Tachyon Web

  TACHYON WEB

  CHRISTOPHER PIKE

  What lies beyond the end of the world?

  A stolen spaceship.

  A joy-ride to the stars.

  Five young thrill-seekers in a world of wonder.

  But one of them has a more dangerous plan – to blast beyond the Tachyon Web, the iron boundary that bars mankind from worlds beyond.

  Have they left this world forever?

  CHAPTER ONE

  Eric Tirel first learned of the plans for the illegal space jump from his best friend only a week before it actually took place. Had Eric longer to think about the immensity of what they were attempting, he might have backed out. Had his best friend told him half of what was planned for the trip, Eric probably would have turned him over to the authorities and asked for a reward. As it was, Eric found out the truth much too late to make any difference.

  Eric Tirel’s best friend was Strem Hark, and besides being an established fun-loving con man, Strem was always late. Eric had been waiting over an hour at the window of the observation tower in the center of Baja Spaceport for Strem to show up. Yet the delay had not bothered him. The view from the top of the tower was fine company: long silver starships rising slowly – practically soundlessly – over the flat blue ocean atop the thrust of their gravitation drives, glistening in the orange evening sun like gigantic fireflies.

  He often caught the bullet monorail down from Los Angeles to the spaceport simply to watch the ships disappear over the hazy edge of the Earth’s atmosphere. He had been to the moon and the planets more times than he could remember and had even once made a hyper jump to and from the Vega System, but it was as though he were a kid from the end of the twentieth century.

  Spaceships always seemed somehow novel and magical to him. It had been his intention to join The Patrol and spend the rest of his life in space. That is, until the academy had returned his entrance application with a form letter that said they didn’t want him, without even saying why. Just thanks but no thanks, and with High Commander General Griffin’s personal signature stamped on the bottom. Well, it was their loss. He probably couldn’t have spent the rest of his life taking orders from those jerks, anyway. It was bad enough listening to his parents reminding him to study more.

  “I’ve figured out what we’re going to do over spring break,” Strem said to his back, finally arriving.

  Eric did not immediately turn around. One of The Patrol’s cruisers – easy to identify with their distinctive orange and black stripes – was approaching from the southwest. It was possible this very cruiser had hours ago been exploring outside The Tachyon Web, the network of ninety thousand hyper-spatially connected satellites. The Patrol had strung around their corner of the galaxy to prevent civilian pilots from making hyper jumps beyond the confine of The Union. Eric appreciated The Patrol’s desire not to have human beings hopping all over The Milky Way, but he often wondered what they might be hiding out there. Of course, there was the persistent rumor that the human race was engaged in a bloody interstellar war with a hideous alien race that the authorities were afraid to admit for fear of causing a widespread panic. He was not too keen on the war theory. He had come to the conclusion that the government only wanted to keep track of all the civilian pilots for tax purposes. But, since The Patrol had rejected him, he probably would never know for sure.

  “Do I have any say on this?” Eric asked, not really offended at Strem’s assumptive planning. Strem always had a wild scheme going. Eric had decided a long time ago it was his purpose in life to keep Strem from accidentally killing himself.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “In that case, what are we doing?” he asked, turning around and wondering at his friend’s exceptionally broad grin. A good percentage of the girls at school were in love with Strem. Eric probably would have been jealous – actually, it did bother him occasionally – if Strem hadn’t so fully deserved their affection. Besides having the best physique strenuous exercise could build, and a face that was both humorous and strong, topped with uncombable blond hair and lit with wild blue eyes, Strem was always upbeat. It was in the record book that once when a lunar shuttle had lost its directional beam and was threatening to crash into the harsh moonscape, a passenger aboard had casually remarked that at least they would have a crater named after them. Then again, Strem had been his only witness when insisting that it had been himself who had made the famous comment.

  “We’re going on a little trip,” he said, leaning with his back to the window. The observation corridor was dim, having only the late sun for light, and practically deserted. “How does Easter in the Tau Ceti System sound?”

  “Your uncle?” Eric said automatically, feeling his pulse quicken. Strem’s uncle was a trader and had one of the next-to-impossible-to-get pilot licenses. He also owned an ageing twenty-second-century freighter named Excalibur whose gravitation drive still packed enough horse-power to push the ship far enough away from the sun to launch a respectable hyper jump. Strem’s uncle had never before offered to take them anywhere. Eric would kiss the old goat’s feet if he’d had a change of heart about passengers. When Eric had traveled to the Vega System it had exhausted a year’s savings in a weekend. But it had been worth it. A freebie was almost too much to hope for. Especially to Tau Ceti. There was a moon there circling the tenth planet that was one gigantic diamond.

  Strem nodded. “Uncle Dan just signed a contract with a distributor on Ceti Six for several thousand fiber optic wardrobes. You know those new clothes that light up whenever you move or get excited?”

  “I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one of those outfits,” Eric muttered, not really caring what the cargo was. “What made him change his mind about taking on useless baggage such as ourselves?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  Eric had learned that line before. What Strem was really saying was, “You don’t want to know.”

  “How long will we be there?”

  Strem shrugged. “For as long as we like.”

  “Your uncle is scarcely in one place two days in a row. How can it be for as long as we like?”

  “Because he’s not coming,” Strem said matter-of-factly. Then he burst out laughing. Familiar with his style – Strem loved theatrics when revealing a secret – Eric let him finish.

  “He’s being sued,” Strem said finally, chuckling. “A mining company on Titan is accusing him of failure to deliver much-neglected equipment after being paid in advance. Can you imagine? He’s to be in court from now until next month.”

  “Did he deliver the equipment?”

  Strem waved away the question. “He tried. What else can a man do? Besides, it was the mining company’s fault that they didn’t get the stuff.”

  “How so?”

  “They should have known better than to pay him in advance.”

  Eric shook his head. “I don’t understand. We can’t take Excalibur to Tau Ceti.”

  “Yes, we can!” Strem said, his hands becoming animated. “I can pilot the freighter, especially with Sammy’s help. There’ll be no problem.”

  Sammy Balan was a good friend and the younger brother of the well-known Lien Balan, who was responsible for many of the sophisticated capabilities of the navigational computers in the most-advanced space cruisers. As far as computers were concerned, Sammy was perhaps as gifted as his brother. If left alone, Sammy could probably get them to Tau Ceti. Nevertheless, Eric was beginning to have his doubts.

  “This isn’t going to work. We can’t––”

  “The distributor needs the goods next week,” Strem interrupted. “If he doesn’t have them by then, the deal’s off.” He put a hand on Eric’s shoulder. “Don’t worry.”

  “Aren’t you overlooking a few minor details? Ho
w can we get past customs and out of the solar system? They’ll want to talk to your uncle, and if he’s not aboard, they won’t give us clearance.”

  Strem stashed away his merry manner and glanced around to be sure no one was listening. Their nearest company was a passionately kissing young couple and they obviously had other things on their minds. “Sammy has been working on tying a holographic film in the Excalibur’s computer,” Strem said quietly.

  “And the film is of your uncle,” Eric muttered, catching on fast. Strem was implying that they were going to try to make Central Control believe that Uncle Dan was aboard when he wasn’t. With the quality of present-day recording equipment, a holograph was practically undetectable from the original, especially when transmitted to a point far away, as it would in this case. The visual technicalities of the plan did not trouble him. It was the programming of the image’s responses to Central Control’s variable questions during customs procedure that would be dangerous. Others had tried it in the past and they were now working in chemical factories on Mercury. “Is Sammy’s older brother helping with the programming?” he asked.

  Strem shook his head. “This is just between us, believe me.”

  Whenever Strem said, ‘Believe me,’ it was always a bad sign. “This illogical. If your uncle is in court and is also supposed to be on his ship going to Tau Ceti, someone somewhere will put two and two together and blow the whistle.”

  “He’ll be in court in person. Who’s going to check to see if he’s elsewhere? Central Control will have no reason to check with the judicial system.”

  That made sense, sort of. “I’m surprised your uncle is taking such a risk, having us deliver this shipment. If we get caught, he could lose his pilot license.” And what would happen to them, Eric wondered, if Central Control hauled them in? He had never been particularly fond of Mercury. Air-conditioning or not, it was always hot there.

  “From the hints he’s dropped, the miners on Titan are going to make sure he loses it, anyway. This shipment is worth a small fortune. He may as well get in one last big score while he can.”

  Strem always had an answer for everything. “What’s our percentage?”

  “That’s still being negotiated. Come on, what do you say?”

  Eric had a dozen objections to raise, but none came out. What he was going to do over spring break, had been weighing on his mind. He hadn’t been looking forward to a couple of weeks of watching movies and hanging out at the beach by himself. Strem had previously mentioned that he would be spending the vacation with his latest girl, Jeanie Clayway, and Sammy had also indicated he would be busy with his girlfriend, Cleo Rettson. If the exotic scheme came off, Eric figured the two girls would also be coming to Tau Ceti.

  He hoped he wouldn’t appear the odd guy out. He didn’t have a girlfriend at the moment. Actually, he had never had one, though he dated fairly regularly. He liked to think he hadn’t found anyone that measured up to his standards but in reality he would have been very happy to have a relationship with either of the last two girls he had taken out. Unfortunately, neither Carol nor Barb were returning his calls. He wasn’t sure why. Both of them had appeared to enjoy his company. He suspected that he just didn’t do it for them, physically that was. He wasn’t every female’s fantasy but he knew he wasn’t ugly. He wasn’t as tall or as strong as Strem but regular running had given him a firm wiry frame and he saw a lot of sun and had an excellent tan. His features were dark, his black hair long and curly. Others often remarked upon how thoughtful he appeared, even deep, and he did, in fact, excel in school. The potential was obviously there. Carol and Barb just didn’t know what they were missing. A shame he knew what he was missing; they had both been gorgeous.

  What the hell, The Patrol didn’t want him and neither did the girls. He needed a change of scenery. “Okay,” he said.

  Strem did a double take. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ll go with you. It sounds like fun.”

  Apparently Strem had expected to have to spend more time convincing him. “You’re not worried that we’ll get arrested?”

  “I’m worried that we’ll get killed. Why should I worry about getting arrested?”

  Strem slapped him on the shoulder. “I can see I’ve been a good influence on you, after all.” He glanced at the necking couple. It reminded him of something. “I guess you’ve figured we’re taking Jeanie and Cleo?”

  “Fine with me, as long as Cleo doesn’t bring her snake.” Sammy’s girlfriend had a ten-foot-long python. Sometimes it seemed she liked her snake more than Sammy, which didn’t bother Sammy one bit. He was obviously more attached to his computers. The two had an interesting relationship. “Do their parents know?”

  “Are you kidding? All our parents are going to think we’re safely on Mars. Record a couple of videos and give them to Clark. He’s heading out that way next week. He’ll send them over the ordinary channels to our parents.”

  Eric nodded. Tachyon or instantaneous transmission between Earth and Mars was expensive. Their parents would expect them to use standard electromagnetic broadcasts, and traveling at only the speed of light, such an old-fashioned medium would disallow two-way communication. Their parents would never know. Eric was not crazy about lying to their parents but neither was he going to lose any sleep over it.

  “It would be great,” Strem added, “if you could bring a girl, too.”

  Eric looked out the window. The Patrol cruiser had landed and the crew was being shuttled off the wide concrete field. “You know I don’t have a steady girlfriend. How can I talk someone into spending a week with me in a cramped spaceship that stands a good chance of being blown out of the sky?”

  “Appeal to the adventurous side in her!”

  “In who?”

  “Get any girl at school. There’s lots of them. How about Carol and Barb?”

  “They haven’t called me in a couple of weeks.”

  “Call them.”

  “I have. More times than I can remember.”

  Strem was not insensitive. He quickly changed his approach. “You’re right. They’re more trouble than they’re worth. If I had my way, just us three guys would go.”

  “What’s stopping you from having your way?”

  “Hey, don’t try to analyze me when I’m acting the nice guy.” He peered out the window, not at the ship and the conveyors laden with cargo and the scurrying uniformed workers, but at the swollen red sun, barely scraping the burning horizon. And his entire manner changed. One minute he was smiling, then suddenly he seemed worried. More than the vagueness of a couple of his answers, this brief falter made Eric suspect he was not telling the whole truth about the illegal trip. “It’s not very bright,” Strem said softly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Compared to a blue star, for example. Or a nova.” He glanced at Eric out the corner of his eye. “Do you know much about novas, Eric?”

  Strem seldom addressed him by his name. “I know they give off a tremendous amount of energy.” He paused. “Why do you ask?”

  Strem took his time answering, as though he were debating whether to answer at all. “I hear there is a nova in the Andromeda Sector.”

  “How close?” Every year there were several novas in the galaxy, but since the development of interstellar travel there had not been one in the Earth’s vicinity. It would make an interesting study for the astronomers.

  “Close enough.”

  “Where did you hear this?”

  “Does it matter? My sources are reliable. Take my word for it.”

  “Why did you bring it up just now?”

  “Don’t you find the information interesting?”

  “Certainly. But…”

  “That’s why I told you. I knew you would be interested.” Strem looked again at the setting sun, the sharp edge of the ocean cutting it in half, a quarter, an eighth, before swallowing it all together. “Perfect,” he whispered, nodding to himself as artificial light warmed up overhead.

/>   “Have you suddenly become sentimental about sunsets or what?” Eric asked.

  Strem shook himself, as he would from a nap, and stepped away from the window, grabbing the top of Eric’s arm and half pulling him down the corridor toward the elevators. The passionate couple had left and for a moment they were alone. Strem’s mood, or whatever it had been, had passed. “Do you still want to rent a mini-sub and see if we can ram some sharks?”

  That was why they had originally decided to meet in Baja. “Sure. But you didn’t answer my question.”

  Strem laughed. “The only thing I feel sentimental about right now is the five-percent commission I’m trying to squeeze out of my uncle for delivering the cargo.”

  Eric figured he could question him further at another time. “You’ll be lucky if you get one percent.”

  “I’ll take it,” Strem agreed, hurrying him along at his usual frantic pace. “Hey, I just thought of someone you can ask on this trip. Dentenia Soulete – she’d be perfect. She’s not that bright, but she knows how to answer the phone and say yes. Here’s what you’ll do…”

  Strem proceeded to bless him with a dozen lines that were guaranteed to stimulate Dentenia’s lust for danger, space travel, and witty young men. Eric only half listened. He hardly knew Dentenia – though she had a superb body and he wouldn’t have minded knowing her intimately – and couldn’t imagine calling her. He was thinking of novas, exploding stars that saturated space with incalculable torrents of energy. The Andromeda Sector was not in the direction of Tau Ceti and Strem’s commission. It was a shame in a way that they wouldn’t have time to swing over for a quick peek. Of course that was for the best. God only knew what emissions from a nearby nova could do to their equipment.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The dawn was sudden and dazzling as they ploughed out of the Earth’s shadow into the glare of the sun five hundred miles above the cloudless Sahara. Eric immediately snapped down his visor, but not before he began to see stars that weren’t there.