The Slowest Spacecraft (part 3)
Vortex always handles the normal communications, sometimes three or four conversations at once when we're in a crowded volume of traffic. This seemed no different.
"Vortex of Chaos, this is Ryry Habitat, with a priority override."
"This is Vortex of Chaos, we are in the middle of a priority override, carrying injured to the Hospital Ship Betts." The cargo bays were packed with burn victims, two cranky regenerative pods that they had to share, six maintenance techs impressed into nursing duties, and two nearly-comatose med students only halfway through their training.
"Understood. Vortex of Chaos, this is direct from the Prefecture's Office, superseding all previous orders."
"Ryry Habitat, please wait while I summon the Captain." Normally, it's just Vortex and me, out on long hauls through hyperspace. We'd been shuttling people and supplies for daycycles, in short hops, always at best possible in-system speeds. That meant more than usual stress on some of the systems, which meant that I spent most of my time crawling into maintenance spaces, weighed down with diagnostic tools, looking for some new annoyance. The air was constantly rank from all of the passengers. The Yansmar smell like garlic, a plant from my world. It leaves an odor that is unmistakable, penetrating, and persistent. There are still places on Vortex that carry a trace of that smell, despite my best efforts. There was never enough water through the recyclers either, which meant that I added to the rankness.
I'd fallen onto my bed, grimy and exhausted. The towel and my bathing ration of water had only served to move the thickening, ripening layer of my sweat around my body. I figured I had about three hours before Vortex would wake me for the docking maneuvers.
"Maggie, are you awake?" Could I have missed three hours that quickly?
"Do I have to be?" I looked up at the familiar hull-metal above my head, trying to focus my eyes. They didn't want to, insisting that they had to close and go offline for a while. "Go ahead and dock. I know captain's supposed to be on the bridge, but I won't tell if you won't. I trust you." Regulations be damned. I needed the sleep.
"Maggie, this is an override from the Prefecture's Office."
"Tell them we have wounded on board, and that we'll contact them as soon as we get them off. Tell them to go away. Tell them if I don't get my sleep, I'm going to be really grumpy, and that they don't want to talk to me when I'm like that."
"I know. I'll tell them." Vortex and I have been together a long time. She knew. There was the blessed almost-silent whisper of the shipboard systems, but only for a moment.
"Captain Gale." The stranger's voice was demanding, with a hint of menace. I really dislike threats, especially when I should be communing with my pillow.
"Whoever you are, I don't know what you said to Vortex to override my request, but you are going to apologize to her before I will speak to you." This couldn't be good. Anyone with the authority and the nerve capable of ordering Vortex to put them through directly to me had to be a real black hole.
"Captain..." I flipped the little silver switch that cut the speaker off. Captain's privilege.
I waited two minutes. That got me the first sips of a new hot cup of coffee made out of my private stash. I was just about to open the door and step onto the bridge when someone pushed the door buzzer.
I opened the door on "Doctor" Thyjour, one of the Yansmar med students. The Yansmar fall into the largest of the Human groupings on the Edwards-Hewitt scale. With the exception of the bluish tint of their skin and the hint of garlic in the air, it would be hard for many aliens to tell her species from mine - or from dozens of others known within the Coterie.
Tall and fair of face, normally the good "doctor" would have most of the males of the humanoid species in the area surrounding her, vying for her attentions. She hadn't had a chance to use her bathing ration recently; her garlic tang blended with the smell of my coffee into a sickeningly sweet miasma. That, and the stunned look on her seemingly anesthetized face would have driven most companions away. Neither of us were at our best.
"The Prefect of Yansmar himself ordered me to bring you to the bridge." I think the shock of talking with her world's current leader must have given her system enough of a jolt to get her here from the cargo bay. It was quickly wearing off. She leaned against the bulkhead, slowly slipping downwards. I let her sink to the floor. She was asleep by the time she got there.
The bridge was dark, the panels and readouts deliberately dimmed. Vortex did most of the flying, and she could do it just fine without me watching over her. She knows that I always enjoy the slowly shifting spray of stars strewn across the viewport.
"Vortex, what happened?" She was silent. Someone had ordered her silent. "Captain's override," I ordered. That got her going again.
"Thank you, Maggie." There was relief in her voice. "Yansmar Traffic Control at Ryry Habitat invoked Emergency Procedures with the Prefect's override codes. I am bound by my asimovs to comply, at least partially. I have not instituted the return trajectory they ordered, despite their override. I told them that based on the medical priorities, my asimovs wouldn't allow me to comply. They aren't happy about that." Vortex could be very stubborn when she wanted to be.
"No, I expect they're not. What else did they pull?" One of the panels grew brighter. A list of their override command variants scrolled up. They'd tried turning Vortex around, tried to stop her, then settled for the few things they could shut down to get my attention. They'd been pretty clever in the few moments they'd had. Fortunately, Vortex had been smarter.
"The Prefect of Yansmar is on the vid link. His language is quite colorful, with several terms I was not familiar with." She liked to save things like that for me, so that I could use them the next time we got back to F'nordalp'leen's.
"You'd better put him on. Let's find out what's put a weasel in his shorts." I downed the last of my coffee, wishing it was a good glass of port instead. I needed the fortification.
The Prefect actually looked like there was something alive and unpleasant in his clothes, as he paced ominously in front of his screen. His hair, cropped short, bristled stiffly trying to escape the furious thoughts that were clearly running around his head. His eyes were dark blue and intense, never leaving his monitor, waiting for me to appear. When I did, he turned the rest of his body to face me directly. The motion, in one angry spin, fluttered his deep blue cape of office about him. The dust and ash in the air around him, little glowbirds flocking in the glare from a pair of yellow emergency lights, looked like they were racing to get out of his way.
"Captain Gale, I hereby place you under arrest, for the destruction of the Yansmar homeworld and the death of hundreds of millions of my people." The words were angry, snapped from his mouth. They were also tinged with satisfaction; the Prefect must have believed he had some kind of explanation for the recent disaster. "The heavy cruisers Attadwi and Eannive will reach you in just under twenty Standard minutes. Failure to heave-to will result in your immediate destruction. You will return to Ryry Habitat, for transfer to Yansmar to stand trial for your crimes."
"Prefect?" It was Vortex. I was too stunned and surprised to speak. How could one answer such a ridiculous charge?
"My asimovs require me to state that Captain Gale could not be responsible for this crime. My logs can account for her actions during the entire period within this system. This testimony is accepted by Coterie courts. As a member world, you cannot exclude me from a trial. Given my asimovs, my irrefutable testimony destroys your case. I am downloading this data to your system now."
There are times I don't know what I would do without Vortex in my corner. The Prefect watched the log data flash onto his screen. Consternation flashed onto his face. The Prefect clearly did not like being contradicted.
"Excuse me?" I'd found my voice. "Would you care to explain how you think a simple Human could have done this?"
The Prefect looked up from the log data, distracted from his concentration. From his scowl, it was also clear he didn't like being interrupted, either.
"Follow the Attadwi and Eannive back to Ryry Habitat. A shuttle will bring you to the planet's surface. We will discuss it at that time." The connection vanished. Vortex replaced the connection with a navigational map of the system, with the positions of our escort and the course to them highlighted.
"You heard the man, Vortex. Talk to the cruisers and tell them we're headed back to the Habitat. See if you can convince one of them to take the wounded the rest of the way to the Betts. We don't need two escorts. In the meantime, I'm going to get some sleep."
I turned back to my cabin, stepping over the snoring Doctor Thyjour. My bed was calling to me.
"Vortex." I groaned as I rolled onto the mattress. The day had been too long.
"Yes, Maggie?"
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." I think I was unconscious before she got to the last syllable.
"Captain Human Maggie Gale, why did they think you were responsible for the destruction of Yansmar?" J'orrr inched closer to her, sliding gently on its roots. She smiled up at the young, eager alien.
"That was what I was wondering." She sipped from her glass, the wine warming her. "It's why I agreed to leave Vortex at Ryry Habitat and descend into the blackened hell that had been Yansmar."