Cerrelle hadn't liked it either, but she'd only sighed and given me a kiss, and then a hug... for starters. Lovemaking hadn't been desperate ... but there had been an undercurrent of concern.
Then Bekunin had added a few more diagnostics to the medical check. So when I saw Erelya in the corridor outside the magshuttle lock, I knew there was trouble. 'Operations?' I asked.
Til explain then.' She nodded and surveyed me. 'What did you do besides keep in shape?'
'I'm still working on a garden. It started out for Cerrelle, but it's as much for me as her.'
'Sometimes things work out that way. Usually for the better.' She didn't say more, and I didn't ask.
Commander Krigisa was waiting for us in the operations center - alone, as Astlyn always had. 'Good day, Tyndel. You've been busy since I last saw you.'
'I try.' Five earth objective years and something like four and a half round-trips to various systems ... and little more than a year personal objective time. 'Where's Astlyn?'
'We don't know.' Krigisa shrugged sadly.
'He took a needle ship? Past the Anomaly? You're the new operations coordinator or whatever?'
Krigisa nodded. 'He didn't want to send anyone else past Alpha Felini.'
'How many more needles are missing?'
'Two,' Erelya admitted. 'One besides his.'
I could understand the grave expression on her face. Interstellar travel was still not quite routine, but losing two needles in a year when previously the losses were more like two in a decade indicated problems that could threaten the whole Rykashan stellar transport system.
'This is the last direct run to Nabata, and after this you'll go from somewhere else?' My question was almost a statement.
'Epsilon Cygni,' confirmed the commander. 'We can't afford losses like that, not at ten-million-plus life-credits a ship.'
'But you really need a last cargo to hold for them -planoforming technology and templates to cover the delays caused by double dilation?'
'The effect is almost quadruple dilation by going over the Trough and then triangulating upslope in overspace,' said Krigisa. 'The cost of an indirect flight now, since they're unprepared on Nabata, would be equivalent to about three ships. So we need one last direct transit.'
'Why me?' I suspected, but wanted her to say it.
'Only those pilots who've actually heard something on previous runs - except for Astlyn - have disappeared. Since you haven't... we're fairly sure you can make at least one run to Nabata.'
'How sure?'
'As sure as anything is,' replied commander Krigisa.
I wasn't certain if there were any surety.
'You won't be taking any passengers,' Erelya added. 'We've reconfigured the Mambrino to carry more cargo. The techs at Nabata Station will have to reconstruct the passenger area for your return.'
'You're not to make a direct return, either,' added Krigisa. 'You'll be carrying this datacube to the station commander that explains the situation in terms of overspace hazards. I'd prefer that you not expand upon that.' She handed me an oblong case not much bigger than my palm.
As I took the case, I understood the logic of both. If I didn't 'hear' anything on the way outbound, then I could make another direct run from earth in an emergency situation, and there wasn't much sense in speculating on the nature of the 'hazard' - not since anyone really knew what happened except that needle ships were inserting and not emerging. At least not anywhere near Nabata or anywhere else we had discovered.
'You'll come back via Epsilon Cygni and Ballentir,' Erelya added. 'Do you have any more questions?'
I had a lot, but they weren't the kind that they could answer. 'No. I may think of them later, but not now.' My smile was crooked as I left.
I levered/glided my way through the transition locks and down the shaft into the null grav of the lowest level of the station.
Both Berya and Alek were waiting in the ready room.
'It was too good to last.' Alek grinned. 'Uneventful runs, you mean?'
'Those are the best kind,' he affirmed. 'Not always,' said Berya.
'We're going to be stuffed with cargo,' I pointed out. 'We are already. They're using the passenger cabin,' Alek replied.
'Heavy,' murmured Berya.
Without any more empty words, we gathered our gear and headed from the ready room to the Mambrino, cradled at lock three.
Alek and Berya both split off once we were in the ship to recheck the cargo stowage, while I went into the control center to begin power-up before making my own preflight. Once the ship was operating under its own fusactor power, I began my inspection in the passenger area. The couches had been removed and stored in more compact form in the back of the cabin, while the front held boxes and crates locked in place with cargo ties and restraints.
In continuing through the ship, I found everything as it should be, with the exception of the passenger area. When I got back to the control center, I strapped in and began to run through the systems checks.
'Upper locks are closed,' Berya said as she began to strap in.
Alek was close behind. 'Cargo set. Lower locks sealed.'
'You two ready for this?' I asked.
'That's not the question, captain,' said Berya cheerfully. 'If you're ready, then everything's fine.'
'I'm ready.' You hope you are. I made a last check of the systems, then pulsed Orbit Control. 'Orbit Two, Mambrino, ready for departure.'
'Mambrino, no inbounds this time, area clear. Understand destination Nabata.'
'Orbit Two, destination Nabata. Cargo only, no passengers.' When the cradles released, I eased power to the ionjets. 'No passengers.'
'Orbit Two, Mambrino is clear. Departing this time.'
'Stet, Mambrino. Good trip.'
'Orbit Two, thank you.' I pushed the power flow from the fusactors, bringing the ionjets to full power until we were out far enough to spread the photon nets and bring the configurators online. With the switch to photonic drive, I began establishing the insertion orientation as acceleration built. Without passengers, I decided on the maximum insertion velocity possible, but even with full power, the acceleration was slow, and the ship felt heavy, near the maximum load even for a needle.
'Minus ten for insertion.' The clamshells slid from their restraints, then dropped over us.
'Minus five.' I adjusted the orientation minutely.
'Minus three.' The acceleration continued at nearly twenty gees, and the lattices locked, early, but I didn't slack off. We'd need that converted momentum, every bit of it. The barriers between the Now and overspace were nearly nonexistent, but I left the Mambrino in the Now until it was no longer possible to hold the needle there, until the lattices crackled and the fabric of real space seemed to groan.
The needle bucked for a nanoinstant as we slid into the momentary silence of overspace, an overspace more green and less purple than usual, as if lit more brightly by the pulses of the moon beacon behind and below us.
Perhaps it was the insertion velocity, but the initial overspace gradient toward Beta Candace was nearly flat, and I could sense that the drop-off at the end of the incline was far steeper than on my last trip. I pushed that aside and centered on the distant beacon pattern, matching and confirming that it was indeed that of Nabata.
The seemingly near-flat incline began to steepen as Vwe/Mambrino neared the break point beyond which was the bottomless void separating us from Beta Candace and Nabata.
Points of glitter flashed around me, instant pinpoints of blinding light, but I held my course, held and soared the void toward the still-distant pulse of the destination beacon. The pinlights intensified, until the green-purple of overspace was submerged in an endless expanse of light that revealed nothing.