Sarha didn’t trust herself to answer directly. Yes he was like Joshua, gallingly right the whole time. “I’m not sure our discrimination programs will be much use at this distance. I can’t get a radar lock to determine their velocity.”
“Want me to try?”
“No thank you.”
“When Josh said don’t give me access to the flight computer, I don’t think he meant I wasn’t supposed to help you survive an assault by the possessed,” Liol said peevishly.
“You will be able to ask him directly soon,” Beaulieu said. “We should be over Ashly’s horizon in another ninety seconds.”
“Those ships are definitely heading for a rendezvous with the Spirit of Freedom ,” Sarha said. “The optical image is good enough for a rough vector analysis.”
“I’d like to point out that the three highly similar ships which appeared at the Dorados before we left were all from New California,” Liol said.
“I am aware of that,” Sarha snarled back.
“Jolly good. I’d hate to be possessed by anyone I didn’t know.”
“What are the voidhawks doing?” Beaulieu asked.
“I don’t know. They’re on the other side of the planet.” Sarha was uncomfortably aware of the perspiration permeating her shipsuit. She datavised the conditioning grille above her for some cool, dry air—cooler, dryer air. And to think, I’d always been slightly envious about Joshua having command of a starship. “I’m disengaging the airlock,” she told the other two. “Station staff might try to come on board once they realize those starships are heading here.” It was a logical action. And actually doing something made her feel a whole lot better.
“I’ve got the spaceplane beacon,” Beaulieu announced.
“You’re still intact, then?” Ashly datavised.
“Yeah, still here,” Sarha replied gamely. “What’s your situation?”
“Stable. Nothing much is moving at the spaceport. The four Edenist flyers arrived half an hour ago. They’re parked about two hundred metres away from me right now. I tried datavising them, but they’re not answering. A whole group of people set off into town as soon as they landed. There were cars here waiting for them.”
The flight computer signalled that Joshua was coming on line. “Any signs of possession on the planet yet?” he asked.
“I’d have to say yes, Captain,” Beaulieu told him. “The national nets are suffering considerable degrees of dropout. But there’s no real pattern to it. Several countries don’t have a single glitch.”
“They will,” Joshua datavised.
“Joshua, three Adamist starships appeared an hour ago,” Sarha datavised. “We believe they sent some spaceplanes or flyers down to the planet; they were in the right orbit for it. Liol thinks they’re the same Organization ships that were at the Dorados.”
“Oh, well, if the starflight expert says so . . .”
“Josh, those frigates are heading for this station,” Liol datavised.
“Oh, Jesus. Okay, get clear of the station. And, Sarha, try to get a positive ident.”
“Will do. How are things your end?”
“Promising, I think. Expect us . . . today, what . . . outcome.”
“I’m losing the link,” Beaulieu warned. “Heavy interference, and it’s focused directly at us.”
“Josh, let me have access authority for the flight computer. Sarha and Beaulieu are being overloaded up here, for Christ’s sake. I can help.”
“. . . think . . . mummy’s boy . . . on my ship . . . fucking . . . because I’ll . . . first . . . trust . . .”
“Lost them,” Beaulieu said.
“The frigates have started jamming us directly,” Sarha said. “They know we’re here.”
“They’re softening up the station for an assault,” Liol said. “Give me the access codes, I can fly Lady Mac away.”
“No, you heard Joshua.”
“He said he trusted me.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Look, you two have to operate the on-board systems, monitor the electronic warfare battle, and now you’ve got to watch the frigates as well. If we launch now they might think we’re going to defend the station. Can you fly Lady Mac and fight at the same time as everything else?”
“Beaulieu?” Sarha asked.
“Not my decision, but he does have a point. We need to leave, now.”
“Sarha, Josh is all emotionally tangled up when it comes to me. Fair enough, I didn’t handle him well. But you can’t endanger his life and ours on a single bad decision made from ignorance. I’ll do my best here. Trust me. Please.”
“All right! Damn it. But fusion drive authority only. You’re not jumping us anywhere.”
“Fine.” And the dream finally happened, just as he’d always known it would. Lady Mac ’s flight computer opened to him, and all the systems were on-line, filling his mind with glorious wing-sweeps of colour. They fitted just perfectly.
He designated the procedure menus he needed, bringing the thrusters and drive tubes up to active flight status. Beaulieu and Sarha were working smoothly together, activating the remaining on board systems. Umbilicals retracted from the fuselage, and the cradle started to elevate them out of the shallow docking bay. The viewfield which the flight computer was datavising at him expanded as more of Lady Mac ’s sensor clusters lifted above the rim. Three bright, expanding stars were ringed in antagonistic red as they crept up over the curvature of the brilliant blue horizon.
Liol fired the verniers to take them off the cradle, not caring if the other two could see the stupid smile on his face. For a moment, all the envy and bitterness returned, the irrational pique he’d felt when he first learned that Joshua existed, a usurper brother who was captaining the ship which was rightfully his. This was the rush that belonged to him. The power to traverse the galaxy.
One day, he and Joshua were going to have to settle this.
But not today. Today was when he proved himself to his brother and the crew. Today was when he started living the life he knew belonged to him.
When they were a hundred metres above the docking bay, Liol fired the secondary drive, selecting a third of a gee acceleration. Lady Mac immediately veered off the vector he’d plotted. He pumped a fast correction order into the flight computer, deflecting the exhaust angle. Overcompensating. “Wowshit!” The acceleration couch webbing gripped him tighter.
“The spaceplane hangar is empty,” Sarha said witheringly. “That means our mass distribution is off centre. Perhaps you’d care to bring the level seven balance calibration programs on-line?”
“Sorry.” He searched desperately around the flight control menus and found the right program. Lady Mac juddered back onto her original vector.
“Joshua is going to throw me out of the airlock,” Sarha decided.
It had taken some time for Lodi to get used to having Omain sitting in the hotel suite with him. A possessed for Mary’s sake! But Omain turned out to be quiet and polite (a little sad, to be honest), keeping out of the way. Lodi slowly managed to relax, though this must surely be the strangest episode in his life. Nothing was ever going to out-weird this.
At first he had jumped every time Omain even spoke. Now, he was relatively cool about the whole scene. His processor blocks were spread out over one of the tables, enabling him to cast trawl programs into the net streams, fishing out relevant information. It was what he did best, so Voi had left him to it while she, Mzu, and Eriba went to the Opia company. His main concern at the moment was monitoring the civil situation now the government had closed the borders. Voi wanted to make sure they would be allowed to get back into orbit. So far, it looked as if they could. There had even been one piece of good luck, the first since they arrived at Nyvan. A starship called Lady Macbeth had docked at the Spirit of Freedom , and it was exactly the type of ship Mzu wanted.