Starweb Read online

  'Well I don't know where those idiots went, but it wasn't the same place as us,' Sandpiper snorted. 'We all saw the same thing. We didn't imagine it!'

  'I appreciate that you probably did all see the same thing,' Black replied reasonably, 'but are you certain the three of you didn't have some sort of group hallucination? After all, you were in the midst of some very serious celebrating before the alarm sounded.'

  'That bitch has got my wife and baby!' Moss yelled at Black, pounding his hands on the tabletop. 'We've got to go after her—we've got to leave orbit now!'

  'Calm down Moss!' Black snapped back. 'I know you're distraught, but there must be a reasonable explanation. Jennifer and your son will turn up somewhere on the ship any minute now, I'm sure…'

  Jenson felt the increased vibration of the engines being transmitted through the deck and asked, 'We're leaving orbit…where're we going?'

  'We've received a distress call from a colonial transporter in sub-ether space. There's possibly been an explosion onboard, which may have thrown their singularities off-line. We're moving as fast as possible to their last known location,' Black told him, replaying the distress call on the briefing-room viewer.

  'When did this call come in?' Sandpiper asked with a frown, his suspicions aroused.

  'About the same time as the intruder alert went off,' the bridge officer replied trying to follow the stocky pilot's train of thought. 'Why do you ask? Surely, you don't think there's some sort of connection between the two events?'

  'It's a bit of a coincidence,' came the reply.

  'Excalibur, do you know the location of Jennifer Pendragon and her new-born child?' Jenson addressed Excalibur's sentient computer.

  'I cannot locate mother and child I'm afraid,' the female tones of the computer responded. 'From information collected from my own sensors, my recollection of events is that both the security team and yourselves gave accurate accounts of what they saw.'

  'How can that be?' Moss demanded, still in a state of great agitation. 'What the hell's going on Excalibur? Has that bitch Nimue got my wife and child or not?'

  'There was definitely an intruder of a non-human form on the ship,' the computer answer. 'My interpretation is that this—being, somehow distorted time and space in the locality of it's projected appearance.'

  'What's all that mean?' Sandpiper asked with a quizzical expression.

  'The medical staff were on the deck at the same time as yourselves. However, the apparition that made itself visible to us, occupied a slightly different plane of reality. It's appearance was for your benefit alone.'

  'What the…?' Black exclaimed trying to get his head around the bizarre concept being put forward by Excalibur. 'Is such a thing possible?'

  'Difficult yes—impossible, no,' was the reply. 'In some ways it is similar to warping space, in the same manner as Gulag some years ago, onboard Dominator*.'

  *See Dominator and Third Player. WJP.

  'So has Nimue, or whatever it was, got my wife and child or not?' Moss demanded, pacing the floor impatiently once more.

  'I cannot confirm that the projected apparition was indeed Nimue, but whatever it was, it did indeed move Jennifer and your son to another plane; another point in time and space.'

  'We've got to go after them!' Moss suddenly declared to them all. 'I promised her I'd protect them. Turn the ship about!'

  'And where exactly would you like us to go?' Black asked the distraught young father as gently as possible. 'Do you have any idea where to start searching? Are you sure Jennifer and your son aren't still somewhere on board? Do you really want us to turn away from a mercy mission in order to go on some wild goose-chase?'

  Moss collapsed into one of the chairs around the briefing table, suddenly deflated. In his heart, he knew Black was right; he'd no real idea where to start looking for his wife and child. A deep gloom of depression swept through him; he felt so helpless. For the first time since he was a child, he was at a complete loss as to what to do.

  'I was deadly serious when I told you that the apparition meant for only us to see it,' Excalibur told them in its calm, but firm, female voice. 'When Jennifer and the infant were shifted out of this dimension, the apparition left a clear trail that could be followed back to the source of origin.'

  'What are you trying to tell us Excalibur?' Jenson demanded. 'Do you know where Jennifer and the child are?'

  'It's taken me some time to analyze the sub-ether trail. It's certainly one I've never encountered before,' the sentient computer continued.

  'So where are they?' Moss demanded, suddenly looking more hopeful.

  A three-dimensional holographic display of the galaxy appeared above the conference table. It turned slowly on its axis and enlarged until one planet; one amongst millions, filled the projection.

  'They're here…' Excalibur declared.

  'That system's in the heart of Starweb's territory,' Sandpiper was the first to point out. 'You're not seriously implying that is was the Starweb who kidnapped Jennifer and the baby?'

  Moss suddenly leapt to his feet and bolted for the door.

  'Moss! Where the hell are you going?' Black called out.

  'I'm going after Jennifer and my child!' he called out over his shoulder. 'I promised to protect them!'

  'Moss, don't be foolish—come back! Moss! Moss…!'

  Black's calls were ignored and the bridge officer cursed loudly. He had the horrible feeling that all hell was about to break loose…

  'It's no use trying to persuade him otherwise Peter,' Jenson pointed out. 'The lad's too headstrong for that. He'll frazzle your brains rather than stop his bull-headed attempt to get Jennifer and the baby back.'

  'Merde!' Black swore once more, 'Go after him! For God's sake, try to stop him from doing anything foolish! Tell him we'll turnabout and look for them as soon as we've completed this mercy mission!'

  Jenson and Sandpiper looked at each other, then strode out of the briefing room. There was no way the pair were going to let Moss go on some bizarre mission to God knew where, alone.

  As the pair entered the turbo-lift and left the bridge, Excalibur asked a worried Captain Black, 'Do you think I should have told them that I've decoded the where, but not the when?'

  The bridge officer simply shook his head in bewilderment.

  Colonial cruiser Shanoa,

  en-route to the new colonies on the planet Heligsion

  Brother Dakol sat at a spare workstation on the bridge of the Shanoa. Captain Ghiska, a burly, gruff Dyason had made the monk an honorary bridge officer with the role of ship's chaplain. Wisely, Ghiska had realised that Dakol was the perfect person to relay their predicament to the worried colonists.

  De Gaccia had taken time out to carefully brief the monk on the situation, in simple terms that anyone could understand. The last thing any of them needed was panic amongst the colonists.

  Dakol reviewed what he'd been told in his mind. He found it helped him understand what was happening on the bridge about him. De Gaccia had explained that there were many different levels to sub-ether space. A bit like descending into the depths of an ocean, it became darker and more alien, the deeper you went. The Shanoa cruised just below the surface; inside the sub-ether, but not far from familiar three-dimensional space. From a barely submerged position, it was possible to perceive the location of known stars and planets in normal space. Which was how the Shanoa could navigate from Dyason to Heligsion. In effect they'd been surfing, sub-ether space, slipping from time to time, back into normal space, to get a navigational fix.

  However, the explosion in the engine control room had moved the singularities out of alignment and plunged the Shanoa down into the depths of the sub-ether, from where it was impossible to get a fix on their relative position. The colonial transporter had been tossed about in an unfamiliar dimension of time and space. Only now, after hours of toil, were they emerging back into the more familiar universe. Nobody knew where they would emerge. The only thing the passengers and crew of the
Shanoa could be certain of, was that they'd be nowhere near their intended destination.

  'Singularities are moving away from their intercepting fields of influence,' the chief engineer declared, his hands and eyes sweeping across the control panel.

  'Gently does it chief,' the first officer warned. 'Be prepared to drop us back into deeper sub-ether space at the first hint of trouble.'

  'We're currently skimming the surface captain,' the chief continued. 'We should be able to perceive normal space by now sir.'

  'Miss Kaime, do you have a fix yet?' Ghiska demanded from the navigation officer.

  The monk watched as the young woman desperately scanned the readings from the ships sensors, trying hard to locate their position. After nearly thirty seconds of tension, she eventually conceded defeat.

  'No, I'm sorry sir,' she finally answered with a sigh. 'The readings I'm getting are too imprecise. I'm afraid we'll have to drop out of the sub-ether if I'm to locate our position with any degree of accuracy.'

  The Dyason captain's only response was a noncommittal, 'Harrumph!' and a nod to the engineer. It was left to the first mate to give the order.

  'Chief, bring us back to normality. Everyone on your toes, we've no idea what may be out there! Leaving sub-ether space in three…two…one…mark!'

  There was no discernible difference onboard the Shanoa, nothing to indicate that they'd actually left the sub-ether. But on the bridge's main viewer, the swirling multicoloured mass that was the visible spectrum of that other dimension, was replaced by a more familiar darkness, interspersed by myriad points of light.

  As soon as the ship had completely emerged into normal space, sensors relayed information to the waiting security and navigation officers. The helmsman was ready to drop back into the sub-ether space at the first sign of trouble, but as the seconds ticked by and the call never came, the tension gradually eased.

  'Any sign of other vessels in the area?' Captain Ghiska eventually demanded.

  'Negative sir,' the security officer responded from her console, double-checking the readings.

  'Well Nav?' he then asked. 'Do you have any idea yet as to where we are?'

  'Yes and no sir,' came the cautious reply.

  'What do you mean woman?' the captain rumbled. 'Spit it out..What have you discovered?'

  'I, err…know where we are sir,' the Nav officer told him after scanning her panel once more. 'But we're nowhere on any of our charts sir. I've had to access the ship's data-archives to find the relevant star readings.'

  'That bad eh? Well you'd better punch it up on the screen so we can all take a look.'

  The navigator shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but when the captain frowned at her, she shrugged and input their position onto the holographic viewer. The galaxy swam before their eyes, and then zoomed in toward the central core. Star systems flashed past at improbable speeds until only one planet rotated on the viewer. A gasp of shock and surprise swept about the bridge at the sight of the nearest world.

  'May the Gods preserve us!' Brother Dakol whispered when he realised what he was looking at.

  'Are you sure this is correct Nav?' the first officer demanded. 'There must be some mistake. If we're where you think we are, then we should have been trashed by Webfighters by now!'

  'There's no doubting which star system we've emerged in,' the navigator replied firmly. 'The configurations are an almost perfect match with the charts acquired from the Starweb.'

  'You say almost; how the blazes can you have an almost exact match?' the Captain demanded with a growl. 'The configurations ether match or they don't; which is it?'

  Taking a deep breath, the Nav-officer pulled her shoulders back, faced Ghiska and with as much confidence as she could muster answered, 'The configurations don't match our current charts, but if you take into account the expansion of the galaxy in the past fifty thousand years, they do!'

  De Gaccia rushed over to the navigation console and checked the data. After a couple of minutes of tense silence she turned to her captain and with a pale, stunned face told him. 'She's right! I've re-checked the figures and I'm buggered if I can explain it; there's no doubt…that planet is Samarcia, the centre of the commonwealth which first created the Starweb. But, the constellations are as they were 50,000 or so years in the past, when the Samarcian commonwealth was at it's height!'

  A stunned silence descended upon the entire bridge as the enormity of the situation dawned on them all. The impossible had become a reality. Their descent through the sub-ether had moved them through space, and apparently time!

  The silence was only broken when the comm.’s officer finally noted the incoming signal. He read the message carefully twice, then turned to his captain and said, 'The ship is being hailed sir! We're being asked by somebody declaring themselves to be Samarcian Traffic Control, to identify ourselves. They want to know if we require any assistance?!'

  Jennifer awoke with the morning sun on her face and a gentle breeze blowing through the lush vegetation about her. For a moment she was panic stricken, fear for her baby clutching at her heart, but she soon calmed down when she saw the infant sleeping peacefully in a simple cradle beside her. Gratefully, she sat up and looked about herself.

  She lay on a wooden bed-frame and soft mattress inside what could only be described as an open-sided hut. The frame of the structure was made of delicately carved wood that joined seamlessly at the centre of the roof. The roof itself was made of tightly woven palm fronds, but it was the view out of the open sides of the shelter which really caught her attention. Beyond the hut were trees that reached high into the deep blue sky, which was dotted with white cumulus clouds. Birds sang, and insects hummed in a vision of paradise.

  Rising from the bed, she pulled on a white gown, which had been placed over the back of a simple wooden chair. Picking up her sleeping baby, she stepped out onto a wooden veranda. To her surprise, she felt well rested, and the pains of childbirth all but gone. What had happened and where was she? Was this all some sort of dream?

  Jennifer last recalled being in her private room on the medical deck, exhausted from the rigors of giving birth. She could vaguely remember a vision of a beautiful woman appearing at the foot of her bed. The vision looked a lot like Myrddin's dead sister Nimue, but she'd thought it was a dream brought on by her exhaustion. And now she was here, wherever here was. She felt no sense of alarm, certainly didn’t consider her baby or herself to be in any sort of danger. After all, logic dictated that this still was all part of a dream. In reality, she must still be on the medical deck

  Her attention was drawn to a figure, which emerged from the dense vegetation and strolled along a small path toward her. Jennifer wasn't surprised to discover it was the apparition of Nimue.

  'I see you've finally awoken,' the tall, darkly beautiful woman thought at her. 'How do you feel?'

  'I feel fine. Much better than someone who's just given birth should feel,' Jennifer responded pleasantly enough.

  'That's one of the benefits of this place. It heals the body and soothes the soul,' the apparition said as she stepped onto the veranda and placed a basket on the wooden floor. 'I've bought you some fruit and bread if you feel hungry.'

  'Where is this place exactly?' Jennifer asked, picking up what appeared to be an apple and finding it quite delicious.

  'This world was once known as Samarcia,' came the reply. 'We have no name as such for it now.'

  Jennifer nodded as though it were perfectly logical that in her dream she should be on the planet Samarcia. 'And you are Nimue?' she inquired politely.

  'I once went by that name, Jennifer, but much has passed since then,' was the reply.

  'You look a lot better,' the new mother said without really thinking, 'I mean…well…you always looked a lot…harder when I knew you.'

  The strange woman turned to her and with a gentle smile said, 'as I said, a lot has passed since we last met. I'm sure this is all very strange for you and you have many questions to ask. Perhaps when you'
ve washed and eaten, we can walk together and I shall endeavor to answer all your questions.'

  'Okay…' Jennifer agreed readily enough, still believing she was in a dream of her own making. She tucked into more of the ripe fruit and with infant still sleeping and cradled in her arms, stepped off the veranda.

  Moss clambered into the cockpit of the Karine, Leopard class destroyer and initiated the emergency start sequence. Jenson heaved himself into the co-pilot's seat and Sandpiper took over the flight engineers panel.

  'So where're we going kid?' the fighter leader asked, doing his straps up tight.

  'You don't have to do this,' Moss said without turning to look at his old friend and instructor. 'I can manage alone...'

  'No you can't,' came the blunt response. 'We're not about to let you go on some wild goose chase and drop yourself in the merde without back-up. The state you're in at the moment you're more likely to be turned into space dust, than save Jennifer. We're coming with you, and that's an end to it! Now where're we all going?'

  Moss turned and stared at Jenson for a second, then smiled gently, quietly relieved to have two of the most capable and dependable members of the TWDF with him.

  'You already know where we're going Paul,' he told him. 'We're going to Samarcia, at the heart of the Starweb. This could well be a one-way ticket…'

  'Don't be so melodramatic kid!' Jenson retorted with a snort. 'This ship's the hottest piece of kit in the fleet. If we all keep our cool, we'll be fine. But if you pile in, guns blazing, we will be blown out the sky! Now are we going to launch this thing and get on with it, or are we gonna' sit here and argue all day?'

  Without another word, the artificial singularities were brought on-line and the state-of the art destroyer eased out of Excalibur's main hangar deck. With Moss piloting the small, but deadly vessel, they banked away from the vast starship, which became insubstantial, then disappeared into the sub-ether. Jenson sent a brief message to Black, Excalibur's captain, to tell him what they were doing and wish the star ship’s crew luck in their rescue mission.