Heading for the Keep
07 Jun 2017Evgeniya Asimova
It was in HIP 63835, under the lustrous sapphire glow of the immense star, in the mouldering wreck of the ancient exploration vessel, that Evgeniya found the unique Euphorbia crystal. Yes it was there, as if by Fate's decree, that she found it. On which far-flung planet the crystal had grown in by-gone days she could not have guessed. But now it was hers. She had it stored in the depths of William Sargent Hub. It stood on the table of her laboratory, old and dry, about two feet high, its lucid glass pure and pink-ish, and covered in a fine powder. It was as strange as anything in the universe. Its base was shaped like a cup on a saucer, from the centre of which rose a tapering inflouresence of diminishing clusters, each one a scale model of the base. The top 'cup', about the size of Evgeniya's fist, had been polished into hexagonal facets. When she put her ear close to it, she could have sworn that she could hear the crystal singing like a harp in remote celestial bliss. It seemed to be calling to her. It was not a 'supergun' to be sure, but it was the sort of haul for which she had been keeping her fingers crossed a long time. She probed it with her instruments to fathom the mysteries of its properties. It was no mere ornament. Like a cup and saucer, it would be useful. She would use it to drink up the ink of space.In light of this new find, and with the help of Prince Alexander, she began to revise some engineering blueprints she had been working on. The trip to HIP 63835 was a practice run for a more elaborate exploratory mission into the Milky Way's 'Heart of Darkness' that Countess Ganeva had been dreaming about for years. But in order to take the Countess as far as she wanted to go, Evgeniya needed her Asp Explorer to be able to go more than 50 light-years in a single jump. Now that she had the powerful crystal, that potential was within her reach. But there was one other thing that was not to hand and which she needed to complete her design: some Natural-Polymer Molecule Dividers. These very extremely rare, but she thought she knew where she could find some.
Her father, Afanasy Asimova, had been a famous explorer in his time, until he disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Some people believed he had been spirited away by the Thargs. Others imagined that he had built a drive with such a long jump-range that he had accidentally propelled himself to the far edges of the galaxy and was even now making his way back to civilisation. Others still said he was stuck somewhere in an uninhabited paradise, his over-charged drive having failed him at a critical moment. Evgeniya did not believe any of this nonsense. To her, her father was simply dead. Unlike her younger sister, Lilianna, Evgeniya was not given to fantasies and foolish hero-worship. She was practical, and focused on the here-and-now. But her father had been a exceptional star discoverer, a pioneer, and also a talented experimental engineer. And there was a certain system (I cannot tell you its name, of course, but can only say that it was over 300 hundred light-years from Can Qing) where her father's secret Keep still stood, and which contained many invaluable tools and special substances, not to mention strange blue-prints and weird half-finished prototypes. Evgeniya did not have a full inventory of the things in the Keep, but decided that this would be the best place to start her search for the Dividers. Surely her father had stored up some over his long career?
Evgeniya scooped several suns for fuel as she made her way back to the secret Keep for the first time in over two years. She had plenty of time to think, especially about the forthcoming mission with the Countess. Her current journey was far enough to go, even by herself. Could she stand a journey that was 50 times further in the company of Elena Ganeva? She was not sure. She could imagine blasting the little Countess out into the ink half way there. They were quite a contrast. Evgeniya was tall and blonde and well built. She had fierce blue eyes, and only spoke when she had something intelligent to say. Elena was barely five-foot tall, a petite brunette with a delicate and incredibly handsome face. She had beaming black eyes, and her mouth was wider than life itself. She never shut up. But Evgeniya was determined to serve the Prince by helping Elena. Elena was the Prince's girlfriend, you see.
When she arrived in the system, Evgeniya sped off on a big loop around it to disguise her destination - just in case. It was a remote and sparsely populated system. The planet she was ultimately heading toward was just a small dusty rock, the seventh planet from the sun. There were no other ships showing up on her scanner as she approached it. It grew in size outside her canopy, pale and yellow, as she slowed her ship down and fell into orbit. She had to use her compass and her knowledge of the local terrain to find the Keep, as it was not marked on any map. But there, amongst the rolling dunes, she found it.
She felt that Fate was on her side as she glided down to make planet-fall.