Chameleon Ch 16

“Does that mean we could find diamonds on the surface?”

“Love, one side of it is two thousand degrees, the other is dark and a thousand degrees. There’s no life on it, no water at all. The only person who would even want to go down there would be Scott, or some of our geologists that were on your home world.”

“Ferris and Chandra aren’t going?”

“Unlikely,” he said.

“What are diamonds?” Zalara asked.

“Rare stones, most are clear, like crystal,” Rianya told her. “So, if we can’t have shore leave, how much longer to the Tau planet?”

“A couple more weeks.” Rianya sighed and put one hand on her belly. “Go back to bed,” Tom told her. He held out one hand to help her out of the chair, holding his morning coffee in the other.

“I miss seasons,” she said suddenly. “It’s always the same temperature, the same amount of daylight; there’re no cycles of life on the ship. No sunrise, no sunset, no twilight, dawn, or dusk.”

“Lay down,” he said, pulling a blanket from the shelf to cover her. “You’re growing a person. If that’s not a life cycle I don’t know what is.” She didn’t want to lay down, but a wave of sleepiness came over her as Tom wrapped her in the blanket. Zalara climbed on the bed.

“Why can’t the ship have more seasons?” she asked. It was a reasonable request. “If not the whole ship, how about the gym?”

“You can set up any season you want when you’re on the treadmill, run in the snow or along the beach.”

“Why can’t the whole room change? The temperature, the lighting? Who should I talk to who can do that?” The blanket was soothing, soft and heavy, like a lullaby.

“Maybe I could get Chin to set up a projector.” Tom sat on the edge of the bed, and Zalara crawled up to him, settling on his lap.

“The lights? The temp? I’m always cold.” Just the words made her skin tremble and shiver.

“So, turn up the heat,” he said, moving Zalara to the floor. He stood and talked to the computer. “Maria, set environmental control in captain’s quarters for twenty-six Celsius, thirty percent humidity.”

“Controls reset for 26 C 30 H2O.”

“What’s it usually at?” she mumbled.

“Twenty-two, twenty-two. I’ll get you some tea and then I need to get to the bridge. Come with me, kid,” he said to his daughter. “Maybe you can find Honey and play today?”

Rianya heard their footsteps fade. The growing life inside her poked at her, more like a kick, as if she was trying to make more room. She rolled to her other side and the motions subsided.

Adams had wanted to take a DNA sample so he could see what covert secrets hid inside the genome of this infant, but that had been a terrible experience when Dr. Clarke did it, and nothing was wrong, so she wasn’t about to go through that again. Besides, it was cheating to look inside.

  Her thoughts drifted in the cloud above her head, roiling and scattered as she warmed with the room. She missed the natural outdoors, the small sounds, smells, and subtle changes of the sky. A planet full of diamonds that no one could walk on. That was the biggest disappointment.

“It’s still suffusing,” Tom said when he set the cup on the night table. He placed a fist sized bowl next to the cup. “When you take it out, eat the muffin and put the tea basket in here.”

“This is nice,” she said, opening her eyes to a sympathetic face. Tom’s eyes had turned almost to emerald, like Zalara’s, one of the less common shades they would turn from day to day, hour to hour. He placed a hand on her cheek.

“We’re going to have a day, and then we’ll be back on track to Tau Ceti D. It’s a pretty planet, you’ll like it. A lot like Kinnae or Earth. They have seasons.”

“Thank you for this,” she said, nodding at the tea and muffin. He leaned down, kissed her on the forehead and left her to a sultry, infinite slumber.

þ

“Captain on the bridge,” Rougeau announced, standing.

“As you were. Overnight status?” He put his jacket on; the bridge was cool compared to his quarters. Zalara bounced behind him and promptly diverted to the operations alcove to examine the colorful displays.

“There was a power outage on C deck. We received a call from Ms. Campbell at 05:24. I called Mr. Chin, he took care of it. And we are approaching the star system,” Rougeau said.

“Cerebrus?”

“It was a challenge, but I understand now that this was a binary system in the distant pass. The dwarf is nearing its end, in approximately nine hundred fifty thousand years. The satellite is the remnant of the other star, a white dwarf, bereft of all gaseous elements. The remaining carbon compressed under the heat and gravity so densely that we could expect to see diamond formations within.”

“Excellent! How did you come to those conclusions?

“The dwarf is eight time the mass of Jupiter, and has a temperature of 1900 C, approximately, classifying it as a brown dwarf, not a star, not a planet.”

“I’m interested in your opinion about its satellite.”

“So am I,” Rougeau added.

“Most brown dwarfs are accumulated from what should have been more than one gas giant around a normal star. They convert hydrogen into deuterium, not helium. The satellite was the original star around which the brown dwarf formerly orbited. Now the roles are reversed.”

“Cerebrus, now that’s thinking. One more thing. How did an exploded star become a naked ball of carbon?”

“The most likely explanation for the carbon satellite is that two stars of different masses, one was significantly more massive. When the larger star exploded, it left a pulsar. The pulsar drained the gaseous elements from the nova. It was eventually rounded up by the brown dwarf companion, and is now in orbit.”

“A plus, Cerebrus. Brilliant.” Jackson smiled and eased into his favorite place on the bridge. “I bet you made several, new, neural pathways in your net overnight.”

“I would agree with you, Captain.” Jackson was pleased with himself. He sat straight, pressed his shoulders back, and almost whistled a self-congratulatory tune. He’d won. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d won, but he’d won... something.

“And what did you conclude about the pulsar?”

“If this is truly an ancient system, the pulsar has likely burned out by now.”

“Very good. We can’t be sure, but that I hoped you would follow this line of reason. That is, hunt down facts, apply them to the circumstances, and draw a conclusion. How long until we arrive?” he asked.

“Forty-two minutes, sir.”

“Carry on, then. Rougeau, you have the con.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Zalara, let’s take a walk.”

“Where?”

“When was the last time you had a school day?” The girl shrugged her shoulders while they walked aft, side by side in the central corridor of the ship. “Vacation is over. Time to challenge your brain cells.” She grabbed his hand and held it tightly, almost as if she’d get lost or left behind if she didn’t. They entered the mess hall and strolled toward the galley, but not before Kym, Tessa, and Jane had each given the captain a broad smile as they passed.

“Good morning, sir. I see you’ve brought my student,” Bailey greeted them. Her round face and natural, carnation pink cheeks were honest, not hidden by cosmetics or phony intentions. “Time to learn fractions in the kitchen?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Honey is here, too. I think she’d like to say hi.” Zalara looked up at her father.

“Go on.” She released his hand and meandered back to the keeping room.

“How is Rianya?” Bailey asked, pulling off her apron and folding it neatly. “She hasn’t been here much.”

“She’s good, just tired.”

“It’s hard work, making a person from scratch,” she said with a smile and a gentle jab at his arm.

“Or taking on one that you hadn’t planned on.”

“Honey’s doing really well these days. She’s come out of her shell, is starting to talk again, and she asked me the other day if she could see Zalara to play. It’s the stability, sir, nothing you and Rianya did or didn’t do. I’m here from five to fifteen, Keith’s there in the day and works fourteen to midnight. It’s all good.”

“You get a medal for above and beyond the call of duty.”

“It’s my pleasure. Here you go,” she said, handing him a cup of coffee. He raised his cup and nodded, and headed across the corridor to the sick bay.

“Good morning, Jack. What can I do for you?”

“Doc. We’re coming up on a dead star. Anyone want to get off and explore?”

“Hell no.”

“I didn’t think so. Can you make a house call? Rianya’s been cold, tired, out of energy.”

“Have you noticed she’s six months pregnant? She’s a hornet. I’m not going there uninvited.” Jackson didn’t know whether to laugh or take the spry, elder man seriously. “She’s put in a little time on the chicken and the egg project, but it’s not urgent. Let her rest if she wants, but she should get up and move some every day.”

He nodded, and had a good swallow of coffee while it was still steaming.

“Captain,” Jane called, coming around the corner from the lab to join the two of them. “I don’t know which of you is more adorable.”

“It’s Adams.”

“What?” the doc said.

“You’re not supposed to know that she’s my princess.”

“Sir, few men, especially in your position, would forsake their reputation to fortify a child’s heart.” He’d never quite heard it put that way, but she was right. Jane grinned and returned to the lab with something in hand before he could come up with a response.

“Ladies love a man who’s not shy about demonstrating affection to a child.”

“All right, enough. I need to get back to work. Oh, any news from Novissimus, about Scott?”

“Last update was a week ago. He’s cognizant, no longer lapsing in and out of comas, and he’s walking. He lost a lot of gross motor function but he’s coming around.”

“Is he still an astronomer?”

“Yet to be seen. It’s promising.” Jackson nodded a thank you and headed back to the bridge in time to see their approach to the diamond planet, a black dot against its backdrop of dull red and brown stripes that filled their field of view. This dwarf was mammoth, and its orbiting lump of coal was larger than Earth.

“Anyone like to take a walk on the cold side?” he asked.

“There’s nothing to see down there, Captain,” Rougeau said.

“Perhaps diamonds could be found on its surface,” Cerebrus said.

“What’s the distance from center dwarf to center diamond?” Jackson asked.

“Forty-four million kilometers, give or take a million,” Rougeau said. “Closer than Mercury to Sol,” he added. “Revolution, approximately one hundred fifty-five hours.”

“Speedy little devil. Cerebrus, you’re going to put us into orbit. There’s not much atmosphere, and it’s tidally locked, so this is a good solo test flight for you.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Nine minutes to insertion.”

“Assume apoapsis at three hundred thousand kilometers. Small adjustments.”

“Aye, Captain.” He only had a hope and a prayer that Cerebrus would do it right the first time, but he didn’t trot the doubt in his voice. Rougeau glanced at the captain and he tipped the ensign a nod with only his eyes.

“Keep in mind there’s no atmosphere to speak of. Cut propulsion and employ thrusters in accordance.”

“Aye, Captain.”

The elevator opened and Watson promptly took his post at the com dash. Through the bow windows the dwarf vanished in favor of the planet surface, nearly as black as space, but with random, crimson- sheened veils, seen as they approached from the star side. Jackson waited for someone to say the obvious.

“Is that what I think it is, sir?” Rougeau whispered.

“Depends on what you’re referring to,” Jackson teased with his poker face.

“The red sheen. Diamond dust reflected by the infrared of the dwarf?”

“Very good. Why don’t you confirm?” Jackson took some pride in his bridge crew. They were becoming seasoned, reliable officers, for the most part. If he kept Lee and Rougeau on different shifts, things ran smoothly. Rougeau was good; Ms. Bala had been better, and had never fought with Mr. Lee, at least not while on duty.

“Yes, Captain, it is crystalline carbon, diamond dust, with minor outcroppings of micro diamonds. No water. No life forms.”

“It’s striking,” Watson said. The three humans fell silent as they neared the star remnant. “How did any diamonds get out, though?”

“Theories?” Jackson asked.

“Plate tectonics?” Watson pitched. Jackson frowned. “Meteors?”

“More likely,” Jackson said.

“Approaching three hundred thousand kilometers, Captain,” Cerebrus interrupted.

“Watch your numbers. Prepare to throttle up when you reach the gravity barrier.”

“We are at the barrier, Captain. Its density is nine point one g p c.”

“Say again?” Jackson asked. His heart skipped a beat.

“Density is nine point one grams per cubic centimeter.”

“Mutheruvgod,” Jackson muttered. “Act like a moon, Cerebrus.”

“Aye, Captain.”