His Majesty's Starship (29 page)

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she said.

He looked up. “It beats being shot at,” he said.

“And sitting around in orbit twiddling your thumbs.”

Gilmore allowed himself a small smile. “That too. Locker 507, get a couple of splicers out, could you? Yes, we’re actually doing something at last.”

Hannah complied. “Splicers, couple of. Of course, in the last few days you’ve only explored a whole new alien world ...”

Gilmore ticked the items off. “They’re welcome to it.”

“There’s no romance in your soul, Mike.”

“Look hard enough and you’ll find it. What’s happening downstairs, Number One?”

“The Convocation was just starting as we left. They drew the order of speakers out of a hat. The South Americans are kicking off, the Polynesians next ... I forget the rest of the order. The prince is on at 13:00.”

Gilmore made a noncommittal noise. “And how is everyone getting on with our late adversaries?”

“The Rusties are determined to pretend it never happened. Whether the humans will or not, I don’t know.”

“Algol’s people won’t in a hurry. She lost crew-”

“That’s bad,” Hannah said with sympathy.

“-and she’s so badly damaged she might not even be able to boost out of orbit.”

Hannah whistled and looked around her. “Things could be worse, then.”

“They could.”

“Shall I have the signal relayed to the wardroom?”

“I wouldn’t, the ring doesn’t have air yet ...” Gilmore paused. “What signal?”

“Well, the Convocation is being broadcast generally-”

“And why would we want to watch it?”

Hannah leaned forward. “Because not everyone is as uninterested as you in the outcome. It could affect all our futures.”

“We’ve got a ship to repair,” Gilmore said. He saw the expression on her face, the one member of crew who would dare to get annoyed with him and whom he would dare let get annoyed. “I’m sorry, but there’s only six of us and we’ve got a lot to get through. We won’t even have broken the back of it by 13:00.”

“Sir, can I recommend asking for help from one of the other ships?”

“I have no intention of asking for help,” Gilmore said at once. “We can manage.” Hannah said nothing. He could see her point of view and had to admit that extra hands would be extremely useful ... but to ask for help, to accept that the situation was beyond him ...

Oh, hell.

“Number One,” he said, “I want you to draw up a list of preliminary tasks for each of us, myself included, to be carried out prior to 13:00. Those members of the crew who have finished their assigned tasks by then may watch the broadcast.”

“Very good, sir.”

Gilmore reflected that Hannah had never been as good as him at keeping a straight face.

*

To no one’s great surprise, all preliminary tasks were safely concluded prior to 13:00. The wardroom was still in vacuum and so the flight deck was used.

The broadcast was live, with no superfluous commentary or explanation. It was simply a case of the cameras being pointed at the speakers and left on. The Convocation was taking place in the Dome: the delegates sat on their own in a circle with Iron Run and other leading Rusties.

Valerie duPont, the North American delegate, was still speaking as the time display reached 12:59 and 50 seconds. She was surrounded with paper notes and a graph of something could be seen on her aide’s display, positioned so that the others at the Convocation could see it. The Rusties hadn’t provided presentation equipment.

A Rustie voice off camera told her the time.

“-and that concludes my presentation,” she said abruptly, and despite a look of very undiplomatic irritation she shut up and sat down. Previous speakers who had overrun their slot had been shown little mercy.

There was no linking speech by a Rustie. The cameras and microphones moved straight off duPont and onto the prince.

“They really don’t mess around, do they?” Hannah commented.

“It’s very important to them, this Convocation,” Julia said. “When he picked us up, Arm Wild said they would be flexible in other things but not in this. He said the Convocation was a sacred trust.”

“From whom?” said Samad, but then everyone shushed him as the prince stood up and clasped his hands behind his back.

The prince began to speak.

“Leaders of the First Breed, I will be brief. I am here to represent the United Kingdom at this Convocation and I would like to begin by reminding you of our history. The history of my personal ancestors.

“Our nation was formed originally by the fusion of many different races who came to the British Isles, the small archipelago where we lived. On numerous occasions our islands stood alone against tyranny on the neighbouring continent of Europe. People came from all over the world to us, to escape oppression and to be free.”

“That’s a rosy point of view,” Samad murmured.

“The United Kingdom today carries on that tradition of blending together different peoples. The crew of our ship
Ark Royal
has one native of the UK on board ...” Adrian fidgeted. “-and five others who have chosen to belong to our nation. Michael Gilmore, the ship’s senior whose ability to command was proved by recent events, is a native of the British Isles.” Everyone on the flight deck looked at Gilmore, who refused to look embarrassed. “Two of the others are drawn from Earth’s colonies on Luna and Mars, and two more from the former terrestrial nations of Israel and Bangladesh. This crew of six, just six-”

“That’s right, rub it in,” Julia said.

“-is, I can assure you, typical of the composition of the United Kingdom. Seven thousand human beings have voluntarily given their allegiance to King Richard, our ruler and my quickening parent-”

“His what?” said Adrian, and Peter and Julia exchanged glances. Julia winked.

-”and there is a waiting list for citizenship twice as long. All these facts will be verified by your colleague Arm Wild.

“On Earth, we were a race of innovators. The most favoured system of government on Earth, representative democracy, was pioneered in our Parliament. The basic two principles of law in any democratic nation of Earth, the right to a trial by one’s peers and the right to impartial justice for all, were set down in the historical document called Magna Carta. Our scientists blazed the path for modern science – physics, chemistry, biology. Our philosophers devised the scientific method. Three hundred years ago we set our world on the path of industry that it has followed ever since.

“And though we were small, though our territory was restricted, for centuries our ships ruled the seas of Earth. We even gave our world its common language! That is our heritage and it is a tradition that we are proud to continue.

“Look at what the UK has achieved in its current form. We were the first fully independent non-planetary community, and in that we are ahead of you, for none of your clans has yet moved permanently off this world into space. UK-1 is one of the acknowledged wonders of our modern world, and our engineers designed and built it. Most recently, in the last few days one of our people devised a program that could decipher your mouthtalk-”

Now everyone looked at Peter, who went red. “But I didn’t!” he protested. “I didn’t-”

“-and it was the superior strategy of my captain that ended the regrettable incident of the past night.

“And so I say this to you. Members of the First Breed, join with us and let us show you the way. Let us develop the heritage of this world, let us take the initiative and together we shall take the place in space that is our common right. Thank you.”

The prince sat down again, and the babble on the flight deck of
Ark Royal
was matched by the babble from the Convocation coming over the speakers.

“That’s it? That’s all he’s got to say?” said Adrian.

“Let us rule you? Do as we tell you? Come on!” Julia added.

A Rustie voice came over the speakers, asking the prince if that was all. The prince replied that it was. He sat in his chair, staring at the table top, then glanced at his watch, abruptly stood and walked out of the camera’s field of view.

“He just ... he just threw it all away,” said Julia. “He brought us this far, and-”

Gilmore pushed up from his seat. “We’re nowhere near repaired yet,” he said. “I suggest we get ready. Ms Coyne, kindly continue running diagnostics on the ship’s systems.”

Julia bit her lip. “Yes, sir.”

“Mr Loonat, Mr Nichol, outside again, please. We’re going to repressurise the ring, same procedure as before. Carry on, everyone.” Gilmore left the flight deck, not because he particularly had anything to do aft but because he knew full well the rest of the crew wanted to discuss the matter further, regardless.

*

The die was cast. Prince James heard the hubbub around him but ignored it. Confidence, assurance – that was all part of the package. It had to be delivered whole.

Only a couple of hundred humans, maximum, would have heard that speech, but it had been the least enjoyable of his entire career. And if, if, if it didn’t work, if he had to go back to Earth, to face those who didn’t know about the plan ... He cringed inside.

One of Iron Run’s mouthtalkers spoke to him. “James Windsor, that is your presentation?”

“It is,” said James.

“Very well. The delegate for the Arab Union will speak at 13:30 by the common delegation clock.”

Take five, James thought. He looked at his watch. Take twenty five. He pushed his chair back and picked up his aide, then set off for the nearest staircase. Perhaps he could make it ...

No such luck. Four scowling, furious, uncomprehending faces intercepted him.

“What the hell are you up to, Windsor?” Paul Ganschow snapped. “That was the best you can do?”

“I can understand you not having faith in your own ability to succeed,” said duPont, “but, Jesus-”

“We have wasted our time with you, Windsor,” Makarenko said. “Don’t call us.”

“Couldn’t you have tried a bit harder? Put in a word for-” said Laventhal.

What’s it to you?
James screamed at them, in the privacy of his own mind.
Maybe I’m just one less contender for you to worry about.

“Excuse me, please,” he said out loud, and pushed through them to the stairs.

Back in his room, he shut and locked the door, and fell onto the bed. The mask fell away and he let the groans come out.

*

In the recently repressurised boat bay, Hannah found Gilmore staring at
Sharman
as though he had never seen it before.

“Something wrong, Mike?”

“I didn’t empty her,” he said.

“Your point?”

“I emptied the ship of air but I clean forgot the boat. She still had air in the middle of the battle. If she’d been punctured ...”

If she had been punctured she would exploded like a burst balloon.

“Well, she wasn’t,” Hannah said. “Don’t torture yourself, you did damn well.”

“I could have done better.”

“Then remember it for next time.”

Gilmore winced. “Yes, there probably will be a next time, won’t there? Between the new space powers, whoever they are ...”

Hannah smiled. “Not us, by the looks of it.”

Gilmore looked thoughtful. “You reckon?”

“You heard the prince’s speech!”

“Oh, yes, I heard it. He chose the oddest things to emphasise, didn’t he? Our lack of size, the fact our citizens volunteer to be citizens ... as well as the obvious, all the things the original country gave the world.”

“Or not.” Hannah held up a hand and ticked off points on her fingers. “Let’s see. In my history lessons, Magna Carta was forced on the king by a gang of thugs-”

“It still happened. It still passed into law.”

“And science! Copernicus, Curie, Einstein were British?”

“Newton was. Hawking was. Kelcey was.”

“Our ‘common tongue’? Standard is based on English because that’s what twentieth century Americans spoke-”

“And who did they get it from? Number One, the prince has his faults, God knows, but he isn’t stupid. He has never been stupid. Insufferable, arrogant, pure airlock fodder ... but not stupid.”

“So what do you think he was up to?”

“I’ve no idea.”

Julia’s voice interrupted them. “Captain, please come to the flight deck at once.” In her voice was ... surprise? Bafflement?

Gilmore glanced at Hannah, who shrugged, not certain herself what to make of Julia’s tone.

“What is it?” Gilmore said.

“Um- easier if you come and see, sir.”

Gilmore sighed. “I’m on my way.

“The Rustie comm channels suddenly went mad,” Julia said a couple of minutes later as he airswam into the flight deck. “We’re picking up all sorts of strange particles which seem to be coming from a point three light seconds out from our current position. And look.”

On the display a flotilla of smaller ships had broken off from the battle fleet, moving at speed and with purpose towards the source of the particles.

“Any guesses?” Gilmore said.

Julia sat at the systems desk, trying different combinations of commands.

“Our instruments aren’t designed for this, sir,” she said, “but what they can pick up is exactly the same as the step-through point that brought us here.”

“And the Rusties aren’t expecting it,” Hannah said.

“Try it visually,” said Gilmore. “Get the telescope on it.”

The telescope display blurred for a moment and then cleared to show what was, without doubt, a step-through point – a sphere of nothingness growing out of space. The scale showed it was many times larger than the last one they had seen.

Size wasn’t the only difference. The last one Gilmore had seen appear had blossomed, flowered without effort out of nothingness. This one seemed to be struggling: it flickered, shrank back a fraction, then grew suddenly even larger. It was as if whoever was generating it either hadn’t quite got the knack yet or didn’t have the power. It was like someone blowing up a balloon and constantly running out of puff.

Suddenly the sphere stabilised. It stopped growing or shrinking and sat there in space.

“I don’t believe it,” Julia said. “We’re getting fragments of a transponder signal. It’s distorted but it’s one of our transponders-”