there’s a thought.
Annie touched the intercom button.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re on the entrance ramp and coming up to our escape velocity. Might be a bit bumpy with those ‘wheels’ digging in. Like a roller coaster, if you remember what those are. If you look ahead, where you see ... nothing. That’s the portal. As I like to say, ‘seeing is not believing.’ For this trip, you just gotta believe—and hold on. If you have any concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us.”
She flicked the switch off. And smiled.
Jordan didn’t turn to her, but he spoke: “That’s supposed to reassure them?”
“Might as well make sure they get as much fun from their trip as they can—especially if it’s their first.”
The control panel dials glowed and flashed with colors that tinted the cabin with faint, pulsing waves. The SRV rocketed on the ramp, its metallic wheels not really touching the Road’s surface but still making the vehicle feel like it was going to shake itself apart.
Annie hit more switches, slight adjustments, centering the SRV.
And where a holoscreen had showed only empty space dotted with stars, there now appeared a shimmering, multicolored ring—a hole, with a deep, starless blackness at its center. Swirls of bright rainbow colors ringed the outer edges, getting bigger and brighter by the second.
The imaging sensors intensified their readings on the Portal.
All the screens confirmed the SRV’s speed and trajectory.
“Looking good,” Annie said, not expecting a reply from Jordan.
To anyone watching from down below on the planetoid, it would appear that the vehicle was about to go flying off the ramp and careening over the horizon.
Amazing sight to see.
She held the controls in both hands now, trusting the computers to adjust for any fluctuations. Some SRV captains still called it “the helm” but that sounded way too military and old-school for Annie.
For her, it was simply “the wheel,” and she held it tight.
The SRV rolled on nicely, at the crest of the ramp, leveling off, heading straight now.
Once she was through the portal, she’d really start to earn her pay.
Things could get weird in a nanosecond once they were through.
They had long since passed any “stop” or “turn back” position. No more exit ramps.
Still, she asked Jordan: “Everything okay on your readouts?”
“Perfect.”
“Good.”
Exiting ... amazing... She had done this too many times to be scared or even unnerved, but still—the experience never lost its power.
Through the cockpit window, nothing ahead. But the vid screen showed the swirling circle of colors with its rapidly decreasing dark center.
What kind of reality is this? Annie asked herself as she shifted her gaze back and forth between the nothingness she saw ahead of her and the quantum fluctuations the nav-screens indicated were lying straight ahead.
She held the steering wheel tightly.
The SRV shaking wildly now, but the sensation odder than that.
She felt a disturbance on a molecular level. A primal, disturbing feeling.
If any of her passengers—or her, for that matter—was going to get roadsick, now would be the time.
In her mind, she counted down.
Ten ... nine... eight...
It seemed like the right thing to do.
Seven ... six...
~ * ~
Rodriguez grabbed the arms of his seat although the criss-cross straps made any movement difficult.
He told himself he wasn’t really scared just ... uncomfortable.
Doing this was all new to him, and he had no one to talk to express what he was really doing.
Not good at secrets, he acknowledged.
And there was this: How much did he really know about what had happened on Omega Nine?
How much had they told him—and how much would he have to find out?
Most important—how much didn’t they tell him?
Pressed back into
Annie touched the intercom button.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re on the entrance ramp and coming up to our escape velocity. Might be a bit bumpy with those ‘wheels’ digging in. Like a roller coaster, if you remember what those are. If you look ahead, where you see ... nothing. That’s the portal. As I like to say, ‘seeing is not believing.’ For this trip, you just gotta believe—and hold on. If you have any concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us.”
She flicked the switch off. And smiled.
Jordan didn’t turn to her, but he spoke: “That’s supposed to reassure them?”
“Might as well make sure they get as much fun from their trip as they can—especially if it’s their first.”
The control panel dials glowed and flashed with colors that tinted the cabin with faint, pulsing waves. The SRV rocketed on the ramp, its metallic wheels not really touching the Road’s surface but still making the vehicle feel like it was going to shake itself apart.
Annie hit more switches, slight adjustments, centering the SRV.
And where a holoscreen had showed only empty space dotted with stars, there now appeared a shimmering, multicolored ring—a hole, with a deep, starless blackness at its center. Swirls of bright rainbow colors ringed the outer edges, getting bigger and brighter by the second.
The imaging sensors intensified their readings on the Portal.
All the screens confirmed the SRV’s speed and trajectory.
“Looking good,” Annie said, not expecting a reply from Jordan.
To anyone watching from down below on the planetoid, it would appear that the vehicle was about to go flying off the ramp and careening over the horizon.
Amazing sight to see.
She held the controls in both hands now, trusting the computers to adjust for any fluctuations. Some SRV captains still called it “the helm” but that sounded way too military and old-school for Annie.
For her, it was simply “the wheel,” and she held it tight.
The SRV rolled on nicely, at the crest of the ramp, leveling off, heading straight now.
Once she was through the portal, she’d really start to earn her pay.
Things could get weird in a nanosecond once they were through.
They had long since passed any “stop” or “turn back” position. No more exit ramps.
Still, she asked Jordan: “Everything okay on your readouts?”
“Perfect.”
“Good.”
Exiting ... amazing... She had done this too many times to be scared or even unnerved, but still—the experience never lost its power.
Through the cockpit window, nothing ahead. But the vid screen showed the swirling circle of colors with its rapidly decreasing dark center.
What kind of reality is this? Annie asked herself as she shifted her gaze back and forth between the nothingness she saw ahead of her and the quantum fluctuations the nav-screens indicated were lying straight ahead.
She held the steering wheel tightly.
The SRV shaking wildly now, but the sensation odder than that.
She felt a disturbance on a molecular level. A primal, disturbing feeling.
If any of her passengers—or her, for that matter—was going to get roadsick, now would be the time.
In her mind, she counted down.
Ten ... nine... eight...
It seemed like the right thing to do.
Seven ... six...
~ * ~
Rodriguez grabbed the arms of his seat although the criss-cross straps made any movement difficult.
He told himself he wasn’t really scared just ... uncomfortable.
Doing this was all new to him, and he had no one to talk to express what he was really doing.
Not good at secrets, he acknowledged.
And there was this: How much did he really know about what had happened on Omega Nine?
How much had they told him—and how much would he have to find out?
Most important—how much didn’t they tell him?
Pressed back into
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