City of Ruins

SIXTY



They didn’t understand the anacapa drive. At all.

Coop walked down the corridor, unable to stay in the room for another minute. The woman, clearly intelligent, was speaking to him as if the anacapa drive was a simple cloak, and it wasn’t.

The Fleet used it to avoid fighting. From the perspective of the foe fighting the Fleet, the anacapa could be the best cloak ever. The ship would disappear, and never show up on scans.

But it was so much more than that, and so much more difficult. Traveling through foldspace was perilous, as he well knew.

And these people—if that woman was to be believed—were playing with the technology as if it were a simple cloak.

No wonder so many were dying.

The corridors were empty per his orders, except for the guards he had stationed near the doors. He walked all the way to the bridge, where Lynda was leading his team. Dix glared at him over the console. Anita straightened her shoulders, trying to look taller, which she often did when she was nervous.

Yash’s level gaze met his.

“I need you to send your best people into the sector base,” he said. “The anacapa is malfunctioning. It’s occasionally sending out streams of energy that are so strong they’re blowing through rock and opening holes on the surface. At least that’s what the woman is telling me.”

“It would explain the strange map we got of the facility once the sensors came back online,” Yash said.

“That’s what I thought,” Coop said. “I want you to check on this, of course, but it would explain a lot. It would also explain how we got here, whenever here is.”

Yash nodded. “A buildup of energy in the systems. I’ll put someone right on it.”

Coop nodded. “Dix, I’m going to need a team. At least a dozen soldiers, you, me, and Rossetti. I need them ready in half an hour.”

“Are we in some kind of trouble, sir?” Dix asked, suddenly formal.

“I’m not sure,” he said.

“The woman and her translator, are we holding them?” Dix asked.

Coop shook his head. “They’re going to take us to the surface. They just don’t know that yet.”

“You want a landcar ready, sir?” Dix asked. “We’re a long way underground, and the emergency lift doesn’t work.”

“I know,” Coop said. “But if the anacapa is malfunctioning badly, I’m not sure what added energy from our landcar would do. I’d rather not risk that at the moment. We’ll either use the woman’s transportation or we’ll walk.”

“Getting out—”

“Will be hard, I know,” Coop said. “We might have to come back for the car. But there are too many questions here, and I need them answered before we go any further.”

“What’s going on, sir?” Anita was having trouble remaining still. She wanted to be part of this as well.

“I’m not sure,” Coop said. “I’m hoping this woman is lying to me. Because if she’s not ...”

He let his words trail off. He shook his head.

“If she’s not?” Lynda asked. They all needed to know.

“We’re in trouble,” Coop said. “And the situation we landed in is a real mess. Maybe the worse we’ve ever encountered.”

“Is it our business, sir?” Dix asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” Coop said. “But I’m terrified that it might be.”

“Terrified?” Anita asked, her voice trembling.

He looked at her. He realized he had never used that word, not once, in his entire command.

“Terrified,” he confirmed. Then he nodded once and left the bridge.

* * * *