Synthesis - James Swallow [4]
Vale pointed a pair of fingers at the simulated suns. “This is not two things?”
The astrophysicist shook her head and floated closer. “The energy patterns aren’t all we found. Hsuuri’s data chimed with something I’ve been tracking ever since we passed that protostar cluster last month.” Melora tapped in more commands, and Vale’s lips thinned with the brief head-swim that came as the stellar cartography lab reconfigured itself once more, this time rushing out to show a larger part of the sector. A few faint clouds of blue faded into existence here and there, most of them small dots, some of them as large as the ship—or a planet. She could intuit a vague pattern in their dispersal, like a spiral.
“What am I looking at?”
“Regions of subspace instability. A little like the ones the Rhea encountered a while ago out in NGC 6281. Nothing too dangerous, but I’ve been liaising with Lieutenant Commander des Yog and the conn team to ensure that we’re steering clear of them. Just in case.”
Vale nodded. “Right. I got the report.” Regions of spatial distortion were not as uncommon as most people thought; the uniformity of space was actually far from it, but most warp-capable vessels moved through the pockets of faint instability without issue, just like an oceangoing ship cutting through waves across the surface of a sea. It was only when the waves got high—when the distortions became more pronounced—that problems occurred. Where the change in energy states was sharp, it could be enough to throw a vessel out of warp or worse; but so far, they had seen nothing like that in the region, and with the Federation’s advances in variable-geometry drives and encasedfield warp-transfer algorithms in the last decade, most ships had an easy ride.
“I don’t have a theory for this,” Melora admitted. “There’s more spatial stressing in this sector than we’ve seen anywhere else since we came to Canis Major. It could be warp-field effects from first-generation interstellar drives, naturally occurring phase-barrier distortion…” She shrugged. “I’m still gathering information.”
“We’ll tread carefully, then.” Vale looked away. “You think this is connected to the double-star system?”
“It’s possible. Another good reason to go and take a look. We might learn something from the locals, if we can ask around.”
Vale stepped back. “All right, you’ve sold me. I’ll brief the captain. Get me a report covering the high points so I can give him a little show-and-tell.” She smiled. “Not as impressive as this one, I grant you…”
“Already done,” said Melora. “The report’s in your personal data queue.”
“You wrote it up already?”
“I’ve been in here all day, Commander,” said the Elaysian.
“Oh. I thought, um…” Vale trailed off. “Never mind. Thanks, Melora.” She turned to leave, but Pazlar swam forward, moving alongside the catwalk.
“What?” asked the other woman. “You thought what?”
“It’s just that… well, Doctor Ra-Havreii was off-shift today, and I just assumed you two were—”
“Together?” The Elaysian’s expression cooled.
Vale cursed inwardly. I should stop talking now.
“We’re not joined at the hip, Christine,” continued Melora. “Is that what people think?” And just like that, they were suddenly having an entirely different conversation.
“I have no idea what people think,” Vale said lamely. “I’m only the first officer. I just tell them what to do.”
“You’re the worst liar ever.”
“You only say that because you don’t come to the captain’s poker nights.”
Melora’s pleasant face grew concerned. “Is my relationship with Xin a matter of popular discussion among the Titan’s officers, then?”
“No.” The lie fell from her lips automatically, and Vale almost winced at the baldness of it. She sighed. “Okay, yes.” Melora opened her mouth to speak, but Vale talked over her. “But what did you expect? Xin’s never been the type to keep to himself. And this is a starship; it’s like a small town. There’s only three hundred fifty of us onboard, and people like to talk. It’s what enclosed communities do.” She nodded toward the hologram