Starhawk

Chapter 35

WHEN THE GROSVENOR surfaced a quarter million kilometers beyond the Moon, the media came out in force. The intensity of the coverage didn’t quite match what the schoolgirls received when they came back on the Copperhead, but it was close. Quinn and his people and their family members had been on HV daily during the rescue effort, and consequently a wide audience had gotten to know them. The ship docked at Union, where Easy Barnicle and the five people he’d rescued transferred to a special shuttle, which they rode into DC. A large crowd was waiting for them, and a band played “The Green Hills of Earth” as they filed into the waiting area. Later that day, parades marched in Shanghai, Boston, and in Barnicle’s hometown, Baltimore. They were greeted at the New White House by President Norman and the First Lady. They made the rounds of the talk shows, where Quinn announced that he’d sold a book to Bartram Publishing, and a rumor began to spread that a movie was already in the works.

During an appearance on Live With Lennie, Barnicle described his feelings when he’d handed out the food and water and watched everybody dive in. “We’d warned them not to wolf down the chow. Not to eat too much. But I don’t think anybody was worrying much about that. I’ll tell you, Lennie, I watched those folks go after those meatballs, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt that good in my life.”

* * *

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, a summons came in from Frank. Patricia was also in his office when Priscilla arrived. They were talking, but the conversation stopped when she came through the door. Frank pointed to a chair, and the director delivered a wary smile. “Good morning, Priscilla,” she said. She smiled again, checked the time, and got up. “I have to go, guys. Frank, it’s all yours.” And she strode out of the office.

He closed the door. “Priscilla,” he said, “you’ve made it pretty clear you want to get back on the bridge.”

“Absolutely,” she said.

“Are you familiar with Orfano?”

“Sure. That’s the world they found adrift a few years ago.”

“That’s correct. The Academy wanted to trace as much of its history as they could. So they sent a team out there three or four weeks ago.”

“The Vincenti.”

“Yes.” He nodded. “They reached the place five days ago and went into orbit. But they missed their position report this morning.”

“It could just be a communication breakdown,” she said. “The AI might have malfunctioned. Or maybe a temporary loss of power.”

“Of course. Or it could be something serious. We don’t know. And the Academy is not happy. After this Teegarden business, everybody’s a bit jumpy.”

“I assume the Academy’s sending somebody out to see what happened?”

“They don’t have anybody in position to react.”

“They want us to help.”

“Correct.”

Priscilla couldn’t resist. “Is the Grosvenor available?”

“There’s nothing funny about this, young lady.”

“Sorry, Frank. You have more experience with this kind of thing than I do.”

“I’m glad you recognize that, Priscilla.” He was trying to be patient and to let her see that it wasn’t easy. “We’re taking a lot of heat right now.”

“So what—?”

“Fortunately, Orfano is pretty close. It’s only a little more than four light-years. There’s nobody even remotely closer to it than we are.”

“Frank, I’m ready to go. I assume we’ll be using the Baumbachner.”

“It’s all we have.”

“Okay. It’s going to need a quick maintenance check. And refueling.”

“We’ve started the process, Priscilla.”

“What about the tours?”

“This is more important. We’re replacing them with the virtual tour that we used to use. It won’t be quite as lively as you’ve been, but—”

“Good enough. I’ll be ready to go in a half hour.”

The creases in Irasco’s face deepened. “I knew we could count on you. But we don’t know what you might run into out there. So we don’t want you going alone.”

“That’s not a problem. I can take somebody to help out. One of the technicians. Maybe Ursula—”

“Actually, you’re the person going along to help out, Priscilla.”

She frowned. “How do you mean, Frank?”

“You’re going to find out about this anyhow, so I might as well tell you now. You weren’t our first choice. We needed someone with more experience. Don’t think we don’t have the utmost confidence in you, but if we sent someone out there who’d just gotten her license, and anything went wrong—”

“Who is it?”

“We called Jake. And asked him to go.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “Okay. So we’re both going?”

“Yes.”

“And he said that he’d go if I was included?”

He raised a hand in defense. “Don’t get me wrong. We were going to offer you a spot as well. And do me a favor: Don’t tell him I told you.”

“Where is he now?”

“On his way. He’ll be here on the evening shuttle out of DC. So, all we need is for you to be ready when he gets in.”

* * *

SHE MOVED HER gear down to the ship and called Ops. Yoshie answered. “Have we heard yet from the Vincenti?”

“Negative, Priscilla. They’re still quiet.”

“Let me know if anything comes in. Okay?”

“Absolutely. I understand they’re sending you on the mission.”

“Looks like.”

“Well, good luck.”

Then she called her mother. “Heading out on a flight, Mom.”

“Good for you,” she said, pretending to be enthusiastic. “Where to?”

“A runaway planet. It’s not far. We’ll only be gone a few days.”

Mom’s breathing changed. “What’s a runaway planet, dear?”

Priscilla explained. “Sounds cold,” Mom said.

“I’ll take a sweater.”

“Okay. Just be careful, all right?”

“Sure, Mom.”

“Well, enjoy yourself. When are you leaving?”

“In a few hours.”

“Call me when you get back. Okay?”

* * *

THERE WAS A better than fair chance that the people on the Vincenti would fix the problem and announce that everything was okay. And the mission would be scrubbed. She desperately didn’t want that to happen. But what kind of human being am I that I’m hoping they don’t call in? That a potentially lethal situation doesn’t turn out to be minor because I don’t want to spend the next few days in my office?

She stowed her gear and tied her link into the ship’s comm system. Then she ran a systems check. When she’d finished, she reviewed everything that was known about Orfano.

There wasn’t much. The wandering world had been discovered several years earlier when it got between the Marcellus Cloud and the L2 Space Telescope. Nobody paid any attention to the shadow until a researcher going over the records noticed it. They went back to the L2 and, although the operational staff thought the effort a waste of time, instituted a search and relocated the object. It was, they realized, a planet that had become detached from its parent sun and was now headed gradually outward toward the galactic rim.

A mission had been dispatched last summer to take a look. They’d spent several days in orbit. The surface temperature was somewhat warmer than they’d expected, reaching, in some places, -170 degrees Celsius. The atmosphere was about 10 percent oxygen, but otherwise they found nothing out of the ordinary. After they’d returned, however, analysts at the Academy detected surface features they found hard to account for. Ridges curved across the landscape with near-geometric precision, almost as if they’d been carved from the rock. Mountains in many places were smoothed, rounded, generally shaped like domes. In other areas, they resembled turrets. The mission reports indicated that the crew had taken a close look but had dismissed the configuration as natural surface features. “No sign of life,” they’d concluded. “Life not possible under these conditions.”

Nevertheless, there were doubts. So, eventually, a second mission had been dispatched. That was the one that had missed its most recent position report. The Vincenti.

* * *

PRISCILLA’S JOURNAL

Ready to go.

—February 4, 2196