The Rock

THE OFFER

The row of chairs beckoned and Hawkins, Tuskin, and Levy quickly took their places, followed more slowly by Pencak, Fran, and Batson. The arms swung in and Hawkins again felt that slight prick on the back of his right hand. The room darkened and the three points of light appeared. The center one immediately expanded and a voice filled Hawkins's head. "We will listen."

Hawkins spoke first. "We have returned with an offer of goodwill."

"Is it goodwill that there is violence at one of our relays and we are forced to close it off?"

Surprisingly, it was Pencak who answered. "Let us be honest with each other. Our governments are not designed to react quickly-especially to the most astonishing development in the history of our species. They are still grappling with how to respond. We are here to show you that as a people we are worthy of being protected for the time being and that we have the seeds to develop into a race that will be worthy of membership in the Coalition."

"How will you show us?"

"We will recover the stolen nuclear weapon." Hawkins said. "The twin of the one that destroyed your relay at Vredefort Dome. You said the fact that that bomb was missing was significant. Recovery of that bomb ought to be significant also, then."

The red and the blue lights suddenly expanded and pulsed. It seemed as if they were communicating, yet nothing was heard until the side ones returned to their original state and the Speaker replied. "The Defender is not impressed. The Defender points out that your various factions have thousands of nuclear weapons-all capable of interfering with our defense system."

"We have to start somewhere," Hawkins replied.

"You have had generations to start," the voice replied.

Fran jumped in. "Our governments have a hard time believing that all this is really happening. They did not want us to come through to talk to you until they could be more certain. You did not allow them the time to be certain. It was your time limit that precipitated the events in Tunguska.

"You said it took the Coalition six hundred years to react to the Swarm attack. Yet you give us only twenty-four hours. Three of the four people whose names you listed for the Russians are dead because they tried to come to you. That sacrifice must mean something.

"The fact that all of us sitting here have sacrificed everything to come to you and make this offer and that we are willing to give our lives to retrieve this other bomb-that should mean something to you. Surely your Defender can understand the importance of a race whose individuals are willing to sacrifice themselves for the common good. And we are individuals-we are not like this Swarm that we have been told about that you are fighting. The most precious thing to each of us is our own individual life. Yet we sit here and offer those lives to you. Three of us have already given their lives up. If that is not enough, there is nothing more we can give."

The last sentence seemed to hover in the air during the long silence that followed. Finally, after a minute's wait, the Speaker's voice echoed. "You have twelve hours. We will consider what happens in that time with regard to our final decision." The three points of light started to fade.

"Hold it!" Hawkins yelled out. The lights froze at half size.

"What is it?" the Speaker asked.

"What happened to the marines who went through the Ayers Rock portal?"

"They are secure. We will let you see them and allow them to return to their start point."

"What about Don Batson?"

"What about Don Batson?" the voice replied.

"Where is he? He came through Ayers Rock with us but disappeared when we linked up with Colonel Tuskin."

"Batson's present location is unknown. We will scan for him."

"Are there are any other portals that we can return through on Earth besides the one at Ayers Rock?"

"The Tunguska relay is only temporarily closed. We can reopen it."

Hawkins looked at Tuskin, who shook his head. "It's well guarded. We'd never make it out."

"Well, we can't go back through Ayers Rock either." Hawkins shifted his attention back to the light. "Is there any other way we can get back to Earth besides going through Ayers Rock or Tunguska?"

"Why can you not return through Ayers Rock or Tunguska?"

"Because we came here without permission of our governments," Hawkins said. "We told you that."

"If you are not working in concert with your governments, how will you find the missing nuclear weapon?"

"We will go after the people who might know where it is," Hawkins said.

"Where are these people?" the Speaker asked.

"The first one we have to find is in the southwestern part of Russia," Tuskin answered.

"We need your help," Pencak said. "We are willing to do all we can, but if you could help us, it would make the odds of our success much greater."

The red point of light flared up, immediately followed by the other two. Hawkins watched, fascinated by the play of the colors. This went on for half a minute, then the flank colors subsided. "The Defender does not believe this is worth our time. The Mediator believes you should be given a chance-you have the will but not the means to accomplish the task you have set up for yourselves.

"I had the deciding opinion. We will give you some aid. The skimmer outside will take you through the Tunguska portal. The portal will be programmed to allow only the skimmer through. Once through, you may direct the skimmer to take you to any location you desire. The skimmer has"-the Speaker paused briefly, then resumed-"for your purposes on your planet's surface, virtually unlimited range at high speed. It avoids your people's detection systems by flying low, using physical features of the terrain to reduce both the visual and electronic signatures."

A small door on the side of the room slid open, the noise catching Hawkins's attention. Two large black cases lay just inside.

"Inside those are personal weapons systems used by humanoid members of the Coalition Space Force. We will lend you two to help in your attempt. The weapons are plasma projectors. They will destroy anything the beam touches; the pressure on the trigger determines the strength of the beam. The body armor will defeat most individual weapons common on your planet and aid in your camouflage. Your military men will understand how to use them. If some of you are staying here while the others search, this room and the others in this complex will be left available."

The colors disappeared and the room was black for a second, then the elevator door slid open, bathing the room with its light. Another door, previously unseen, opened to the right of the elevator and a corridor beckoned.

"We're going to get a hot reception if we go through Tunguska," Tuskin commented.

"We don't have any choice," Hawkins said.

"I think that skimmer might be more than a match for whatever your people have around the portal," Pencak pointed out.

"They seem pretty confident we'll know how to control it," Fran said. "I don't like the fact that they say they don't know where Don is. They've managed to know every time people came through the portal and where they were."

"Yes, but that might be because the portals were activated," Levy said.

Fran shook her head. "There's something more going on here than we can see. I think Don saw or knew something that he wasn't supposed to."

"What?" Hawkins asked.

Fran shrugged, unable to shake her uneasiness. "What's the plan now?"

Tuskin flipped open the lid on one of the black cases. "Look at this!"

Hawkins opened the other case and they considered what was inside. The weapon was surprisingly short-a blunt-barreled gray pistol. Hawkins lifted it, searching for a safety. There appeared to be none-just a trigger on the rear grip. The armor was a silvery body suit that seemed much too thin to do what the Speaker had said it could. Hawkins pulled his on, the large size flopping over, causing him to tuck in the sleeves and ankles. Apparently humanoid soldiers of the Coalition were larger than he. When he looked over at Tuskin, who had done the same thing, he was surprised to see that Tuskin's suit had changed from silver to almost white, matching the walls behind.

"The suit changes to fit the background," Fran noted. "Like a chameleon."

"We're a lot better off than we were," Hawkins said. "We might even have a chance now."

"Why are they helping us so much?" Fran asked.

"They aren't helping us very much at all," Hawkins argued. "Loaning us the ship and these two weapons systems isn't much skin off their nose-that is, if they have noses. If they really wanted to help us, they'd come through the portals and present themselves."

"It's a test," Levy said. "If we can't accomplish this, then we aren't worth their messing with. If they came through the portal it would make it all too easy. I think they are trying to see what our race is really like and what we are capable of."

"You think all of this is just a test?" Hawkins asked. "A setup?"

"Yes, but I also think they want us to succeed," Levy answered.

"That's not what they say," Hawkins retorted.

"But their actions point that way," Levy said.

"They could be doing quite a bit more in the way of help than they are," Tuskin noted.

"Something's not right here," Hawkins said, letting the plasma projector dangle. In some ways it was all too easy, but in others, all too confusing. "I think Debra's got a point-this is not what it appears to be. I'm not sure I even believe their story about the Swarm. Maybe that was just a cover for something else."

"Let's take a look at the skimmer," Pencak said, ending the speculation. "Whether real or not, we still have to get that bomb." They crowded aboard the elevator and rode to the surface in silence.

After riding the elevator up, they walked out into the cavern and up the ramp into the craft. The door to the front part of the craft was now open. The front cabin held two seats, oriented forward. Hawkins sat in one of the seats while Tuskin took the other. The rest of the party gathered behind them. There were two large video displays in front of the seats showing the view directly in front with smaller blocked areas along the side of the screens displaying the view below and to the sides and rear.

The control panel was a model of simplicity. Between the two seats was a video

screen that showed what must be the map for the immediate vicinity of the planet's surface.

"That must be the Tunguska portal," Hawkins said, pointing at a dot that was flashing on the screen. His finger slid across the screen to a small rectangle highlighted in red, enclosed by a larger black square. "This red must be the skimmer and the black the building or whatever it is we're in."

"Why no writing?" Fran wondered.

"They must have so many different languages in the Coalition that they've simplified all their control systems to accommodate logical symbolic reasoning," Levy answered.

"I think we can handle this," Hawkins said. He turned in his seat to the other members of the team. "Colonel Tuskin knows where the Russian general who sold the two bombs is being held. We plan to go there, snatch him, and then make him talk. We don't know what the Russian interrogators have gotten out of him, but whatever it is, they haven't been willing to share it."

"I do not think we need everyone to do this," Tuskin said. "I think a small element would be much more efficient than a large one."

"We have only the two suits," Hawkins added. "We'll do this. You all try to find out all you can here. We'll be back as soon as possible."

"First, you need to take care of the marines," Pencak noted.

Hawkins nodded. "I'll do that." He hopped out the door. Ten minutes went by before he returned. "They've gone back," he assured them.

After a last farewell Pencak, Fran, and Debra trooped off the skimmer. In the cockpit Hawkins looked at Tuskin, who nodded. He leaned forward and poised his finger above a glowing green button that had an arrow pointing up. "It could be the ejection-seat button, you know," Hawkins remarked.

Tuskin shrugged. "We all have to go sometimes."

"Typical Russian attitude," Hawkins remarked, and then pressed the up arrow. The skimmer lifted and, when he let go, held its altitude. He pushed the forward button and they were on their way toward the opening hangar doors. On the screen in front the entrance to the hangar flashed by and they were over a desert heading toward the black sheen that was the portal leading to Tunguska.