Day 00004 Mission Nilex
Captain Gareth Levant awoke on the third day since breaking orbit and thought, «Report.»
«All systems go, Captain. Nothing to report.»
He found his leg felt better, and strained to twist himself enough to look at the bruising on the back of his thigh. «That was a nice shot.»
«Thank you. It was my pleasure.»
He smiled ruefully. «Yeah, I bet it was.»
Laughter sounded through his mind. «You asked me to surprise you, Captain.»
«Oh, that you did, Canaisis, that you did. It must be nice to so easily cheat.»
«I didn't cheat,» she returned with indignation in her voice. «You must be prepared for the unknown element. In combat, it's imperative you survive, Captain. This was only a training exercise—you might not be so lucky in reality.»
«I thought I did well. I took the drone out, didn't I? Even after it shot me, and I went tumbling.»
«Yes, you did very well in your reaction, but you shouldn't have assumed your adversaries would consistently play by the same rules. Crossing the aisle the way you did was reckless.»
«It was a calculated risk,» he retorted.
«Leave the calculations to me, Captain. It's imperative that you survive. Had that been a real event, you would have passed out before your suit could seal the puncture. And most likely lost the leg before you could return for medical help.»
«I know, but sometimes you have to take risks, Canaisis. And sometimes you have to take losses in order to win.»
«You are an unacceptable loss, Captain. We've discussed this.»
He retrieved the jar Ayla had given him. Canaisis had assured him the night before that its ingredients were useful to healing. The salve was cold on his skin as he rubbed it in.
«I'm mortal, Canaisis,» he thought. «You know that. Life itself is a risk.»
«I am aware, Captain,» she answered with sadness in her voice, «but you taught me that, sometimes, if you can't solve a problem at just this moment, then be patient. The answer sometimes comes with time.»
«I'm not sure mortality is a problem, Canaisis. I think, maybe, it's a process. A necessary process.» He finished getting dressed—his leg did feel better than expected.
«Anything to report on that ship?» he asked, changing the subject.
«No, it's still making way for Earth. It's using a wasteful amount of fuel to make haste. The turnaround deceleration-G's will be quite uncomfortable.»
«Nothing out of the ordinary in the rest of the Sol system?»
«No sudden changes in course by any other ship, Captain.»
A thought occurred to him. Working with Canaisis had taught him that oftentimes it was a matter of asking the right questions. «Any other ships of similar design—if so, how many?»
«Forty-four ships. Each is stationed near a planet or habitat of Humans throughout the Sol system.»
That made him mentally pause as he strode to the break room for his morning tea. What was going on here? To need that many fighter carriers implied something not right with this society.
«Are these ships capable of FTL?»
«Yes, Captain, their design implies that they're capable of stellar travel.»
ESTÁ A LER
CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle One: The Last Living Ship ∞ 1: A New Mission
Ficção científicaBook 1 of CANAISIS ∞ The Last Living Ship trilogy (Chronicles of Canaisis 1) Can a ship, born to sail the ocean of stars to ensure Humankind's survival, save her Captain from the void within his own heart? ∞ ∞ ∞ Canaisis is the last of her kind, a L...
