Act One

Babel Rising

Part IV

SES Babel, in orbit of Station Zero Zero Seven, Caliburn System. Novelysium 21st, 3729.

The Babel’s bridge was quiet when Uriel entered on the morning of the first full test. He had insisted on shorter tests, hops that measured in the scant handful of kilometres instead of light years. Only now was he in a position where he could no longer refuse to allow a complete test of the engine.

Didn’t mean he had to like it, though.

“I’m still not sure about this, sir,” his XO, Kyrali Byn Vyral, said from next to him. Kyrali was a Vyde, furry-faced and felinoid. She was tapping away at the bridge’s XO console, her yellow eyes flitting between Uriel and the helm officer, a brand new science-fleet officer whose name Uriel had yet to memorise.

“Me neither,” Uriel said quietly. “But we’ll do what we can, eh?”

Byn Vyral didn’t look too happy, but she nodded, turning her attention back to her console.

“Well,” she said, “all decks are reporting ready, sir.”

Uriel nodded, turning to his armrest control and pressing a control. “Engine room, this is the bridge. I hope you have some good news for me?”

“We’ll be ready for the test at your discretion, Captain Locke,” Freume’s voice came through the intercom. “All readings are nominal at present. I will of course notify you if this should change.”

Uriel sniffed. “Very glad to hear it, Professor Freume. Bridge out.”

He turned back to Byn Vyral, who raised both eyebrows in what might have been bewilderment.

“He’s confident at least,” Uriel said, adopting a dismissive, casual tone that he did not feel.

Byn Vyral didn’t say anything. She turned back to her console, her expression still pensive. Uriel turned away from her and looked at the main viewport.

“Helm,” he said. The helm officer turned. “I assume you know what you’re doing?”

“Yes, sir,” the officer replied, smiling. “Professor Freume talked me through it. He said it should work just like the standard shunt drive.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it, Mr…” Uriel paused, motioning for the helm officer to fill in the blank.

“Oh, uh, Midshipman Benson, sir,” the man said, smiling nervously. “I transferred in when -”

“Mr Benson,” Uriel cut him off, not wanting to hear the man’s whole life story. “Set a course for the next star system – should be Adygar Three Seven Zero?”

Benson nodded, turning in his chair back to his console. “Confirmed, sir. Four point nine light years away.”

Four point nine light years, Uriel thought grimly. That’s a little over an hour on shunt drive. But with this thing…

“Alright,” he said after a moment. “Stand by.”

With a final glance at Byn Vyral, he clicked a control on his armrest console, and took a deep breath.

“This is the Captain speaking,” he said. “In the next few minutes, we will be engaging the US drive. We’ve activated the engine before, but in this next test we will be travelling four point nine light years. I needn’t remind any of us with the jitters that this is the longest recorded distance ever travelled with this particular engine.”

He glanced at Byn Vyral as he said this, the Vyde’s eyes staring straight at the observation screen unblinking. He took another breath, and continued.

“I expect us to do our part. I expect what I’ve always expected from all of you – your very best. I know you won’t let me down.” A few of the crew were smiling half-heartedly – about the best he could come to expect, really. “Locke out.”

The intercom ceased, and Uriel took another, deeper breath.

“Mr Benson.” The nervous-looking helm officer turned in his seat. “At the engine room’s discretion, you will engage the drive and take us to Adygar Three Seven Zero.”

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Benson nodded, turning back to his console and inputting a command.

“Engine room, helm station,” he said, his voice staying surprisingly even as he did so. “Stand by to engage drive.”

“This is Freume,” Freume’s voice came through the comm. “All systems standing by, ready to engage.”

Benson turned around, looking at Uriel one last time. Uriel nodded once, and Benson let out a deep breath, and inputted another command.

“Ready, sir,” he said.

Uriel smiled. “Then by all means, Mr Benson. Have at it.”

***

To say that entering Underspace was a strange experience was not only obvious, but such a massive understatement that it was insulting.

The first thing that any of them saw was the stars: they seemed almost to grow, bleeding outward, the white staining the black of space, until space was white, and the stars were black, the little black dots suddenly speeding past them faster than thought.

Wow, Uriel thought. He watched the black stars streak through white space, the white glow making him wince. He held up a hand, shielding his eyes from the brightness. He saw others doing the same – Byn Vyral was looking away, Benson was studiously looking at his console as though he never wanted to look anywhere else.

After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality had only been a few minutes, the white space seemed to contract around the stars, becoming mere dots of white in an inky black void once more. Uriel let out a deep breath.

“Status report?” he asked.

“Astronav scan confirms that we’re just outside Adygar Three Seven Zero,” Uriel’s Astronavigation officer said.

“All decks reporting, sir,” Byn Vyral added. “No damage. No… no anything. It’s like we didn’t even move.”

“Freume to Bridge,” Freume’s voice came through the intercom.

Uriel resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead simply tapping his intercom. “We’re reading you, Professor.”

“My screens show that we reached the intended destination, could you please confirm?” Freume’s voice was a little faster, a little more excitable, than Uriel had ever heard it.

“Confirmed, Professor,” Uriel said, holding back the sigh. “I expect a full report on my desk shortly.”

“Of course, of course!” Freume babbled. “I’ll -”

“Bridge out,” Uriel cut him off, tapping his intercom again.

He let out the sigh, before looking around the bridge. The entire bridge crew were looking at him, with expressions ranging from relief to trepidation.

“Well,” he said, “so far so good.”

There was a nervous smattering of laughter, and the tension on the bridge dissipated.

“Mr Benson,” Uriel said after a moment, “I want a full nav report. Liaise with Astronav: I wanna hear if we so much as scratched the damn paint.”

Benson nodded, smiling. “Aye, sir.”

Uriel turned to Byn Vyral. “Commander -”

“I’ve already begun asking deck officers to report in, sir” she cut him off, smiling nervously. “We’ve had no reports of any major issues. F-Deck has a minor power fluctuation.”

“Understandable, since this new engine draws on power in ways we’re not one-hundred percent on, yet,” Uriel said thoughtfully. He stood up. “Well, keep me up to speed if anything changes. I need to inform Command about this.”

“Aye, sir,” Byn Vyral said, already returning her attention to her console.

***

Station Zero Zero Four.

Jayne Laughlin leant back in her chair and frowned as she read the message that had flashed up on her computer. It was marked High Priority.

To: Laughlin, Jayne, Admiral – Fleet Command

CC: Diakos, Elena, Admiral – Science-Corp Command

From: Locke, Uriel, Captain – Solarin Empire Starship IP-66, “Babel”

Subject: Underspace drive test – Station Zero Zero Seven to Adygar Three Seven Zero.

Test successful. Minor power issues reported on some decks – full report from Professor Freume to follow. Will report when the next test is due.

Above this was a message of congratulations from Elena Diakos, and a message from Freume with technical reports that Jayne knew was more likely for Elena’s sake than hers. Jayne wasn’t even technically needed on these messages, except as a courtesy in recognition of Uriel’s posting being temporary.

Despite the good news, Jayne couldn’t help but feel a twinge of concern. Zero Zero Seven to Adygar was quite a jump. Tapping her keyboard, she penned a message to Uriel on the personal channel.

Uriel,

How are you feeling about all of this? Let me know if you have any issues and I’ll see what I can do about Elena.

Jayne.

It was an empty promise and they would both know it – it wasn’t her call. But still, it was nice to make it. Nice to feel like she was at least being supportive of her friend, hadn’t just abandoned him to a post and a mission that he was dubious about without the least bit of support.

Still: she had to admit that it was a positive development, albeit the sort of positive development that came with a lot of caveats, strings attached, and ‘ifs’. If nothing went wrong, if the Babel did the job she was asked to without incident, and if this new engine design didn’t have a catastrophic overload…

Uriel. She closed her eyes. I hope I haven’t given you a dunsel.

***