Michael P. Calligaro - FTL

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2024-11-24 0 0 118.35KB 13 页 5.9玖币

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FTL 1.0

by Michael P Calligaro

"Come on, Gared, I need you on this one."

Gared stared defiantly at the image of his frequent partner, Hitori Tanaka, and shook his head. "You've

got to be kidding, Hitori. You want me to beta test a faster than light ship? I'd kind of like to keep my

atoms in this universe."

"Aw, Gared, they've tested it ten times now. And all but the first and third came back. I piloted the last

test and I'm fine."

"No, you're obviously insane. Jumping to the end of the solar system is one thing. Jumping across the

galaxy is something far different. Besides, those guys never get it right on the first try. Call me when they

need some final testing of FTL 3.0."

"Gared, Gared, Gared. It's safe, I swear it. I need you this time, buddy."

A dangerous job away from his comfortable and depressing life at home? The thought did appeal to

Gared. But what if he screwed this one up? It'd be tantamount to a death sentence for the two of them.

And while that might have been best for him, he couldn't let it happen to his friend. In the "sending image"

window Gared could see his face fall into a wry frown. "Hitori, you're contradicting yourself. If it's safe,

you don't need a problem solver. If you need me, it's not safe."

Hitori's face became a mask of frustration. He looked ready to say something, then held back. Finally, he

blurted, "Don't make me invoke Minerva, Gared."

That stung. Hitori had a lot of nerve bringing her up just twenty-five months after she left him for killing

their daughter. Gared's face must have fallen, for Hitori's became extremely concerned.

"I'm sorry, Gared. I shouldn't have mentioned her."

There were achingly few people left in Gared's life who he could let get away with such a statement. With

a sigh, he said, "Don't worry about it."

Hitori stared intently at him for a moment before continuing. "Claire's death was not your fault, Gared.

And spending the rest of your life taking meaningless assignments isn't going to make anything better.

Why don't you come with me?"

How could Hitori know whose fault is was? He wasn't in the room to watch her frail little body turn blue

as her heart failed.

"What about Sigrev? He's a good engineer."

Perhaps sensing an opportunity to lighten the conversation, Hitori laughed. "Sigrev? He couldn't code his

way out of a paper bag if we gave him a DLL with the functions 'OpenBag' and 'Leave!' No, if I'm going

to fly light-years from home, I want the best there to fix whatever breaks."

But was he the best? He might have been, once. But he'd been screwing up a lot in the last two years.

"You know my track record. Are you sure you want to trust your life to me?"

Hitori didn't even hesitate. He nodded vigorously and said, "How you act on pointless and boring jobs

that are below you has no bearing on how you'll act on one that really matters. You are the best, you've

just let other factors cloud your memory of this simple fact." Hitori looked both ways and leaned in close

to the camera. Talking in an awed whisper, he said, "Think about it, my friend. You could be the second

man ever to reach another star!"

"Second?"

He leaned back and grinned. "Well, after me. I mean, the pilot goes first, right?"

What an opportunity. Maybe he could be extra careful this time. Maybe he could get back into his old

groove. Maybe....

These thoughts must have shown through to Gared's face, for Hitori beamed and said, "You think about

it and get back with me tomorrow." They'd been together long enough for Hitori to know he'd planted

seeds in fertile soil and that they'd grow on their own now.

Gared nodded and reached up to terminate the connection. He paused and said, "Hitori?"

"Yeah, Gared."

"Thanks."

Hitori bowed his head and smiled.

Gared terminated the connection and sat still for a moment. Taking a deep breath, he addressed his

computer, "Claire, give me all data on the new FTL project."

The computer responded in a little girl's voice, "Just a minute, daddy."

* * *

Ninth jump. Local coordinates: 48319, 89323, 13798. Expected translational displacement: 2145,

2145, 2145. Elapsed time: 372.3 seconds. Return coordinates: 50466, 91466, 15943. Stresses

incurred on the craft included--

Gared pushed his keyboard away and rubbed his eyes. "Claire," he said, "that's enough data."

"Okay, daddy. Do you want me to shut down?"

Gared paused and ran a finger along the edge of the ancient keyboard he refused to give up. "Claire,

honey. I'm going away for a while. And there's a chance that I might not come back. Will you be okay?"

"Sure, daddy. I'll just back up my files before you leave."

"But you will be okay?"

"Yes. Everything will be fine."

He smiled wryly. "Okay, goodnight."

"Goodnight, daddy. I love you." The computer shut down.

* * *

Hitori rushed up and pounded him on the back. "I heard you took the first shuttle up. I knew you'd come

around."

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