The muse decided to hang a left, and go haring off across country the other night…
So this… whatever ‘this’ is going to be…
Danny looked up blearily from his drink as Daniella slapped a mug down in front of him, “Mapper says he needs you sober to do something for him. Said this one is on him.”
“M’kay, whut…”
Daniella took the fizzy green drink out of his hand, “Dunno, but what Mapper wants, Mapper gets.”
Danny, even drunk on his ass, still had manners, so he picked up the mug, pivoted slightly, Heh, didn’t spill a drop! And raised the mug in the direction of Mapper’s table in the back of the Lounge. Whether Mapper noticed or not, Danny didn’t know, as Mapper never raised his head.
Setting the drink back down, he cautiously sniffed it, then stuck a finger in it, not trusting the Andromedan behind the bar. His finger came out cold and wet, and didn’t fall off. Surprised Danny thought, Sumbitch tries to kill me on a routine basis, doan trust that sumbitch as far as… Ah shit… Might as well get this over with… He took a deep breath, took the mug in both hands, and slammed the drink down the hatch before he could think of a reason not to.
He wasn’t sure whether he screamed out loud or not, but he knew he was pounding his head on the table, because the empty mug bounced off the table and shattered on the floor. He sat back, now stone cold sober, and shook his head, mumbling, “The shit I do for people…” Getting up, he walked, nay strode, Gotta keep the image up, back to Mapper’s table. “You got something for me?”
Mapper looked him up and down, “Yeah, got a quadrant I want you to look at. Might have a gate. You stink. Go clean up. Be back here in eight divs.”
“Where?”
“Eight divs.” Mapper’s head went back down, and Danny was staring at the bald spot above the green eyeshade Mapper wore.
“Right.” Danny turned wove his way through the bar, and out into the P-way, then glanced at his comp, “Where’m I parked?”
23-W-MOD 3 popped up in the window, and he nodded. The Lounge was at 40-E-12, so it would be a bit of a hike, but he needed to walk to finish clearing his head, besides, there wasn’t a mover on this part of the station, they only ran every ten P-ways from the rim inward. 15 segs later, he cracked the hatch on Ghost, and walked into his ship. “Hi Honey, I’m home.”
The AI replied, “I’m not Honey, I’m Estrella. Drunk again? I detect ketones. And your nourishment levels are low.”
“I’m sober as a rock miner! I’ll grab an E-bar in seven. We have a job. Where are we on status?”
“Reprovisioning is completed, reactor mass is green, EM engine green, Star Charts updated. Your credit balance will drop below two hundred-fifty thousand within a week, which will put your credit on hold again. You have not put your bedding through the fresher in nine days. I am running the scrubber on high to keep the ship from stinking like you do.”
“S’a money trip. Mapper’s paying. We fly in eight divs, if you’ll let me get some sleep.” Danny walked forward to his cabin directly behind the pilot’s station and sat carefully on the mussed rack. He got one boot off, then passed out, one foot on the floor.
Back in the Lounge, Daniella brought a fresh cup of real coffee to Mapper, and asked, “Why do you use Danny?”
Mapper looked up at her, then waved his hands over the pieces of paper littering the table. “Do you know what cartography is?” Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “I’m trying to map the Rift. I’ve been working on this for over thirty years. There are so many anomalies out here, I fear I may never finish. All these are maps of various sections of the Rift. Time warps, gravity warps, Gnu knows what other kinds of warps. I’ve documented over thirty gates in there. Danny is the only one willing to go back in there time after time. And Ghost is the perfect ship for it.”
Daniella glanced around and sat down quickly, leaning in, “But isn’t his ship haunted, for real? That’s what everybody says.”
Mapper grinned, showing amazingly white and even teeth, “Danny found Ghost adrift four years ago in the belt, when he was working for Globus Mining. He was smart enough not to say anything until he was laid off, and rented a tug from Holcomb to go tow it in himself. Granted the AI is a little squirrely, but he’s put every penny he could into upgrades. While it’s dataplated as a DSRV four, it’s really about a DSRV eight with what he’s done. Scavenged those big engines, new control runs, new glass in the cockpit…”
“You lost me, what’s a DSRV?”
“Deep Space Research Vessel, They are designed for a years in space at a time, in all environments, with a crew of up to forty…”
“But it was empty?”
Mapper said impatiently, “No crew or researchers were found on board. Nor was there any indication that they had been aboard. No personal items, no stores, no nothing. The ship was registered out of Antares, back in twenty-eight forty-eight, and listed as missing in forty-nine. Danny found it in fifty-seven, and claimed salvage rights, as is, where is. He was smart too. He never went aboard prior to the salvage court master’s inspection and adjudication, so there was never any question of his destroying any evidence. That’s why they awarded it to him free and clear.”
“So it’s crazy, and so is he. Sounds like a good match to me.”
Mapper looked up, “You know, you and Danny look like…”
Daniella threw up her hands, “I know, I know. Identical damn twins. Even our frikking names. I’m from Andromeda Colony. Danny is from the belt. He grew up on Ganymede. Can’t get much further apart.” Her voice rose, “And we are not related, in any way, shape, form, or fashion! If he was, I’d have killed him a long time ago!” With that, she got up and stomped off.
Mapper grinned as he sipped the cooling coffee, “Ah, young love.” Returning to his precious charts, he compared numbers on his comp to his charts, moving charts in different sequences, at different angles, trying to correlate the now millions of bits of data he’d received over the years.
***
Danny rolled over with a groan, as the lights in his cabin flashed, “I’m awake, I’m frikkin awake! Enough already!”
Estrella replied, “Only because I can tell time, both in local and ship time. Otherwise you would be late again. Shall I have the autochef dial up your normal?”
“Oh God, no! Just a bulb of coffee.”
“Then you will be eating an E-rat?”
“Okay, okay. The normal.”
Ten segs later, Danny, freshly dressed and dipilitated, picked up the steaming meal and bulb of coffee from the autochef. Eating it standing at the counter, he realized he was hungry, and finished the meal quickly. Dumping the plate and bulb into the disposer, he said, “Prep for underway, shoot for a disconnect in two divs, standard departure to the Rift. I’ll have specifics on the actual when I get back.”
Estrella replied, “Already done. Local operations?”
“Local operations,” he said with a sigh. Why do I even bother. Damn AI is smarter than I am, more connected, literally, than I am, and not a failure like I am.
15 segs later, he walked back into the Lounge, weaving through the early morning crowd, to Mapper’s table in the back. I wonder if he ever sleeps? And how did he get a light over his table? The rest of this place is dark as hell… I wonder why he keeps picking me, but he pays damn good, and he’s the most regular client I’ve got…
Mapper looked up, “You’re early. And sober. What a refreshing change.” He picked up a bright blue data cube off the table and flipped it to Danny, “Usual encryption. One time load. Tell Estrella to do the dump as soon as you clear back into normal space. The usual fee, deposited on return.”
Danny started to ask a question, but Mapper already had his head down, immersed in his comp and charts. Danny noticed that Mapper had funny things around the sleeves of his shirt. And that he wasn’t wearing a shipsuit like most people. Matter of fact, he’d never seen Mapper in anything but anachronistic clothing. Almost like he was from a different era.
Danny sighed, waved to the Andromedan behind the bar, who nodded a couple of eyestalks in his direction. Going straight out to the rim, he caught a mover on W p-way, and rode it around. In the module, he made sure the area was clean and clear, and pulled down his ship tag. Stepping back aboard Ghost, he said, “Status?”
“If you remembered the ship tag this time, we’re cleared to depart on the div. Departure corridor one to the Rift, local ops ninety-six to one hundred ninety-two divs, return will be approach corridor seven.”
“Got the damn tag. And a cube for you to play with.”
Estrella sing-songed, “A toy, a toy, something for me to play with, a toy!” Suddenly she switched to a little girl voice, “Can I please have a toy? I’m so lonely…” repeating over and over.
Danny winced and headed to the cockpit. Flopping in the pilot’s couch, he pushed the cube into the slot in the instrument panel. Estrella’s voice changed once again, “Plotting.”
Danny went back to the fresher, did his business, and got another bulb of coffee on his way forward. Patting the dataplate as he entered the cockpit, he glanced down at his cert hanging below it with a snarl, Fucking non-augmented. Cost me a starpilot job with the major lines. That fucking twit, Shannon. ‘You’re too OLD to get augs. You can always drive tugs for a living.’ “Fuck you Shannon. I’ve got my own ship, and I’ll bet you’re still pushing trainees!
DANIEL JEROME ORTEGA
MASTER PILOT (NON-AUGMENTED)
CLASSIFICATION- ANY SHIP, ANY TONNAGE, GALAXY
APPROVAL- GANYMEDE GALSTA 28381229 GANYTECH EDU 28381201
RENEWED- ALPHA STATION 28481023
Danny sat down in the pilot’s couch, strapped in, and looked around to make sure nothing loose was going to come up and smack him in the head. “Checklist please copilot.”
Estrella started down the list, “Umbilicals.”
“Disconnected.”
“Power.”
“Internal.”
Thirty items later, she said, “Clock.”
Danny reached up and wound the 8 day clock bolted to the top of the instrument panel, “Clock wound.”
“Checklist complete.”
“Okay Essie, lets light this candle.”
“It’s Estrella, and we don’t have a candle Daniel.”
Danny sighed, “Prepare for maneuvering. Get us clearance to undock.”
Estrella handled the clearance and said, “You are cleared to undock at five-seven.”
Danny watched the sweep second hand, and as it hit the top of the clock, gently nudged the controls, starting Ghost slowly away from the docking module. “And we’re underway. Shift colors to the skull and crossbones! The Ghost is alive once again!”
***
Six divs later, Danny stretched, “Let’em know we’re going to local ops.”
Estrella handled it, and he asked, “Okay, what’s the plan, this time?”
She displayed a holo of the rift, projecting various entry locations in yellow and overlaying their previous tracks in blue. Once again, where Mapper wanted them to go was a black space in the holo. “Dammit, why can’t I get one, just one of these damn trips that goes back to some place we’ve already been?”
Danny zoomed the holo, looking at various routes, discarding one after the other, and finally settling on one that was fairly straightforward, but one that crossed two gravity warps, one that he still wasn’t sure what the hell it was, and skirted one time warp that had damn near killed him. “Shit, this is gonna hurt. And I’m gonna puke my guts out.” Unstrapping he said, “I’m going down for four. Keep us in this area, but get us lined up for an entry here.” He tapped the command code for the entry he wanted, then continued, “Blinking blue track is what I’m aiming for. Once we reach point seven, I want to stop and re-evaluate.”
“Plotting.”
Danny hit the fresher, evacuating his bowels, and stomach, then threw his sheets and uniform in the cleaning unit. Getting a fresh set out of the storage bin, he remade the bunk, and lay down. A half seg later, he was snoring softly.
Four divs later, he awoke, made the bunk, and hit the fresher again. Putting on a loose fitting shipsuit, he went to the galley and had the autochef make two bulbs of electrolytic water, which he dropped in a waist pocket. He stopped into the crews mess, grabbed a sick sack, and made sure it had not expired. Stretching, he moved slowly back toward the cockpit. Stop fucking around. Get your ass back up there. It’s going to hurt, and you know it, but this is what you get paid for. Man up!
Shaking his head, he sat back in the pilot’s couch, strapped in, and took the sick sack out of his pocket, putting it under his chest strap. “Okay Essie. Let’s do this.” He started the ship forward, gently bumping the power up until it felt right. Whatever else he was, Danny was a feel pilot. He flew by feel more than instruments, much of that coming from his years in the asteroid belt, where one flew head up and out of the cockpit if you wanted to survive.
The first three points went fairly well, other than the time dilation around point three, and he made a mental note to move the return track further out. Point four was the first gravity warp, and he pulled the sick sack out just as the ship started bucking and screaming. He concentrated on the 8 day clock, trying anything he could to lessen the feeling of being pulled apart. His legs felt like they were being bent double, and pulled apart at the same time, as the feeling reached his midsection, he projectile puked what little he had left in his stomach, then they were through that point. Point five was pretty mild, that one just shifted light across the spectrum. Point six was another gravity warp, and he puked again, wondering if he’d find his toenails in the sick sack. At point seven, Estrella said, “Point seven. Loiter?”
Danny wiped his mouth, “Screw it. Manual control. Let’s go see what’s out there.” He quickly squeezed one bulb of electrolytic water into his mouth, and bumped up the power. It felt like the ship was stretching, and twisting at the same time. “Huh, that’s wier…”
Suddenly Danny felt like he was being torn apart. He’d never hurt so badly in his life and he screamed, or at least he thought he did. A seg or two later, he regained consciousness, “What the everloving son of a Venusian Sea Cow was that?”
Estrella answered, “Data indicates a lack of light, and strong gravitational pull 237, down 56. Possible dark star, or black hole. Recommend course change 053, up 134.”
“Make it so. Full power.”
Danny could barely lift his arm, and managed to look at the G meter, “Five Gs? How many are we really pulling?”
Estrella replied, “Twenty. We are making progress.”
“Understood.”
He concentrated on the 8 day clock, as seg after seg wound by. Finally the G forces lessened and Estrella said, “Unknown warp ahead. Sensing both gravity and radioactivity in large quantity…”
Four divs by the 8 day clock later, Danny regained consciousness. There was light, and the ship drifted silently through a star filled expanse of space. “Where are we?”
Estrella didn’t answer.
“Estrella?”
Still no answer.
“AI, talk to me. Where are we?”
A dull male voice answered, “Unknown location.”
Thoughts? Comments? No I wasn’t smoking anything, OR drinking either… Is this worth pursuing???
