The Sculpted Ship Read online

  She'd hoped to at least have several solid prospects by now, but so far, everything had been marginal, at best. There were fewer ships in her price range than she'd expected. Apparently Anailu wasn't the only spacer who'd decided to go independent recently. Worse, there weren't many Voles available, and those few were priced higher than she'd expected.

  It wasn't worth considering a loan. She knew that ship financiers would not be interested in giving a loan to someone like her: no crew, no family connections, and no collateral. They would be too worried she would skip out on them. The Iris Empire was big, but the rest of the galaxy was even bigger.

  Another option was finding partners to share the cost, but she wasn't interested. Her first captain had told her, "A captain who shares ownership isn't really the captain." If partners were aboard ship, she wouldn't really be in charge. She didn't know anyone on Doran, so if they weren't aboard ship, she'd have the same problems that she'd have getting a loan.

  She wasn't desperate, but she was concerned, so on the second morning, she started her day by reciting an old Aether monk meditation she remembered from her childhood, asking for help. She didn't take it seriously; after all, the Aether was gone. She didn't even recall exactly when she had learned it. It had been a habit for so long that she still found herself saying those words whenever she was in a challenging situation.

  If I can't find the right ship today, this might be a challenging situation.

  As she said the little meditation under her breath, she felt a sense of peace. It was a small feeling, but it was probably why she kept this silly habit. She was focused again on her mission of finding a practical ship. There were still plenty of dealers to visit around Doran City. Surely, one of them would have what she was looking for.

  She spent the morning looking at more prospects, working methodically from lot to lot, not finding any great deals, but not giving up hope yet. After a quick lunch, she headed for the next lot on her list, a place called “Orym's Quality Used Ships.”

  She was driving down the street in that crummy rented ground car. As soon as the lot came into view past a multistory warehouse, she slammed on the brakes. Her jaw dropped, and she forgot to breathe. Right at the front of the lot, there it was: a Tilani Dove-class luxury liner like a great, glorious statue sculpted from alabaster, all sleek and looking like it was going escape velocity just sitting there. The smooth-skinned white Dove was impossible to miss because its long landing legs lifted it above the mundane cargo ships squatting along the front of the lot.

  Anailu remembered the first time she'd seen a Dove in person.

  She'd been twelve or thirteen. She remembered it was a school day, but she'd been in the garden atrium with a few other students. She couldn't remember why they'd been out there, but she remembered being bored – until the ship flew overhead.

  A flash of reflected sunlight had drawn her eye to it, and then she'd found it hard to look away. Starships had never interested her, but somehow this ship was different, with its sleek curves, smooth, shining silver hull. Its body was shaped like a swordblade held flat, with wide delta wings dominating the back half of the ship like some great arrowhead. Though it looked like a cross between a sword and an arrowhead, it seemed built for art, not war. She wasn't sure why, but she was entranced by it. She could still remember watching it, its aerodynamic fuselage looking like a sword blade held flat, flowing smoothly out to large delta wings dominating of the back half of the ship.

  After the beautiful ship had passed from view, she'd watched the sky for several minutes until the teacher had come by. He'd asked her what she had seen. When she'd told him about the amazing, beautiful ship she'd seen, he'd laughed gently and said, “Then maybe you should try and learn more about that ship.” She'd done that. Her interest in that one ship had led her to become interested in how starships worked. That had led her to become a starship engineer, which had led her here to the Outer Rim, and Doran, and “Orym's Quality Used Ships.”

  This Dove wasn't quite the same as the one she'd seen as a kid; the white hull of this ship marked it as one of one hundred 'regular' Doves, not one of the even more rare silver Doves like the one that had flown past her that time.

  This marked only the second time Anailu had seen a Dove of any type, at least in person. With so few ever built, that wasn't so surprising, among the hundreds of worlds of the Iris Empire. Most that still operated were probably in the Core Worlds where luxury ships like Doves typically operated, and Anailu hadn't spent much time in that part of the Empire, at least since she'd graduated from the Academy.

  Her mission forgotten, she pulled into the lot, sparing barely enough attention to park the groundcar near the sales office. She got out of the car. As she stared up at the Dove, a greeter bot trundled up to her, raised its body up to match her height and said, “Greetings, visitor, are you looking or buying? I am authorized to inform you that all our ships are above average in quality.”

  “Yes, I'd like to take a look at your ships, especially this one,” she said casually, pointing at the Dove. She was afraid they might not want to waste time giving her a tour, so she added, “I am a serious buyer.”

  The bot nodded, actuators buzzing quietly, “I recognize your indication that you are a potential buyer. I have informed our chief sales representative, and he is on his way to assist you.”

  She nodded and looked around the lot. She could see that most of the ships here were larger vessels than the type she really was serious about. That was probably why this lot was so far down her list. There were even a pair of huge bulk haulers looming at the back. Actually, they pretty much were the back of the lot. At least none of the ships here looked like the ratty, patched up deathtraps she had seen too many of, even here on Doran.

  If this Dove was for sale, it should have a listing online. She pulled out her comm and retrieved the ad data, and she got a shock: it was way cheaper than she expected. 100K! A Dove ought to be worth several million credits, even used. The list price had been 10 million new, but that was just a base price before any of the added fittings and options. As far as Anailu knew, no Dove was ever sold at the base price. The prospective buyer had to convince the Telani builders they would be a worthy owner. Adding a lot of custom work (and expense) to the order probably helped with the convincing.

  That price didn't make any sense. Surely these people knew what they had? She hunted through the details of the ad, looking for a reason for the low price. She noticed something else odd. The listed cargo cubage – the listed volume of space available for cargo – was way, way more than any Dove should have available, and the passenger capacity was way too low for a Dove. Had it been gutted? It was unthinkable, but was it possible that someone had converted a Dove to carry cargo? Sure enough, it was there in the description – an aftermarket cargo conversion.

  But why?

  Aside from the pure awfulness of chopping up a literal work of art, it just wasn't economical to make a luxury ship into a cargo carrier. Anailu was almost afraid to see the hack job that must have been done on this poor Dove to turn it into a cargo ship.

  But can I turn away from a chance to actually go inside a Dove, even a chopped-up one?

  No. No, I can't.

  Anailu saw a clean-shaven, light-skinned man with short, dark hair step out of the little building at the front of the lot. As far as she could see, he didn't have any obvious mods, cosmetic or otherwise, and he was dressed in typical Doranese business attire – untucked, patterned shirt over plain trousers and classy shoes. He had a broad smile on his face as he approached with his hand extended, saying, “Hello, I'm Orym Facusa. Call me Orym. I understand you're interested in this beautiful ship here.”

  As Anailu accepted his handshake, she decided she wouldn't admit how much she knew about Doves. She would play it cool, on the off chance that this guy somehow didn't know what he had here. “Yes, I'm in the market for a ship. This one caught my eye as I was passing. It's not what I'm looking for, but I thought I'd stop
and take a look.” she replied.

  Facusa looked pleased. “That's great! I really enjoy showing it off, because it's not just a ship, it's a work of art!” He turned toward the ship and gestured expansively. “This is a Telani Dove.” He turned back to Anailu. “Now, I'm sure you know the reputation the Telani have as shipbuilders. Well, even for them, this is a special ship. They built the Dove class for an even more exclusive clientele than usual. They didn't just sell them to anyone with the money – no, they required the customers to apply to buy them. Each applicant had to show some unique 'artistic vision' for how they wanted their ship's interior finished. In the end, they only built one hundred of them. So you can see how rare and special this ship is. It's unlike any other ship you will see on Doran. It also might be the most unique Dove anywhere, but you'll have to decide for yourself if that's a good thing after I show you what I mean by unique.

  “You've already seen how beautiful the exterior is, so let's take a close look inside, OK?”

  The salesman led her up the Dove's boarding ramp, amidships on her port side. As they walked up the ramp toward the main airlock, Mr. Facusa continued. “We take great pride in the quality of our ships. All the regular ships we sell are fully operational. We aim to have the best used ships on the planet.” He continued more quietly, now with a bit of a conspiratorial tone. “However, I do have to admit that, unlike the rest of my ships, this one does have some real problems.”

  “Sure, sure,” she replied, trying to keep her calm. Here she was, about to go on board an actual Dove, and she had to keep her excitement hidden. Best not to talk too much. If she got too excited, he might not take her seriously, no matter what ship she was interested in. It was bad enough that he undoubtedly thought she was too young to be buying a ship.

  The salesman touched the key dongle to the hatch, which opened silently. As they stepped across the threshold, Anailu thought back to the Dove deck plans she'd studied so many times. Past the main airlock would be the entry lounge. She knew it would have unique artistic patterning on the floor, walls and ceiling, probably accompanied by matching custom furniture, like every Dove. Orym led Anailu through the open airlock into what she expected to be the swanky, customized entry lounge...only to find it was a basic, utilitarian compartment. The space was the right shape and size, but the floor and walls were just plain durasteel plates, like you'd see on any cargo ship. There were simple folding seats built into the walls, the type you might see on any cargo ship. Anailu was confused and even though she was no art connoisseur, she had to admit she was a little disappointed.

  “As you'll see, this ship has a pretty straightforward layout. From the main entry, here, we go forward to the three cargo holds.” As he spoke, he led them forward.

  What did he say? The cargo holds?

  They stepped into a large, open compartment. Durasteel plate walls and floors; cargo attachment points; utility power plugs? Yeah, this looked like a cargo hold, alright. But on a Dove?

  “Of course this is an aftermarket modification, since the Dove class was designed as a pure passenger transport. As you'll see, though, it was a very professional job. Excellent fit and finish, a cargo handling crane, and this deck – solid!” He stamped heavily on the durasteel decking, making only a dull thud. Whoever had done this, they hadn't skimped on the decking. It was definitely built to handle a lot of mass.

  “Small cargo can be brought up the ramp, where we came in, but the main cargo lift is under the nose. That's functional, but I've got a sweet little shuttle parked under the Dove's nose that's blocking it, so we'll just skip it for now. Incidentally, if you're in the market for a shuttle, I'd be happy to show you that one. I just got it in last week. It's in beautiful shape, and I can give you a great deal on it.

  “Anyway, you can see the crane above us, there. It can translate all the way from the cargo lift in the nose, back here to Bay 3. You can see it's equipped with both grabbers and tractor emitters. It's very heavy duty. It'll move some serious mass!”

  Orym was right. Sure, it was just durasteel plates and utility lighting, but the fit and finish of the cargo bays was better than she expected of an aftermarket refit. There were a few scratches in the deck, but not as many as you'd find in the typical used ship.

  They went back through the entry area, and continued into the aft half of the ship. This part of the main deck was familiar to Anailu because it followed the standard Dove layout, and she'd memorized that years ago. He showed her the medical bay, galley, laundry, passenger staterooms, engineering, and even the vehicle bay all the way at the stern. Everything seemed to be in decent shape, though largely untouched for thirty years. What was odd was how the salesman kept saying things that didn't help sell the ship: “The medical equipment needs calibrated.” “The bedding is musty.” “The drive compartments have no space to work in.” None of this surprising or unexpected, but it was like he was making a special effort to point out all the ship's shortcomings. Even so, all those issues were nothing compared to the next bomb he dropped.

  “Sad to say, the drives are totally non-functional. There's components missing, which my mechanic says are proprietary 'keystone' parts.”

  OK, that's really bad.

  Orym was continuing, “...so we can't make replacements, and while you can order them from the Telani, if you don't have a core to exchange, they charge an arm and a leg for them. The hyperdrive has the same problem – everything that's there looks great, but without the keystone components, it's disabled. The engineering spaces are so compact that replacing whole systems wouldn't be economical either. If you wanted to, you'd have to tear the ship up to do it, and the results would be ugly and inefficient – maybe even dangerous. I won't let that happen to a work of art like a Dove. Even though this one's been modified, I'm sure you'll agree it's still beautiful.

  “Yeah, the whole thing's quite a mystery. At some point, this ship had to fly into to the Doran starport, but the missing parts seem to have vanished after that.” He shrugged. “They're not at a junkyard, not at a pawn shop, nowhere. I keep hoping they'll turn up some day. It's a real pity; I'm sure this used to be a great ship.

  “Now the shield generators are a little different problem. They're not disabled, they're just completely missing. I know what you're thinking: civilian shield generators are standard units sized for the ship's displacement, and in most ships, that would be true. But as usual, the Telani did things their own way. They used their own compact, sealed-unit design that drops into these compartments in the floor. There's a backup microshield, but you know that doesn't stop much. I suppose you could jury rig an adapter for a standard shield generator, but you'd lose a lot of the space in here.”

  It didn't make any sense, but it seemed like he was actively trying to avoid selling the ship.

  But why would a salesman do that?

  He didn't have any specific problems to point out on the bridge and the upper deck, but he took time to point out how little cargo and passenger capacity there was compared to a typical commercial ship. Anailu was amazed by how spacious both the bridge and the captain's cabin were. She'd seen holographic reproductions, of course, but it was different seeing them in person. The captain's cabin had four rooms, and passenger seating on the bridge? Nobody did that but ships too small for a separate compartment!

  The tour had finally reached its last stop, the aft lounge. “You can reconfigure the furniture and displays for a variety of uses – dining, games, fitness, entertainment. The system's very sophisticated. And look at the size of this viewport, eh? You usually only see a huge transparency like this on one of the big luxury liners.” The entire back half of wall and ceiling of the lounge was a single massive curved transparency. He was right, few shipbuilders went to the expense and difficulty of such a large viewport, but it was standard for Doves. It was impressive to actually see it, though.

  Mr. Facusa led Anailu toward the viewport. It was almost like they were standing outside the ship. He continued, “Its a great view
. You can see most every ship in my yard from here. You know, every other ship I have for sale is fully operational? Even when I bought this one, I really believed we would get her going. At least she's still nice to look at.” Orym sounded truly disappointed.

  He returned to full sales mode. “Now I'll admit, I don't have any other ships quite this fancy, but I do have some that come close, and I think my prices will surprise you. Of course, I don't put my best offers online. So, before you saw our beauty here, what sort of ship were you really looking for?”

  Whether or not this guy was trying to sell this ship, Anailu had this niggling little feeling telling her she should take a closer look at the ship's systems. She wasn't sure if Mr. Facusa would allow that. Maybe she could wangle some 'alone time'?

  She replied, “I came here to buy a practical ship, but this – she's beautiful. Before we look at your other ships, would you mind if I spent some more time here, aboard this one? I hate to admit it, but I did see one of these ships as a kid and for a few years after that, it was my dream to fly one. I'd love to bring up the bridge systems, see what she was like when she was still flying.”

  Orym smiled slowly, “I thought maybe you appreciated her more than the average spacer. Sure, here's the key. Take your time, I'll be down there in the office. You get your fill of it, and then come find me. Then I'll show you some ships that are practical, economical and in prime condition.”

  Chapter 3: A Crazy, Impractical Plan

  Alone on the bridge, Anailu didn't feel quite ready to sit in the traditional pilot's seat, much less the captain's chair. She went to the co-pilot's seat and slid into it. She ran her hand along the edge of the control console, caressing it. It was as smooth and streamlined as the outside of the ship. There were very few marks or scuffs. On closer inspection, it didn't look brand new, but it didn't appear to have seen much use.