Starhawk

Chapter 48

PRISCILLA’S ATTITUDE TOWARD Frank had completely changed. When he called her into his office that afternoon, she felt awed in his presence. Who are you? What have you done with Frank Irasco? “That was a pretty gutsy performance out there today,” she said, trying not to sound obsequious.

“Part of the job, Priscilla.” A box of jelly donuts was secured to a side table. “But yes, I’ll admit that was a scary few minutes.” He picked up the box and offered it to her.

She took one. And also got some coffee.

“We have another mission for you,” he said. “I don’t know whether you were aware of this or not, but McGruder’s bringing his campaign here. To the station.”

“I saw that,” she said. “You’re not going to ask me to go shake his hand again, are you?”

“No,” he said.

“Good.”

“I’m going to ask you to be his pilot. But it’s okay. No long flight. He’s only going to Iapetus.”

“You’re kidding.”

“He wants to see the monument.”

“Why? I can’t believe it would help him politically.”

Frank couldn’t restrain a laugh. “You’re terribly cynical for one so young, Priscilla. I hate to think what you’ll be like after you put on a few more miles. Anyhow, three or four members of his team will be going with him. They’ll get out, take some pictures, get back in the ship, and come home. That’s all there is to it.”

“Why on earth does he want to go out there in the middle of the campaign? What’s he expect to gain?”

“I don’t know whether you’ve been following the news, Priscilla, but his campaign isn’t going well. He’s perceived as not very exciting. As stuck with old ideas and unable to adapt to a rapidly changing world. He probably will get the Gold Party nomination, but he’s going up against a sitting president. We both know Norman’s not very popular; but, nevertheless, incumbents are hard to beat. The only reason McGruder’s leading the nomination fight is because nobody else of any substance really wanted into the ring. They’re all waiting for 2200. He needs to shake things up. And I guess this seemed to be a way to do it. It won’t hurt him, by the way, to be seen traveling with the hero who brought the schoolkids home.”

“That’s a little over the top,” she said.

“I calls ’em the way I sees ’em.”

“You’re saying he asked for me?”

Frank’s jaw twitched. “Yes. He did.”

“I’m not excited about hauling politicians around.”

“I thought he was very nice to you when he was here.”

“He was. But I’m not inclined to become part of his campaign. That’s what he did last time.”

“You’re a pilot, Priscilla. It’s what you do. Haul people who need hauling.” He closed his eyes for a moment. Then: “We need you to do this. Look, he may become the next president. If that happens, we need to do everything we can to get him on our side.”

“Even if he thinks we should be shut down?”

“We’d have a better chance of dissuading him if we treat him well now. Anyhow, he can’t be any worse for us than Norman.”

“Frank, even if the voters were dumb enough to put him in, he wouldn’t be able to shut us down. There are a few other countries involved in the Authority.”

“Come on, Priscilla. I’m asking you to take one for the team.” He picked up one of the donuts and took a bite. “You’re always talking about how you want to sit on the bridge instead of in your office. Okay. Do it. And don’t screw it up.”

“I assume we won’t be using the Starhawk?”

He looked momentarily puzzled. “Oh, you mean the Bomb? Priscilla, you do tend to be a trifle sarcastic. But no, we’ll want something a little more classy. Fortunately, the Thompson’s available.”

* * *

THE SYDNEY THOMPSON was bigger, more spacious, and considerably more elegant than the Baumbachner. Of course, the Baumbachner paled in significance to some of the fishing boats along the Jersey shore. Priscilla was seated on the ship’s bridge running status checks while her passengers’ luggage was being placed in their cabins by the handlers when Yoshie Blakeslee called. “The governor’s arrived,” she said. “They’re ready to board.”

“Okay, Yoshie. The air lock is open. Send them up the tunnel.”

“They want you to be waiting at the hatch, Priscilla.”

“I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“Frank says do it.”

“Okay.” She got up, straightened her cap, went back through the cabin, and assumed a position outside the air lock. There were voices in the tunnel. Then laughter. And finally, the passengers themselves. The governor was flanked by a woman and three guys. He was looking back over his shoulder, waving at a group of trailing reporters. Then he turned, saw her, and broke into the broad smile that had been enchanting millions during the campaign. That, despite her dislike for politicians, had impressed her during their first meeting.

He came forward and shook her hand while one of the males took pictures. “Priscilla,” he said, “it’s so good to see you again. I’m glad they were able to fit you into the schedule.”

The guy with the imager took more pictures. He was older than the others, with an extended belly and a ridge of gray hair circling his skull. “That’s Al Devlin,” said McGruder. “He’s one of my staff.” The reporters were taking pictures, too, and he shook her hand some more. “I read about your flight out to that place in the middle of nowhere. You lead an exciting life, Priscilla.” He pointed at the woman. “This is Vesta D’Ambrosia, my campaign manager.” She was tall, middle-aged, with bored eyes. She did not give the impression she was anxious to see Iapetus.

“Hello, Priscilla,” she said, extending her hand.

McGruder glanced at the other two guys. “These gentlemen are my official protection, Michael and Cornelius.”

They both nodded. Priscilla welcomed them to the Thompson, answered a few questions, and posed for some more pictures. The reporters wanted to follow them through the air lock, but Priscilla, because of the security issue, kept them outside and, after apologizing, closed the hatch. She showed her passengers to their quarters. Within minutes, everyone was back in the passenger cabin.

Vesta was conservatively dressed in dark slacks and a white blouse. She stood looking down at Priscilla. “Is this flight really going to take three or four days?” She emphasized the last word, as though a reasonable flight time would have been measured in hours.

Michael, probably in his late forties, was easily the older of the two agents. He asked Priscilla how long she’d been on board, whether she knew of anyone else’s having been on the ship that morning, what security measures were in place to ensure that no one could have boarded the Thompson surreptitiously, and so on. In the meantime, his partner Cornelius wandered through the ship, armed with what must have been a bomb detector.

Priscilla answered the questions and excused herself. “Time to get moving,” she said. “We’ll be heading out in a few minutes. I’ll let you know when we’re ready to go.” She went up onto the bridge and was surprised when Vesta followed.

“I was anxious to meet you, Priscilla,” Vesta said. “The governor thinks very highly of you.”

“Thanks, Ms. D’Ambrosia. I’m happy to hear it.”

“Vesta, please. We’re going to be in here for a while. Might as well go to first names.”

“Yes, ma’am. Umm, Vesta.”

“One thing, Priscilla. The governor has a tendency sometimes to take risks. While we’re on this trip, I don’t want anything to happen to him. If he wants to do anything that seems at all to you to constitute hazardous behavior, do not allow it. Understood?”

“Of course.” Priscilla felt more intimidated than she had been by the governor. “We wouldn’t want to lose him.”

“No, we certainly would not.”

The bridge link sounded. “Excuse me.” Priscilla leaned over the mike. “Go ahead, Yoshie.”

“You’re clear to go, Priscilla.”

“Roger that.” She opened the allcom. “Attention, everybody. We’re five minutes from launch. If you’ve anything that needs to be taken care of, please do it now. When you’re ready, take a seat, secure the harness, and do not release it until I advise you that it is safe to do so. That will be approximately forty minutes into the flight. If anyone has a problem, push the red button at the lower right of your display.”

Vesta looked down at the right-hand seat. “Mind if I sit up here?”

“Sure. If you like.” One by one, the safety lamps turned green, indicating everyone was belted in.

“All right, gentlemen, Vesta, we are on our way.” Priscilla released the ship from its magnetic clamps and let the AI, Louie, guide the Thompson out past two docked vehicles and through the launch doors. Then she turned slowly in the direction of Saturn and began to accelerate.

* * *

AS THEY APPROACHED the jump point, Priscilla explained to her passengers what they were about to do. None of them had been in Barber space before or, for that matter, any farther out than the space station. “The passage is simple enough,” she said. “You probably won’t even notice the jump. The only thing you’re likely to be aware of is that, if you’re looking outside, the stars will seem to go out.” She said nothing about the possibility of an upset stomach, which was not an uncommon feature of the experience, especially for people going through it for the first time. But Jake had told her he knew no better way to ensure passengers would throw up than to warn them that it might happen. A bag was available at each seat if needed.

“Nice view,” Vesta said. Earth and Moon glowed in the sunlight.

“I doubt I’ll ever get used to it,” said Priscilla.

They indulged in small talk for a few minutes. Vesta had grown up in Oregon, graduated from the University of California Business School, got into politics because of President Goulart, twenty years earlier. “He was trying to control everything,” she said. “Progress stopped dead while he was in office. Everything was run by the bureaucracy. So eventually—”

“You went into politics yourself.”

“Damn right,” she said. “You’re probably not aware of it, but the best thing that could happen for the space program would be for the governor to win.”

* * *

THEY MADE THE jump into Barber space with no visible ill effects. “Everybody stay belted,” Priscilla said, speaking over the allcomm.

“Why?” asked Vesta. “There are a few things I need to talk over with the governor.”

“Just hold on a few seconds.”

The sound of the engines shifted a notch higher as the Hazeltine unit cut in. Suddenly, they were floating in the gray mist, with little indication of forward movement. But Vesta was holding her stomach. “What was that?” she asked.

“A transdimensional jump.”

She laughed. “Okay. I know what you’re talking about. We’re on our way to Saturn. How long—?”

“Hang on,” said Priscilla. “Transition complete. Everybody prep for another jump.” She was enjoying herself. The drone of the engines changed again, and the mist was gone, replaced by a vast globe and a series of rings. “Okay,” she said, “we’re there.”

Vesta’s jaw dropped. An enormous yellow-brown globe filled the sky. And a set of rings. “That’s Saturn, right? How could we be here already?”

The rings spread across the sky, dazzling in their brilliance and perfection. Priscilla stared at them, thinking that if a convincing argument for the existence of God could be found, this was it.

“Incredible,” said the governor.

Priscilla wasn’t sure whether he was referring to the planet or the rapidity of the flight. It was her first visit also to Saturn, and she was probably as impressed as anyone at how quickly they’d arrived even though she’d known what to expect. But she was careful not to show it.

“I don’t understand,” Vesta said. “Why were we talking about three or four days for this?”

“We just did the easy part,” said Priscilla. She went back to the mike. “Everybody stay belted in, please. We’ll be making a course correction in the next few minutes. Then you can get up and wander around or whatever. By the way, be careful when you do. We are in a zero-gee environment. It’ll take some getting used to.”

* * *

“WHERE IS IT?” asked Vesta.

Priscilla put Iapetus on the display. “We did pretty well. We’ll be there in about twenty-seven hours.”

“Good,” she said. “I’m glad to hear it. Can you by any chance make it quicker? There’s a presidential campaign on, and whatever time we save—”

“I can, if you want. But if we do that kind of acceleration, we won’t be able to get out of our chairs, and nobody will be very comfortable.”

Those expressionless eyes came to life and targeted Priscilla as if she were responsible for any inconvenience. Then the animation faded. “Okay,” she said. “I guess we can live with that.”

Priscilla wondered how she’d have responded if they’d needed three days or so. That would not have been unusual. “So,” she said, “what’s the point?”

Vesta frowned. “What’s what point?”

“Well, as you said, you’re running a presidential campaign. What are you doing out here?”

She took her time responding, finally nodding toward the view, the giant planet, the rings, stars probably more brilliant than she’d ever seen them before this day. “The governor has a passion for history. He’s always wanted to visit the monument.”

Later, she had a chance to put the same question to McGruder. He smiled. “Are you serious, Priscilla? We’re talking about something that was put here by aliens thousands of years ago. Nobody knows who they were or what happened to them afterward. But it changed our whole perspective about the universe. We found out we were not alone. Why would anyone not want to come out here?”

“But you’re in the middle of a campaign.”

He nodded. Looked amused. “It’s an opportunity to remind everyone of the glories around us. And why we need spaceflight. And don’t look so surprised, Priscilla. It’s what presidents do.”

It’s what presidents do. “A month or two ago, Governor, you were opposed to all this. You were saying we were wasting resources out here. What happened?”

He smiled and shook his head. “I was wrong,” he said. “The country does have some fiscal problems, and I went for the easy solution. The obvious one. But I was wrong. I’ve said as much. The problem is that sometimes it’s difficult to change your mind. At least for a politician. You do that, and they call you a flip-flopper.”

“They will,” she said.

“They already have. Within an hour after we made the announcement about coming here.” He was staring at the rings. “Politics is the only career I know of where you’re not allowed to profit from experience. Not allowed to learn anything.”

“Well,” she said, “I hope it works for you.” She thought about adding that she’d vote for him. She expected to do that, but saying it would seem too much like groveling.

* * *

SHE SLEPT ON the bridge. Had to, because McGruder and his team showed no sign of retiring. It wouldn’t look right if she went back to her cabin while the passengers worked all night. She couldn’t make out what they were saying without turning on the commlink, but she wasn’t going to do that. They didn’t invite her to join the discussion. In the morning, when she woke, the passenger cabin was empty. By then, Iapetus was visible as a small disk. She went back to her quarters, showered, and changed clothes.

When they were still a few hours out, she got on the mike: “We’ll start braking in thirty minutes. Everybody up, please. You’ll need to be in your seats and belted in when we begin.” It was midafternoon of the second day.

She heard doors opening and closing. And voices. But no footsteps, of course. You never hear footsteps in zero gee. She got up and went back into the passenger cabin. Devlin, the governor, and Vesta were talking about his three Gold Party rivals, how to get rid of them without alienating anybody. Michael and Cornelius were missing. She wondered why they were along at all. Did someone think there might be an alien attack? “Everybody doing okay?” Priscilla asked. “Does anybody need anything?”

“Some gravity would be nice,” said Devlin.

McGruder laughed. “They’re working on it. Artificial gravity’s just a couple of years away.”

“We still have a few minutes,” said Priscilla, “before we start reducing speed. Once we do, we’ll continue for two hours, and you won’t be able to leave your seat. After two hours, we’ll take a twenty-minute time-out, and you’ll be able to wander around again, eat, drink, whatever you like. Then we’ll brake for another two hours. That’ll put us in orbit around Iapetus. In the meantime, if anybody needs to get to the washroom or something, let me know and we can go to cruise. One other thing. Iapetus is not visible from the windows here, but you can put the forward view on your display. Any questions?”

Devlin raised a hand: “Priscilla,” he said, “could you explain again how the shower works?”

* * *

VESTA D’AMBROSIA’S DIARY

Andy insisted on getting Hutchins to be the pilot for this misbegotten flight, on the grounds that she had received some recent publicity and people would recognize her name. Unfortunately, what they’re also going to recognize is that she’s a kid. This trip is going to draw a lot of mockery as it is. I can see the comedians and the cartoonists now, showing Andy standing next to that concrete two-legged lizard on Iapetus talking about having a meeting of minds. They’ll kill us. At least, if we had a grizzled tough-looking captain, we might be able to sell this thing. But no, instead we get a high-school kid.

—March 4, 2196

* * *

ON THE NET

So the guy who doesn’t believe in space travel goes to Saturn and develops an appreciation for alien art. Does he really think that’s going to bring in the swing voters?

—CatMan

CatMan, are there any voters at all out there, other than the loonies, who will be impressed by McGruder’s going out to Saturn? Maybe he could do us all a favor and stay out there.

—Big Joe

I wish I could go.

—Marcia43

Kosmik has two days to issue a statement terminating its terraforming program on Selika unless and until it finds a way to continue without harming local life. If it fails to do so, I will terminate the Wheel.

—Adam11