Charles Sheffield - The Spheres of Heaven

“All the ships that the computer has located are Stellar Group members.”

“I know. And isn’t that bad news? You know the Angels, it will be more of their `Violence is never the only alternative’ line of bullshit.”

“But we know they won’t shoot at us.”

“So what? I learned a long time ago that it’s a bad habit to waste effort counting your friends. It’s your enemies you need to look out for. We don’t know who might be just over the horizon. Anyway, what do you think? Let the computer do what it wants and dump the shields, or override it?”

“What are our other options?”

“None that I can see.” Korin nodded his head toward Elke Siry. “Unless our resident genius over there can suggest a different answer. She looks like she’s got her teeth into something.”

Chan could see it, too. Elke Siry’s face glowed with excitement. She was spitting out oral commands to the terminal in front of her, while at the same time hammering out with her hands a series of requests and instructions to the ship’s computer.

“Elke!” Dag Korin called across to her. “You have all the status reports. Do you see any alternative to allowing the ship’s external shields to be released?”

Elke Siry raised her head. The show of teeth was not a smile but a vicious snarl. “You expect me to worry about shields, when I have this to analyze?” She waved a thin hand to take in the displays. “Don’t you realize what we have here? Do what you like with the damned shields, it’s of no interest to me — and stop interrupting my work.”

The General glared. He said loudly to Chan, “You’d never know I was her legal guardian for five years, would you? But it’s pointless trying to talk to her when she has that look on her face.” He placed a finger on the button in front of him.

“You were the one who insisted on bringing her,” Chan said.

“Because she is a genius. Every army and every navy needs one — and no more than one. Most generals and admirals think it’s them, but usually it isn’t. We’ll find out what Elke’s so excited about when she’s finished her analysis.” Korin finally pressed the button. “Computer, d’you hear me? This is Dag Korin speaking.”

AUTHORITY RECOGNIZED.

“Good. And don’t play the idiot with me this time. Go ahead, dump the shields and take us up to the surface.”

OBJECTION TO THE LATTER COMMAND. THE SONAR REPORTS A ROUGH SEA STATE WITH SURFACE WAVES OF TWENTY METERS AND MORE.

“You mean after all that hassle we can’t go up?”

WE SHOULD NOT GO ALL THE WAY TO THE SURFACE. WHILE THE ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES REMAIN AT SUCH A HIGH LEVEL, THE SAFEST PLACE FOR THE SHIP IS THIRTY OR MORE METERS BELOW THE SURFACE. THE OFFSHORE SHELF SHOULD BE SAFE. THAT IS WHERE TWO OF THE OTHER STELLAR GROUP SHIPS ARE ALREADY WAITING OUT THE STORM. IT IS ASSUMED THAT YOU WILL WISH TO ESTABLISH CONTACT WITH THEM.

“Two ships? You said three. What about the other one?”

THE MOOD INDIGO IS PROCEEDING TOWARD A LAND MASS NINE KILOMETERS DISTANT FROM US. SUCH AN ACTION IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THIS SHIP FOR TWO REASONS. FIRST, THE HERO’S RETURN IS MUCH LARGER THAN THE MOOD INDIGO, AND OUR GREATER DRAFT MEANS THAT WE CANNOT GO WHERE A SMALLER SHIP IS ABLE TO PROCEED. SECOND, THE COURSE FOLLOWED BY THE MOOD INDIGO PRESENTS SUBSTANTIAL RISK. OUR BEST MODEL ESTIMATES THE PROBABILITY OF THAT SHIP’S DESTRUCTION BY NATURAL FORCES AT THE LAND-SEA INTERFACE AS NO LESS THAN 0.40. WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO COMMUNICATE THIS CONCLUSION TO THEM, SO FAR WITHOUT SUCCESS.

“All right, all right. I didn’t ask for a lecture.” Dag Korin raised bushy eyebrows at Chan. “Chatty devil, this one — always has been. So what do you think? Land on the off-shore shelf?”

“If we can. But how do we maneuver to get us there? We can’t use our drive under water.”

“We weren’t told that was a problem, so I assume know-it-all has it figured out.” Korin again pressed the button to transmit an oral command. “Computer? Go ahead, dump the goddamn shields.”

THAT ACTION HAS ALREADY BEEN INITIATED FOLLOWING YOUR EARLIER APPROVAL.

“Then take us to where the Stellar Group ships are sitting out the storm. Put us down near one of them — not the Angel ship, though. I can’t stand the sight of those bloody upstart artichokes.”

THE WATER IS TOO SHALLOW FOR THIS SHIP AT THE LOCATION OF THE PIPE-RILLA VESSEL. WE CANNOT APPROACH CLOSER THAN NINE HUNDRED METERS TO THE SHORE. HOWEVER, BEING IN WATER ALSO HAS ADVANTAGES SINCE THE SHIP IS PROTECTED FROM WAVE ACTION. WHEN THE STORM SUBSIDES YOU MAY BE ABLE TO LAUNCH A TWO-PERSON AIR-BREATHING PINNACE FROM OUR UPPER LEVEL. WARNING: THE EXTENT OF POSSIBLE DAMAGE TO THE PINNACE IS UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME.

“Fine. Go ahead and set us down in the best place you can find. I want to launch a couple of unmanned orbiters, too, as soon as possible.” The General turned back to Chan. “That computer talks too much, but in this case it has the right idea. Always keep your head down until you know the situation. Even if we had weapons and our shields in place we’d still be vulnerable. We’re like a shark on land or a tiger under water — misplaced. Staying alive is about the best we can do. I need an airborne overview.”

Chan nodded. “If the pinnace hasn’t been too damaged we’ll have plenty of volunteers to fly it as soon as the storm lets up. Who do you think, Deb?”

They had hardly spoken during the hours while they waited for the Link transition, but in those hours their relationship had changed. It seemed natural now to ask her for advice and assistance.

She thought for a few moments. “Chrissie and Tarbush? They’ve been working together for years, and they’re the best observers we have.”

“That was my thought, too. We should find them aft. All right, General?”

“Hell, they’re your people, Dalton. Do what you need to do. I’ve got my hands full trying to make sense of this garbage. Computer, what sort of a halfassed picture do you call that ?” Korin gestured at the main screen, which showed a bizarre undersea terrain etched in black and silver.

WHAT YOU ARE SEEING IS AN IMAGE CONSTRUCTED USING THE ULTRASOUND RETURN SIGNAL. THERE IS NO WAY TO GENERATE TRUE COLOR FROM SINGLE-FREQUENCY SOUND DATA. WOULD YOU LIKE FALSE COLOR TO BE ASSIGNED ON THE BASIS OF IMAGE LOCAL TEXTURE MEASURES?

“How the devil do I know, until I’ve seen it? Give me another minute to look at this one.”

As Deb and Chan left the room, the view on the big screen began to change. The ship was beginning a slow rotation, heading east and then north toward the coastal shelf. Like a great crippled whale, the Hero’s Return sought a haven on the seabed.

Chan took a final look back. Dag Korin was scowling again, hunched over his console and arguing with the ship’s computer. Tully O’Toole stared open-mouthed at Elke Siry, in open admiration.

And Elke?

She alone of the people in the room — probably of all the people on the Hero’s Return — seemed happy , her attention fixed on the torrent of data flowing across the screens. Her expression remained one of blissful exaltation.

Chan had been exactly right in his assessment of the ship’s computer. It controlled almost every aspect of the Hero’s Return operations, and it could do almost anything — except knowingly risk the lives of humans.

The shedding of the massive defensive shields was slow and systematic, accompanied at every step by calculations of the ship’s new density distribution, center of mass, and barycenter. The curve toward shallower water was gentle, an arc many kilometers across, imposing minimal stresses on the ship’s structure and auxiliary thrustors. Storm conditions at the surface were evaluated constantly, together with more analyses of the blue sun that now appeared occasionally through breaks in the cloud cover.