RED KNIGHT
a STAR FRONTIERS Novel
by Layne K. Saltern
The jump takes less than a second.
If the starship's astrogator has already completed the necessary days of tedious charting, any number of jumps may be performed while at that speed. However, once the pilot wishes to make a stop, the ship must spend another five days decelerating.
Since the start of our journey, Commodore Xid'kit had been up to his elbows in astrogation work. He looked up from the personal computer terminal on the table in our quarters. It looked like he needed a break.
"Interesting reading?" he asked.
I set down the palm-pad I had been studying. "I thought I'd take the chance to brush up on some sociology."
He grimaced. "Sounds about as interesting as what I'm doing."
"Actually, I find it intriguing. There's an article here on the behavior patterns of the Sathar. One of the reasons no live Sathar has ever been taken into captivity is their refusal to surrender in battle. There have even been times when they've avoided capture by self-destructing disabled ships with a drive overload program."
"Drive overload program?" The commodore found the subject more interesting than he would have thought.
"According to the astrophysicist, Dr. Douglas Niles, 'A ship will destroy itself if its computer is programmed to activate the atomic drives at full power without releasing any thrust. The heat and pressure produced in the engine reaction chambers build to the point where the engine housings cannot hold together. The disintegration of the housing releases an explosion that has exactly the same effect as a nuclear bomb.'"
"Eesh," said the commodore, shivering dramatically.
On the fifth day of acceleration I ventured into the ship's recreation area. Space Commander Luc Thibaut sat strapped to a padded couch. On the table before him, a collection of multicolor spheres were laid out in a careful configuration.
The Human didn't look up as I walked over.
"That's a nice set of chameleon spheres," I said. "Isn't a two-player game more fun than solitaire?"
He still wouldn't look up at me, so I squatted to his level. His eyes darted toward me only briefly. His shoulders rose, and then dropped with a sudden exhale.
"I think we've already been introduced," I continued. "I'm Kro'khan."
He mumbled something.
"What was that?" I asked, extending an antenna to hear him better.
"You'd better strap yourself down before we jump," he said. At least, that's what I think he said. He spoke so softly.
"Hey, Kro'khan!" The voice came from behind me. It was unmistakably Tulk'n. "I thought I might find you here. Looks like we're about to jump. Let's go get anchored."
Tulk'n noticed the game Thibaut was playing. "Cool spheres," he said.
Thibaut glared and put them away.
Tulk'n and I found our way to the observation dome and strapped ourselves into a couple of cold plastic seats. The plastiglass dome spanned above us, showing us the expanse of diamond stars beyond.
As the space jump began, it felt like a warm wave of water was coursing through my insides, making me weightless. The stars beyond the dome spiraled and twisted, soon disappearing althogether. The shapes of the room softened like jelly, becoming distorted and then turning violently inside-out. I screamed in spite of myself, but my voice made no sound.
Then without warning I felt myself slapped back into my body. The shapes of the room had restored themselves. In fact, everything was as it was before. . .except the stars.
We were now several light years away from our position mere seconds before.
I don't think I'll ever get used to jumping through hyperspace.