“A dashgate?” Urle echoed. “Well, the Hurricane is fit to travel through them, but I can’t say I’m thrilled at the prospect.”
“I’m not any happier,” Brooks replied.
After returning to the shuttle, Brooks had sent out a return signal to everyone with them. He had no doubt that it would have been safe for them to stay out their fourteen-day visas here, but they were here with a purpose, and he did not want to push the patience of the colonists. One day, they might actually feel ready to engage with the Sapient Union.
In the cockpit of the shuttle he had gathered Urle, Logus, and Kell. Or the latter had, at least, decided to join them.
“What is the issue with dashgates?” Dr. Logus asked. “They’re in standard use within planetary systems – they’re all over the home system.”
“Yes, but those are very well-constructed and maintained gates,” Urle explained. “In frontier systems, things tend to be of lower quality and in poor repair. On top of that, the tech is just rougher around the edges than a zerodrive.”
“I have not actually travelled in one,” Kell noted. “I left Earth in a special ship that was allowed the use of a zerodrive further in the system.”
Urle took a deep breath. “Likely because some people react poorly to dashgates and command did not want to risk you getting sick so early in our co-existence, Ambassador.”
Kell frowned. “Shoggoths do not get sick.”
“Of course,” Urle noted dryly. “But for explanation’s sake; for safety reasons dashgates don’t open a proper hole into zerospace, but sort of slide a ship halfway between that and realspace. It works better for short distances like those within a system, but it’s energy-wasteful and can be very bumpy.”
“I am interested to try it,” Kell said.
Brooks looked to his Executive Commander. “Urle, while everyone gets settled in, check the colony records for maintenance on the dashgate – get an idea of how safe it is. If you deem it acceptable, then in one hour we’ll make lift-off and head for this second colony.”
“Vitriol,” Urle muttered. “Sounds like a fantastic place.”
A small smile that was uncomfortable to look at crossed Kell’s face. “I find this whole story quite amusing,” he admitted.
The dashgate was functional. Both the Hurricane‘s onboard computer and Urle’s own calculations determined it to be well within safety margins.
But that didn’t mean it was a pleasant trip. The gate was small – one of the advantages of a dashgate – and the ship rattled through nearly the entire duration of the four-hour trip.
Brooks knew it had to be hardest on Cenz, with each individual polyp of his body being jostled the entire way, and checked in on him. But the science officer was his typical cheerful self.
“It’s an interesting sensation,” he admitted. Yet the smile on his screen looked forced.
When they were ten minutes from re-entering normal space, Brooks went to the cockpit.
The door opened obligingly for him when he approached, and a child came tumbling out, literally doing a slow end-over-end in the zero-g, a high-pitched shriek on her tongue. Brooks knew Urle’s daughters, of course, and helped catch Persis before she hit a wall. Her shriek had turned to giggles, and Hannah floated out, holding what appeared to be a sensor wand as a sword.
“NOW I AM VICTORIOUS- hello, Captain Brooks!” the girl said, switching tone and manners in an instant. She ducked the wand behind her back. With her free hand, she gave him a salute.
“Hello Captain Brooks,” Persis said, still fighting her laughter.
“Hello, girls,” the Captain replied, struggling to keep his own smile in check. “I need you to go on back to your cabin – we’re going to be coming out soon and I’m going to have to talk to people I expect to be both unfriendly and boring.”
“Can I watch if I’m quiet?” Hannah asked. “I’ll raise my hand if I have a question,” she added.
Urle sat up and spoke, before Brooks could answer.
“Captain!” he said, getting up from the chair. The fact that he hadn’t spoken up yet made Brooks wonder if he’d actually fallen asleep while the two were playing. It might be the reason Hannah had been able to get the delicate sensor in the first place . . .
“Where did you find that?” Urle asked her, still holding the sensor wand. “Did it float off the equipment rack with all the rattling?”
“Yeah . . . yeah, it did!” Hannah said, daintily handing it to her father. Urle glanced to Brooks, looking quizzical. Hannah also looked at him, alarmed. He knew, of course, that she had been using it as a toy.
Brooks gave a shrug and a smile back to Urle. “She was picking it up when I came in. It seems she had quite a good sense of how valuable and breakable it is.”
“Oh, good,” Urle said. “Okay, girls, time to go back to your cabin.”
Other Terrestrial 