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Back Far from the Light of Heaven Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Chapter One
  5. Ten Years Later…
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Fin
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Salvo
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Shell
  15. Fin
  16. Chapter Eight
  17. Chapter Nine
  18. Chapter Ten
  19. Chapter Eleven
  20. Chapter Twelve
  21. Chapter Thirteen
  22. Beko
  23. Chapter Fourteen
  24. Chapter Fifteen
  25. Chapter Sixteen
  26. Chapter Seventeen
  27. Chapter Eighteen
  28. Awe
  29. Chapter Nineteen
  30. Chapter Twenty
  31. Chapter Twenty-one
  32. Chapter Twenty-two
  33. Chapter Twenty-three
  34. Chapter Twenty-four
  35. Chapter Twenty-five
  36. Chapter Twenty-six
  37. Chapter Twenty-seven
  38. Chapter Twenty-eight
  39. Chapter Twenty-nine
  40. Chapter Thirty
  41. Chapter Thirty-one
  42. Chapter Thirty-two
  43. Chapter Thirty-three
  44. Chapter Thirty-four
  45. Chapter Thirty-five
  46. Chapter Thirty-six
  47. Chapter Thirty-seven
  48. Chapter Thirty-eight
  49. Chapter Thirty-nine
  50. Shell
  51. Chapter Forty
  52. Chapter Forty-one
  53. Chapter Forty-two
  54. Chapter Forty-three
  55. Chapter Forty-four
  56. Chapter Forty-five
  57. Chapter Forty-six
  58. Chapter Forty-seven
  59. Afterword
  60. Acknowledgements
  61. Discover More
  62. extras
  63. meet the author
  64. A Preview of "Nophek Gloss"
  65. By Tade Thompson

“Is Equivalence compromised? Over.”

“Negative. All systems optimal. Ragtime failed docking protocol. Prep for manual protocols in forty-six hours, please. Acknowledge.”

“Acknowledged. Over.”

“Thank you, Ragtime. Over and out.”

Failed?

Of course, Bloodroot sent an investigation team but doesn’t know how compromised the AI is. That they didn’t send a health team shows they got Shell’s message. They are also keeping comms to the bare minimum, not knowing what lies on board.

She takes off the “gravity” harness that pushes her into the surface of the treadmill and towels off.

Why did the rendezvous fail? Shell’s first thought is that it has to be something she missed. She queries the logs.

The Equivalence started messaging their protocol to the Ragtime as soon as they cleared atmosphere. Mission Control would have sent the rendezvous data to the Ragtime before launch, expecting the AI to sync. The Ragtime had to have acknowledged and agreed before the Bloodroot team set off. From the logs, the Equivalence started transmitting telemetry at Insertion Altitude, 220km. It started the Hohmann transfer into a phasing orbit that would have brought it up to the Ragtime’s 420km. The Equivalence fired engines, triggering the short rendezvous as agreed, then tried to accelerate to match the Ragtime.

Inexplicably, the Ragtime stopped responding to the data. Shell knows it heard the data because the Ragtime sped up, actively thwarting the possibility of the Equivalence ever achieving the six-hour dock.

There are pages of the Equivalence sending queries from the phasing orbit, as if the ship was repeatedly saying:

Are you there, Ragtime?

Are you there, Ragtime?

Are you there, Ragtime?

What the hell is going on?

Shell’s unease worsens, moving like flood water tendrils. But that is a luxury. The ship still needs to be run. Shell pushes into the next node, moving aft. Most of the walls in all directions are full of attached storage behind netting, but on occasion Shell encounters arachnobots giving way, hanging on by grab rails, noting her, probing her IFC. She stares back as if it is a contest, and when she tires she heads for the science labs to check on the experiments. Not to go in, just to check the door.