The World at the Edge of Space (Perseus Gate Book 2) Read online

  Cargo chuckled, long and slow. “Well, then you certainly weren’t bored”

  Cheeky shot the captain a dark look before her shoulders slumped and she sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. Getting a wicked headache.”

  Piya said.

  “All sorts of new stuff?” Cheeky asked. “Is that code for pretty much everything?”

  Piya said kindly.

  Cheeky stood and nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll catch a few winks before then, with your permission, Cargo.”

  “Of course,” Cargo nodded. “Just be here thirty minutes before the maneuver.”

  “Thanks,” Cheeky said as she left the bridge.

  “Why don’t you go get some downtime, too,” Cargo said to Jessica. “We have our new name. From here it’s just a matter of our virtual girls changing over all our ship’s data. Same ole drill.”

  Hank said.

  Cargo laughed. “Yeah, I know…I just felt lazy and didn’t correct myself.”

  Hank sighed.

  “Your domestic issue aside, I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” Jessica said as she rose. “I’ll see if Finaeus is up for a game of Snark. Trevor and Nance are in the middle of a grudge match, and will be busy for hours.”

  Finaeus poked his head back into the bridge and grinned. “Sure, why not. You need a good spanking.”

  “What? Are you just hanging out there eavesdropping?” Jessica asked.

  “Of course, how else am I going to hear what you think of me while I’m not around.”

  “Get out of here, the both of you. But no spanking, Finaeus,” Cargo cautioned with a grin. “I saw the way Cheeky was looking at you. You’re spoken for.”

  “I didn’t mea—really? Think so?”

  “Cargo made a funny!” Jessica laughed. “But he’s right, Finaeus. Once Cheeky’s mended, look out. You better make sure you’re limber enough, old man.”

  “Oh, I’m limber enough,” Finaeus grinned. “Did I ever mention the time when…”

  she said privately to Cargo.

  The ship’s captain just sent a mental laugh and waved her off the bridge.

  RIGHT HAND TWIST

  STELLAR DATE: 07.22.8938 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Sabrina, Approaching Hermes Station

  REGION: Naga System, Orion Freedom Alliance Space

  Jessica examined the view on the bridge’s main holotank. It rendered the planet Marsalla, and its largest moon, a near Luna-sized orb named Aresa. Their destination was highlighted on the display: a station named Hermes, which lay on the L1 point between the two celestial bodies.

  However, no one was looking at the station; the planet Marsalla was far and away the most interesting object.

  Its surface was covered with an apparent war between green and purple life. It was clearly visible across its continents and even within the oceans.

  “So, not a terraformed world, then,” Jessica said. “Just a conveniently-close-to-habitable one.”

  “That’s a gem, is what that is,” Finaeus added. “Look at it, almost Earth-sized, sixty, maybe sixty-five percent water. Oxygen/Nitrogen atmosphere. You can see FGT Model 18 carbon towers on the major continents, pumping CO2 into the atmosphere for all they’re worth. Nice to see they’re still using one of my designs even out here.”

  “But there’s biomass down there,” Cheeky said. “Life of some sort.”

  “Yeah,” Finaeus said. “Sloppy. Shouldn’t rush it like that.”

  “What do you mean?” Cargo asked. “It’s going to take a while—decades at least—to make even parts of that planet livable. Doesn’t seem like a rush to me.”

  Finaeus nodded. “Sure, but it should take longer. If you try to terraform a world that already has life without first sterilizing it, you won’t like what you end up with. A middle-ground with terrestrial life and extraterrestrial life co-existing is not possible.”

  “Not true,” Cheeky replied. “I’ve seen worlds where there was native life and stuff we brought there.”

  “Sorry,” Finaeus said. “Poor choice of words. What I should have said is that it’s not sustainable. If, by some miracle, one type of life doesn’t obliterate the other, you end up with a subsumation and mutations.”

  “So why’s the alien life purple?” Cheeky asked. “Is it a welcoming committee for Jessica?”

  “Har har,” Jessica said.

  “Retinol, probably,” Finaeus replied. “It’s an alternate to chlorophyll. Simpler molecular structure. Most planets see retinol-utilizing life before chlorophyll comes along.”

  As he spoke, Nance walked onto the bridge, wearing her best hazsuit, with a clear spherical helmet tucked under one arm.

  “Have you seen their decontamination protocols here?” she asked gesturing at the holodisplay, her voice raised in a combination of panic and professional indignation.

  “Uh, yeah,” Cheeky said. “They’re all picky about going down to their planet, and bringing stuff up. Makes sense with what Finaeus was saying about mutations.”

  “All picky? All picky?” Nance exclaimed. “Their version of picky is a biophage waiting to happen! If this place isn’t on the local ‘no fly’ list inside of the next half-century, I’ll eat my hazsuit!”

  Finaeus shrugged. “They may get some unpleasant outbreaks—depending on the type of life down there, but it’s usually not the end of the world. Heh, see what I did there?”

  “How come this sort of stuff—with mixed life forms—doesn’t happen all the time?” Cargo asked. “There must be hundreds, maybe thousands of worlds out there that had native life. Like Cheeky said, they’re rare, but they’re out there and don’t seem to pose threats.”

  “That’s because we sterilized the dangerous ones,” Finaeus said with a devious smirk.

  “What? You just wiped out entire worlds?” Cheeky asked. “That’s…that’s insane. How many did you destroy?”

  Finaeus touched a hand to his chin and looked up at the overhead. “Hmm…at least seven-hundred by last count. Orion has probably done a bunch as well. Easily a thousand for sure.”

  “A thousand life-filled worlds?” Jessica asked. “Just gone?”

  “Well, we just sterilized them, the worlds weren’t gone. Some we had to do the whole system. Microbes are a persistent bunch. Keep in mind, most of these were worlds with little more than moss and lichen. Usually it’s the fungus that we have to watch out for. That stuff is insidious.”

  Sera asked.

  “Actually, no. That one is still out there. It’s life-type isn’t a threat, and it’s safe within the far reaches of the Transcend. But seriously, some of what we found could have wiped out humanity in a century. Interdicting the systems wouldn’t have worked. Some asshole would have flown in eventually and then spread a phage that eventually killed everyone.”

  “Harsh,” Cheeky said quietly. “But I get it.”

  “You didn’t…kill any highly-evolved things—like primates—did you?” Jessica asked.

  “Eliminate the competition sort of thing?” Finaeus asked. “I gotta tell you, we had some walloping debates over that issue through the years—even before the first ships left Sol. The public went over that one for decades. It was an interesting conundrum for the GSS.”

  As Finaeus chuckled to himself—clearly remembering the good ole days, Jessica filled in the term for everyone else. “Generation Ship Service. A quasi-government agency that selected the crews for the original Future Generation Terraformers, and most of the colonist ships too.”

  “Why’d the call them the Generation Ships?” Cargo asked. �
�What with stasis and all.”

  “Didn’t have that when we started,” Finaeus said. “I can’t tell you the amount of freezer burn I got from using cryopods. Those things are like a fucking lottery—in reverse.”

  “They also didn’t expect old farts like Finaeus to just decide to live forever,” Jessica added. “Even in my time, no one had anticipated that the FGT ships were still crewed with the original people sent out on them.”

  “What can I say,” Finaeus grinned. “It hasn’t been my time to go, yet.”

  “You didn’t answer the question,” Cheeky said.

  “Which question?” Finaeus asked innocently.

  “About killing off things like primates. Stuff that was close to becoming an intelligent sentient.”

  “Ah yes, well, it was tricky, you know. Everyone involved in the GSS and FGT believed in the preservation of the human race by spreading out. Eliminating potential competition is a great way to up our own odds of survival. However, an opposing point of view would argue that there must be other intelligent life out there somewhere, and if they see us exterminating everything, they might decide that we’re the definition of unwanted competition. Our very actions could end up creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of our own doom.”

  “Sounds dramatic,” Cargo said.

  Jessica laughed. “Haven’t you noticed? That’s kinda Finaeus’s thing.”

  Nance scowled. “You’re really skirting the issue here.”

  Sabrina said.

  “Oh gods, that’s a whole different question,” Finaeus sighed. “Regarding killing off primate-like things, we never had to test our resolve. We never found anything smarter than a cat out there. Sadly, so far, we’re alone in the black.”

  Iris added.

  “Yes, yes,” Finaeus nodded. “Other galaxies could be teeming with life—or there could be life on the far side of the galactic core, or even hiding in the larger nebulas. It’s impossible to see what’s out there without going to take a look.”

  “Which you have, haven’t you?” Nance asked skeptically.

  Finaeus shrugged. “Not the whole galaxy. But we’ve sent out probes that should have the job finished in ten to twenty-thousand years—depending on dark matter density in the galactic rim. The core will be lifeless, though. Everything within five kiloparsecs at least. Sagittarius A* makes certain of that.”

  Jessica asked Iris, referring to the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s core.

  Iris said with a mischievous chuckle.

  Jessica replied.

  “All very interesting stuff,” Nance said. “However, as your ship’s bio, I’m mandating that we practice full biocontainment procedures while we’re at Hermes station. I don’t want to leave this place and find out that we’ve got some fun new plankton growing on the bulkheads.”

  “Or inside our heads,” Finaeus said with a somber nod. “Not that I would expect Orion to be so sloppy—they didn’t build their empire by letting biophages run wild. Still, we’re on their fringe, so caution is recommended.”

  “Speaking of which, we’re fifteen minutes out from docking at Hermes station,” Cheeky said. “They’re sending a tug to bring us in the rest of the way.”

  Jessica glanced down at her console. “So far they haven’t questioned our registry. Seems to be holding.”

  She turned back the view on the main holo where Hermes Station now filled the view. Hermes was the largest in the system, and as such the one they hoped to blend in on best. Though, even as the biggest in the system, it was barely noteworthy. Just a ring twenty kilometers in circumference, spinning around a central spire ten kilometers tall.

  Even worse, there weren’t a lot of ships present. Fewer than half of Hermes’s berths were occupied, and the lanes in and out of the station contained little traffic.

  They were going to stand out like sore thumbs.

  “Everyone know their backstories?” Cargo asked to a chorus of yeses. “And you have your new tokens and ident data?”

  “Yes, Dad,” Cheeky chuckled. “Not our first-time faking ident here.”

  “Our first time where there’s no safe haven to run to, though,” Nance said. “Stars, we don’t even know how to get to any other system, save blind jumps.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Cheeky groused.

  “The station’s pretty light on the regs,” Jessica said. “What you’d expect for a bunch of scrappy types out on the fringe. If we’re lucky it’ll be filled with mostly live-and-let-live types. They do have a prohibition against public nudity…Cheeky… and only pulse pistols are allowed off-ship.”

  “They gonna inspect the bottle?” Nance asked.

  “No word yet,” Jessica replied, realizing that if Nance met the inspection team in a hazsuit it may arouse suspicion. “I’ll handle them if they show, though.”

  “Fine by me,” Nance said. “The less contact I have with these alien microbe-ridden people, the happier I am.”

  “I take it that you’re not going onstation, then?” Finaeus asked.

  “Not if I can help it,” Nance replied. “And I know why you don’t want me meeting the team, Jessica. It’s so I don’t spook them; but if you think you’ll get me on that station without this thing on”—with that Nance patted her helmet—“then you’re off your fucking rocker.”

  “Uh…OK,” Cargo said as Nance turned and walked off the bridge.

  “Strong reaction,” Cheeky muttered.

  “You can say that again,” Finaeus replied.

  “Strong—” Cheeky began but stopped abruptly when her statement was met with more than one “Don’t!”

  “You guys are no fun,” Cheeky said with a mock pout. “And here I am still recovering from my ordeal. You should be nicer to me.”

  INSPECTION

  STELLAR DATE: 07.22.8938 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Sabrina, Approaching Hermes Station

  REGION: Naga System, Orion Freedom Alliance Space

  Jessica met the Hermes Station inspection team at the main cargo bay’s airlock. As the lock cycled, she examined the team standing within.

  There were three women and one man, and Jessica wondered if the prevalence of women over men was present here in Orion space as well, or if this ratio was just a coincidence.

  All four wore hazsuits—none as nice as Nance’s top-of-the-line models, but still sufficient to deal with serious chemical and biological contaminants.

  Per Nance’s requirements, Sabrina forced a biohazard sanitization cycle in the lock, and Jessica noticed one of the women shake her head, while another appeared to laugh inside her helmet.

  At least they appeared to appreciate the incongruity of the situation.

  Jessica really didn’t think any of it was necessary. The forty-second century nanotech that protected everyone aboard Sabrina was more than up to the task of fighting any contaminants that these four could bring in. Nevertheless, dealing with sanitization in the airlock was easier (and much more pleasant) than listening to Nance complain about all the possible things that could end up growing inside the walls.

  As the lock finished its cycle and the main bay doors slid aside, Jessica glanced at her outfit to make certain it was clean and presentable.

  She wore the purple shipsuit she had lifted off the Transcend soldier back on Gisha station. Iris had since upgraded it to protect against vacuum and added a ballistic absorption layer, all while keeping the thickness under half a millimeter.

  Additionally, all of the logos and tech linking the clothing to the T
ranscend had been removed, along with the illuminated triangle over the ass. Jessica had no problem with people staring at her rear end, but it didn’t need an arrow pointing it out.

  A last-minute addition was an emblazoned blue tulip on the collar, something Cheeky had suggested to match their new ship name of the Matron Tulip. Not that they really needed a logo—but Cheeky liked to needle Sabrina. A sure sign that the pilot was starting to feel like her old self.

  “Welcome aboard,” Jessica said as the inspection team stepped into the ship’s main bay. “I’m the ship’s First Mate, Jessica.”

  One of the women approached and offered her hand. The inspection team’s helmets bore clear faceplates, and Jessica could see a warm, but somewhat wary smile on the woman’s face.

  Nance commented privately over the shipnet, apparently observing over the monitoring systems.

  Jessica admonished.

  Jessica accepted the woman’s hand and gave it a single, firm shake.

  The woman introduced herself and her team, gesturing to each in turn. “Hello, Jessica. I’m Inspector Mary, this is Pete, Lana, and Rory.”

  “Nice to meet you folks,” Jessica said. “The Dockmaster’s office said that you want to examine our antimatter containment systems?”

  Inspector Mary nodded. “Yes, we’ll also do some random scans of your cargo and ship, though we’re glad to see that you take biocontaminants seriously.”

  Cheeky said with a laugh over the shipnet.

  “Of course,” Jessica nodded. “I’ll show you to the engine room.”

  Jessica said.

 

  Jessica led the Hermes inspection team through the main bay, which was filled with crates—all carefully scrubbed of any Inner Stars origin markers.