Christina Vasa had been in the service a long time. She had been a crew member on the first warp-drive ship, the Constellation, back in the twenty-sixth century. Did the same job that Kwali was doing now. She'd known him for over two lifespans, that is, ordinary lifespans. She knew, and he knew, that his life would not last much longer; it could not be extended longer, as hers had been back around 2800, on Mars. In fact, extended lifespans and the Extended Life Brigade itself had become obsolete with the new drive, as Det had suspected long ago. Back then, when she was freshly promoted to the rank of Commander,... well, it seemed so long ago, those 375 years. Heck, it was a long time ago. Three full lifespans. So many things had happened over the centuries, and she felt sure that the next several hundred years would present new challenges. What new technologies would replace this latest, this magnificent achievement of human ingenuity, this quantum-drive space craft she commanded? No time to think about that now. Count-down is almost over.
"Three...two...one...
Displace!" said the friendly and familiar voice of Colombina, the powerful
computer that sometimes seemed to be the Admiral's alter ego. Christina
had made sure that Colombina was upgraded and moved to Argos from Constellation
II a year ago. Colombina now knew everything she could know about this
ship. She loved it, reveled in it.
Lieutenant
Laplante looked at Christina, an air of puzzlement in his face. Despite
the execution of her command, he hadn't noticed any movement at all. Did
something go wrong? It was with some hesitation that he said, "According
to my monitor, we've arrived, sir; right on the button."
"Let's
take a look at the stars. Oh, look up there! Great job of navigating, Jacques!"
Christina bubbled with joy. "We're on the Eastern Arm! Look, there's the
constellation Giniew the Hunter!" The flight deck was elated. No more worm-holes
from here on out! How could anything be easier than this? It's like driving
down the street in your air-car! But this isn't a street, and this isn't
an air-car. It's transgalactic travel and this is a space ship the size
of a small town. And this isn't a pleasure cruise: the business of space
travel is serious, and there is, as always, a lot to do.
Lieutenant
Jacques Laplante was proud of his knowledge of computers and of his navigational
skills. Still, he had had only one previous run in a quantum-drive ship
before, a relatively brief hop across the galactic dust, to the fringes
of the central sphere. It all seemed so easy to the casual observer–or
it would have seemed easy if there had been a casual observer on the deck.
It was much more complex and tricky to set up than the warp drive, and
God knows that's complicated enough! It took him the better part of a month
to get his coordinates right. You have to set up separate coordinates for
Argos itself, and for large pieces of equipment, and for other inorganic
matter, and for living beings, and so on. It takes a lot of planning and
a lot of checking. A single error could be disastrous.
Jacques
was comparing the position of Argos in the real world and its projected
position on his fractal chart. Perfect coincidence. He was positively beaming.
It worked!
"Colombina,
have you saved all the data? I'd hate to have to do all this over from
scratch on the next flight out from Earth."
"Yes,
Jacques," hummed Colombina, who addressed everyone by their first name.
"Don't worry; I've charted the return to Earth from this point, too."
"You
think of everything. Thank you, you're a doll!"
"While
I am not a toy, I believe you mean that as a compliment, and I accept it
as such."
The flight
deck crew smiled at Colombina's literal-mindedness. Then Christina turned
to her old friend Kwali and said, "Captain, do you think the crew and the
passengers would like to see the dense and quite alien sky of the Eastern
Arm before we proceed to our first destination?"
"Yes,
sir. Do you want to make the announcement?"
"No,
Kwali, you deserve that honor." It is true that Kwali was a great colleague
and a great friend. And a damn hard worker, who knew every detail of his
job, and kept learning more. He'd turned down the command of Constellation
II in order to continue working with Christina. Space Fleet promoted him
to the rank of Captain, with the understanding that he would be Christina's
deputy as long as he chose to fly with her, and get his own ship to command
any time he wanted it.
Christina
trusted him implicitly, and respected his talents, his insights, his skill
in delicate personnel matters. He had grown so much over the past 100 or
so years!
"Attention,
all passengers and crew. This is Captain Kwali Kwambe speaking. I know
it may be hard to believe, but we have displaced across the galaxy to the
Eastern Arm. Have a look at star systems you've never even imagined before!
What beauty! How I wish, at times like this, that I were a poet!"
His voice trailed off, as it usually did when he was deeply moved.
Christina smiled at him. What an old softy!
One look
at the open windows and the monitors, and a huge cheer went up throughout
the craft. Argos was filled with happy noises!
"I often
wonder what the Militia, or for that matter the STU, would think
if they could see the spirit of cooperation that unites our two peoples,"
said Kwali, quietly. "And what would your friends, the Ancient-Day Primitivists,
think if they could see this sky?"
"There
were times I really thought the Militia would take over the Earth!" she
whispered in reply. "And how close I came to dying, more than once, because
of them, in encounters and battles with them, even in court cases! Boris,
you can smile now, if there is a you out there somewhere and if you can
see what's happening here! And Martin, you saved me twice from death, once
at the hands of the Militia, and then at the hands of the STU. I wish I
could share this moment with you. And Stanley, my mentor, my old friend,
you would be here today were it not for a coward's action on that fatal
day."
Then
she brushed away a tear and said in her more official voice, "Captain,
we'd better announce that we'll begin the warp-drive portion of our voyage
now, so everyone will get prepared. Please let Damos and Unias know where
we are, and tell the Damosians we'll be on the mother planet in about three
months, after we accomplish our missions on Tertia Minor and Unias. And
tell President Mbwani on Unias that we expect to see him in about two weeks.
Ask him to let Dr. Stisreg, our Director of Galactic Research, know that
thanks to the ground-breaking work that he and our much-regretted friend,
Dr. Ecnelav Enohr, accomplished a few decades ago, we have been able to
traverse the galaxy faster than the blink of an eye."
"Yes,
sir. I'll take care of all those details as soon as the initial shock of
warp speed is over."
"Warp
drive ready, sir."
Jacques
hardly needed to tell her. Even in this giant ship, the faint rumble of
the great warp drives could be... well, sensed, not exactly heard, not
exactly felt.
"On to
Tertia Minor, Lieutenant."