Nimisha's Ship
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Nimisha's Ship». Краткое содержание книги:
When Nimisha takes an experimental ship on a solo test flight, something goes horribly awry, marooning her light-years from home on a planet as deadly as it is beautiful. Now the ruthless members of a rival branch of the Rondymense family are given the chance they've been waiting for: to reclaim the Ship Yards by any means necessary.
Only Nimisha's ingenious child, Cuiva, stands in their way. But for how long? For just when her daughter needs her most, Nimisha is in a precarious situation herself--and unable to help. But Nimisha has never given up in her life--and she's not about to start now . . .
"We ran out of coffee too soon," Casper said, inhaling deeply, a broad smile on his face when he saw the carafe and smelled the brew. "Timmy's still sacked out. His colour's better, too."
"I would have expected that," Doc replied though Casper hadn't addressed the medical unit directly. The man looked surprised by the spontaneous answer. "Syrona is progressing nicely but, since she's in here, I took the advantage of doing a little more repair. Analysis only confirmed what was obviously lacking in diet and you'll find her much improved when I log her out, Casper."
"Yes, well, thanks, Doc." Casper said with a nervous grin.
"You'll get used to them," Nimisha said with a little laugh. "I forgot their participation might be a surprise to you. Join me. I was just about to have a snack."
Casper cocked an eye at her. "If that's what you call a snack, I'd hate to have to plough through a feast."
"Oh, I'm sure you'd manage fine."
Jonagren had lost some of the more obvious signs of tension with the rest and shower. He really could use a bit more weight on his bones, thought Nimisha. Maybe his face would fill out, too, taking away some of those rawboned planes. Abruptly she decided that no, she liked his face the way it was-full of character. Some of the lines around his mouth and eyes were laugh lines. The ship suit was the right length for his body, but he looked gaunt in the standard sizing.
"What a relief not to have to forage for a meal," he said, rubbing his hands together before he settled at the table. He also commented on the coffee. "That's the best treat of all," he said and poured a cup for himself before Nimisha could. He held it up to his nose and inhaled the wonderful aroma.
He had a nice smile, which echoed in his eyes as he made contact with hers over the rim of his cup. He took a long pull and allowed himself a sigh of deep satisfaction before reaching for the nearest sandwich.
"Lettuce?" he exclaimed in amazement.
"We have some in the lower deck hydro-garden," she said. "I'll have to plant more, since I wasn't expecting company."
"There are edible greens here, but it's not the season for the best ones yet," Casper said, reaching for his second sandwich and licking his lips of the crumbs left over from the first.
"Did you by any chance explore the other two M-type planets in this area?" Nimisha asked.
With their mouths full, both men shook their heads.
"Not with… the damage… we sustained reaming our way through that wormhole," Jonagren said, managing to speak through his food. He looked down at the sandwich he held as if remembering it wasn't the best of good manners to talk while chewing.
"Go ahead," Nimisha said. "I don't mind if you talk around it."
"We couldn't fix it short of a Fleet facility," Jonagren said. "And the exterior nodes were sheared off. Pluny tried to jury-rig some sort of receptor, but we'd been knocked about a good deal in the passage. That's why we didn't even get off a beacon when we were dragged in. Might have saved you a few problems if there'd been one."
"On the other hand, I wouldn't be here now, would I? It's usually the Navy that rescues us civilians, isn't it, not the other way round." She smiled at the two men, focusing her eyes longer on Jonagren, wanting in some way to let him know that his burden was now being shared.
"While it certainly is a treat to see a fresh face-and a beautiful one," Jonagren said, unexpectedly dealing her a compliment as easily as Rhidian could, "with a fine ship to give us more mobility in any future plans, we would just as soon not have wished anyone else to be stuck here with us."
Nimisha was delighted to hear him sounding more cheerful. Good food, rest, and "a fresh face" seemed to have improved his morale considerably. "Did you notice the other three metallic anomalies?"
"Yes, we were able to get a good look at that ancient heap on our fly-by. By then we realised our first landing of the Poolbeg would be her fast stop. Pluny jury-rigged exterior comunits. Captain Querine hoped we might salvage something from one of the other two and the plan was to use the shuttle to have a look." He sighed and once again the lines of stress were prominent in his expressive face. "Plans change."
"So you don't know if those ships had any survivors?"
"We saw them on our way in and detected nothing," Casper said. "Not that that means anything. They could have holed up somewhere away from the ferocious stuff."
"Well, I've those two sites next on my list. So you couldn't have gone on to the other two M-types even had you wanted to?"
Both men shook their heads, Jonagren evidently regretting it more than Casper did.
"Well, then, we've things to do and plans to make," she said, trying not to sound too fatuous. "I did manage to get a beacon out, hopefully well beyond the reach of the wormhole. I have placed another at the point we came into this space. It's a standard omnidirectional FTL model. How long the pulses will take to reach a destination, or even make contact, is debatable. I've been updating the beacon this side. It'll be stripped once contact is made, so you might want to send a report for it to pass on. You're no longer missing."
"But you," Jonagren put in with unexpected whimsy, "are."
"You did say that you were designing this as a long-range vessel," Casper began.
"Not quite this long-range," Nimisha replied with a grin.
"The Rondymense Ship Yard has done a lot with the Fleet designers," Casper continued, warming to his theme, "so is it possible they'd be very keen to recover this one?" He looked around him, enviously. "It's stars above anything Exploratory has ever offered scouts."
Nimisha nodded, pleased at his perspicacity, Jonagren's eyes were sparkling again.
"They shall leave no turn unstoned," she said, "to find it."
"That-and your appearance, ma'am-are the best news we've had in almost two decades!"
"The only news we've had," Casper added.
The two men had worked their way through most of the sandwiches while she had consumed one.
"I'll just get more coffee," she said, rising, just as they all heard a wail of fright, muted by a partially closed door.
"It's all right, Timmy. I'm coming," Casper called. In his haste, he knocked over his chair, then hesitated, unsure whether to pick it up or get to the boy to comfort him.
Jonagren gestured for him to go and picked up the chair.
"There have been several babies who didn't survive?" she asked Jonagren in a low voice.
He shook his head. "Miscarriages, two stillborn, for Jesse. Peri's girl lived only a week. None of us has the expertise to do an autopsy-even if we'd wanted to-and we weren't able to get back to the ship. A fever took their first when he was ten months old, and weird allergies and an accident took the other surviving toddlers even though we guarded them night and day. Timmy's nearly a miracle for us. Maybe we should have started having kids earlier, when we were all healthier. I don't know." He gave a shrug.
"Cater, please prepare something appetising for a-" Nimisha paused, looking at Jonagren to supply Timmy's age.
"Six-year-old," Doc said, as if he had been waiting for a chance to get a word in. "Preferably high protein and complex carbohydrates made to look like his favourite food?" Now Doc waited for Jonagren to speak.
The commander grinned as he shook his head slowly from side to side. "He'll eat anything that doesn't eat him first. I'd say that's why he's still alive: an iron digestive system."
"Oh, it'll be so nice to cater for a child," Cater replied with a lilt in her voice. A plate appeared on the dispenser with a glass of white liquid. "Is he familiar with milk?"
"Excellent food for a growing child," Doc said. "Good idea, Cater."
"Thank you, sir," Cater replied demurely.