Richard Russo - Ship of Fools

I felt as if we were abandoning those who remained behind. The fact that many of them chose to stay did little to ease the sense of guilt; I tried not to think about them too much.

Maxine Shalimar, Jimmy Lycos, and Amar Mubarak were the three pilots. I knew them only slightly, but enough to know they were good.

“Bartolomeo?” It was Nikos, his voice coming through the cabin speakers.

“Yes, Captain.”

He hesitated a moment, then said, “I guess I am still captain.”

“As long as the Argonos sails, you are its captain,” Pär said.

“Thank you. Everything ready?”

“Yes.”

“The harvester, Maxine?”

“She’s ready, sir.”

“Video?”

“Everything’s clear so far,” Amar said. “But we’re still inside. Once we get out, who knows?”

“All we can do,” Nikos said. “How soon to launch?”

Maxine glanced down at her console. “Ten minutes until the last shuttle leaves, then one hour after that for us.”

“Once you lock down transmissions,” Nikos said, “you are to unlock for nothing, understand? I know we’ve talked about it, but I want it clear. Give them nothing to track. No matter what happens to us, I don’t want to hear a thing from you.”

“We understand,” I said. “Radio silence, all the way.”

We would still receive the command channel transmissions, which would be dispersion-broadcast so there would be no way to track them to us, as well as video from three different cameras and from a tracking probe the Argonos would launch after we all were gone; the probe would maintain a constant distance from the ship as it accelerated toward the jump. But we would be unable to send anything to anyone. We would be mute. Another precaution that was probably pointless, but almost everything was impossible to be sure about; so we took every precaution we could.

“I hear anything, I’ll cancel all transmissions from the Argonos.” He paused. “And if something goes wrong here, I don’t want you turning around and heading back. I know there are only five of you, but you’ve got a hold full of equipment, food, and supplies that could mean the survival of several thousand people.”

Maxine smiled. “Don’t worry, Captain. No matter what happens, we’ll leave all of you here to rot.”

“Thanks, Maxine.”

“Five minutes until the shuttle goes,” Amar said.

We sat in silence. I swiveled my seat around in a full circle, studying the dark interior of the harvester hold. We were leaving the Argonos , never to return. My home. Home for all of us. No longer.

“Captain, we’ve picked up something.” It was Cardenas, on the command channel.

“What, Margita? From their ship?”

“Yes. Very subtle, Captain. A change in hull reflectivity. It’s increased. I don’t understand it, and I don’t understand what it could mean.”

“Anything else?”

“Not yet. But we’d better expect something. What’s left to launch?”

“The last shuttle in a couple of minutes, then the cargo harvester in another hour.” He paused. “You think we should hold up on the shuttle?”

“I don’t know,” Cardenas answered. “Maybe they both should go immediately.”

“Bartolomeo?”

“Let’s not make any drastic changes yet,” I said. “Hold the shuttle for five minutes. If nothing changes, let it go.”

“Sounds good. I’m switching over to their channel.”

Silence for a minute, then Nikos came back on.

“They’re holding. Anything, Margita?”

“Not yet.”

Another five minutes of silence that stretched on and on, time dilating.

“Off channel,” Nikos said.

“Amar,” Maxine said. “Bring the shuttle bay to monitor one.”

We watched the shuttle slide out of the transport bay, drift away from the Argonos for a minute, then fire its attitude jets, slowly swinging around. The jets cut, then the main engines fired.

A strange, rolling vibration went through us, ending with a sudden jolt.

“What the hell was that?” Nikos shouted. “Margita?”

“I don’t know, Captain. We’re not detecting… no, wait, something’s coming off the alien ship… I don’t know what…”

I looked at monitor two. Amar had the alien ship on it, and we could see a sphere of silvery light take shape, detach, then eject from the ship’s surface with an incredible speed, headed for the rear of the Argonos .

“What is that, Margita?”

There was no answer. Amar was switching images, trying to follow the sphere. It was headed for the shuttle. Seconds later, it struck the shuttle and burst in a shower of silver glitter.

The shuttle engines died. But the shuttle continued to move away from the two ships, although much more slowly than the other shuttles had, and there were no obvious signs of damage.

Crackling sounds, then someone’s voice came over the command channel.

“We’re hit! We’re hit!” It was Masters, one of Shuttle Eleven’s pilots, breaking radio silence.

“Masters!” Nikos barked. For a brief moment I thought he was going to berate Masters for unlocking transmission, but he didn’t. “Damage or injuries?”

“Don’t know, Captain. Don’t think so. There was no concussion… we could see it coming, but when it burst over us we felt nothing except a kind of tingling, and the engines died. All other systems are still functioning. And we’re moving. Slow, but moving.”

“Captain!” Cardenas again. “Here comes another one!”

On the monitor, the silvery sheen was once again forming a sphere on the hull of the alien ship. The sphere detached and ejected from the ship, directed again at the shuttle.

The cameras followed its trajectory more closely this time, knowing what to expect. One zoomed in on it, and we could see more details. The sphere seemed solid, or at least opaque, its surface a glistening silver, electricity-like filaments sparking across it.

It burst over the shuttle, just like the previous one had, doing no visible damage.

“Masters. Status.”

There was no answer at first. A minute passed, then two. Finally a faint transmission came through.

“We lost everything,” Masters said. “Systems are back up, but only at three-quarters power.”

“Masters, try to refire the engines,” I said. “If they start, tell everyone to hang on and blast out of here at six g’s.”

“Captain?”

“Bartolomeo’s right. Do it!”

“Jimmy,” Maxine said.

Jimmy nodded. He knew what she wanted. He tapped away at the console and the harvester launcher lurched toward the open bay doors. There were no energy fields here, just the vacuum of space waiting for us.

The engines came to life on the shuttle, bright orange flaring on monitor one.

“We’re on!” Masters said.

The shuttle engines erupted, orange turning almost white and blue. The shuttle’s speed increased, slowly at first, then faster and faster.

“Number three!” Cardenas shouted.

“Wait, Jimmy,” Maxine said.

Another sphere was forming. Just before it reached full size, Maxine turned to Jimmy.

“Release!” Maxine ordered.

Jimmy triggered the launch pad release; there was a slight jolt, then we dropped through the open doors.

The sphere detached. We drifted out from the Argonos . The sphere shot away from the alien ship, again headed toward the shuttle. We weren’t in its path, but we were much larger than the shuttle, and I knew what Maxine was thinking. And hoping.