Infinity Beach (28 page)

“We’re not armed,” he said. “Has it occurred to you that if this thing is here, it may not be friendly?”

“I don’t think that’s likely.”

“Why not?”

She looked out at the star-clouds. “Solly, even if they were an aggressive species, there wouldn’t be any point shooting at someone in a wasteland like this. What’s to gain?”

“Maybe they just don’t like strangers.
Something
happened to the
Hunter
.”

“We have to assume they’re rational, Solly. Otherwise they couldn’t have gotten here in the first place.” She enjoyed being with him, alone in all this vast emptiness. It was different now that they could look out the windows and know that what they were seeing was really there. “They didn’t shoot at the
Hunter
. Or if they did, they’re not very dangerous because the
Hunter
got home safely.”

“It’s possible,” said Solly, “they’re at war against their own kind. Maybe Ben Tripley got the name right, calling it the
Valiant
. It could have been a warship.”

“Solly,” she said patiently,
“they got home all right.”

“Did they? Who knows? Maybe they were taken. Maybe something else went back.” He made a scary face and hummed a few notes from the old horror series
Midnight Express
. She laughed. But a chill ran through her nevertheless.

Shortly after dinner they settled into
Hunter
’s orbit, which was roughly equatorial, varying only a few degrees above and below the line.

The rings dominated the sky, a vast shining arch beneath which the copper-gold clouds rolled on forever. Lightning bolts cruised through the depths and occasionally they saw the fiery streak of a meteor.

It seemed a place of infinite serenity and beauty. One might almost conclude it had been designed specifically to please the human eye and mind.

It was, she thought, a reason in itself to pursue starflight. Even if we were truly alone the mere existence of this kind of world and its magnificent star-clouds should be enough to summon the race from its ancestral home. There was something decadent in what was happening now, in the general retreat back to comfort and routine and familiar surroundings. In the lack of interest in all the things that had once been counted as noble and worth accomplishing.

We had begun to lead
virtual
lives.

No one had to work, so few did anything more than pursue quiet leisure. Kim had always thought herself ambitious. Yet during her entire life she had never felt an urge, even when the opportunity was there, to move beyond the home worlds. People complained about long weeks locked up in spartan accommodations, at getting ill during the jumps, at the expense of interstellar travel. And they settled for imaginary images, lovely little technological fireworks displays, created in the warm comfort of their living rooms. Throw a log on the fire and visit Betelgeuse.

She started to explain to Solly how she felt, looking at the
star-cradles glowing in their windows, at the Horsehead, at the rings. The presence of another intelligence seemed not quite as important as it had a few hours before.

“Welcome to the club, Kim,” he said when she’d finished.

“Those of us who make a living out here have known that for years. It really doesn’t matter all that much whether there are celestials in Orion. There’s just too much to see to complain about the details. And if it does turn out that we’re the only part of the universe able to see what’s around us, that’s okay.”

She’d always felt that Solly tended to neglect the more intellectual aspects of life. He didn’t read as much as he should, and he’d seemed to be too interested in the practical and the mundane, a man who seldom considered the philosophical issues. He’d surprised her several times on this trip, particularly with his remarks about the slow lightning. Ask Solly what the purpose of existence was, and he could be expected to reply that it’s a good lunch with good friends. Or a good woman.

She’d had a confused notion that life had something to do with expanding one’s intellectual horizons. And with achievement. Now she looked out the window and decided that whatever her purpose was, she’d fulfilled it when she arrived
here
.

And if she could choose a place to meet another intelligence, this would surely be it.

Below her, the upper atmosphere caught the light from the distant sun. It looked
warm
down there, and it was easy to imagine broad oceans and continents lying beneath those shimmering mists. In fact the temperature at the cloudtops was a terrestrial-17° C, the heat generated internally. Not all that bad if you could breathe hydrogen and methane.

Solly concentrated the scanners along the arc of the orbit, but he maintained a full search bubble out to more than six thousand kilometers. That took about 30 percent off the range and definition of the main search, but it was a price he was prepared to pay to avoid being surprised. Kim didn’t argue the point.

They were circling the planet every hour and twenty-two minutes. It had gotten late but no one showed any inclination to retire.

During the third orbit the alarm went off.

“Organic object ahead,”
said the AI.

They went to the pilot’s room and Solly put the hit onscreen and went to full mag. They were on the dark side of the planet, in shadow, and consequently he could get nothing more than a marker. But the analysis had already begun.

Calcium.

“Object is rectangular, approximately two meters long, less than a meter wide.”

Carbon.

Range was twelve hundred kilometers.

Solly relaxed a bit. He laid in an intercept course. Kim felt the engines come on. The ship began to accelerate.

Potassium.

Below, the great arc of the rings was mostly in shadow, but a couple of moons gave them some light.

Hydrochloride.

Ahead, the sun was coming up. That wasn’t going to help visibility either.

“Won’t take long,” he said.

Kim felt a darkness gathering at the pit of her stomach.

They sat silently, sufficiently chilled that Solly raised the temperature on the flight deck.

Nine hundred kilometers and closing.

They flew into the sunrise.

Sodium.

The marker seemed to change its aspect, growing alternately brighter and dimmer. “It’s tumbling,” Solly said.

They raced toward the sun, passed under it, eventually got it behind them and were able to get a clear visual.

It was a body.

She was barely breathing now, gripping the arms of the chair, conscious of Solly watching her.

“You all right, Kim?”

Six hundred kilometers.

It wore a dark blue jumpsuit with a shoulder patch. She couldn’t make out details of the patch, but she knew what it said.
PERSISTENCE.

Kim watched the body tumble down its lonely orbit.

Emily.

By the time they caught her, they were on the dark side again. Solly instructed the AI that they would take her on board through the cargo lock. Then he turned to Kim. “You sure you’re—?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m okay.”

He nodded. “Stay here. If anything unexpected happens while I’m gone—”

“What do you mean
unexpected
?”

“If we get jumped—”

“Oh.”

“Don’t hesitate to tell Ham to get us out of here.”

“It’ll obey
me
?”

“Sure.”

“Solly, be careful.”

“Count on it.”

“You’re not going outside, are you?”

“No farther than I have to.” He switched on the cargo hold imager so she could watch the recovery. Then he held her for a moment and went downstairs. Several minutes later he walked into the cargo bay, wearing a pressure suit and a jetpack, and waved at her.

“Kim,” came his voice, “can you hear me?”

“I hear you, Solly.”

“I’m in the process of decompressing the hold. As soon as we’re ready, we’ll open up.” He was standing in front of the cargo door, which was half again as high as he was, and about six meters wide.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I’ll handle it from here.”

“What about if you fall out?” She wasn’t entirely joking.

“Can’t fall out,” he said. “I’m tethered.”

The engines slowed. Instead of a steady pulse,
Hammer
smith
was now modulating its approach with occasional bursts from its turning thrusters.

The object came within range of their lights and she got a good visual. It
was
Emily, without question.

“I just don’t believe this,” Solly said. “Why in God’s name would they leave her out here?”

“Because they didn’t want to have to explain how she died.” Kim’s blood began to race. The sons of bitches had killed her after all.

Why?

The corpse drifted to within a hundred meters. Kim watched through the external imagers as the cargo door opened. She saw Solly framed in the light, silhouetted against the Jovian’s rings.

The thrusters kicked in again.
Hammersmith
rolled slightly, and slowed almost to a matching velocity with the body. It passed out of the forward view and appeared off to port.

“You okay, Solly?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’ll have her in a minute.”

She watched him lean out the open door. A moment later he hauled the body inside, laid it gently on the deck, placing it so it was out of the view of the imagers.

“Let me see her,” said Kim.

“You don’t want to,” he said.

But she insisted and Solly moved her.

The body had withered and caved it on itself. Yet the uniform was sharply pressed. She wore black grip shoes and white ceremonial gloves.

Her black hair still framed her face, which even in its mummified condition registered bewilderment and shock. Death, Kim thought, had come on her suddenly and unaware.

“Kim,”
said the AI,
“I have movement. At nine hundred kilometers.”

“What kind of movement?”

“Non-orbital.”

“Coming our way?” Her hopes soared. Not unmixed with a dash of apprehension.

“Yes. It is closing at almost one kps.”

“Close the door and repressurize, Ham. Solly, you hear that?”

“Yes, I did. Ham, is it on an intercept course?”

“I would describe it as a
collision
course, Solly.”

“Is it slowing down? Maintaining speed?”

“It is accelerating.”

“Okay. Prepare to leave orbit.”

“Wait a minute,” said Kim. “We don’t know that it’s hostile.”

“It’s sure as hell behaving that way. If they want to talk to us they can get on the radio.”

“Solly, for God’s sake, this is why we came. If somebody’s out there and we run for home, what good will it all have been?”

“Kim, trust me. It’s coming after us.”

He was right. She knew he was right, and it filled her with fury. What kind of stupidity was she facing?

Run.

“Ham,” she said, “can you put the object onscreen?”

“Negative, Kim. It’s too far away. But I can tell you it has no identifiable propulsion system.”

Kim jabbed a fist in the air. “You hear that, Solly? No tubes. It’s the same technology. The
Valiant
is the real thing.”

“I hear it, Kim. You’ve been right all along. But it’s still dangerous. Ham, are we ready to move out yet?”

“In fifteen seconds.”

“Come on, Solly. Think what you’re doing.”

“I
am
thinking.”

“Look how
small
it is.”

“That’s what bothers me, Kim. Mines are small. Nukes are small. Ships with friendly celestials are
not
small.”

“Solly—”

“Trust me. I’d like to make this work the way you want it to. But we don’t want to get killed over it. Ham—?”

“Ready, Solly.”

“Take us out of here. Accelerate at two gees for the mo
ment. Take best course away from the object.” And to Kim: “If that thing’s directed by a friendly intelligence, it’ll recognize we’re scared, and it’ll pull off. If it continues to charge, that’ll tell us everything we need to know.” He opened one of the cargo containers, put the body inside, and secured it.

“They might not think the way we do,” she objected.

“Nobody friendly would launch something without trying to talk to us first. Ham, are we getting any kind of radio traffic?”

“No, Solly.”

“Put me on the multichannel,” Kim said. Solly threw her a pitying look. “It might be a misunderstanding of some sort,” she added.

Solly sighed loudly enough for her to hear. “I’m lost out here with a mad scientist,” he said.

She spoke into her throat mike: “Hello. This is Kim Brandywine on the
Hammersmith
. We come in peace.”

Static.

“Is anybody out there?”

“Just us goblins,” said Solly. “My guess is that the whole operation is automatic. You fly in, trigger the alarm, they shoot.”

“That couldn’t be. It’s stupid.”

“Maybe it is, but I’ll bet you that’s what’s happening. I’d say these people are a pretty ugly bunch.”

Kim tried several more times before giving up. “Where’s the object now?” she asked Ham.

“Closing fast. Range sixteen hundred kay.”

Solly waited impatiently, trapped in the hold while it re-pressurized.

“Solly,” she said, “Why don’t we take a chance here?”

“Kim, they are
hostiles
. What does it take? We’d better admit the reality.” A bell dinged and he pulled off his helmet and hurried out of camera range. “Ham,” he said, “what else can you tell us about this thing?”

“Its casing deflects sensors, Solly. Regrettably, I can offer little additional data. I can report, however, that it has adjusted course and velocity and continues to gain on us, al
though it is now doing so at a constant rate. It is still on a collision course.”