Tachyon Web by Christopher Pike Page A

was the first part of the ship they’d seen where space was freely squandered. Perhaps the area had held supplies that had already been consumed or else transferred to another part of the fleet.
    They hooked onto a lit-up pulley system, and as Eric’s eyes began to adjust, he realized they were traversing the end of a tank that appeared to run all the way to the front of the ship. Was the majority of the central shaft nothing but a fuel container? he wondered. With each passing year, the tank would be less full. They might travel all the way to another system, arriving only after generations had lived and died in the cold depths, and fail to find an inhabitable planet. And they would be out of fuel.
    As the sides began to disappear they switched pulleys and directions, heading for the rear of the ship. A low pulse began to throb the nocturnal air. What light there was came from the other side of a complete metal lattice up ahead. The edges began to reappear as the axis narrowed. Vast networks of pipes knit the walls, around which Kaulikan men and women hummed in their scooters. All this equipment, Eric thought, maintained by thousands, and the hyper drive fit in a desk and needed a tune-up every ten years.
    The pulley deposited them at the lip of an edifice that would have been a dangerous place to be had there been gravity. It was time for their backpacks. While Vani activated her jets, steering by a knob that fit in the palm of her hand, and floating effortlessly forward, Strem inadvertently turned his scooter on full and went rocketing past at a frightful speed.
    Vani reacted instantly, accelerating and joining his tumbling body in midair. She was able to stabilize Strem and redirect his pack’s nozzles, thus counteracting his forward momentum. Eric thought this was a remarkable feat considering her injured arm. He inched to where Strem hovered sheepishly. Vani looked more puzzled than ever.
    “ Have you two used scooters before? ”
    They were alone in a tunnel that led to a beehive of machines and people. The throbbing had deepened, making it necessary to speak loudly, “ Ki ,” Eric said.
    Vani considered for a moment. “ Wouldn't you rather visit our garden? You must have heard that it is one of the most beautiful in all the worlds. ”
    Strem insisted, going through the initial muttered English routine, that he wanted to see engineering. To Vani, he must have sounded like a beast.
    “ Which world are you two from? ”
    Sammy had prepared them for this question, and Eric gave her an appropriate designation, a combination of letters and numerals. She did not know everything about every ship and therefore did not press the point. But they were not yet out of the woods.
    “ Engineering is always the same, always noisy. Why do you want to visit there? ”
    Eric told her that since they were so close, they would like to see it before going onto the garden. It was an answer that wasn’t an answer.
    “ I believe I should find you an escort that is fluent in Lutz. You would enjoy your visit more. ”
    That wouldn’t do at all. Eric racked his brain for a good reason why they should stay together. All he could come up with was a line about her company being more enjoyable than anything another might be able to show them.
    Were compliments rare among the Kaulikans? Her face filled with a huge smile. Was it possible, by her people’s standards, that she was ugly, and seldom received male attention? Vani never again mentioned another escort and seemed to hover closer to him as they continued their exploration.
    Engineering overloaded Eric with its complexity. After the tour he was left with only a few clear impressions: giant black coils made up of wire thicker than a man's body, housed in transparent cylinders fanned with sparkling gases; computer boards larger than the Excalibur itself, registering with mazes of oscillating lights every discharge of the coils; and crackling bolts of artificial lightning, seen through