Enigma Ship - J. Steven York [39]
Duffy pressed his nose against the cool transparent aluminum. They were going home, the lost people of Enigma. The Quanta had warp drive now. Holographic warp engines that work. That’s something I’d like to study.
Ironically, they’d had the knowledge of warp capability for hundreds of years, since the first warp-capable ship became trapped in Enigma’s web and its crew was read by their telepathic computers. But by then it had seemed to the Quanta as only one more fantasy among many.
Only now were they lucid enough to put the knowledge to practical use. Now they would take their lost people home, those that wished to go. Others had built lives on Enigma. They would stay, and join the Quanta on their explorations of the universe.
“There.” Conlon pointed. There was a streak, a flash, then a cluster went to warp.
Then another, and another.
Then hundreds, thousands. And then they were gone.
“There’s something you don’t see every day,” Drew said.
Hawkins smiled. “On this ship, that’s saying something.”
“A beautiful end,” said Omthon, “to a long nightmare.”
Duffy gazed out at the stars, the sky, suddenly empty. “Mazel tov,” he said.
* * *
P8 Blue watched gratefully as Abramowitz left their shared quarters to begin her watch. She scrambled down from her bed and pulled open her locker. She hesitated, then reached inside.
It had to be done.
She removed the magnetic probe with her front legs, checked it carefully, then turned it on. She shoved the probe against the front of the locker. Metal struck metal with a clunk.
P8 made a rattling sound that, for a human, would have been equivalent to a satisfied sigh.
It never hurts to check.
About the Authors
J. STEVEN YORK has published multiple novels, two nonfiction books, and dozens of short stories in such magazines as Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and anthologies such as Nanodreams and The Ultimate X-Men. He’s recently coauthored two novellas, set in Keith Laumer’s Bolo universe, with Dean Wesley Smith, and his novels include Generation X: Crossroads, and Generation X: Genogoths. He lives on the rugged Oregon coast with his wife, Christina.
CHRISTINA F. YORK is a novelist with a bent toward romance and a background in science fiction. Her Star Trek: Deep Space Nine stories “Life’s Lessons” and “Calculated Risk” appeared in the first two Strange New Worlds volumes. Her latest anthology sale is “The Technomancer’s Apprentice,” to Mage Knight Collector’s Guide Volume I, written in collaboration with husband J. Steven. She has sold two novels, the adventure-romance Hot Waters, and a war story-romance, Flight Time.
Coming Next Month:
Star Trek™: S.C.E. #21
War Stories
Book 1
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Beginning a gripping untold tale of the Dominion War!
Twice, Overseer Biron of the Androssi has been thwarted by the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci. In order to be prepared for their next encounter, he has obtained the records of the crew’s past adventures during the brutal war against the Dominion….
Trapped behind enemy lines after a difficult victory, the damaged U.S.S. Sentinel must find its way home without engaging any superior hostile forces. When they encounter a Breen ship, it’s up to Chief Engineer Sonya Gomez to trick them into thinking they aren’t what they appear to be. Meanwhile, Dr. Elizabeth Lense of the U.S.S. Lexington must deal with the war’s overwhelming carnage, while on Starbase 92, cryptographer Bart Faulwell has an encounter that will change his life forever!
COMING IN OCTOBER FROM POCKET BOOKS!
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About the Authors
Coming Next Month