Parador (Juggernaut #2)

One

The warning lights at the Jenova-Celato jump beacon began to pulse. It began slow at first but grew more rapid as the Bohr's-field event horizon coalesced.

Flashes of blue and white were accompanied by invisible burst transmissions on a hundred different frequencies, all broadcasting the same warning; Jump Incoming.

The curtain of stars shimmered and twisted in upon itself. For one infinitesimal moment two star systems appeared to occupy the same space - for one infinitesimal moment, it did - then reality remade itself and twelve spacecraft hung in space where before there were none.

One by one, eleven ships lit up their main drives and began their slow transit of the Jenova star system. The small fleet gradually broke apart to chart their own courses and lock their destinations into navigation systems.

One ship remained, a battered, box-like craft of burnt orange with a stubby horn of sensors protruding from the nose of the craft. It drifted alone five-hundred kilometres starward of the nexus beacon.

On board, Ellie was arguing with Malachi.

'That was never fourteen minutes! It wasn't even fourteen seconds. It was instant.'

'It only seemed that way to us,' Malachi said. He kept his gaze on the console to avoid being distracted by another question he had answered a hundred times. The short-range scanner on the console blossomed into life as the projected vectors of their eleven companions traced their colourful curves across the display. Each line would ultimately intercept a planet, space station or another beacon where they would continue their journey to the Praxis star system, or most likely, to Kendal. Very little legitimate traffic had cause to go to Praxis. Only two of the other ships appeared to be heading for Parador.

Ellie was still adamant, 'I timed it!'

Malachi drummed a fingertip on the ship's chronometers.

'Look, this is local system time. This one is Celato system time. See the difference? Our chronometers are reset to local time by the beacons when we arrive.'

He could see Ellie was still struggling with the concept. Malachi knew his own brain could get tied up in knots thinking about the weird physics involved in instantaneous travel between the stars, but there was no reason for Ellie to know that. She didn't need to know he didn't really get it either. Not really. He simply had a basic knowledge she didn't, and a familiarity with concepts of physics she never had to think about. Without a trace of meanness in his voice he said, 'Ellie, you're a fantastic pilot, but a lousy astronavigator.'

'Well, you're a great engineer, but a lousy pilot,' she shot back.

Malachi offered Ellie his hand. 'Agreed.'

She shook it with mock seriousness. 'Okay, I believe you, even if it makes no sense.'

Malachi offered the same hand to Tila, who had watched this conversation with folded arms and, unsurprisingly, a frown. 'Agreed?' he said.

Tila swatted his hand away. 'Now we are all friends again, can we, Mal, chart our course to Parador? That is why we came, remember? Or have you forgotten that in the last few minutes?'

'Seconds,' said Ellie, and playfully poked Malachi in the ribs. Malachi sighed theatrically before he answered Tila.

'The computer's plotting the course now. Our little runabout can't run the calculations as fast as those other ships.'

Tila leaned over the colourful arcs stretching across the scanner display. She traced the lines with her fingertips.

'Wouldn't it save time to just follow one of those ships?'