III. Oasis

The threads of space-time stretched and compressed along a straight, infinitesimally small section of the universe, and a ship emerged from the resulting ripple. The silver streak flared across the heavens as it decelerated, energy from the craft’s massive String Drives bleeding off in the form of harmless blue light. It coasted silently through the void, glittering starlight reflecting off the hull, dust particles rebounding off its graviton field, and finally settled into a lazy twelve-million-year orbit around a massive proto-stellar cloud known in these parts as The Spin.

“Katherine, we have dropped below relative speeds. It is now safe to move about the cabin.”

Katherine Freestar awoke to the warm blue glow of the acceleration couch and tapped the clear plastic controls on the panel in front of her. Pumps whirred to life and drained the compressed fluid from around her body. The hatch dropped away and she stepped lightly onto the soft rubber floor of the habitat. A mechanical arm dropped from the ceiling, offering her a towel. She took it and began drying off.

“Thanks M.G. Give me a status report,” she said as she buffed the water out of her hair.

“We are currently in long form orbit around a class 3 singularity formation charted on string P12-009 along the Pollux route. Our specific coordinates are uncharted; however I am detecting ample amounts of materials appropriate for refueling within 200 microseconds.”

“Sounds good. Plot a tracking course through the best local concentration and fire up the short range drives.” Kat spoke to a small dome in the ceiling above her, where three camera lenses of shifting colors followed her motions. She tossed the towel onto a nearby hook and grabbed the jumpsuit descending on a helpful metal arm.

“Acknowledged, Katherine. And on a personal note, I would like to point out that had we remained on Polluxtown until our scheduled departure time, we would not need to stop for refueling now.” M.G.’s voice was pleasant and professional, but rattled with the dull metallic annoyance of an unheeded computer. He watched passively as Kat dressed quickly and headed for the ladder to the control deck.

“If we had waited until the ‘scheduled departure,’ Wytt would have me trussed up and ready for the Starcorps tribunal and you’d be leaving by yourself, M.G. And then who would take care of you?” Kat stretched her long legs as she bounded up the narrow passageway in .2 gees. Another multicolored dome awaited her on the control deck.

“I am programmed for self-maintenance, but not for command structure simulation, Katherine. I would literally be lost without you.” M.G.’s lenses flickered.

“Aw, sweetie, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” Kat ran her fingers across the silver surface of M.G.’s sensor dome as she sidled into the pilot’s harness. His lenses flared red for a moment then settled back into their regular pattern.

“All systems ready?”

“Course plotted. Graviton field generating. Sublight thrusters engaged. Collection units on standby.”

“Okay, baby, let’s get you a drink.”

Katherine placed a firm hand on the thruster controls and kicked hard on the accelerator. The Mustang Gemini shuddered as its overpowered rockets fired white hot plumes and drove the ship headlong into the ancient stellar matter below. Flashing dust motes streaked past the silver hull as Katherine twisted and tweaked her way into the voluminous cloud. Within moments they entered a dense debris field. Sparkling diamonds mingled with grey metal shards as they shattered against the ship’s graviton field or were dragged into its wash.

Anyone listening on wideband at that moment would hear a shriek of joy as Kat barreled past rocks the size of small planets and through cloud passages little bigger than the ship itself. Particles of dust, some mere microns across, others the size of your fist, swirled about the ship until they became caught up in the gravity field projected around the great String Drives. There they hovered and became swept along with the Mustang Gemini as it caromed along a winding path.

For minutes without measure to an adrenaline-powered human, but all too many for an intelligent ship thrust bodily into harm’s way, the Mustang Gemini danced through the heavens, surrounded on all sides by disaster. Katherine finally reached the end of the plotted course and tweaked the ship out into open space once again, but dragging several hundred tons of interstellar matter along behind. She maneuvered into a slow holding pattern and corralled the rocks and dust into a more or less stable field about the ship before turning the controls over to the computer.

“Send the bots out and see what we’ve roped, M.G.”

“Right away, Katherine. Your enthusiasm makes me wonder if you do not prefer this dangerous type of fuel collection to the more sedate dockside routine.”

Kat smiled and watched through the monitors as dozens of tiny automatons emerged from the flanks of the ship to investigate the day’s catch. The readouts spit back an inventory of precious metals, iron, nickel, and ice crystals. There was enough raw mass for energy conversion in this haul alone, and enough rare minerals to make this a worthy charting mission as well. Any colony mining concern would pay a decent sum for these coordinates. Kat patted the controls affectionately.

“Good haul, M.G. Get the bots secured as soon as you’re done and start lining up for a String Jump to Sutter’s Gate.”

Kat started to undo the complicated system of belts that held her in place, but before she could extricate herself from the pilot’s harness, a soft klaxon sounded from the navigation screen.

“Katherine I am detecting another String Drive signature in close proximity.”

Kat used a finger to drag the holographic display directly in front of her. Sure enough, less than 5 milliseconds away, on the far side of a dust belt, was another ship circling The Spin. Swearing softly, she re-buckled herself into the harness.

“Let’s hope they consider this a public watering hole.”

///PREV