Infinite Reef (36 page)

Inevitably conflicts arose between the two cultures, and while those living on land eventually populated first the moon and then the outer planets, the Atlantians became more and more isolated, eventually deciding that the water world called Earth was theirs.

Alex had been born on Earth, but like many others he had moved to the outer colonies, eventually ending up working among the miners of Jupiter’s innermost moon Io. And it was there that he and Mary met. By the time he returned to Earth with Mary and Johnny he had forgotten about the conflicts raging there. It was only while touring the planet that he was reminded how serious they had become.

Near the end of their tour, flying over the Atlantic Ocean, aircraft had appeared out of the sea and accosted them. They had not been attacked, but the only reason seemed to be that the Atlantians somehow knew that
Diver
was no threat to them.

Now as he sat in
Goddard
’s control room, he wondered if that incident had been a harbinger of a war to come. For now at least the solar system seemed too quiet. He glanced at Mary and knew she was still trying to contact her sisters, “Any luck?” he asked quietly.

“Mars is a long way away,” she said. “All I hear are echoes. But not from them.”

Alex thought for a moment, then smiled hopefully. “Maybe the problem is time.”

Mary’s perfect features changed when he said that. Clearly she was looking for a ray of hope. “What do you mean?”

“It’s been a long time since you were in touch. Up until we left you were in constant communications with them. Isn’t that right?”

Mary nodded.

“Maybe it was like ... a mail thing. You and your sisters were connected. Then the connection was broken. Maybe you just lost each others’ addresses.”

Mary smiled. “That’s true. I didn’t think of that.” After that she seemed to relax. But in his heart, Alex wasn’t sure he’d shed any real light on their situation. When he glanced around the room the expressions of everyone including the Commander and the Captain echoed his concern.

After a few minutes, Johnny ordered the ship to be rotated so that the engines faced their direction of travel. When that was accomplished the Captain ordered a retro fire to slow their speed. Soon a vibration rippled through the control room.

“Status?” asked the Commander, looking at Captain Wysor.

“Norm’l, sir,” replied the Ganny. “Course set for ol’ Joe.”

“Arrival?”

“Abo’t two weeks, sir.”

4
Fast as it was traveling, the
Goddard
was still a long way from Jupiter. By the time they arrived the biocylinder would be once again in flower and beginning to produce food for its occupants. There was the belief that this might be unnecessary, as many of the crew already had plans to leave the ship and return to their former lives. But the Commander didn’t share that belief. As he told Alex and Mary before they left the control room to return to their home near Lake Geneva, he didn’t want to leave anything to chance. “Besides,” he added, “the
Goddard
is a millennium vessel, and it was launched with the idea that it was an infinite experiment. We’re like a sailing ship launched on an infinite sea.”

Those words stayed with Alex while he and Mary walked down the long curving lane toward their home. “You know,” he said, almost sadly, “Johnny told us that before. It didn’t really sink in.”

“I don’t know why not,” replied his wife. “That was the idea all along. We knew when we launched that this could be a one-way mission.”

“Yes, I knew that. But believing it is something else. I guess I still have a mission by mission mentality,” he said. “That’s how it’s always been. At least ever since I joined the colonies.”

Alex sighed deeply. He glanced around at the vast cylindrical landscape and noted its yellowish color. Soon the plants would begin to grow and Lake Geneva would be refilled. Finally, probably about the time the ship reached the Jovian system, the environment would be return to its verdant glory, and he’d feel better about it. Now it looked like a dead or dying world, but knowing Mary was already down he didn’t give voice to his thoughts. Instead he forced a big smile as they reached their home and walked cheerfully to the door. As he opened it and saw Inky inside waiting for them, he bowed in a cavalier fashion and let Mary enter first. “Into our castle, Queen Mary, my love,” he quipped. “Your subject, Lord Inky, awaits.”

Mary eyed him suspiciously as she walked past him and picked up her cat. “You’re not fooling anyone, you know. I don’t know why you try.”

Inky began purring loudly and pushed his head under Mary’s perfect chin as she watched him close the door. “I’m not as down as you think I am, Alex,” she said. “As long as we have each other ... and a warm cat for company ... I’m happy.”

Alex smiled as he watched Mary stroke Inky’s soft black and white pelt. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.

Mary shook a lock of soft white hair out of her eyes. “Besides,” she said. “There’s a whole library of films to watch, books to read, and we still haven’t explored half the ship.”

Alex nodded agreeably. “And I doubt if we’ve met more than a quarter of the crew.”

It had been several hours since they’d eaten, so, after feeding the cat, they went to their communications room on the second floor and settled in for the evening. Soon after they ate they received a visit from Tony Sciarra. He had called first on his wrist communicator rather than just dropping in on them. By the time he arrived Alex had ordered up drinks for the four of them. Tony wore blue coveralls, like the rest of the crew, and over that he was sporting a bright orange shirt decorated with white palm tree designs.

Alex laughed when he saw him. “Well, Tony,” he said. “You look festive. What’s the occasion?”

Tony put a plastic bag of colorful cookies on the counter near the food panel. “This?” he said, looking down at himself. “It’s cold outside, unless you haven’t noticed.”

“And smelly,” said Mary. “Good we have AC in here.”

“Really,” Tony agreed, looked at the drinks on the counter. “Those look like Margaritas.”

“Well, the geebrew is long gone,” replied Mary. “I had to improvise. To be honest we never tried the mixed drinks before. I hope they taste okay. Have a seat.”

“Norma bought cookies at the bakery,” answered Tony, adjusting his round wire rimmed glasses. “They just reopened it at rim level two.”

“Where’s she?” asked Alex. “I thought she might be with you when you called.”

“Actually she’s working in the bakery. The shuttles are all maintained. She was bored, I guess.” Tony sat down next to Mary on the long foam sofa opposite the com panel. His slight frame barely made a dent as he settled in and let out a sigh. “How are you two doing?”

“The flight drugs have worn off, if that’s what you mean,” Alex replied and he opened the bag and took out a green iced cookie.

He chose a chair at the dining table by the window and tossed the bag to Mary. She caught it deftly in one hand and took out one for herself.

“I wouldn’t take Norma for a baker,” Mary said as she examined the cookie before biting into it.

“Actually she’s not, but she wanted to learn. They needed somebody to get one of their ovens up and running.” Tony took a cookie for himself and placed the bag on the end table. “Seems like we’re setting up shop for more than just a few weeks.” He took a bite and chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then pointed his chin at the COM screen on the opposite wall. “Thought you’d have that on,” he noted. “They’re doing some observations. Pluto, I think.”

“Hmmm.” Alex raised an eyebrow. “Computer,” he said loudly. “Are you hearing me?”

“
Yes, Alex Rose
.”

“Can you switch on the viewscreen? Tune it to Astro.”

“
Astrometrics is not broadcasting images at this time
.”

Alex shrugged. “So much for that.”

“There’s talk of a shuttle flyby of Pluto,” offered Tony.

“Really?” Now Alex had both eyebrows arched. Glancing at Mary he got only a shrug.

She pushed a lock of white hair away from one eye then glanced at Tony. “If there is, we haven’t heard of it.”

Tony smiled. “The talk is why I’m here. It’s just an idea. I was talking to Matt Howarth in the Biolab. Wanted to get his thoughts on the Lalandian taking away the clicks from their compound. He mentioned the plan, actually.”

Alex nodded. “Did he say how the clicker men are doing? I haven’t talked to him since the incident.”

“They’re all dead,” said Sciarra.

“All of them? Did he say why?” Alex nearly spilled his drink as he stiffened in his seat.

“His theory is shock. But you know that for all the study he and his staff did of the Jovans, they never really got a handle on what makes them tick.”

Mary frowned. “The Lalandian invaded their compound, but he didn’t bother them or even touch them. I saw that for myself.”

Tony finished his cookie and looked at Mary and Alex skeptically. “I was afraid you’d be upset when you heard. But frankly I don’t see why you take such a personal ...”

Alex clenched his jaw. “I’ve told you ... hell, I told everybody! But nobody seems to get it. Of course I feel responsible. I discovered the damned reef, Tony. Of course I feel responsible for what happens to the clicks. I was against capturing them to take on the mission, and I was against taking them on the away missions when we visited Lalande B. The plain fact is we were screwing with creatures we know nothing about. They’re not hard bodied like us ...” Alex hung his head in frustration. “Dingers, I’m surprised they lasted as long as they did.”

Tony took a sip of the drink Mary had given him earlier, then put it down on the table beside him. “Well, don’t yell at me, Alex.

It wasn’t my idea to bring them on the mission. Tell it to Johnny.”

Mary was still eyeing Tony suspiciously. “They sent you here to break the news to Alex, didn’t they?”

“Well, it wasn’t like that. Matt didn’t want to tell you ... knowing how you felt. I just offered ...” Sciarra interrupted himself.

“Look, Alex, there must be billions of those things on Jupiter. A few of them got to visit another star system. Hell, there’s probably a colony of them living inside that egg on Lalande right now. Doesn’t that help ease the pain a little, at least?”

It was clear from Tony’s expression that he was patronizing Alex. It was clear also that, like everyone else, Sciarra regarded the clicker men far differently than Alex or Mary did. But Alex held his temper because he remembered, like it was yesterday, that Tony was the only human to have fallen into Jupiter’s reef while exploring it and had nearly died there. Certainly he was the last person anyone would expect to have empathy for its life forms. He took a deep breath and thought for a moment before he spoke again. Finally he forced a smile and said, “Your right, of course, Tony. To be honest, I don’t know why I care so much.”

“So tell us about this Pluto mission,” Mary asked, obviously changing the subject. “I thought we were headed to Jupiter. ‘As soon as possible,’ I seem to remember Johnny saying.”

Tony drained his cup. “That Margarita wasn’t bad, Mary. I’ll take another, if you don’t mind.”

Mary nodded, took Tony’s cup, and rose to go to the food bar. Tony watched her supple movements appreciatively, then looked at Alex, who was staring wistfully out the window at the park behind their home. “It’s an away mission, Alex. Just a fly-by, like I said. No landings or anything.”

“Then it’s a solid plan?” Alex asked without looking back at Tony.

“No. They’re studying trajectories ... fuel requirements ... all of that.”

Mary sighed. “The ration light came on. I used too much lemon, I guess. It’s water or coffee or tea.”

Tony shook his head. “I’m good, Mary.” Then he faced Alex. “I think Johnny will inform you when the plan is solid. He was talking about making it a double flyby. First Pluto, then Neptune.”

“Then they’re considering me to pilot?”

Tony laughed. “Of course. Everyone knows you’re the best pilot we’ve got.”

“In
Diver
?”

“Sure. Of course. It’s your ship.”

Alex turned away from the view and his mood seemed to brighten a bit. “Why not? I was wondering how we’d fill the time.

Who else would be going?”

“Well, me of course. Matt wants to go along. And the two of you fill the other seats.”

“I’d have thought the Commander would want to go,” Mary said. She was bent over at the food panel reviewing the ration stores.

Tony smiled and leaned back. Seeing Alex’s demeanor change seemed to relax him a bit. “Matt’s out of a job at the moment, and I guess Johnny has to stay here to monitor the situation. After all, we’re still not in contact with EarthCorp. At least not officially.”

Alex looked at Tony quizzically. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, it’s been over 12 hours since we started sending signals. The first returns should be coming in. From the outer system, at least.”

“And have they?” asked Mary.

“Nothing from Earth. But there have been returns from Titan colony.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “I don’t recall any Titan Colony.”

“There wasn’t one when we left,” offered Tony. “But someone said that’s where the signals came from, and they weren’t directed at us.”

Alex stared out at the curving green landscape. In the distance work crews were already driving around in spindly cars, apparently checking the vegetation. “I wonder how long we’ve been gone. I mean relative to the solar system.”

Sciarra shrugged his shoulders; taking off his eyeglasses and wiping them clean with a cloth he took from a pocket in his coveralls. “That’s what they’ve been trying to figure out. There’s no way to tell.”

“Perhaps when we contact the Jupiter system,” added Mary.

Suddenly the screen on the wall lit up. Johnny’s face filled it, looking decidedly unhappy. “I have a general announcement,” began the Commander. The word ‘general” meant that it was being broadcast simultaneously on every screen aboard ship.

Alex swiveled his chair to face the console. “Maybe they have some answers.”

“I know this will come as a disappointment to everyone, but it seems that our planners misestimated the time factor,” said the Commander. “As many of you know, we expected to re-enter the solar system in a position that would put us on a course for Jupiter and its attendant moons.” Johnny looked away for a moment and ran a hand through his graying hair. He took a deep breath before continuing.