Infinite Reef (19 page)

Chapter 7

1
In his dream Alex was aboard
Diver
, cruising at high speed, destination unknown. Mary and Inky were there, too. No mission. No worries. Strangely his dream self didn’t find that unusual, but another part of his mind did. A spacer always worries. Only a fool doesn’t. There were no dingers, another part of him realized, because he and Mary were in the bed.

Nothing to fear.

Alex awoke with Mary asleep next to him and Inky snoozing at her feet. Thirsty, he went to their food panel. Plain water this time. For the moment he’d had enough geebrew.

He sipped the drink standing at the picture window overlooking the park and the empty lake beyond. The cylinder was dark now. The central column was powering the drive train for the first of five Gee pulses necessary to get them home.

Floodlights played over the surface for the benefit of the trees. They gave the cylinder an eerily festive look. Alex could easily imagine throngs of people cheering and celebrating among the moving shadows.

The darkness had accompanied a cooling of the cylinder’s atmosphere, and clouds were beginning to form in patches where vegetation was thickest. One such area was the grove of tall oaks at the edge of the park where fog was spilling across the ground, propelled by breezes caused by the rotation of the cylinder. A pair of headlights appeared and a cart carrying two security officers ambled forward, cutting a swath through the mist. Through the glass of their bedroom window Alex could hear the high wine of the car’s electric drive as it sped past their house.

Alex enjoyed the view and the quiet. He knew that before too long the house would be lowered flush to the ground for maximum structural stability, and then they would sleep in their artificial cocoon until the lethal pulse waves of the graviton power train had carved a waveform in reality and they were being propelled through it, faster than light.

Now he was struck by the eerie beauty of the place, and he considered waking Mary to share the view. But she’d seen it before and walked in it earlier in the trip. Before the war with the aliens. Was it war? There had been no trading of salvos. No face to face. Intentionally or not, the humans had attacked three times. The Lalandians with their sphere had attacked only once. Alex shook his head as memories of his trip to Howarth’s egg replayed themselves in his mind.

From the beginning the
Goddard’s
mission had been strictly scientific. By mandate it was to be unobtrusive. Their protocol required that they be model visitors to whatever was encountered. Now the aliens could count two violent invasions into their world and the obliteration of something as large as a space station. When he last saw it, the thing was about to do something. Perhaps it was an attempt to defend itself. Or might it have been about to move clear of their path? They would never know.

Alex stared out into the dark. Was he the only one worried about this?

Most would say “accidents happen” or “we were just looking out for our own.” Even Johnny had dismissed the recent assault on the alien clusters as an ‘unfortunate necessity’.

“Johnny has to follow more than his feelings, Alex,” said Mary, sitting up in their egg shaped bed.

“I didn’t know you were up. You reading me again?” Alex asked.

Mary smiled enigmatically. “Aren’t you used to it?” Her eyes traced the room suspiciously. “The view, I mean.”

“I should be, I suppose.”

“Are you worried about the launch? You got sick last time.”

Alex scratched his head. “No. The meds fixed that. Actually I wasn’t thinking about that at all.” He smiled. “Come to the window, Mary. Look at the lights.”

Mary joined Alex and stared out into the artificial night. “It always looks so festive at night.” Her perfect nose wrinkled.

“But this isn’t really night. This is power up.”

“It has its own charm.” He looked up. “No flyers.”

Mary looked out the window as the security patrol car moved across the causeway toward the peninsula. “What do you think it is?”

“A security patrol.”

“No, silly,” chided Mary. “What it is that’s keeping you up?”

Alex frowned. “Guilt, maybe. I don’t know. Why should I care what happens to the aliens?”

“We no doubt gave them something to think about. If they think at all.”

“You said that before. Do you doubt they think?” Alex was dumfounded by the notion. “Everything intelligent thinks.”

Mary turned to face Alex. “If they think like we do, I’m not hearing them. My sensor’s abilities are tuned to thought because in my nervous system thoughts are tied to a biomechanical transmitter. You know that.”

“You’re saying they don’t think, because you can’t hear them?”

“I guess so.” Mary shrugged. “But it’s really more than that. A feeling, too.”

Alex considered his wife’s words. “You know, I wouldn’t mention this to anyone.”

“Of course,” she whispered.

He put an arm around her and gently pulled her close to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and together they gazed out into the artificial night. “Johnny asked about you, you know,” whispered Alex. “I told him the truth. That your skills are amazing. ‘Why, you’d almost confuse her sensitivity for mind reading,’ I told him, and we all had a good laugh knowing that’s impossible.”

Mary smiled. “Not bad, Alex.”

“But it wasn’t good, either. Someday our secret will come out. Truth has a way of doing that.”

“It can’t.” Mary stared at him earnestly. “Pretend it’s not true if you have to. Promise me.”

“I already did.” Alex kissed her and smiled. “Your secret’s safe, love,” he whispered. “My conversation with Johnny only showed how easy it is to keep secrets no one wants to believe.” He squeezed Mary’s shoulder, pulling her closer. “Besides,” he added, “I’m not sure I believe it myself.”

They stood by the window watching the patrol car climb ever higher along the road that wound through the biocylinder.

Here and there, dotted along the darkened landscape, work crews doing last minute repairs could be seen as tiny groups of moving lights.

Soon they returned to the warmth of their bedroom dome. For a time they lay side by side with the cat between them, staring up at the dome that covered them. “What do you think that thing is?” asked Alex, gazing at the image projected there.

Their bedroom lights, and all the lights of the great ship, were extinguished and the ship was locked down, ready for the long awaited burn that would send them close to Bubba 2, the outermost planet and the bigger of Lalande’s two gas giants, whose massive gravity would create a slingshot effect. But to
Goddard’s
crew it meant simply that they would see their loved ones two months sooner.

“What do I think it is?” Mary said. “A space elevator.”

“A what?”

“The concept is old,” she answered. “Build a ring around a planet, then add a set of counterbalanced elevators. Of course, it’s never been done ... by humans.”

Alex squinted at the dark band. It looked solid and organic, almost as if woven of a tight bundle of twigs.

“Computer,” he said. “Tactical analysis of the dark patch, presumed to be a ... ring around Lalande c.”

“INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE. C0MPUTER UNAVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.” The words streamed across the screen in white lettering.

“We’ve been snubbed.” Mary folded both arms across her breasts.

“Priority Alpha,” Alex said in as demanding a tone as he could muster lying flat on his back. “Computer. What’s the condition of Commander Stubbs?”

A small bell on Alex’s wrist sounded and a tiny voice said: “This is Johnny, Alex.”

“What’s going on, er, Commander?” replied Alex. “We were just asking the computer.”

“All our analysis departments are using the computers while the neutronium chain powers up.”

“How’s Stubbs?”

“Unofficially deceased.”

“Dingers,” Alex stared at Mary. “Did you hear that?” She nodded sadly.

“Dingers, indeed,” said the tiny voice. “He didn’t get to see what we’re seeing.”

Alex stared at the dome over his head.

“We’re freezing him in stasis,” Johnny added. “The medical staff decided it, hoping we can fix him up back home.”

“What did you mean about what are you seeing?” Alex asked. “I see the dark ring on Bubba 2, but ...”

“Oh,” Johnny said, “On the domes? That’s an image taken earlier. It’s on all the screens. We’re on a full power down.

But I can send you a new image of the ring. It’s ... interesting ... in the infrared. I have work to do, Alex,” the new Commander’s voice said. “Have a good flight. And pray for us all.”

The image flickered briefly over them, and they saw the city.

2
Few aboard the
Goddard
were privy to what Alex and Mary had seen just before all thirty-five of the ship’s engines ignited.

As the burn progressed they lay in comfort under their dome and watched the infrared image of Bubba 2’s ring. To Alex it looked like a glowing geometric structure, something perhaps made from an interlocking building toy. He could see row after row of what looked like city lights. “Reminds me of a space station, Mary,” he said.

The ship lunged forward as
Goddard’s
engines went to full power. Inky opened his eyes and looked at each of them.

“Here we go,” said Mary.

The speed of the ship was beginning to blur the image on their dome, but not before Alex saw something in the atmosphere of the softly belted planet. It was a large violet spot, similar to the one on Lalande b. Though enormous in size, the hazy oval was hard to see. He might not have noticed it had its appearance not coincided with a lump in the mysterious orbiting ring, and he saw it only for a second. “Mary,” he breathed, “did you see that?”

“That node in the ring?”

“Your space elevator?”

“Well, it’s right over the spot.” She looked at him. “Do you think ...?”

A sickening jolt rippled through the ship, stopping their conversation cold. “Dingers,” Alex moaned, “I know that feeling.”

Mary gripped his arm. “The Gee-Pulse. They aren’t supposed to be using it yet, are they?”

“We’ll see ...” Alex touched his wristband and demanded that the computer connect him with Professor Baltadonis. The computer didn’t ignore his plea, but neither did it comply.

“The Commander is engaged in pre launch testing,” said the tiny voice emanating from his wrist.

Alex insisted. “I have to talk to Johnny. Priority Alpha.”

There was a moment of silence, then Captain Wysor’s face appeared on the screen above them. “Wha’s up?” asked the Captain. “Glad t’ see you two ’re dress’d.”

Alex didn’t have the patience nor the stomach to trade quips with the Captain. “Where’s Johnny?” he said bluntly.

The Captain didn’t lose his smile. “The Pulse got to ’im. He’s on the ’ead, I b’lieve.”

“Did you see the bump in ring?”

“We saw.”

“Okay ... well, Mary and I think that node in the ring was a space elevator. We think they’re terraformers.”

Captain Wysor laughed heartily. “Fro’ Mars? Are y’ spaced?”

“No, Captain,” interrupted Mary, trying to sound as serious as she could. “From Lalande b. Call them Bubbaformers, if you like. I think they’re building another egg.”

Alex could see the Captain’s eyes widen. “Don’t use the Gee-Pulse until we’re well away from the planet,” he added, speaking loudly and carefully. “When the Professor takes a look at this, he might want to call off the trip home, at least for a while. Mary thinks the ring is an orbiting city, set up to build the elevator. I think she’s right. The node in the ring was located right over the spot.”

Johnny appeared on the screen, but he was looking at the Captain. “Everything is looking normal. Is there a problem?”

The Captain didn’t answer immediately. He seemed to be calculating a response. “Alex ‘n Mary’s come up wi’ somethin’ y’ oughta’ take a look at, c’mmander,” he said. “Y’ may want t’ postpone th’ pulse for a bit. A’least ’til we clear th’ planet.” Wysor winked at the camera, knowing Alex and Mary were watching. “There’s some new astro y’ ought t’ see.”

3
There was no evidence that the first surge from the GeePulse had damaged the structure orbiting Bubba 2. When he saw the evidence for himself, Johnny recognized the implications of the notch in the ring and its relationship to the Bubba 2’s Great Blue Spot. Or so he said, when he called to discuss it with Alex and Mary. He had ordered the astro staff to keep their cameras fixed on the notch he now called the ‘node’, and he ordered a linkup between the helm and Alex and Mary’s bubble so they could contribute their observations

“You two sure have an uncanny knack for spotting stuff,” he told them, sounding genuinely confounded. “I know it’s irregular, but I want you watching things. Feel free to offer anything that occurs to you.”

“You may regret that,” said Mary with a coy smile.

Johnny smiled. “You realize that now we have to consider halting our return to Earth. I’m not sure what’s the right thing to do. Our mission, to explore an alien system, is clear, but so is the will of our crew.”

“Indeed,” said Mary. “Democratic of you, Johnny.”

“You’re the Commander of this ship, Professor,” added Alex. “It’s your call. That’s how it works. The worst the Corpies can do is court martial you, sue you and your family, and ruin your good name. What’s to worry about?”

Mary sat up primly in bed with her back propped against the wall of the egg. “You forgot having him killed,” she said cheerfully, smiling at Alex.

“Okay, okay,” said the Professor, his looming face smirking back at them. Johnny stroked his unshaven chin. “I don’t know. This is a hell of a time to find this out. We’re almost at maximum speed, our closest approach to the planet ... and the ring. The node is behind us, now. In an hour we’ll initiate a burn to speed us home. If we’re going to investigate we should have slowed down as we approached the planet, not accelerated.”

“I know that,” said Alex. "Talk to your experts, not me.”

Johnny nodded. “I’ll get back to you.”

Alex and Mary sat back and watched the dark ring rolling past. Now that
Goddard
was approaching it, the mysterious ring revealed more detail. “There must be billions of people working there,” Mary whispered, awed by the sight. “I see tubeways, connections. But no ships. Shouldn’t they have ships?”