The Black Fleet Crisis_ Before The Storm Part 23

The vagabond now nearly filledLady Luck's forward viewscreen.

"Colonel, you can deal two different players the same hand; one of them will win with it, and the other lose. If we had given you the chance to play our hunch, what would you have done with it?

Where would Bijo Hammax be right now? "

After a long pause, the intelligence officer said, "Point taken, General. "

"Thank you, Colonel. We're getting pretty close now, as I guess you can tell. The way I see things, I'd better start concentrating on the game going on out here, " Lando said. "We'll keep in touch, but that's not going to be my first worry. "

"If you would leave an audio channel open-"

"You'll probably want to pick up all our c.o.c.kpit sensor feeds-Lobot can route them to you. "

"We will do what we can to a.s.sist you, " said Pakkpekatt.

Lando knew that those must have been difficult words for the Hortek to say. "You'll hear us yell, " he said. "But if you'd really like to help, maybe you want to see what you can do about getting a ship sent to Qella, fast. There may still be answers there that we're gonna need before this is over. "

WithLady Luck cruising slowly along the hull of the vagabond at a distance of only a hundred meters, Lando felt as though he were seeing the ship clearly for the first time.

At a distance, the hull seemed lumpy and irregular.

Up close, it looked like nothing so much as a bundle of ma.s.sive tree trunks woven round with thick, crisscrossing vines, which had grown into the metallic bark. But the scale was all wrong for that comparison-the "vines" were large enough in cross-section to park the yacht inside one, and the "trunks" would easily have swallowed the bulk of the cruiser.

"Looks a bit like a Foss, " said Lando. "What do you think about those extrusions? "

"I can't tell whether the design is symbolic or functional, " said Lobot. "There is no repeating pattern that I can perceive. "

"Maybe those extrusions are some sort of energy conduit for the weapons, " said Lando. "I can't see anything else that looks like a weapon. "

"It is possible that their weapons use surface-charge capacitance, " said Lobot. "SCC is considered unsafe for task force operations, but single vessels can acc.u.mulate very large surface charges without affecting internal systems. Deep s.p.a.ce is a good insulator. "

"So the entire surface might be an acc.u.mulator for that weapon we saw? "

"Yes. The extrusions, as you call them, increase the surface area. The actual weapon apertures could be quite small. "

"Perhaps we should send a greeting message, " said Threepio. "I would be happy to offer my services. "

"Not yet, Threepio, " said Lando. "Look, there's the primary attach site that Bijo was planning to use-there, swing the spot up and to the right. "

"That's not a hatchway, " said Lobot after a moment's inspection. "It's a surface marking. There are no seams. "

"The secondary attach site is farther forward. We'll go take a look at that. "

"General Calrissian, " Pakkpekatt said.

"Yes, Colonel. "

"I thought you would like to know that IX-26 has been diverted from its patrol in Nouane to pick up an archaeological team from the Obroan Inst.i.tute, " said Pakkpekatt. "They are on their way to Qella now. "

"Thank you, Colonel. "

"My chief of data acquisition has asked me to relay a request to you, " Pakkpekatt continued. "He would like you to attach a tracking and monitoring limpet to the target at first opportunity. In the foray team's action plan, that was considered a mission failsafe. "

"Colonel, I intend to attach this entire yacht to the vagabond, as soon as I can figure out where to do it. We'll do a hand attachment of a TRAML then, if everything's still quiet. I'm not going to fire anything at her if I can avoid it. "

"Lando, " said Lobot suddenly. "Look. "

The surface of the vagabond had suddenly come alive with small, pale patches of light. They appeared and disappeared in orderly patterns along the top of the hull extrusions, forming sequences that drew the eye forward, and then to the edge of the curving hull, where they disappeared.

"Oh, no! Artoo, look out! It's getting ready to attack! " Threepio exclaimed.

"That's not what happened the last time they fired, " said Lando.

"The last time they fired, we were two klicks away, " Lobot reminded him. "We wouldn't have been able to see this stage from there. "

"Some thought here that this is engine activity, and the target is preparing to jump into hypers.p.a.ce, " said Pakkpekatt over the comm.

"Suggest you back away and launch that limpet now. You may not get another chance. "

"There is another possibility, " said Lobot. "This could be the next question for us. If so, it is one we're not prepared to answer. "

"General, I strongly suggest you drop the limpet and get your people out of there, " Pakkpekatt said forcefully.

"No! " said Lando. "I want to know what's happening on the rest of the hull, the part we can't see. Where do the lights go? Is there a beginning, an end? Lobot, where are those other video feeds? "

"I am monitoring, " said Lobot. "The light streams originate at a point aft of our position and diverge into two streams which wind forward along the hull, following the surface contours. Both streams end at separate points on the far side of the ship. "

"Threepio, can you make anything out of this? We've got two streams again. Is this another duet? "

"I do not recognize this as any form of language known to me, Master Lando. But perhaps it is not linguistic, but symbolic communication. "

"What are you talking about? "

"Sir, perhaps they are pointers, not streams. "

"Pointers-so which one do we follow? "

"Master Lando, might I suggest that you follow them both, back to the point of divergence? "

"That's backwards! "

"Sir, the conventions of symbolic communication are not universal. You have been conditioned by the customs of your culture to extrapolate in the direction of movement, rather than to look for the source. "

"Threepio's right, " said Lobot. "You can follow a stream to its origin or its destination. Perhaps we've taken so long since we first signaled them that they've decided we missed the portal, or don't know how to find it. "

Lando raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Backwards it is, " he said, and reached for the thruster controls.

Watching the streaming lights flicker by and disappear in the direction of the bow, Lando could not help feeling they were going the wrong way.

But when they reached the spot from which the light seemed to appear, a dark hole irised open there, and the streaming lights vanished.

"They're inviting us inside, " said Lobot.

"Well, I'll be the last pup of an ion storm-" Lando breathed in delighted wonder. "So they are, Lobot. So they are. What kind of atmosphere did the survey ship record on Qella? "

"Nitrogen seventy-five percent, carbon dioxide thirteen percent, oxygen nine percent, water vapor one percent, argon one percent, traces helium, neon-"

"That's enough, " Lando said, puttingLady Luck on automatic station-keeping. "The droids won't mind, but it's a bit thick for my lungs. It's suits for us, pal. Let's go get prepped. "

The yacht's outer airlock and the opening in the vagabond's hull were mismatched in both shape and size. The solution was an old invention, elegant in its simplicity, which Lando had made standard equipment on all his vessels-an extensible cofferdam. Flexible yet vapor-tight, the cofferdam could telescope out from the hull ofLady Luck and attach itself to the other ship, forming an enclosed tunnel between the airlocks.

Lando locked the helmet of his suit in place with a twist and looked across the compartment at Lobot.

"Everything all right? " he called, more loudly than necessary. He'd spent as little time as possible in s.p.a.ce-suits and still had the neophyte's reflex of trying to shout through the faceplate.

"Everything is fine, " said Lobot. "I have nominal pressure and temperature, and there is minimal interference. "

"All right, then. Extending the cofferdam. "

Lando pressed the switch, engaging a specialized autopilot which not only controlled the movement of the tunnel of rings, but took over thruster control forLady Luck as well. The autopilot reported its progress in relentless detail, which Lando ignored until just before contact.

"Beginning cofferdam attach sequence. Attempting magnetic lock, " the autopilot announced.

"Testing. Magnetic lock failed. Attempting negative pressure lock.

Testing. Pressure lock failed. Attempting Chemical Lock One.

Testing. Chemical Lock One failed-"

"What's that hull made of? " Lando demanded.

"We may have to free-fly over there, " said Lobot.

"You sound almost hopeful. "

"I've learned that it's something many people try on their vacations. "

"-Attempting Chemical Lock Three. Testing. Chemical Lock Three failed. Attempting Mechanical Lock One. Testing. Mechanical Lock One holding. "

Mechanical Lock One consisted of thousands of tiny composite barbs attached to monomolecular threads. The barbs were driven into the hull like so many anchors, and then the slack was taken up, pulling the cofferdam's ring seal snug against the surface.

"Any change, Colonel? " asked Lando.

"No change, General. "

"She doesn't seem to have felt it, " said Lando to his companions.

"Pressurizing the cofferdam. " They could not hear the hissing, but the transfer pumps made the deck under their feet vibrate. "Looks like a good seal. Pressure is holding. "

"Good luck, General, " said Pakkpekatt, reduced now to the role of spectator. "I envy you. "

Lando drew a deep breath and offered a jaunty grin. "I might trade places with you if I could, Colonel, " he said. "Lobot, if you lose contact with me, take the ship out of here. Don't come in after me. "

Lobot c.o.c.ked a questioning eyebrow. "Do you really expect me to follow that order? "

"Well... " Lando said, and the grin returned. "At least wait until I yell twice. "

"Good luck, Lando, " Lobot said, and opened the inner airlock.

"Do be careful, Master Lando, " Threepio called after him.

The cofferdam's rigid rings had handholds s.p.a.ced at intervals, which Lando used to pull himself along through the five-meter-long tunnel between the ships.

He paused outside the vagabond's portal to switch on his suit and helmet spots, as the chamber beyond was still lit only by the overspill from the lamps atLady Luck's airlock.

With his own spotlights on, Lando's shadow no longer led the way for him. But the lights revealed little detail inside the Qella vessel-only an empty s.p.a.ce en closed by blank walls of the same mottled color as the hull itself.

Grasping the upper rim of the opening, Lando raised his feet and floated himself through, twisting to look in all directions. He had half expected lights to come on as he entered, but that did not happen.

But the lights he wore were enough to a.s.sure him that he was alone.

"All right, I'm in, " said Lando. "This chamber is about twice my height in every dimension-plenty of room for all four of us. No response to my presence yet. There's no light, and there doesn't seem to be another doorway. But then, I can't see any mechanism for the hatch I came through, so maybe I just can't recognize the exit. "

"Watch your a.s.sumptions, " said a new voice-Bijo Hammax. "Just because you came out through a double-hatch airlock doesn't mean that's what you've entered. "

"Hey, Bijo! I thought you'd be sore at me for stealing your date. "

"I decided to wait and see what happened, " said Hammax. "If she kills you, I plan to forgive you. "

"Thanks, buddy, " said Lando, turning. "Wait, here's something-that's oddre" Looking back toward the outer hull, Lando thought he could see the attachment ring through the wall of the chamber, encircling the opening as a faint gray shadow. He turned off his suit lights, and the ring became more distinct.

"Why have you turned your lights off, General? "

"Can you see this? " Lando demanded. "I don't know why or how, but I can see the attachment ring through the bulkhead. There's a gray ring, a shadow, exactly that size, visible on the inside. "

"Not visible on the relay. Are you saying that the hull is translucent, Lando? " asked Lobot.

"Well-yes. Where're the ship's spots? Can you sweep them across the outside? "

"Coming up. "

WithLady Luck's brilliant spotlights trained on the hull, there was no mistaking the sight-the whole bulkhead glowed faintly, and the ring darkened to a sharp-edged black shadow. When Lando brushed his gloved fingertips across the surface, he could feel that the shadow was slightly raised.

"It's almost like a bruise, " he said. "Like the hull is swelling where those thousands of tiny grapples have grabbed on to it. Artoo, come in here. I want you to scan and record this. "

"That could be a self-repair function at work, " said Hammax. "Mechanical One does do some microscopic damage to the attach point. As for the translucent hull-General, you may have discovered why the ship has so few surface features. We're not seeing the true hull, just an outer membrane, probably differentially transparent to radiation. All the sensors are concealed underneath. "