Coming Home

Forty-three

We arrived at Galileo Station, worked our way through customs, and rode the shuttle down to New Honolulu. It was early morning when we checked into a suite at the Majestic, which looked out over a crowded beach and an ocean filled with swimmers. We changed clothes, and I headed for the door, assuming we would be leaving immediately for the university.

But Alex sat down. “We have a call to make first,” he said. He asked the directory if it had a listing for Heli Tokata. “She lives in Sudenton. In the British Isles.”

“Yes, sir,” it replied. “We have it.”

“May I have her code?”

“Of course. It’s Hobart 2796-331-49.”

“Now,” Alex said, “I have to do a little artwork.” He used his link to project his image, seating it in one of the armchairs. Then he manipulated it, changed it to a young woman. Blond hair, attractive. Brown-and-gray business suit. “Maybe a little more intensity in the eyes.” He made the adjustment. “What do you think, Chase?”

“She looks good.” I assumed he wanted to mislead Tokata. “You want me to provide the voice?”

He shook his head. “I’ve got it.” He fiddled with the link again and whispered “Hello, how are you?” into it. The image repeated the greeting. He tried it again, manipulated the sound until it had acquired a soft, vaguely seductive feminine tone with a British accent. “How’s that?”

“Not sure,” I said. “What’s she going to do?”

He locked her into the memory so she would be the voice and image that appeared to the person at the other end of the call. I found myself thinking of Zachary Conner. “Chase,” he said, “why don’t you sit over there so you don’t get caught in the exchange? You don’t want to be seen.”

That was fine by me. Alex was much better at this kind of thing than I was. So I moved well off to the side.

“Good,” he said. “Now, what’s Eisa’s code?”

“Khaled? You mean Tokata’s code, right?”

“No. We need to settle something first.”

I began to squirm. “Do we really have to do this, Alex?”

“Yes, we do.” I gave him Khaled’s code, his personal one, not the code that would connect him with Eisa Friendly Charters. “You just watch, all right? Don’t say anything.”

“You can count on that.”

He passed the code to the link and directed it to make the call while I did some quick math. It would be midafternoon along the Florida coast. I heard a pickup at the other end. My throat tightened. And Khaled appeared in the center of the room. He was looking at Alex but seeing only the young woman. “Mr. Eisa,” Alex said. “My name’s Marie Baxter.”

Khaled’s features softened. “Hello, Ms. Baxter. What can I do for you?”

“I’m trying to locate an old friend. Heli Tocata. We went to school together. I’ve lost track of her. The address I have doesn’t seem to work anymore. She mentioned you to me a few weeks ago. Told me you’re a friend, right? The boat owner?”

“Yes. That would be me.”

“Good. Anyway, I’m trying to find her.”

My heart picked up a notch.

“Sure,” he said. “I know Heli. But she doesn’t live around here anywhere.”

“I didn’t think she did. Last I recall, she was headed for the British Isles. Do you by any chance have contact information for her?”

“Hold on, Ms. Baxter. I’m getting it for you now.”

Alex glanced over at me with a look of regret. He had to be careful because any change in his expression would be reflected in Marie’s. But he understood that I was annoyed. I wanted to break into the conversation and tell Khaled what he could do.

And, finally, Khaled was back: “Yes. She does live in the British Isles. Or at least she did last time I talked to her. In a place called Sudenton.” He provided the code and delivered a smile. “You want me to repeat it, Marie?”

“No, I’ve got it. Thanks, Mr. Eisa. I’m in your debt.” And Alex disconnected. A long silence followed. “I’m sorry, Chase,” he said finally.

“The whole thing was a lie. All that talk about how he needed to be with me.”

“Well.” He cleared his throat. “Maybe not that part of it. But the attack was a lie. My guess is that Eisa planted an explosive on the boat, detonated it at the correct moment, then pretended to drive off the attacker.”

“Tocata was the attacker?”

“I don’t think there’s any question. We know she was lying about who and what she was. And she’s a friend of Eisa’s.”

“Oh, Chase,” Khaled had said, “you were never really in danger.”

My chest was heaving. “None of this makes sense, Alex.”

“Tocata doesn’t want us to find out what happened with Baylee. So she tried to scare us off. But what’s she hiding? And I can’t believe she’s alone in this.”

“Why not?”

“Because they destroyed one of Khaled’s boats. As far as I’ve been able to determine, Tocata doesn’t come from money.” He looked out at the sky. “I was sorry to put you through that, Chase. But I had to confirm my suspicions.”

“It’s all right.”

“I suspect you’d like to call him and tell him what you think, but—”

“No. Actually, I have no intention to call him. Ever.”

“Okay.”

“So what’s next? Do we call Tocata?”

“No. We relax and go down to the beach for a while. This afternoon, I’m going to head over to NHU. See if they can ID Larissa.”

“Why not just call them?”

“I’m interested in seeing the place. Anyhow, asking questions in person usually produces better results. You want to come?”

“Sure.”

The campus occupied about five acres on the outskirts of the city. Six or seven buildings, their entrances marked by geometric art, were joined by sloping rooftops and walkways. At the northernmost extremity, a pair of towers gleamed in bright sunlight. The science history section, officially known as the Casper Archive, was located in a three-story structure between the towers.

We climbed a half dozen steps and went through the front door into a circular, vaulted room whose walls were covered with scientifically related artwork, portraits of famous scientists, photos of off-world landscapes, and sketches of classical formulas. Kormanov’s Origin of Life Theory was on display, as was M Theory, Carmichael’s Particle Theory, Goldman’s Dark Energy Formula, the Schroedinger Equations, and the Pythagorean Theorem. The Brickman Analysis, the breakthrough study of how the human brain works, occupied a prominent position over a sofa.

A few people were admiring the art, and a young man was seated at a desk in the center of the room. A name tent identified him as Rafael Iturbi. He looked up from a monitor as we approached. “Yes,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“Mr. Iturbi,” said Alex, “there’s an asteroid that, back in ancient times, in the Third Millennium, was called Larissa. Can you pin it down for me? Match it to a catalog number?”

“How do you spell that, Mr.—-?”

“Benedict. Alex Benedict” He printed the asteroid’s name on a sheet of paper.

Iturbi glanced at it. “Okay. Hold on, Mr. Benedict.” He straightened his shoulders and stated the name for his computer. He crossed his arms, glanced up at me, smiled, and refocused on the screen. The smile faded. “We don’t show it, sir.”

“Do you have any files that are not included with the electronic data?”

He had to give that some thought. “Hold on a second, please.” He got up from the desk, crossed the room, and walked out through a door.

“That’s not a good sign,” I said.

He gave me his eternal optimism smile. We waited. More people came and went. Then a bearded older man appeared at the same door and came toward us. “Hello?” he said. “Mr. Benjamin?”

“Benedict,” said Alex.

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Benedict. I’m Morton Williams. You say the asteroid’s name is Larissa?”

“Yes, Mr. Williams.”

“Okay. I’m sorry, but we don’t have the information. We can identify some asteroids, but unfortunately, that’s not a name we’re familiar with. How do you know it existed at all?”

“We have good reason to know that there was an asteroid with that name. In fact, I have a picture of it. Do you think you could match it?”

“Can you show it to me?”

Alex produced the cover from Flex. We’d removed the monster and the two astronauts. But Williams was frowning anyway. “This is a drawing,” he said.

“It’s the best we could come up with.”

He studied the image for a minute or two. “May I ask why you’re interested?”

“Just doing some research.”

It seemed to satisfy him. “We have a substantial number of pictures of major asteroids, other than those whose ancient names we have on record. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

He sat down at Iturbi’s desk, concentrating on the display, which we could not see. He grunted periodically, sucked his lower lip, and eventually shook his head. “We’re not getting a match. The reality is that nobody has cared about asteroids for a long time. Back in the early years, they mined them, but we don’t have much left from those years. A few people live on them now, and they’ve given them names. Not official, of course. But is it possible you’re looking for one of those?”

“No,” said Alex. “This would be from the Third or Fourth Millennium.”

Williams shrugged. “Sorry. Wish we could help.”

We hadn’t expected much, I guess, but it was nevertheless disappointing. “We still have options,” Alex said. We went in through the lobby and took the elevator up to our suite. Once in our apartment, Alex began tinkering with his link again.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He looked off to my left. I turned and saw another image of Alex smiling at me. He added some muscle and maybe a couple of inches. He lightened the hair and rearranged the features, turned himself into a stranger, then the guy began to look familiar again.

Southwick.

He was behind all this? “How are you going to manage the voice?”

“I brought along one of the HV interviews.”

He plugged the voice and the image into the memory and called Heli.

We got a recording: “Heli is not available and is not currently able to return your call. Please leave your name and code.”

Alex, speaking in Southwick’s voice, explained that he was on a business trip and couldn’t be reached, but that he would try again later.

We’d timed our arrival perfectly. The locals were celebrating the Mililandi Fest, which, according to the hotel guide, dated back over three thousand years. Tents were set up on the beach, bands played raucous music along a seawalk, fireworks were launched, kids rode a Ferris wheel, and people gambled their money away. Comedians performed, a uniformed antigrav team dropped out of the sky, and everybody danced well into the night.

The following day, we went sightseeing, visiting several of the islands. We spent a couple of hours in the Maui Museum, where we picked up some books, mostly histories. But while we were wandering around, a couple of reporters showed up and began interviewing Alex. I drifted away and found a Wendell Chali collection. I’ve always enjoyed the Chali stories. They’re great mysteries, but unfortunately they’re six hundred years old, and two-thirds of them have been lost.

I also picked up a novel from the twenty-first century about a pilot living in the early years of interstellar travel. That one survives, and Wendell Chali goes missing. It’s frustrating. Still, I identified with the pilot. Her name was Hutchins, and I remember thinking that I’d have enjoyed talking with her.

We needed two more calls before we finally caught up with Heli. She was seated in a lobby at a hotel. Behind her, through a room-length portal, we could see nothing but ocean. “Yes, Lawrence,” she said, thinking she was speaking to Southwick. “I wasn’t aware you were coming back. Where are you now?”

“In Hawaii. I’m on business. I’ll only be here a couple of days.”

“Okay. What can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to alert you that Benedict is still at it. In fact, he came back here a few days ago. Have you heard from him?”

“No.”

“Good. Be careful. Stay out of his way, okay?”

“Don’t worry, Lawrence. That nitwit won’t get anything from me. He doesn’t even know my name.”

“All right. Just keep down. I’ll let you know when he goes back to Rimway. One other thing, I think he knows about the asteroid. The, um, what was it, KL-something?”

“KL-4561,” she said.

“Yeah. Right. My memory doesn’t work too well anymore. Anyhow, if you see anything that suggests he’s headed out that way, let me know. The guy’s a publicity hound, so if he really does have something, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t make the news with it. Okay?”

“All right, Lawrence.”

“By the way, I won’t be answering my personal link. I’m at the Majestic Hotel. If you need to reach me, just leave a message, and I’ll get back to you.”

He disconnected and sat back in his chair with a look of triumph. “Finally, Chase.”

“How’d you know about the KL?”

“All the large asteroids in the belt have a KL designator.”

“Why’d it have to be in the belt?”

“Most of the asteroids are. I was playing the odds.”

“Okay. Then why did it have to be a large asteroid?”

“It had a name.”

“Not bad,” I said, “for a nitwit. By the way, what happens if she calls back and discovers Southwick isn’t here?”

“I’ve already taken care of that at the desk. They think Southwick is my pen name.”

We did a search for KL-4561. There were a couple of pictures, and some information on its dimensions. It was thirty-seven kilometers in diameter, and it was in the outer main belt, orbiting the sun in slightly more than eight years. He brought up the Flex cover and compared it. “Well,” he said, “one asteroid looks pretty much like another.”

I’d just come out of the shower when Khaled called. So I kept it on audio. “Hi, Chase,” he said. “I was surprised to find out you were here. You didn’t call me.” He sounded genuinely disappointed.

I was still not supposed to be talking to him. Or letting him know what we’d learned. “We haven’t had much free time, Khaled,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. “And we’re not going to be staying long.”

“Oh.” He sounded genuinely upset. What the hell was it with this guy? “What are you doing in Hawaii?”

“We’re here for the Mililandi Fest. We’d seen that a lot of artifacts were going to be on display. So we came hoping to find some we could pick up. Alex does stuff like this all the time.”

“You sound kind of funny. Is everything okay?”

I wanted to scream. You sold us out, Khaled. Dumped us in the ocean. Played us for idiots. And you want to know if everything’s okay? “Sure,” I said. “Everything’s fine. I’m just a little tired, I guess. We’ve been on the run. How did you know we were here?”

“I saw something about Alex on HV. I assumed if he was here, you were, too.”

“Okay. Yes, um, listen, I have to go. We’re trying to make a flight.”

“When are you going back, Chase? Any chance we can get together before you leave?”

“I don’t think so, Khaled. I don’t have any free time. Listen, I’ve gotta go. Alex is calling me.”

“All right. I wouldn’t want to crowd you. I know how busy you must be.”

“So long, Khaled.”