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John double-timed it to the elevator and punched the code for the bridge. Gravity faded out and thenback again as the elevator passed between rotating sections of the ship.
The doors parted and he stepped onto the bridge. Every wall had a screen. Some showed stars and thedistant red smear of a nebula. Other screens displayed the fusion reactor status and spectrums ofmicrowave broadcasts in the system.
A brass railing ringed the center of the bridge, and within sat four Junior Lieutenants at their stations:navigation, weapons, communications, and ship operations.
John halted and saluted Captain Wallace, then nodded to Dr. Halsey.
Captain Wallace stood with his right arm crooked behind his back. His left arm was missing from theelbow down.
John remained saluting until the Captain returned the gesture.
“Over here, please,” Dr. Halsey said. “I want you to see this.”
John walked across the rubberized deck and gave his full attention to the screen Dr. Halsey and CaptainWallace were scrutinizing. It displayed deconvoluted radar signals. It looked like tangled yarn to John.
“There—” Dr. Halsey pointed to a blip on the screen. “It’s there again.”
Captain Wallace stroked his dark beard, thinking, then said, “That puts our ghost at eighty millionkilometers. Even if it were a ship, it would take a full hour to get within weapons range. And besides—”He waved at the screen. “—it’s gone again.”
“May I suggest that we go to battle stations, Captain,” Dr. Halsey told him.
“I don’t see the point,” he said condescendingly; the Captain was clearly less than pleased about havinga civilian on his bridge.
“We haven’t let this be widely known,” she said, “but when the aliens were first detected at Harvest,they appeared at extreme range . . . and then they were suddenly much closer.”
“An intrasystem jump?” John asked.
Dr. Halsey smiled at him. “Correctly surmised, Spartan.”
“That’s not possible,” Captain Wallace remarked. “Slipstream space can’t be navigated that accurately.”
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“You meanwe cannot navigate with that kind of accuracy,” she said.
The Captain clenched and unclenched his jaw. He clicked the intercom. “General quarters: all hands tobattle stations. Seal bulkheads. I repeat: all hands, battle stations. This is not a drill. Reactors to ninetypercent. Come about to course one two five.”
The bridge lights darkened to a red hue. The deck rumbled beneath John’s boots and the entire ship tiltedas it changed heading. Pressure doors slammed shut and sealed John on the bridge.
TheCommonwealth stabilized on her new heading, and Dr. Halsey crossed her arms. She leaned overand whispered to John, “We’ll be using theCommonwealth ’s dropship to go to the testing facility on ChiCeti Four. We have to get to Project MJOLNIR.” She turned back and watched the radar screen.“Beforethey do. So get the others ready.”
“Yes, ma’am.” John keyed the intercom. “Sam, muster the squad in Bay Alpha. I want that Pelicanloaded and ready for drop in fifteen minutes.”