Coming Home

Thirty-eight

“As most of you know,” John said, “the captain of the Capella, Dierdre Schultz, has a solid reputation. But it’s incumbent on us to stay out of her way. As soon as we make contact, we’ll try to ensure that she understands what has happened. That conversation will be relayed to the fleet to keep everyone apprised of the situation. If we get this right, we’ll only have to come out here to do this one more time.”

“I wish it would come,” I said. “I hate the waiting.”

Belle asked something irrelevant. Did I want her to locate and run a good comedy? Was I getting tired? I don’t recall exactly what it was. But I told her to relax.

Her lights blinked in her standard suggestion of a giggle.

We’d probably get a few people out on this attempt, and eventually, even if things didn’t go well, we’d recover the vast majority. I was happy to be part of it, but I wanted it to be over. I didn’t like the idea of its going on for another five years. Or maybe more.

I didn’t think I was actually talking, but Belle was picking it up. “It’ll be okay,” she said. “There is reason to be optimistic.”

“I know, Belle. I just wish we could bring them home now.” JoAnn would have been bitterly disappointed at how this was playing out. Despite John’s assurance that whatever had been determined by the physicists would be passed on to Robert Dyke, I doubted that would include JoAnn’s contribution. Considering the President’s stand, I guessed not.

I talked with some of the nearby ships. They were mostly yachts, like the Belle-Marie, but there were also two freighters. The freighters were the Bentley and the Bollinger, carrying twenty-eight and twenty-two lifeboats respectively. Five of the pilots told me they had either relatives or friends on board the Capella. There was a lot of frustration and even some tears. They all understood that the odds against recovering any specific person on this attempt weren’t good. And they agreed that they were prepared to settle. “If I can just come away from this with the knowledge that they’re okay, and that we’ll get them back, I’ll go home happy.” It was a sentiment I heard again and again. But they didn’t sound as if they meant it. Five years is a long time.

One of the entertainers on board the Capella was Dory Caputo. She sang, danced, and did comedy. Her husband was on the Bentley, and would be helping move lifeboats if they got into position. He sent me a vid of one of her performances. Dory laughed, told jokes, explained how to handle idiot bosses, and simply seemed too alive to have gone missing for eleven years. “I never wanted her to sign on for the thing,” he said. “I hope, when she gets back, she’ll have more sense.”

There was a lifeboat team of four on the Bollinger. “They’ve got thousands of these things stashed on the ships,” one of the pilots told me. “They’re going to use, at most, forty or so of them. What will they do with the rest? It’s a goddam shame the thing won’t stay on the surface long enough to make it a bit easier to do this stuff.”

Halfway through the afternoon, the timer sounded. Zero hour. Two hours later, John addressed the fleet and said that patience was in order. “This is at best an imprecise operation,” he said.

I awoke on the fifth morning to the smell of bacon and eggs. “We’re going to do a minor position adjustment in about an hour, Chase,” Belle said. “Since you have to get up, I thought you’d like some breakfast.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“And we’re getting another transmission. From the Raven.” Raven headed one of the squadrons reporting to us.

It was a woman’s voice: “Belle-Marie, we have a sighting. Reported by the Breckinridge. Awaiting confirmation.”

I acknowledged. Belle waited a few seconds. Then: “Chase, do you want me to pass it on to the Dauntless?”

“No. Let’s give it a minute. See what happens.”

I got some orange juice to go with my breakfast. Then the Raven was back. “False alarm. It was apparently somebody showing up late. Wait, hold on.” She clicked off, and a few seconds later, was back. “It was the Holtz. They’re listed among the no-shows. But I guess they got here. Anyhow, false alarm. Out.”