DARK ORBIT: The complete series, page 1
DARK ORBIT
complete series
R.L. GIDDINGS
STORM FRONT
COUNTER STRIKE
HARD EXIT
©R.L. Giddings
STORM FRONT CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY- THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY- THREE
CHAPTER ONE
Blake looked again at the data on the main screen.
He’d gone over it several times but the ship’s cooling system didn’t appear to be working.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Blake said. “It was working fine yesterday.”
“And it’s working fine today. Look.”
Blake turned to the screen showing Hammatu who was currently occupying the pilot’s seat. At over two metres tall with a thick, oily pelt, he might have seemed like a strange choice but in every test Blake had run it had been the Dr’zz who had come out on top. It was their circulatory system which gave them the advantage in space travel. No matter how many gravities they were exposed to, they tended to keep going long after everyone else had passed out.
Of course, they’d had to get a suit specially made for him but that was a small inconvenience considering the enormity of this project.
Blake brought up the read-out Hammatu had been referring to.
“Engine pressure and engine temperature are all normal. If the cooling system wasn’t working, we’d be seeing a spike right about now and we aren’t.”
“Still,” Blake tapped the shared screen. “According to this, your whole system shut down thirteen minutes ago.”
Hammatu made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat.
“Can’t they just try re-booting it?”
“They could but that would mean we’d have to wipe everything. Start the countdown from scratch.”
Hammatu’s breath misted the inside of his helmet and it took the fans a moment to clear it.
“You’re talking about another three days.”
Blake puffed out his cheeks. “I know it’s frustrating but we can’t afford to rush this.”
Hammatu scowled, revealing rows of pin sharp teeth. “I think we’re being a little over cautious. Personally, I think that we should press ahead with the launch.”
“We can’t do that,” Blake said. “Not if one of our main systems has shut down. That would be … irresponsible.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, doctor,” Hammatu said. “I’m the one in the driving seat and from where I’m sitting the cooling system is fine. What we’re having problems with is the tiny thing that’s monitoring the cooling system.”
He brought up the display again.
But Blake wasn’t paying attention. He was looking at the external camera which showed the little ship nestled inside its launch bridle. It was hard to believe that the ship was currently locked in a geo-synchronous orbit three hundred and forty kilometres above their heads. ID3-688 had that classic skip drive look about it: seemingly blocky and awkward where other ships tended to be sleek and dynamic looking. At the centre, it was even possible to pick out the drive’s tell-tale circular engine housing design.
Skip drive technology wasn’t new, it had been around for thirty years or more but in that time, there had been no significant breakthroughs in the technology and the risk factor involved in piloting one had never really gone away.
“This is what test launches are all about, my friend,” Hammatu said. “Highlighting inconsistencies you just wouldn’t get in the lab. These are the sort of real-world problems even the best super computers won’t pick up on. And, as such, we should embrace them.”
But not everyone shared Hammatu’s confidence. Certainly not the four senior Selenni engineers standing behind Blake. The Selenni didn’t like risks of any description and it was obvious from their body language that they were already nervous.
Anyone would think that it was they who were the ones who were about to be fired off in a prototype rocket.
But then, they had other reasons to be nervous.
There was a lot at stake here.
This was ID3’s first test launch and everyone was jumpy. Her predecessor, the unmanned ID2-383, had only managed two partial jumps before suffering a catastrophic systems failure. It hadn’t been a very auspicious start. The distance that ship had covered had also been less than impressive: just over three thousand kilometres.
Little more than a blip in terms of modern space travel.
Certainly the main Gateways wouldn’t be shutting down anytime soon. But it was a start.
That pilot, another Dr’zz, had managed to walk away but it had been a close-run thing in the end. And so now, considering that the drones were supposedly good for at least ten jumps that had put a considerable strain on the whole project.
If ID3 were to malfunction, they wouldn’t have access to a viable replacement because the back-up wasn’t due to be finished for another eight months. Bigger projects than this had been shut down for less.
Blake looked over in the direction of the two-way mirror on the far wall. It was no secret that the company’s executives often congregated there. It had been one of the many concessions he had been forced to give in order to secure the level of funding this project demanded. And, actually, he was fine with them watching so long as they didn’t try to interfere. Only they couldn’t help themselves. Every morning he would log onto his workstation to find long lists of helpful suggestions, all of which he was expected to reply to.
“Cthala?” he consulted with the squat female Selenni on the side nearest to him. “What do you think?”
The female’s green/orange coloring helped to distinguish her from the blue/grey of the males.
“It’s very frustrating, I grant you,” she said. “But we can’t be completely sure that this so-called problem with the cooling system isn’t flagging up some other problem happening elsewhere.”
After eighteen months of them working together the female Selenni had finally been able to calibrate her translator in order to tone down the brusqueness of their normal exchanges. It had been something which had led to a lot of unnecessary tension when Blake had first arrived. It had seemed like everyone was criticising him.
“These test launches are so valuable,” Cthala continued. “And even if they do take forever to set up it’s the data they produce that we’re interested in. Hundreds of thousands of hours of analysis. And we don’t want to jeopardise that because some aspect of the original launch was skewed.”
Hammatu didn’t say anything but it was clear from his expression that he didn’t relish the thought of another delay.
The engineers on the other hand seemed more than happy with the arrangement, the vanes on their shoulders vibrating in a silent show of approval.
Normally, Blake might have agreed with them, but not on this occasion. There was a lot of pressure on him to produce results but so far everything they’d achieved had been singularly uninspiring. It wouldn’t take much to convince his sponsors that they’d gone with the wrong proposal and he could think of several people who’d jump at the chance of working on a set-up like this.
He slowly raised and dropped his shoulders. “Perhaps Cthala is right. Could we perhaps take a step back? Go over the cooling system again. See if there’s something we’ve missed?”
As he was speaking, the external view of the ship dissolved into a storm of interference.
He watched as Hammatu leaned against his restraints and tapped the screen.
“Now you’ve done it,” he said playfully. “You’ve jinxed everything.”
Then, just as he said it, his screen flickered and went blank.
Blake was suddenly conscious of Cthala pushing past him in a bid to get to the workstation.
Seconds later, a high-pitched keening sound filled the air.
He took hold of Cthala’s arm and said, “What the hell is that noise?”
“That’s a cyber-attack warning, doctor. Someone’s trying to breech our systems. Hoping to shut us down.”
Blake stepped back as the other engineers crowded forward.
This was the last thing they needed.
But then it got worse.
The security doors opened, and figures started flooding through. He felt his temper starting to rise as he slowly realised what was happening.
The company’s security team was built along military lines. He didn’t like the set-up though he could see the appeal it had for the company which was simply trying to protect its investment. Usually, apart from a few
Both times this had happened, they’d been unable to get any work done and Blake was concerned that the same thing was about to happen now.
His first thought was to go and find Maya.
She was one of only two other humans working on the project. Seven days after meeting her, she’d moved into his apartment. And he often thought that if everything else failed it would have been worth it just to have met her.
He spotted her inside one of the clear glass offices. She was sitting at her desk along with two other colleagues. It looked like things were escalating quickly. Maya was one of the data scientists in charge of programming their fleet of super computers. It was an enormous job trying to stay on top of everything, and certainly not the sort of thing Blake would have had the patience for. But she was brilliant at it, helping him manage the vast swathes of data they’d accrued.
Blake often felt that if all the test launches came to a sudden halt, there’d be enough information there for him to eventually crack this whole skip jump conundrum himself. He was convinced that they had all the relevant pieces, it was now just a question of piecing them all together. It might take him thirty years to solve it, but he was confident that he’d get there eventually.
Seeing Maya reminded him of what she’d said a couple of nights before.
They’d been lying in bed and he’d been railing about all the problems they were facing just to get the test launches underway.
It was a familiar theme of his and one that Maya had listened to countless times.
“What you need is a disaster,” she’d said, rolling over to face him.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“A disaster,” she’d placed her hand on his chest. “And not a small one either. You need something huge. Something they’re not likely to forget. A blazing fireball of destruction, nothing less.”
“Really? You want the whole thing to go up in flames?”
“That’s right. You see, what we’re doing here is incredibly dangerous. There’s a huge element of risk. And I think the executives, in their desire to make everything as safe as possible, have forgotten that. All major breakthroughs have to come at a cost.”
He had watched her as she’d smoothed out the hairs on his chest.
“What? You mean, like the early days of the space program.”
“That’s absolutely right. Think about those Soyuz 11 deaths. The Apollo 1 fire. The first Mars mission. Those people were all pushing the envelope and there’s an element of danger that comes with that. The Selenni have forgotten that. They’re starting to think that all this is fairly routine. But, when you’re trying to innovate you can’t always play it safe. Eventually, you’re going to have to take a risk. Perhaps, even a big risk.”
He hadn’t been sure whether she’d been serious or not. Certainly, it hadn’t appeared to weigh too heavily her - as soon as she’d finished delivering her address she’d rolled over and gone straight to sleep.
But her words had stayed with him.
Perhaps there was something in what she said.
Perhaps they were playing it too safe.
He was approaching Maya’s room when the security guards intercepted him.
“Doctor Blake?” security’s translators weren’t as sophisticated as those used by the lab staff and their voices came across as sounding thick and labored. “Would you mind coming with us?”
He looked over at Cthala. She was used to the day-to-day running of the lab and normally this was the kind of thing she dealt with but currently she was distracted by other things.
“I’d love to, gentlemen,” Blake said continuing to walk right past them. “Really, I would. Only as you can see, we’re in the middle of a test launch right now. And if we have to shut it down now this is going to set us back days.”
Just the slightest hint that their actions would effectively cost the company millions was usually enough to get security to back down, but not on this occasion. In fact, the larger of the two Selenni moved to cut him off, his mandibles flaring to show he meant business.
“This is not a request, doctor,” the other Selenni said. “A Level Five Emergency has just been declared. You are to come with us immediately.”
Blake could see Maya through the glass. She was standing with her two work mates staring at ID3 on the big screen.
“Very well,” he said distractedly. “But what’s all this about?”
The big arachnid stepped closer. “You need to come with us now. As arranged.”
A prickle of apprehension went through Blake as he recalled the Level Five training. They’d only run through it once, but once had been enough. It had been extremely taxing and wasn’t the sort of thing he wanted to repeat in a hurry.
But if they were doing this now…
He held up a hand in a bid to placate them.
“That’s fine,” he said. “But I just need to get Miss Valentine first.”
He side-stepped the larger Selenni and kept walking towards the office. His head down.
There was a sudden shriek from inside and he looked up to see the image on the screen.
They were showing the aftermath of a huge explosion. Hammatu’s ship had exploded.
Blake stood, rooted to the spot while the screen replayed an earlier shot of ID3. He watched as the ship exploded once more, this time in slow motion.
But that can’t be right…
“You need to come with us now,” one of them was saying.
“Maya,” Blake shouted. “You have to come, now!”
She turned at the sound of her name and started towards the door.
“No,” the lead Selenni said. “We’re only here for you.”
Which was correct. The first time they’d gone through this he’d barely known Maya and he’d gone off on his own. But now things were different.
“She’s coming with us.”
The two arachnids consulted one another. They had the ability to communicate using pheromones and he supposed that was what was happening now.
Then, the bigger one said, “That’s not possible, I’m afraid.”
Blake waved to Maya to come out and she wasted no time getting out the door. Even with no make-up and her hair pinned back, she was a sight to behold and she clearly wasn’t intimidated by the two security men.
Like all the other Selenni, they had two pairs of upper arms but, unlike the others, the arms on these two were thicker and more powerful. The crushing forces they were capable of exerting were phenomenal.
As soon as Maya drew near, Blake went and looped an arm around her waist, hoping that this would make his point for him.
“She’s coming with us. And that’s the end of it,” he said.
The two arachnids were so close now that he could smell them. They weren’t used to being challenged in this way and so weren’t sure how to respond.
“She’s my partner,” Blake said, putting special emphasis on that last word, hoping the translation software would be able to pick out the nuances of that.
“We can’t be liable for anything that happens to her.”
“Good,” he said, a little too quickly. “I’ll take full responsibility. Now, shall we go?”
*
The base was eerily quiet. There was no one else around.
But perhaps that made sense. Keep everyone else at their posts until the situation had been resolved.
Except they couldn’t take that risk with Blake. The company’s major investment here was in him and everything he knew.
That had been true ever since he’d first arrived. Everything had been tailored to him and his needs. That’s why the company had chosen to base their operations on Norilsk. Far enough away from the Colonial government that their work could continue without the usual constraints and far enough outside the Iringan sphere of influence to spare them from waking up one morning to find a couple of dreadnoughts hovering overhead.
The whole base had been built to his specifications. It had only taken them a hundred days to put it all together: from the laying of the foundations to the site going on-line.
