Ascending - James Alan Gardner [83]
“Just bloody wonderful,” Uclod said. “If twenty-four hours is anywhere close to correct, we’d better whip off a Mayday now. Even at that, we’ll be lucky to find a navy vessel close enough to reach us in time.”
“But,” I said, “there are many navy ships back at Melaquin, and that is not so far away.”
“Missy,” Uclod told me, “that is a whole heap too far away. When my dear baby Starbiter left Melaquin, she was traveling ten times faster than anything the human navy can do…and she held that speed for something like six hours, not to mention however far Hemlock has gone since picking us up. Those ships back at Melaquin can’t get to us in less than two and a half days; and I doubt if the Outward Fleet has any ships nearer. We’re a long way past the Technocracy’s usual stomping grounds—it’ll be a pure fluke if anyone gets to us in time.”
“It’s not quite that bad,” Festina said. “The escape pods can put us into stasis and keep us alive indefinitely. When we run out of air here in the main ship, we’ll turn on our Mayday, ditch into the evac modules, and wait for someone to pick us up. But once we’re in stasis, we’re really sitting ducks…so let’s hold off on that while we try to solve our problem.”
“Festina,” I said as softly as I could, “what is our problem exactly? What is our Goal?”
She gazed at me a moment…and I wondered if she was mentally phrasing her answer in comprehensible words, or if she was debating why she should bother explaining the situation to such a grossly ignorant person. In many cases, Science-Oriented People respond dismissively toward those not of the Science faith—especially when the Science-Oriented People have decided that only extra special Science can save them.
But Festina was not cruel. After a few seconds, she answered, “We need a way to call for help. But all our equipment is either broken or it calls the wrong people.” She smiled. “I don’t suppose you have a trans-light communicator in your back pocket, do you?”
I patted the pockets of the Explorer jacket. They all felt empty. “It seems I do not have such a device; but I know where to get one.”
“New Earth,” Uclod said gloomily.
“There is one much closer than that,” I told him. “In Nimbus’s cabin.”
“In…” Festina stopped as she realized what I meant.
“Zaretts,” I said, “have the ability to make long-distance broadcasts. And we have an infant Zarett.”
Without waiting for an answer, I headed off. I had been official communications officer on Starbiter Senior; I intended to assume the same role with Starbiter Junior.
16
WHEREIN I ACQUIRE NEW FAMILY
Black Goo
Outside Nimbus’s room, there was no sign of the black clouds that had been guarding him. However, the floor was smeared with a black goo that looked exceedingly yucky; I did not want to step in it, for fear it would stick to my feet.
Festina stared down at the gunk on the floor and whistled softly. “Looks like Captain’s Last Act cooks defense nano.”
“Good thing too,” Captain Kapoor said. “The defense clouds are controlled by the ship-soul; with the computers off-line, you’d have billions of hunter-killer nano-bots flying around without supervision. Thank heavens we don’t have to worry about that.”
“Don’t speak too soon,” Festina said. “We haven’t told you about sick bay. Now stand back if you please, Captain, and let an Explorer put her foot in it.”
She stepped carefully onto the awful black deposit, tapping it a few times with her toe before setting down her full weight. “Not sticky,” she said. Experimentally, she pushed her foot a short distance across the black surface. “Not slippery either.” She glanced back at the rest of us. “Considering my usual luck, this is where the cloud suddenly rises from the floor and chews the meat from my bones.”
But no such horror occurred. Instead, Festina moved to the door of the cabin and smashed the heel of her palm against a little plastic patch in the very middle. I had been told that one touched such