I stalk through the dead colony, opening doors to buildings that once held workers, families, hopes and dreams. All is gray silence. Most of the buildings have no basements and are quickly searched.

  The burned building was the infirmary. Whether the fire was a deliberate defense against the disease, or a random accident cannot be ascertained. The fire was fought, so this happened early in the last terrible day and a half.

  This building has a basement, and in there, the cool of the earth has preserved the corpse of a Morok male. The blue-skinned, apish alien is intact, at least to the extent that it has much more soft tissue left.

  “Maauro,” Wrik yells, “the visual cut out!”

  “It is all right. There is a body here, and I must do some work that you would find disturbing to watch.”

  “Am I really that squeamish?”

  “Yes, dear, you are.”

  Moments later, I am done. The sample of decaying biological mass is now in my labs. Every test I can conceive of is run on the unfortunate Morok’s remains. I am not idle meanwhile, but finish my circuit of the colony in the fruitless hope of finding a survivor. By the time I finish, I have discovered our adversary. At first, my systems refuse to recognize it as a form of biological life, a pathogen so different that it seems unrelated to anything else that exists. It is a horrid little piece of virus, between crystalline and silicon, well below the size of all but the best biowarfare filters. I consider its lethality in wonder. Is this bio-ordnance, or merely malign nature?

  Twenty minutes of analysis gives me a preliminary assessment of how to kill this deadly microbeast and how to protect from it. Antidotes and other methods will take far longer, if they are possible at all. I report all this above, as my labs do their work.

  “Maauro,” Wrik finally says, “is there more to be gained by remaining there?”

  “No, I am finished here. The pathogen that destroyed the colony may still be resident somewhere, either dormant or in some lower animal life. I do not know if it will ever be safe for any biological we know to land here again. I will bring nothing back with me. Even the samples I have taken will be utterly destroyed.”

  “Then come up as fast as you can.”

  I gather up my armspac and make for the pinnace. Before I board it, I set my labs to destroy the pathogen sample down to atomic levels. After securing my weapon, I take off and fly to the outer atmosphere. It is tedious to launch in the pinnace, taking much longer to return, than to land. Once out of the atmosphere, I decompress the pinnace and stand outside of it in the clear starshine, which flows down on me like a blessing, after the death below. I generate plasma fire in both hands and run it over all my surfaces, then I route it through my interior. The thorough decontamination returns me to utter cleanliness and I sigh in relief. I wanted to leave the stench of death far behind me.

  The inside of the shuttle has plunged into vacuum, but it is designed for it. I inspect all surfaces for any contamination. Then I button the shuttle and skip it through the outer atmosphere causing it to again glow. My caution is perhaps at absurd levels but the green and gold hull I am approaching holds most of my treasure in this existence.

  “Hello Wrik, all decontamination procedures complete. I am ready for docking.”

  “Thank God,” he replies. “You’re just in time for dinner. Some of my better work, I think.”

  “Keep it warm,” I say, appreciative of this little gesture, “docking in fifteen minutes.”

  Wrik is waiting for me in the docking area and comes in as soon as the pinnace is secured and pressure reestablished. I am very thoroughly kissed and enjoy this. I suspect that after dinner there will be more than kissing. It gives me something to look forward to.

  “Damn,” he says. “I know you are near indestructible—”

  “And cute,” I interject.

  “—and can outthink a planet full of PHDs—”

  “And very cute.” I smile, and raise an eyebrow.

  “And very, very cute,” he confirms. “I was still scared as hell with you down there without me.”

  “Imagine how scared I would have been if you’d been with me. Your body would not have survived the decontamination I put the shuttle and myself through. There are advantages to being able to heat yourself to several thousand degrees without damage.”

  “I’ll remember that when I’m old and need to put my feet somewhere to warm up.”

  I do not allow my expression to alter, but the reminder of Wrik’s mortality sets a chill in me. I have happiness beyond anything I have ever imagined before, but for how long?

  We stop at our cabin and I gather up my hair-tie and resume a pony tail. He takes my hand and leads me to the galley. The others are already present and greet me with relief, even Dusko. I join them at the table. Wrik has made fish, polenta with parmesan topping and marinara sauce with a side of peas. It is quite good.

  By mutual consent we do not discuss the voyage to the dead colony. I enjoy the meal with them, ingesting small portions and savoring the complexity of the cooking. What I ingest, I convert to energy. So I have plenty of room for the apple pie, that to my complete surprise, Olivia has made. The pie is excellent and people enjoy it with coffee and liqueurs. We are savoring the fine things of existence, as if in defiance of death. It is a very deliberate act.

  Dusko finally breaches the subject. “What now? We’ve discovered the reason for this sector going silent, some new plague. Are we going to do the sensible and run home?”

  “Have we ever?” Wrik asks. My return has put him in good humor, even with Dusko.

  “We know less than you think,” I interject, “we know this colony died from a spaceborne plague. We do not know if the other colonies succumbed to the same cause. The satellites are gone. The plague did not get them. Then there is the issue of the sighting of this enormous object that blocked the sunlight.”

  “Could that have been a delusion by the ill?” Delt asked, as he sipped the coffee.

  I shake my head. “No, that observation was made before the plague struck. The object was over the cloud deck, so there were no images of it. The sensor readings were very confused. Some indicated that nothing was there. Others indicated an immense object, far in excess of any atmospheric capable starship. That it could cast such as shadow,’ dark as midnight’ was the expression, does show that something physical passed over the colony.

  “So you are leaning toward an attack?” Olivia said, as she finished the last of the pie.

  “Such facts as there are seem to support that theory,” I reply, “but it is far from settled.”

  “So, to answer Dusko’s original question, we leave a marker buoy here to warn any other ships of the potential for plague. We resupply from Fetch and then head out to Fenris to check on the colony there, that’s where the next colony was. We will skip the system that the scoutship checked. Fenris is along the route that the cruiser Taiko took when it went to Mana colony to recovery the survivors there.”

  He looks at me and I nod. Olivia does also, seeming satisfied. Dusko grunts and put his nose back into the strong-smelling brew he favors. Delt just gives one of his wild grins.

  “We’ll transship supplies and fuel from Fetch and start out in the morning,” Wrik says. “We’ll leave Fetch I here in the Skerrand system. If Candace’s plans are all going properly Fetch II should be waiting for us at the next jumppoint.

  “Well, Dusko,” Delt said waiving a deck of cards, “want to cut for who does dishes? High card wins.”

  Wrik stands and takes my hand. We leave the others to clean up.

  I have plans for the rest of the night.

  CHAPTER TEN

  We emerged from hyperspace to find Fetch near the jump point. I ordered it to full burn and slowed our ship. By balancing the two vectors, I used the minimum of energy to acquire the supplies aboard Fetch II. In space, every action has to balance gain against loss; it’s the only way to survive.

  The orange and white sled matched course and speed with us. As before, Maauro handled the hooking up of the boarding tube and various tethers and hoses in a fraction of the time required for a normal crew to do so. Some of this she did through small repairbots in the ship’s hull, some by herself. With the boarding tube secured, the rest of us could board Fetch II, which was not anywhere near as comfortable as Stardust. Very little of the hull was habitable, and the life support was crude and minimal. It sent a shiver of recollection through me. When I’d first fled my disgrace on Retief, I’d only had money for being shipped in cold sleep. I’d fled as far away as I could, being shipped and transshipped as frozen cargo to end up in Vanceport. The memory was unwelcome, and I shook it off, wondering if anyone ever entirely outran their past.

  We unloaded as much in the way of supplies as could be safely contained in Stardust. Containers and barrels were cargo-strapped to bulkheads and in spare cabins, even into passageways. We were far from home and resupply, and at each opportunity I intended to restock the ship to full capacity.

  After we finished, I sent Fetch II back toward to the jump point, there to circle against our further need. It would remain there until we unloaded it fully, or until we were so long overdue that its retrieval program wrote us off and sent the sled back to the Confederacy.

  We resumed our inward voyage toward another small colony, mostly of Moroks in this system. With our sensors on full, we swept inward. There were no signals to be detected, nothing to indicate a colony ahead.

  On the second day, we were all weary from trimming the ship’s cargo and supplies, even with Maauro’s help and heading to the galley, when Maauro’s head snapped up. “Contact ahead, metal object ship size. We are coming up on it in 198 seconds,”

  “Dammit,” Olivia said. We all leapt up and ran for the bridge, Maauro, as usual in the lead.

  “How did it get so close undetected?” Olivia demanded.

  Maauro, Delt and I slid into our seats. Olivia and Dusko simply stared into the screens.

  “The metal object is not radiating power or EM,” Maauro said. “It is 15.673 degrees off our course. While it is not under power, its speed relative to us is .01C speed, a speed that a freighter might use. I judge it to be a derelict.”

  “We are moving quite slow relative to it,” I muttered. “It’s falling in our direction.”

  “Wrik, I believe that we should alter course to pass well within visual range,” Maauro said.

  I immediately set up the course change and executed it. “Do you want me to dump speed for a link up?”

  She shook her head. “No. We would use a vast amount of fuel to come to a relative stop. Let us see what is there. If we need to track back, it would not cost more fuel after we pass it and we can judge if it is worth the effort.”

  I noted that all weapons had come on line and the ship’s compartments all sealed.

  “It is best to be fully prepared,” Maauro said, in response to my look.

  I nodded. It was safest to leave the weapons and ECM to Maauro, who would deploy them at just under the speed of light.

  “All recorders and scanners are online,” Maauro said. “We will only be within range of visual scanners for a few moments at this relative speed but we can see all we need on playback.”

  Seconds passed, then Maauro spoke again. “Scanner is picking up what I interpret as a debris cloud, not a complete hull. Visible now, I will slow the playback.

  On the main screen, a ship tumbled in space, though it was less a ship than a collection of torn debris in the same area of space. We passed it in an instant, but the sensors slowed the image, showing different angles.

  “Maauro,” I asked, “what do you make of that?”

  “I see what concerns you,” she said. “That ship was not struck by beamfire or missiles, nor was it on the edge of an explosion. There are no burns or scorch marks on the hull fragments, at least none that are inconsistent with internal explosions from when the hull ruptured. The metal is torn, mechanically pulled apart is my observation.”

  “What the hell could do that?” Delt asked.

  Maauro only shook her head.

  “Can you tell what vessel that is?” Olivia demanded.

  “I am doing a reconstruction now,” Maauro said. A few seconds later she added, “It is the remains of the SS Empire Manor, a small combine trade scout. She was one of the last vessels to be listed as missing before the cruiser Taiko disappeared.

  “If we are going to stop at the wreck,” I said, “we’re going to have to initiate braking soon. “

  “I see no point,” Maauro said. “The hull has obtained absolute zero. There is no power and no section that is not open to space. No equipment aboard could have survived such handling. She is a dead hulk. I will drop a buoy to mark her position.”

  “Agreed,” I said.

  “Seems like somebody should say something,” Delt said, face somber. “Like to think they would if it was us out there.”

  I could find no words to say, and Olivia just stared at the wreck.

  “You remember our friend, Reverend Janna Lourens?” Maauro asked.

  Delt and I nodded.

  “She taught me a simple prayer and said that the words matter less than what you feel. I don’t truly understand all of this, but if you wish I will recite it.”

  “I wish,” Delt said.

  Maauro stood and faced the wreck.

  Our Father who art in heaven,

  hallowed be your name.

  Your kingdom come,

  your will be done,

  on earth as it is in heaven.

  Give us this day our daily bread,

  and forgive us our debts,

  as we also have forgiven our debtors.

  And lead us not into temptation,

  but deliver us from evil.

  “Rest in peace,” I added.

  “Rest in peace,” Delt echoed.

  Olivia and Dusko merely looked on. After a few minutes, we stood and headed for the galley again. Maauro lagged to secure the armaments and presumably download all the sensor data.

  We found ourselves, dispirited, collapsing into the galley chairs. Dusko said nothing and just sat in the corner ignoring everyone. Delt stood over the microplate with a package of soup.

  “Yeah, I think I still have some of a sandwich left,” Olivia said, sounding weary.

  “Ahem,” Maauro said. She’d entered unnoticed behind us.

  We looked at her.

  “Is the ship under attack?” she asked.

  Delt stared at her. “Uh, no.”

  “Some other emergency?”

  I suppressed a smile as Delt and Olivia looked at each other. Dusko leaned back on the bulkhead, staring.

  “No,” Olivia said, drawing the word out.

  “Then perhaps civilization fell while I was on the bridge?” Maauro looked at me.

  “I didn’t get the memo about that one,” I responded.

  She walked in and relieved Delt of the heatable soup and replaced it in the cabinet. “Dinner will be served in an hour. Wrik, would you be so kind as to get a linen table cloth and the ship’s crystal. Dusko,” she handed him a yellow vase she pulled out of another cabinet, “please pick some flowers from the hydro.

  “Shasti gave us a fine supply of Olympian vintages. I will choose something nice for a creamy pasta dish. Delt, find us some nice soothing music. Olivia, you will have time to change out of those greasy coveralls before we sit.”

  Everyone shuffled to their feet, looking confused.

  She looked at us all. “Shoo-shoo. Come back in an hour.”

  I did my best not to burst into laughter. “Yes, dear.”

  A bemused trio left, Dusko staring thoughtfully at the vase. I walked past Maauro who was already rustling through cabinets.

  “I think it’s important to keep up certain rituals,” Maauro said, almost apologetically. “It is good for morale and the management of stress.”

  “I agree,” I said, pulling out a tablecloth, “but then I’ve been domesticated.”

  She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. “And that’s a good thing,”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  My morale boosting dinner appears to have been a good strategy to restore my shaken crew. Which is good, as the next day we find the Morok colony on the fourth world is simply gone. Only a crater remains where once five hundred or so beings had lived. I again journey down in the pinnace, to find no evidence of plague, just the residue of a tremendous blast of heat that simply vaporized the colony. I search, but cannot find any survivors. As best I can determine, this appears to have happened 97 standard days ago.

  We again boost for deep space, heading for the next colony world in the hope of arriving before whatever disaster lurking in Piola Sector strikes again. Because the Fetch III awaits us in the next system, we burn at full speed and return to the jump point for the next colony. The expended Fetch II sets up its lonely watch on the dead system.

  Meanwhile we pass the time as best we can.

  Wrik and I square off in the ship’s gym. “I will set my reaction speed to human levels.” I say. “We will see how much of what Olivia taught you has been retained.”

  “Hey, I’ve been practicing,” he says with a grin.

  “Practice without an opponent,” I reply, “has limited value.”

  We engage. Wrik uses his reach to stay back. I judge his speed. While, I have no need to rest or catch my breath, I monitor his breathing levels and adjust my tempo so he gets maximum aerobic benefit.

  Still we must pause occasionally. “Wow,” he says, “I thought Olivia was a hard taskmaster.”

  “Oh? Do you prefer working with her?”

  “No,” he says, smiling at the trap. “But there is the fact that she, at least, is not armored.”

 

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