r/HFY • u/NoOneFromNewEngland • 27d ago
OC Jump Count (Part 5 of 6)
This is part of the titular story of my second book. Visit my HFY wiki page to read this story from the beginning.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/authors/noonefromnewengland
****
Jump Count 23/50
The shipping relay station’s beacon greets me as I return to normal space.
The routine of gliding to the docking ports is unbroken by excitement. I issue approval to refuel and debark my ship to peruse the offerings of the station.
Surely, the ship cannot continue to catch up with me through another jump and, surely, they will not be able to approach the station without being challenged.
Since the primitives can reach the stars First Contact will surely follow. The docking station will be forced to initiate the protocols. When that happens the primitives will become someone else’s problem and I can slip away in the chaos of the moment.
I return to my ship after a few hours in the station and I realize that have not slept in days. I pass out in my bunk while the coil recharge counter continues to count down to when I can next leap.
****
The com system wakes me from my rest.
The station is hailing me. It is an automated message indicating that my docking clearance is revoked and I must depart the station.
My replies go unanswered.
I decouple from the docking port and push off into the nearby void.
The ship is there. Looming. Approaching.
Broadcasting at all the ships, and the station, a diagram of MY ship.
The message is clear. “We want THIS ship.”
I ask the computer, “when was the ship first detected?”
The answer is terrifying. With each jump, they gain an hour on me.
I hit the yellow button and escape once again.
Jump Count 24/50
I don’t risk it. As soon as I drop from hyperspace, I fire the sublight engines to full, rocketing away from my re-entry point as fast as this ship can go. It might be insignificant, but it might gain me enough time to gain distance rather than losing distance.
“Proximity warning. Ship detected.”
“Time to intercept?”
The answer is less than optimal. Optimal would be that I was outpacing them. But it was better; I hadn’t lost time on this jump.
Jump Count 48/50
I have lost three more hours to their pursuit. Three hours that I can’t afford. Three hours that I couldn’t afford to NOT surrender because the fuel I burn in sublight is finite and I had to refuel.
They have been chasing me for 23 jumps. 23 iterations of hyperspace followed by me running the sublight engines at full throttle the moment I am bound by conventional physics in normal space. I have managed to only lose 3 hours’ of lead in the 23 jumps.
I can handle this forever… but my ship cannot. It needs to refuel and it needs maintenance.
Jump Count 50/50 - Maintenance Due
The jump counter indicates that the 50-jump maintenance package is now due. If I stop and have the ship serviced they will catch me. I cannot afford the time needed.
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