Starhawk (15 page)

They ate together, and gradually the tension subsided. They talked about how they'd both chosen careers that took them to remote places. “When I was a kid,” Monika said, “I got intrigued by aliens. Read too much science fiction.”

“So you were a natural choice for the Selika project,” said Priscilla.

“I suppose. Though I'm not a biologist.”

“What
is
your specialty, Monika?”

“Artificial intelligence. I got hung up on information software pretty early, too.” She smiled and, for the first time since she'd come aboard, looked relaxed. “When I discovered we hadn't found anyone we could talk to, nor were likely to, I took the next best bet: create our own aliens.”

“But apparently you never lost your interest in exploration.”

“No. I guess not. My parents didn't care very much for what I was doing. My father wanted me to become a doctor.”

“Your experience sounded a lot like mine. My mom wants me to be a lawyer.”

“It was probably the Gene Black novels as much as anything,” Monika said. Gene Black had been probably the preeminent writer of deep-space adventure thirty years earlier.

On their fourth morning together, while the ship swam through the transdimensional fog, Priscilla came into the passenger cabin on her way to the bridge and found Monika in tears.

“It's nothing,” she said. “I'm just a little upset, I guess.”

“It's all right. We have some medications. I can get something for you. Help to calm your nerves.”

“My nerves are fine. I'm just tired.”

“Okay. Whatever you say.”

“You know, Priscilla, you give up too easily.”

Priscilla tried laughing, and it worked. Monika calmed down. But she got the medications for her. When she'd finished taking them, Monika sat with her eyes closed.

“Feel better?”

“Yes.”

“Good. We're going to be out here for several more days. Why don't you tell me what's going on? You need someone to talk to.”

“I didn't realize you also had a psychiatric license.”

“It's required for bartenders and pilots.”

“I've heard that. Well, the truth is that I probably need a lot more than talking, love.”

“So I assume all this is connected with the terraforming?”

“Ah, yes. Right to the heart of the matter.” She was quiet for a long minute. Then: “You know, the way we're going, we'll probably kill off everything on the planet.”

“I've heard about that. How, exactly, is it happening?”

“The superalgae. They're increasing the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere.”

“I know. That's the point of the project, isn't it?”

“The extra oxygen is devastating some of the more basic life-forms.”

“You mean like, what? Ants?”

“Yes, like ants. Nothing more complicated than that as far as we can determine. And maybe not even at that level.”

“That's not the way I understood it. I thought the higher life-forms were being decimated.”

“That's all projection. There've been some reductions among some of the higher species, but we're not certain of the connections yet. The problem is that if it's happening, and I'd bet my life it is, we can't wait until the final numbers are in before we back off. And I don't think we'll back off even then. There's too much money involved.” She took a deep breath. “So some of us are getting desperate.”

“Leon,” Priscilla said.

“Yeah. He had it right. Poor bastard. Did you know him?”

“Yes. I never thought he'd have been capable of something like that.”

“I guess we never really know anybody.”

“You're saying nothing on Selika can adjust to the change in the atmosphere?”

“No, I'm not saying that at all. Many of the life-forms, maybe most of them, can adjust. But some don't. We think only a few actually. But they're part of the food chain. Knock off some species, and everything that feeds on that species goes, too. And everything that feeds off
that
level. All the way up the chain. We don't know what we're starting here. We don't know where it's going to end.”

“Weren't studies done on this stuff before they started these programs?”

“Of course, Priscilla. But there are too many variables. You can't predict everything. You can't catch everything. What's worse, the guys who did the studies knew ahead of time what kind of results management wanted. And I'd be amazed if there weren't payoffs. Anyway, the problem now is that Kosmik has too much invested in Selika to back away.”

“Has Chappell reported this?”

“He claims he has. But who does he report to? People who have an interest in keeping the program moving.”

“So you're not going to be part of it anymore?”

“That's correct.”

“Are you going to blow the whistle?”

“I am. I'm going to blow the lid off.”

“Good.”

She shrugged. “Right.”

Priscilla smiled. “You're supposed to feel a little better now.”

“I know. I probably would if I thought—”

“What?”

“It would matter. By the time we get back, Kosmik will have destroyed my reputation. They'll accuse me of being a lunatic, Priscilla.”

“They can say what they want. But the facts are on your side.”

“No, love. Only the suppositions are on my side. I could turn out to be the woman who went down gallantly defending alien ants. And unfortunately Leon Carlson didn't help matters. Or some of the nutcases who make us all look like lunatics.”

“Oh.”

“The problem is that we don't have enough information to make a calculation. From what I can see, there's a better than fair chance we'll take out every living thing on the planet. But it will take a while. Maybe centuries. Once it starts, though, once the process gains a foothold, we'd have a very difficult time shutting it down.”

 * * * 

THAT NIGHT, SOMEWHERE
after midnight, Priscilla thought she heard Monika moving around. She got up, left her quarters, and made her way barefooted to the passenger cabin. There was a light on the bridge.

“Monika?” She called the name softly, as if not wanting to wake anyone else.

She heard a barely audible click. Like a panel closing. And her passenger's voice: “I'm up here.”

Priscilla went onto the bridge. Monika was seated in the pilot's chair, but everything seemed in order. “What are you doing?”

“Playing mind games. Pretending I'm the pilot. I'd love to be able to run one of these things. I envy you.”

Priscilla sat down beside her. Tied herself in so she wouldn't float away. “Can't sleep, Monika?”

“I've been tossing around all night.” She grinned. “I've looked forward for a long time to going home. To the
ride
home. I wish, though, that I could be the pilot.”

They sat quietly for a minute. Finally, Priscilla asked about her career plans.

She shrugged. “Get a job on the ground, I guess.”

 * * * 

NEWSDESK

Worldwide News has learned that a member of the scientific team living in orbit at the distant world Selika has been sent home for psychiatric assistance. The person's identity is not known, nor is the exact nature of the malady. Kosmik, which oversees the operation, had no comment this morning, but has since released a statement that at no time was any member of the staff in danger.

Kosmik is attempting to terraform Selika, which has been at the center of the terraforming controversy for more than a year. Selika is approximately 24 light-years away.

—December 15, 2195

 * * * 

LIBRARY ENTRY

We have collected, in two days, more than seven million signatures demanding that Congress move to stop further exploitation of living worlds. The activities of Kosmik and its collaborators is unconscionable.

—The Public Action Website, December 16, 2195

If they will not stop, then we must consider alternative action. We may have no option other than to follow the lead of Leon Carlson.

—Calltoarms.ca, December 17, 2195

JAKE ARRIVED EARLY
at Carmody's. The back room had been reserved for the Astro Society. Approximately twenty people had gathered so far, and they were still drifting in. Sandra Coates recognized him immediately. She was in her thirties, with amiable features, auburn hair, and energetic brown eyes. “Captain Loomis?” she said. “So nice to meet you. We appreciate your coming. Just give us a few minutes, and we'll be getting started.”

She introduced him around, identifying the participants as archeologists or botanists or nuclear physicists. It was clear she thought the specialty mattered to him. Nevertheless, they got quickly past the formalities, and Captain Loomis became
Jake
.

The place filled up, the servers arrived, and Jake was escorted to his place at the head table beside Sandra and Mike Hasson, the psychology chair at Brockton University. Sandra seemed genuinely delighted to have Jake in attendance, and she pointed out that the invitation had been Hasson's idea. “I don't think people really understand how the world changed,” Mike told him, “after we got into space. Well, maybe not so much got into space, but developed FTL. Some of us remember when we had our hands full getting out to Mars and Europa. But faster-than-light really changed the game.”

The meal was pretty much standard luncheon fare, potato salad and sandwiches and grilled carrots and an unidentifiable dessert that had cheese in it. When everyone had finished, Sandra ascended to the lectern and introduced Jake, “who has been to places most of us only dream about.” She held out a hand for him, the audience applauded with enthusiasm, and Jake took the mike.

“Thank you, Sandra.” He looked out over the diners. “I'm not sure what I can say that you're not already aware of. I can tell you that I feel honored to be here, and how fortunate I've been to have been allowed to navigate our interstellars. It's permitted me to visit places that we once thought were completely beyond our reach. I don't know what I can tell you that you don't already know, but I'll say this: Once you've traveled to another world, once you've walked on different ground, looked out across a new ocean, you can never be the same. The reality, though, is that
you
provided the opportunity. You provided the technology. And I want to take this opportunity to say thanks.

“What we have, we've received through the efforts of the world's scientists. Starting back with the Greeks, I guess. You guys got us out of the caves and gave us the sky. In the end, we owe everything to men and women like yourselves, who explore the reality in which we live.” He described how it felt to watch a ringed world rising out of an ocean, to ride with a comet, to watch a star hurling giant flares into the night. “And maybe especially,” he said, “to go to a place like Iapetus and look at the figure left there thousands of years ago by someone I suspect you folks would like very much to have met.”

After about twenty minutes, he thanked his audience for listening and asked if anyone had a question.

Hands went up around the room. “Captain Loomis, do you think we'll ever find a seriously advanced civilization? By that I mean one that's maybe a million years old?”

“Where do you think we'll be in another hundred years?”

“What's the most spectacular thing you've seen out there?”

“Captain, Marian mentioned the possibility of a million-year-old civilization. What do you think that would look like?”

“Why do you think we're so fascinated by the possibility of finding someone else we could talk to? I mean, high-tech aliens could be dangerous.”

The Talios story had not been released, so Jake did not mention it. “It's in our genes,” he said. “What wouldn't any of us give to sit down and have a beer and pizza with someone from the other side of the galaxy?”

The remark brought applause. Then a young woman seated near the front raised her hand. Jake looked in her direction, and she got up. “Captain Loomis, how do you feel about Project Rainbow?”

“I'm sorry. What's Project Rainbow?”

“Selika,” she said. “Where they're killing off the planet.”

“I think they should wait until they have better research. Until they can accomplish what they want without harming anything.”

More applause. And more hands went up. He was about to signal someone else, but the woman stayed on her feet. “Would it be fair,” she said, “to describe your feeling as outrage?”

“Well, I'm not sure I'd go that far. But I'm not happy with what they're doing.”

“You're not happy? They are probably killing off everything on that world, everything on Selika, and you're
not happy
?” Her voice was rising. “I wouldn't want you to take this the wrong way, but I won't sleep much better tonight knowing that people like you are in charge.”

 * * * 

NEWSDESK

SHOOTER MISSES SENATOR BELMAR AT AWARD DINNER

Two Dead; Senator Shielded by Killer's Aunt

HOPKINS DROPS OUT OF GOLD RACE

Belmar, McGruder Lead in Nomination Fight

Collins Stays in Despite Sex Scandal

Wife Expected to Provide Support Tonight

BOOKS LOSING GROUND IN WESTERN WORLD

Does Anybody Read Novels Anymore?

Nonfiction Down Slightly

GROUP MARRIAGE LAW PASSES IN CALIFORNIA

Governor's Veto Overridden

ASTEROID PASSES BETWEEN EARTH AND MOON

NAU MURDER RATE DOWN 17
TH
STRAIGHT YEAR

Chicago Safest City

LAST MAN STANDING
LEADS OSCAR HOPEFULS

NORMAN: NAU WILL STAY OUT OF SOUTH AMERICAN TURMOIL

NFL MAY EXTEND SEASON TO 24 GAMES IN 2198

Players' and Fans' Unions May Oppose