Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

Cantha, as a rigger-science researcher who was not himself a rigger, had a more objective if less intimate view of what was going on in the net and the Flux, and of what they might expect as they approached their perilous destination. “It appears to me,” Cantha said, “that Rigger Deutsch is performing well with our crew. The question is whether he’s doing so because he’s really decided to join us, or because he’s hoping to earn a bonus for turning us all in the moment we arrive.”

Which of course was precisely what worried Fre’geel. How could they know whether to trust this man? There were myriad justifications for believing him—he was a captive like Legroeder, he hated the pirates, there could be a link between his augments and the underground, and so on—but what it really came down to in the end was deciding whether or not to trust him. Fre’geel turned back to Palagren. “Could he hide it from you in the net, if he were planning to betray us in the end?”

Palagren answered carefully. “If he were like Legroeder, I would say no. Legroeder has a clearly defined personality, which as far as I can tell has not been greatly altered by his augments. But with Deutsch—who knows? He’s been augmented for a long time. His augments may be able to conceal what his natural personality could not.”

“That sounds more like blind trust than I care to risk our mission on,” Fre’geel said, with some edge in his voice. He turned to see Ker’sell joining them. “What do you think about it?”

Ker’sell didn’t surprise him. “I think that he’s a human on a Narseil mission, and we can trust him to act like a human.” The blandness in Ker’sell’s voice belied the distrust they knew he felt—even toward Legroeder, whom he’d had plenty of time to get to know.

“Meaning what?” said Fre’geel.

“Meaning, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no telling what he’ll do,” answered the dour rigger.

Palagren’s narrow eyes winked shut momentarily. “I see no choice, really. We have to trust Legroeder to be attuned to the possibility of betrayal by Deutsch. If he doesn’t detect it, we probably won’t, either.”

“And that’s the real question, isn’t it?” Fre’geel asked. “Can we trust Legroeder to observe accurately?”

“Aren’t we already trusting him with more than that?” asked Cantha. “If things go wrong, we’re practically counting on him to take over the mission for us. I’m sure he’s not eager for that to happen. But he accurately spotted the Kyber attack coming before any of us had a clue. And his instincts got us out of trouble in the fight. So shouldn’t we trust him to think clearly now?”

Fre’geel puffed his gills and stared off into space for a long time, leaving the question unanswered.

When Deutsch reported that they were nearing the general region of the outpost, they signaled farewell to H’zzarrelik and watched the Narseil ship slip out of sight behind them. H’zzarrelik had sophisticated Narseil tracking equipment, so there was some chance that her crew would know where Flechette was, long after the converse was no longer true. While Flechette approached the raider outpost, H’zzarrelik would be listening—silently, like a sub at the bottom of the sea.

The raider ship, under Deutsch’s guidance, flew through a series of gray clouds—and for a time, something like rain came through the air in sleeting gusts. They emerged to find themselves winding along an ocean coastline, at the altitude of a small airplane. Deutsch flew in the lead position at the bow, threading them this way and that along the intricate filigrees of coastline, occasionally obscured by wisps of cloud. Without my old crew, the whole sense of the place is different, he said. I have to feel my way into it . But a few minutes later, he added, I think I’ve found it. I’m looking for an updraft now .

To look, Legroeder thought, is to find. Soon they were rising through a skyscape of mountain-shaped clouds that gradually stretched out in flattened angles until they looked like outstretched arms of coral. When they finally topped the clouds, they entered a sky filled with streamers of white sunlight, like an artist’s vision of Heaven.

There, said Deutsch.

Where? Where’s the entrance?

Deutsch almost managed a chuckle. Think of this as camouflage over the door. You’ll see, as we go through.

The sun bloomed into a sinking, crimson orb, as Deutsch nosed the ship down again. The sky darkened.

We still okay? Legroeder asked.

More than okay. We’re going through the door.

The sun gradually diffused to a burnt, reddish-orange, subterranean glow, ominous against the darkness. The change took Legroeder’s breath away, and he glanced at Palagren, who was stirring with obvious unease. We are close now, said Deutsch.

Legroeder’s heart began to pound.

They flew into the glow, with darkness above and darkness below. Legroeder found it comforting to imagine he was gazing through a thick brown beer bottle into a bright candle flame. But as he thought of the danger ahead, the vision turned to a more perilous one, the fire of a smoldering volcano.

Very close, said Deutsch. Now . He nosed the ship into a layer of almost impenetrable darkness. Palagren muttered worriedly, and Legroeder wondered if he should intervene. But to do what? He waited breathlessly, in near darkness. Only tiny, gleaming position markers at the edges of the net interrupted the night. Almost there, said Deutsch.

And then Legroeder saw it: the burnt-orange glow reappearing from the gloom, but as a series of vertical striations. He had trouble interpreting the perspective: one moment it was a background of dying-fire light, with black columns before it; the next it was columns of living fire, standing watch over passages of darkness; then, with a disconcerting reversal, it was again pillars of darkness guarding passages into great depths of fire.

Are those actual openings in the Flux? Palagren asked softly.

Indeed, said Deutsch.

It’s very strange, whispered Legroeder. Is it a natural formation? Or is it… manmade? He’d seen navigational buoys in the Flux, but never anything as elaborate as this.

A little of both, said Deutsch. Structure imposed on natural features. You’ll see it better soon. Instruct your com operator to be ready to send the authorization code I gave him.

Legroeder passed on the message to Cantha, with growing trepidation. They were approaching a critical moment, and Fre’geel would likely have to make a split-second decision, depending upon the response to their transmission. Would the authorization code get them the clearance they needed, or would it get them blown to kingdom come? Would the underground pick up on it? The message would contain a reference to an encounter with the Narseil navy. If the underground was monitoring arrivals, that ought to alert them. But even so, there would be little time for response.

Freem’n, Legroeder said sharply, where exactly are we now? Have we reached the outer perimeter? In the last few moments, the structure ahead had brightened until it seemed to vibrate almost to the point of inducing vertigo.

Reaching it now, said Deutsch. Transmit the contact and ident code.

Fre’geel acknowledged.

Any answer?

Autoresponse only, reported Cantha.

All right. I’m taking us toward one of the outer docks for damaged-ship arrivals, Deutsch said.

I don’t see any docks, said Legroeder.