Charles Sheffield - The Spheres of Heaven

Bony wondered if “vacuum” really meant vacuum. Would it do to raise the Finder to the surface, or beach it? That sort of thing would not be easy, but it was an area suited to his own fix-up skills. Given a day or two and some cooperation he could certainly have raised the Mood Indigo using the auxiliary thrustors, and probably taken it to space. The Finder was much more of an unknown quantity, but he was willing to give it a shot if they would let him.

The computer was not finished. THE ELECTROMAGNETIC COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM HAS NOT FUNCTIONED CORRECTLY SINCE IMMERSION. THE NEUTRINO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM WAS RESTORED TO SERVICE ELEVEN HOURS AGO, IN SO FAR AS SUCH A RESTORATION IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT A MAJOR OVERHAUL. CONTACT HAS BEEN MADE WITH TWO VESSELS: FIRST, THE MINISTER OF GRACE , WITH A CREW OF ANGELS AND OF SELLORAN REGISTRATION. HOWEVER, THIS CONTACT WAS LOST NINE HOURS AGO AND HAS NOT BEEN REGAINED.

The Angel said gloomily, “The Minister of Grace , swept into the abyss by the force of the storm. `Thou art lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry.’ ”

The computer ignored the Angel and went on, SECOND, THE HERO’S RETURN , WITH A CREW OF HUMANS AND WITH SOL REGISTRATION, REPORTS THAT IT IS NEWLY ARRIVED IN THIS VICINITY AND LIES ON THE SEABED ROUGHLY THREE KILOMETERS FROM OUR POSITION. WE CONTINUE TO EXCHANGE LOCATION AND IDENTIFICATION SIGNALS WITH THE COMPUTER OF THE HERO’S RETURN .

Bony decided that the Finder ’s onboard computer was not just primitive, it was very dumb. He had never heard of a ship named the Hero’s Return , but it sounded just like the sort of thing you would call a Class Five cruiser. Any decent computer ought to have that kind of information in its data banks — and it should be able to rank information in probable order of importance. This news should have set off every alarm bell in the ship, announcing that the new vessel had appeared. The computer on the Hero’s Return , along with its crew, must be going crazy wondering why they had heard nothing in return but a bland I/D signal.

If no one else knew what to do, it was up to him. Bony — with the cursed stammer that came always at the wrong time — blurted out, “Ask the Hero’s Return to s-send us a p-picture . And ask for information on ship type.”

Vow-of-Silence reached a claw toward the control board, then hesitated. “Do you already know about this ship?”

“No. But if it’s the same one that flew overhead when we were sitting on the seabed — and I think it must be — it could be a Class Five cruiser.”

“A warship ?” Vow-of-Silence said, while a flurry of Tinker components rose and fluttered excitedly all around the cabin. “Such an arrival would be unspeakable.”

While Bony wondered how to answer — if he were right, it was certainly a warship — Liddy helped him out. “Lots of the old solar system warships have been converted to civilian use. Right, Bony?”

“They have. All the offensive weapons were taken out, and they don’t carry a fighting crew any more. But if it’s a Class Five cruiser, it will be superbly equipped and difficult to destroy. We would be far safer there than here. All of us.” He thought of the Angel. “They have an onboard sunroom and a garden area, for crew relaxation.”

“Hah!” The fronds on the upper part of the Angel waved, and the compact body emitted a rapid series of high-pitched squeaks. Even as Bony realized that this was Gressel’s digital audio command to the ship’s computer, the reply was coming. OUR INQUIRY HAS BEEN RECEIVED AND WE HAVE THE RESPONSE. THE HERO’S RETURN IS CONFIRMED AS A CONVERTED CLASS FIVE CRUISER SERVED BY A HUMAN CREW. THE PASSENGER-CARRYING CAPACITY IS ONE THOUSAND AND SEVENTY UNDER NON-EMERGENCY CONDITIONS, BUT THE SHIP NOW CARRIES A COMPLEMENT OF ONLY EIGHT HUMANS. IT IS ALSO CONFIRMED THAT THE SURVIVAL PROBABILITY OF ALL BEINGS ON BOARD THIS SHIP WOULD BE GREATLY INCREASED BY TRANSFER TO THE HERO’S RETURN . SUCH A TRANSFER HAS ALREADY BEEN PROPOSED. WE RECOMMEND IT, AND THE ABANDONMENT OF THIS VESSEL.

Bony wondered just who was recommending the transfer. From the speed of the transaction, the only parties who could be involved were the ships’ computers. Had the idea of the move come from this ship? If so, the Finder ’s computer was condemning itself to oblivion. The machine existed in distributed form throughout the ship, and there was no possible way to take it to the Hero’s Return . It would fade and die as the onboard energy supply dwindled.

If anyone shared Bony’s thoughts, they did not mention it. Vow-of-Silence said, “It will mean suits again. A nuisance, but the journey will be a short one.” She turned to Bony and Liddy. “I have called for a crew-to-crew visual link. Since we are dealing with a human ship, initial contact and the indication of our desire to transfer would come better from two humans. Agreed?”

Did they have a choice? Bony waited for the two-way video link. At last, a picture appeared. The display showed a man and woman sitting side by side and looking right at the occupants of the Finder ’s cabin. The man had a wary, weary expression, the dark-haired woman was fresh-faced and seemed to glow with health.

The two of them stared and stared without saying a word. The man’s mouth hung open, while the woman leaned forward and frowned in disbelief.

Liddy glanced around the cabin and could see nothing to astonish. When Bony remained silent, she at last said, “Hello, Hero’s Return . Are you there? Do we have contact?” There was still no reply. She nudged Bony, who sat frozen. “Something’s wrong with the communications. I don’t think they’re seeing or hearing us at all. Bony? Are you listening to me? Bony? Bony!”

Not just Chan Dalton and Deb Bisson, but the whole bunch — Dapper Dan and Chrissie and Tarbush and Tully O’Toole. Bony tried to explain about the team to Liddy on their surrealistic dawn journey across the seafloor, but he was not sure she believed him. He was not sure he believed himself. A hundred lightyears, or two hundred, or however many it was from Earth, and the first humans you run into are old friends.

Liddy reacted calmly. She and Bony kept very close to each other, drifting along the coastal shelf in the faint, filtered light of early morning. It was improbable for him to meet his old friends here? Fine, so it was improbable; but it had happened. “Improbable” was something you could only apply to future events.

The Hero’s Return stretched its length along the seabed, so big that as they approached the center lock for admission to the ship, the bow and stern were invisible through the cloudy water. The storm was past, but here its after-effects lingered on far below the surface. After the first chaotic minutes of hugs and handshakes, the group settled into the ship’s main fire control chamber, and detailed explanations began.

Chan Dalton introduced Dag Korin, and the grizzled General offered a terse description of the Hero’s Return ’s Link transition and surprising underwater arrival. As he finished he glared with distaste at the Pipe-Rilla, the Angel, and the assembled Tinker Composite.

Vow-of-Silence took over, but she could add very little. The Pipe-Rilla, like the Angel and the humans, had expected her ship’s Link transition to terminate in vacuum. In fact, it seemed impossible that it would not do so, given all the built-in safeguards employed by the Stellar Group.

Bony had not expected that he and Liddy would have much to offer, but after Dag Korin and the Pipe-Rilla had explained how they came to be here, one of the crew of the other ship, a tall, woefully thin blonde named Elke Siry, sat down in front of Bony. She had been introduced as the expedition’s scientist, and she wanted to know everything . What tests had he done on the water? What had they seen of plants and animals on the seafloor? When they were on the surface, had they seen anything of the night sky of Limbo? What could they tell her about the surface gravity of the planet? About the distance to the horizon? Where was Friday Indigo, and the Mood Indigo ? What had they learned in their brief visit to the land? What about the aircraft he had seen? What about the object that Bony suspected to be a Link entry point? Was he sure it was a changing feature, sometimes there and sometimes not?