course, twenty years ago, most of the belt was used for mining, not pirates’ hideaways. So the shops are more commercial than illicit.”
The man had a deep, calming voice. After six months of dizzying dreams, a story that followed a normal plotline soothed Sam’s imagination.
“We needed a second set of terraforming pods. One set was only enough for the most basic of living conditions. So we dropped off the shopkeepers who wanted to build the outpost and headed back to Tethys for our second set. On the return trip to Chariklo, our flight crew turned pirate on us. Energy this far out proved too enticing. And we had a shipload of it. They drained every solar cell from the Leviathan . These computers don’t need much, and they can go dormant given enough warning. But pull the plug that fast, and there’s bound to be damage.”
The man looked in Sam’s eyes with concern. “Am I going too fast? Too much information?”
Sam shook his head. He didn’t understand everything Doc said, but so long as he didn’t have to exercise his vocal cords, he was happy to let the man talk. Six months without hearing another human voice, of being trapped inside his brain, of some mysterious link with a computer that apparently didn’t want to let him go—it was all too much to deal with first thing out of a coma.
Doc continued looking Sam in the eye as he again took up his story. “As far as the ship was concerned, there wasn’t much to steal other than the energy. Leviathan ’s too big to be used as a pirate ship. And the solar kits are all registered with the transfer array. Had they wanted to terraform something out there, they’d have had a tough time without solar energy.”
Sam smiled at the man in encouragement. It was a lot of information all at once. But the lilt of the man’s voice and the story of a people Sam had no connection with proved a nice diversion as his brain got reacquainted with his body.
Doc shrugged his narrow shoulders. “So there we were. Connected to a dead ship floating on the edge of the solar system in a mature agro pod full of plants. With a tribe of people, all handpicked for their ability to build a civilization. But stuck. A junkyard did take us in and supplied enough supplemental power so we could survive. All for a cut of the sale price of course. I don’t think they expected it to take twenty years, though.”
Sam struggled with memories that didn’t fit yet looked like they should—pirates, Xavier, Lud’s arguments with Xavier. He couldn’t make his brain work that hard.
He tapped his chest with his fingers. Where did he come in?
“Ah, yes. You would be Lev’s idea. She thinks we need someone like you. We’re a pretty closed-off society. The idea was to set up our own ecology, our own civilization, really wanting only to be left alone. So I’m not exactly sure what Lev’s reasons are, but I’ve learned to listen to her. If she vouches for someone, I listen.”
Sam couldn’t take it anymore. Focusing all his energy on his throat muscles, he croaked out the words. “Who’s Lev?”
“Lev? That’s the ship, the Leviathan . The computer prefers the contraction, Lev, when I’m talking about her, and Leviathan when I’m talking about the ship. An energy vortex was established while you were working. It gave the computer a much higher capacity than the one I ran into twenty years ago. That’s about all I know regarding Lev.”
Sam nodded, partly to the man and partly from a desire to end the conversation. He needed sleep. Conscious thought really took it out of him.
Doc lightly got up, dragging one foot through the vines next to the tree Sam sat against to keep from floating away. “Sit here for a minute. And hang onto this vine. We have gravity around the central core of the ship, but it doesn’t extend very far out into the agro pod. Moving around in zero gravity takes some getting used to. I’ll be right back.”
With Doc gone, for the first time Sam felt
The man had a deep, calming voice. After six months of dizzying dreams, a story that followed a normal plotline soothed Sam’s imagination.
“We needed a second set of terraforming pods. One set was only enough for the most basic of living conditions. So we dropped off the shopkeepers who wanted to build the outpost and headed back to Tethys for our second set. On the return trip to Chariklo, our flight crew turned pirate on us. Energy this far out proved too enticing. And we had a shipload of it. They drained every solar cell from the Leviathan . These computers don’t need much, and they can go dormant given enough warning. But pull the plug that fast, and there’s bound to be damage.”
The man looked in Sam’s eyes with concern. “Am I going too fast? Too much information?”
Sam shook his head. He didn’t understand everything Doc said, but so long as he didn’t have to exercise his vocal cords, he was happy to let the man talk. Six months without hearing another human voice, of being trapped inside his brain, of some mysterious link with a computer that apparently didn’t want to let him go—it was all too much to deal with first thing out of a coma.
Doc continued looking Sam in the eye as he again took up his story. “As far as the ship was concerned, there wasn’t much to steal other than the energy. Leviathan ’s too big to be used as a pirate ship. And the solar kits are all registered with the transfer array. Had they wanted to terraform something out there, they’d have had a tough time without solar energy.”
Sam smiled at the man in encouragement. It was a lot of information all at once. But the lilt of the man’s voice and the story of a people Sam had no connection with proved a nice diversion as his brain got reacquainted with his body.
Doc shrugged his narrow shoulders. “So there we were. Connected to a dead ship floating on the edge of the solar system in a mature agro pod full of plants. With a tribe of people, all handpicked for their ability to build a civilization. But stuck. A junkyard did take us in and supplied enough supplemental power so we could survive. All for a cut of the sale price of course. I don’t think they expected it to take twenty years, though.”
Sam struggled with memories that didn’t fit yet looked like they should—pirates, Xavier, Lud’s arguments with Xavier. He couldn’t make his brain work that hard.
He tapped his chest with his fingers. Where did he come in?
“Ah, yes. You would be Lev’s idea. She thinks we need someone like you. We’re a pretty closed-off society. The idea was to set up our own ecology, our own civilization, really wanting only to be left alone. So I’m not exactly sure what Lev’s reasons are, but I’ve learned to listen to her. If she vouches for someone, I listen.”
Sam couldn’t take it anymore. Focusing all his energy on his throat muscles, he croaked out the words. “Who’s Lev?”
“Lev? That’s the ship, the Leviathan . The computer prefers the contraction, Lev, when I’m talking about her, and Leviathan when I’m talking about the ship. An energy vortex was established while you were working. It gave the computer a much higher capacity than the one I ran into twenty years ago. That’s about all I know regarding Lev.”
Sam nodded, partly to the man and partly from a desire to end the conversation. He needed sleep. Conscious thought really took it out of him.
Doc lightly got up, dragging one foot through the vines next to the tree Sam sat against to keep from floating away. “Sit here for a minute. And hang onto this vine. We have gravity around the central core of the ship, but it doesn’t extend very far out into the agro pod. Moving around in zero gravity takes some getting used to. I’ll be right back.”
With Doc gone, for the first time Sam felt
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