Lee Edgar - The Andromeda Burn

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βψ Λεε Εδγαρ
DEDICATED TO DAUGHTERS EVERYWHERE
© LEE EDGAR 1997
Originally Published and Printed by
REGENTLANE Ltd
Devonshire Road Industrial Estate
Millom, Cumbria LA18 4JS
All Rights Reserved by Bankside Publishing
SEQUELS TO THIS BOOK
The Andromeda Seed
Return to Andromeda
The Andromeda Trial
Andromeda Time
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ΑΠ
ΠΠ
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Η
Cassiopeia Duncan glanced up when the computer bleeped at her. Although it
didn’t happen very often, she didn’t seem at all surprised. In fact, she even
smiled as she reached over and pressed a key.
The flight deck of Wayfarer Two was fairly large and seemed to her all the more
so when she was alone at the controls. On the main console there were three
monitor screens. To her left there was a white one labelled I.R.I.S. Immediately
in front of her, a black one which currently showed a bright pinpoint of light
dead ahead and, to her right, a red one which displayed the status of the various
drives.
The young woman leant forward slightly towards the centre screen and spoke.
‘Enhance and identify.’
The image appeared to jump towards her as the enlarged picture of the star
stabilised, while the left hand monitor cleared and the data began to flow.
IDENTITY - SOL
DIAMETER - 1392Mm
SIDEREAL AXIAL ROTATION - 25.38d
INCLINATION - 7° 15'
DENSITY - 1.409
ESCAPE VELOCITY - 617.5 Km/s--1
SURFACE GRAVITY - 27.9
NUMBER OF PLANETS - 10
DISTANCE - 41.39AU >
She pressed the button marked TANNOY. ‘Commander Duncan to the flight deck,
please.’
After a few seconds, a man’s voice came from a speaker on the console. ‘What
is it, Cassi?’
‘Iris has Sol on the screen, Commander.’
She could almost hear his smile. ‘Very good. Prepare the reactor for reverse
thrust. I’m on my way up.’
Cassi turned to her right and moved her long, white fingers over the red
keyboard. ‘ACTIVATE MAIN REACTOR’
‘Are you sure? (Y/N) >’ replied the amber characters on the screen of the
drive computer which then waited patiently for her answer.
She pressed ‘Y’. Yes, she was sure.
‘Main reactor activated > 10 minutes to critical mass >’
Cassi relaxed. There was nothing more she could do but wait. During the long
haul across the void, the drive had been locked into stand-by mode and the
auxiliary drive had taken care of all minor course adjustments. The bulkhead
door opened with a slight pressure hiss and in walked a tall man who appeared
to be around fifty earth years.
He laid his clipboard on the console and looked over the girl’s shoulder.
‘Good work, Cassi. We’re coming home at last.’
Cassi glanced up at him. His blue-grey eyes still sparkled despite the
crinkles in the skin at each side. The teeth were still his own though the
once-fair hair and beard were now turning grey. All she knew was that she
loved him and that she could sense his enthusiasm which was infectious as a
tingle of excitement ran through her own body.
He sensed her observations and smiled. ‘How long to critical mass?’
Cassi glanced at the red screen. ‘Seven minutes.’
He stood up straight. ‘Okay. We’d better strap ourselves in. It’s been a
long time since I’ve done this. Warn the others, would you?’
Cassi nodded and pressed the tannoy button. ‘Attention all crew. Reverse
thrust in approximately seven minutes. Repeat, reverse thrust in seven
minutes.’
The Commander sat in his swivel chair and connected the straps across his
lap while Cassi returned to Iris.
‘Is the deceleration bad?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘Not normally. Just a sudden slowing to sub-light speed.
We can’t go tearing across a stellar system in Proton Drive. If we run into
Miranda or Phoebe at this speed, they will do more that scratch Wayfarer’s
paintwork.’
Cassi glanced at the red terminal and pressed the tannoy button once more.
‘Reverse thrust in four minutes and counting.’
James Duncan grinned. ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’
Cassi’s deep blue eyes flicked to him briefly as she set up the retros for
possible course adjustment. ‘It runs in the family.’
He threw back his head and laughed. ‘That’s my girl.’
Blushing a little, Cassi concentrated on scanning for any other nearby
stellar bodies that could impede their progress. There were none within range.
‘Three minutes to reverse thrust,’ she said over the tannoy. ‘Secure any
loose objects.’
The red screen said ‘Sol - Distance 40.2AU’ when she hit the key. There was
no noise, no sudden lurching or groaning, just a mild sensation of floating as
the big ship started to decelerate rapidly. At half light speed, she cut the
motor.
The Commander smiled his approval. ‘Anyone would think you had done that
before.’
‘I have.’
He frowned. ‘When?’
‘Yesterday, in the simulator.’
‘It’s not quite the same thing,’ he said as he unbuckled his belt and got to
his feet. ‘Get it wrong on the simulator and all that happens is you get
bleeped at. Loose off the Proton Drive at the wrong time in real life and we
could end up splattered all over some stray asteroid.’ He pressed the tannoy
switch down. ‘All crew stand down. Approximately twelve hours to Earthfall.’
Cassi turned to face her father. ‘Did I do okay?’
He kissed her forehead. ‘You did perfect. Go and get some rest.’
Her smile said everything.
WHEN Cassi woke, she felt strange. She put it down to the excitement of the
moment and thought nothing more of it as she splashed cold water onto her face
and arms. She then slipped into her overall before tucking her long, fair hair
into her baseball cap and stepping out into the corridor. She was the only
female on board ship which merited private accommodation next to the
Commander’s quarters, behind the flight deck. It was, therefore, not a long
journey to go to work.
However, Wayfarer was a big vessel by interplanetary standards. Apart from
the flight control centre and sleeping accommodation, there was also a science
laboratory, an engineering shop, some storage space as well as a large area of
fresh food growing under artificial ultra-violet light. Whereas local ships
had only needed supplies for a few months, Wayfarer Two, like her unfortunate
predecessor, Wayfarer One, had been designed to stay for years in deep space.
Now, she was coming home.
As Cassi stepped over the threshold and entered the flight centre, five
faces turned towards her. She smiled at them all. As long as she had known
them, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta had treated her with the utmost
consideration. In fact, she could not remember an occasion when they had
spoken an unkind word nor raised their voices in anger. Epsilon and Zeta spent
most of their time in the reactor bay, while Eta and Theta looked after the
food supplies and the like. She wondered how on earth they got such unusual
names.
With some effort, her father stood up when he saw her. ‘Good Morning, Cassi.
You’re just in time for our second reverse thrust. Would you like to do it?’
Her heart-rate doubled. Would she? She sat in front of Iris and ran her
hands over the computer keyboard. The black viewer screen showed a mass of
stars. She typed in one word - Terra. The viewpoint moved slightly and an
arrow appeared to indicate a tiny pinpoint of light.
‘It’s either very small or still a long way away,’ she observed.
‘Both,’ said her father with a grin. ‘At this speed, we would get there in
under three hours but we must slow right down to pass through the asteroid
belt. This time, instead of one big reverse thrust, we will take it in stages
as we approach.’
‘Enlarge,’ Cassi said to the monitor and the white pinpoint grew a little
larger. The left screen clarified.
IDENTITY - Terra
DIAMETER - 12.76Mm
SIDEREAL AXIAL ROTATION - 23h 56m 4.091s
INCLINATION - 23o 27’
DENSITY - 5.517
ESCAPE VELOCITY - 11. 18km/s-1
SURFACE GRAVITY - 1.0
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE - 1.07kg/cm2
NATURAL SATELLITES - 1
DISTANCE - 8.6AU >
James Duncan shook his head. ‘Whatever would we do without Iris?’
‘The Interactive Radar Identification System,’ corrected Beta in his usual
manner.
Cassi laughed. The Commander grinned. The screen bleeped. All chairs and
eyes swivelled towards it as a large, dark object blotted out the stars by its
bulk.
‘Good grief,’ cried Cassi. ‘What on earth is that? Identify!’ she screamed
at the monitor.
‘It’s Saturn,’ muttered the Commander without waiting for the computer to
respond. He turned to Gamma who was seated at the red control console. ‘Full
reverse thrust, right retro. We’ll tuck in behind her.’
‘No!’ cried Cassi as she watched the readout. All eyes looked at her as she
stared at the lettering gradually filling Iris’ screen. Without looking at
Gamma, she instructed: ‘Emergency full ahead. Full left retro.’
‘But...’ began the uncertain pilot officer.
‘Do it!’ she said evenly without taking her eyes off the screen. ‘And please
do it now.’
This time, the ship did shudder as the anti-matter reactor went critical and
the main retros strained to push the tail of the ship to one side. Gradually,
the great planet swung across their bows as Wayfarer accelerated rapidly,
plunging straight for the surface. No-one said a thing - it was already too
late to change course as the cloud belt rushed up at them. All eyes were on
the forward screen as the figures whirled crazily and the thrust bit hard,
pushing now on the outer atmosphere of mainly Ammonia and Methane, as the
nose-cone temperature rose rapidly. Suddenly, the tail flicked round as they
burst into the upper atmosphere.
‘She won’t take much more,’ cried Gamma as the ship fought for survival.
‘Put it into the red,’ instructed Cassi calmly. ‘Go in under the rings.’
‘I hope you know what the hell you’re doing,’ called Commander Duncan above
the noise.
‘Trust me,’ she said with no more than a sidelong glance.
The whole bodywork seemed to flex and strain as the massive gravity pull of
Saturn fought against the ship’s reactor. For a long time, it seemed as though
gravity had won until, suddenly, the cloud layer cleared and the Cassini
Division between the main rings of Saturn was ahead.
Cassi glanced at the screen once more and then spoke to the pilot. ‘You’ve
got to get us through that gap.’
‘We’ll never make it at this speed,’ Gamma muttered.
She turned to face him. ‘We’ve got to.’
With alarming speed, the gap approached and, just as fast, was past. No
debris battered the hull. No overheat melted them. They had survived.
‘Cut Proton Drive and activate reverse thrust,’ she instructed. ‘And resume
original trajectory.’
Gamma obeyed and the ship steadied and gradually slowed.
The Commander looked an old man as he sat down. ‘That was close - much too
close.’
Cassi just stared at the screen.
‘And how did we come to be so near to the planet in the first place?’ her
father asked severely. ‘How could you make such a terrible mistake?’
‘But...’ She was confused. ‘I didn’t know.’
He was angry. ‘You nearly killed us all by your incompetence. I suggest you
go to your cabin at once.’
With tears in her eyes, Cassi got to her feet and practically ran from the
flight deck. She felt so humiliated. But where had she gone wrong? Sol was
where it was supposed to be, give a degree or so on the parallax. What had
happened to pull the massive Saturn away from its usual mean synodic period?
Were any of the other planets out of their computed positions?
The door of her cabin opened and her father strode in. He was clearly livid.
‘From now on, you had better stay off the flight deck; I cannot afford such
mistakes. I told you before, this is not a simulation, it is the real thing.’
She bowed her head. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry? And what about disobeying my orders? What on earth possessed you to
override my instructions, especially in front of the others? I think you had
better spend the rest of the day in the gymnasium. I want at least three of
your personal records broken before I see you again. Any disciplines will do.
If this was the twentieth century, I would be thrashing the hide off you by
now. Instead, I’ll let you do it to yourself.’
Cassi looked down at the floor in shame.
He turned at the door. ‘I’ll drive this rebellious attitude out of your
system for once and for all.’
Cassi slowly undid the velcro of her pale blue overalls and let them drop to
the floor. As if in a dream, she opened the door and stared into the gymnasium
which had been built specially for her in one of the store rooms. Letting out
a long sigh, she began her warm-up routine.
BY the time he re-entered the flight control room, Jim Duncan had calmed down
a little. Had he been too hard on her? After all, she was only young. However,
lives were at stake and mistakes like this could not be tolerated.
‘Commander,’ said Beta, sitting in front of Iris. ‘I think that you had
better take a look at this.’
What now? Jim raised his eyes and sauntered over to the console.
‘Recall and rerun last sequence,’ said Beta and the screen flickered for
several seconds before stabilising. The bulk of Saturn appeared once more,
creeping across the screen. ‘Stop!’
The Commander looked puzzled. ‘What’s the problem?’
Beta looked straight at him with totally expressionless eyes. ‘This is the
point just before you gave your order.’ He turned to face the screen. ‘Begin
recorded simulation.’
On the screen, the ship appeared to move towards the giant planet. Together,
they watched the rerun and heard Jim Duncan’s voice followed by Cassi’s
override.
‘Cancel last instruction,’ said Beta immediately and the ship’s nose began
to follow the Commander’s instruction and pull to the right as the ship
rapidly decelerated. With ease, the ship swung across the face of Saturn and
curved in an arc away from the deadly rings. The technician pointed toward the
simulation on the centre screen. ‘The ship has missed Saturn itself but, due
to the combination of drag from the planet and the centrifugal force of our
turn, there is practically no room to manoeuvre.’
The Commander shrugged. ‘So?’
Beta nodded towards the screen. ‘Watch!’
It went blank. Jim Duncan stared at it with his mouth open. ‘What happened?’
Beta leant towards the screen. ‘Back and slow rerun,’ he said and the ship
turned once more. As darkness closed over the screen, he said: ‘Pause.’
‘What is it?’
Beta looked at him. ‘Identify,’ he said to Iris.
The screen flashed up a single word - “ Atlas” . There was no inflection in
Beta’s voice as he stated: ‘Wayfarer Two is now in very small pieces all over
the surface of Saturn’s innermost moon.’
‘Hell’s teeth,’ the Commander said with feeling.
For the next half-hour, they reran the sequence, simulating every possible
course of action and each ended in disaster. Either the speed was too slow and
they crashed onto the planet’s surface or it was too great and they were
pummelled to pieces trying to break through the rings. They had become trapped
between Saturn and her moons.
He slowly got to his feet and placed his hand on the Flight Engineer’s
shoulder. ‘Thank you.’ He looked around the flight deck. ‘See if you can find
out why we got into this position in the first place.’
‘Already done, Commander.’
‘What?’
‘Iris confirms that the data is corrupted.’
‘Corrupted? But where? How?’
‘The information concerning the relative positions of the stellar bodies
seems to be still reliable. It is the time sequence that is wrong.’
‘Time sequence? But I don’t understand...’
‘Neither do I, yet. Iris is working on it now.’
‘Let me know when you have found the fault. And keep an eye out for Jupiter.
We should be crossing her orbit in about an hour’s time. By rights, she should
be at perihelion distance on the opposite side of the sun. But, then, so
should Saturn.’
‘I will do what I can.’
The older man turned with shoulders hunched and left the flight deck. He
found his daughter doing push-ups on the parallel bars.
‘Seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-seven....’
He placed his hand over hers. ‘You can stop now.’
‘Seventy-eight, seventy-nine,’ she continued. ‘Eighty.’ Cassi dropped nimbly
to her feet and slowly walked into her father’s open arms. She cried for a
long time.
Her father held her tight. ‘You knew, didn’t you?’
Without speaking, the young woman nodded slightly as the tears gradually
abated.
Jim looked down at her. ‘You and I need to talk.’
‘Wh..what about?’
‘You.....and me.’ He draped a towel around her sweating shoulders. ‘Come and
sit down.’ Side by side on the padded bench they sat as James Duncan placed
his arm around her shoulders. ‘Cassi. I have not been entirely truthful with
you.’
She looked up suddenly. ‘You haven’t?’
He nodded. ‘How old do you think you are?’
She frowned. ‘I am thirty-eight years old. That’s when we left Andromeda.’
He slowly shook his head. ‘I left Andromeda thirty-eight years ago but you
did not. You are only half that age.’
‘Nineteen? Then...’
‘You were not born in Andromeda.’
She frowned. ‘But I don’t understand.’
‘Wayfarer left Terra eighty years ago. I was born there but the other crew
members were born on one of the planets on the fringe of the Andromeda
Galaxy.’
‘I...’ she began, unable to find the right words.
With his hand, he gently smoothed her hair. ‘Have you not noticed that you
are different from the others?’
‘Of course,’ she tittered. ‘I am a woman.’
‘Where do you think you came from?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Did my mother die?’
‘You had no mother,’ he said softly.
‘No...mother....?’
‘You were...created...here on Wayfarer nineteen years, three months and four
days ago.’
‘Then I’m a....’
He nodded. ‘I’m afraid so.’
Slowly, Cassi got to her feet and wrung her hands in front of her. The black
leotard she wore around ship stood out in stark contrast to her flawless pale
skin which had never seen natural light from a sun. Carefully, she tied her
long hair on top of her head, not from necessity but for something to do to
take her mind away from the revelation with which she had suddenly been
confronted. Now she knew why her reactions had always been so fast: why she
saw things the others didn’t. So many questions from the past began to make
sense.
‘Do the others know?’
‘Of course. They helped me make you.’
‘But, why? Why did you do it?’
‘The others cannot live on Earth. The atmospheric pressure is unsuitable for
them.’
‘But is this not the same on board ship? Have we not simulated Earth gravity
and pressure?’
The Commander shook his head sadly. ‘Gravity here is half as much again as
on Terra. Down on the surface, you will be stronger and fitter than their best
athletes. Also, over the last year I have been gradually adjusting the
internal pressure so that you are being conditioned to Earth’s atmosphere.
That is why both I and the others are reacting so slowly of late. In effect,
we are dying so that you might live.’
She stood up. ‘But, we must return to Andromeda. Then we can all live.’
Jim shook his head sadly. ‘Andromeda is dead. The galaxy finally imploded
into a black hole. We are the only survivors.’
‘Then we must live somewhere else. Somewhere safe, for us all.’
‘There is just you, Cassi. You are all our hopes for the future.’
‘But how can that be? I am not normal. I am a....’ She couldn’t say the
word.
He stood beside her and placed his hands on her smooth shoulders. ‘I don’t
know what is left of Terra. Much can have happened in eighty years. When I
left, it was a place of wars and disputes. I can only hope they have learned
their lessons by now. If not, you must teach them.’
‘But, I...’
‘Right from the start, you have been intensively educated with the
technology of an advanced civilisation. You have learned the ways of a people
who have never argued, never fought, never killed each other. You have much to
offer Earth.’
She sighed a little. ‘Will I look like them?’
‘Just like them. No-one will know the difference once you are among them.’
‘Can you not come with me?’
‘I will come with you. The others must stay on board in orbit or they will
die immediately, but I can return to Terra for a while.’
‘Tell me.’ She turned to face him. ‘Why Cassiopeia?’
He grinned sheepishly. ‘We came in past one of her stars.’
‘Father?’
‘You don’t have to call me that any more.’
‘I want to. I may not have been made in the usual way but I am still your
child.’
‘Whatever the circumstances, you will always be my little girl.’
She smiled. ‘I’m glad.’
‘You had better go and update your file on Iris.’
‘May I?’
‘Of course. The others will want to see that you are happy again. They love
you, too, in their own way.’
She grasped his hand. ‘Come with me.’
He shook his head. ‘I must rest. Can you take us through the asteroid belt
safely?’
She smiled proudly. ‘Together, Iris and I can do anything.’
‘Good. Wake me when we reach Mars orbit.’
She kissed his cheek. ‘Good night, father.’
Ο
ΟΡ
ΡΙ
ΙΟ
ΟΝ
Ν
Jupiter was not where she should have been and neither was Mars as Cassi
stared at the 6km diameter lump of battered rock which was her outer moon,
Deimos.
‘Are none of these planets inhabited?’ she asked as Jim Duncan entered and
sat down.
‘I’m afraid not. The larger planets we have passed have extremely toxic
atmospheres and pressures which would crush any of us to a pulp long before we
reached the surface.’
She pointed at the screen. ‘And Mars, this smaller one?’
‘Just the opposite. After gathering data on the unmanned Viking and Observer
missions, we landed three men there in twenty-ten and confirmed what we
already suspected; there is very little in the way of an atmosphere and
certainly not one that is in any way breathable. There is no water, no heat,
no life, no nothing.’
‘So Earth is the only planet with life.’
He nodded. ‘The only one.’ He glanced at the screens. ‘Better slow right
down. They won’t be expecting us and might think we are invading aliens.’
As if in response, the radio speaker suddenly crackled. ‘Orion Base to
incoming vehicle. You are now entering Terran space. Please identify
yourself.’
The Commander smiled. ‘After all these years they haven’t even changed the
voice of that pre-recorded warning beacon.’
Beta looked up. ‘Do we respond, Commander?’
‘If we don’t, we’ll soon see missiles launched at us.’
Beta looked puzzled. ‘Missiles?’
Commander Duncan laughed. ‘Of course. You never had such things in
Andromeda. Missiles are a type of guided rocket which carry a warhead designed
to explode on impact.’
The Andromedan looked horrified. ‘They would seek to destroy us? Simply for
approaching their territory?’
‘I’m afraid that you have a lot to learn about humans, my friends. They can
be very sensitive about strangers.’
The faceless voice came again. ‘Orion Base to incoming vehicle. You are now
entering Terran space. Please identify yourself.’
Jim Duncan pressed a button. ‘Orion Base, this is Wayfarer Two. Do you read?
Over.’
There was a long silence before another voice came. ‘Please repeat your
message. Over.’
‘This is Commander James Duncan of the Europa Corporation space vessel
Wayfarer Two. Request permission to dock.’
‘Thank you, Commander Duncan. Please wait.’
The Commander straightened. ‘These radio operators all sound the same. This
fellow sounds just like the one Orion had when I left here all those years
ago.’ He smiled as he stroked his short beard. ‘I wonder if it’s his
grandson.’
‘Does Orion have many personnel?’ asked Cassi.
‘Quite a few. There is a permanent staff of around forty on the space
station plus various crews on stopover. Luna Base is even bigger.’
Cassi frowned. ‘Will it not come as a shock to them to find that you are
still alive after all this time?’
‘I guess it will. I had never thought about it.’ He smiled at her as she
sat, still in her black leotard. ‘Better get dressed else all the men will be
fighting over you.’
‘But why?’
He placed his arm around her. ‘I’ll explain it all to you one day. When I
was a lad, my father called it the story of the birds and the bees.’
She tilted her head slightly. ‘What are these birds and bees?’
He laughed. ‘It seems that a large part of your education has been
inadvertently overlooked. Here you are, able to single-handedly control a
full-blown anti-matter reactor and make a billion megabyte computer eat out of
your hand and you’ve never even seen a bird.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘I’ve
seriously slipped up somewhere.’
She kissed his cheek. ‘I’ll learn.’
He patted her bottom. ‘Get dressed.’
‘Orion Base to Wayfarer Two. Over,’ came the voice over the air after about
ten minutes.
‘Commander Duncan receiving you loud and clear, Orion. What are your
instructions?’
‘Proceed to dock four. You will then please remain aboard your ship until a
member of the station personnel can welcome you. Over and out.’
Jim shrugged. They were being very formal today. The door opened with a
slight hiss and he turned and stared. Cassi stood in clean overalls with her
freshly-brushed hair hanging long over her shoulders.
‘Miss Cassiopeia,’ said Beta formally. ‘I think that you are looking
very...colourful today.’
Cassi laughed. ‘You’re a fraud, Beta. But I love you.’
‘Love? What is this love?’
‘An extremely high regard for someone about whom you care very much,’ Cassi
quoted from memory and then laughed at the humanoid’s puzzled expression.
‘You had better all sit down,’ said the Commander sternly. ‘Docking can be a
bumpy business.’
‘Can I do it?’ Cassi asked excitedly.
Her father stood up and moved over. ‘Help yourself but don’t bump Orion.
It’s a very sensitive piece of equipment and, if it was to get knocked out of
position and crash down onto the earth, the impact and subsequent explosion of
the triple-sequence anti-matter reactor would probably make a crater the size
of the United States.’
Cassi shivered. ‘Nasty. I’ll be careful.’ As she turned the ship slowly, she
spoke to Iris. ‘Identify.’
IDENTITY - ORION STATION
DIAMETER - 0.4km
SIDEREAL AXIAL ROTATION - 0.087hrs
INCLINATION - 90O
DENSITY - VARIABLE
ESCAPE VELOCITY - GEOSYNCHRONOUS
SURFACE GRAVITY - 1.0
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE - 1.07kg/cm2
DISTANCE - 0000000033602AU >
The space station began to look huge to Cassi as she inched Wayfarer forward
on the retro rockets as the distance counted down. ‘0.0000000016801AU >’ the
screen stated and then ‘0.000000000672AU >’
James Duncan held his breath at ten metres as the great shadow of Orion fell
across the ship and they could see the well-lit docking area clearly as the
guide lights flashed in sequence. Cassi gave a brief touch of reverse thrust
at 0.000000000168AU and another at .0000000000745AU. They didn’t feel a thing.
‘Wayfarer docked,’ she said triumphantly as her father let out his breath
slowly. She looked sideways at him. ‘You didn’t think I was going to do it,
did you?’
He shook his head. ‘I always manage to fully depress the hydraulic safety
rams. They’ll know from their old records that it wasn’t me in control this
time.’ He nodded to the panel. ‘Better lock-on to Orion else we’ll drift
away.’
Alpha pushed the button and a slight clunk was felt as the great hydraulic
clamps fastened around the superstructure and held them fast. Through the
screen, they watched the activity as men in space suits fussed around the
docking area.
Jim turned to Beta. ‘Shut down main reactor.’
Beta fussed over the red panel for a moment before nodding to his captain.
They waited.
‘Wayfarer Two,’ spoke the radio. ‘Prepare to receive a member of the Base
Personnel.’
Father and daughter went out into the long main corridor where a flashing
red light came on over the pre-stressed bulkhead to indicate that the outer
door was open. The pumps hummed quietly until the red light was replaced by a
green one. Almost immediately, the inner door opened and three men in space
suits walked in. One unclipped his helmet and removed it.
‘Commander Duncan?’ he asked and Jim stepped forward a little nervously. The
men shook hands. ‘I am Marshal Hardy - new chief of Orion Security. The crew
are just connecting up the airtight tunnel so if you would prepare to follow
me to the station...’
‘My crew would prefer to remain aboard Wayfarer, with your permission,
Marshal. They are not used to Earth pressure and would like to stay within a
compressed atmospheric environment.’
The Marshal raised his eyebrow slightly but did not object as a hiss behind
him informed him that the umbilical walkway was now airtight. He bowed
slightly. ‘If you would follow me, Commander. I will escort you to the
Admiral.’
THE space station has not changed a bit, thought Jim Duncan as he walked in
the wake of the Marshal. The other security officers had been left to guard
the walkway to Wayfarer and Cassi hung onto her father’s arm as they followed
the long corridor while men and women went about their daily business. It was
all strange to the young woman. Once inside the rim, they took a lift to the
top where they made their exit onto a wide platform that was covered in a
rigid transparent material. Despite the soft ultra-violet light, the stars
were clearly visible and, below them, a bright blue disc with white flecks
scattered across its surface.
Cassi stopped and drew in her breath at the sight. ‘It’s simply amazing.’
She pointed. ‘Is that Terra down there?’
Jim nodded. ‘That’s good old terra firma. Seems strange to see the old girl
again after all this time. For years, I thought that I would never see Earth
again. Yet, here I am, home at last.’
‘Are you glad?’
‘I think so. Andromeda was beautiful in her own way but she never looked
quite like this.’
The Marshal coughed slightly. ‘If you would step this way, Commander
Duncan.’
They were led through a wide doorway into a brightly-lit reception area
where they sat and waited while their companion spoke to a woman at a desk.
‘It’s uncanny,’ whispered Jim to his daughter. ‘Everything looks just the
same.’
Cassi looked around her. ‘Perhaps they had no reason to alter things.
Outside Terra’s atmosphere, there would be no dust nor corrosion to damage the
surfaces so they should last indefinitely.’
He leant closer. ‘You, my girl, are a walking encyclopedia of useless
information.’
She grinned. ‘You taught me well.’
‘You’re cheeky, you are.’
‘So I am.’
The Marshal approached and his eyes flicked from one to the other of them.
‘The Admiral will see you both now.’
They rose and followed the Security Chief through a doorway into a large
office which was lit by diffused lamps around the walls. In the centre of the
room was a large, plastic-covered desk behind which was a man of about fifty
in a red and blue uniform.
Jim Duncan stopped and drew in his breath sharply. ‘Admiral Burleigh!’
The other man stood up and nodded. ‘Jim.’
The Commander looked baffled as he shook the man’s hand. ‘But, I don’t
understand.’
‘Don’t understand what?’
‘Why....why you are still here.’
The Base Admiral smiled slightly. ‘I live most of my life on Orion. Surely
your memory is not that bad.’
‘My memory...?’ He sat down and looked at Cassi who held onto his hand and
squeezed it reassuringly.
‘Have you forgotten so much already? They tell me that deep space has that
effect on you after a while.’
‘But I don’t follow. After all this time...’
The other man frowned. ‘Time? What are you blubbering about, man?’
Cassi tensed. She did not like this man who was making fun of her father.
‘But everything’s the same,’ he was saying. ‘Nothing’s altered. You’re still
here.’
The Admiral laughed. ‘Of course everything’s the same. What did you expect?
You’ve only been away a month.’
CASSI was dumb-struck. What kind of a trick were these people trying to pull
on her father? Only been gone a month, indeed.These people were totally crazy
and she said so.
‘And who,’ asked the Admiral pleasantly; ‘Might you be?’
‘I am Cassiopeia Duncan, the Commander’s daughter.’
‘Daughter?’ His eyes were full of laughter as they looked her up and down.
‘That’s a new one, Jim. How did you manage to stow this young lady away with
you? Tucked up in your bed?’
The Commander began to rise in anger but Cassi’s hand on his shoulder was
firm. Casually, she sauntered over to the desk, walked round it, and stood
glaring down at the space officer who began to look worried. No-one had ever
done that before.
Cassi placed a long, white finger in the centre of his chest. ‘How would you
like me to pick up this precious space station of yours and dump it on Mars?’
For a moment, he looked terrified and then burst out laughing. ‘Where did
you find this one, Jim? She’s certainly got a sense of humour.’
摘要：

ΤΤηηεεΑΑννδδρροοµµεεδδααΒΒυυρρννβψΛεεΕδγαρDEDICATEDTODAUGHTERSEVERYWHERE©LEEEDGAR1997OriginallyPublishedandPrintedbyREGENTLANELtdDevonshireRoadIndustrialEstateMillom,CumbriaLA184JSAllRightsReservedbyBanksidePublishingSEQUELSTOTHISBOOKTheAndromedaSeedReturntoAndromedaTheAndromedaTrialAndromedaTimeΦΦΙ...

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