World Unknowable (Part 1)

Launch was uneventful ... until a few primeminutes after we reached orbit. A speaker on the instrument panel squawked ... and a voice said, "Ahoy, Harbinger, this is Coast Guard Poppa Romeo Five One. Are you receiving ... ? Go."

"Sooner than we expected," Tanya murmured.

"Much sooner," Alex Fong agreed.

Again from the speaker: "Ahoy, Harbinger, this is Coast Guard Poppa Romeo Five One. Please respond. Go."

Mando Perez said, "Maybe we should answer. Maybe we can talk our way out of this."

"That isn’t the plan we agreed upon," Anita said.

"Yeah, I know, but- "

"You are ordered to cut your engines, and prepare to receive a boarding-party. Ac-knowledge. Go."

"Never mind," Mando muttered.

"No," Griz said from the pilot’s seat. "Let’s try it. Maybe we can at least buy some time." He reached for the controls.

"This is not a good idea," Anita insisted.

Griz ignored the comment. He flipped a switch, and spoke, loudly and clear-ly: "Coast Guard cutter, this is Harbinger. What’s the trouble? Go."

" ... Harbinger, ‘the trouble,’ according to our computer, is that your ship is unregistered, at least under her current name. And you have not filed a flight-plan. These are violations of maritime law. I repeat, cut all engine-power now, and prepare for boarding. Go."

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked.

Not surprisingly, no one answered me.

Nor did anyone answer the Coast Guardsman.

" ... Harbinger, please respond. Go."

Tanya, who was in the co-pilot’s position, spoke up - in hushed tones, as if she was afraid the cutter-crew might hear her: "We’re ready for injection. They’re closing - it’s now or not at all."

"It’s now," Grisby said.

We blasted into X-space. For several harrowing primeminutes, the Harbinger sounded and felt as though she was going to shake herself apart ... but, finally, she decided to remain intact.

Grisby unstrapped, and floated out of the pilot’s seat. "Well, make your-selves at home, people," he said. "Eight primedays ... " To me specifically, Griz said, "Join me in the galley. I need to explain some things to you ... and I’m better at explaining things while I’m drinking hopscotch."

The Harbinger ’s galley was larger than I expected judging from the rest of the ship. Two small tables, with strap-equipped benches, sat against a bulkhead opposite clus-ters of storage- and refrigeration-units.

Griz took a drink-bulb from one of the refrigerators while I strapped myself to one of the benches. He elected to float free. "Want one?"

I said, "No, thanks."

He sipped at the -bulb’s stem, then nodded toward the storage-units. "There’s the good news. Plenty of provisions - more than enough for eight primedays. We won’t even have to think about the recyclers."

"Is this what you wanted to explain to me?" I asked. "You want me to know where we stand concerning food and drink?"

"No. It’s something we heard from a friend of Anita’s, at A.C.I.S." (Astral Cavalry Investigative Services), "who will remain nameless for now. But let me not get ahead of myself." Grisby hesitated, sipping at his hopscotch again ... and then said, "You’ve just been abducted."

"I ... what?"