Blake's 7 - Liberators
The sequel to Blake's 7 - Survivors
Chapter 15
Chenga
"The other one was dead for too long, I'm afraid, when we found them... Her material is of little use..."
"And this one...?"
Barr struggled back to consciousness fitfully, tried to raise one arm, then the other, and then woke to full alertness with a start. She couldn't move! Raising her head a little, then losing the ability to do even that, she became aware not only of the restraints holding her to the trolley but also to the fact that they were not even necessary... Her entire body was paralysed...!
"Only superficial injuries... All vital organs are in excellent condition."
Processing the conversation she had overheard while semi-conscious, a feeling of cold dread washed over her. She could see them moving about now, quick, efficient and horribly familiar, the figures in their spotless uniforms, the antiseptic environment, the smell... That familiar smell of chemical cleanliness... Barr knew where she was...
No...!
Not her, it wasn't supposed to be her...! This was for others... For the weak, the ones she had preyed on for all those years, nothing but walking meat... Not her! She desperately wanted to tell them that - Tell them how they had gotten it wrong, how she had been one of them, how she was too important to end up here... but she couldn't move, she couldn't speak...
"Do not worry..." a voice said, close to her ear, and Barr screamed incessantly inside her own head. "We ensure that all life is extinguished before surgery begins..." A pause, and then further away the same voice. "Extinguish life."
Proxima Centauri
Viewed from the planet, Proxima II's artificial star was as large in the sky as Proxima Centauri itself, but that was an illusion of perspective. The spheroid climate stabilising fusion station was in fact located in an orbit around Proxima II at a distance roughly a third of that between old Earth and its moon - That was not coincidental, indeed it had been key to the precise calibration of the device before its first activation almost a thousand years earlier. It enabled the large population of Proxima II to plan for a long-term future while Proxima Centauri slowly dimmed, putting off for millennia the day a new home would have to be contemplated.
The four warships bore down on the station inexorably, weapons powering up, awaiting the fluctuation of the energy shield from the planet below that would presage their strike run - Any moment now, the shield would be terminated, and their target would be vulnerable... All they awaited was the signal.
The signal never came... The Liberator, however, did.
The last surviving System warship swept across the four Children of Light ships and delivered a devastating broadside of neutron blasts, taking them completely by surprise and carving each of the four ships open to space... Turning in a long arc, it passed along the other side of the enemy ships and delivered another salvo that finished them off, passing through and out the other side of the explosive carnage.
The battle - what would soon be dubbed the Battle of Storm Mountain - was over.
The Liberator
There were no cheers, no triumph... The crew of the Liberator just reset their stations and handed over to Zen's control, and then all sat there for a few moments, contemplating what they had all just been through - and what was yet to come.
"Thank you," said Blake, more tired than any of them, exhausted to her bones. She leaned on the back of the bench-seating unit and tried not to collapse onto it. "Thank you, everyone."
"We won..." said Rissa, and wondered why she wasn't happy about that.
"What did we win...?" Caul wondered.
"Yes," said Darvin. "Who just won that battle, Blake...? UniS? Us?"
"Both, I suppose," said Juni. "Although it looks like the Children of Light got what they came for... Maybe they won... Maybe no one did."
"Is that who we are now?" Darvin stood up and walked down to the main level of the flight-deck to position himself nearer to Blake. "Are we with them now? I thought we were fighting against them."
"It got complicated," said Juni, meeting Darvin's questioning look with calm matter-of-factness.
"Complicated, yeah..." said Darvin. "I get complicated, but this...? I'm wondering again why we didn't just let our enemies blow the hell out of each other..."
"That?" Blake indicated the image of Proxima II on the screen. "That's not our enemy, Stev... Those people aren't all our enemies... The human race, or at least a lot of them... There aren't nearly as many of us as there used to be... Do I have to tell you that?"
A long pause, and Darvin dropped his eyes, but still he held onto his pain and confusion. "No..." He looked at her again. "But something changed today, Blake... No, everything changed... We're gonna have to figure out what that means... for us. All of us."
"What do you mean by that, boss...?" Rissa asked him.
"Who are we now?" he demanded. "Have we done what we set out to do...? Have we? It sure doesn't feel like we did."
"Can we talk about this after?" Blake started to move toward the exit at the back of the flight-deck, but Darvin walked a few paces to catch up.
"After...? You're going back down there..." It was a statement rather than a question, but his tone was a little incredulous.
"I have to."
"I never thought... Never thought you"-
-"What?" Despite her exhaustion, there was just a hint of anger.
"Never mind," he said. "But if you get into trouble down there..."
"What...?" she wondered. "What happens then, Stev? Are you saying you won't come and rescue me?" There was a hint of mockery in her tone that she more or less instantly regretted.
After a pause, he replied. "No, I'm saying I probably will try... Think about that, Blake... Consider that."
She held his gaze for a few seconds, then turned and continued to the teleport bay.
The War Room - Proxima II
"I'm sorry..." Lenta Guld's words just escaped her as Avral entered the War Room - disheveled and filthy in her ragged combat clothes, her wound patched up. Thinking about it, she added, "I really am."
"Yeah," said Avral, and her eyes moved to Lady Shilena.
Proxima II's elderly ruler turned to face the young woman, and stood there regarding her for a few moments. "You did well," she said simply.
"Is that it?"
Lady Shilena had started to turn away, but turned back when Avral spoke again. "What do you wish me to say?"
Avral smiled, a broad smile that got nowhere near her eyes, now filling up with unshed tears. She shook her head. "There's nothing to say... Nothing."
"He will be disposed of with full honours... Del Grant may have been our enemy, but he redeemed himself when it really counted. That will not be forgotten."
Avral was shaking, just a little. "I've never met anyone less in need of redemption"- she began.
-"Let's find you somewhere to get cleaned up," said Lenta, already signaling for assistance, but Avral's attention stayed focused on Lady Shilena.
"What's my reward, then...? Not being executed?"
Lady Shilena looked at her calmly - If her temper was fraying at all, she gave no sign of it. At last, she replied, "It's early yet."
"Orac..." As usual, Blake found herself looking up for some reason to address the AI currently on teleport duty. "Send me down to the Kapital, same place I teleported up from... Orac...? Can you hear me...?"
She felt a little strange, a feeling of unease... a familiar feeling... Before she could even get so far as thinking Not this again, she became aware of a presence in the teleport bay with her. Before she turned around to view the intruder, she glanced at the instruments - The blinking lights were static, and she almost thought she could see the dust and microbes perfectly still in the air.
Just like before, when they had all come aboard together... Hadn't she endured enough tests?
"What is it this time...?" she asked the other person she was sure was there with her. In response, the person moved into view even as she turned to meet them halfway...
"Blake." The voice was gravelly, the single word simply an acknowledgment of her presence.
"So you did survive, then." Adrenalin was coursing through her, the blood building in her head almost enough to make her faint, but Blake refused to show any of it. She kept her tone steady, her expression calm.
"In a manner of speaking," said Avon. He was older than he had been when she first met him, much more than the few months that had passed. His face was lean, his cheeks hollow, his frame just slightly stooped, the swept back hair almost totally white.
"Are you... real?"
"Are you speaking philosophically...? In a sense, none of us is real." As he spoke, he exited the teleport bay and moved along the corridor to the flight-deck, and an exasperated Blake ran to catch up with him. She noticed absently that her footsteps made no sound, and she seemed to not quite touch the floor.
"You know what I meant," she said as she fell into step next to him, and the two of them emerged onto the flight-deck and descended the steps. The place was empty, but Blake knew the others were there, just on a different plane of reality - She and Avon, somehow, were between moments, their meeting invisble and inaudible to her friends.
"That might also be considered subjective..." He turned to face her. "I've come here to talk to you, Blake... One last time. You may see me again, but I don't think I'll see you."
"Cryptic." Blake stepped forward, and hesitantly reached out a hand - When he made no move to stop her, she pressed it flat against his chest - Avon was solid and real, and she could even feel the warmth his body was generating and detect his slow, steady heartbeat. "Where have you been?"
"Away."
She smiled and shook her head. "You took Servalan with you?"
"I did."
"Why?"
"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time."
Blake looked around. "Is she here too?"
There was a pause, short but significant, before he answered. "No."
She didn't know exactly what it was that told her, it wasn't anything in his voice or expression, but even as she responded to that Blake knew she was right. "She's gone... Isn't she?" After exhaling slowly, Blake frowned. "Juni has to be told."
"She already knows, I think... They've been in touch."
For some reason, that was the point where Blake's annoyance at him boiled over, and she decided to try to undermine his air of mystery somewhat. "Long journey was it, from your new home...? How does one commute back and forth from the event horizon of a black hole?"
He grinned. "With difficulty. Or rather, with highly advanced technology."
"I see."
"Although... I don't live in the event horizon of a black hole."
"Oh..."
"Just very close to one."
"Time dilation... It explains why you're suddenly so old," she said bluntly. "Are you back now? I mean, have you come to help us? Or hinder us? Come to kill me...? I mean, you've got form. Keep them guessing, right?"
He shook his head. "I can only stay a very short time," he said. "One last chance."
"For what...?" she demanded. "Pass on your wisdom? Frankly, I think we're better off without that... I mean, that weapon you fired before you left... I didn't really understand at the time... But now I've been down there on Proxima II, seen those people... What were you thinking?" She was becoming more and more angry. "How could you do that, Avon...? Tell me!"
"Why do you think I did it?" He was totally, infuriatingly, calm, and that just made her more flustered.
"I don't know...! I'm tired of second guessing your motives, but fortunately I"- Her eyes widened as she realised. "You did it... so that I could fix it." He didn't nod or otherwise acknowledge that she was right, but something in his stance suggested confirmation. "The subspatial carrier didn't fail," she reasoned. "You wanted it to take four years to get here."
"You have Orac... You have the Liberator. You're currently the most powerful member of the human race... Use it."
"But I only have the faintest notion... It's just an idea... And it's a risk, a massive risk."
"A risk, yes... And what happens when you take that risk, on their behalf...? Save those people, and they are yours..."
"Mine...?" Her gaze had drifted as she thought about the implications of all this, but now she made eye contact with him again. "Not yours..."
Avon smiled faintly, and moved slowly backwards away from her. "I'm not here... Not any more. I leave it all... to you."
"But what if I need you again?"
"As I said, you'll see me again. One more time."
"But you won't see me... So, for one of us at least, this is goodbye."
"I never liked goodbyes," said Avon, and he was gone... She never even saw how.
Avral was alone, and realised it must have been for the first time in days, or longer... She took her time, and even luxuriated in the privacy of the rooms Lenta Guld had assigned her to clean up, change clothes and prepare herself for what came next. She had showered, with water and with ultrasonics, and then with water again. She now stood opposite a full-length mirror, examining the image it presented to her.
Thin, more so than before... Not so young-looking - Perhaps looking a little more than her twenty years instead of less. If recent events hadn't had that effect, it would have surprised her enormously. No, she was twenty-one, Avral realised - her day of birth had come and gone unnoticed while they were on Karstus.
She supposed she was pretty, certainly she had heard Avalon described often enough as beautiful, and often by the same people who informed her how alike they were...
Standing here, lost in self-absorption, was absurd, she informed herself, when new clothes were laid out ready for her in the adjoining room - Stop wasting time. She was about to turn away... when she saw it. The mirror had begun to build up a thin layer of water vapour, just enough to soften the reflected image, but she saw... them. Standing behind her.
She spun around, heart thumping in her chest...
Nothing. She was alone in the bathroom.
Back to the mirror, now considerably more steamed-up - What had she seen...? Was it nothing?
Yes, she told herself, of course it's nothing, even knowing it wasn't true, and went into the next room to hurriedly don the clothes provided... The underclothes, the thin grey-white shirt, the close-fitting tunic and trousers of black leather, just like her own clothes left behind in their old base. Message received, Lenta Guld... No detail escapes you.
Avral quickly and efficiently donned the garments, flipping her now silky freshly-washed hair out of the way of the collar of her tunic as she turned it down. Continuing to put it out of her mind, hoping soon to convince herself.
Convince herself that what she had seen standing behind her in the mirror was just an optical illusion rather than a symptom of mental illness.
Back in the bathroom, even with no one to see them, the two figures were still there... Wispy and indistinct, Avalon and Del Grant turned to look at each other... and smiled.
The doors leading from Lady Shilena's office to a small conference room were opened. One after another, the various parties arrived to take their places around a large oval table... Blake and her companions were the last to arrive and be seated.
As Blake moved around the table, she tried not to spend the whole time looking over at Avral, tried to give no indication of how desperately she wanted to talk to her... hold her... They had made themselves vulnerable, for a purpose, and that had served them at the time, but now Blake could wish they hadn't. Wish they had found some other way to make the old woman let Blake return to the Liberator.
"I gave you my word," she said to Lady Shilena at the head of the table. "To return. And here I am."
"Of course, I knew you would," said Lady Shilena. "That's why I let you go." Her eyes shifted to Blake's companions... Juni, calm and composed, ready to be to Blake what Lenta Guld was to her... and another one, familiar only hazily from intelligence reports. "Who might you be?" she asked, not unpleasantly.
"I might be any number of things," said Rissa, grinning, her silver eyes shining brilliantly as they caught the light. She sat to Blake's left as Juni sat on her right.
"Sorry we're late," said Blake. "I just had to make sure the people we rescued from the London were being looked after."
"Of course," said Lenta. "We were happy to make provision."
"I'm told you brought no weapons down with you," Lady Shilena remarked. "That's good."
"No, they brought me instead," said Rissa, casually exploring the room with her eyes. Her gaze finally settled on Avral, and she smiled... So you're the one, she thought.
"I think all of us appreciate the trust shown by all parties in this room," said Lenta Guld, but Lady Shilena hadn't finished.
"There are three more, I believe," she said. "Up in your ship, watching us... I imagine if Stev Darvin doesn't like what he sees, there will be trouble."
"Blake is our leader," said Juni swiftly and confidently, faint diplomatic smile in place. "But in the interests of complete honesty, I should inform you now that there are two more of us on the ship... not three." If that admission cost Juni a little, it did not show.
"Unless you count the computers," said Blake. "The ship's onboard computer, capable of operating and fighting it as a full crew could, and also Orac... I don't believe I have to explain his capabilities, but I should tell you that only we have access to him."
"Oh, your point is very bluntly made, my dear," said Lady Shilena with a brief laugh. "And fully taken. The Liberator is the most powerful ship in space at the moment, and my forces are somewhat in... disarray. But that situation will not remain static, make no mistake... Now I have the reins of power, I intend to keep them."
"I hope you do," said Blake, seeming a little detached. "You're very promising."
"I think I like her too," said Rissa, and seemed surprised when everyone turned to look at her. "For what it's worth."
"Shall we come to the point of this meeting?" Lady Shilena asked. "I'm not a young woman any more, so find myself in something of a hurry."
"I think what my lady means to say..." Lenta began.
"I am a young woman," said Avral. "But I'd like to see you all come to the point as well." She glanced at Lady Shilena. "Sorry if I'm being unusually outspoken for a hostage."
They all sensed that a crucial, even pivotal, point had been reached, and no one breathed as they waited for the response, wherever it might come from.
It came from Lady Shilena, after a few moments' thought. "You were a hostage," she said. "We owe you a debt, and part of discharging that debt will be a full pardon for your crimes."
"Part of it...?"
"Yes... You were probably the best security officer I've ever had occasion to notice. We could use someone with your ability. If you don't happen to have... other offers."
Blake was thrown off a little by that, but tried to put it all out of her mind for now. Leaning forward a little, she embarked on the reason why she had come - The other reason, Avral, had been addressed for now. "It's understandable that it hasn't been your priority lately," she said, "but this system is in the path of a highly destructive weapon - A weapon that has already been fired... A weapon that will bring your entire way of life to an end when the pulse gets here."
"A weapon you fired," said Lady Shilena calmly.
Juni responded instantly and fluently, prepared for this. "A weapon fired by a man named Kerr Avon, with whom I believe we are all familiar, personally or by reputation," she said. "Not by anyone present here."
"I could have stopped him," said Blake, feeling the need for a little more context, and indeed honesty. "I didn't, and I apologise for that."
"We have a range of options for intercepting and disrupting the beam," said Lady Shilena. "The matter is in hand." Lenta Guld stiffened a little in her chair next to the Lady President, but if she was about to say something in response she was beaten to it.
"With the greatest respect, Lady Shilena has not had time as yet to be fully informed of former President Scarn's... efforts to stop the pulse," said Juni. "Initial attempts failed, and Scarn resolved to follow a quite different plan regarding the pulse... and its effect on Proxima II."
"How are you better informed than I am on classified-" Lady Shilena stopped there, and was echoed by a gleeful Rissa as she realised. "Orac."
"There are currently no measures put in place to stop the pulse, said Blake. "Scarn was implementing a program of evacuation of the Proxima system. But not of the full population, only of the civil and military infrastructure necessary."
"Necessary for what?"
Blake took a breath. "He intended to stage a coup, to finally take full control of the whole of Unified Systems, and use the allied and unaligned worlds as a base from which to conquer the rest of the galaxy with cloned troops... An ever expanding empire, greater even than the Federation at its height... Proxima II and its people... did not figure in his plans, except for a fairly small number of... essential personnel."
They all knew what she meant... People Scarn needed to run his military and bureaucracy, and those needed to assuage his appetites - Others had no value to him, and would have been left for dead. Through it all, Lady Shilena listened, her poise challenged more than ever before. She swallowed, and took a slightly rasping breath before trusting himself to speak.
"You have proof of all this?" She said that more to gain time to think than anything else.
Blake nodded. "I'll have it all made available... The things I've discussed already, and more. This is why I consider it a good thing that you have removed your husband from office, my lady... I wasn't mocking you when I said you were promising. I think you're exactly what your people need right now."
"What happened to the other one? Your... comrade."
Blake and her friends hadn't been expecting this, so found themselves flustered for a moment. Juni was the one who responded, recovering her diplomatic calm quickly.
"Faal died, my lady... He gave his life to stop your husband from achieving the goals we have outlined for you. He saved us all." She clasped her hands together on the table, knuckles white with the tightness of her grip.
Lady Shilena nodded in acknowledgment. "Your loss is our loss," she said, an archaic pleasantry she probably hadn't used for at least thirty years, and turned to Avral. "As is yours, my dear... I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear right away. The lives of our friends and allies, and the price they paid, will be recognised." She turned to Blake. "There was something else, I think... Although what we've discussed so far should be enough, I know... You mentioned an offer you had to make, before you came down."
"Yes," said Blake. "The pulse approaches, my lady... In almost exactly four solar years it will arrive, and devastate your system... End your civilisation. I don't think, even without the crises you already have to deal with, there's any way to evacuate your entire population... and where would you go? But I didn't just come here to tell you that..." She glanced at Juni and then at Rissa, and even finally allowed herself a brief look at Avral. "I also have a possible solution."
Proxima III
Erno Scarn, former President - or, as far as he was concerned, President - of the Proxima Centauri system and of the Unified Systems alliance, was not used to waiting. He was not used to what he saw as hardship. He was used to constant distraction and amusement - satiation of his jaded pleasures. This cell offered neither.
Proxima III was, like all the planets of the system other than II, a tiny barren rock. Unlike I and any of the others excepting II, there was a thin atmosphere, but not one capable of sustaining life. What Proxima III had was the greatest concentration of military might in the galaxy since the fall of the Federation - Its orbital shipyards had turned out the finest warships of all sizes and specifications, its underground bases housed the finest training camps, its desolate surface made for the most testing, indeed gruelling, environment for soldiers to prepare themselves for the harshest environments... It had been Scarn's true power base - For now, however, it was his prison.
The lone guard watched over Scarn in his spartan quarters, although there were more outside as well as others watching on the video link. The massive figure sat prone on the hard bed, his lumpen face with its deep-set eyes inexpressive - His grey hair, normally waxed into tall stiff spikes, hung lank around his face.
The eyes shifted slightly. "I summoned Admiral Brath," he said to the guard. "What's taking him do long?"
"Commodore Brath is occupied for now," said the guard, voice muffled beneath his helmet. "He will see you shortly."
"He will see me shortly... sir," Scarn intoned, his voice on the edge of fury. He looked up. "Say it!"
"He will see you shortly... sir," said the guard.
"And his rank is Admiral," said Scarn. "Not Commodore. I promoted him."
The guard offered no reply, just stood at attention, motionless.
"He is conferring with my wife, is that it...? You really think a woman can rule...? Here...? In all our history, there has never"- Scarn took another approach. "You really think I'm finished? You're a young man, of course... You never saw what happened the last time I was tested like this." His eyes narrowed even further. "I have a habit of surviving, soldier... And of rising."
The soldier shifted his stance, and a tilt of his helmeted head seemed to suggest intense concentration - Finally, the result erupted in the form of a spectacularly loud fart, and the guard chuckled. "That'll survive for a while, too... and it'll rise... Oh, I've been holding that one in for a while. Don't know why, really." He chuckled again, and settled back into his former rigid pose.
Betraying none of his shock, Scarn just stared levelly at the guard for a long time before he finally spoke. "Have your moment... Absolutely, have it. So long as you understand that one day, I will have mine." He turned to face forward once more. "My time will come again."
Lady Shilena began to bring the video call to a close. "Well, thank you... I think this discussion has been very productive indeed... I look forward to our next conversation. Goodbye... Admiral Brath." Her benign expression went cold as soon as the call ended, and she slumped back in her chair. "All right, speak," she said abruptly. "Don't just look at me... Not like that."
Lenta Guld smiled. "You're projecting again."
"I'm right, though, aren't I? You disapprove."
"Actually, no. You need Brath... for now. And he's reasonably capable."
"He's no Zanso... Is he trustworthy?"
"Does he have to be? Just so long as he hands Pres- hands Erno Scarn into our custody, and then does an adequate job of guarding the frontier."
"I still do that too, sometimes," said Lady Shilena grudgingly. "You think it'll work?"
Lenta was completely unphased by the change of subject. "It has to."
"It's a risk."
"It's a risk to them," said Lenta coolly. "If it doesn't work, the threat to us is unchanged. And if it works, the threat is eliminated."
"You and your logic."
"Indeed... If all goes well, you think she will accept your offer?"
"I hope so," said Lady Shilena. "She would be a tremendous asset."
"Blake... and the ship. With the Liberator, and possibly even access to Orac..."
"Yes... How long now...?"
Lenta glanced at the wall-chronometer. "Time to start monitoring."
The Liberator, deep space
"Orac..." Blake began, leaning on the back of the bench-seating. "Have all the calculations been checked...? Are we sure this is being given the optimal chance to work? What I mean is, is there anything, anything at all, we've missed?"
Orac's reply, when it came after the usual few seconds delay, was characteristically irritable. "The plan is yours... Elements of its execution are mine, and the calculations are of course performed to an optimal standard. By me, therefore, by definition."
"All right"-
-"Once again, this is an example of the human tendency to be dominated by temporary chemical imbalance - I recommend a sedative, although caution that prolonged use can be habit-forming."
"That'll do, Orac." Blake turned to the others. "Is he right...? Am I just nervous?"
"We're all nervous," said Juni, checking once again that her station was running properly.
Blake looked up, beyond Juni, to where Avral sat on the top level of the bank of stations, in what had been Faal's chair. She said nothing, but her expression conveyed the message perfectly clearly - You all right?
Darvin, even while going through last-minute checks himself, felt the need to say it. "Avral... If all goes well, we shouldn't need you on this, but... If all doesn't go so well, be ready to step in and replace one of us... All right?"
"Understood."
"Caul..." Blake walked the width of the bank of stations to stand directly beneath his station, and looked up at him. "I want you to monitor the operation the whole time... If it looks like Orac has gone wrong at any point"-
-"Stop the whole thing?"
She paused, then spoke more quietly. "No, take over... You're the only one of us who can. Once we're committed, it'll be too late to pull out."
"You think I'll be more precise than Orac?" Caul raised his eyebrows slightly, and she knew him well enough to recognise his extreme incredulity from that.
"No, and I hope it won't come to that... But there's one thing you have..." She lowered her voice further. "...that Orac doesn't."
He leaned forward, bemused, lowering his voice to a whisper to match hers. "What's that?"
"My trust." She walked away and back to her usual position between the bank of controls and Zen's interface, and turned to face them all. "Good luck, everyone... Ready?"
"If I say no, can I be excused?" asked Darvin.
"No. You had your chance."
"Show me again."
Obediently, Lenta activated the animated sequence and again it displayed hologrphically in the air before them. The Liberator in the centre, with a formation of UniS ships positioned in a wheel formation above, below and around it - As they watched a network of beams formed between the simulated ships and coalesced into a screen... The viewpoint shifted, as the whole formation turned ninety degrees, and the ships intercepted the pulse fired from Earth all those months ago.
"This part I don't get," said Lady Shilena, and as she spoke the simulation ended just as the beam carrying the pulse reached the electronic screen generated by the ships, impacting on the part directly in front of the Liberator. She turned to Lenta. "Why does it just stop?"
"You really want to know?"
"You know better than to ask me such a question."
"It's because, although we know what we're hoping for from this, even if it achieves its objective, we don't one-hundred percent know what will happen."
"To the Liberator..."
"Well, it's not exactly safe for the other ships, but the Liberator is directly in the path of the beam... If it penetrates that shield"-
-"I understand." Lady Shilena stared straight ahead for a moment, then glanced sidelong at her advisor. "Perhaps I didn't really want to know."
The crew of the Liberator were silent now as the ship closed on its objective. "Range?" asked Blake.
"Two-point-six spacials and closing fast," said Darvin. "Relative to us, that is... You might want to sit down, Blake - This could get rocky."
She did as he suggested, and felt somewhat incongruous sitting comfortably and turning her head to see them all. "Position of the other ships... Are they still in alignment?"
"Checking..." said Juni. "Still perfect. I'll shout out right away if any of them slip... believe me."
"Caul?"
"Everything in place... Orac seems to be ready."
"Seems to be?"
"His status shows ready, but requests for updates are met with a longer response time than you'd think."
"He's just putting us in our place," said Darvin. "Don't rise to it... He'll come through."
"He has to," said Avral, and she and Blake exchanged a long look - See you on the other side...
"Captain," said Blake, looking now at Darvin. "Over to you."
"Too late to take a holiday instead?" he asked.
"Just a little," said Blake tensely, but she smiled for all of that.
"In that case," said Darvin. "This is as good a time as any..." He looked up at the display at the front of the flight-deck, and judged the moment. "Get ready to signal the other ships..." Finally, he barked one more command.
"Activate!"