"Half speed ahead," Ursis said. Even he sounded happy for once.
Shortly thereafter, Brim was able to order full speed ahead, and within the next half metacycle, they switched to Hyperlight Drive and a heading for Hador-Haelic. It had been a long day indeed....
Chapter 6
THE D-SHIP
On the third day out from Zebulon Mu, Brim eased S.S. Providential into a parking orbit some two hundred c'lenyts above the surface of Haelic, then watched Ursis and Barbousse shut off most of her systems. He had orders to leave the once-derelict cargo liner in orbit so she could be inspected for structural damage before anyone attempted a landfall. Her critical cargo of antimatter power supplies was much too valuable and potentially destructive to risk in a hull that might not make it all the way down in one piece....
Later, as he lined up the attack launch on a landing vector over Atalanta, he listened to his two comrades trading details over the intercom about an N-ray generator they'd dreamed up-one that could focus its output in the manner of a searchlight instead of a radiation extinguisher. They planned to build a prototype from spare parts available nearly anywhere in the field. He was tempted to interject his own thoughts concerning Randall amplifiers and automatic focusing logic when a woman's voice interrupted from the console.
"Fleet Launch 325: wind out of three five zero at one one: vector two zero five to G-pool nine eight; you are cleared to land."
"Fleet Launch 325, wind three five zero at fifteen; vector three zero five-thank you, ma'am," he called out, easing off power for his final letdown to the base. The Gradgroat-Norchelite monastery and its high golden spire glided past under the port nacelle, and from somewhere in the recesses of his mind he dredged up the mysterious Gradygroat motto: "In destruction is resurrection; the path of power leads through truth." He shook his head. Whatever meaning the words once might have possessed was certainly lost on him now.
He smiled to himself when Defiant's graceful lines defined themselves ahead in the distance-almost lost against the massive silhouettes of two battlecruisers moored nearby.
Collingswood's latest warship was rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the most handsome vessels in the Fleet.
Through the side Hyperscreen he spied a colorful maze of little streets and alleys below, enclosed by a rambling wall. Claudia lived in a section like that. He glanced at the panel clock-she'd be going home about this time, too. Absently, he wondered how she planned to spend her evening, but quickly put that sort of dangerous speculation from his mind.
Fascinating as she might be-and he had to admit that she was definitely fascinating-her evenings were none of his business. Shaking his head, he trimmed the ship to neutral, then energized the Collective. "All right, everybody," he announced, "strap in. I'm about to set her down."
"Aye, sir," Barbousse replied from right-hand console.
"You are maybe planning for a rough landfall, Wilf Ansor?" Ursis teased over the intraship.
"Only in the passenger compartment," Brim countered. "Barbousse and I don't have a thing to worry about up here in the bridge."
"Smart-aleck Helmsmen..."
Brim grinned as he switched both spin-gravs into vertical mode. From here on in, momentum from his descent would provide all the forward speed required. "We'll need the coolant radiators set to dense atmosphere," he warned as he checked his instruments.
"Aye, sir," Barbousse answered, adjusting the radiator flap switches at the top of his console. From either side of the flight bridge, powerful electric motors whined and the noise of the slipstream quieted considerably.
Brim banked a few degrees to port for the crosswind and eased the Collective until he established a glidepath-then held it steady all the way past City Mount Hill and out across, the inland portion of the Fleet base. Just short of Defiant's gravity pool, he simultaneously pulled the nose up and raised the Collective. Scant moments later-with vibration from the thundering spin-gravs pounding the soles of his boots-the launch glided to a stop, then settled gently onto her cradle.
"Smo-o-o-oth, Lieutenant," Barbousse commented, reaching up to switch off power to the COMM systems.
"Nothing to it," Brim said modestly-but he was a little pleased with himself, too.
Outside, four yellow-suited ground handlers in blue skullcaps and protective gloves were now at work securing the launch to its special cradle while a shapely blond ensign flounced out across the boat deck toward them. She was dressed in the tight, jet-black coveralls of the Imperial Intelligence Services.
Brim frowned to himself. "Looks like we won't have long to wait for our debriefing," he remarked, watching safe indicators light on the tie-down pane!.
"Could be worse-beggin' the Lieutenant's pardon," Barbousse said as he eyed the ensign appreciatively. "They might have sent somebody, that looks like Y. Adolphus Fillmore."
"You have a point there, friend," Brim chuckled. "You definitely have a point."
Moments later, the blonde pulled open both hatches. "We have a staff car in the parking lot, Lieutenant," she said, smiling up into the flight bridge. "I'm afraid all three of you are under strict quarantine until we've had a long chat."
Ursis chuckled from the door of the passenger compartment. " 'Snow caves and lightning often mean warm friends,' as they say on the Mother Planets," he growled gently. "No doubt the Intelligence mavens are most anxious to discuss N-rays."
"Most anxious, you big smartie," the woman affirmed with a grin. Ursis was a large Bear by anybody's reckoning: one who could clearly kill & roan with a single swipe of his hand. Yet he seldom invoked a sense of fear in anyone-unless he wanted to.
"Never heard of such interest in fire-fighting Bear," Brim commented laconically. While he finished shutting down the launch's systems, he couldn't help ogling the blond officer. She was a good-looking woman: amply built with a creamy and curly hair. From the launch's little flight bridge, she might even be taken for Margot. As if anybody could be taken for Margot.
He grinned in sudden anticipation. At least two messages from Avalon would be waiting. It had been a long convoy. Then he grimaced. It also promised to be a long debriefing session before he got a look at those messages. Wearily, he climbed through the hatch and followed the Ensign toward a companionway. First came the war...
True to Brim's predictions, the Intelligence people required a lot of time before they were convinced that no more information could be extracted from the three Blue Capes, either as a group or individually. When he was finally free to return to Defiant-in an early watch of the morning-he learned that his two comrades had been released more than a metacycle previously.
Outside, it was darkest night, and-of course-the message center was closed. He shrugged phlegmatically. Margot's messages would keep for one more evening, but the delay was still a disappointment. As he waited at the tram stop-Intelligence provided no limousines on the way back!-City Mount Hill was a mass of lights, despite a permanent alert status at the base. Clearly, he mused, Atalantans placed great faith in the two battlecruisers moored nearby. With the advent of benders, however, he doubted their blind faith was still justified; at least until the Fleet learned more about N-rays.
Of course, most civilians didn't yet know about benders, either...
He took a deep draught of fresh night air. The breeze was from landward and carried with it smells of foliage, polluted canals, dust, the distant city... Once more, his mind turned to Claudia. She was part of that city-and somehow she was on his mind a lot more than she should be....