Q & A - Keith R. A. DeCandido [44]
“Vogusta, this is Darsook.”
That brought Vogusta up short. Darsook rarely used the communications system himself, preferring to have his lackeys handle it. “Shipmaster, what’s—”
“We’ve arrived at the coordinates, but there is no sign of Gaia—or of the Windfall.”
“That’s not possible. I just spoke with DaiMon Neek last night.”
“I know, and that was my first reaction when Operator Veste informed me, but the sensor readings are quite definitive—at least in telling us what isn’t there.”
“I don’t understand.”
Did Vogusta hear the shipmaster sigh? “Which is why I have requested your presence on the flight deck. It would be far easier to explain if you could see it.”
Vogusta didn’t like to see space. It was full of icy comets, hot suns, airless asteroids and all sorts of awful radiation and, worst of all, no air to breathe. Aside from its necessity as the medium through which he had to travel to do business, Vogusta had no use for space and no need to see it.
But it was obvious that Darsook wasn’t going to take “I don’t want to” for an answer. Something strange was going on here, and if the Windfall was indeed missing, Vogusta had a big problem on his hands.
Reluctantly, he said, “I’ll be right there.”
As he navigated the narrow corridors of the Shakikein, Vogusta tried to keep his eyes shut as much as possible. This caused him to bump into a wall that curved to the left as he strode, scaring him out of his wits and sending him into convulsions and hyperventilation. Somehow, he got his breathing under control and arrived at the door to the tube.
Having memorized the tube system, and knowing how sturdy the shafts were, Vogusta felt safer here. But he was shaking so much his knees collided with each other as he walked out onto the flight deck.
His eyes first went to the viewscreen, even though he knew, just knew that it would be showing an exterior visual of space. Vogusta was about to complain about the fact that it showed an image translation, violating his contract. Then he saw the image.
He had no idea what it was. It appeared to be some kind of roiling mass of energy. There was nothing to indicate its size, as there was nothing else in view to compare it to. “What is that?”
“Glad you could join us, Vogusta,” Darsook said wryly. “To answer your question—we have no idea.”
“How…how big is it?”
Darsook looked forward and to his left at one of his crew. “Operator Danee, report to Vogusta.”
One of the many Karemma who were staffing the stations that lined the sides of the flight deck turned around. “The distance between the event horizon and what we believe to be the epicenter of the phenomenon is greater than the distance between Gaia’s sun and its outermost planet.”
Horror filled Vogusta as he stared at the viewscreen. “It’s swallowed the entire system?”
“We believe so, yes,” Danee said.
Wrenching his gaze away from the horror on the viewer, he turned and asked the operator, “Any sign of the Windfall?”
“I’m afraid not, sir.”
Vogusta couldn’t believe it. “How could this have happened?”
“We don’t know,” Darsook said. “However, I have no intention of keeping my ship in this area. For all we know, this…this thing will expand.”
Whirling to look back at the shipmaster, Vogusta asked, “Is there any evidence to support that?”
“No—and that’s the problem. We don’t have any evidence that this phenomenon even exists, except for our eyes. Our sensors do not detect it.” His nostrils flared. “Vogusta, unless you give me a very good reason to remain, we are leaving Gaia immediately and returning to Karemma.”
Vogusta said nothing, instead turning back to stare at the screen, wondering what happened to Neek and his crew, not to mention whoever might have lived in Gaia—at least one of its planets was inhabited.
“Vogusta?” Darsook prompted.
Shaking his head, Vogusta turned back to look at Darsook. “Yes, of course, Shipmaster, we must depart immediately.” Moving toward the tube, he said quietly,