Infinite Reef (44 page)

Whatever the reason, Johnny’s daughter and her scary Sensor friend had been mum about news from home. Even the Goddard’s brass wasn’t getting info. So it followed that aboard the
Goddard
grumbling was going on. Mary’s quickly concocted plan did sound credible. Alex tried to keep a casual smile on his face as he watched the old soldier’s eyes for signs that the ruse wasn’t working. So far only confusion seemed to reign as those eyes darted back and forth between Alex and Mary and then to his men, who stood watching him, waiting for orders. Sutton stiffened. “I’ll have ‘t check.” His hand moved to his opposite forearm where a communicator was stitched to his suit.

Mary held up a hand. Her voice became lush. “Officer Sutton, Commander Baltadonis will arrive shortly. He has instructions for you from EarthCorp.”

“I answers to my …”

Again Mary cut off Sutton’s words with only a graceful lift of her finger coupled with a perfect lift of her eyebrow. “Why were you deployed at this hangar, officer?” she asked.

“Routine security.”

“Under whose order?”

“Regulations. All incomin’ cans.”

“Then you’re not here to … arrest us?”

“No at all, miss.” Sutton nodded.

Mary never looked more beautiful. Alex couldn’t help admire how well her genetics worked to allow her to radiate warmth on cue … and make it seem genuine. “Then you won’t be needed, will you, Sutton?” Mary asked the soldier. “We’re leaving. Don’t you have

…,” she glanced around the hangar, “things to do?”

All eyes were again on the officer, who seemed dumbstruck. His mouth opened to speak at the same moment the door opened and Johnny stepped into the room. He walked directly up to Mary. “You called?”

Mary smiled. “From the
Goddard
, sir. They need you aboard.”

Johnny seemed perplexed. “Has the shuttle been fueled?”

Officer Sutton stood at attention. “Routine, sir. You’re good t’ go.”

Mary took the first step toward the hatchway door that connected to Alex’s shuttle. “We shouldn’t waste time.” She opened the hatch and stepped through, followed by Alex. Johnny, still looking confused, followed behind Alex just as his daughter entered the room.

“Father,” she called out.

Alex was already in
Diver’s
hatch when he noticed Commander Baltadonis turn to face his daughter. He could see her worried expression past Johnny’s shoulder. Her Sensor friend was not with her. “We have to go now, Johnny. Every second counts!” Alex spat under his breath. But Johnny didn’t seem to hear him.

“I’m sorry dear,” said the Commander. “Emergency. I have to go. I’ll be back for the briefing as soon as possible.” Then he began to turn. “Express my sympathies and all that.” Then, to Alex’s relief, Johnny closed the outer hatch. He caught Alex’s eye. “I hope this is good,” was all he said as he pushed Alex through the inner hatch. “Let’s go. Let’s go.”

Mary was already strapped in to the co-pilot’s seat when Alex reached his own chair and swung himself quickly into it. Johnny took his usual position at the command chair in the center of the cabin. This time, however, he was strictly a passenger. He never looked up at the large black command cowl that hung above his head. “What the hell’s going on, you two?”

Alex strapped up in record time and Mary was fingering her ear as she was accessing ground control. That one outward sign, a mannerism really, was the only indicator that she was using her bio-mechanical circuits. “We’ve got to blow this pop stand, Johnny,” answered Mary with a quizzical smile. “I heard that in a film.”

“Dingers,” said Alex almost in glee when he saw the green light on the outer doors change to a flashing red strobe. “They’re letting us out.”

“
Goddard
is calling, Johnny,” said Mary. “They want to know the nature of the emergency.”

“But they called me!”

Mary smiled. “I called you … through them.”

Johnny sat back in his chair as Alex powered up
Diver
. He smiled broadly when he felt the ship come alive in his hands. “All this auto-pilot shit was strechin’ my socks, Mary. This feels good.”

Mary gave Alex a look of pride. “It’s been a while since we were criminals, hasn’t it, Alex?”

“Criminals?” Johnny squawked. “What have you gotten us into?”

Mary’s expression darkened. “There’s nothing here for us, Johnny. You know that don’t you? Tell me you haven’t been thinking that for weeks.”

Johnny took a deep breath. “Mary. Why are you always right?”

Alex pushed the drive stick forward and the ship began to move on its levlar footers. Automatically their sensors guided
Diver
to a central track. As soon it was locked in place, a noisy but smooth operation that took only a second, the outer doors opened. Alex pushed the stick forward.

Mary looked back at Johnny. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Johnny had his eyes closed as
Diver
left Titan Base Alpha and rose into the giant moon’s hazy peach colored sky. Alex and Mary didn’t notice until he finally spoke. “What have I done?” he said almost mournfully.

He opened his eyes to find both Alex and Mary looking at him in alarm. “Is something wrong?” asked Mary.

“Are you okay?” echoed Alex.

Commander Baltadonis took a deep breath. “There IS no emergency, then. You concocted this?” Johnny gritted his teeth. “I trust you people, you know. That’s why I didn’t question …” He looked away from them. “There better be some excuse I can offer EarthCorp

… that’s all I have to say.”

“They were going to arrest us, Johnny,” replied Mary. “Didn’t you realize that?”

“On what charge? You’re being ridiculous, Mary. That was just a briefing I just missed out on. I was hoping that I’d be able to give the
Goddard’s
crew some answers when I got back…”

“You weren’t going back, Johnny. They’d have trumped up some charge, or at least an excuse to keep you off your ship. Your daughter is going to be their new Commander.”

Alex watched the haze darken as
Diver
climbed higher toward space. To his left he could now clearly see the ringed planet Saturn, much smaller in the sky than he expected. But there were no visible rings. At first he was shocked at the sight but, as the atmosphere surround them thinned, he realized that he was seeing them edge on. Soon, even they became visible as the stars appeared all around them. He was getting a strong beacon signal that indicated
Goddard
wasn’t too far away.

“My daughter?” Johnny scoffed. “What you’re saying doesn’t add up. Our mission is over. The
Goddard
is home. The crew is home.”

Alex laughed. “We’re not home yet. It’s a long way to Gannytown.”

Mary took that as a cue. “Exactly!” she smiled at Alex approvingly, then her beautiful gray eyes again went back to the Commander, who obviously didn’t buy it. “You’ve taken hostile action. How do I explain that?”

Alex shrugged but never took his eyes off the ringed planet. “I don’t like guns pointed in my face for no reason, Johnny. So I just took it away from him.”

Johnny nearly rose up but his chair harness held him firmly in place. “What? You took whose gun away?

“Sutton. The dinger thought he was a tough guy.” Alex smiled.

“Jesus,” breathed Johnny.

Mary swiveled her chair to face the Commander. “Alex gave the gun back to him. It’s not a problem. All we have to worry about is WHY you were called back.”

“Why are you doing this? You’ve completely bypassed all known protocol. By rights you two should be … uh, hell.” Johnny slouched in his seat. “Now … I …”

“We’re keeping you free, Johnny! And we’re saving your command.” Mary reminded him.

“There’s been no threat, Mary.”

As Alex listened to his wife and the Commander banter back and forth he watched for the beacon light on his dash to change to red. As predicted it came on the same moment that the radar spotted the needle shape of the
Goddard
appear over Titan’s rim. The familiar beep beep beep of the homing signal sounded unusually reassuring. Alex actually found himself looking forward to being aboard her again. For the moment, at least, the
Goddard
was home.

Johnny was still arguing with Mary when Alex raised a hand. “Ladies and gents … we’re fifteen minutes from
Goddard’s
shuttle bay. My guess is that in less than two minutes ol’ Neddy boy … your assistant … will be flagging us. May I ask what you’ll say to him?”

Mary never lost her implacable smile. “Tell Ned the truth. But don’t do it on the radio.”

“And what is the truth, Mary,” challenged Commander Baltadonis.

Mary looked at Alex and shrugged. “It can’t be a secret forever, I guess.” She looked at Johnny carefully. “I have a confession, Johnny. But it is very important that you promise to keep it to yourself, at least until we know more about my … my sisters on Mars.”

“What are you talking about?” Johnny was getting red-faced.

“Telepathy, Johnny. Simply put …” Mary was obviously having difficulty even uttering the words. “We’re … we’re all telepaths.”

Johnny blinked in disbelief when he realized the implications of what Mary had said. Slowly a smile came over his face. “Of course! This explains …” Then darkness covered his expression again. “Oh, dear. I see.”

“You have to believe me, Johnny. The fate of the ship …”

“Can you read my thoughts now?”

“I’m not reading them, Johnny. I’m busy with telecom.”

For a moment Johnny sat back and put a finger to his bearded chin. “I see.” Then he sat up. “Okay, tell me what you know about my daughter and her … Sensor.”

“Alex Four is a new type of Sensor,” Mary replied. “I can’t read him. And I don’t know if he can read me … but I’m afraid he can. I have to assume so. As to your daughter. Well, to put it kindly, she’s under orders. And she owes no allegiance to you. You left her, remember? I don’t know exactly why but they were going to decommission
Goddard
.”

“And what of the crew?”

“I don’t know.”

“And you read this in … my daughter’s mind?”

Mary frowned. “Yes, but as you may recall I avoided Christine and her Sensor. I was afraid…” Then Mary hung her head. “I’m telling you all this at great risk, Johnny. No Sensor has ever admitted this ability. It’s not a gift, I assure you.”

Alex glanced back at Johnny. “That’s for sure,” he said,” then his eyes shifted to Mary. “Wow, I never expected that.”

Johnny looked surprised. “You know of Mary’s ability?”

“Of course.”

Johnny laughed. “Well, if a husband can live with this … ability … of Mary’s, I guess I can, too.” Then he roared with laughter.

Alex grinned weakly. “The question remains, Johnny,” reminded Alex. “What will you tell Ned?”

“You mean about Mary?”

“No. Our emergency.”

Mary’s finger went to her ear. “It’s the
Goddard
, sir,” she said with a smile. “Right on cue.”

There was a circular panel in front of the Commander’s chair. He reached out and touched it. “
Goddard
, this is Commander Baltadonis aboard shuttle
Diver
. Requesting emergency landing in your shuttle bay. Are you prepared to receive us?”

The voice that came back was that of the Commander’s assistant, Ned Binder. “The bay is cleared and waiting, Commander. Is there a medical emergency, sir?”

“Medical assistance will not be required. Ned, please arrange a staff meeting immediately upon our arrival. Make it in the shuttle bay. All upper level staff. Commander Baltadonis, signing off.” After saying this, Johnny touched his console again and then leaned back in his seat. “The die is cast,” he whispered with a sigh.

“That was pretty good,” remarked Mary now facing front and peering out the window. “Look,” she said, pointing,” I can see her.”

4
Alex felt good piloting his shuttle once again. He hated it when outsiders were in control. The approach to
Goddard’s
shuttle bay went more quickly with a pair of experienced hands, rather than when some overly cautious computer was in control. At least that’s the way Alex saw it. Now, as the white needle shape of the giant ship loomed before them, he was concentrating on telemetry, not Mary’s admitted telepathy.

Since her admission both she and the Commander had been conspicuously silent. Alex was grateful because her admission had taken him completely by surprise. An hour earlier even torture wouldn’t have gotten him to betray her ability. It had been their secret for almost as long as he’d known Mary, going back to his meeting with her ‘mother’ and sisters at their compound on Mars. The Sensors were well known to most spacers. After all, it was their duty to do ship-to-ship communications when normal means failed. Sensors were a safety measure on all important space flights. They, and only they, had the ability to broadcast last messages or last wills from doomed crewmen. Sensors were admired not for their bio-engineered good looks but for this priceless, and some would say, ‘selfless’, function.

But to Mary it was simply a duty, and it was one she’d never performed. If she had, she would be dead. To Mary, her duties were those of a specialist at communications. Somehow during the creation of the Sensor line the ability to read thoughts had been introduced into their genetics. Even the Marys had no idea how it had happened. But it had always been the case, and from the moment it was first discovered the Marys kept the ability secret. They were a smart lot and knew that if it ever got out it wouldn’t be long before people saw the Sensors as a threat and not a boon. And it wouldn’t be long after that, the Marys decided, that they would be exterminated. Because they were different, bio-engineered people were not accepted among those the Marys called ‘normals’, and the reverse was equally true. It was extraordinary that Mary one, the leader of the Mary colony on Mars, had condoned Alex’s relationship and subsequent marriage to Mary Seventeen. He later learned that the reason for this was not because of some new liberal stance that Mary One had adopted toward the normals. It was because they knew, through Mary Seventeen, that Alex had the ability to read thoughts, too. Surely a normal with psychic abilities would never betray another with the same ability. As far as Alex was concerned this was true. He’d die before betraying the woman he loved. So it was indeed a shock to hear Mary speak of it to Johnny. So much of a shock, in fact, that he was glad to keep his mind on piloting his shuttle. What lay ahead was anybody’s guess.