[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.and maybe it was.They continued toward the next hatch, and an odd thought struck him: This ship, even with its impressive materials and undefined light sources, was not a true example of what the Taalu could do — or, at least, could’ve done in their heyday.Callin had told them that they’d been on the run, hiding from the Verauns for decades, their resources so limited they couldn’t construct proper suspended animation equipment, a technology that was clearly known to them.So this ship, while amazing by Earth standards, only represented what the Taalu were able to scrape together while in exile.As if reading Steve’s mind, Callin said, “This probably isn’t the majesty you imagined.” His voice carried a tone Steve couldn’t quite name.Embarrassment? No, not quite, but something close to that.“It’s—” Steve began.But Callin continued, “Jere used to tell me about the starship he commanded before the war, conveying missions to other worlds as a proud emissary of the Peace Council — he was just a Lord Commander in those days, not a Lord like I’ve always known him.knew him.That ship was larger than our current fleet combined, its cargo bay immense.” He half-grunted under his breath, reminding Steve of Alan.“That ship was lost when the Verauns invaded.They used that very cargo bay to smuggle saboteurs to Taal.”Steve glanced back at Lincoln, who shook his head — he didn’t know what to say to that, either.Perhaps sensing the awkward moment he had created, Callin said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up.That act of.” He swallowed, his jaw clenching visibly, before settling for repeating the same term.“.sabotage has been on my mind since you discovered the beacon.Anyway, this ship must be less grandiose than you had envisioned.”“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Powerhouse assured him.“This puts our space shuttles to shame.”Steve added, with regret, “And we don’t even use those anymore.”Callin looked back in open surprise.“Really? Well, perhaps we can get your space program moving forward again.”Steve grinned from ear to ear.Oh, yeah, these people rock.When they reached the next hatch, Callin paused before it to enter a code into a number pad that looked as simple as its Terran counterparts — to Steve’s surprise, he realized they had designed the keys with a series of countable dots! Steve himself could use this keypad without needing a translation (assuming he knew the correct codes, of course).The most notable difference was that it had sixteen keys, with 0-through-7 on the top section and 2-through-9 on the bottom section, and an amber LED-looking light between the two.So, he pondered, two through seven get repeated for some reason.Okay, so maybe I couldn’t use it that easily.After punching in a half-dozen numbers, Callin held down the 0 button for several seconds, and the amber light switched over to a soft grey that blended with the surrounding walls.As the door swung inward, Callin explained, as if in afterthought, “I’ve commanded the hatch to remain open so Ensign Pendler can reach you, as promised.”“Sure,” Steve replied, craning his neck to see into the next room.He could hear Larr’s voice, speaking in the Taalu language, and one— wait, two other unfamiliar voices.Callin stepped through the hatch, then gestured for Steve and Lincoln to follow after him.Smiling, showing some pride in Refuge One for the first time, he announced, “Welcome to our bridge.”Whereas the overall ship and the inner corridor had been smaller than Steve had envisioned, the bridge was larger, at least in breadth; it had to be a good twenty yards across.Rather than having clearly defined stations, like the helm or a captain’s chair, the Taalu bridge struck Steve as being more of a command center — granted, that was the ultimate purpose of any bridge, but this looked something like NASA’s mission control.The presumed stations were broken up into descending rows on either side, with a center aisle raking down to a huge wraparound viewport about fifteen yards in front of them (Steve had been curious if the veil would affect outward visibility; that did not seem to be the case).The ceiling sloped downward toward the fore of the ship at a sharper angle than the deck, matching the hull’s pyramidal design.“Wow,” Steve said.“Yeah.” Powerhouse agreed.The layout was broken only by a pool-table-sized console directly to their far left, here at the back of the bridge, but the surface of the console (if that’s what it indeed was) was dark at the moment.In fact, as he took a second look around, Steve took a second look around, he realized that almost all of the stations were dark; Larr’s and the other voices were coming from closer to the forward viewport.“Grand Lord?” Larr called out.“Here,” Callin called back as he led the humans down the raked aisle [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]