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"Now, about that ride back," she began. "The window for a straight shot, up or down---it only comes around every five hours and a dab. I'd figured on using that: push up a way, then cut drive and coast to your orbit. Matching the tangential during that part, so all you'd have to do is take me in to dock."
Ben couldn't see her shake her head; the movement came by reflex. "Lifting off just any old time, I don't see quite how to plot it. For one thing I need daylight."
"Not quite," said Sisko. "The ship should be out of shadow, sure. And for about 5/6 of our orbit, it is. But night or say down there doesn't limit when you can lift."
Nyota came on the circuit. "Jacqueline? Just let us know when you can pull out of there and I'll give you the computer's best idea for a rendezvous sequence. You may get up here and have to chase us or wait for us, but don't worry; it'll work okay."
"If you say so." Then, "Any reason I need to stay at the board here just now?"
Ben said, "I guess not. Why?"
"Muscle or not, maybe I can help out a little, down below."302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1F2ZOIiLyr
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One by one the Earth-C-Gates components were lofted out to the floor slab and hefted into place: the power supply all in one piece but the C-Gates themselves partially disassembled, though by no means as fragmented upon arrival. At the Ass Seitz pulled out a unit before clearing away the mattresses. "What's that?" Nightgazer asked.
"The key matrix. If you didn't want anything out-C-Gating on you, I'm shocked that you had it plugged in.":
Jacqueline looked at the recess it'd come from. "There's no hatch like that on our other C-Gates."
Seitz nodded. "Older models, I guess." So that's why J.M. hadn't known he could keep the readied Ass deactivated.
Now, with both C-Gates assembled and the building fully enclosed, he replaced the unit. "Okay; time to open for business." Immediately the colors flared, then faded to present a small table, holding a tray with 12 wineglasses. After Garrison and Apple cleared the things away, nothing happened for about ten minutes; then the next flare died to reveal a coldpack. The note on it read: "Take a break and have some champagne!"
Callie Mills laughed. "Now that's what I call good labor relations!"
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Eventually all the arrival team’s supplies and matériel were offloaded and taken indoors. A little flushed from the champagne, Kurt Seitz seemed inclined to complain forever that some of his working gear, in the crates evacuated from the Module to the hold behind in order to make room for the C-Gates, had been forgotten and left topside, on the ship. Seismic and geothermal instruments, stuff like that.
Alfred Nightgazer cut into the tirade. “Bitching won’t get the stuff down here. You’ll have to wait for the next run and that’s that, friend.”
It wasn’t the best note on which to part, but what the hell. Seitz did manage a grin when he shook hands goodbye.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklFeZ7kMm9
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“How’d you ever think of doing it this way?” Now that Jacqueline followed Nyota’s orders had the Module on course, hurtling free and slanting retrograde, with a velocity that seemed far too great for her purpose, she wanted some answers. While she waited, she punched Cargo Bay 18’s hatch open---releasing the heavy Jackpot air, except for a few bottled samples for Hikaru’s testing, into space. Then she resealed and allowed the hold to fill from the Module’s own tanks. Over comm, Nyota said, “We were too far out of orbital phase for a normal approach. Either to chase us down or vice versa. And waiting for better position would take too long. You’re not the only one saddled with new troops chomping at the bit.
“So you’re gonna shoot out past our orbit,” Jacqueline added, “and then drop back. All your trajectory from there to apogee and down again will be slow speed, very light gravity pull; that lets us catch up to you. Then all you do is kill vertical drop and add tangential V to match us. Easy pickings.”
“If you say so.” Late explanations were better than none, but working in the dark since takeoff had her edgy. All right: she tried to check what she’d been told against what her instruments were saying: from present height and V and vector angle, how close would the DM’s ballistic trajectory meet Arrowprize’s orbital passage? And at what V, what slant?
Jacqueline thought back, to the lesson on how to make turns. This one cut tighter than a right angle and required considerable change in V. The equations were simple; she plugged in some sample numbers, approximations, letting the computer cope with the sines and cosines while she called up Bruno’s graphic with the three-arrowed triangle. It was good enough for a starting point, a template, so she saved it to use later.
From there, nothing to do but wait and see what the real figures would be, going into that turn. Nobody said much.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapZ3uDyghW
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Success! She brought the DM down to Arrowprize’s orbit and riding ahead just a bit. Ben had said, “I’ll swing us to run bassackward; you dock aft,” and that’s how it went. Working aim and distance by her rearview screens, Jacqueline juked her yaw and attitude thrustors while she used the forward trio to close the gap but not too fast, making sure the landing legs had reduced their splay to point slightly inward and meet the tapered socket at Arrowprize's stern so that the DM could slide in and make seal.
A bit of residual yaw threw her aim off; correcting, she overcontrolled and had to thrust forward, clear of possible damage. Again, she tried slowing. But now her alignment drifted off at least 1 yard, so she…
Damn it all! New to the maneuver, she just couldn’t manage precise control of alignment and closure rate at the same time!
She was beginning her 3rd try when Nyota said, “Jacqueline? You’d better switch to multiple and let me bring you in.”
What? “You can run it from there? Why….?”
“Later,” said Ben. “Just make the switch, please. Same as wen we were running the ship from there.”
“Right.” Then, feeling her face flush with embarrassment, Jacqueline watched as the DM met its docking recess almost perfectly, jiggled only a little, then slid smoothly in to nest against the aft airlock bulkhead.
She had no instruments to register that the landing legs were secured, nor that the pressure collar at the socket’s rim had inflated to form an airtight seal---but she didn’t need them. The collar wouldn’t inflate until the legs were locked, and stern sensors showed air pressure behind the Module.
Good enough. Feeing let down by the ignominious end to what she’d considered to be a successful mission, Jacqueline went through her shutdown checklist before following Talia and Alfred down the tunnel and into the ship proper.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8p6JXY95o0
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"....slight modification," said Nyota, "to allow the transfer of control function the other way." Showered and wearing fresh clothes, Jacqueline and her recent crew sat in the lounge with the DM commander, along with Ben and Marlena, all munching and sipping refreshment. "We hooked the trunks to a pair of broadband transceivers; from here to the surface the round trip delay's only a few milliseconds, so that's not a problem, and...."
“But why didn’t you tell me before? And----and you could have taken over the landing, if you’d wanted to.”
“Why should I? You were doing fine, and you had seat-of-the-pants contact; I didn’t. Up here, docking, that wasn’t important; all that I needed was visual and computer input.”
Nyota leaned forward. “Look, now. Docking’s tricky.” Jacqueline couldn’t argue with that. “It takes practice. Which none of us, somehow, ever thought to try to teach you. I’m not sure how we could’ve anyway. No sims program could handle all the thrustor combinations; it’d take up more chip space than the Module’s computer has to lend out.”
“Then how’m I ever going to learn?”
“Later, maybe,” said Ben. “When the Module’s not all booked up. Because first we have to get the rest of the arrival team’s stuff down there. And then the macro-C-Gate group has dibs on the DM. Near as I can tell that bunch was born impatient.”302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR5lkI5jtKW
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That team, all 40 of it, seemed to take over the whole ship. Before meeting them, Jacqueline had wondered whether their getups would differ from those of the arrival team, and how. Only when she saw them did she remember that Arrowprize was on straight Earth time now, one to one: the two groups had C-Gated out no more than a few days or weeks apart.
Some did stand out. For one, a crewchief named Kirb Foley, a tall woman who looked very black except by comparison with Nyota Uhura. Energetic and plainspoken, Foley---along with Zackary Larson the team leader and Darren Higgins his segundo who stayed quite aloof from the ship's personnel---ignored the fashion fads followed by most of the contingent.
The ship's former air of quiet, which had sometimes given Jacqueline a feeling of loneliness, she now recalled with longing. "You can't go anyplace," she complained to Marlena, without a herd of them stampeding at you. And noise..."
Talia didn’t mind at all. She’d worked on a macro-C-Gate installation; for her this was like old times, and now she put some of her free time into helping. “Wiring and plumbing, that kind of thing’s already in place for each fin section; just needs a few final hookups. Right now we’re getting up partitions, stuff like that. And bringing some gear outship from the central holds, to install.”
But this phase of the effort wouldn’t last forever. And until the DV was available to lend some nudge power for the heavy moving, the 12 fins couldn’t be levered out, joined, and unfolded to form a circle. So that the macro-C-Gate could function.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VQzivk4T7
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80 hours after its first launch, with Arrowprize and Lake Pimple in roughly the same relative positions as before, the Module popped free again and decelerated into drop mode. Again Jacqueline sat as pilot and Talia as co-pilot, but Beverly Crusher had replaced Alfred Nightgazer, and along with the remaining eight of the advance team rode Ben and Marlena.
Cargo contained not only the misplaced crates but also components for more prefab buildings. Breaking such things down into sections small enough for C-Gating hadn't been deemed feasible. Of course that decision had been made perhaps 75 years earlier; maybe methods had changed since then.
And so it proved. With more confidence than before, Jacqueline set the vehicle down over near the edge of an area cleared of trees and brush but now shockingly cluttered. All around she saw structures that had never ridden Arrowprize, and people swarming in between them. They reminded her, a little bit, of a flea circus.
The C-Gates she'd delivered had been working overtime.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAz6V63LdAg
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Leaving Beverly in charge of the grounded vessel, Ben told her: "While we're gone, the outer airlock hatch stays shut. Keep the aft sensors onscreen so you can see below. Intercraft Station LL of your switch panel is on a landing leg: if anybody wants to talk, use it. But nobody comes aboard unless one of us is there to okay it."
Marlena Moreau frowned. "Are you worried about something?"
"Nope. We just don't need tourists, that's all."
Down inside the airlock he bled the higher pressure in slowly. "Hikaru says this air is okay; we don't need to keep it out of the ship. But coming back inside we'll pump down to 1 standard atmosphere before letting it mix."
He lifted the hatch and descended the ladder. When they were all down, he turned to Jacqueline. "Do you see the original building you helped put up?" Because whoever was in charge would pro ably where the C-Gates were.
She hesitated, then pointed. "Over there, I think. They've built more onto it." Turning, she led the way; Ben followed.
To be stopped at the major entrance by a uniformed guard. "Would you state your business, please? And show some ID?"302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHkOn87uvJ
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Moving to the front of the group, Ben said, "Benjamin L. Sisko, captain, U.W.S.S. Arrowprize. Where's Kurt Seitz?"
"The advance team leader? I have no idea. Out gathering specimens, I suppose. Could someone else help you?"
"Sure. Who runs the show now?"
"Um---I'm afraid Administrator Alves's rather busy. Maybe one of her assistants. One moment." The man talked into what looked like a wristwatch and maybe was, listened to a voice Sisko couldn't make out, and said, "Mr. Mullen will see you. Mr. Darius Mullen. Second door right; identify yourself to his secretary." Turning away, the guard paid him no further attention.
At Sisko's gesture the others followed him inside and through the door specified. The thin young secretary, a person of indeterminate sex until Sisko spotted the telltale Adam's apple, gave a quick glance up and then pretended he hadn't, even when Ben stood directly across the desk from him.
So Ben kicked the desk. Gaping, the fellow stared. "You got a minute? Captain Sisko to see Darius Mullen."
Fingers on a keyboard. "Let me see if you're listed...."
"Listed, hell! You were just talking to the guard about me and you know it. Now is Mullen here or not?"
The intercom switch must have been open; a voice said, "Send him in, Gridley."
"There's more than one," the youth was saying. Too late; motioning Ben and Marlena and Talia to precede him and leaving the rest to follow, Sisko opened the door..
Behind a larger and more luxurious desk sat a comfortable-looking man of about 40,sporting sleek brown hair and a ruddy face. Rising, he reached out a hand. "Captain Sisko?"
"Mr. Mullen. Yes, I'm Sisko. Checking in. And these are...." He introduced his own party. "And these 8 here belong to Mr. Kurt Seitz's team."
"Fine, fine." He called Gridley in and told him to escort that group to the advance team's quarters; Ben didn't really know any of them but bade them a cheerful good luck and goodbye anyway.
"Take seats, please," Mullen said then. And when they did, "All right, Captain. The macro-C-Gate's on line then, I take it?"
What the----? "It is not, I'm afraid. We had a setback, navigational glitch. Not the decel continent's fault, but it put us back over 40 billion miles and two months. Didn't Seitz tell you?" Slowly, affability leached out of Mullen's expression. "And another thing: Bolt Park dumped your direct C-Gates on us while the ship was in decel and unscrewed. That didn't help."
Darius Mullen shook his head. "Excuses. The bane of an administrator's life. Oh, I'm sure they're valid---or at least, that I'm not technician enough to prove differently. But it does seem hard. Here we work our fingers to the bone, getting ready to oversee the colonists, and you tell me the landers face ever more delay; lacking the macro-C-Gate we won't receive many colonists and couldn't accommodate them if we did. Not without the needed heavy equipment.
"You seem to be doing all right," Marlena said. "I saw at least several hundred out there. That's a start."
Mullen looked pained. "This group consists of colonial administrators, and service personnel. Not farmers and such." He turned back to Ben. "You will return to your ship and deploy the macro-C-Gate immediately. Until that's done, there's no point in me giving you further orders."
Ben stood. Placing both hands flat on the desk he said quietly, "My orders come from Bolt Park. I signed on for this trip---we all did---and once the macro-C-Gate's up and running I'll either contract for a new mission or I won't. Do you read me?"
"What if they extend your mission?"
"Unilaterally?" Gimmie a break. "Look, we're wasting time. As you say, the macro-C-Gate's behind sked." At his gesture, his companions stood. "I'll keep you posted."
At the door, exiting last one out, he turned. "If there's anything else, gimme a call, Ben Sisko. I'll be upstairs." And started towards the entrance. The guard there, again listening to his wristwatch, gestured for Ben to stop. Not likely; he brushed on past and kept moving.
Until he reached the DM and opened intercom station LL. "Beverly? Pop the airlock hatch and drop the ladder."302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQ0dt1Dsaj
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Jacqueline hadn't seen her dad this pissed off since Bolt Park when she told him about Arthur. He pumped airlock pressure down fast and opened it to the tunnel before the two fully equalized, then climbed as if being chased.
When everyone had joined him, up on the control deck, he moved to the pilot's seat. "I'm going to lift this contraption like a bat. Everybody strap in." Once they did, he hit the go button hard; drive thrust plus gravity pull registered over two gees on the meter, and Jacqueline felt every dyne per gram of it---assuming she had her units straight.
Radar showed the Module well above Arrowprize's orbit before Sisko cut drive. Grinning, he executed a smart end for end, did a little computer checking and once more hit the drive hammer. This time for only seconds; then he leaned back and smiled. "Now we drop gently to meet Arrowprize and match vees. Jacqueline, would you like to take over?"
So she did. At near approach she saw that again the ship had been swung tangential to orbit and stern first, making the docking maneuver as easy as possible. She expected Nyota or someone to do that chore, but Ben said to go ahead and try it, so she did. Now, surprising her, he seemed to have all the patience there was. After 6 botched tries he still didn't declare her preempted, and on the seventh she hit the jackpot.
Not pretty, but she got the bugger in there!
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Right, thought Ben; give her a chance and she'll come through. "Nice going, Jackie!" Sensor indication showed air in the chamber behind; he said, "Why don't we go grab a shower and meet in the galley? Celebrate our first contact with the natives, or something." He saw Marlena smile at the mild sarcasm.
As he waited for the others to precede him down the tunnel, the intercom sounded. When he answered, Hikaru Sulu said, "Captain, some woman groundside is on screen her. On the bridge. She wants to talk to you."
Cleanliness had to wait; catching up to the others he said he might be a while so go ahead and eat, and went to respond.
Hikaru motioned him to an aux screen; looking, he saw a tall woman, swarthy with gray-tinged black hair coiled at her nape above a colorful flowing dress. "Captain Sisko?" So the circuit was on visual both ways. "Celia Alves, chief administrator. I heard that you visited out headquarters today and left somewhat dissatisfied. Has Darius Mullen been doing his White Man's Burden trick again?"302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkQ6wcOXr9
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On screen, Alves's office looked not especially plushy, but comfortable. Ben said. "He made it clear that he's no mere colonial; he administrates things, whether they need to be or not. If that's what you mean." So far this one seemed friendly, but he wasn't ready to snuggle up and be pals. Not yet!
"An ancestor of Darius's served in India before it achieved independence; he never forgave Lord Mountbatten. I'm afraid the man sees our work here as a kind of 'British Raj' revival."
"And you don't," said Ben. "Good. But that's as may be. What's this about him giving orders to ship's personnel? Such as me personally." Tone polite but feathers ruffled.
"I'm afraid I don't read everything carefully enough before initializing; there's too much going on. Darius Mullen slipped one past me; he gave notice to Earth that the colony planet New Britannia is now officially in charge of Arrowprize's further ops."
Sisko gave a snort. "Including fuel and supplies Bolt Park is gonna die laughing." Or was that facility, too, now run by ambitious memomeisters? And---wait a minute? "New Britannia?" What the hell....I mean...."
"I thought it was a bit pretentious myself, but the senior staff voted to confirm Mullen's choice, so I agreed."
Okay, take no prisoners. "Your senior staff was a bit late. As captain of the discovering ship, with the crew's agreement, I named this planet, some time ago, when we first made orbit. You can tell Mr. Darius Mullen that he'll be doing his administrating on the planet Jackpot."
Was Alves suppressing a smile? "By protocol, captain, you're entirely correct. But how many messages have you sent, imprinting that name onto the official consciousness? Mullen and his group produce documents by the gross, each under the letterhead of the New Britannia Colonial Administration. As a practical matter, sir, which name would you expect to prevail?"
Ben took a deep breath. "As a practical matter, I suppose I can't afford to give a shit. After all, there won't be word back from Earth for another 4 years. By which time I'll be long out of here." The hell out, he thought but didn't say.
Now she did smile. Ben liked the effect; it helped her rather plain features. "Your realism becomes you. May you and I, then, cooperate in our mutual concerns?"
"You and I, yes. But...."
"Code your calls and messages CV-One; that channel bypasses Mr. Mullen. Who is, I have been thinking, maybe due for reassignment. If indeed my authority still includes such measures, and I rather believe that it does."
Sisko grinned. "Lady, you got yourself a colleague."
The picture blanked. From behind him, Jacqueline said, "I like her, too. Can you come eat now, or do you have to shower first?"
He shrugged. "Oh hell; I'll eat dirty."
Before he went, though, he printed out a message to be gated to Earth. He made only a minor point of planetary nomenclature but was quite vehement on the subject of who he took orders from. It might not do much good, given C-Gate lag, but at least he'd (eventually) be on the record.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinzdhGidNp
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Each day now, Jacqueline took the DM down with another load to the colony. Until Hikaru Sulu agreed that Nyota was fit to pilot the little craft; once she took over, her greater skills in jockeying the craft allowed for considerably augmented loads. With the DM hanging tethered just clear of Arrowprize's stern, suited members of the C-Gate crew hauled crates along the tunnel and lashed them to fittings on the vessel's hull. Nyota could manage atmospheric entry and landing with such unbalanced overloads; neither Jacqueline nor Talia felt up to it, not yet. But either or both could spell Uhura, piloting the DM in space. So the schedule went to two a day; within a week all colony-destined materials were out of Arrowprize and down where they belonged.
Shortly afterward, everyone strapped down while Ben nudged the ship out to synchronous orbit. Very gently, so that the rotating belts needn't be secured, he took it up. 20 thousand miles higher he eased off even more, giving Lake Pimple time to come into position on the daylight side. Not directly under Arrowprize, but close for longitude; from an equatorial orbit, of course, the colony lay to the north. Then he jockeyed for synchronous stability and again aimed the ship at Jackpot.
Next came transfer of macro-C-Gate materials from the central hold to the outer fins. Tagging along with Talia Winters in the overall group, Jacqueline helped carry some of the less bulky items and then acted as tool monkey for Talia, taking care to follow instructions and avoid getting in anyone's way. She wasn't all that comfortable working in a crowd, but staying incraft and seeing nothing of the new developments didn't appeal, either.
The time came when a pair of fins had to go vacuum, the air pumped out because during partial separation and realignment no seal could be kept anyway. With forward mountings disengaged, the fins would be pivoted on their rear hinges to angle out from Arrowprize's hull until the forward tips could be pulled together and secured. When that part was done, Arrowprize would resembled some weird flower with six curved petals.
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Ben didn't want Jacqueline working vacuum at all, but after lots of argument---with Marlena and J.M. unexpectedly on Jacqueline's side of it---he compromised. "All right, you work with a partner at all times and always inside. None of this out on a line stuff, you hear me?' And sounded pompous, even to himself. But she was so young, and he didn't know enough about outside work to coach her on it, even if all the new red tape gave him time to do so. And surely he didn't want to trust that kind of training to these new macro-C-Gate people that he'd only just met.
Suits, he did know; Jupiter had carried them. There had been periodic drills in their use, and during one equipment failure the whole crew had been first to suit up in earnest. Current issue was somewhat improved: insulex body suits of thin membrane with an impermeable outer layer and an absorbent inner one, good for four to eight hours before sweat built enough to saturate. Back on Jupie they went clammy within the hour.
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With considerable help from Marlena, Jacqueline got into the clinging suit; under it she wore only briefs and a halter. With the ventral seam and relief patch sealed, all that remained was to clamp shut the semi-rigid collar, an oval that slanted back from below her chin to the crown of her head, and close the transparent facepiece. For now, she left the latter ajar; closing it would automatically put on her suit air and activate the short-range talkset. High on her back, the semi-flexible air tank rode like an oblong rucksack.
Talia knocked and was admitted. "Ready to go?"
"I guess so. Sure." Reassuring Marlena that she would be careful, Jacqueline followed her buddy outcraft to the airlock that served No. 2 fin.
Four others were waiting to use the lock. When all were inside and facemasks sealed. Yael Ibarra sprayed the chamber full of a pink mist. The crewchief's shoulder patch made her easy to spot. Now she said, "Watch for leaks; we always have to check for defects, the first time," but as the pressure fell no telltale spurt from any suit disturbed the dissipating mist. Within seconds Yael vented the air, then opened the far hatch; the group clambered through, into the fin.
Except for the suit, Jacqueline decided, working in vacuum wasn't all that different. Velcro still held, and it wasn't as if the enclosure was noticeably open to space. It was not sealed, though, and holes appeared where fastenings were removed.
Suit air seemed somehow tasteless, and every voice on the comm net sounded directly in her ears; she couldn't tell where they really came from. The faceplate contours gave good visibility, but the suits all looked alike, with reflections obscuring faces. Unless you were up close and looking directly in, you couldn't see who was who.
But that was what the fore and aft nameplates were for.
Somebody wasn't reading those. Or didn't give a damn. A woman's voice said, ".....glad when we can move out of those barracks. Into the C-Gate, away from all those old crusties."
"Fifty years behind the times," a man answered, "and not a thought of catching up or trying to learn anything."
Someone laughed; for a few seconds two or three talked at once before Jacqueline heard a woman's voice. "I'd bet there's one or two you'd like to teach. Maybe a little game of slur poker."
Laughter. Then, "Oh, get some focuse! One of those decks?"
"Shut your box!" Yael's voice, as Jacqueline saw the badged suit emerge from an equipment room. "There's crewfolk helping, here. Though listening to you lot, I can't think why."
Babble: it was just talking I didn't mean wouldn't want to no offense sorry didn't know just joking why didn't someone say....
Until Talia's voice cut cold across the rest. "The sooner you shut up and work, the sooner you'll get your way!"
That remark put the cork in; work resumed.
Mills wasn't in sight; Jacqueline went looking and found her in another compartment. Right now, she had no desire at all to mix with this macro-C-Gate crew.
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Helping Talia move and place and fasten down various unit components, Jacqueline lost track of time until it was their group's turn to take a break. After cycling back into the ship and opening faceplates, first came a pit stop. The relief strip at the suit's crotch worked easily enough, Jacqueline found. Working so near airlock access, the suit's own built-in option wouldn't be necessary.
In the corridor by the airlock sat a hamper Jacqueline hadn't noticed earlier. Yael Ibarra opened it to reveal snacks and coffee. Nobody seemed to have any problem taking refreshments in 0G. Well, they'd have practice at it....
Following Talia's unpsoken lead, Jacqueline decided that if any embarrassment lay in the situation, the C-Gate crew could carry it. Those four ate and drank in silence, not looking at much of anything, until Yael turned to Talia and Jacqueline. "Look, these clowns were out of true, granted. Part of it, they're a little scared of you. Maybe not scared exactly, but unsure. It's like having their grandparents turn up as young people. Your experience goes back so far, and...."
"That's not how it sounded." Jacqueline kept her voice flat. Unwilling to show hurt, she hushed up.
"Haven't you ever made fun of something that had you edgy?"
Maybe. "All right, then. It's done with."
"And you, Mills? You willing to forget it?"
"It depends. We'll see what happens."
Her answer ended both discussion and break. Reentering the fin, the six were just in time for all the commotion.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IRpHe2ZiS
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Pushing through the group waiting to go on their own break, Ibarra's half-dozen h ad barely cleared the entrance hatch area when the screaming started. Jacqueline pushed ahead, and craned to see what was the matter. When she did see, laughter fought with alarm. And won.
Only a few yards ahead, a figure floated in vacuum, first at a slant and then pivoting upright: the figure of herself, simulated as best the Timeloster could manage, and just the same as last time! No suit.
The macro-C-Gate bunch went total thalamus. Jacqueline tried to yell she was over here, but they were too much louder. Several were grabbing at the Timeloster, trying to drag it towards the airlock and save its seemingly endangered life. But they couldn't move it.
Of course not, Jacqueline thought. As an extension from the greater plenum the Timeloster would be anchored there; pulling onto the simulacrum couldn't budge it. Then after a few moments it did move, drifting at an even pace not towards the lock but to Jacqueline herself, its would-be rescuers trailing. When it came to face her, she saw its lips move.
Through vacuum, though she strained to hear, no sound came. Somehow, on the rigid features, frustration showed. Jacqueline spread her hands: I can't hear you.
This time she watched at close hand as the solid image, in the grasp of at least five frantically tugging macro-C-Gate workers, slowly shrank to vanishment.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgOwTuMomT
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"What was that?" "We thought it was you!" "You acted like you knew it!" "Is it something dangerous?" "A spirit?" "No, doppelganger's the word." "How did you summon it?" "Can you call it up at will?" "What kind of powers does it have?"
In the lounge, she and Talia reporting to Ben and a few others, Jacqueline shook her head. "That's the kind of thing they said, and I finally quit trying to explain. Those people don't think the way we do." She made a shrug. "If they really believe all that stuff, you'd think they'd be scared to death of me."
J.M. Colt nodded. "According to the Bolt Park reports there's a trend growing, a retreat to superstition. It's happened before; I've read about it. But not in our time."
Ben grunted. "I wish to hell they'd weed it out of the cadres they send us." He looked around the table. "Any other problems, dealing with the team?"
"You might say that," Talia answered. "They got really snotty about us and the crew in general. With everyone in suits, they didn't know we were there to hear it."
"They found out, though." Jacqueline chuckled. "And fell all over themselves, trying to eat it."
Looking serious, Ben said, "If you'd rather not try to work with that gang any longer...."
In nearly the same words, Talia and Jacqueline declined the offer: they could handle any situation the macro-C-Gate team could. So Ben and J.M. agreed to let the matter slide by.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq36YxlKeQu
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Finding subject volitional barred to communication leads to withdrawal; although barrier layer is not impervious to sensory extension, to breach it might release and exhaust thinly dispersed, compressible matter needed for function of volitionals in this sub-plenum. Attempt will recur at further chronal interval.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7GiX7OgREa
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When the first pair of fins was cleared to be pivoted out, Jacqueline wangled an observer spot on the DM. Nyota popped the vehiclnlye free and eased slightly out and back, trailing a bight of line with a tether to Arrowprize's hull. In the rear screens Jacqueline saw suited figures haul in the tether and secure the main line through hooks at the front of each fin.
As the team members took stations inside, Nyota edged the DM laterally away from the ship, pulling the fins forward ends outward and together, ending at an angle of about sixty degrees to the hull. Then more macro-C-Gate techs emerged from the adjacent tips and joined their flexible hinges as far as those would mesh.
By the time Nyota redocked, the operation had taken nearly 2 hours. Of course the team's part wasn't done yet.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBALyug9oE
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In any project made up of repetitive stages, the first try takes longest; with practice, each step goes faster. Sisko knew all this, yet the pace of the first phase chafed on him. Only when all six folded arches angled out from Arrowprize, their tips in a rough circle over 500 feet across, did he feel the macro-C-Gate project was truly under way.
The next phase, connecting the six pairs of fins end to end and expanding their formation into a circle, needed delicate handling. Through remotes to the control room Ben watched as the aft ends of two adjacent fins were linked by tie lines, freed from the ship's hull, then drawn together and towed by gentle increments of the DM's drive thrust to an approximation of their last position.
None of this happened quickly, but practice again shortened the time of each succeeding move. Over several watches Sisko lost track of who was running the DM; Nyota would need a rest now and then, so Jacqueline was probably doing some of it. And maybe Talia. For although the Module redocked at intervals, none of the three had been back aboard Arrowprize since the op began.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrYpgMTfEx
He didn't call to find out. Nyota had made it clear she wanted no interruptions unless something vital came up.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2Zm6GtzdF
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The final towing operation reverted to slow pacing, for now all fin segments were free of the ship; any sudden movement would be transmitted to the entire zigzag ring. While the mass of the overall construct was many times that of the Deployment Module, any degree of motion imparted to it would need to be corrected. But finally the DM disengaged, leaving a sort of great flattened tiara floating as near to synchronous orbit as Sisko could gauge from control.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2bhsjV2Gp
All that remained was to straighten the ring, and again towlines came into play. At one juncture after another, suited C-Gate personnel captured and fastened the DM's lines; then the Module gently tugged, flattening the angle between segments until the two met squarely and could be secured. Then, when the lines were freed, the Module moved to its next assignment.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WfLcFMOuK
It wasn't fast work, but finally the job was done!302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfee0LpNFsj
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Entering her quarters, Jacqueline felt ready to sleep the clock around. Except that she was still wired up. The bathroom mirror showed a grime-streaked face; the braid she'd done up---how many days ago?----was coming apart, and felt grimy as she undid it.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbTqNnhFxK
While she undressed she sipped cold juice; the DM had run out of it two days ago, and during the hurried docking times nobody ever thought to restock. A good solid 30 minutes in the shower had her feeling both more relaxed and, to a certain degree, refreshed. Ready for anything.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2MzKVcAZj
Well, almost. She wasn't really expecting the Timeloster.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6ZljpIeK2
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Agreed that volitionals in the sub-plenum lack means to sense choice of more utile chronal-prime vector, within adjacent dimensional packet, for purpose of spatial displacement. Decision is that volitional should experience overall plenum to greater chronal extent, enabling it to accrue understanding, then return. No harm, it's felt, should result to any.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBUR1Js6fO
Subject is nowtime found communicatively accessible; sensors extrude to co-occupy volitional's coordinates, at all point-loci restricted to only 2 spatial vectors, thus ensuring nondisruptive admixture.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hRXTxOvqc
Interaction achieved, effort is applied to convey intention. Unaccountably, excessive counter-intent ensues. Assuming its cause to be incomplete comprehension, effort is repeated, but resistance only intensifies.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmo1YNGV9tb
Following further attempt to explicate intent as one of providing volitionals greater advantages rather than harm, sensory extremities retract from subject into major extension, which then itself withdraws.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ549K5YkpLi
Reactions of volitonals, it is evident, vary beyond predictive comprehension.302Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUE90gnTecb
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