as such was the leading model of what would become a significant per centage of the twenty-first-century colonies. This unit attempted to model its government after consensus, with the guiding principle that a total concensus would be needed for any action. Therefore, a single dissenter could resist or stop an entire process. Second, violence of any kind was abhorred. Third, silent meditation was often the path to understanding.

The detection alarm did not cause the same thrill of fright that the first one had created, but the fact that it awoke him from a deep sleep caused Ian to flop around in confusion for several minutes until his glasses were in place and he was dressed sufficiently to appear in public.

The rest of the crew was already gathered around Stasz, with Ellen hanging very close to his shoulder. She had thrown on a light nightgown that clung tightly to her more than ample frame. Richard had already noticed that she was pressing her breasts into Stasz's arm and he gave Ian a sly nudge. Of course, they both knew what was coming, and settled back, anticipating her explosion with as much pleasure as they did the data racing across the monitors and spewing from the hard-copy displays.

As usual Shelley was in the seat next to Stasz, and she started interpreting the data while Stasz busied himself with ship commands.

"It's on a near-parallel course," Shelley muttered. "Relative ship trajectory R.A. twenty-one hours, forty-three minutes; declination five degrees north, range es timate one light-year, more or less."

"Good lord, Stasz," Richard exclaimed in surprise, "how the hell could we detect that?"

"Their automatic beacon," Ian replied. "The last one was out because the beacon had been hit in the strike.

This one is still functioning. It's nothing more than a signal burst and our ship's computer picked it up."

"Ann, Dr. Lacklin, my printout reads that this thing is definitely Earth origin. Shall we go for it?"

"What the hell, that's what we're here for, Stasz." Ian shrugged and started to walk away.

Just before he closed the cabin door a loud smack echoed through the room. With a start Ian looked back, as Stasz staggered away from Ellen.

"How dare you?" Ellen shrieked, her features flushing scarlet.

"Listen, lady," Stasz intoned with mock seriousness, "where I come from a woman who presses up against a man who has been deep spaced for three months is ob viously asking for some support. So I figured my free hand could provide that support."

Ian held the door open as Ellen glided out of the room in a royal huff. The moment Richard caught his eye they both broke out into rolling peals of laughter. Ian decided it was time for the cracking of another bottle.

"This looks like two in a row," Ellen said, her comment reflecting the dread they all felt as they surveyed what most likely was a dead colony.

The unit was less than a thousand meters away, turning slowly, outlined in sharp relief by the starlight and Discovery's spotlights.

"I'm picking up a hot reactor," Stasz said hopefully. "Trace emissions. Their power supply is still good."

Stasz jockeyed them around the cylinder for a closer examination. There was no direct view into the unit since the colony was coated with heavy shielding in order to cut down the radiation exposure for the inhabitants. Ex ternal light was admitted to the colony by a complex series of mirrors, and Stasz maneuvered toward one with the hope of getting a reflected view of the inside.