Work doesn't stop because people are sick, of course... -----     Chapter 11. "You're sure you don't want another column?" Whips asked, studying the various designs he had been contemplating in his omni view. Campbell rubbed his chin, and leaned back in his bed. On his right, Tavana was propped up and trying to pay attention, but it was obvious to Whips that he probably wasn't going to stay the distance. Xander was more alert. Tavana yawned prodigiously but focused on the projections. "Living in one of the columns, I [ Continue reading... ]

Something bad had just happened to the second crew of castaways... ------   Chapter 10. "What's wrong with them?" Pearce Haley asked, a tiny tremor audible in the normally-controlled voice. "And why hasn't it hit me?" Laura shook her head, trying to banish any personal concern. That wasn't easy; anything that could take down the boys from Emerald Maui could presumably get her children, too. "I don't know yet," she said, following the projections and analyses in her omni. "Akira, how are you coming on the programming [ Continue reading... ]

So, time to start the work of a castaway again... ------   Chapter 8. "Hey, Tavana, can I ask you something?" Sakura, a note of hesitation in her voice. The two of them were at a crude shooting range that the Sergeant had designed, located in the long, low scar that LS-5 had left when it crashed. The upcurved walls of the groove left by the careening shuttle provided good cover to minimize or eliminate the chance of wild shots hitting anything or anyone, and it was fairly broad and straight, allowing the Sergeant to place targets [ Continue reading... ]

We finally reach the new stuff!   -----     Part 2: SETTLERS Chapter 7. "All right, everyone," Laura Kimei said, "settle down." Sakura knew this was mostly directed at Francisco and Hitomi; the two youngest members of their unplanned colony were running around, chasing a virtual animal projected on their retinals by Hitomi's omni, which was running some kind of game for them. Looking around the big table in the center of the clearing, she could see most of the others were already seated and paying [ Continue reading... ]

They'd solved the mystery, but there were a couple things left to do...   ------   Chapter 6. Numbers stared at her with all three eyes, one of them flicking back and forth to look at the display near him. "The 'Kryndomerr Resonance'?" "You and I did the work together, but you were the one who first found the pattern that showed something was causing well-maintained ships to disappear, and then did the hard work of deriving the function and building the models that showed that it actually worked the way we [ Continue reading... ]

Time to see what Sue and Numbers had figured out...   -----     Chapter 5. Portmaster Michael Ventrella—newly inducted a month and a half before—gestured for everyone to sit as he entered. "We're not a huge organization, let's not get too formal," he said. "I hereby convene this official Review and Inquiry Report for incident OR-7-FTL, the event which resulted in crippling damage to colony vessel Outward Initiative. Are representatives of all interested parties here?" Captain Toriyama stood. "I am Acting Captain [ Continue reading... ]

Sue and Numbers were on the case... ------     Chapter 4. Sue shoved her hair back and forced it back under the restraining clip. "Well, now I'm even more mystified than I was before." She drifted over to the coffee dispenser, filled the transparent carbonan cup again. Numbers floated nearby, chaotic patterns flickering over his hide. "Yes." "I'd expected to find a flaw somewhere—neglected maintenance, a mistuned coil, a one-in-a-million abrupt coil failure, something. The symptoms sure looked to me like some kind of [ Continue reading... ]