Breach

fiction by michael werneburg

2002.07.26

Xin gave Hiram a close look, and said, "You're going to pay for that." By Xin's standards, it was possible to guess she was kidding, but the Ensign looked fleetingly uncomfortable.

Marl said, "He's okay, Chrissy. He's still learning how to talk to women."

"You knew he was one of yours?"

"He isn't 'one of mine'. He heard me make a remark in our language and we exchanged stories."

Xin turned back to Hiram. "You're going to have to learn to lighten up, Ensign."

Marl glanced at the security lead in amazement. Marl suspected that a psychologist might have urge caution regarding a crewman orphaned by a disaster involving the same toxic waste this crew encountered on a regular basis.

Then Eisberg said, "I think I've got the Admiral's ship coming in. It's well to the north-east and looks like it will touch down in forty minutes, nominal. We're going to be an hour late if we stay at 10%."

Xin regarded Marl through her helmet's visor. "Push us to 4%, Ilyana, please."

"4%, aye."

They were now moving at twenty-five times the sled's normal top speed, relative to the nominal rate of time's passage. At this speed, the light inside their subtime field dimmed and their fleeting view of the landscape looked a bit jerky, like a video that had been through too many compression and decompression cycles. There was now much less wind and the visual effects of the energy passing through their field were coming and going so fast that they were hard to catch. They entered a broad grassland that within a minute gave rise to some gentle hills and a few more trees. Then there was a series of glittering lakes. Then they were once again shooting over a dense forest. They had not passed over any settlements. The sled's console showed that their course would soon take them over a coastline. They would cross a narrow gulf in a couple of minutes and meet their ship at a rocky promontory.

"How do you want to tackle the Prince?" Marl asked Xin.

"By immediately subduing him, eliminating any witnesses, and getting out."

"I understand protocol, but I am looking for specifics."

"It all comes down to what he's told the locals."

"He won't have shared any subtime technology," Eisberg said. "When we met, he asked some rather moronic questions."

"You don't think he's taken any of our technology to share," Marl asked.

Eisberg said, "I did an inventory of the entire ship before we launched this intervention. It was the first thing I did when you woke up Chrissy and me to advise us of the situation."

"Protocol," said Hiram.

"Damn right," Xin said. Turning to the Engineer, she asked, "David, have you made out a trajectory for the alien vehicle?"

"Yes, satellite says it's the most prominent city on this planet."

"Is there a spaceport."

"There is indeed. You think he's heading off world?"

"You said that, not me."

Eisberg gave her an exasperated look. "But what are you saying, Chrissy?"

"I'm trying to assess the situation. I believe the Admiral said something about violence in the population centers. Does that apply to this destination city?"

"It does!"

"When we meet the Admiral's ship, we'll send this sled back to the Virga and intercept the flight with the Prince if we can."

"Intercept?" gasped Hiram. "You don't mean mid-air."

"I do. Aircraft crash all the time."

"They certainly do when you're around," Eisberg said.