The Alpha Protocol: Alpha Protocol Book 1 Duncan Hamilton (affordable ebook reader .TXT) 📖

Smith chuckled. ‘You’re missing out. Still, what I found is going to blow your little Navy-issue socks off, so it’s probably best you’re sober for it. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’

‘Try me,’ Samson said.

‘Oh, no. I want to see the look on your face. You’re gonna crap yourself.’

34

Without the aid of the viewscreen, Samson would have had little clue that they were moving. The screen provided a crystal-clear image of what lay before the Maggie, so perfect that it might have been a window. Gradually the sky turned from light blue to navy, slowly becoming pierced by the pinpricks of stars, until it was finally a black canvas speckled with white. The sound of a gong rang out, and Samson suspected it might have been an actual gong rather than just a recording.

‘Ah, that’ll be dinner,’ Smith said. ‘I hope you like freshly cooked roast beef with all the trimmings.’

Samson couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten a meal that hadn’t come out of the fabricator ready to eat, and considering the luxury of the rest of the ship, he couldn’t deny he was excited to see what the Maggie’s galley offered up. Judging by Price’s reaction—he was on his feet as soon as Smith had said ‘roast beef’—he was just as interested.

The dining room was located off the lounge and was dominated by a walnut table that by Samson’s quick count could seat at least twelve. One wall was convex where the shape of the adjoining lounge intruded on it, but the design was so tastefully thought out that it seemed to add to the ambiance rather than make the room feel oddly shaped.

Places for three had already been set, negating Samson’s ability to choose where he wanted to sit. Surrounding one end of the table, the setting would mean there was no getting away from dinnertime chitchat. That he was travelling in luxury on the space yacht of the most infamous pirate of his times made for a surreal experience. What did one talk to a pirate about over dinner? He supposed they could always compare interdiction and boarding methods, although he wanted to avoid the possibility of suggesting a naval technique that Smith hadn’t thought of before, and might feel compelled to try.

They sat with Smith at the table’s head, while Sanders came in and out with drinks and the first course of their meal—a consommé that, when considered in partnership with what he knew was to come, very much reminded Samson of the type of meals he used to get at his English-tradition boarding school on New Falmouth.

‘Might I ask who’s running the ship?’ Samson said, beginning to wonder if it might be all automated. Even with the advanced technology available, that was still a risky thing to do.

‘Few of my lads from the old days,’ Smith said. ‘They fancied an adventure when I decided to shut up shop in the Core, so they stayed on with me. You’ll meet them later.’

He pressed a button at the side of the table, and the convex wall revealed itself as a screen, projecting a holographic image that gave the diners the impression that it was flat.

‘I thought this might make for interesting dinner-time viewing,’ Smith said. He pressed another button. ‘Ready when you are, lads.’

‘Aye, Cap,’ came the response.

The scene before them was of the exterior—nothing remarkable beyond the haunting beauty of space. The screen flashed with bright purple light for an instant, partnered with what Samson thought was a barely detectible judder in the ship—all the hallmarks of an agitator discharge and the jump into the Nexus Current.

Nothing remarkable about that, Samson thought. Then he looked at his watch. They’d been on the ship little more than an hour—not much longer than they had needed to clear the atmosphere. They were a long way from the Nexus portal, even at the speeds Smith hinted the Maggie was capable of. Samson’s mouth dropped open as he came to the impossible realisation of what had just happened.

‘Did we just enter the Nexus Current?’ Samson said.

‘We did,’ Smith said, his face abeam.

‘We can’t be anywhere near the system’s portal. Did you locate another?’ A system having more than one Nexus portal was rare, but not unheard of. Samson reckoned he’d have known about it if there was another one in this system, though.

‘I didn’t,’ Smith said.

Samson felt his frustration grow at Smith’s evasiveness. ‘How?’

‘It was certainly worth seeing the look on your face,’ Smith said. ‘A little something we found on that ship we’re going to take a look at.’

Samson shook his head in disbelief. What they had just done was impossible according to all understanding of how the Nexus Current worked. This alone would change everything. The thought of what more might await discovery was overwhelming.

‘Even if you found a device that allowed you to enter the Current anywhere,’ Samson said, ‘how the hell did you learn to use the alien tech? How did you integrate it with your systems?’

‘It took a while, and a couple of mistakes along the way,’ Smith said with a wince. ‘One of my lads is a pretty decent engineer. And physicist. Learned his trade with your lot, at the Naval Academy. I think he’s number eight on the list of sailors I’m supposed to have murdered, but that doesn’t really matter anymore, thanks to your pardon. I’ve learned quite a bit myself, over the years.’

Samson opened his mouth to say something, but Smith continued.

‘Languages and all that might be different, but physics and numbers stay pretty much the same. Once you have an idea of what something might do, and understand enough of the principles around it, you can work it out. There were only so many things it could do, so we asked ourselves what might they need that we hadn’t already identified the device for. What might come in really handy, if only we could make it work? We bounced a few ideas around, but none of