Leviathans of Jupiter (53 page)

Andy Corvus said, “Let's have a quick bite and then we can go through the debriefing. Okay?”

Archer broke into a laugh. “Why not?” he said, as he trotted up to the galley's doors and slid them open.

Almost the entire station staff was jammed into the galley, all of them on their feet. They broke into applause as Archer led the four returning explorers into the galley. The assembled men and women roared and cheered, they clapped their hands together and pounded Deirdre, Corvus, Yeager, and Dorn on their backs as they stepped into the galley. There were still more people on the wall screens' displays, all of them cheering ecstatically.

“I guess the debriefing will have to wait,” Archer hollered over the noise of their reception, laughing like a boy at a surprise party.

Deirdre felt tears of joy filling her eyes as Red Devlin came up to them, wearing a dazzling fresh white chef's outfit, and led them to a table groaning with food and drink.

*   *   *

It was late. The party had simply gone on and on. Scientists from Michael Johansen down to the golden-skinned Dahlia came up to Deirdre and the others to express their happiness at the mission's success. News reporters from Earth and the Moon asked for interviews. Even Deirdre's father, gruff old George Ambrose, sent a message of congratulations from the rock rats' habitat at Ceres.

“You've made the biggest breakthrough since the invention of writing,” Johansen told them, sloshing beer from the mug in his fist. “Meaningful contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial species. This is history!”

Archer seemed to be floating on air. With his lovely, dark-haired wife beside him, he raised his voice above the din of the party and announced, “We owe these four volunteers a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm willing to give them anything they want.”

The crowd roared its approval.

“Ms. Ambrose—Deirdre—what can we do for you?”

Deirdre gulped and thought swiftly. “You've already offered me a scholarship at the Sorbonne…”

“Right,” said Archer, smiling amiably.

“Could you keep a position open for me until I return? I'd like to work with the leviathans once I have my degree.”

“Don't you think you'll want to stay on Earth?”

It was Deirdre's turn to smile. “I want to see Earth, of course. I want to experience it. But more than that I want to come back here and learn more about the leviathans.”

Archer's face grew serious. “Fine. We'll be waiting for your return.”

Then he turned to Andy. “Dr. Corvus? What about you?”

Without an instant's hesitation, Corvus answered, “I need to develop sensors that can scan the leviathans' bodies. We need to find out where their brains are, and how we can make contact with them with the DBS equipment.”

Nodding, Archer said, “You want to learn how their brains work.”

“More than that,” Andy said, “I want
them
to learn how
our
minds work. I want to show them the world that they live in, the solar system, the universe.”

With a puff of exhaled breath, Archer said, “That's a lifetime's work, Andy.”

“I know.”

Turning to Yeager, who had the petite blonde Linda Vishnevskaya clinging to his arm, Archer said, “I think I know what you'll be doing, Max.”

“Building another compression shell for
Faraday
,” Yeager replied. “Now that we know how deep we have to go to be with the leviathans, I can make my baby safer—and add a few comforts for the crew, while I'm at it.”

“And get married, too,” said Vishnevskaya, beaming up at Yeager.

The engineer blushed, broke into an embarrassed grin, and nodded vigorously.

“What about you, Dorn?” Archer asked.

The cyborg hesitated. Looking around at the sea of expectant faces, Dorn finally answered, “My wish is to remain here and pilot the missions into the ocean.”

“Really? That's all?”

“It's quite enough,” Dorn said. “I've found a purpose in my life. Helping to make meaningful contact with an alien intelligence is more than I had ever hoped to achieve.”

Archer nodded slowly. “Me, too,” he said softly. “Me, too.”

FAREWELL

Andy Corvus walked alongside Deirdre down the passageway where their quarters stood a few doors apart. It was nearly midnight. They walked slowly, exhausted from the day's excitement, his arm around her waist, her head tilted against his.

“You're really going to Earth?” he asked, in a whisper.

“I'll come back, Andy.”

He turned toward her and nuzzled her auburn hair. “I'm heading Earthside, too. Back to Dr. Carbo's lab at Rome.”

They stopped at Deirdre's door. “We'll go on the same ship?”

With a nod, Corvus said, “No sense sending two separate ships out here.”

“No, of course not.”

Deirdre looked into Andy's soft blue eyes and saw her future in them. Without a word, she took him by the hand and began leading him back up the passageway, along the way they had come, away from their compartments.

Puzzlement showed clearly on his slightly awry face. “You're not going to … uh, sleep?”

“Not yet,” Deirdre said.

“Then where … where are we going?”

“You'll see.”

*   *   *

Katherine Westfall had not attended the party. She was in her suite, preparing to leave station
Gold
on the torch ship that the IAA had sent—at her demand.

Seething inwardly as she packed her toiletries in a hard-shelled travel bag, she tried to convince herself, All things considered, this trip has actually been rather successful. I can share the credit for sending the mission into the ocean. Archer has agreed not to compete against me for the IAA chairmanship. There's plenty of glory to go around.

She realized that the memory of Elaine O'Hara, the half sister she had never known, had been a self-deluding subterfuge, an excuse to justify her action against Grant Archer. Once Archer had made it clear he would not challenge her for the chairmanship, her anger over Elaine evaporated.

But now it was replaced by another fury. Archer and that rat-faced Red Devil. They had tricked her. Embarrassed her. Humiliated her. What's worse, Westfall realized, is that they had something over her that they could use any time they wished. That's a danger, she knew. A danger that must be eliminated, sooner or later.

Sooner or later. The time will come. The time
will
come. Archer and Devlin both. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

*   *   *

“The observation blister?” Corvus blurted.

Deirdre smiled at him as she slid back the door. “The observation blister,” she said. “Just you and me, Andy. And the universe.”

They stepped in and closed the door. In the dim lighting they could see thousands of stars hanging against the everlasting night.

Andy slipped his arms around her waist and pulled Deirdre to him. “Are you sure?” he whispered. “Really certain?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Aren't you?”

“Um … on the ship going back to Earth … I'm pretty sure the captain of a torch ship can perform a marriage.”

“Marriage?”

“I mean, it'd be legal, just like we got married in a church.”

Deirdre wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly. They made love slowly, languidly, as if they had all eternity to spend together, while mighty Jupiter rose and bathed their naked, glistening bodies in its majestic glowing splendor.

*   *   *

Leviathan swam with the Kin in the warm, rich waters of the Symmetry. The alien had gone, leaving in its place a thousand unanswered questions.

It will return, Leviathan told itself. It will come back. We have much to learn from it. We have much to look forward to.

TOR BOOKS BY BEN BOVA

Able One

The Aftermath

As on a Darkling Plain

The Astral Mirror

Battle Station

The Best of the Nebulas
(editor)

Challenges

Colony

Cyberbooks

Escape Plus

The Green Trap

Gremlins Go Home
(with Gordon R. Dickson)

Jupiter

The Kinsman Saga

Leviathans of Jupiter

Mars Life

Mercury

The Multiple Man

Orion

Orion Among the Stars

Orion and the Conqueror

Orion in the Dying Time

Out of Sun

Peacekeepers

Powersat

The Precipice

Privateers

Prometheans

The Rock Rats

Saturn

The Silent War

Star Peace: Assured Survival

The Starcrossed

Tale of the Grand Tour

Test of Fire

Titan

To Fear the Light
(with A. J. Austin)

To Save the Sun
(with A. J. Austin)

The Trikon Deception
(with Bill Pogue)

Triumph

Vengeance of Orion

Venus

Voyagers

Voyagers II: The Alien Within

Voyagers III: Star Brothers

The Return: Book IV of Voyagers

The Winds of Altair

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

LEVIATHANS OF JUPITER

Copyright © 2011 by Ben Bova

All rights reserved.

A Tor
®
eBook

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bova, Ben, 1932–

Leviathans of Jupiter / Ben Bova. — 1st ed.

    p.   cm.

“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

ISBN 978-0-7653-1788-9

  1.  Jupiter (Planet)—Exploration—Fiction.   2.  Life on other planets—Fiction.   I.  Title.

PS3552.O84L48 2011

813'.54—dc22

2010036115

First Edition: February 2011

eISBN 978-1-4299-2961-5

First Tor eBook Edition: February 2011