Sunday March 19, 2017
Book 17: A Little Immortality — Part II

Transcript

NARRATOR: Aboard the Cynthetic Certainty...

VAAL: Trouble you a sec, Cap'n?

TAGON: What's on your mind, Bosun?

VAAL: That crater. We ain't going to find nav data in it.

TAGON: That's not good news.

How can you tell?

VAAL: Easier if I show.

VAAL: See that ring?

It's a density differential in the ice.

TAGON: Halo effect from a gravy gun?

VAAL: Halo yes, gun no.

It's perfectly circular. You only get that when the gravy's omnidirectional.

TAGON: So their primary annie gravied the ship before exploding?

VAAL: Old self-destruct trick. Pulps everything, including the black box array. The explosion afterward is just an insult cherry on a great big bowl of injury.

If I was a bettin' soph, I'd say they made extra-double sure, and torched the logs before rigging their primary.

TAGON: They didn't want us to know where they'd been.

VAAL: And they died making sure.

That crater is a cold, foggy cul-de-sac.

Oh, and that fog will eventually kill the ground-pounders. Might as well pick 'em up.

TAGON: How long is "eventually?"

VAAL: They're not in danger yet.

I figured we'd wait until the soup's done. They'll hate us less.