This is a fan translation of Line of Dreams (Линия грёз) by the Russian science fiction and fantasy author Sergei Lukyanenko. The novel can be considered a fan fiction of the original Master of Orion game.
Chapter 5
"They really are heading into Bulrathi territory," Lemak said musingly. While hyperspace coordinates were fairly arbitrary, the course of the boat they were following had turned out to be calculable.
"Will we make it to Ursa before they do?" Kal was nervous. She didn't feel herself as confident on the bridge of the destroyer. This was the realm of technology, and she preferred to work with people. The sensor screens, the brief reports of the operators, filled with military slang, all that told her far less than it did the Admiral.
"No," Lemak shook his head, "they obviously have an auxiliary drive, so our speed advantage is minimal. We'll be five or six hours late."
"If Curtis is involved with aliens… even if they are members of the Alliance…" Kal swallowed a lump in her throat. "It's my duty to warn the enclave's ISS office. Otherwise, it could be construed as treason."
"Calm down. Does your Incedios have dealings with the Bulrathi?"
"Of course, they're one of our regular partners. Our hyper coordinates are close…"
"Are there frequent flights to Ursa?"
"Almost daily."
"Then why did Curtis and Altos head to Volantis?"
Kal shrugged.
"They have a different destination." Lemak switched something on the console, and his screen blossomed into a flattened hyper chart. Tiny flags represented the colonies of a particular race. In a way, this primitive diagram reflected the distances between the stars, but not the absolute ones, which were meaningless in practice, but the arbitrary hyperspace distances.
"The New Frontier." Lemak touched the screen, and the part of the chart, showing the Imperial bicolor, nearly indistinguishable on the dark purple background, zoomed in. "Two dozen partially settled worlds. If Arthur van Curtis is heading there, then the choice of Ursa as a waypoint makes sense."
"What does he want there?'
"You're overestimating me. If I could guess myself, then I'd never have allowed a child to be tortured."
Lemak was touching one flag after another with his finger, which blossomed in tiny windows, showing the most general information about the planets.
"Kita, Reyon, Selia, Grail… Any of these stars. If we won't have time to intercept them, and they leave Ursa, then we'll be able to say it with greater precision."
"So what?"
"We'll meet them in orbit. That's all. Simply put, our conversation with the boy and his faithful bodyguard will take place at the final goal of their trip."
"Unless they leave into aTan."
Lemak put his hand on Kal's shoulder, confidently, in a businesslike manner, but she didn't object.
"No, they won't. I don't know why, but they're afraid of aTan. Strange for the son of Curtis, but very useful to us."
From a hundred kilometers away, Ursa looked more like Terra than most human colonies. The same balance of water and land, the same spirals of clouds…
Kay had been on the Bulrathi homeworld only once and couldn't resist the pleasure of landing the boat personally. He replied to the queries of the orbital bases: a Setico Corporation courier boat, on a transit, landing for the purpose of relaxation and refueling, no cargo or heavy weapons aboard, no plans to leave the Imperial enclave. Flight control sent them a landing route and, apparently, lost all interest in the tiny ship.
The human enclave was located on a small archipelago far from the central continent. The Bulrathi weren't particularly fond of water and, by placing half a million of adventurers in a sparsely populated area, had extracted the maximum benefit from this: there was no chance of accidental interspecies encounters, and they no longer had a need to maintain a fishing fleet. Those humans who had been the first to risk showing up on the planet of their recent enemy ended up making a hefty profit on fish trade within a few years.
Kay flew the boat on plasma drives until they hit the stratosphere, then he switched to the more power-hungry but cleaner gravs. The Bulrathi were a little obsessed with ecology, which was normal for a race, whose planets had almost never been assaulted but had been sprinkled with all manner of poisons.
There was only one spaceport in the enclave, the Imperial one, as stipulated by the conditions of the agreement. They had been assigned a landing pad at the far end of the field, among other small craft: human and Meklar yachts, boats, low-tonnage cargo haulers. Kay even thought he saw a tiny disk with the distinctive coloring of the Alkari Union, a rare visitor to Alliance worlds. There were no military ships, since they were serviced at orbital bases.
"Are you sticking around?" Andrey asked, when the boat had touched the concrete. Kay shook his head. With the auxiliary drive, they could reach Grail in three days, and he could only hope that Arthur lasted this brief time.
The hot outer hull was crackling just barely; it would have been a grave insult to the Bulrathi to land with an active shield. Kay glanced at the screen showing the outside and saw an open service car heading towards them, weaving between the ships. It was warm here, and the occasional clouds rarely produced rain, thanks to Bulrathi meteorologists.
"If you want, I can handle all the formalities," Andrey offered. "Take a walk… I'm not in a hurry."
Kay suppressed the desire to refuse. The boat couldn't lift off without him, and it was unlikely that the cyborg would be able to suppress the rules hard-wired into the computer.
"Three hours," Kay half-offered and half-asked.
"A complete refueling and servicing will take twice as long."
"Can you wait?"
"I can."
"Will you?"
Andrey turned his head. There was something pitiful in the barely audible rustling of the synthetic pseudomuscles, as nearly all of the cyborg's neck and torso were artificial.
"When I was still able to feel," he said, "Lyka Seiker was my lover. I can't bring back my old emotions, but I remember them. The Mother of the Family ordered us to help you in every respect. Kas/s/is had his reasons for his loyalty, and I have mine. If you trust her, then go without worry."
"Tell her you've helped a lot."
"I will. I have neither vanity nor humility. But I am pleased to be useful."
Kay left the bridge with a slight chill on his back. No matter what kind of piece of shit Curtis Sr. was, but the aTan, which rid humanity of such a path to immortality, atoned for all his sins.
Except for all those he had yet to commit, of course.
"Thanks," Arthur said. "I'll try not bother you wish such requests."
Tommy shrugged. Over the day of their "acquaintance", their relations had taken on a strange disposition, which would have brought joy to any psychologist. If Arthur had been crippled physically, then Tommy was crippled mentally. At times, they understood one another at a glance, and other times, their attempts to explain things to one another resulted in nothing but mutual anger.
"Come on, the cyborg is getting off here, and you won't be calling Kay for that."
"Do you know what he's planning?"
Tommy shook his head.
"Why did Dad choose a bodyguard like that?.." Arthur laughed quietly.
"I was the one who chose him first," Tommy answered in the same tone.
They were still giggling when the door opened, and the subject of their conversation entered the room. Kay was wearing a white suit with a lotus flower, the logo of the Setico Corporation, embroidered on the breast pocket.
"Having fun?" he inquired, causing another fit of laughter. Arthur, no longer slathered with the regenerative ointment, was reclining on the pillows, while Tommy was sitting next to him. If before he had seemed a little scrawny to Kay compared to Arthur, then now he was the very picture of health.
"Are we going to be here long?" Tommy asked finally.
"Half a day at most…" Kay was looking at his client. Arthur seemed a little too carefree: either Andrey had given him too many drugs, or Curtis Jr. did indeed believe his bodyguard's promises. "Artie, can your friend come with me?"
"To the enclave? What for?" Arthur was genuinely surprised.
"Imagine that you've never been there. That it's your first time on an alien world."
"Ah-a… Wanna go?"
"Sure." Tommy had no intention of wavering or trying to force his companionship onto Arthur. Kay made a mental note that the boys were carefully avoiding calling one another by name. This impersonality in their relationship could either be a sign of slight mutual contempt or, just the opposite, of a strange unchildlike tact. The second was more likely, as Tommy, while getting up, lightly patted Arthur's hand, as if trying to reassure him.
"Buy a ruepp at the port," Arthur advised after him.
