Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [27]
"The systems are intact, Dr. Swendsen," one of the men said, scratching a bushy eyebrow. "The ship's energy source is charged, as far as we can tell."
The other tech, a frizzy-haired man with pale skin, grinned like an exuberant child. "Right! There seems to be no reason why we can't work the derelict, but we haven't figured out how yet."
"We'll crack the mystery--count on it. I'm still studying the lab notes left behind by that Roamer engineer. Lots of good stuff." He would have liked to meet Kotto Okiah. Maybe later, once the Roamer difficulties were straightened out. "A very interesting character--brilliant, though a bit disorganized. He wrote down random observations, but never got around to summarizing and extrapolating. Still, he achieved quite a lot, considering he was just one man."
He mumbled encouragement to the techs, then moved toward the center. Did hydrogues walk, or fly, or flow? Swendsen stopped a young woman with hair that fell to her waist, though she kept it tied out of her way. Rosamaria Nogales. Dr. Nogales. "Any report from the biologists yet? Can they confirm that the residue we found was a dead hydrogue?"
The puddle of metallic paste was soft, gelatinous, pliable, and materially unlike anything Swendsen had ever seen. In his notes, Kotto Okiah had postulated that the motionless ooze was one of the deep-core aliens. Swendsen had the same suspicions.
Rosamaria's deep brown eyes were bloodshot; apparently, Swendsen wasn't the only one getting too little sleep. "By breaking down the material into constituent elements, they determined it isn't organic. The structure--I hesitate to call it ‘tissue'--is composed of metallic forms of lightweight gases, which never should have stayed in that state under normal atmospheric conditions."
"Are you saying that what we found was air shocked into a flexible yet crystalline state that somehow retained its molecular structure?"
She shook her head. "I didn't say that. The biochemists did."
"Well, then who are we to contradict them?"
He continued like a doctor on his rounds. Understanding how the hydrogue drive functioned might lead to amazing adaptations for EDF ships--new weapons, new defenses. So many possibilities, and he wanted to do everything, but he was already wearing too many hats. Swendsen was still ostensibly in charge of the Hansa's compy production facility not far from the Palace District. Fortunately, only a few humans were needed to monitor the automated manufacturing lines; thus, Swendsen was free to spend his time and mental energy here.
He arrived at the most intriguing part of the alien vessel, a flat trapezoidal wall panel that resembled one of the Klikiss transportals. The hydrogues and the original Klikiss, somehow, impossibly, used identical transportation systems.
With a pang, he wished Chief Scientist Howard Palawu could be here to help him. He and Swendsen had worked together to dismantle a volunteer Klikiss robot, then used what they'd learned to modify the Hansa's compy models. The resulting Soldier compies were far superior to other models. As a reward for excellent work, Chairman Wenceslas had sent Palawu to study the Klikiss transportals--and Palawu had disappeared through an ancient doorway, just as Margaret Colicos had done. No one had seen him since.
Now his main transportal engineer was a dusky-skinned young woman named Sofia Aladdia, who'd been transferred from Rheindic Co. At the moment, she sat staring at the crystalline wall, intently studying the symbols. "I've looked at all of Dr. Palawu's records. He understood transportals better than any of us."
"Would he have understood this one?"
She shrugged. "I think he would have concluded that the hydrogues used transportal technology to travel from gas giant to gas giant, from core to core. Maybe understanding it is only a matter of redefining coordinates."
"That would explain why we never saw drogue ships flying