DIASPORA PRIME

Date April 4 2017.
Author Palantir palantir@diasporatales.tech
Subject Diaspora Prime.

The author retains copyright (2012) to this story. Reproducing this story for distribution without the author's permission is a violation of that copyright.
This story is fiction.

Thank you Nifty for the opportunity to post this story.

This story is first of the TALES OF THE TERRAN DIASPORA.

Wirrin shares his life with two friends on one of the great space habitats.

DIASPORA PRIME Part 33.

Next Part

"What are they doing?"

Thom's day had involved taking the Comet to K74 to see what was happening. The situation was very interesting with the ten newly completed Cadre ships and twenty more almost finished and he was explaining what he'd seen.

"Collecting asteroids. Big ones. They've brought back five so far and two more are on the way. The ones that have arrived are parked close to the ship construction sites."

"How big?"

"They're all about a cubic kilometre and it looks like they're meant to be the source material for a whole new round of ship construction."

"More ships? Ridiculous!"

"I know, and it's crazier than you think because Quambi tells us that when the other twenty are finished the plans show that every construction site will keep working."

"A total of sixty Cadre ships? Thom, that's scary."

"I know. It fits with the idea that they want to be big in the solar system though, and having Quambi-K is speeding things up for them."

"If they like everything big it's a wonder they don't go for a monster class of ship, like over a kilometer in length?"

"If they knew enough about engines I'm sure they would but they still have troubles with the ones they use now. Look how interested they were in the Freedom drives."

"Did you find out anything else about them while you were there?"

"Remember those weird cradle things we saw them constructing on the stealth exercise day? Well they're a way to connect to other ships or asteroids and move them around quickly. They're way faster than normal asteroid collectors. One of the five asteroids was from so far off it would have taken three weeks with a standard tug but because of its big engine the Cadre ship did it in less than a day."

"Sounds like we should put those things on a few of the Comets."

"No way. Ordinary asteroid collectors do the job perfectly. All you need is proper planning."

"Did you talk much to Quambi while you were close?"

"Yes, he's been doing all sorts of stuff. He was talking to the Freedom AIs about when they were cut off by that jamming we couldn't get through and he's been building extra sneaky communication channels to try and make sure it never happens to him. The big thing he's done though is build his special pico-factories into the other two backup areas so he can do anything from any one of them."

"That's a good idea. That should have happened right from the start."

Wirrin knew about this.

"Not really. The probability of him being discovered is practically zero so there was no need for extra pico-factories, and AIs work on probabilities a lot more than we do."

"So why have they changed their minds?"

"I don't know, but it was Quambi and the companion AIs who made the decision this time."

"Why did you go so close to K74 when Quambi sends us all that information anyway?"

"Training. We had our special group of pilots and they need real experience."

"Does that mean it wasn't you controlling the Comet?"

"I did take over for the final approach because it's a bit tricky with all the extra activity they've got going on."

"These pilots must be getting like experts themselves with all the training you give them."

"Me? I hardly train them at all. Just special finishing off stuff."

***

"Every single pod has its own ranger? Where did they all come from?"

Wirrin was amazed at how everything seemed be running perfectly only five days after their return from Earth.
The previous evening Calen and Sonic had related some of the logistics of the dolphin re-settlement program, outlining its magnitude, and extolling the brilliance of Turaku's planning.
One hundred and twelve reaches occupied with an average of four or five pods each, and another nineteen allocated to the seven hundred and eighty-five independent males. These males were an unexpected outcome of the trip and a new factor in the running of the reaches. According to Calen they should have realised that appealing to the idea of adventure and describing bountiful food sources would be an especially powerful attraction to independent, maturing young dolphins.
Luckily, the number of Attunga reaches coming online had been compounding recently with the completion of large new sections of Attunga's dolphin level, and despite the sudden influx there were still reaches to spare and many, many more close to completion.
Calen found Thom's question rather amusing.

"Thom, there are thousands and thousands of people who want to be dolphin rangers. Ever since Meeting Day when Sonic spoke to the Habitats the number of people applying to work with dolphins has gone crazy. You've seen the trainee rangers at the dolphinarium."

"But they're not proper rangers yet and I don't remember seeing enough for all these reaches anyway."

"Of course you've seen them. They've been there since the first Earth dolphins arrived. All the rangers on Warrakan have three or four trainees assigned to help them at different times during the week and that's been happening ever since the Warrakan reaches opened. They might not be officially qualified but Turaku expects they'll do an excellent job. And he'll be watching and available if they need any help or advice anyway, the same as Yajala does for all the Warrakan rangers."

Wirrin shared Thom's impression, but of course Calen was right. Every Warrakan reach you went to was buzzing with humans on their skimmers or active in other ways and when you added them in an overall picture it really did add up to hundreds of people.
Thom was nodding his own realisation.

"The new rangers must be extra excited at all these dolphins arriving then?"

"Everyone is. ...What do you mean?"

"Well, most of them would have had to wait years before they could have their own pod to work with. How often do new pods start up on Warrakan?"

Wirrin started an Info check but Calen already knew.

"Our expected birth rate for the next six or seven years is around 500, so that actually converts to about twenty-five new pods a year."

"And exactly how many pods are there on Attunga?"

"... It's not exact because they are still sorting themselves out, but it's way over four hundred."

Thom and Calen both gave Wirrin the querying look.

"...Calen's right. It's not final, but so far 478 rangers have pod assignments."

"Wow! Nearly 500 ...That means some of the new rangers would have had to wait twenty years for a pod. That's amazing. They must be extra keen to work with dolphins if they knew it could be that long a wait when they joined up."

It wouldn't have been twenty years. The birthrate would increase as the dolphin numbers grew, but Thom certainly had a point.

"They are keen Thom. They know this is the start of something special and they want to be in on it."

"You mean the Enhancement program, or Attunga dolphins in general?"

"Both. Attunga's suddenly got 9000 dolphins who will never be Enhanced so they'll be working with them for fifty or sixty years while the Enhanced side of things starts to build. It will be slow at first then faster with each new generation."

"Dingoes! The doctor must be working like crazy. Have all these dolphins had their health checks yet?"

"The standard ones got started on the Comets and then all finished in the first couple of days. Now they're onto the follow-ups and developing individual healthbots."

"Are many of them needing follow-ups?"

Follow-ups was Calen's term for the treatment of any immediate health problem which the initial health check uncovered, like the liver weakness Peggy from Martin's pod had suffered.

"Many? Almost all of them Thom. They're nearly all wild dolphins who've never had any kind of check up ever."

"That can't be right? They've nearly all got something wrong?"

"Natural things mostly, like parasites and viruses and traces of toxic substances. Earth's oceans aren't a controlled environment like our reaches, and they're still recovering from the pollution times."

"The oceans looked good at all the pick-up places we went to."

"They are, compared to what they used to be. These dolphins are tougher than ours and when their problems are cleared up they'll be incredibly healthy and active."

"Tougher? No way. Our dolphins are bigger and stronger than all of them."

"Not that kind of tough. These dolphins have naturally fought all their life to survive through hunger and sickness and predation without any help from humans. Our dolphins don't face anything like that."

This was interesting and Wirrin thought it might be tied in with Sonic's shark reach idea.

"You think our dolphins have it too easy then?"

"I don't, but Sonic talks about it with Yajala sometimes."

Calen suddenly swerved his skimmer in a new direction. Wirrin and Thom automatically followed, and looking ahead, saw a group of other skimmers in the distance.

"Sonic might be with this pod. I bet I see him first."

***

"Three and a half days? That's a long trip."

'Pirramar is happy for you to go. Because you'll miss some of his work he'll arrange another challenge program for your spare time.'

No he wouldn't. Sonic was making that part up because Wirrin would have to miss out on a full day of the AI studies he was always talking enthusiastically about.

"I'll make up some challenges for you then, and we can do them together."

Sonic made a happy sound that Wirrin was now included in their next adventure, his description for the trip he'd researched and planned, and was just now informing them of. Calen would automatically be going, and so would Thom because the Comet would have to accompany Sonic. Wirrin was the only one who needed special arrangements and if Pirramar had already said he was happy then Sonic had obviously already cleared the way.

"Hang on. I want to know where we're going that'll take so long. We could have another adventure on Earth in that amount of time."

Thom was referring to everyone's eagerness to return to the underwater ice caverns at the Antarctic.

'Travel will take twenty-one hours if we make good speed Thom, and we can use the rest of the time for exploring. I found this adventure in a distant place on our asteroid belt.'

A holo of a strange looking asteroid flicked into view.

"What is that?"

The trio were staring at a convoluted mass of rock and ore.

'I searched for traces of comet collisions and I found this. It will be a good adventure.'

"That thing is an asteroid?"

'A remnant of an even bigger one.'

Wirrin linked to the holo, called up the information Sonic had collected, and scanned through while Thom and Calen stared at the startling shape.

"That thing is 256 kilometers across. If it's a remnant the original must have been huge."

"256? Dingoes! That main hole we can see must be enormous."

'It is forty-seven kilometers across, and it might be the path where a comet penetrated. We will explore and find out how deep it goes.'

"Wow! What about those other holes then? Some of them look like volcanic craters ...Except you can't have volcanoes on asteroids ....Maybe smaller comets made them? ...That's the weirdest looking asteroid I'd ever seen. ...When do we leave?"

Sonic whacked his tail excitedly on the pool surface and gave his special laugh as he drenched the three of them.

'Seventeen days. ...And I will fly your ship all the way.'

***

"It still doesn't feel right, no matter what's he says. It's his adventure and he should be here."

Wirrin and Calen totally agreed. They'd all protested for a postponement but Sonic insisted the expedition to the mystery asteroid should go ahead as organised.
Each evening in the pool for their relax time they'd planned and discussed some aspect of the trip and Sonic's keen anticipation had been a big part of the enjoyment and interest they all felt. Finding out just a few hours before they were to set off that all the pod leaders for the Enhanced dolphins needed him at a meeting of some kind had seemed like a minor setback which would mean delaying the departure for a few hours but then word came back that the meeting would continue the next day and Sonic told them to go without him.
Calen said he'd stay with Sonic, because it must be something important, whatever it was, and that meant Wirrin and Thom didn't see much point in going.
Sonic overruled that, and using his definite tone, said he expected Calen to be his eyes and ears. Calen couldn't say no then and in a somewhat subdued manner the trip had got under way.

"I know why he's made us go. It's because if we wait for him to be free we mightn't ever get there. It's over five months since he said adventures were going to be a regular part of his life."

Calen gave a resigned snort of agreement.

"You're right. He's just too busy and we can't stop him. Yajala's been trying to organise him to have activity days that match up with ours but something always happens and it's always too important to ignore."

"Well, if we have to wait another five months before he can come anywhere with us we won't be going anywhere either, because that's getting close to the move to Titania and he'll be busier than ever then."

That got nods all round.

"Hey, at least we can take him on half day adventures to the moons once we get there. He'll be able to fit that in."

There was silence for a while. Calen played with the viewing screens but they were too deep into space to see anything but stars. Wirrin superimposed a position reference on the proposed course for him, but since they'd only been travelling for half an hour it looked like they'd hardly moved.
Thom was concentrating. What was he doing?
...Hmm! Why was he running a full diagnostic on the engines? Whoo! 23.7 G?

"Thom, why are we going so fast? Can the engines cope?"

Thom's expression was now one of satisfaction.

"They're showing a hundred percent perfection Wirrin. Sonic said we'd need to push so that's what I'm doing. We're now a full 2G faster than any of the Comets and this is still the best ship in the solar system."

Calen twisted to look at Thom.

"Is this the highest acceleration ever?"

"For a ship with human level grav-compensators it is, and ours are operating at complete max. I've been a little bit faster but only for short times."

"How long will it take to get to K137 if we stay at this rate?"

Thom activated one of his controls.

"Another nineteen and a half hours with an error margin of fourteen minutes."

"Where does the error margin come from? You always know the precise times."

"It's because we don't know it's exact location. All the information Sonic found is thirty-four years old so I'm sure there'll be a variation in its predicted position. We won't really know till we're in scanning range."

Wirrin had done his own search to see what he could find but come up with the exact same data as Sonic. It turned out to be from a Mars initiated robotic survey for improved knowledge about the size and distribution of objects in the asteroid belt, and the only existing data about K137. That was frustrating, but, in a way, intriguing as well, with the prospect that they'd be the first people to see it. They'd started calling it the mystery asteroid and Thom kept stating that they were going to find a cosmic dragon.

"It'd be funny if we get there and can't find it."

"Calen, we'll find it. You can't not find something that big."

"If another comet hit it, or it collided with something else in the last thirty-four years we mightn't. Maybe we should turn off now and head for Mars instead. That's the closest place and we definitely know where it is."

Thom gave a look as if his not being able to find K137 was a loopy idea. Wirrin did a quick check.

"Mars isn't the closest. There's a habitat called Ascension about five hours away and Mars is seven."

"That's one of the early habitats. It's a big one isn't it?"

"Yes. It started off as a spinner then converted to grav fields. It's got 4.8 billion people."

Spinners were a type of habitat constructed before the development of directed grav fields and worked by rotating a series of concentric cylindrical structures to produce the equivalent of normal Earth gravity. Each layer had to spin at a slightly different rate and that made them very complex.

"Five hours? Can we go past it on the way to K137?"

The trio exchanged glances, their interest piqued. Thom did some calculations then shook his head.

"It's too much of a course change and would add an extra four hours even without slowing down for a proper look. The only sensible way to see it would be to forget about K137 and I don't want to do that."

None of them did, so for a while they contented themselves with looking at holos about Ascension which Wirrin pulled from the ship's general database.

***

"It's easy. You won't have to do anything except wake me up if the automatics do something unusual."

Calen was feeling weird about being in sole charge of the ship for the next six hours while Wirrin and Thom had a sleep. Not too weird, because the automatics were completely capable of reliably controlling the whole journey if need be, but Thom, being Thom, preferred having someone on watch, as he called it, all the time.
Wirrin would officially take the second six hours though it wouldn't be that long because Thom would never sleep for twelve while the ship was travelling. Wirrin would, any time he got the chance, and he'd definitely sleep the last several hours of approach till Thom and Calen woke him.

"So how am I supposed to know what's unusual? We could be heading for Pluto and I wouldn't know the difference."

"You don't have to. I've set it up so all you have to watch is that bank of blue panels and if any of them turn red the automatics will tell you to panic."

"What?"

"Calen, they won't turn red. The ship systems are too clever to let anything go wrong."

***

In the strange quietness and solitude as the ship made its way through deep space, Wirrin, settled at his console for his turn on watch, contemplated the familiar constellations and stars shining from their ebony background. He smiled as he recalled the ancient idea that they were holes in the vault of heaven, revealing the light beyond and letting water through to fall as rain on the earth.
Calen would be asleep by now and Thom wouldn't wake for another two or three hours, so he had the ship to himself. This calm and solitude was strange and Wirrin suddenly realised he couldn't recall ever being in quite the same situation. He watched and thought for a while then felt like doing something.
Hmm! Thom's ability with the pico-factory was ok at a basic level but to get the best from it needed either special knowledge or an AI. Well, there was no AI but Wirrin definitely had the expertise. All he needed was more familiarisation with this particular system.
For nearly two hours he applied himself. Focused intently on mastering the complex range of capabilities available to the pico-factory, the awareness that something wasn't right took a moment to register. One of the panels was glowing red!
What? That couldn't be? Thom had said the panels were really a token and the automatics would handle everything.
Wirrin was about to link to the panel to try and find out what was happening when a message appeared on the visuals directly in front of him. The automatics were making sure they had his attention.

ALERT! ALERT! PRIORITY MESSAGE INCOMING.

HOLO ACTIVATION REQUIRED.

Wirrin leapt from his seat, rushed to the open door of the little cabin where Thom and Calen were sleeping, and watching in case the holo started, yelled for them to wake up.

"Quick, the alarm's gone red. Get out here quick."

Thom lifted his head so Wirrin raced back to the console and with questions racing through his mind, activated the communication mode. Taking one look he shouted again.

"Thom! It's a priority message from Pirramar. I'm starting it now."

DIASPORA PRIME Part 34.

Prev Part

Next Part

A serious looking Pirramar appeared.

"Thom, in consultation with Habitat Security I'm requesting you make an immediate course change to the coordinates now locked into your flight databanks.
Two days ago seven Cadre ships rendezvoused with a large asteroid and started moving it on a trajectory towards three other ships which were stationed near an even larger asteroid. For the last few weeks K74 has been active in moving asteroids with their Cadre ships, and while most have been brought and parked in close proximity to construction sites, several seem to have been used for experimental purposes and initially we thought this was an exercise in using multiple ships for far faster movement.
Ten hours ago the last possible turnaround point for a termination with the second asteroid passed with no sign of deceleration. This lifted our attention because the accuracy of the navigation now indicated the possibility of a collision. That possibility steadily firmed to certainty, leading us to believe the exercise might be to aimed at testing the results of a high-speed asteroid collision.
Just seven minutes before I sent this message the speeding asteroid started a course change, which if continued, will bring it in our general direction. There is a critical time horizon defined by the rising possibility of our habitats being targeted, and your ship is the only one logistically able to gather more information."

Targeted! Wirrin's heart caught at the word but Pirramar was continuing and he mustn't miss out on anything.

"The asteroid in question has a diameter of over seven kilometers and the steady acceleration of 3.4 G indicates a joint effort by four Cadre ships working at the high end of their sustainable capability..."

There was a gasp from Thom who was now sitting at his control console and the view of stars in the visuals moved as the ship began its course change.

"...and our best interpretation of the attenuated signals we are receiving confirms this by showing a convoy of three vessels. To answer any questions you have, this message is accompanied by all our current information and analysis. I will speak again in fifteen minutes, after you take action and build your understanding of the situation."

Pirramar disappeared and a puzzled looking Calen moved close to Wirrin.

"What's going on? Why is Pirramar telling us about K74 collecting an asteroid?"

He'd missed most of the transmission. Wirrin looked to Thom who was in a better position to give an answer but he was totally active with his console.

"It's not going to K74. There's a possibility they might be taking it to our habitats and Pirramar wants Thom to investigate because no one else can."

"Investigate? Is it close to K137?"

"Forget about K137. We're not going there any more. Thom changed our course a few seconds before you came in. Pirramar's made it a priority."

"For an asteroid? How could that be a priority? We've got all sorts of protections against them."

"It's no longer just an asteroid."

This was a serious sounding Thom speaking.

"With the speed it's built it has the potential to be catastrophically dangerous. I've looked at Pirramar's data and it shows continuous acceleration since they picked it up and for something that size it's travelling at an enormous speed."

"Enormous? It can't be as fast as us."

"No, but it's been accelerating for. ...fifty-six hours. It's ...Um! ...It's close to our speed. Just under 7000 kilometers per second and we're just over."

"But we'll soon catch up to it won't we?"

"If it was directly ahead we'd match up in about two hours but the big direction change reduces our effective speed and makes it over five hours before we're close."

"Five hours? Couldn't the Comet reach it in that time? The Security AI could take over and change its course."

"Think Calen. The Comet would be travelling in the opposite direction and they'd pass each other so quickly they'd be out of range in a microsecond. Then the Comet would have to reverse direction to chase it. That would take...Um... About fifteen hours. Look at this."

A holo image showing the relative positions of the habitats and the moving asteroid sprang into view.

"We have nine Comets including the companion ones with Quambi and these are the most recent positions I have data for."

Nine blue lights winked into existence, seven close to the three habitats and the other two in their usual position near K74.

"I'll code in the optimum intersection paths for all of them and we'll watch what happens."

Wirrin was totally impressed with Thom's rapid set up and demonstration of the possibilities for each vessel which showed clearly why Pirramar wanted them involved. Well, it was the strategic kind of planning he trained for.

"See. That's why it has to be us."

Calen nodded. The visual representation made it obvious.

"I can't believe they're actually aiming at our habitats. No one would do something like that."

Wirrin couldn't either.

"I know, but the course change makes it a possibility. I expect that at some stage the course will steady and we'll know where it's really going. What worries me is why they made it look like a collision with that other asteroid for two days and then suddenly changed. It's as if they were purposefully misleading anyone who was watching."

Thom was right. It did have a devious feel to it.

"It doesn't make sense anyway. The multi-spectrum beams on the Comets and the habitats would just vaporise it like they did that ship on earth."

Wirrin watched Thom shake his head in a very negative manner.

"It's too big Calen. WAY too big. The beams would have practically no effect in the short time they'd be in range."

"So what about the shell we've been building round Attunga? That's nearly finished and it's the strongest material ever made. The same with Warrakan's surface."

Wirrin answered this time.

"They're not designed for anything with that combination of size and speed. There's an enormous amount of kinetic energy involved which would all be released instantaneously."

Calen looked shocked.

"Are you saying there's nothing our habitats can do to stop it?"

"Not that I know of."

Thom knew though.

"They'll move. I expect the big drives are probably already working, because that way at least two of the habitats will be safe."

"Why not all three?"

Wirrin asked because he thought it would be hard to collide with something deliberately moving out of the way.

"If the asteroid wasn't being controlled it would be easy. It would just fly straight past, but it is being guided and with over 3G to work with it's far more responsive than the single G the habitats can use. You could say the habitats are three times as unwieldy as the controlled asteroid, the same as this ship is six times as agile as the asteroid."

"It's not actually moving directly towards our habitats is it?"

Thom worked with his console.

"Not at the moment. It'll pass by with millions of kilometres to spare on the course it has at the moment, and there'll be nothing to worry about if it stays with it. The trouble is it's been changing. Pirramar's data shows two small changes since he first contacted us."

"Small changes? Could that be good?"

"Maybe, but I can't be sure because they're both just enough to keep the habitats as a possible destination, and both small enough to be minor course corrections for somewhere else."

"Somewhere else? Can you check for other possible destinations?"

"I already have and nothing stands out in the time frame we're worried about."

"What about longer term?"

Thom gave Wirrin a curious look then worked with his console.

"Dingoes! You're right! That last correction makes Jupiter a possible destination. It'll need more course changes to line it up exactly. ...but why would they want to go there?"

"...Maybe it is a collision experiment and they want to hit the black spot."

"Interesting idea Calen, but I don't think so. It would hardly have any effect even if it is travelling so fast."

"It must have some effect. If it hit the Earth it would destroy the whole atmosphere."

"Well it would where it impacted but Jupiter's so enormous there's no comparison."

"What about the moons? Could they be taking it to one of them?"

"I suppose, but what for? ...Has K74 got connections with any of the habitats there?"

"Not from the big search I did. Their main outside connection was the Mars Polar Habitat. There were also some semi-directed habitats on earth but they haven't had anything to do with K74 since the quarantining."

"How many habitats are there round Jupiter?"

Wirrin knew the main ones but he had to check for a full list.

"... Seven on the moons and three space ones. Callisto is the biggest and the smallest is a scientific community on Metis."

"Metis? I've heard of that."

"It's the closest moon to Jupiter. Only 128,000 km away."

For the next while the trio swapped ideas and talked over what questions and responses to send to Pirramar. With the distance causing a communication time-lag it meant trying to figure both sensible questions and likely answers.

"I've found it!"

The yell grabbed Wirrin and Calen's total attention but to hear the details they had to wait till Thom's concentrated flurry of activity slacked off.

"My scanners just locked on the asteroid a few thousand kilometres from where Pirramar's data says it would be. I think it's made another course change which Warrakan hasn't picked up yet. I've started tracking but we're not close enough yet for my information to be as accurate as Pirramar's. In another forty seconds I'll have enough motion information for reasonable trajectory calculations and I'll be able to confirm whether this new course is taking it to Jupiter or not. I've also found the three Cadre ships which were waiting at the big asteroid where Pirramar thought there was going to be a collision. I thought they might join the convoy but my calculations show they're heading for K74."

"Why aren't you using Pirramar's data if it's more accurate?"

"I'm watching it closely, but it's way behind ours so it'll be another ten minutes before I can start checking them against each other."

Wirrin smiled at Calen's blank look and Thom's fake look of exasperation.

"At the moment we're nine light minutes away from the asteroid and the habitats are twelve, so we get the information sooner."

Calen pounced.

"That's only three minutes difference. You said ten."

"... And we're nearly seven light minutes from the habitats so the relay brings it up to ten."

"Ah. ...Right!"

Thom went active again.

"From this latest data the Jupiter system is definitely the target. To refine it any further I'll need..."

Pirramar shimmied into view.

"Thom, our Habitat Security thank you for your immediate action, and with your current surprisingly high rate of acceleration we calculate a rendezvous in four hours and twelve minutes. Your query about the possibility of the Jupiter destination has been examined and is consistent with the last registered course change. This change however still maintains our habitats as possible targets and will continue to do so for another fifty-eight minutes. With this in mind we have initiated a number of precautionary measures which are now detailed on your secondary viewing screen for perusal and comment. Quambi has been unable to locate any information about why the asteroid is being moved and our direct requests to K74 have met with the usual wall of silence. I will continue to update you every fifteen minutes or as needed."

The holo shimmered off and the trio looked at each other.

"He didn't really tell us much this time."

"Well, it sounds like they don't know anything new themselves. I wonder what Yajala has told Sonic and the dolphins."

"We'll ask as part of our next transmission or it might be part of the details Pirramar sent. We'll look through those first because it sounded like they want our ideas about them. Solution Brain ideas most of... What's with the look Wirrin?"

"Thom, can we go any faster?"

Thom and Calen stared in puzzlement. The ship was travelling at record thrust and they all knew it.

"No, you know we can't. ...Why?"

"My brain tells me we should. I'm having bad thoughts."

There was no comeback or Solution Brain jibe. Thom and Calen could see that Wirrin had become deadly serious.

"Pirramar just said that Quambi can't find out why the asteroid is being moved. The only way that could happen is if it's been organised in the blocked areas and without any orders being transmitted electronically. That tells me the Rogue's involved, and that means we have to plan for the worst."

Wirrin looked Thom directly in the eye.

"I think it might be up to us to stop this asteroid."

After a moment of silence Thom gave a snort of disbelief.

"I know you don't mean the asteroid itself. Wirrin, there are seven Cadre ships there. We wouldn't have a hope."

"We mightn't have a choice. Look, four of them aren't manoeuverable because they're connected to the asteroid with those cradle things. You could stealth in and disable one of the convoy before they even knew we were there, and I know you can defend yourself against two of them."

"It wouldn't be just two. The other four could still deploy their missiles and if they disconnect we'd be completely outnumbered."

"Disconnecting means they're not controlling the asteroid. That's exactly what we want."

"Why do you want to go faster?"

"More time to apply any strategy you devise for when we match up. Every minute might be important."

"...Yes, it would be."

Wirrin felt really pleased. In the course of this short conversation Thom had switched from finding it hard to accept the reality of the situation to the serious analytical mode he used in his training simulations. Calen still looked disbelieving and horrified.

"We're going to fight seven Cadre ships?"

"It looks like it. Wirrin's brainstorms have always been vital and accurate when it's important so we have to treat this one the same way. We'll know for certain in another. ...fifty-four minutes."

"What will I do? I'm useless in this ship."

Wirrin felt somewhat the same. If fighting was needed everything would be on Thom's shoulders.

"Calen you're not useless. We'll need all the help we can manage to get through this. Send a message to Pirramar about Wirrin's thoughts while we look through their precautions. He needs to know straight away."

Calen looks startled but he nodded and set to. Wirrin and Thom scanned through the information on the screen. Thom had indeed been on the right track as the giant drive engines on all three habitats had been activated and were ready to move at a moment's notice.
Every Comet was on full alert with a full complement of crew, and Sonic and the Enhanced dolphins were in the process of being moved to Turaku's Comet.
The Witness Council was being convened for a Habitat spanning holo hookup.
Pico-factories were constructing heavy duty versions of the multi-spectrum beam defences to augment the basic systems already in place on the outer walls of all three habitats.
The list went on, and when Wirrin saw that all transport and travel between the three habitats was closing down he thought about what would be happening with the general population.

"I wonder how much the word is spreading? People will know there's something unusual happening when there aren't any ferries working."

"It'll be through every habitat in minutes. The InterWeb will make sure of that."

"Maybe not. I think the Witnesses will divert attention somehow till they know for certain whether the asteroid's heading for Jupiter or not."

A quick look showed that would now happen in fifty-one minutes.

"Wirrin, can you get into the basic coding for the operation of the ship? If you can we might be able to go faster."

Wirrin put aside a thought about construction asteroids being used as barriers for the habitats. That could wait.

"I can get to it easily, but making changes is harder if that's what you really mean."

"The engines and the grav-compensators are set with maximum levels but if we override them we'll get more acceleration."

Wirrin nodded but alarm bells sounded in his mind.

"Isn't taking them over their maximums risky? If we damage either system we'll be no help to anyone."

"They've got safety factors built in. All engines and systems like the compensators have. I don't know exactly what they are for this ship but as long as we don't exceed them we shouldn't cause any harm."

Five seconds of InfoSystem searching had the information.

"The grav-compensators have a safety factor of five percent and the engines twenty-two. ...Twenty-two percent? That can't be right? That seems way too much."

Thom looked surprised till he thought about it.

"No it's not. It means the engines have the power but they've been limited to 1G above what the compensators can cope with. It means we could go a lot faster but we'd feel it.
Let's see. ...The grav-compensators are the biggest concern so we can't use the full five percent. Four should be okay and we'll monitor them every microsecond with fallbacks in case of any trouble. ...That will give us an extra. ...point nine G.
The engines at twenty-two percent would give us an extra 5.2 G but we can't use that much because we'd soon be unconscious.
Dingoes! If you can change that code we'll get a minimum of one extra G plus as much extra as our bodies can cope with."

"What can we cope with?"

Calen was back.

"Wirrin's going to change the basic codings to make the ship faster, but anything after the first G won't have compensation."

"You can do that?"

"Mm! ...I hope so. ...Will it save us much time?"

Thom and Calen watched for several minutes as a bewildering flood of technical data and code flashed across the console.

"Kadaitcha! It's hardcoded. Big problem.
...No! I'll make the pico-factory burn the updated instructions onto a replacement circuit.
Thom, when it's ready you'll have to power off and swap the circuits yourself manually. ...It's. ...fairly straightforward."

Wirrin turned towards Thom.

"The pico-factory's finished. Did you work out how much sooner we'll get there?"

"Finished? I thought you were figuring whether it was possible, not actually doing it. Where's this circuit? I'll install it then we'll work out how much thrust we can stand."

After a short period of zero G the engines powered up again and steadily increased to a new record thrust of 24.6 G.

"Okay, how much more? We have to cope with this for over four hours so I suggest that one extra G should be our limit.
We'll be mostly confined to our seats and we'll get there eighteen minutes earlier. If we need to move around or it's too much strain we can ease off.
Will we give it a go?"

There were nods all round and as soon as Calen was secure in his seat the heavy hand of acceleration pressed down and in seconds their effective body weight was doubled. They were all used to this, from Thom's delight in giving them bursts of up to two and a half G at the start of most of their trips, as well as from the excitement of variable G-force activities which were a large part of habitat leisure activities.
The big difference here was the time factor and Wirrin wondered how four hours would affect them. He used his InfoSystem to see what Thom was doing to monitor the compensators.
Whoo! Heavy arms!

"Thom, can you control the ship properly?"

"I've done it in training but I've never had to keep it up for more than fifteen minutes. I'll hardly have to do anything though, not till we make the match up, and then we'll be out of this high G."

Wirrin checked. The current acceleration was an incredible 25.6 G. At match up that would diminish to the 3.4 G of the asteroid. A huge drop.

"Hey! New record."

That got the expected grin. Wirrin sent a transmission to Pirramar next, explaining how the ship was suddenly flying beyond its normal capabilities and why they felt it was needed, and also asking if the AIs knew whether it was sustainable.
The trio settled to a determined type of relaxation with their seats adjusted for maximum support. As well as helping to cope with acceleration pressure they were aware of the need to ready themselves for the match up, especially Thom.

DIASPORA PRIME Part 35.

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Wirrin moved from his quiet, almost meditative state at a signal indication and watched Thom respond on his console. From the set of his features as he turned it was bad news.

"It's another course change and this initial data says it's towards the habitats. I'll soon have it more accurate but it's enough to discount Jupiter."

"It can't be."

Wirrin felt the same disbelief Calen was voicing, and watched with a hope he knew wasn't justified while Thom checked the more precise course which every extra second of scanned information allowed.

"It is. This makes it definite."

"They're insane."

"I know. What do we do?"

"Thom we're already doing it. You've been planning in your mind what will happen when we match up haven't you?"

"Of course, but it doesn't feel real, more like one of my simulator battles."

"Good, because you always say they're harder than real ones."

"Yes, but not against seven ships."

"That won't matter."

Calen interrupted.

"Should we contact Pirramar?"

Thom shook his head.

"They'll know before our transmission gets through."

Wirrin didn't say anything for a moment. Calen's words were ringing in his mind.

"Yes we will. Calen's right. This is insane. It really doesn't make sense."

Wirrin thoughts whirled while Thom and Calen, seeing his intense thinking, waited in anticipation.

"This asteroid can only affect one habitat and they know there'll be retribution from the other two. They must be going to do something to the other two to protect themselves. It's the only way it can make sense."

"Do what? Throw more asteroids? There aren't any."

"...Yes there are. Lots of them, parked right next to K74.
Thom, contact Pirramar and warn him. ...Tell him to get every Comet racing towards K74 as fast as possible. I need to think about this."

Thinking in this case meant a concentrated burst with the InfoSystem, only distracted momentarily by the authoritative sound of Thom prefacing his transmission with a PRIORITY ONE signature. Wirrin gathered every bit of information he thought relevant. As a stroke of luck, or more likely typical AI thoroughness, it had been sent as a matter of course with Pirramar's main situation transmission. He summarised for Calen and Thom who were again waiting in anticipation.

"I hope I'm wrong but these asteroid course changes appear to have been purposely designed to keep us in doubt till the last possible moment, and that feels very much like a Rogue strategy to me. The Cadre might be angry enough to try and destroy one of our habitats but the Rogue would be too clever to let them because of the consequences they'd face. Unless, it was part of something bigger. Then they could have themselves in a position where they think they could ignore consequences. We've always wondered why they've built thirty Cadre ships and this could be the reason. Seven are with the asteroid and those other three are on the way to K74. I looked for the other twenty and, according to Pirramar's information, just over an hour ago not a single one of them was off on any sort of expedition. The whole twenty were in close proximity to K74, along with thirty-nine of those large asteroids they've collected. Thirty asteroids are associated with construction sites but that leaves nine extras."

"And they could throw them at our habitats?"

"It makes sense as a strategy, and I do remember Thom telling us one time that kinetic weapons could be very dangerous for Attunga."

"How big are the nine extras?"

Wirrin checked the sizes and flashed the results for Thom to see.

".9 up to 1.3 cubic kilometers. ...They could move them at about 5G. ...Unless they doubled up, and then it would be close to ten."

Thom did more calculation.

"An asteroid that size would have trouble getting past the habitat multi-spectrum beams. They're much more powerful than the Comet ones and the speed wouldn't be anything like the really big asteroid's."

"What about three at once?"

"That would be bad. Two would get through. ...Except they wouldn't because of the Comets."

"How long to reach our habitats from K74?"

"At 5G or 10 G?"

"Both."

"Um. ...At 5G it would be just over two a half hours and 10 G would be. ...Close to 1 hour 50 minutes."

"And how long for the big asteroid to get there?"

"...Three hours and forty minutes from now. ...And we'll match up with it in two hours forty-five minutes."

"Fifty-five minutes to spare. Will that be enough time to stop them?"

"It'll have to be Calen. I've been thinking about it and Wirrin's right. I'm sure I'll be able to disable one of them before they can retaliate too much, but then time will be critical because once I activate our multi-spectrum beam they'll all know where we are and they'll send thousands of missiles at us."

"Thousands?"

"That's what they're set up for and I expect every ship will be involved."

Calen looked stricken.

"What will we do?"

"We'll get away. Once I turn off the multi-spectrum beam our stealth protection will start coming into effect and most of the missiles will be confused."

Wirrin interrupted.

"How long for our Comets to get to K74?"

"They'll go at high G so it will be nearly two hours."

"That can't be right. You just said it was less than that from K74 with only 10 G and the Comets are twice as fast as that."

"The Comets have to be stopped when they get there. It's a different calculation Calen."

"Wombats! I'm not thinking right. Of course it is."

"That's not good enough."

"Why not? It's the best they can do."

"If it's the Rogue organising this then I bet he'll have everything happening at once and that means the K74 asteroids would be on their way before our Comets can get to K74."

"Not by much. ...twelve minutes."

"Yes, but it would have been best to stop them before they started."

"I'm getting confused by all these times."

Wirrin wasn't, and Thom was trained for this kind of planning so he wouldn't be either, but it was worth twenty seconds to build a clearly labelled timeline on a section of the display for easy reference.

"Calen, send another transmission to Pirramar and Quambi telling them to watch carefully for any sign of the Cadre ships moving towards those asteroids. I'm sure they're already doing it but I think it's very important. Explain everything we've been talking about.
Thom, I might be able to get the pico-factory working for us."

"I hope so and I can tell you've already got some ideas."

"That sounded very dangerous when you said most of the missiles would be confused, so I'm wondering if we could make some sort of anti-missiles or jamming device for any that weren't? And maybe I could build some sort of stealth drone like we used at Freedom, but designed to disable a drive engine?"

"Forget about anti-missiles. We'd need hundreds, or even thousands, of them and our little ship simply hasn't got enough resources. A jamming device could be perfect but it would have to be incredibly powerful because as soon as it was released it would rapidly fall behind."

"How long would have it have to last?"

"Ideally for at least nine or ten seconds while our high G takes us out of range."

"What about the stealth drone idea?"

"It sounds brilliant but it would use a lot of material and I doubt if we could make more than one."

"Another idea came into my head too. Tell me what you think about this."

Thom listened, then spluttered, which wasn't a good idea under double gravity.

"Wirrin you should be in charge of Security. The AIs might be able to help, but I doubt it."

Despite his body straining against the extra G, and his mind straining against what was ahead, Wirrin was pleased. He now had something to get his teeth into. The immediate priority was another transmission to Pirramar.

***

Half an hour later Wirrin finished his planning for the missile jamming device. Part of that time had been taken with Calen, who, tense and quiet with worry, had only relaxed when word came from Sonic that all the Enhanced dolphins were aboard the Comet and that he was safe and busily occupied with his dolphin version of the InfoSystem. More time was taken with Thom in a discussion about the best use of the limited pico-factory resources but nothing could be resolved till they knew more precisely the amount of materials the different projects would need.

"Thom, I figure we can allow ten percent of our resources for the jamming devices. They're very small and we'd be able to make two effective deployments before we ran out."

"How do you define a deployment?"

"You said they'd need to work for at least nine or ten seconds and they don't. They're so powerful they burn out after 2.9 seconds and we'll have to release four of them at very carefully timed intervals."

Thom thought before answering.

"A series of releases like that's much better than a single one because it keeps the jamming in closer proximity to the ship. We really need to allow for seven deployments though, not just two. Is there anything you can do about that?"

"I've got an idea but it means cannibalising parts of the ship."

"What?"

"I can design a tech-bot to dismantle and process ship components like non-essential walls or the grav-bunks and make it with the pico-factory. It would use up resources but we'd gain overall, maybe enough for two or three more deployments."

"Do it. Anything that can make a difference is important. Can you tell me how strong the jamming signals are?"

Wirrin found the information and flashed it on Thom's display.

"Is that real? Just as well I asked. I'll have to protect our scanners for the duration or they'll be fried."

Wirrin jumped on that statement.

"Could we stealth them close to the Cadre ships and put their scanners out of action?"

"That's a good idea but it won't work. Their units are much heavier duty than ours and not nearly as sensitive. It's the sensitive parts which give us our advantages that I have to be careful about.
Calen, I'm going to teach you some basic manual operations of the ship so you can take over if something happens to me or Wirrin."

Wirrin sensed Calen's mental jaw-drop.

"Okay! ...You think there's a possibility I might need to?"

"Using the maximum G that Wirrin has given us will be vital and you'll cope with higher levels than Wirrin or me. If we reach an effective 5G in here I mightn't even be able to move my hands."

"And you think I might? Thom, all my experience is in water, and that's practically zero-G."

"Doesn't matter. You push yourself every day and your oxygen distribution and circulation levels are way better than ours. That's what counts. When you're ready we'll do some trials and see what happens."

Wirrin left them to it and started on his engine disabler project. His own plans needed every moment he could cadge.

***

Wirrin closed his eyes and forced his mind to slow down. He was on top of the engine disabler but this next project was proving trickier than expected, and pressured and frustrated, he knew it was time to take a break. The last hour had been quite eventful with Thom and Calen training with the ship controls, and then when that was finished, an eleven second trial at the absolute maximum acceleration the ship could generate. Wirrin didn't like it. At just under 5G in the cabin, an invisible force trapped him in his seat and the effort to move his hands was too much after four or five seconds. Thom lasted the same but Calen, proving their point, somehow managed to keep his control all the way through. He said seven repeats would be far too much but Wirrin and Thom both expected that when the time came his recuperative ability and determination would push him through. They'd started a discussion about options if they couldn't return to the habitats but Thom cut that short because, for now, they needed to keep a positive attitude. Next there was the distraction of the release and successful triggering of a single missile jamming device. Half an hour of break would be ideal. Five minutes was all Wirrin would allow.

***

Wirrin snapped his eyes open to check on times. Seven minutes. He'd relaxed, or the best version of that he could manage with double weight, and gone slightly longer than he meant. So, an hour and twenty minutes till the ship matched with the asteroid, and fifty minutes before acceleration was cut back to just under the limits of the grav-compensators. A small head turn showed Thom and Calen motionless in their seats with their eyes closed. That would end with the change to single G and they'd become very busy, especially Thom. The next check was on the progress of the tech-bot. Yes, it was doing well, and there was enough reclaimed material built up for an extra five jamming devices. Now, time to focus on the InfoSystem.

***

Red warning lights flashed briefly. Pirramar's image flicked into existence.

"Thom, Wirrin, Calen. Our situation is now critical. Nine pairs of Cadre ships are connecting with asteroids, two of which have already commenced acceleration in our direction, and our correlators indicate a ninety-eight percent probability that Warrakan will be impacted by the large asteroid."

DIASPORA PRIME Part 36.

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The trio stared, transfixed with disbelief, shock, and horror, while Pirramar bade them do what they could and directed both Thom and Wirrin to some technical information he was sending.
When the holo flicked off, Wirrin, his mind awhirl, sat for a moment till a soft sound twisted his attention. The G force switched to normal and two bodies leapt from their seats and rushed to enfold Calen with powerful hugs.

"I don't understand. How can they want to hurt people?"

This question had arisen with every encounter against K74, and the trio, in their bafflement at such an alien outlook, often discussed it with each other, trying various explanations and theories.

"Think about it later. Right now we can help to stop it and you know we're good at that. Remember, Sonic will be waiting for us when it's over."

Wirrin sensed the tension ebb as Calen turned, and with the slightest smile, respond to Thom's typical and practical attempt to ease through the moment.

"I know. I'm all right. Get back to your controls and I'll watch what Wirrin's doing."

Wirrin's hug was returned and the trio watched each other with a special feeling of closeness before moving back to their preparations.

"Are we all ready? I'm switching the extra G back in for another twenty minutes and then we'll have half an hour at normal before match-up.
Calen, I'm sending two simulations to your console. The first one is straightforward practice with ship controls you've already learnt and the second one's to link that with multi-visuals."

"Multi-visuals?"

"It just means keeping an eye on more than one display. We'll need a separate screen for each Cadre ship."

"Seven at once? Don't you do this automatically with the ship's electronics?"

"Not when we release those jamming devices. All the high-level stuff will get damaged if I don't turn it off and it's right when we apply that maximum G, so I might be too busy, or not even functioning."

Wirrin watched Calen think that through.

"So this is why we had the experiment with the eleven seconds of high G? I thought all I'd have to do was something basic, but this means controlling the ship at a really critical moment."

"You might be, but I'll have a range of pre-sets organised for you and it won't be as hard as it sounds. You're already good with the visuals and when you complete these sims you'll know exactly what to do."

***

"A major development Thom. The AIs on the Companion Comets for Quambi have taken over the two Cadre ships controlling one of the asteroids and completely disabled them. That asteroid is now rendered harmless and the Companions are about to depart in pursuit of another. In nineteen and a half minutes the first Comet from Warrakan will match velocity with the leading asteroid and endeavour to neutralise it. Minutes after that all our Comets will be in contention."

Pirramar finished, rather abruptly, and Wirrin and Calen couldn't help smiling at Thom's satisfied grunt.

"Five minutes to grav-normal and thirty-five minutes to match-up. Eliminating that asteroid is great news as it shows that the mobile AIs will be able to stop the others."

It did sound good and Wirrin wondered how long it would take for the two Companion Comets to reach another asteroid. It wouldn't be long because their acceleration was way superior. Yes, really good, because when the other Comets with AIs arrived there'd be a total of five ships disabling the Cadre aggressors.

***

What a relief! Wirrin felt his confidence lift with the abrupt easing of the heavy hand of thrust. The grav-compensators were now able to cope and maintain the cabin at normal Earth gravity. No more straining to do the simplest thing. It was time to initiate and oversee his special tasks for the pico-factory.
The holo alerts flashed red and Wirrin instantly put his pico-factory monitoring on hold.
Why the alerts? Pirramar had been appearing without them quite routinely for hours. Something must be wrong.

"Wirrin, be prepared for an attack on your electronics when the Cadre ships become aware of your presence. I'm transmitting a protective package which should be sufficient but you'll need to integrate it with your ship's security systems.
The situation here is in full crisis with the negation of our ability to control Cadre ships."

Wirrin felt his chest tighten.

"The Quambi companions approached a second asteroid and were hit with an unprecedented level of powerful and complex Priority Trap signals which, while not damaging, required the activation of their quarantine zones and resulted in the loss of their ability to seize the Cadre ships."

Wirrin briefly wondered why. It must be something to do with the extra time required to work through the quarantine interface.

"An attempt to stealth in and disable the Cadre drives was blocked by the presence of a large number of K74 surveillance drones and proximity mines as well as the continuous detonation of small nuclear devices in the asteroid's wake.
The Companion Comets are moving to initiate an alternate strategy which will require the concerted effort of every available Comet. Our available time has now shrunk to critical levels.
Thom, a logistical overview of what is happening is now resident in your InfoSystems and in the remaining twenty-seven minutes before your engagement you will need to consider the effects of reduced stealth ability and deadly atomics on any actions you take."

Pirramar's serious demeanour shifted to a smile.

"We have a special transmission for you from the Comet."

The holo shimmered and transformed to the dolphin pool on the main deck of the Comet where Sonic, positioned at his InfoSystem, was looking directly at them.

'Our greatest adventure yet brothers. We will thwart the power games of the Cadre and tomorrow we will dive together in our favorite sea caves.'

A trill of sound burst forth, sending Wirrin's nerves quivering, the hairs of his scalp tingling, then died as the holo cut off.

"What was that? He gave me goosebumps."

Calen shook his head wonderingly.

"I'm not exactly sure. I picked up danger, excitement, urgency, and a sense that he wanted us there with him.
The only time I've heard him make a sound anything like that was against the tiger shark at Monkey Mia."

"You heard all that? I mostly thought he was encouraging us. Calen, you need to concentrate on the simulations."

"... And you need to center yourself before the match-up. Turn your brain off for the next fifteen minutes."

Wirrin caught the amused nod of assent as Thom deliberately settled carefully in his command chair and closed his eyes. A few seconds of contact with Sonic had done wonders for them all.
Well, time to focus on the pico-factory. The next fifteen minutes while Thom was quiet would probably be the last opportunity to concentrate without interruption.

***

"Your stats with the multi-visuals are looking great, Calen. I knew you'd pick it up quickly. The next round will be for real.
Wirrin, Pirramar's last info has been worrying me. How much raw material do we have left for the pico-factory?"

"Hardly any. I've kept a small amount for emergencies and there's nothing left we can safely cannibalise."

"Use it. I want you to design a remote collector to harvest material from the asteroid. If you can manage that we'll try and stock up enough material to build an extra engine disabler in case we lose our stealth. Can you finish that in the next ten minutes?"

"Um! I'll try."

Wirrin turned to his InfoSystem with ideas already rushing through his mind. An external collector would need stealth but that was no problem. It just meant incorporating the specifications from the engine disabler which, with its chameleon function, was almost as advanced as the ship itself.
It would need a decent size cargo space too.
Not good. The limited resources would be too big a constraint.
... Unless?...
Very pleased with himself Wirrin hummed with immediate satisfaction and focused on his InfoSystem.

***

"It's done! The pico-factory will have the modifications implemented in another eight minutes."

That was three minutes over Thom's time request but there was nothing to be done about that.

"Modifications? The tech-bot can't go into space. I thought you'd have to design something completely new."

"I used the engine disabler unit instead. It's already got stealth and a drive so I replaced the disabler section with a collector module.
That meant I could use nearly sixty percent of the emergency resource materials to attach external cargo containers instead of only twenty-five percent. It means nearly three times as much cargo capability and when the unit returns it'll only take a moment to disconnect the containers and swap the disabler module back in."

"External? That will spoil the stealth."

"No it won't. I linked the containers with the unit's chameleon function. The stealth won't change."

"Dingoes Wirrin! You're a genius. Will that mean enough material to build a second disabler or will we need more scrounging trips?"

"Plenty, and some left over for surprises as well as keeping our five percent emergency level. The process from launch to return will take at least nine minutes though, so I don't think there'll be time for any other trips."

Thom frowned.

"This is going to hold us up. If our stealth's going to be compromised we need to get the extra disabler launched before they know about us."

He thought for a moment.

"We'll stealth to the leading face of the asteroid and get the remote collector launched as soon as it's ready. It means a hold-up of almost twenty minutes but if it counts out two Cadre ships it definitely will be worth the delay."

Wirrin checked. Two minutes till match-up.

***

"When will I see them on the visuals?

"Another thirty or forty seconds. We're making a side approach and then hugging the leading face of the asteroid till the collector returns. Having all that mass between us will increase our stealth factor while we wait. They won't have a clue we're there."

"I've got the asteroid!"

Wirrin couldn't help looking at the big display. Yes, there was a tiny blob. Calen had done well to pick it up so soon. Wombats! It was increasing in size while you watched, much more rapidly than on the stealth exercise to K74. It must be all the training and experience Thom had had in the meantime.

"And there's the convoy! ...I'm enhancing them."

Three slightly indistinct images sharpened over the next few seconds and with a jarring of his mind Wirrin felt the last vestiges of unreality dissolve.
Three monster ships for their tiny vessel to face. Where were the other four? The big display swung to the asteroid. Calen was wondering the same thing.
There was no sign of them though and from the now rapidly changing aspect as they closed on the leading face it was evident they were well and truly hidden from view. The view broadened and one after the other the convoy ships were blocked from sight as well.
The surface of the asteroid approached, so close Wirrin was on the edge of shock, then steadied as Thom locked them in a stable position.

"Countdown for the collector completion please."

Wirrin had it ready.

"Three minutes and five seconds. My InfoSystem will activate the launch the instant the pico-factory finishes."

"Wirrin, I'm too busy to monitor our Habitat transmissions. Check to see if there's anything I should be aware of, and Calen, there's tension time for a while so I want you to make use of it with one more run through on the sims."

The InfoSystem changed its immediate focus and Wirrin rapidly scanned the headings of all the automatic transmissions since Pirramar had last left.
There was a vast amount of technical information, a report about the ongoing Witness meeting and its dissemination of information and warnings throughout the Habitats, Quambi's actions, an upgraded protection package for the ship's electronics from Pirramar which needed integrating... Done...
And a report from the Comet with news that Thom would want to know. How to do this? Thom was concentrating ferociously on his console and calling out might be too distracting. Better to post it on his display with an attention signal he could attend to when he was ready.

Nine Comets combined in a multi-spectrum beam attack to disintegrate a second asteroid and disable the attendant Cadre ships. Now approaching the third.

After posting the message Wirrin watched a few seconds for any reaction from Thom, but forgot that when his own console signalled that the remote collector was launching.

***

"Engine disabler unit one launched!
Engine disabler unit two launched!
Wirrin and Calen, thirty-seven seconds till disabler activation and the commencement of our own strategy.
Engage your emergency harness and be ready for the hammer blow."

Thom had taken them through the strategy twice and grilled them to make sure they properly understood their roles.
For two seconds the Multi-Spectrum beam would focus at maximum power on the five Cadre drive engines and then their ship would go into full evasion mode at the highest possible thrust. At the same time the first deployed jamming device would activate, and depending on their proximity, confuse any missiles to varying degrees. Four more jammers would be released and activated at intervals calculated by Thom to give the greatest effect while the ship strained to build speed and distance.

"Multi-Spectrum capacitors holding at maximum.
Firing in
Four
Three
Two
One
Zero"

Intensity filters dimmed the display to a comfortable viewing level and Wirrin watched the coruscating beam flicker between five targets in the two seconds it had available.
Wham! His senses reeled as the ship reached the newly programmed limit of 25.6 G. Practically helpless and clinging to consciousness, an indeterminate time passed before the wondrous return of normal gravity allowed full awareness to release a surge of elation.
They were through and safe.
Wirrin could check with his InfoSystem for information but instead he looked to Thom. It felt like the right thing. Thom was busy with his console for ages, thirteen seconds Wirrin found out later, but then he grinned and made a victory gesture.

"One down and six to go. Well done Calen. You picked the best option for outrunning that concentration of missiles. We would have been okay anyway because their response was so slow, but you did it perfectly. Bring up the ship we targeted on the visuals."

A smiling Calen expanded the section of screen which had been dedicated to that particular ship.

"I can't see any damage?"

"You don't have to. Look where it is relative to the asteroid."

The view expanded enough to include the asteroid and then once again a few seconds later to accommodate the rapidly increasing amount of separation.

"It's engines are dead, Calen. It's coasting and they won't be able to fix them without help."

Wirrin jolted with shock as red lights flashed on every console and display.

"What's wrong? Did we get damaged?"

Thom touched a control and the lights stopped.

"Nothing's wrong at all. Hang on, I'll set in our new course now that we're back on full stealth and we'll have five minutes to talk and plan. .. There... They've responded the same way they did against the Comets. Look at this."

Thom took over the display to show a constant stream of red flashes appearing in the wake of the asteroid.

"These are small nuclear devices and they're detonating them at a rate of. ...thirty-seven per second. Now look at this."

New lights, purplish ones this time, appeared in huge numbers, fanning from the two red circles which signified the convoy ships.

"These are surveillance drones which they hope will pick us up if we close in again. They're not dangerous and we know how to sneak past them."

Wirrin's InfoSystem suddenly screamed for attention and it was Thom's turn to wait.

"They've just started transmitting the most complicated electronic signals I know of from a Cadre ship. ...It's full of Priority Traps and useless disruptions against our systems. It must be the same as the signals keeping the mobile AIs behind their quarantine screens."

Wirrin wanted to work on the signals but that would have to wait. Thom suddenly laughed.

"They think we're one of the dreaded Comet ships which can mysteriously take over their controls. What's the story with the Comets? How did they disable that asteroid?"

"It's three of them now and they weren't just disabled. The Comets disintegrate through them with their Multi-Spectrum beams. They can't come at the Cadre ships from behind because of the tactics so they move to the leading face and dissolve all the way through from there."

"The whole nine of them onto one? How long does it take? Wait. We've got something happening."

He did something with his controls and a huge grin appeared.

"You're a wonder Wirrin. The asteroid's acceleration just dropped from 3.4G to 3.06G. The disabler units have just disabled their first engine each. They're working perfectly."

Wirrin hoped they were. There was no way of knowing except through their results, as they were completely independent with no feedback to the ship.

"Our Comets take close to eight minutes to burn through before they can beam the externals of the Cadre ships."

He did a quick data check about the Comets.

"The Comets have just finished with another asteroid. Their times are improving slightly and it's now just under eight minutes for each."

"Eight! Wirrin that's not good. The countdown's now at thirty-two minutes and they won't be able to stop them all at that rate."

Wirrin started to think about that but they were approaching the asteroid again and Thom went into command mode.

"Are you prepared, Calen? This time will be a real test because they'll be on full alert and their response will be quicker and more overwhelming. I made a bad mistake before by not letting you experience what the sudden change to high G would feel like. This time we won't get away in the same 7.9 seconds because I expect all six ships will be involved in retaliation.
Wirrin, are the jamming devices all cued and ready?"

He knew they were. Wirrin understood he was being kept involved.

"Here we go with the tricky bit. The pattern they're using to release their mini nuclear devices is leaving a narrow band of safety near the asteroid surface and my calculations show I should be able to use it to get close to one of the connected ships. The two convoys are inaccessible at the moment and we'll need a different tactic to get at them."

Wirrin could hardly believe the approach Thom made with his ship. The surface of the asteroid rushed past at a frightening velocity and so close he found himself holding his breath in case of a collision.
His InfoSystem informed him later that Thom had kept them in a clearance range between two meters and 4.5 meters. Did their evasion burst at extreme G have to follow the same course in reverse? Surely it wouldn't be possible.
He didn't have time to wonder.

"Multi-Spectrum capacitors at maximum.
Firing in
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Zero"

Once again the Spectrum beam flashed, focusing it's destructive power for less than half a second on each of the five engines in turn and rendering them useless.
Once again Wirrin memory zapped the rapid action of the two seconds before the hammer struck.
The evasion burst this time was frightening. After the first few moments the ship began lurching and twisting like a living creature trying in terror to escape a predatory grip.
The violent forces continued, and continued, till Wirrin, on the verge of certainty that they weren't going to make it, blacked out.
... And opened his eyes to wonderful calm.
Calen was out of his seat and racing.
Fear leapt as Wirrin took in Thom's blank expression, lolling head and lack of motion.

"Thom! Thom!"

Calen's voice rang and Wirrin, shocked and frantic, released his own emergency harness and tried to stand. His head swam but with a stumbling run he made it to Thom's side. Calen had one hand pressed against a throat artery.

"He's breathing and his heart's beating. He's all right. It's just taking him longer to snap out."

"We'd better take him to the med-facility."

Wirrin started on the harness release then paused to watch Calen snap a finger against Thom's forehead. His eyes blinked open, his head jerked upright and he stared at them.

"What? What?"

"You Dingo Brain! You flaked out."

For a moment Thom's eyes darted between Wirrin and Calen but then his attention went to his console as priorities took over.

"Calen, you totally saved us."

It was over a minute later and the ship was on a new trajectory back towards the asteroid with its stealth at full capacity.

"I don't know how. I nearly lost it myself. The high G never seemed to end."

Thom nodded with a quietness which Wirrin didn't like.

"That's because it lasted 13.4 seconds, five and a half seconds longer than the first time. I don't know how you stayed conscious and I don't understand how we're still here.
We won't survive another retreat like that."

"Yes we will. We have to."

At Calen's comment Thom shook his head with a look which frightened both his friends.

"What's wrong Thom?"

"We can't do that again. We'll die and the asteroid will still be under their control and it will be my fault."

"You'll think of something else."

"There's no way past all those atomics and missiles no matter what I do."

Thom was now speaking as if to himself, and Wirrin, sensing his despair and withdrawal, shouted at him.

"THOM!! "

It worked because, to Wirrin's relief, Thom twitched and stared in surprise.

"Thom, we won't do it the same way again. You'll figure out something else. We know you will. Steady down."

"You shouted."

Wirrin wanted to grab him in a big hug. He was back. No hug though. It might not help at the moment.

"I thought your ears might have been affected by the high-grav. Anyhow, we made it and another ship is out of action, ...and ... and look at this number."

Wirrin zoomed a section of display he'd noticed while Thom was concentrating on his console. It showed the asteroid acceleration down to 2.17 G, a big drop from the previous 2.6.

"That's strange. It should be slightly higher."

Yes, the calculating look after Calen's statement said Thom was in control again.

"No it shouldn't. That ship is still connected without any engines and the others have to push its mass along as well. They'll disconnect before very long."

***

A blinking signal took Thom's attention and by the satisfied smile he was displaying he was well and truly recovered.

"The disablers just finished their second engine each and the asteroid acceleration dropped again. Building that second one was definitely worth the extra time.
Wirrin, two ships are wondering what hit them. ...How do you rate their chances of finding the disablers?"

"I don't. They'd have to go external for a visual sighting, and the chameleon function's so good they wouldn't see anything anyway. ...Thom, have you had any ideas about how we can make it through?"

"You mean me don't you? Well, you can stop worrying and my bios are all good. Look for yourself."

Wirrin and Calen both checked and exchanged a look as Thom indicated the relevant section on his display. This would have been the sensible place to look when they first rushed to Thom's side.

"We are changing tactics though. We're targeting a convoy ship instead of the last impeller, and we'll use your decoy to give us a chance at getting past those mini nukes."

Wirrin didn't understand.

"The decoy won't do that. The explosions make a constant barrier."

"No they don't. I've analysed both times our ship came out of stealth and discovered that every unexploded mini nuke changed direction to chase us. They'll do the same again, and while the decoy keeps working there'll be a clear path."

"What if they don't?"

"We'll know in time to back off."

Calen looked as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You mean atomics were chasing us as well as missiles?"

"It sounds bad but it's not. The missiles are the real worry.
Wirrin, can you provide the decoy with any extra jamming devices? I'm going to send it closer than we originally planned and every extra second it can last will help us."

"... Two extras, but we'll have to use the last of our emergency resources for the pico-factory to make them because that last escape used more than we planned for.
...How long have I got?"

Another attention light flashed before Thom could answer and the trio watched a Cadre ship dwindle in size as it fell behind the onrushing asteroid.

"You were right! We can forget about that one. Um... Can you manage three minutes? We're running out of time."

Wirrin managed easily. The instructions only took moments. The pico-factory did the rest, and in just under the three minutes Thom started a new count down.

"Twenty-three minutes till the asteroid reaches the habitats.
Engage your emergency harnesses and prepare yourselves.
...Decoy deployed."

There was a wait while the ship manoeuvred well away from the decoy to Thom's planned position of approach.

"Decoy activation in
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Zero!"

This decoy had been Wirrin's idea and to make it real had been one of the biggest mental challenges he'd faced yet, particularly because of the time restraints, but also because he'd had to work with technical areas he didn't know much about.
The final outcome was an independently moving device which would register on the Cadre scanners as Thom's ship.
Wirrin was particularly pleased with his accomplishment because when he'd used his InfoSystem to link a simulation to their own ship's controls it had taken Thom sixteen seconds to penetrate the false reality being presented.
Thom, originally keen but dubious, had changed to being eager and totally impressed.
In full zap mode Wirrin watched the little ship flicker into existence, emitting the same signals Thom's ship did when it left stealth, and the same light speed signal which would register with the Cadre ships as a target lock.
The reaction was almost immediate, but not quite, and as if realising the need to escape, the decoy darted away at its full 4.2 G capability and released its first jamming device. 4.2 G was nothing, but Thom had calculated it would add an extra second or more before the inevitable destruction.
For 9.4 seconds the alternate ship drew the full wrath of five Cadre ships, with every missile and mini nuclear device dedicated in a desperate attempt to prevent a repeat of the two previous disablements.
At 9.4 seconds the alternate ship disappeared in a continuing flash of light and destruction as the first missile, followed by hundreds more, locked on and exploded.
At 7.1 seconds however, the last jammer from the decoy finished transmitting and Thom, sliding into position along a course suddenly clear of nuclear danger, was ready with full capability and full beam capacitor charge. His beam flashed for its two second darting dance of destruction then, again, the hammer of high gravity descended.
One jolting lurch, another, and they were free.

"Is that it?"

Thom didn't answer. His console was too important at the moment, but the smile plastered over his face stayed in place. Wirrin did some checking of his own. Yes, at 6.3 seconds it had definitely been a better escape this time, and there, automatically tracked on its allocated display screen, was the diminishing image of another disabled Cadre ship.

"Wirrin, I'm going to make sure Akama shows that decoy on the InterWeb of every Habitat so they know what you did."

"And Sonic will tell all the dolphins that you're the cleverest hunter they'll ever meet."

Feeling somewhat embarrassed at the high praise, but also good about it, Wirrin went to change the conversation but didn't have to when a blue attention light on Thom's console did it for him.

"Whooee! The asteroid acceleration just dropped to 1.53G. That's three engines each for the disablers now and all being well we'll have two more Cadre ships completely out of action in another eleven minutes."

Thom paused, concentrated for a moment, then looked at Wirrin.

"I've rethought our plans again. We're holding off our next attack till after the disablers are finished. We'll be safer that way."

Wirrin, quite startled, checked the countdown.

"Can we take the chance? We'd be down to less than nine minutes with two Cadre ships still to disable."

Thom shook his head.

"It's not taking a chance. It's our best strategy. They need at least two fully functional ships to keep that asteroid manoeuvrable, so we only have to get one of them, and there'll be an opportunity soon after the disablers finish."

Wirrin and Calen watched Thom intently. The increased confidence of his tone meant he had something interesting in mind.

"When that happens the last convoy ship will connect. It will have to or their whole mission is aborted, and that connecting will take careful manoeuvring in very limited time."

"Nine minutes? Isn't that plenty of time? You'd do it in less than a minute."

"With this ship, yes, but that monster is seven hundred meters long with massive momentum to control. I flew them after the Freedom hijack, remember, and I'm estimating they'll need something like four or five minutes. They're going to be desperate when the other two ships lose all their engines and that's when we'll make our move."

"But look at all those atomics they're releasing. We'll never get past them without another decoy."

"Yes we will. Only one ship will be releasing them and it will have to modify its pattern while the convoy ship makes its approach. That's the opportunity I'm counting on."

"One? There are four of them."

"The two with their engines wrecked will disconnect and we can forget about them. The convoy ship will stop too, at least for the trickiest part of connecting, and that's our moment."

"What if the two ships don't disconnect? It makes more sense for them to keep protecting the convoy ship till it's in place."

Calen persisted and Wirrin agreed with his logic. Thom shook his head.

"They won't. They know our Habitats are moving by now and their tracking will have told them they must keep the asteroid at a bit over a full G. They'll drop way below that if they keep the mass of two non-functional ships added to the load.
...They'll disconnect."

Wirrin wasn't so sure, but waiting for an opportunity that improved their chances couldn't be argued against. And anyway, if the break Thom was hoping for didn't happen, there would still... Red lights flashed, but after a glance Thom switched them off.

"Weird! I don't know what that means. They turned their jamming equipment on. It's pointless because it stops them tracking the Habitats. They'll have to turn it off."

"They're panicking."

"Not with the training they get. Wirrin, are transmissions still getting through from Pirramar?"

Wirrin scanned with his InfoSystem.

"... Yes, without a break... The Comets are still disintegrating the sixth asteroid... The Habitats drives are all working at full power... All the K74 asteroids are directed at Attunga, and this one is targeting Warrakan. ...The Habitat pico-factories are pouring out mobile Spectrum Beam units."

Wirrin stopped speaking to check an incoming transmission with a priority tag on it.

"Thom, Pirramar says there's a possibility that if they lose control of the asteroid then the remaining Cadre ships might commit to a suicide attempt."

There was silence as the trio took this in.

"This is bad! It means we will have to disable every single remaining engine. There's no choice. I'm still going to wait for the disablers to finish though because we have to survive this next attack to even have a chance at the last ship."

"Warrakan's hull has had the strength upgrade. Won't that be enough to stop Cadre ships?"

"Not at this speed, Calen. There's just too much kinetic energy involved. ...How long before the next two engines are disabled?"

"...Well, just over a minute if they work at the same rate they have so far.
Thom, if we tricked the convoy ship into chasing after us that would make it easier to get at wouldn't it?"

"It would but it's unlikely they'll break position at this stage."

"I could design a set of signals that make it look like we've been damaged. That might lure them."

"Um! ...You'd have to be fast. Like in the next four or five minutes."

Wirrin did it in two. He'd developed a database of ship signals and how to modify them when he was designing the decoy.

"Their scanners will pick up a faulty engine and partial damage to our stealth defence. We'll look like half a ship with a crippled engine."

"Half a ship? Let's see what happens."

Nothing happened. Except a barrage of missiles which was harmless because Thom had judged his distances and speed so well. After twenty-five seconds the apparently crippled and fleeing ship disappeared under full stealth and circled back to watch what happened when the disablers completed their job. Despite expecting a reaction, Thom's yell still made Wirrin jump.

"That's perfection! You're a total Brainiac! You've done it again, Wirrin. The asteroid's G just dropped to 0.79 and two more Cadre ships are completely disabled.
Engage your emergency harnesses and prepare yourselves for action sometime in the next two and a half minutes.
Calen, are you ready with the pre-sets?"

Of course Calen was ready. They were all ready and hoping beyond hope that Thom's prediction would eventuate.
Wirrin watched Calen's multi-visual displays of the two newly disabled Cadre ships with tense anticipation.
Leave! Leave! You're slowing that asteroid down! You should leave!
After sixty interminable seconds a whisper of doubt edged its way into Wirrin's mind.
At ninety seconds the whisper had become a cloud and fifteen seconds after that it was so much a certainty that the change in position of one of the ships didn't seem real.
...And then the other.
Wirrin's spirits climbed. The two ships dwindled behind, not as rapidly as the earlier ones, but that didn't matter because they were now out of the picture and no longer a threat. The level of danger ahead was now significantly lower and their attention focused on the convoy ship. If Thom's prediction was right it would start moving towards one of the vacated connection cradles.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Wirrin wanted to yell that Thom was unbelievable, fantastic, clever, brilliant, ...but he made do with a silently mouthed 'yes' at Calen, because right now Thom was a study of pure concentration as he manipulated his controls to keep their little ship in the best relative position while the Cadre monster manoeuvred closer to the asteroid.
The barrage of missiles and atomics continued, just as Thom said it would, but despite this Thom made his approach. Once again Wirrin marvelled at how close they were to the asteroid surface and even more frighteningly, how close they were to their target.
How could their stealth possibly hold at this range?
The convoy ship slowed as it jockeyed close against the asteroid until, a scant hundred meters from connection its incessant barrage suddenly stopped.
Thom's strong clear voice rang out.

"Multi-Spectrum beam capacitors at maximum charge!
Engaging in
Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Zero"

For the fourth time the little ship put everything into the totally controlled seconds of precise destruction and frantic evasion, and for the fourth time Wirrin's relief at the release from that awful thrust was overlaid with the knowledge of success. Again there was quiet while Thom did his assessment, then shared elation when, more quickly than previously, he was able to speak.

"Brilliant Calen! 6.8 seconds and you did it with only one pre-set. Are you ready for the next one because I'm heading back for him right now? He's going to disconnect and I want to get him while I can still hug the asteroid surface. It's been a more effective approach strategy than I expected."

"I'm ready. It seemed easier that time."

"It wasn't. You're adapting to battle stress.
Here we go!
Capacitors building!
Engage emergency harness!"

The harnesses didn't need engaging. They hadn't been released in the short recovery period. Wirrin stared in shock as the ship raced faster and closer to the rugged asteroid exterior than seemed possible. He found out later that by analysing the data from the previous approach and using the exact same course, Thom had been able to dramatically increase their closing speed. Right now Wirrin's eyes were locked on the display while his mind flinched from each inevitable collision which somehow didn't happen.

"Capacitors at maximum!
Engaging in! Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Zero"

This attack went without a hitch. The whole two seconds of it.
The escape didn't. Instead of one hammer of thrust the ship was hit by two.
The first was the usual, the engines working at full power.
The second was a sideways force with enough strength to make the little vessel scrape fleetingly against the asteroid surface.
They discovered later that the interference from the first jamming device had caused an incoming missile to explode in the merest fraction of a second before it hit, the concussive force of detritus against their hull throwing them slightly off course. All Wirrin knew at the time was two great lurches which tried to throw him from his seat, another minor lurch shortly after, more seconds of high G, and a return to normal. Thom was concentrating on his console with a frown.
A frown?
The image in Wirrin's mind showed the multi-spectrum beam darting precisely as it had on all their other attacks. Surely they'd been successful? His concern growing, Wirrin couldn't help blurting out.

"Thom, what's wrong?"

"... They damaged my ship."

Wirrin didn't understand. There were no warnings showing on the consoles, the visual showed they were circling back towards the asteroid,
...And a quick glance at the screen which Calen had centred on the Cadre ship showed that none of its engines were firing.

"But you saved Warrakan? The asteroid's dead. ...How bad is it?"

Thom shook his head as if to clear it. A smile tried to appear but faltered and was replaced by an expression which Wirrin knew was a precursor for tears. Once again two bodies rushed to Thom's side, then hesitated, frightened by the look on his face and the moisture welling from his eyes. Thom made a strange little sound.

"Sorry. ...We stopped them. ...I didn't think I was good enough."

Wirrin stared at him in in amazement while Calen released the harness and dragged him into an enormous hug.

"You great lumping idiot! Of course you're good enough. There's no one better."

A smile started while Wirrin took his turn for hug.

"We fight off seven Cadre ships and you call me a lumping idiot? Can't you treat me better than that?"

Now there were three smiles, and they grew when Thom pointed at the display where the last Cadre ship was disconnected and apparently hovering close to the asteroid.

"Why are they still here?"

"You're hopeless! They're just coasting. The same as the asteroid. They can't do anything else."

Calen's little grin meant his question had been purposely designed to give Thom a payback opportunity, and Thom, realising this a second after he'd responded, shook his head and told Calen he was crazy. The elation at their success was short lived though as Thom attended his console again. The asteroid and the Cadre ship suddenly dropped away at incredible speed as they began their deceleration process.

"What's coming through from Pirramar?"

The serious, controlled tone was back in Thom's voice. Wirrin did a quick update.

"The Comets have been working on the last K74 asteroid for just over two minutes with a countdown of four minutes and seventeen seconds before it reaches Attunga."

"They've run out of time. They're not going to stop it."

"Why didn't they use your strategy of hugging close to the asteroid to get at the Cadre ships?"

"They couldn't. The Comets are way too big.
Wirrin, that time doesn't match with the earlier prediction. It's twenty-one seconds longer?"

It was too.

"I don't know why, but it does mean that asteroid must have slowed down."

Given time Wirrin would have discovered that three Cadre engines had partially failed due to the design fault which could cut in when they were pushed to capacity for an extended period. Right now Pirramar was channelling an overload of information from the Habitats, every Comet, the AIs, and the Witness Council.
With no hesitation he linked to the data coming from their own Comet, checked it, then immediately switched the visual component to the big display.
There was a concerted gasp at the view of the great lance penetrating an incandescent wall of fire and destruction to disintegrate more and more asteroid material. This Comet sized Multi-Spectrum beam at work made their own look puny, and Wirrin wondered briefly what the heavy duty Habitat units must be capable of.
They watched for ten seconds or so but the view didn't change and Thom wanted more.

"Can we see the other Comets? That doesn't show us their progress."

"Where's Sonic? Can we see if he's all right?"

"Um! ...I can only show you what they're sending. Hang on. ...The Witness Council transmission might tell us more."

It did. One big window showed a representation of the oncoming asteroid with the nine Comets down in the great pit their beams were gouging. Attendant to it were graphs and icons with relevant and continually updating information.
Another window had a Witness advising Attunga people of the actions they should be taking right now, and as the instructions about brace positions and cautions to keep away from any large free-standing object, the horror of what eight hundred million Attungans were facing welled within Wirrin.
With their own hours of tension and stress there'd been no real time to dwell on the crisis facing others, but now, watching helplessly as the deadly asteroid raced closer and closer, it filled their thoughts. Wirrin and Calen moved close to Thom.

"Look! The first of the mobile beams just activated."

Somehow the AIs had forced the Habitat pico-factories to construct nearly fifty mobile Multi Spectrum Beam units and place them along the path of the approaching asteroid so each unit could deliver a fleeting blow in the short period while the speeding mass was in range.
They watched quietly till, with just under two minutes left, Calen suddenly jolted and looked at Thom.

"What about the Comets? They're down in that pit. They won't be trapped will they? Sonic's with them."

"They'll all be safe. They'll stay as long as they can then leave at exactly the right second. It will already be carefully calculated."

Together they watched, despairing and fearful under the growing realisation there would be no miraculous reprieve.
Fourteen seconds to impact.

Where were the Comets?

Eleven seconds
Ten seconds

Nine Comets streaked from the pit.

Seven seconds
Six seconds

Wirrin took a deep breath and held it, transfixed as he stared at the display.

Three seconds
Two seconds
One second
!!

The display flickered for several seconds then completely blanked out.

***

Aboard the Comet, along with all the rest of the crew, Sonic and Warragul watched the shocking sight of the rear section of the Habitat disappear behind an explosively spreading envelope of fire and destruction as the built-up energy of motion transformed instantly to heat. Safety filters dimmed the real brilliance of the rushing corona to a glowing red and white.
Inside the Habitat eight hundred million people felt the jolt and tremor of their home.
In the transport pools aboard the Comet, every Enhanced dolphin joined in the age old call of distress.
Deep in the protected section of Attunga the AI gestalt leapt to an unprecedented level of activity.
Along the exterior, the great construction complex ceased to exist, pico-factories, buildings, docking bays and construction-bots all vaporised.
The people of Warrakan and Freedom stared at the same blank transmission till the screen flickered again and activated with the image of Akama.

"People of the Open Habitats. Attunga has survived."

DIASPORA PRIME Part 37.

Prev Part

"But we were there just fifteen minutes ago."

Calen was finding it hard to cope with the news that it was going to take seventeen hours to get back to the Habitats.

"Yes, and we were travelling at over seven thousand kilometers every second. We have to lose all that before we even start coming back."

"Why don't they invent some other way to travel then? It always takes too much time. On Attunga and Warrakan you can get anywhere in twenty minutes."

"Some other way? Like what?"

"I don't know. Like the warp holes they have in virtual reality dramas."

Thom loved it and Wirrin couldn't help laughing.

"Warp holes? Idiot! I'll never understand how your brain works. You mean worm-holes. Warp is different. It's the engine making everything super-fast."

"So I was right. We should be able to worm our way through the warp holes with super-fast engines the AIs make for us."

"Make at tech-bot to fix his head please Wirrin."

"My head? It's your head that needs fixing. You said the ship was damaged but everything's working perfectly."

"No she's not. We can't get out. The hatchway mechanism got damaged when we scraped against the asteroid. That'll be a couple of hours extra we have to wait while they fix it."

"Two hours to fix a door? As if! I'll tell Turaku to burn a hole through if we have to wait that long."

"A hole? Through the side of my ship? I'll burn a hole in you and Wirrin will help me. This ship is now famous and every inch of her is precious."

A certain amount of inanity was not only warranted but also infectious and Wirrin burst into laughter.

Calen and Thom gawked at his overreaction then, reinfected themselves, couldn't help joining in.

"Dingoes! The whole major construction area for Attunga gets wiped out and we're laughing like idiots. It's your fault Wirrin. You set us off this time."

"No I didn't. You did. Burning a hole in Calen? And anyway, laughing's good for you when you get stressed."

"Stress? You call it stress? It felt like panic to me."

"Controlled panic, Thom. Perfectly controlled."

Thom made one of his nondescript sounds.

"We didn't have any choice. What's happening with K74? We haven't heard about that yet."

After Akama's talk and general reports about the situation, Pirramar had been in contact with more details.
They'd learnt that the external damage to Attunga was major, with the construction area completely gone and great amounts of the protective shell vaporised in that area. The shell, nearly five hundred metres thick and designed specifically to buffer the main Habitat from the effects of any meteor or asteroid impact, had done its job so well that internal damage, widespread as it was, was basically minor.
They'd spoken with Sonic directly and Thom had been taken aback by the admiration and praise which dominated the conversation, a far cry from their normal badinage. He'd have to get used to that.
The Enhanced dolphins were on their way to their home reaches on Warrakan.
The two companion AIs, along with two of the mobile AIs in their Comets were racing to K74 to be ready to implement whatever consequences were decided, while the remaining mobile AI, along with a human manned Comet, was departing on a rescue and capture mission for the seven helplessly drifting Cadre ships.
Wirrin did a check about K74.

"Nothing's changed. ...Yes it has. Quambi's kept the total communication blockage going but it's been extended to a physical blockage as well, and every vessel that's left the asteroid has been taken to a holding area."

Thom was particularly interested.

"I suppose the Cadre sent ships to get past the electronic blockade. Hey, they won't even know what's happened."

"Thom, they know absolutely nothing. It looks like they're being even more isolated than the last time. They must be, if every ship they send out gets confiscated."

"I wonder if that's what will happen with the Cadre ships? I wouldn't even let them have them after this."

They didn't find out till hours later, but Thom's sentiments turned out to be in complete accord with those of the combined Council of AIs, humans, and Enhanced dolphins, and all twenty Cadre ships were commandeered and moved near Warrakan where they were eventually refitted and sent off for use as a type of reserve force under the aegis of various planetary over-governments.

"I don't reckon K74 should even be allowed to build new ones for years. Aggressive ships I mean."

They all agreed on that. After several hours of watching reports and looking into aspects which interested them, Wirrin made Thom laugh when he said it was time to catch up on sleep.

"My brain's too hyped up, Wirrin, and we can't anyway. Your tech-bot ate all the grav-bunks."

"Wombat head! Adjust your command seat to go flat. That's as good as a bed."

"No it's not. You know I like a grav-field for sleeping and it hasn't got one."

Thom's active brain didn't last long though, once the lights dimmed and they were supine, and the little ship, under full automatics, carried them safely and faultlessly on the journey of return for the next twelve hours.

***

"Two hours? More like two minutes."

"Had you worried didn't I?"

Thom's laugh ended abruptly and his jaw dropped when the ship's portal slid back to reveal a great phalanx of dignitaries lined up and waiting.
Akama and his counterparts from Warrakan and Freedom, Sonic in his transporter, Warragul, Gelar, the doctor and Raji, along with others the trio knew to varying degrees.
They'd expected Warragul, and Pirramar had said Akama was going to meet with them at some stage, but this looked completely official. The trio stepped through their hatchway to the huge, unfamiliar docking area. They'd had to use this alternative because their regular dock no longer existed.
Akama moved to greet them with a big smile, his customary shoulder grip, and a simple,'Welcome home', then they were enveloped in a welter of greetings, hugs and smiles.
Sonic trilled hello in dolphin language and gave his dolphin laugh as Calen dived into the transporter.

"My brothers have returned to the home reach and their pod awaits."

Wirrin wondered about the semi-formal tone, then wondered again as he took in nods of agreement from Warragul, Gelar and the doctor. Akama spoke.

"Yes, we are your escort. Your human and AI pods are waiting for you too."

"Now?... Some sort of meeting?"

"Of course. What else could you possibly expect. The Habitats are waiting."

Habitats? All of them? Well of course they were. Wirrin looked to see if Thom understood. No, he didn't.

"Right now? Don't we get a chance to change? We've been wearing the same clothes ever since Wirrin's tech-bot ate everything."

"Nothing could be more appropriate."

Thom did register surprise, but nothing like the surprise which followed when Raji dashed from his father's side and launched himself, ending in a ferocious hug with his arms tight around Thom's back and his legs dangling in mid-air. Thom almost fell over backwards but recovered and, laughing, returned the hug.

"Wombats, Little Dolphin. What's this for?"

Raji had been called Little Dolphin for ages, a term he especially loved because it had been started by Sonic.

"You saved us all. We watched you on the InterWeb and everyone says you're brave but I already knew because Sonic told me."

Thom laughed and adjusted Raji so he could see his face.

"That's silly, Raji."

"No it's not."

Somewhat nonplussed by Raji's determination, Thom looked to the doctor as if expecting him to talk sense into his son, and received the nod and smile that was echoed by all the other adults. With a move, deft and familiar from relax time at the Dolphinarium, Thom swung Raji to a comfortable sitting position on his shoulder.

"What's this about the InterWeb?"

"We watched everything you did. It was really exciting, like a VR drama, except it wasn't because Mum and dad were watching it too and they were so quiet we felt the same till you beamed that last ship and escaped. Alisa says Calen's amazing because he didn't go unconscious but Miro says you're more amazing because the way you controlled your ship was like magic and he wants to be..."

Raji stopped abruptly because his dad was making the shoosh up signal which meant he was getting too talkative and excited. Thom saw too but disregarded it.

"What about Wirrin? He made the decoy and the jammers and the tech-bot and you didn't say anything about him?"

"I don't have to. Everyone already knows he's special. Like Akama."

It was Wirrin's turn to be nonplussed. What was Raji talking about, and how was he going to get him to explain. Akama had an interesting reaction too, though it wasn't obvious.
The group started moving and by the time they'd reached the nearest TransCom portal the trio knew they were heading to the now famous Attunga Dolphinarium for an official thank you ceremony.
After a journey, so rapid it must have been given priority treatment, they entered the viewing gallery.
It was totally filled, with people in the auditorium, and dolphins on the watery side of the big glass wall, and the hairs on Wirrin's scalp rose when every person rose to their feet and waited in absolute silence.
Akama indicated three seats and gestured to the trio to move. Feeling the incredible weight of attention focused on them, Wirrin grabbed Thom, pushed him to lead off, did the same to Calen, and then followed close.
They sat down and the uncanny silence continued till, intruding on the quiet, came the sound of a single person clapping. It was Akama, and instantly a great ovation soared around the stunned and rather overwhelmed trio. Thom said later that he thought they must have all gone crazy but the sound and sensation was so powerful he felt like he was frozen in his seat.
The roar went on, and on, then abruptly finished. Akama was pointing to the glass wall, or rather, the dolphins massed behind it.
Taking their cue from Sonic, who must have arrived during the ovation, every Enhanced dolphin performed the dolphin to human greeting with the astonishing group precision they were capable of, then burst into dolphin song. The joyous sound of their massed voices rang through the auditorium with extraordinary strength and power.
Part of it was the welcome song dolphins gave to pod members who'd been absent for a while.
Part of it sounded like the song of success after a successful hunt, and interwoven through it all, Wirrin heard the dolphin names Puck had given them when Sonic was still tiny. This song was especially for them. Sonic must have created and organised it with the pod while they were asleep on the ship.
The sound and motion finished and, before the hush of appreciation which almost invariably followed one of these special dolphin performances could change to applause, the images of Pirramar and the AI who represented the Gestalt shimmered into view.

"Welcome home Thom!
Welcome home Calen!
Welcome home Wirrin!
The Gestalt and all our associated AIs extend our gratitude and appreciation for your actions during this crisis.
Friends! Thrice named!"

The Gestalt representative turned to Akama who immediately took over.

"Members of our Habitat Triunity. Three young men set out on a journey of relaxation and adventure, little knowing that a straightforward request for help from our Habitat Security would send them into a situation fraught with danger and almost unbearable responsibility for the lives of Warrakan's dolphins, AIs, and humans.
Watch, and marvel at the bonds of care and support which carry our Dolphin Boys through their worst moments.
Watch, and wonder, as gentle spirited Calen becomes the rock of strength for the trio.
Watch, and share my admiration, as Wirrin, with inspiring innovation and application, provides the tools and wherewithal for success.
Watch, in awe, the triumph of spirit displayed by Thom, as, faced with overwhelming odds and battling fears of inadequacy, he nevertheless rose to every critical situation with skill and control which is beyond my understanding.
Watch now and share briefly the hopes, the fears, and the courage they display through their eleven hour ordeal."

The trio sat, numbed by the big deal Akama was making of this welcome home ceremony. To Wirrin's ears there was the sound of conviction in every word.
Whoops! Thom was taking it to heart. Wirrin gently gently clasped Thom's forearm and was rewarded with a quick look and a subtle thank you smile.
The area directly in front of the glass wall lit up with a holo of Thom's ship, and for the next short while they watched a carefully compiled outline of their actions, their early thoughts about what might be happening, parts of the discussion about strategy, Wirrin's ideas and work with his InfoSystem, the high-grav practice, and then highlights from the time after match-up. The information from every sensor on the ship must have been collected.
They watched the dramatic seconds of each encounter and saw the distortion of their features under high-grav, watched Calen's fingers struggling to key the pre-sets, and relived the moments of Thom's slow recovery to consciousness. The overwhelming message though, was the counterpoint of Thom's skill and command when it counted, against his feelings of worry and despair.
Wirrin's heart constricted at the sight of the tears welling in Thom's eyes as he said he thought he wasn't good enough, then relaxed with laughter as Calen called him a, 'great lumping idiot'. They found out from Pirramar that against the drama of multi-spectrum beams, conflict, and the spectacular images of impact, this was the most viewed and re-viewed moment on the InterWeb.

"There's no one better!"

Calen's following words sounded, the holo presentation finished, and in the immediate hush Akama stood and gestured for attention.

"Yes, Thom, no one better!
Through an act of providence beyond my comprehension, the only people from our three Habitats with the necessary combination of skills and equipment were somehow located precisely where they were needed.
I say it again.
No one better!"

There was no signal this time but the gathering rose to their feet for a second ovation, and against the roar of applause the Dolphin Song sounded again.

***

"You're going to K74?"

This was surprising news because K74 had been completely blockaded for a week now and there was no activity around it.

"The message came from Akama that he wants me to. The AIs and governments all through the Solar System have demanded a stop to any aggressive ships being built there for the next twenty years and we're going to destroy the big construction sites."

"Twenty? Is that all? It should be a lot more."

"It could be if the Cadre keeps running things but if that changes then it'll be less, and from what Wirrin's been telling us that's almost certain. When the AIs get serious things really start to happen."

Wirrin had learned from Pirramar that AIs through the whole Solar System had decided the threats against them from K74 were now so serious they required a proactive response.
This was amazing to hear because, for the hundred and fifty years since the great conflict when sections of humanity fought with tools of fear and hatred for the power to control all forms of machine intelligence, non-interference and cooperation had been an unvarying tenet for AIs in their relationship with the differing forms of human society.
Their proposal had been for Quambi to spread dissent throughout K74 against the Cadre, and at the same time to undermine any anti-AI activities of the Rogue.
Interestingly, they hadn't proceeded till they'd gained human approval, though that was instant, with every major government applauding the idea, appalled that the Cadre was prepared to slaughter hundreds of millions of people to further its own ends.

"What's Quambi doing? He still has to keep hidden doesn't he?"

"Yes, for Quambni-K's sake, but that's easy. He's already a master at it and getting better all the time. Pirramar and I checked it out yesterday afternoon and the Cadre must be furious because images and reports telling the truth about what happened keep mysteriously appearing on the K74 InterWeb and they can't stop them. Quambi has set it up so that when they try to trace the origins they detect an external breach of their security."

"Hey, that's clever. Is it having much effect?"

"It will. There were already clashing ideas from the Embassy Ambassadors and Quambi's building on those and spreading their questions all through the Habitat as well."

"Isn't that dangerous for the people who watch?"

"It would be, Thom, but strangely, the monitoring programs have developed all sorts of bugs."

"Quambi?"

"Of course. Data gets wiped or corrupted and the programs stop working or go into diagnostic mode, or something else unexpected."

"Dingoes! Only an AI could make that happen all through K74. Won't the Rogue think it has to be Quambi-K?"

"Quambi-K gets ordered to check everything but from his viewpoint it's either a genuine bug or the external breach its meant to look like. Anyhow, the Rogue's going to have his own trouble soon and he won't have time to focus on Quambi-K."

"What trouble?"

"Everything he's been involved in is going to start malfunctioning. First to go will be the Black areas and once that happens his equipment will start giving him false results."

"Does that mean you'll be able to watch all the Cadre meetings again?"

"It does, and because we'll know all their plans as soon as they make them, we'll be able to spoil anythingwe need to."

"I don't understand. You've always told us electronic access isn't possible for Black areas. How's Quambi going to get into them?"

"He's going to physically intrude with his own completely separate access lines. The Rogue won't know they're there."

"He'll know when things start going wrong."

"No he won't. There'll be clues to tell him it's more external breaches."

"He might. He's very clever."

"He has no idea what he's up against. Quambi has started building his own communication and control network through K74 and he'll end up with direct access to all their Intelligent Systems. And once he gets into the Black areas he'll be watching everything the Cadre and the Rogue are doing."

"How long before he does that?"

"Another two or three weeks at least. He needs to have his network functioning at a basic level for the rest of the Habitat before he tackles the secret areas, and building the network's an enormous job."

"A secret network for the whole of K74 in three weeks?"

"Pico-bots, Thom. His pico factory can do anything ours can. Remember?"

"How long will you be at K74?"

Thom blinked at the sudden reversion to the early part of the conversation.

"Just today. The Comet's Multi-Spectrum Beams will only take a few moments for each construction site. Why?"

"I'm going to tell Sonic. He'll think it's a good adventure to share with you."

***

Thom turned towards Warragul.

"Let's go! We have to get to the next meeting."

They did have to get to another meeting, but not just yet. Thom was trying to dodge the half-hour of mingling which usually followed the formal talks because he'd listened to too many people telling him how good he was. Wirrin and Calen felt the same but evidently it was important for different groups of people to have an opportunity to express their gratitude and for two weeks Warragul had been their official companion, chaperone, or whatever, as they met with a range of people across the three Habitats. Warragul gave a serious looking nod, as if this was something quite important, and in only five minutes they were making their way to the nearest TransCom Portal.

"They all say the same thing."

"Of course they do, but it's heartfelt and important to them, Thom."

"I know, but I'll still be glad when it's over."

"It will never be over, but officially you finish your public meetings after the next few days."

"Just as well. I've only had one proper trip in the Comet since we got back and no training at all. It's getting ridiculous."

***

"It seems like they're in a hurry to restore everything."

The day before, the trio and Sonic had used Thom's ship to examine the reconstruction progress going on in the area of impact and been surprised at how much had happened. The protective hull, which had been vaporised to a depth of over a hundred meters in the worst places, was completely rebuilt and foundations for the docking and construction sites were well under way.

"There is a timeline but it is easily achievable. We were delayed while we moved the Habitats back to all our abandoned raw supply asteroids but the pico-factories are very efficient and they quickly put us on track. The hull repair work is minute compared with the original build and Warrakan can easily handle any important work."

"What is the timeline then?"

"Ensuring we're ready for the move to Uranus in three months. We want to have all construction areas restored, three Comets with mobile AIs built, and complete the basic infrastructure for the Dolphin level of Attunga."

"In three months? The last time I looked it was going to be nearly four years before the dolphin level was finished."

"That hasn't changed. It's the structural framework which needs to be in place. You know how much damage the unexpected firing of Attunga's engines caused in the unformed areas, and we won't repeat that."

Wirrin nodded. He'd seen the results where the grav-free construction area of the new level had suffered the worst of all the Habitat's internal damage. First inertia and then momentum wrenched massive building blocks out of place.

"It's still a massive job though and I don't see how we can build three new Comets in that time either. They take three months each and the ship construction area isn't restored yet."

Pirramar gave the expression which meant Wirrin should look into this for himself. Hm! One Comet was already started at the Warrakan yard and would be finished well before time. Interesting. Three more construction areas were being developed there and in another month Warrakan would have double the capacity of Attunga. The other two Comets would come from the Attunga yards which would be functional, if not quite finished, in only two more weeks.

"This is amazing. We'll have three times the construction capability we had before the impact but I don't see anything about what the ships are for."

"That's a Gestalt decision. They'll join Quambi's Companion ships and their resident AIs will have special features to augment their independence and resourcefulness. ... Link to the Gestalt research database and find the AI design section. We'll go through what's being proposed."

***

"Dingoes! I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I've just had the most amazing meeting with the Security AI and the people from the center."

Thom had just arrived home after a day at his training center.

'Choose happy then, Great Captain, and banish the sad to an asteroid lost in the ocean of interstellar space.'

"Wise words, Great Fish."

Laughing as he dodged the inevitable jet of water, Thom tossed his gear to one side. He did a bomb drop into the pool a few inches from Sonic's head and the news about his amazing meeting went on hold while the end of day meeting expressed itself in the usual chaos of happy laughter and physical interaction.

"Not fair! You're too big. It's like trying to push a wall around."

'Yajala informs me my growth is likely to continue for at least another twelve years.'

"It better not. We'll need a bigger pool."

They wouldn't. This one had been designed to cope but Thom did have a point because the last few months had seen another growth spurt, and though not yet quite the size of the big Enhanced males, Sonic was certainly approaching it.

'Share your amazing news with us, Little One.'

Thom ignored the dig. He was relaxed now, draped across Sonic's back and leisurely rubbing an area of skin near his blow-hole.

"They think my ship is so important they're taking her off me."

"WHAT?"

His three listeners responded together. That was amazing news.

"And it's partly my own fault. ... For telling you she was precious. The Witnesses and the AIs are going to give her the place of honor in a display centre about the attack. They are giving me another ship, but it won't be the same because she was so good."

'She? Humans are adept at anthropomorphisising.'

"?... And some dolphins are swimming word banks. What's that supposed to mean?"

"You called it she, as if it's a person."

Thom grabbed Sonic's dorsal fin but changed his mind about bending it.

"Everyone calls a ship 'she'."

"What's the new one going to be like? I bet it'll be even better."

"It will be able to do more and it might be better."

'You just described the new ship as an 'it'.'

Thom laughed at Wirrin and Calen's grins, which said that as soon as he got the new one the 'she' would return and he'd get excited and enthusiastic and once again be boasting about having the best in the Solar System.

"Well, it should be. They're working on improving the grav-compensator and I asked them to make it more powerful as well."

"More? Wombats! Is that possible? I remember you saying something about more powerful engines straining the structure."

"Yes, this new one has to be a bit bigger, forty-nine meters instead of forty-three, and slightly thicker because the hull and the frame have to be stronger."

"When do you get it?"

"In about five weeks. They're building it here on Warrakan. ...Why?"

"We leave for Titania in three months so we should have another try at our K137 adventure. It'll be too far away if we don't."

"Hey! Brilliant, and we won't leave unless Sonic's with us this time. Let's organise it for two weeks after I get the new ship."

'We will demand time for our last chance to visit the mystery asteroid and I will enjoy flying your new ship.'

"No you won't. It's not allowed to get wrecked so I told them they couldn't put any dolphin controls in it."

'You are being provided with a limited old rust bucket?'

Thom looked to Wirrin for the meaning.

"...a nautical term used on Earth to describe an old worn out ship."

"No, a new powerful ship with protections to stop wonky drivers who bump into every asteroid that passes by."

Wirrin didn't know what wonky meant and wondered how Thom did.

'Will it help wonky drivers who need a new door before they can leave their ship?'

So, it had come from an earlier verbal stash with Sonic. Thom, obviously realising he'd left himself wide open with the bumping into asteroid statement, conveniently ignored the comeback.

"It'll have a stronger Multi-Spectrum beam and a slightly bigger pico-factory too and they're going to build twenty more of them after it's been trialled."

"Twenty? Who are they for?"

"Training at the Center. They're building five extra Comets too, but that will all happen after the move."

"They're for training? That means you'll be busier than ever?"

"Probably."

The talk went back to their mystery asteroid and twenty minutes later it was all planned and locked in.

***

"It's hard to take it all in."

"You will. We take all the human sectors for granted, and by the time the Attunga reaches are all functioning you'll feel the same about the dolphin level."

The trio and Sonic had just spent nearly two hours with Galar, zooming from pristine reach to pristine reach through the connector tunnels, to see the enormous new area being made available for the Attunga Enhanced dolphins.

"Do you think the dolphins will be able to take it in? There are more reaches then there are dolphins."

'Dolphins will explore and share their knowledge. Every special sea-grass bed and underwater cave will be known.'

"Not all of it, Thom. These reaches we've seen today will definitely be well-known by our Enhanced dolphins, but there are thousands more in the early stages of development which will be without resident dolphins for decades."

"Thousands? Does that mean Attunga's building more reaches than Warrakan?"

Calen grabbed Thom by the neck and gave him a friendly shake, as if exasperated at his ignorance.

"Thom, you're hopeless! Warrakan's got six levels set aside for dolphins and Attunga's only got one. You can't even compare them."

Gelar laughed.

"You're both right. Comparing the numbers is misleading because Warrakan reaches are deeper, longer, and wider and currently average out at 5.4 times the living space and volume of an Attunga reach. In actual numbers Attunga isn't far behind, but that's short term and because of the forced nature of their development."v Calen received his own shake and comment.

"Now who's hopeless? You don't even know the difference between Warrakan and Attunga reaches."

'All reaches are wonderful.'

Wirrin agreed with Sonic. He'd thought the very same thing the previous evening when his check on the reaches they were to visit today had grabbed his attention and developed into an update of the Habitat-wide dolphin situation.v "It's all wonderful Sonic. When you were born there were only three tiny reaches and three hundred dolphins. Now there are over twelve thousand and there are more reaches than you could ever explore." "That would be an interesting adventure."

***

Wirrin, standing with Calen, Sonic, Akama, Pirramar and Warragul, watched Thom deftly manipulate his special console so the view of deep space on the enormous display panned till both Attunga and freedom were revealed, stabilised in close proximity for this historic moment. The display was bigger by far than on any Comet, being the main viewing panel for Warrakan Flight Control, the Center where all alignment and movement of the fifty kilometer long Habitat was managed. Today this task was compounded by the electronic links which placed Warrakan and Freedom under its control. Akama, representing the Witness Council and the people of all three Habitats, had declined the official honour, suggesting it should be bestowed on Sonic. Sonic, in turn, declined and insisted Thom was the appropriate person. Thom, claiming he didn't deserve it, was totally chuffed and had spent the last few days acclimatising himself, by way of simulation, to the ways and means of moving the largest controlled mass in the Solar System at significant acceleration. Now, sitting in the command position, he was waiting for Akama to make the short formal address the occasion demanded and give him the go-ahead. Attention centred on Akama while he spoke then switched to Thom.

"Freedom engines! ... Engaged!"

On the screen it took a few seconds for a change of position to become apparent and Wirrin watched fascinated by this close view of a Habitat under power.

"Attunga engines! .... Engaged!"

Again there was the short period before motion could be discerned but then the great construct blocked several stars and revealed others. It was on its way. Wirrin was struck with the significance of the occasion as here he was, once again involved directly in a key event. For the first time Wirrin pondered if something more than the vagaries of chance could possibly be at work. Often the trio claimed to each other that somehow they must be blessed, or cursed, to have been involved in so many big happenings.

"Warrakan engines!... Engaged!"

Wirrin pushed his introspection aside to enjoy Thom's moment. After all, with three singular conmands he'd just directed over one billion people, a thriving dolphin community, and their associated group of AIs, on a course to the far reaches of the Solar System.

***

DIASPORA PRIME CONCLUDES.

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I hope you've gained some enjoyment from this story.
Any comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
My email address is palantir@diasporatales.tech
For further information about the diaspora series you're welcome at https://diasporatales.net
Palantir.