Bishop's Opening (Part 2 of 4)

By R.S.A. Garcia

(Continued from Part 1...)

Bishop was alone in the Grandmaster's Penthouse suite when the call came from the Kingston. Once it was over and his Grandmaster's virtual form had dissipated, Bishop cursed under his breath.

The Grandmaster Valencia's ship had failed to jump to the nearest Arbor after leaving Consortium space because of another instance of miscalculation by the Coretrees. There had been minor errors before, on Valencia. He'd heard of an incident several tempi ago, when a Sept vineyard transition deposited travellers at the wrong Sept. But this was far more serious. This time, a mistake had left the Valencia's flagship stranded half a galaxy from their planned destination.

Whatever had caused the error, the crew no longer trusted the ship's quantum exchange would work accurately. As a result, the Grandmasters had chosen the long, slow flight to another Arbor. From there, they would transition to their Septhold vineyards safely, and allow the ship to be inspected and repaired.

But that meant his Grandmaster would not arrive in time for the meeting. He expected Bishop to handle it instead. Bishop did not look forward to the task of soothing the Bartica's temper once he realised the Kingston was not in attendance.