Charlie Boone
by Geron Kees
Life Is Like A New Suit of Clothes, Charlie Boone! - Chapter 3
Edrich set the ship down on a wide plain within a valley edged by the jagged peaks of mountains. Charlie could tell by the way those peaks presented themselves that they had never once been exposed to an atmosphere that could wear at them over time. Whatever the fragment had once been a part of, it had not been a living world as they knew it. Edrich had brought them down far from the edges of the fragment, and there were no clues here to the tremendous forces which had surely once sundered this world into pieces. The upper lobe of the blue sun peered at them over one mountain range, delineating the spiked irregularity of the peaks dramatically.
"Hell of a view," Horace said, peering at the screen.
"Hell is the right word," Amy agreed. "Doesn't look like anyplace I'd want to retire to, that's for sure."
Edrich, now more aware of his passengers since the vessel had landed, chuckled at that. "Whole system unpleasant. No worlds, just debris. Best place to store valuable objects is place no one wants to go."
Robin smiled at that. "How far away are your ships?"
Edrich waved a hand at the holo. "They all around us. Have them shielded so any curious not see them, if passing by."
"And that works?" Charlie asked, knowing how efficient the detectors were on Moth ships, at least.
"Many big rocks like this one in this system. Millions. This one only seem alone because all rocks so spread out. This chunk also metallic, which hide signature of metal in ships. Anyone come real close, look hard, find ships. But no one have reason to come close even when Uncle Sefton own business."
Rick smiled at that. "And even if someone found the ships, they'd still have to deal with each vessel's security, I take it?"
"You take it right," Edrich said, offering a big grin. "But not first thing, even. This whole valley protected. Defense shield activate if someone get too close. Gun emplacements at each end of valley. Get too close, get warning shot; not take warning, get big surprise. Even if manage to land, each ship have own defenses, too."
"Why don't you just leave the defense shield on all the time?" Adrian asked.
The Molokar grimaced. "Defense shield detectable much farther away than just metallic rock. Only activate if someone come right here."
Robin cleared his throat quietly, and smiled. "Perhaps we can have a look now?"
"Have ship make you suits so can go out," Edrich said in agreement.
One of the really nice features of empire-era ships were the ease with which they could fabricate necessary items, like EV suits. The mind that ran Edrich's ship had them each step through a large oval doorway, where their bodies were scanned, measured, and patterns made for their suits. The suits themselves arrived in minutes, each yellow in color for visibility, with a small hump on the back which provided heat and breathable air at pressure, and a ring at the neck which projected a globular field around their heads.This field was almost invisible, only appearing slightly darker than the surroundings as it managed the levels of EM allowed to reach the wearer within. The suits were as light as a jumpsuit back home, and so flexible that they barely knew they had them on. Charlie had never quite understood how the interior air pressure was manged to keep the suit from acting like a balloon and making movement impossible. One more trick of galactic tech he'd probably never really comprehend.
Browbeat assured them that he didn't need a suit, but that he would need to ride someone's shoulder, as he would otherwise have to walk like the humans.
"Baby steps, for real!" Adrian said, smiling.
"You can ride with me," Kippy said, pulling a finger along the invisible seal of his suit. "Just wait until I activate my helmet field."
The all moved to the airlock, which acted like an elevator and would take them down to the ground. Kippy carried Browbeat until he'd activated his head bubble, and then placed the little flyer on his shoulder. "Not much to hold onto there, so be careful," he warned.
Browbeat tittered with delight, and Kippy felt a small compression of the suit atop his shoulder. "I've got a good grip. I won't fall!"
"Hey," Adrian said then, pointing at Browbeat. "How will we hear you? No air out there to speak with."
"I have a com built in," Browbeat returned. Kippy heard a faint sound inside his head bubble, and then the flyer's voice. "See? This body has all sorts of great stuff built in, I'm just finding out about! I wish the Madracorn had given me an owner's manual!"
"There's probably one in there, if you look," Robin advised with a grin.
"Maybe! Whoop!" The flyer's delight was clear. "There's all sorts of cool stuff built-in!"
Kippy could still hear what everyone was saying through his head bubble, but the com version from Browbeat was a split second behind, causing an echo effect.
He sighed. "Will everyone activate their bubbles so we can all go to com?"
That was done, and soon the elevator deposited them at ground level.
"Watch step," Edrich advised. "Gravity very light here."
They emerged into the sunlight streaming over the distant mountains, almost unnaturally bright, and their head bubbles darkened immediately to normalize the view.
Edrich walked away from the elevator, taking care with his movements, and the others followed, bouncing into the air with each step until they got the hang of moving in the weakened gravitational field.
"Shuffle best way," Edrich suggested. "Not lift feet high. Each descent of foot impart acceleration to body."
"Where are we going?" Horace asked. "Didn't you say that the ships were all around us?"
"Yes. Must get to good location to see."
In a moment a raised area came into view ahead, looking like a tiny volcano cone. But as they neared it, they could see it wasn't totally a natural feature of the landscape. The top of the cone had been leveled, and there were steps leading upward, and a guardrail which circled the area above. Edrich led them up the steps, and they soon found themselves on a sort of viewing platform, perhaps six meters above the plain.
"Good view from here," Edrich stated, waving a hand at the open plain around them. He must have done something else at the same time, for ships started to appear around them then. All around them.
Charlie stared along with the others as dozens of vessels of all sizes winked into visibility. They were parked on the plain in staggered circles, so the the ships beyond the first row were visible between the ones in front. In a moment, the plain had come to look like a busy starport, rather than a nearly featureless stone expanse on a lost chunk of rock moving around an alien sun.
Charlie blinked a couple of times, and then smiled. "I'm impressed."
Edrich chuckled. "Is more than you expected?"
"It's more than I expected!" Browbeat said. "You must be rich!"
They all laughed at that. "Leave it to Browbeat to point out the obvious," Amy said.
Edrich's sigh came over the com. "Not all mine, not yet. Still paying Uncle Sefton with each ship sale. Be years before can claim sole ownership."
Charlie shook his head. Sefton had come across as anything but a billionaire. But no one could own this many ships without having those sort of mega-resources. Even with the buying power of empire credits, just a small vessel cost millions.
And some of these were not small vessels!
Charlie recognized a few of the designs, having seen them in their travels around empire space. But most of the vessels parked around them were unknown to him.
"Do you have any Moth designs?" he asked.
Edrich grunted. "Not easy to come by. Have one, though."
They felt a momentary vibration beneath them, and then the platform lifted from the stone cone and drifted forward into the gap between two ships. They circled behind the ship on the right, and then turned to go between two ships in the next row. This process was repeated for several rows, until they suddenly found themselves facing a Moth scout ship that seemed a twin to their own Lollipop.
"Be nice to get something familiar," Rick said. "Where we know where everything is and how it works."
Robin grunted at that. "You've gotten away thus far with owning one Moth vessel by keeping it moving on trade runs. Wouldn't it be more risky to have two, with one sitting full-time at Engris?"
Charlie hadn't thought of that, but nodded now. "Possibly. We know the Moth do not allow their technology to be in the hands of others. It's possible we'd be courting future trouble by getting a second vessel of the same design." He looked around at the ships he could see now. "Edrich, is there anything you have that might be considered close to the Moth level of technology?"
Without a word, the Molokar took the platform around the Moth vessel and proceeded back a few more rows, where they were suddenly facing another vessel.
Rick whistled loudly. "That's a Braunigan ship!"
It was. They had seen the vessels a few times at Roorapynta, among other places. The Braunigan didn't tolerate visitors in their own space except at a few agreed-upon posts along the border, yet had no trouble voyaging into areas of other empires that did not hold the same views.
"Good technology, though." Edrich said. "About as good as Moth tech, mostly. Defenses equal, with maybe weapons not quite as good. This vessel quite potent for its size."
Kippy shook his head inside its protective bubble. "Ugly thing, though."
Charlie had to agree. "And conspicuous," he added. "The Braunigan aren't exactly everyone's favorite neighbors. Cruising around in this thing would draw attention everywhere we went."
Amy waved a hand at the alien ship. "Doesn't Lollipop do that, too?"
'Not as badly," Rick said. "The Moth are at least expected to be visible in most areas of the local empires."
Kippy was slowly turning, taking in the other vessels he could see between the gaps. He suddenly leaned forward, and pointed. "What's that?"
Charlie turned to look where his boyfriend was pointing. For a moment he didn't see it -- and then he did.
The ship was some distance away, but visible not just between the vessels around them, but above them. Charlie squinted, sizing the thing up.
It seemed a perfect sphere; or, the upper region they could see did. The hull was a deep blue in color, so dark that it nearly faded into the background. But while most of the ships around them were no more than 100 meters in height -- and many much less -- this vessel was something of a giant, towering half-again the height of the others.
Edrich turned to look, and his chuckle came immediately across the com. "That one not for sale, I'm afraid."
Kippy turned to look at Charlie, clearly intrigued, before facing the Molokar. "Why not? I thought everything here was for sale."
Edrich frowned at that. "Can't sell ship can't get inside of."
Everybody focused upon the dark vessel now. "Can you take us over there?" Robin asked, now also visibly interested.
The Molokar stared at them a moment, and then shrugged. The platform turned, and quickly covered the gap to the other vessel.
Up close, it was proven that the vessel was perfectly spherical. It rested upon four thick, equally-spaced legs that terminated in round 'feet' that looked able to conform to variations in the landscape. But the hull was absolutely featureless, not an indentation or protrusion to be found anywhere on its dark steel hide.
Charlie queried his suit's database, looking at the catalog of ship designs that was regularly updated in The Five Empires. There were a number that were spherical in nature, but nothing that looked like this vessel. "I don't see this design here."
Edrich grunted. "Not a known design, Charlie. Have looked for long time, not find this ship in any records."
Kippy stared at the ship for a long moment, and then turned to Charlie. "That one. That's the one we want."
Edrich sighed across the com channel. "No can sell. Ship not accessible."
Kippy turned to stare at him. "You can't get inside?"
"No one can get inside."
Adrian crossed his arms. "Then how did you get it here?"
Edrich looked at them a moment, and then raised one shoulder as if deciding what to say. "Vessel already here when Uncle Sefton find asteroid. Attempts to enter meet with no success."
Charlie felt a tingle of surprise crawl up his spine. "This ship was already here when Sefton found this place?"
"Yes. Main reason uncle choose this rock to store his other ships. So could have business in one place, and also work for many years on puzzle of alien ship already landed, but which deny access to all."
"He found this rock by pure chance?" Robin asked. "And with that vessel landed on it? That seems to be beating remarkable odds to me."
Edrich laughed. "Remarkable story. Uncle on way to Baress in Ldolao system. Get message that business deal there terminated by other party. Pause trip, leave Cooee, emerge this system. Unknown system, not on charts." He indicated the ground beneath them. "This asteroid closest object, decide to look at. Find ship, rest history."
Charlie laughed at that. "Not any history I ever heard!"
"Pure chance," Edrich said. "Pure chance often play games with travelers."
Charlie and Kippy exchanged glances. Clearly, their friend Sefton had had a much more colorful past than they had ever imagined. Charlie had no idea of the lifespan of the Molokar people, but anyone based on Engris could hang around for an extraordinarily long span of years in real-time figures.
Robin touched Edrich's arm. "Why can't anyone get inside?"
The Molokar gazed at the alien ship before turning to face him. "Can't get close, let alone inside. Something stop you, like shield, but not like shield anyone ever see. Like invisible wall, unbreachable. Know Uncle tried everything he could think of. No success. I try things, too, no success."
Kippy was staring at the giant vessel, and Charlie leaned closer to look into his face. "What do you sense?"
Kippy frowned, and looked at him. "That this is the ship we want."
Charlie smiled. "But...why?"
"Because it wants us. Or, it wants someone like us." His boyfriend shrugged, causing Browbeat to smile on his shoulder.
"Because that's the way it is!" The little flyer said, following it by a titter of anticipation. "You guys are so much fun! "
Charlie turned to Adrian, who nodded. "I agree. There is something unusual in what I feel about this ship. Something that seems in tune with us."
Charlie looked over at Rick. "What are you sensing from this ship, if anything?"
Rick raised a hand as if to stroke his chin, remembered the head bubble then, and lowered it again. "It's old, for one thing. And...it's lonely."
Charlie stared at his friend, but Kippy nodded then. "It is. It wants us. But we have to be able to get to it. It won't help us."
Edrich had been following the conversation quietly. "No way in," he repeated.
Horace laughed softly. "You mean, no normal way in!"
Amy raised a hand. "It's lost. That much I can sense."
Charlie didn't know what to make of that. "Lost," he repeated flatly. "You must be sensing the shipmind?" He looked back at Kip, and then Rick. "Both of you, too. The shipmind?"
"I think so," Kippy replied.
"Me, too," Rick agreed. "I think this ship would welcome us...if we can get to it."
Amy sighed. "Poor thing. It wants company."
Kip laid a hand on Charlie's arm. "Your second sight...can you see if you can get it to the ship?"
"What is this you speak of?" Edrich demanded then. "Power use?"
Charlie nodded. "Yes. I have an ability to send an immaterial version of myself almost anywhere. And, if I can get inside this ship, I can then teleport us there."
The Molokar's eyes widened. He turned to look at the giant sphere then. "Can try?"
Kippy stepped forward then. "Only if you agree to sell us the ship if we can get into it."
Edrich stepped back, and raised a hand at the globe. "May be treasure trove of technology there! Can't just give away!"
Charlie waved a hand. "Wait, wait." He looked at Edrich. "You've never tried to use power users to get inside?"
"Teleporter say no can go unless been there. Who else to try? Uncle Sefton have a few trusted people come look, but he not want existence of ship to get out."
Robin sighed. "How about we work out a deal? If we can get inside, Edrich can take detailed scans of the ship's tech, and then sell us the vessel."
Charlie tried not to laugh at the smile that arose on the big Molkoar's face. "Now you talking! Sound like good idea to me!"
Charlie let his gaze move among his friends, and could see that they were aboard for the idea of trying to get inside the alien ship. He turned back to Edrich. "All coming back to whether we could afford to buy this ship, in the first place. How much?"
Edrich turned to stare at the giant globe. He thought hard a moment, and then nodded to himself. "Is worthless as is now. Only if can get inside, will ship have value." He turned back to Charlie. "Make deal. If you can get inside ship, I scan everything until satisfied. And then I give you ship, for getting me inside."
"Whoop! What a sweet deal!" Browbeat called.
Edrich held up a hand." Also, if need to re-examine any part of ship, you return it here at convenience for me to scan again."
Robin chuckled. "That sounds like a taker of a deal to me, Charlie."
Charlie grinned. "You're not kidding!" He looked at his boyfriend, who nodded eagerly.
All eyes went back to the giant alien vessel. Charlie had to wonder how long the alien ship been sitting here on this plain, waiting? Why was it even here? And, who had built such a mysterious vessel?
Almost unconsciously, he placed a hand over his chest, where Castor lay beneath his suit. The amulet felt warm against his breast at the touch, and Charlie sighed inwardly. What do you think?
A series of impressions came to him then, rapid in their passing, but each leaving an impression: a sense of vast periods of time; a sense of entities that were unlike humans in form, but shared a certain bond with the best of human thinking; a sense of great power and purpose; and a sense of decency and honesty that could not be ignored.
All these impressions passed through his body and his mind in an instant, leaving a warm glow behind that was as much of a stamp of approval as Castor could offer.
But, most of all, it was the sense of time that impressed Charlie the deepest. Castor was telling him that this vessel was old, and that it had seen much in its time, and that whatever mind operated it, operated it on the side of right, and not wrong.
For a moment, memories of some of the precursor races and their empires flashed though his mind. There was Ragal's own people, for one, vanished thousands of years past. And all those peoples that had shared galactic empire with them in those long-ago times. There were the Beltracians, the last survivors of which people they had butted heads with over a star map just a few years past. There were the mysterious people who had built the disc-world of Roorapynta, in the Tura-Buyah, that great cloud of brown dwarves that lay in a section of space bordering both the Moth and the Braunigan empires.
Other names flashed through his mind, learned from Pacha'Ka and his crew of explorers: the Ramini, the Braleebel, the Farinjins, the Juacarvo. And what of the Madracorn, themselves? And others, lost now in the depths of time? The galaxy was ancient, and had been home to countless others, who had been born, lived, and died away again.
Charlie came back to himself then, pushed away the reverie that had briefly taken him, and realized that everyone was watching him. Kip's blue eyes held a certainty that made him smile, but he was a little surprised to see that the same certainty was mirrored in the eyes of the others.
He chuckled then, and looked again at the alien ship. "Okay, let's give it a try."
They returned to the surface of the plain near the giant alien vessel, and walked towards it until they could walk no more. Charlie had expected to find the invisible wall that Edrich had described, but it wasn't like that at all. Instead of encountering something invisible but solid, something that they could feel, they simply reached a point on the stone plain where they stopped moving forward. They could activate their legs to walk, and it felt like they were walking, but they made not an inch of progress towards the alien ship. There was a strangeness to the whole thing that Charlie had never encountered before.
"Weird," Kippy said, seeming to agree. "I've never felt anything like this."
Rick raised his hands and stuck them out, but they simply encountered air. Yet he could not move so much as a millimeter closer to the ship. "This is some very odd stuff."
Charlie turned to look at him. "Stuff? It's not a field of some sort?"
Rick frowned at that. "It's not a projected energy field, if that's what you mean. It's not an active defense, like the screens that shield Lollipop. This...it seems to be a trap for inertia, friction, momentum, and some other things. It's like a...a sponge." He shook his head. "You can't walk into this thing, or drive a vehicle into it, or fly a ship into it, or shoot projectiles into it. Even energy weapons have momentum." He shook his head. "None of that will pass here."
"Is true," Edrich said, looking amazed. "Uncle Sefton try small weapons, even. None could reach ship."
Charlie turned back to look at the ship. "And yet, we can still see it."
"It's selective, maybe," Rick offered. "Something like this...it's totally unpredictable. I don't know enough to say."
Charlie frowned at that. What of his second presence? He really had little idea of the composition of the part of himself that was able to move outside his body and go to other places. Was it energy? Did it have momentum? If so, it would be stopped by this unique defense, too.
Well...he just wouldn't know unless he tried. "Kip, you, Robin, and Rick come with me. Adrian, you monitor via mind-touch, in case we get into trouble. If something happens and we get stuck, go for Max, or even Nicholaas, if needed."
Adrian nodded. He turned to Rick, and hugged him. "Be careful, love."
Rick grinned. "Aren't I always careful?"
Adrian rolled his eyes. "No."
Horace put a hand on Adrian's wrist. "He'll be okay. We have some back up, even if we have to go and get it."
Amy looked at the ship, and then shook her head. "I don't think you'll be harmed. You may not get in, but I don't feel that the mind I sense will penalize you for the try."
"What about me?" Browbeat asked. He wiggled himself on Kip's shoulder. "I kind of like this seat!"
"Keep it for now," Charlie said. "Kip won't be going anywhere physically just yet. He and the others will just be riding with my second presence. If we gain entry, we'll just teleport everyone inside."
The little flyer sighed. "Okay. I can be patient." He smiled. "Even if it isn't easy!"
Kip reached up slowly and patted the flyer's chest. "You can keep up with us mentally, remember? Just use your mind-touch."
"Like this?" Browbeat's voice said, inside Kip's head.
"Yes," he flashed back, smiling.
Charlie nodded. "Let's see what we can do."
He had come to the point lately where he felt he had at least mastered the basic uses of his talent. Getting the others into the mind link was quick, and then he turned his attention to the alien vessel. Unlike with places he knew, he could not just imagine his destination and form a virtual pathway that would take him there. Here, he would have to cover the distance he could see, and then try to penetrate the hull of the vessel. He focused his eyes on the ground beneath the massive hull, between the two giant landing legs closest to him.
"Ready?" he asked the others.
There was a chorus of yesses. Charlie took a breath, and then moved forward in his mind...
The first few mental steps were...interesting. He felt a tug at his second presence form, one that seemed to want to turn him back on his own path, but it wasn't strong enough to deflect his forward movement. He picked up speed, and in an instant was flying across the plain, to arrive in a mere instant at the spot he had focused upon between the landing legs.
Rick gave a mental whistle. "That was a lot easier than I expected!"
Charlie had to agree. "I don't know what makes up my second presence, but after the first few steps, I felt no resistance at all."
"Those first steps were rather strange," Robin offered. "Almost like the defense was searching for a way to turn you back, but couldn't quite find one."
"I don't think it was even that purposeful," Charlie returned. "I think it was just sort of like when you get into the ocean at the beach, and have to push against the incoming waves. Once you're past them, swimming is easy."
"We're here now," Kippy said. "Can you try to take us inside the ship?"
"This is exciting!" Browbeat said. "Even if I'm not there!"
Charlie smiled, and then looked upward with his second presence. He had no idea what the internal arrangements of the alien globe might be, but most cultures put their power plants and tech in the lower portions of the vessel, and the inhabited areas above. Maybe if he just floated upwards now, until they reached the upper hemisphere of the globe?
That effort also went off flawlessly, and soon they were above the equator of the vessel, and then adjacent to the upper hemisphere. The ship looked immense from this position, the dark blue steel of the hull lustrous in the sunlight from the alien sun. It looked absolutely untouched by the time it had been sitting here on this asteroid, as if the mere forces of the universe could have no impact on its destiny.
Charlie had one of those weird moments of unreality then, where he just couldn't quite get a handle on where he was and what he was doing. He looked around briefly, taking in the plain covered with alien ships, the far mountains, and the stars overhead. And then his gaze returned again to the massive ship beside them. This was an utterly unique experience!
But the moment passed quickly, and he moved them closer to the hull. "We're going in," he told the others.
"Be careful!" they heard Adrian and Browbeat say, in unison.
They reached the hull, and plunged through it. There was a moment of total darkness as they passed through the thick hull, and then a dusky near-darkness as they traversed a few internal areas of indeterminate nature. More rooms or cabins followed, some large, some small, all dark or dimly lit. And then, quite suddenly, they emerged into a large chamber that was still lit at a low level, but well enough that they could see across the expanse. It was a circular room with a domed ceiling, and a circle of what looked like might be seats at the center. And nothing else at all.
"Control room, or amphitheater?" Robin asked then. "It's a little small to be a theater, and there aren't enough seats."
Charlie moved them forward, approaching the possible seats. They reached them and he examined them. They looked more like cushioned footstools, or hassocks, almost, because the had no backs. They were large enough that a human could comfortably sit on one, though the lack of a backrest was puzzling. He quickly counted them; there were twenty-four of the seats present. And he was certain now that they were indeed seats.
"What do you make of this?" he asked the others.
"Certainly looks like a possible command area," Rick said. "Though what a circle of people seated here might be looking at, I have no idea.""Maybe there's a projection in the center when the ship is in space," Kippy suggested. "Sort of like on Lollipop."
"But there's no control console," Robin pointed out.
"Maybe they didn't need one," Charlie answered.
"Should we go ahead and teleport here?" Rick asked. "It would be easier to inspect the place in person."
"There seems to be an atmosphere in here," Robin said. "It's a little cold, but it's breathable, if my suit sensors are to be believed."
"So, let's try to teleport here," Rick suggested again, the excitement plain in his voice.
Charlie smiled at his friend. Rick did love this exact sort of mystery!
"Okay," Charlie said. "We won't know if we can teleport here until we actually make the attempt. So, lets go back to the others and try it out."
More quickly than it had taken them to enter the ship, they were back with their friends on the plain outside. Edrich looked elated, obviously having followed the news of their entry. Browbeat said he'd known they could do it, and Horace said nothing had changed on the sunlit plain while they had been gone. The ship had given no outward indication that its security had been breached.
"Go inside ship now? Edrich asked, smacking his hands together. "This like dream made real! Uncle Sefton be happy!"
Charlie looked over at Horace, and the small pack attached to the belt of his suit. "You have the new ship mind?"
"Yes." Horace patted the pack. "You think we'll need it? It sounds like there's one there already."
"I don't know. But we'll need to be prepared." Charlie turned to look back at the giant sphere, and then waved at the others. "Everyone put a hand on me, and we'll give this a try."
Everyone now touching, Charlie found the moment of transport within his mind, and knew he could go if he wanted to. He did want to go, and initiated the teleport.
As with their entry by second presence, there was a slight feel of turbulence as they left, but in an instant that had passed, and they were once again standing in the circular room within the alien vessel. Apparent immediately was the fact that the gravity here was stronger than on the surface of the asteroid, much closer to what they were used to on Earth.
This time, they had no sooner appeared when the lighting in the circular chamber intensified, and Amy gasped. "Oh! I sense...such a feeling of joy!"
Kippy grinned. "It's amazed and happy we're here!"
Adrian turned to look at them. "This isn't like any shipmind I've ever sensed before."
Kippy frowned then, and nodded. He looked up at the domed ceiling of the chamber. "Are you there? Can you hear me?"
There was no response, none they could hear. But then even Charlie got a sense of mental pressure, accompanied by a sense of pleasure and satisfaction. And welcome!
Kip and Adrian traded glances. Kip turned back to Charlie. "We may have a problem. This mind apparently doesn't have the capacity to talk to us."
"It's telepathic," Adrian added quickly, his eyes looking amazed. "Whoever the people were that operated this ship, they were pure telepaths. They had no spoken tongue like we do. This shipmind has no ability to communicate with us in a verbal fashion."
Kippy frowned. "That sort of mental pressure you feel is it trying to talk to us. But our thought patterns are too different to talk by mind-touch. At least, as yet. We get impressions, but we aren't going to get conversation. Whoever these aliens were, they were very different from us."
Horace patted the pack attached to his belt. "Maybe our new shipmind can talk to this one? Like Murcha and Onglet can talk to each other, non-verbally?"
Kippy looked suddenly elated. "Or the way Murcha talks to Illia, Pacha's shipmind! They aren't even the same make of mind, and the tech origins are different."
Edrich raised a hand. "Try? Need to be able to freely scan tech here."
"I sure would try!" Browbeat said from Kip's shoulder. "Make 'em an offer they can't refuse!"
Rick smiled. "You've been watching too many movies!"
The little flyer's eyes were bright with humor. "So have you!"
He and Browbeat laughed together.
Charlie motioned to Horace. "Give me the new mind."
Horace removed the small pack from his belt and handed it over. Charlie pressed his thumb against the seal, and the package opened in his hand. Nestled inside was a small metallic sphere, black and featureless. Charlie knew that such minds interfaced with the ships they operated with on a quantum level, and that most any modern vessel could use any modern shipmind. There was usually a drawer, cabinet, or receptacle where the mind was placed, and the interface took place there.
This mind had been acquired on Engris, and was of Salariki manufacture. The Salariki were among the leading shipbuilders within the Trichani sphere of influence, with an excellent reputation for quality. The mind was about the same size as Murcha and Onglet, the Moth shipminds they already had, and Illia, the mind that ran Pacha's ship. Since the small size seemed to be a byproduct of the tech involved, the similarity there had been a fair guarantee that this mind was the product of a decent science, though they had not heard of the race that had manufactured it until now.
"I was told you have been supplied with our language," Charlie told the orb.
"That's correct. As well as the normal database of other empire languages."
Charlie smiled, not about to correct the impression that English was an empire tongue. "May I ask your name?"
The name a mind used was its own choice, one of the many freedoms such minds enjoyed under galactic law. "I am called Grim."
Kippy's eyes widened, but then he smiled. "I hope that's not an omen of something!"
"The word translates as 'venturer' in the Salariki tongue."
Charlie looked around at the others, noting their smiles. "That seems apt for this current enterprise, certainly." He nodded at the orb on his hand. "I have an interesting job for a venturer. We are aboard a vessel of unknown manufacture, run by a shipmind apparently belonging to a race of pure telepaths. We are unable to communicate verbally with this ship mind. Will you be able to do so?"
"Providing the interface is of the empire standard, yes."
Charlie looked around the circular chamber. "Well, I actually have no idea where that may be."
"It is close by," Grim returned. "A moment, while I create a spatial representation of this chamber in order to guide you...there. I will assume for the moment that I have graphed your features correctly and therefore can determine the direction you are facing. If you will now take three steps ahead so that I may gauge your stride?"
Charlie grinned, and walked three steps forward.
"Excellent. Your stride approximates that of a Salarik. And now, if you will note, this chamber has six points of entry, spaced equidistantly around its circumference?" Charlie and the others looked around, and quickly spied the entry points in question. All were hemi-elliptic doorways in design, with the two perpendicular vertices meeting the floor, and the arch above. The doorways were taller and wider than would be needed by humans, but not terribly so. These doorways must lead to other rooms, or perhaps corridors circling the vessel.
"I see them," Charlie announced.
"Very good. Now, if you will take 28 steps directly forward? Please note the position of the doorway to your right, and try to keep it in the same quadrant as you move forward."
Charlie smiled at the others, and started walking forward. The steel deck was covered with a light-colored coating that gave slightly as he walked, giving a small spring to his step, and greatly reducing the hardness of the metal beneath.
"Excellent," Grim noted, as he stopped again after the 28th step. "And now, if you would, please turn ninety-degrees to your right and take seven more steps in a straight line."
They did that, and Charlie was the first to note the bluish circle on the deck before them. "There's something here."
The seventh step brought him to a stop right before the circle, which was about a meter in diameter. It appeared that the material covering the deck did not also cover the area of the circle, allowing the steel to show here. But there were no seams, nothing that indicated the circle might open. Charlie looked down at the orb in his hand. "What now?"
"The point you see before you is where this vessel's shipmind is located."
Horace grunted. "Right there, in the middle of the deck like that?"
"It's as good a place as any," Robin noted. "Who knows the minds of alien designers?"
That was true, Charlie decided. Humans -- and many of the alien races they had encountered -- tended to keep such things close to the main instrumentation of any given installation. He looked around the chamber again. On the other hand, these people had not seemed to use centralized instrumentation, either. So, perhaps one place was as good as another for the shipmind interface, just as Robin had said.
Kippy dropped to a squat by the circle. "Does it open?"
"It should," Grim replied. "But how it is done, I cannot tell you. Perhaps the alien shipmind, itself, holds the answer."
Adrian dropped to a squat beside Kip. "I think we'll have to try to get the shipmind to understand what we want."
Amy came to stand behind Kip. "I think he's right."
Kippy nodded. "So do I."
Robin came to stand behind Adrian. "You guys need to do your thing, then. So far, you've gotten impressions from the alien shipmind. Perhaps if you send it the thought that you'd like this to open up, it may understand what you're saying."
"Here," Charlie said, offering Grim to his boyfriend. "See what you can do."
Amy dropped down between Kip and Adrian, and placed her hands on their shoulders. "Shall we try an empathetic approach?"
"I have empathy," Browbeat offered cheerily, from Kip's other shoulder. "Can I help?"
Kippy turned to smile at him. "Every thought counts. Join in!"
The four closed their eyes, and looks of concentration took hold of their features. Charlie could feel their thoughts with his own mind-touch, even though they were not attempting an outright mind-touch with the vessel's shipmind. Their approach was one of feeling, offering the sense that they were there to help, and needed help in return. Kippy smiled then, and held the orb of the new shipmind out before him.
There was a soft purr, and a column rose from the floor, the exact dimension of the circle. It stopped at breast height, presenting them with a row of orifices circling the top, each more than large enough to contain a shipmind. In fact, one of the holes did seem to already contain one, no larger than the one they had purchased at the pirate market, but yellow in color, and in the slightly squashed shape of an oblate spheroid. Kippy leaned closer, bringing the new shipmind closer to one of the vacant holes. "What do you think?"
A full second passed before Grim answered. "It is not an interface of the empire standard, and bears none of the codes denoting adherence to those set values. But I suppose such tech will be similar in most instances, and I do think from what I can sense that I can interface with this one."
"What does that say to you, that it's not of galactic standard manufacture?" Robin asked.
"That this vessel was not manufactured by any member of the five current empires."
Amy turned to look at the orb in Kip's hand. "You mean, it's from outside empire space?"
"More likely, it predates it. I am noting a number of indications that this vessel is quite older than anything from one of the modern empires."
The room was silent a moment. Edrich wrung his hands gently at that announcement, but there was nothing but excitement in his face as he smiled at Charlie. Charlie could read the big Molokar's expression clearly: Treasure!
"You said it's old," Robin repeated. "Does that mean this ship is not in operational order?"
"Oh, not at all. I can sense quite a bit without actually being within the interface, and this vessel seems quite healthy to me."
Charlie turned to Kip. "I want to make certain it's okay to place the new shipmind in the interface."
His boyfriend nodded. "I don't think it would have opened if it wasn't okay. I'm sensing quite a bit of anticipation here."
Charlie looked down at the orb of the new shipmind. "Ready, Grim?"
"Yes. Proceed, please."
"Go ahead, Kip."
His boyfriend leaned forward and settled to one knee, and inserted Grim into one of the openings. For a moment nothing happened; and then the cylinder of the receptacle sank back into the deck.
There was a flicker of light, and the walls and dome of the chamber went dark. But then they immediately filled again with light, and imagery, of everything in a circle around the alien vessel, and overhead. They could see the many rows of ships that were Edrich's inventory, all around them; the sharp peaks of the distant mountains; and the upper portion of the blue star that illuminated all of it. And above their heads, the now invisible dome was filled with distant stars, and the faint haze of the galaxy, off to one side. The imagery was incredible, the best they had ever seen, looking like they were floating above the plain, not within a vessel at all.
Kippy gave out an amazed sigh. "It's beautiful!"
And then a voice spoke out in the chamber, one deep and serene and sounding somehow very pleased.
"Welcome."
Browbeat tittered happily then, and looked around at his friends. "I do believe were in business!"
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