Victoria landed with a terrible thud. Her neural nanonics medical monitor program flashed up an alert that the impact had broken her collarbone. Axon blocks came on-line, muting all but the briefest pulse of pain. It was her programs again which made her twist round to avoid any follow-on blow, her conscious mind was almost unaware of the fact she was still moving. A hand scrabbled for the power tool. She snatched it and sat up. Marcus was disappearing down a side corridor. She fired at him before the targeting program even gave her an overlay grid.
Jorge, she datavised. I've lost him.
Then get after him.
Marcus's collar sensors showed him a spray of incendiary droplets fizzing out of the wall barely a metre behind him. The multipurpose tool must be some kind of laser pistol. Katherine, he datavised. Retract Lady Mac 's airlock tube. Now. Close the outer hatch and codelock it. They are not to come on board.
Acknowledged. How do we get you back?
Yes, Captain, Jorge datavised. Do tell.
Marcus dodged down a junction. Have Wai stand by. When I need her, I'll need her fast.
You think you can cut your way out of the shell, Captain? You have a fission blade, and that shell is held together by a molecular bonding generator.
You touch him, shithead, and we'll fry that fucking wreck, Karl datavised. Lady Mac 's got maser cannons.
But do you have the command codes, I wonder. Captain?
Communication silence, Marcus ordered. When I want you, I'll call.
•••
Jorge's boosted muscles allowed him to ascend stairwell three at a speed which Antonio could never match. He was soon left struggling along behind. The airlock was the tactical high ground, once he had secured that, Jorge knew he'd won. As he climbed his hands moved automatically, assembling the weapon from various innocuous-looking pieces of equipment he was carrying on his utility belt.
Victoria? he datavised. Have you got him?
No. He broke my shoulder, the bastard. I've lost him.
Go to the nearest stairwell, I expect that's what he's done. Antonio, go back and meet her. Then start searching for him.
Is that a joke? Antonio asked. He could be anywhere.
No, he's not. He has to come up. Up is where the airlock is.
Yes, but
Don't argue. And when you find him, don't kill him. We have to have him alive. He's our ticket out. Our only ticket, understand?
Yes, Jorge.
When he reached the airlock, Jorge closed the inner hatch and cycled the chamber. The outer hatch dilated to show him the Lady Macbeth 's fuselage fifteen metres away. Her airlock tube had retracted, and the fuselage shield was in place.
This is a no-win stand-off, he datavised. Captain, please come up to the airlock. You have to deal with me, you have no choice. The three of us will leave our weapons over here, and then we can all go back on board together. And when we return to a port none of us will mention this unfortunate incident again. That is reasonable, surely?
•••
Schutz had just reached the bridge when they received Jorge's datavise.
Damn! He's disconnected our cable from the communication block, Karl said. We can't call the Captain now even if we wanted to.
Schutz rolled in midair above his acceleration couch and landed gently on the cushioning. Restraint webbing slithered over him.
What the hell do we do now? Roman asked. Without the command codes we're bloody helpless.
It wouldn't take that long for us to break open the weapons cabinet, Schutz said. They haven't got the Captain. We can go over there and hunt them down with the carbines.
I can't sanction that, Katherine said. God knows what sort of weapons they have.
Sanction it? We put it to the vote.
It's my duty watch. Nobody votes on anything. The last order the Captain gave us was to wait. We wait. She datavised the flight computer for a channel to the MSV. Wai, status, please?
Powering up. I'll be ready for a flight in two minutes.
Thank you.
We have to do something! Karl said.
For a start you can calm down, Katherine told him. We're not going to help Marcus by doing anything rash. He obviously had something in mind when he told Wai to get ready.
The hatchway to the Captain's cabin slid open. Marcus air-swam out and grinned round at their stupefied expressions. Actually, I didn't have any idea what to do when I said that. I was stalling.
How the fuck did you get back on board? Roman yelped.
Marcus looked at Katherine and gave her a lopsided smile. By being right, I'm afraid. The dish is a distress beacon.
So what? she whispered numbly.
He drifted over to his acceleration couch and activated the webbing. It means the wormhole doesn't go back to the xenoc homeworld.
You found out how to use it! Karl exclaimed. You opened its other end inside the Lady Mac .
No. There is no other end. Yes, they built it as part of their survival operation. It was their escape route, you were right about that. But it doesn't go somewhere; it goes somewhen .
•••
Instinct had brought Marcus to the portal chamber. It was as good as any other part of the ship. Besides, the xenocs had escaped their predicament from here. In a remote part of his mind he assumed that winding up on their homeworld was preferable to capture here by Jorge. It wasn't the kind of choice he wanted to make.
He walked slowly round the portal. The pale violet emanation in the air around it remained constant, hazing the dull surface from perfect observation. That and a faint hum were the only evidence of the massive quantity of power it consumed. Its eternal stability a mocking enigma.
Despite all the logic of argument he knew Katherine was wrong. Why build the dish if you had this ability? And why keep it operational?
That factor must have been important to them. It had been built in the centre of the ship, and built to last. They'd even reconfigured the wreck to ensure it lasted. Fine, they needed reliability, and they were masters of material science. But a one-off piece of emergency equipment lasting thirteen thousand years? There must be a reason, and the only logical one was that they knew they would need it to remain functional so they could come back one day.
The SII suit prevented him from smiling as realization dawned. But it did reveal a shiver ripple along his limbs as the cold wonder of the knowledge struck home.
•••
On the Lady Mac 's bridge, Marcus said: We originally assumed that the xenocs would just go into zero-tau and wait for a rescue ship; because that's what we would do. But their technology allows them to take a much different approach to engineering problems.
The wormhole leads into the future, Roman said in astonishment.
Almost. It doesn't lead anywhere but back to itself, so the length inside it represents time not space. As long as the portal exists you can travel through it. The xenocs went in just after they built the dish and came out again when their rescue ship arrived. That's why they built the portal to survive so long, it had to carry them through a great deal of time.
How does that help you get here? Katherine asked. You're trapped over in the xenoc wreckage right now, not in the past.