Enigma (36 page)

Three days out from 7 Herculis, the first defection took place. The occasion was a pre-entry briefing on
Munin
’s destination star, the setting the C deck wardroom. The audience included not only Thackery and the strategy team, but Shinault and Joel Nunn, the ship’s astrographer, as well.

Nunn stood in the midst of the astroprojection, the stars like a halo of fireflies around him, as he spoke to the darkened room which hid his audience. “The Ursa Major Moving Cluster is the nearest star cluster to Sol, only slightly more than half the distance to the Hyades. The nearest members are some sixty-five light-years from Sol, and the cluster is scattered over an elliptical volume of space some thirty light-years long and eighteen light-years wide.”

A touch of the control wand displayed the nineteen members of the cluster in bright green. From where she sat, Koi could see clearly how several members formed most of the Big Dipper: Merak and Phad, Megrez and Alioth, and the triple double Mizar and Alcor. Only Benetnasch, the tip of the Dipper’s handle, and Dubhe, the northernmost of the pointer stars, remained white.

“The cluster members all share a common proper motion eastward and south toward Sagittarius,” Nunn went on. “Talitha is not considered a member of the Cluster, but it is a member of the larger Ursa Major Stream which occupies a region of space several hundred light-years across, and which includes Sirius and 1 Ophiuchi.” Another touch on the wand, and Talitha brightened as though it had gone nova.

“Talitha
is
part of the Ursa Major asterism, marking one of the front feet of the Bear. At a distance of fifty light-years, it lies right on the Phase II boundary, and consequently was the most distant system
Dove
was scheduled to visit. Like the members of the Cluster, Talitha—or 9 Ursae Majoris, in the Kalmar system—is a main sequence star, spectrum A7, luminosity about 11 Sol. There’s a dwarf binary companion at a distance of about 70 A.U., with a period of more than six hundred years. With that separation, the presence of the companion probably doesn’t rule out a stable planetary system, although the A-Lynx observatory has been unable to establish that one is present.”

“Thank you, Joel,” Thackery said, sitting forward in his chair. “Does anyone have questions?”

“Is this trip necessary?” Guerrieri said under his breath. Koi heard and shot him a venomous look, but Thackery seemed not to notice either the comment or the rebuke.

“That’ll be all, then, Joel. Thank you,” Thackery said, and took the astrographer’s place as the lights came up. “The fact is, none of the Cluster stars have been surveyed, and very few members of the Ursa Major Stream. Yet as one of the most striking constellations as seen from Earth, Ursa Major was certain to have attracted the attention of the FC planners. No colonies have been found among the nearer, unassociated stars—in fact, Ursa Major lies at the center of the largest region of apparently uncolonized space.”

Thackery touched the control wand, and a standard plot of the northern octants appeared. “Please note that if you draw a line from Journa to Ross 128, and another from 7 Herculis to Liam-Won in Monoceros, the lines cross here, in Ursa Major. These are some of the reasons I expect to find a colony in this region. It may not be orbiting Talitha. Even though I’m optimistic, I want you all to realize that Talitha’s only a starting point for what could be a long search. 5 Ursae Majoris, the brightest cluster member and thereby a likely candidate in its own right, lies seventy light-years out. If we come up empty at Talitha, 5 UMa will be our next stop.”

“I can’t listen to any more of this,” Guerrieri muttered, this time loudly enough to be heard. He threw down his fax of the briefing agenda, folded his chair back into its bulkhead recess with a clamor, and stalked from the compartment.

Thackery knit his eyebrows in puzzlement. “What’s the matter with Derrel?”

“I’ll find out,” Koi volunteered, and hurried away before her offer could be refused.

She caught up with Guerrieri three decks downship, as he was about to enter his cabin. “What the hell was that display all about?” she demanded, grabbing him by the arm.

Wordlessly jerking free of her grasp, he turned away and slipped through the doorway. Uninvited, Koi followed and closed the door behind them.

“Now explain,” she demanded.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to demand explanations from me.” He sighed weightily. “I wish Thack’d come, instead of sending you.”

Koi sighed and settled on the edge of the unmade bunk. “You may still get a chance to explain it to him—he didn’t send me,” she said. “I came down here to let you vent gas at me, so maybe you wouldn’t feel the need to do it at him.”

Guerrieri snorted and shook his head. “If that was all I wanted, I could have stayed upship and said my piece there.”

“Then what is it?”

Before answering, Guerrieri pulled his dulcimer case from its storage niche and began to undo the latches. “I just cannot sit there smilingly while he goes on and on about the inner thoughts of FC planners and the secrets of Ursa Major,” Guerrieri said. “This trip is a complete waste of time. We should be on our way to one of the colonies, not heading as far as possible away from them.”

“We agreed we were going to be patient until we had more evidence.”

“I said nothing of the sort. The only promise I made was to myself, to bite my tongue until it hurt too much to keep doing it. Well, it’s hurting pretty good now. Haven’t you been talking to the rest of the crew?”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe they think you’re too close to him, they don’t dare ask. That’s not the case with me. I must have had four or five people already question why we’re going to Talitha. It’s still polite, like they’re curious about something that just hasn’t been explained to them. But it’ll get worse. They know that something’s changed—he’s drawn inside himself, like he doesn’t see us anymore. Don’t tell me you haven’t worried about it yourself.”

“Aren’t you being a little hard on him—”

“Did you read his 7 Herculis exit dispatch? There isn’t a word in it about the iceship or the tantalum signature. Who’s going to collect the evidence, with us here and no one else even having had a chance to hear your ideas?”

“When I talked about waiting for him, I didn’t mean a week. We aren’t facing any deadlines.” Guerrieri stopped in the middle of removing the instrument from its case to stare at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it doesn’t make any difference whether the colony problem is solved two years from now, or a hundred years after I’m dead.”

“Of course it matters—”

“Not to me.”

Guerrieri’s gaze narrowed. “You’re afraid.”

“There’s nothing for me to be afraid of,” Koi said, stiffening.

“Sure there is. What if you get the evidence and he still won’t listen? Or maybe worse, what if you have to force him to realize he was wrong and you were right? How’s he going to react to that?”

/ don’t know
, she thought unhappily. But she said nothing.

“You’ve got to push him,” Guerrieri said, his tone changed from demanding to coaxing as if he sensed her ambivalence. “You’re the only one who has any real influence with him.”

“I won’t use our relationship that way.”

He scowled. “You mean you won’t risk your relationship.”

“That’s not why.”

“Then tell me what the reason is.”

Oh, there’s a reason
, she thought,
a good one
. But all she said was a curt, “None of your damn business.”

“Fine,” Guerrieri said, turning his back on her and setting up the dulcimer on the desk. He lowered the working surface to a comfortable playing level and reached into the case for his mallets. “Just as long as you realize that I’m not going to tiptoe around him any more.”

There was no point in her staying: Each had said what they had to say, yet left the other unconvinced. She walked out with the sound of steel strings in her ears, conscious that Guerrieri’s usually precise mallet strokes were marred by the ragged edge of his frustration.

The wardroom was empty when Koi returned there, so she continued upship to the cabin she and Thackery shared. There she found him stretched out on the bunk, hands folded behind his head and one leg hooked over the other.

“Did you folks finish?” she asked.

“I postponed the briefing to tomorrow morning. With half the strategy team missing, there didn’t seem to be much point in continuing. What’s the story with Derrel?”

“Mostly impatience, I think.”

“He has doubts about what we’re doing.”

She admitted, “If he were calling the shots, we wouldn’t be going to Talitha.”

“If he wanted to call the shots, he should have signed on a different ship,” Thackery said harshly, and closed his eyes. “You two go back a long way together,” Koi said, surprised by his tone.

“True but not relevant,” Thackery said, opening his eyes and propping himself up on his elbows. “So what do you think I should do about him?”

“Does something need to be done?”

“If he keeps challenging me in front of the crew, it will.”

Cautiously, Koi asked, “What are the options you’re considering?”

“Going to A-Lynx and releasing him from his contract. I wish I’d left him in Wenlock,” he said bitterly. Koi stared at Thackery curiously. “Did you come downship after us?” she asked with sudden insight.

He nodded wordlessly.

“Ah,” she said, understanding. “How much did you hear?”

“I was a few minutes behind you.” Thackery sighed. “I heard enough to be grateful to you for supporting me. And enough to know that I can’t count on him anymore.”

“Because he thinks for himself? Come on, Thack. Isn’t that why he’s here, to provide another viewpoint? If not, then what do you need the rest of us for?”

“Are you siding with him?”

“Do I have to choose sides? Look, I’ve got a better option than leaving him at A-Lynx. Why don’t you talk with him?”

Thackery lay back and looked away. “No.”

“You’re making more of this than it is.”

“Am I?” Thackery said, sitting bolt upright. “He doesn’t believe, Amy. He wants us to turn back. He tried to turn you against me. Isn’t that enough? It’s almost as if he wants us to fail.”

“I think he wants very much for us to succeed,” Koi said, as soothingly as she could. “Talk with him, Thack. This isn’t personal. It’s professional. You should still be able to talk about it.”

Thackery shook his head emphatically. “No. I see no reason to give him a free shot at me. If he continues to be a problem, then I’ll have to do something. But until then, he can talk to the freezin’ walls.”

“Barbrice?”

The technoanalyst looked up from her lunch to see Guerrieri at her shoulder. “Yes?”

“Come by my cabin when you’re done there.”

“Sir?”

“We need to talk,” Guerrieri said soberly. “As soon as you’re finished, all right?” Far from certain that it was, she echoed, “All right.” A few minutes later, she followed him downship.

“I feel very uncomfortable doing this,” Mueller said nervously. “But I thought you should know.”

“Go on,” Thackery said, resting his folded hands on his knee.

“At first I thought he was going to try to lean on me for favors. Not that he has a reputation for that, but he seemed so—imperious, like he knew he was senior to me and he wanted me to remember it, too.”

“So did he ask you for—favors?”

“No. He asked me how I felt about the mission.”

“And you said?”

“I told him the truth—that I’m very happy to have been picked and have a chance to be part of this special project. Then he asked me what I thought about Talitha, about our chances of finding anything there.”

“And?”

“I told him I was very hopeful, that the way you had figured out what happened at 7 Herculis had given me even more confidence in you. Then he said, ‘There are some things I think you should know about Commander Thackery.’ ”

Thackery listened impassively as the young surveyor recounted the rest of her conversation with Guerrieri. Twice, when she became embarrassed at repeating Guerrieri’s catalog of unflattering anecdotes, he calmly encouraged her to continue. Otherwise he was silent.

“,.. that you couldn’t work with either of your commanders, and that the main reason you were given
Munin
was that it was a convenient way to be rid of you, that the Analysis Office didn’t take you seriously and that I shouldn’t either,” she concluded. “That’s when I walked out.”

Eyes downcast, Thackery rolled a touchscreen stylus between his fingertips. “You’re right—I should know. And I thank you.”

Her worried eyes flitted from one focus to another. “Will he know I told you?”

“I’m afraid he probably will. But I can protect you from any repercussions. And I want you to know that I appreciate your loyalty, and I’ll remember it.”

She smiled a nervous smile. “That’s not necessary, Commander.”

“But it is appropriate,” he said. “You can go now, Barbrice. I have some things to think about.”

For the showdown, Thackery chose the more formal surroundings of the ship’s library over the informality of his cabin. Guerrieri entered with his face cast into an emotionless mask, but his eyes were wary and alert. “You wanted to see me?”

“Close the door,” Thackery said with a nod.

“Oh—this is going to be one of those,” Guerrieri said as he complied. “Should I stand against the wall, or would you prefer a moving target?”

“Just sit down.” Thackery waited until Guerrieri was settled, then continued. “I understand you’re having some trouble with what we learned at 7 Herculis.”

“I’m having trouble with what
you
think you learned there.”

“Tell me.”

“Gladly. Amy did a beautiful little piece of work pulling together the threads of what happened at Wenlock. She may have done enough to start a revolution in FC theory. But you’ve twisted around her findings so they support your notions instead, brainwashed Barbrice into believing you, and intimidated Amy into backing off on her own discovery. On top of which, you’ve committed
Munin
to the least profitable search possible—nothing more or less than the kind of plodding, random survey we did on
Descartes
. We should be looking for Amy’s iceships, not your D’shanna.”