Charles Sheffield - The Spheres of Heaven

“I’m sure there are.” But Dag Korin’s frown and jutted jaw added a silent, Like hell .

“With that understanding, I have no further comments and I suggest that the ship’s computer should join this meeting.”

“Everyone else agree?”

“Ready to roll.” The Angel waved sedately.

“All right. Elke?”

She nodded and touched a pad sequence on the console in front of her. “Gamma-D, prepare to receive recognition templates prior to a search of the data banks received as orbiter survey data. I’m going to draw them.”

UNDERSTOOD, WE ARE READY.

“Just one second.” This time it was Chan Dalton. “I’m as keen to get home as anyone, and I don’t want to hold this up. But before you start describing what the computer should look for, can’t we have a quick status report? Even if it’s not an emergency, I’d like to know if there’s been any significant change in the ship’s condition.”

“That makes good sense.” Dag Korin ignored Elke’s impatient gesture. “Find out where you are before you decide where you’re going, always a sound policy. All right, Gamma-D. Let’s hear how things stand.”

MANY ONBOARD FUNCTIONS ARE SUFFERING A SLOW ALTHOUGH AS YET NON-DANGEROUS DEGRADATION. IT WOULD BE ADVISABLE TO MOVE TO A MORE TYPICAL AMBIENT ENVIRONMENT.

“In other words,” Liddy whispered to Bony, “don’t stay underwater longer that you have to. For this we need a computer?”

“Shh!”

THE DEFENSIVE SHIELDS ARE LOST, AND THEY REMAIN IRREPLACEABLE WITHOUT A VISIT TO A MAJOR FLEET REFURBISHING CENTER. THERE IS MINOR HULL DAMAGE THAT DECREASES THE LEVEL OF TOLERABLE STRESSES UNDER ACCELERATED FLIGHT. A LIMIT OF TWO GEES SHOULD BE OBSERVED IN OPEN SPACE IN THE VICINITY OF A LINK TRANSITION POINT.

“Two gees in open space, near a Link point,” Dag Korin growled. “Don’t you wish!”

THERE IS NO OTHER DAMAGE TO THE SHIP ITSELF. HOWEVER, SOME COLLATERAL EQUIPMENT HAS SUFFERED FAILURE.

“What do you mean, collateral equipment?” Chan Dalton had been studying a new schematic of the Hero’s Return that highlighted any problem area. “Everything here looks fine to me.”

THE SCHEMATIC THAT YOU HAVE IS OF THE SHIP ITSELF, WHERE THERE ARE NO MAJOR FAILURES. WE REFER TO COLLATERAL EQUIPMENT IN THE FORM OF THE TWO OBSERVATION SATELLITES THAT WE LAUNCHED.

“Oh, no,” Elke groaned. “We didn’t get data from them? Gamma-D, I was relying on them to allow a ground search.”

THAT WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE. MANY DATA WERE RETURNED, ENOUGH TO PROVIDE A COMPLETE SCAN OF THE WHOLE PLANET. HOWEVER, APPROXIMATELY TWO HOURS AGO THE SATELLITES FAILED.

“Both of them?” Elke’s thin eyebrows rose. “Are you sure that it’s not a problem with our onboard receiving equipment?”

THAT WAS OF COURSE CHECKED, AND IT IS IN PERFECT WORKING ORDER. ALSO, THE TWO OBSERVING SATELLITES DID NOT FAIL SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE FIRST FAILED TWO AND A QUARTER HOURS AGO, THE SECOND TWENTY MINUTES LATER.

“Radiation belts?” Elke said, more to herself than the computer. “Solar flare?”

WE RULE OUT BOTH THOSE POSSIBILITIES. COMPUTING THE TRAJECTORIES OF THE SATELLITES WITH RESPECT TO THE ROTATING PLANET, WE DISCOVERED THAT BOTH FAILED WHEN THEY WERE OVER THE SAME POINT OF THE PLANETARY SURFACE. THE PROBABILITY OF SUCH A FAILURE OCCURRING AS A RESULT OF NATURAL CAUSES IS NEGLIGIBLY SMALL. WE CONCLUDE THAT THE TWO OBSERVING SATELLITES FAILED AS A RESULT OF DELIBERATE DESTRUCTIVE ACTION UNDERTAKEN FROM THE SURFACE OF THE PLANET.

“Shot down, by God! Blown apart by bloody aliens.” Dag Korin glared at Vow-of-Silence, as though daring the Pipe-Rilla to challenge his statement, but when he spoke again it was accusingly to the computer. “Gamma-D, why the devil didn’t you tell us about this as soon as it happened?”

WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO INTERRUPT YOUR MEETING ONLY IF THERE WAS IMMEDIATE DANGER TO THE SHIP. WE JUDGED THAT WAS NOT THE CASE.

“Not immediate, maybe. But soon. Well, it was my fault more than yours.” Korin slouched down in his seat. “Gamma-D, do you know the point on the surface where the whatever-it-is that destroyed our observing satellites came from?”

YES. TO REFINE THAT ANSWER, WE HAVE COMPUTED A LOCATION OF MAXIMUM PROBABILITY FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE DESTRUCTIVE ACTION. IT LIES FORTY-SIX KILOMETERS FROM THE SHIP’S PRESENT LOCATION. SHOULD WE DISPLAY IT?

“Damn right you should.” Korin watched as an image of Limbo’s whole hemisphere appeared on the screen, then zoomed in until one point of the surface showed highlighted by a flashing spark of light. “Well, I think we’ve answered one question and saved Elke some work. The job of finding an alien spaceport, settlement, military base or whatever has been done for us. We know where they are. And we know what they do. They shoot first, and later they ask questions. The question is, what do we do now?”

“What do we do now?”

Dag Korin had asked the question, but he acted as though he expected no answers. A couple of seconds later he stood up and said, “Well, we’ll all think better when we’ve had some rest. It’s been a long day, and I don’t know about you but I’m bushed.”

As he left the fire control chamber he unobtrusively gestured to Chan Dalton to follow. They walked through the dark interior of the Hero’s Return , listening to the wheeze of air pumps and the groans and creaks of the stressed hull.

“The computer says we’re in fair shape,” Korin said gruffly, “but it doesn’t sound that way to me. I want a more detailed analysis of the ship’s condition. Hear that, Gamma-D?”

WE WILL PROVIDE A COMPLETE REPORT TO YOU.

“Soon as you can. You see, Dalton, the Hero’s Return is a space cruiser, she was never built to sit at the bottom of some stinking ocean. My guess is that in a few days we’ll have to get this hulk off the seabed and out into vacuum, or we’ll be forced to abandon ship. And that raises some pretty interesting questions that I don’t want to talk about yet.”

The two men walked on in silence, past empty weapons chambers and massive drive engines, past the room housing the ship’s master computer, past deserted crew quarters. It was like a ghost ship. Neither spoke until they reached a door of bilious green and passed through into Dag Korin’s private quarters.

“Now we can really talk freely.” Korin glanced at Chan. “Know why we’re in here?”

“Computer?”

“Good man. I checked when I first came aboard. It’s the main reason I chose this for my quarters — the only place on the ship that to my certain knowledge has no computer sensor feeds. Safer than asking the computer not to listen, which I’ve never had any faith in. This place goes back to the time when the Hero’s Return was on active duty. You’d find one room like this on most military vessels, because in any army and any navy, there’s a few things better left off the record. Sit down. And instead of me telling you, you tell me. Where do we stand?”

The general loosened his collar, which Chan took to mean that the conversation would be informal.

“We’re in deep shit,” he said. “Bad trouble. Right?”

Dag Korin nodded. “I think so. Trouble how?”

“Well, we seem to be in some `parallel universe,’ whatever that means, with different physics. It’s a big shock, but that sort of thing doesn’t interest me nearly as much as it interests Elke Siry. I have more practical worries. Even if the ship were in good shape, we can’t live on the bottom of the sea forever.”

“If we could, we sure as hell wouldn’t want to.”

“So we have to get to the surface. But if we do, I can’t see the Hero’s Return being in any condition to stand a Link transfer back home.”