Book Night on Union Station (EarthCent Ambassasor 13) Read online

  “Whoever rewrote the book in Drazen did a terrific job,” Tinka said. “It all made sense to me and the tone was just right. I suppose some women would quibble about the musical notation, but I thought it was perfect, and we argue about that for all of our books.”

  “This discussion is turning out to be a little more technical than I expected for a book club,” Kelly said. “I’m not complaining or anything, but maybe next time we can plan on reading our favorite passages or playing some games.”

  “Games?” Lynx asked. “I’ll bet we can get some of the men to show up if there’s gambling.”

  “What do males know about literature?” Tinka said scornfully.

  “I meant games based on the book selection, like matching quotes with characters, or coming up with alternative endings,” the ambassador said.

  “We need a Frunge,” Blythe declared. “You should get Dorothy to invite Flazint, and Affie could give us the Vergallian perspective.”

  “Where is Dorothy?” Donna asked.

  “She planned to come. She even read part of the book. But then Kevin did a trade where somebody threw in tickets to a concert this evening so she had a scheduling conflict.”

  “Shaina and I were both wondering if Bea Hollinder has something against dogs,” Brinda said. “It’s like the third one of her books that I’ve read that didn’t mention dogs even once, though there were a few cats. It just doesn’t seem natural.”

  “I thought it was pretty strange that there weren’t any aliens either,” the older Hadad sister added. “The book was set in present times, but aside from a mention about the Grenouthian news and some complaining about all of the floaters on the road, it could have been from a hundred years ago.”

  “You know, I hadn’t noticed, but I don’t think there were any aliens in the Drazen version either,” Tinka said. “How about the Horten version, Dring?”

  “There was a brief mention of a gaming tournament in which a number of different species participated, but I believe they were only included for the sake of Horten triumphalism,” the Maker replied. “Still, it was a very enjoyable book, though I couldn’t quite tell you why it worked so well.”

  “All of her books are like that,” Donna said. “She starts with the back story for two lonely characters who you just know would be right for each other, arranges a chance encounter, and then the rest of the story is about overcoming the forces that conspire to keep them apart. It’s like a recipe.”

  “So what makes her books so ideal for translation?” Kelly asked. “I thought it was nice enough, but compared to Jane Austen or any of the classics…”

  “I tried reading a number of Earth novels when I was learning English, but the obstacles the authors introduced seemed contrived,” Tinka said. “It’s like the characters were creating problems for themselves just to show that they could.”

  “Let me pick out a few books for you to borrow,” Kelly offered, standing and moving over to one of the overflowing bookcases in the ice harvester’s main living area. “I used to only let them out one at a time, but I trust you, and I’m running out of room.”

  “We could have a book sale to raise money for refurbishing Flower,” Chastity suggested.

  “Where would the books come from?” the ambassador asked absently, taking down Persuasion and Vanity Fair from the shelf. Then she spun around and glared at the embassy manager’s daughter. “I know you weren’t suggesting that I sell my books.”

  “Of course not,” Donna interjected, growing visibly excited herself. “But an EarthCent book sale to help raise funds for fitting out Flower is an excellent idea. I volunteer to be in charge.”

  Five

  “Here comes Marilla,” Samuel alerted Vivian as a young Horten woman stepped off the moving beltway in front of the Dollnick shuttle. “That’s everybody, right?”

  “She is pretty,” Vivian complained, even though nobody would have mistaken the Horten girl for a human. “How did you get to know her, anyway? All of the Horten girls I meet are really standoffish.”

  “Her little sister, Orsilla, is on ‘Let’s Make Friends’ with Shaina’s son and Spinner. She came to one of the big cast-and-family-members parties that Aisha threw in Mac’s Bones, and I found her wandering around the training camp when I went to use one of those bathrooms.”

  “She was spying?”

  “Hiding. She’s really shy for an alien,” he added in an undertone before greeting the newcomer. “Hey, Marilla. Sorry you had to stay up so late, but you know how hard it is finding a time that works for everybody.”

  “I’m used to sleeping weird hours because I’m the one who brings my sister to the show. We must be the only Horten family on Union Station that even knows how to tell time in Humanese.”

  “I’m Vivian. Nice to meet you.”

  Marilla turned a yellowish purple, showing that she was both nervous and embarrassed, though the effect caused the humans to cringe since the girl looked like a walking bruise. She examined Vivian’s extended hand uncertainly and then gently tapped the palm with a forefinger.

  “Right,” Samuel said, and escorted the two girls up the ramp into the ship. “Flower sent this shuttle over to fetch us, and in addition to our student committee, Jeeves and my brother Paul are coming.”

  “Stryx Jeeves?” the Horten girl asked. “The same Stryx who hosted some shows while Aisha was out on maternity leave?”

  “He’s friends with my brother, with the whole family, really,” Samuel explained, recalling belatedly that none of the other species were as comfortable with the Stryx as the humans who attended Libby’s experimental school. “Jeeves has talked with Flower but he’s never been onboard, and Paul is going to be one of Eccentric Enterprise’s outside consultants for the ship refit. Paul studied in the Open University’s Space Engineering program before I was even born.

  “How many seats are there on this shuttle?” Marilla asked as they headed towards the front of the craft.

  “Over a thousand. Our Dolly committee member said that their standard colony ship shuttles seat six hundred adults, but Flower must have swapped out most the rows for Dollnick children’s seats, which are a better fit for the smaller species. It’s all modular, though you can’t even see the lines where the sections fit together.”

  “So the shuttle is capable of atmospheric reentry?” Vivian asked.

  “Yup. It’s not as advanced as, say, Cayl technology, but the Dollnicks are way beyond rocket propulsion. Paul said to just think of it as a giant floater without an altitude limit, though that doesn’t help much since we don’t really understand how floaters work. Humans build them under license from one of the princes, but the drive units come sealed from a Dollnick factory.”

  “That’s the same way our floater manufacturers make them,” the Horten girl admitted, purpling even brighter, though at least, the yellow streaks had vanished. “Who else is here?”

  “Our Frunge friend, Lizant, who is the committee secretary, Grude, a Dollnick kid who’s in a bunch of my Dynastic Studies classes, a Verlock named Wrylenth, and Jorb, a—”

  “Drazen,” Marilla cut Vivian off with obvious distaste. “Well, I suppose you didn’t have a choice.”

  “Jorb’s cool,” Samuel insisted. “What do you have against Drazens anyway?”

  “I know,” the Horten girl said, half apologetically. “But my sister gets teased a lot by the other girls for being on ‘Let’s Make Friends’ with that weird Drazen boy who plays the harp. Doesn’t the committee still need a Grenouthian and a Vergallian to get up to eight species? I thought it was a requirement.”

  “We have a Grenouthian, but he has some kind of seminar today that he couldn’t skip, and Vivian thinks it would be better to find a Chert or a Sharf for the eighth spot.”

  “Why?” Marilla asked, as the three finally reached the front of the shuttle where the other students were seated.

  “Just for a different point of view,” Vivian lied, since she could hardly admit to conducting a o
ne-woman campaign to keep Samuel away from Vergallian influences.

  The Horten chose a seat as far as she could from the Drazen without being obvious, and Paul stuck his head into the main cabin and asked, “All set?”

  “Everyone’s onboard,” Samuel replied. “Is Jeeves piloting?”

  “Once Gryph moves us out of the station’s core, Flower will take over. Jeeves and I are just sitting up front for the view. I’ll try to put it through the entertainment system so you can all see where we’re going.”

  He ducked back through the door to the bridge, and a number of subdued thuds could be heard as the shuttle closed its various hatches, retracted landing gear, and prepared itself for flight. Then came the feeling of gentle acceleration as Gryph, the owner of Union Station, levitated the ship and guided it through the atmosphere retention field and into the giant station’s hollow core. From there, the same manipulator fields operated by the Stryx propelled the ship out of the core and cast it in the direction of the Dollnick colony ship, at which point Flower took over navigation.

  “Wow, it’s even bigger than I imagined,” Vivian couldn’t help exclaiming when the flat end of the giant cylindrical ship completely filled the display at the front of the cabin. “If that tiny hole at the center is the core, we’re still pretty far away.”

  “Flower is approximately one hundredth the size of Union Station by volume, but her mass isn’t even a thousandth,” the Dollnick student told them confidently. “She’s adjusted her spin rate so that you’ll weigh a little more than on your Earth at the outer hull, which is a water deck in any case. Her core is sized to accommodate Class B freighters, but the diameter at the docking deck isn’t large enough to produce much angular acceleration, so you’ll want to activate your magnetic cleats.”

  “I didn’t bring any,” Jorb complained.

  “You can hold my arm,” the Verlock student said generously.

  “No chance, I’ve seen you shuffle,” the Drazen responded.

  “Magnetic cleats for the use of visitors are available under your seats,” a new voice announced. The students all looked around as if they expected to see a stewardess materialize out of thin air, but there was no sign that anybody else was in the cabin.

  “Uh, Flower?” Samuel ventured.

  “Yes,” the same female voice responded. “And to whom am I speaking?”

  “Samuel McAllister. I’m the, uh—”

  “President of the Open University Student Committee for the outfitting of myself,” the Dollnick AI interrupted. “Son of Joe McAllister, an ex-mercenary, junkyard mechanic and trainer for EarthCent Intelligence, and Kelly McAllister, EarthCent Ambassador. I’m not entirely ignorant.”

  “I didn’t mean to—”

  “Pay attention to the entertainment system while I point out some of my salient features,” Flower interrupted the ambassador’s son. “I shall now turn on my corridor lights to illuminate one external porthole on every one of my decks. I’m staggering each corridor by a spoke to give you an idea of my internal structure.”

  All of a sudden, the standard navigation beacons on the end of the giant cylinder were extinguished and replaced by a spiral of bright lights extending from the core to the outer hull, tracing out slow pinwheels of light against a pitch black background.

  “How lovely,” Lizant breathed.

  “Thank you,” Flower said. “As you can see, my basic structure is comprised of a ring of forty-eight spokes supporting ninety-six decks. The ring of spokes is repeated along my length, shifted one degree per ring. Lift tubes run through each spoke, some of which are reserved for freight. I’m afraid that unlike a Stryx station, I wasn’t engineered to provide capsule crossovers between spokes, so you’ll have to transfer to a moving walk for trips along my decks. Any questions?”

  “You’re saying that your lift tubes function more like elevators?” Samuel asked.

  “Don’t insult me. And I have yet to meet the biological who wouldn’t benefit from a little exercise. I’m breaking off our docking approach for a loop around my circumference,” Flower continued, and the students were all crushed into their seats by acceleration as the shuttle abruptly changed course to fly almost parallel to the flat end of the cylinder. “Now a little loop-de-loop.”

  Vivian was sure she turned a shade of green that would rival anything the Horten girl could manage, as her stomach fell away and then returned in the wrong orientation when the Dollnick AI raced the shuttle in a giant loop around the circumference of her ship.

  “Weapons scarring?” asked the Verlock student as a band of discoloration flashed by on the view screen.

  “A minor skirmish,” Flower said modestly. “I keep meaning to have it cleaned off, but a certain race of AI we know keeps me too busy. Perhaps I’ll put some Humans on it. Please note that my length is twenty times my diameter, the classic proportion for beauty in cylindrical ship design.”

  “Are those mass driver emitters?” the Dollnick student asked excitedly. “I’ve never seen any up close.”

  “Irreplaceable in terraforming missions,” Flower replied. “It’s good to hear a civilized language again. What is your name, youngster?”

  “Grude.”

  “And what does your family do?”

  Grude cast a sidelong glance at Samuel and Vivian before admitting, “We’re bakers.”

  “An honorable profession. My bakeries were once the boast of the colony fleet, and although I haven’t received a delivery of fresh ingredients in over two thousand years, I maintain enough stores harvested from my ag decks to feed a full complement of Dollnicks in an emergency. I’m especially proud of a yeast culture I have continuously nurtured for over fifteen thousand years.”

  “Doesn’t the food spoil?” Samuel asked.

  “I rotate the stock, selling the excess on the black market,” Flower replied. “I do miss having biologicals to maintain the fields and orchards. It’s just not the same with bots.”

  “Could we not talk about food now?” Vivian gasped.

  “Here,” Samuel whispered, passing the girl a scrap of shiny paper. “It’s from Kevin. He gets these patches for Dorothy from the Farling doctor. According to my mom, all the women in your family have trouble with Zero G and motion sickness.”

  Vivian peeled off the patch and pasted it onto the skin on the inside of her forearm. “Oooh, that feels wonderful. Are there any side effects?”

  “Depends who you ask,” Samuel replied. “Dorothy doesn’t think so, but the rest of us agree that she gets a little aggressive, in addition to not sleeping. I only gave you a quarter of a dose, though.”

  “If we’re all paying attention again, I’ll bring us into the core,” the Dollnick AI announced, causing Samuel and Vivian to look up at the view screen guiltily. “I’m sure the Stryx have informed you that my last true mission as a colony ship ended under less than optimal circumstances, and my former crew departed with four of my shuttles, which they didn’t see fit to return. I have replaced them with alien craft of an inferior design, though many biologicals prefer the Sharf stasis pods for prolonged Zero G travel.”

  As the shuttle entered the core and Flower began the docking sequence, the passengers saw one other Dollnick shuttle parked alongside four large Sharf craft. The docking bay was also crammed with what looked like space construction equipment and a large number of standard cargo containers netted in place against the deck.

  “Hey, these kid-sized cleats for Dollys aren’t a bad fit,” Jorb said, slipping them over his boots. “Did anybody else forget their nose plugs?”

  Samuel felt for the nose plug locket around his neck, which of course wasn’t there as he hadn’t thought to bring it. Vivian shook her head and passed him a spare pair she had specially brought.

  “I’ve had a chance to adjust my internal atmosphere to an optimal mix for Humans,” Flower said pointedly. “I’m sure it will suffice for all of you, but the air may be a little chilly for a Verlock.”

  “Brought cloak,” Wryle
nth said.

  The shuttle came to a gentle stop, and Jeeves floated into the passenger cabin, followed closely by Paul. A section of the bulkhead folded out, transforming itself into a ramp, and the Stryx led the way out into the colony ship’s docking bay.

  “Why didn’t we board through this door?” Vivian asked.

  “Flower wanted you to appreciate the full scale of her shuttle so she had you board through the worker entrance,” Jeeves responded. “This is the first class ramp, which would be used by a prince and his entourage.”

  “Will you be our tour guide, Jeeves?” Samuel asked.

  “No, I’m taking Paul to look at some of the forbidden parts in engineering, so mum’s the word. Flower will be showing you around herself.”

  As if in response to the Stryx’s words, a series of lights embedded in the deck began blinking in sequence, clearly indicating a path for the students to follow. Jeeves and Paul headed off in a different direction, the human shuffling along on his magnetic cleats behind the floating robot. The rest of the party followed the prescribed path, which soon brought them to a lift tube.

  “Anybody home?” Jorb asked nervously when the capsule door slid shut behind them and sounds that could have been birds waking in the morning began playing.

  “I’m always home,” Flower replied instantly. “Now, where would you like to begin your tour?”

  “The residential deck that is most suitable for humans,” Vivian requested.

  “I will ramp up acceleration slowly so as not to overpower the inferior quality magnetic cleats some of you are wearing,” the Dollnick AI told them, and the students all felt the eerie sensation that their bodies were trying to pull out of their shoes before their weight began increasing rapidly.

  “What was that?” Jorb asked.

  “It’s obvious that you’ve never been on a colony ship,” the Horten girl replied disdainfully. “Flower’s core diameter is much smaller than that of Union Station, so as the capsule accelerates away from the axis, it cancels out the weight we derive from angular acceleration until we’ve moved outward enough decks for the rotational velocity to overcome the effect.”