The Hollow Current
Chapter 1 The deck under Captain Elara Venn’s boots gave a long metallic tremor as Argosy Wake settled deeper into the current, not a violent shudder but a steady, living strain that traveled up through the soles of her boots and into her spine. Somewhere below the bridge, the current-sail assembly flexed against charged dark matter and the whole ship answered with the familiar submarine chorus of hard-used machinery: cooling pipes ticking, bulkheads muttering, a low reactor hum held just beneath hearing. Ahead of the bow, the forward screens showed the conduit as a braided river of pale electrical haze threading a blackness so complete it made the light look painted on glass. Silver static drifted over the display in soft waves. At the helm, Mara Quill kept both hands fixed on her controls and made a correction so slight it barely moved her wrists, yet a run of warning chimes answered from navigation like something annoyed at being touched. “Current wall is thinning again,” Quill said...