Sword of Minerva (The Guild Wars Book 10) Mark Wandrey (e novels to read .TXT) 📖

“The ship is an Izlian design,” he explained.

“So? Aren’t half the ships in the galaxy?”

“Precisely,” Sato said and continued his examination.

“Passengers, prepare for acceleration,” an Athal announced over the galley PA system. Sato checked that he was strapped in, and, a few seconds later, one side became down as the ship’s fusion torch kicked in and they accelerated away from Karma Station.

A Tri-V in the galley’s center showed the view astern, where the massive, slowly-rotating hubs of Karma Station began to grow smaller. He watched the scene unfold with a strange sense of déjà vu. How many times had he been to Karma? When he tried to remember, he wasn’t sure.

Leaving the system turned out to take less time than waiting to leave the station. Tu-Plik accelerated to rendezvous with the stargate exactly at its activation. This was the most common method of departure for smaller ships. Why wait around when you can time your arrival for the opening of the stargate?

Rick messed with the Tri-V until it showed a forward view. The huge stargate was looming close, a ring of asteroids equipped with hyperspace shunts and linked to a vast solar array, which powered the shunts. The stargate simply provided an easy way for ships to access hyperspace. Once they passed through the event horizon, it was up to the ship to do the rest and guide itself to a destination.

No warning of the impending transition was given. The stargate flashed, creating a swirling spot of discontinuity which Tu-Plik flew into. As always, Sato felt the instant of obliteration followed by a return to normality. Such a strange sensation. Most Humans found it disquieting, or even deeply disturbing. Some memory of his first trip through hyperspace suggested he’d found it cathartic. But like his first trip to Karma, he couldn’t remember when the other first trip was, either.

“Welcome aboard,” a visitor said, using its wings to fly into the galley now that they were in freefall again. “I’m Ullp; this is my vessel.”

“Thank you for the passage,” Sato said.

“I’m not doing it out of the goodness of my heart,” Ullp replied. The Athal landed on a wall next to the galley autochef and programmed it for some food.

“Then why did you take us on?” Rick asked.

“Several reasons,” Ullp said, taking a plastic bulb full of a greenish paste and moving closer to the Humans. “First, because the credits were hard to resist. My cargo consists of Besquith foodstuffs. I fully expect to be screwed on this run. The bastards are notorious for paying only half the contracted rate, but business is bad right now, with the war against your race.”

Ullp slurped some of the greenish stuff. Sato caught a whiff of it and instantly regretted it. It smelled of sulfurous body waste. “Second, I detest the Mercenary Guild.”

“We aren’t mercs,” Sato said.

Ullp’s head turned slightly toward Rick before moving back. “I doubt that, but your business is your own. However, if you want to sneak onto your own world, no good can come of it. So I’ll help, if only to annoy General Peepo.”

“Thin motivation,” Rick said quietly.

Sato bit his lip and hissed in consternation. Rick had started out as a willing helper and had followed every order Sato gave him. But as time had gone on, the man was more and more acting of his own volition. Fix that. Sato jerked slightly at the thought. No, he thought, I won’t resort to that sort of behavior. The truth was, he had considerable control over not just the Æsir’s system, but Rick as well. It was the nature of the grafting process. He hadn’t told the man, of course. He didn’t need to know. The first time Sato had to use the override, he didn’t know how his traveling companion would react. Badly, in all likelihood.

“Maybe it is thin,” Ullp admitted, “but what recourse do you have?”

“We’re your passengers,” Sato said quickly. “We’re paying you well, sure; however, your ship is still your ship. I only hope you act with our best interests at heart.”

“I’ll do the best I can,” Ullp said. “We’ll see what the situation is in the Sol system when we get there.”

“Just know this,” Rick said. “Betray us at your own peril.”

Dammit, Sato silently cursed.

“I acknowledge you are an unknown factor,” Ullp said, “but I’m confident you are no real threat to my ship and crew.” The alien buzzed toward the door.

“You would be in error,” Rick replied quietly. The captain either didn’t hear him or decided not to reply.

“Was that really necessary?” Sato asked.

“Call it a word to the wise,” Rick said. “Ullp’s motivations are more than he’s saying. My autonomic sensors confirm this much. He’s nervous about something.”

“He’s smuggling two Humans with forged identifications,” Sato reminded him. Rick didn’t have anything more to say on the matter, and Sato decided it was best to just let it go. There were too many other things to think about, such as what they were going to do if their insertion onto Earth failed.

I wish I knew why I was so nervous about returning to Earth, while simultaneously feeling it’s essential to go there.

* * *

The time in hyperspace passed slowly for Rick, mostly because there was so little to do. His pinplants were full of every imaginable movie and music, but everything he watched came with the feeling of déjà vu. Often in his memory he found himself eating pizza and drinking soda pop with someone whose name he couldn’t remember.

Like living on any ship, Sato and Rick adjusted to the vessel’s schedule. With so many thousands of races in the galaxy, eons ago it was decided a ‘standard’ day was an amalgamation of all those racial day/night cycles. Rick learned about the system when signing