Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [113]
intercom. “Ensign Lovell, plot a course to the system’s edge and move thePillar of Autumn on an accelerating vector. We will jump to Slipstream space as soon as we get there.” “Sir,” Lovell replied. “Our engines are still in shakedown mode.”
“Cortana?” Captain Keyes asked. “Can we have power to move the ship? I’d like to get under way.” “The engines’ final shakedown is in theta cycle,” Cortana replied. “Operating well within normal parameters. Diverting thirty percent power to engines; aye, sir.”
“And the other systems’ status?” Captain Keyes asked.
“Weapons-system check initiated. Navigational nodes functioning. Continuing systemwide shakedown and triple checks, Captain.” “Very good,” he said. “Apprise me if there are any anomalies.” “Aye, Captain,” she replied. “We finally have an AI,” he remarked to Hikowa.
“We’ve got more than that, sir,” Hikowa replied. “Cortana is running the shakedown and supervising Dr. Halsey’s modifications to the ship. We have a backup AI to handle point defense.”
“Really?” Keyes was surprised; getting a single AI was tough enough these days. Getting two was unprecedented.
“Yes, sir. I’ll see to the initialization of our AI as soon as Cortana is through running her diagnostics.”
Captain Keyes had meet Cortana briefly in Dr. Halsey’s office. Although every AI he had met was brilliant, Cortana seemed exceptionally qualified. Captain Keyes had posed several navigation problems and she had figured out all the solutions . . . and had come up with a few options he had not considered. She was somewhat high-spirited, but that was not necessarily a bad thing.
Lieutenant Hikowa led him into the elevator and punched the button for D deck.
“At first,” Hikowa said, “I was concerned with all the ordnance on board. One penetrating shot and we could explode like a string of firecrackers. But this ship doesn’t have much empty space—it’s full of braces, honeycombed titanium-A, and hydraulic reinforcements that can be activated in an emergency. She can take a tremendous beating, sir.”
“Let’s hope we don’t have to test that,” Captain Keyes said. He checked that this pipe was in his pocket.
“Yes, sir.”
Their elevator passed through the rotating section of the ship and Captain Keyes felt his weight ease and a flutter of vertigo. He grabbed hold of the rails.
The doors opened and they entered the cavernous engine room. The ceiling was four stories high, making this the largest compartment in the ship. Catwalks and platforms ringed the hexagonal chamber.
“Here’s the new reactor, sir,” Hikowa said.
The device perched within a lattice of nonferric ceramic and leaded crystal. The main reactor ring was nestled in the center of what appeared to be two smaller reactor rings. Technicians floated nearby taking readings and monitoring the output displays on the walls.
“I’m not familiar with this design, Lieutenant.”
“The latest reactor technology. ThePillar of Autumn is the first ship to get it. The two smaller fusion reactors come online to supercharge the main reactor. Their overlapping magnetic fields can temporally boost power by three hundred percent.”
Captain Keyes whistled appreciatively as he scrutinized the room. “I don’t see any coolant pipes.” “There are none, sir. This reactor uses a laser-induced optical slurry of ions chilled to near-absolute zero
to neutralize the waste heat. The more we crank up the power, the more juice we have to cool the system. It is very efficient.” The smaller reactors flickered to life and Captain Keyes felt the ambient heat in the room jump, then
suddenly cool again. He removed his pipe and tapped it in the palm of his hand. He would have to rethink his old tactics. This new engine could give him new options in battle.
“There’s more, sir.” Lieutenant Hikowa led him back into the lift. “We have forty fifty-millimeter cannons for point defense, with overlapping fields of fire covering all inbound vectors.”
“What is our least