Sanctuary (Jezebel's Ladder Book 3) (12 page)

“You concede?”

“Give me ten minutes alone with my
husband. I’ll contact Mori to formalize the deal.”

When the spy was gone, Horvath
connected her personal console to the game unit and transmitted the contents of
humanity’s last probable contact from Red for fifty years. “My girl will hate
me if I compromise,” she told Daniel. “We’ll be dead by then either way, but my
baby will detest me.” Holding his hand, she sighed. Even like this, he was a
calming influence. “You’re right. Millions of others will live because of it. This
will also give her a better chance to escape the solar system.”

Nena nodded, hearing echoes of an
earlier conversation. “Yes. She’ll be angry, but she’ll be alive. Z will make
her see.” The betrayal of the kindest man she’d ever met made her bite her
thumbnail like a teenager. For others to escape blame, they would paint him
with every vile accusation. She wouldn’t lie, but she wouldn’t need to.
Remaining silent would condemn him.

In the end, it came down to one
question. Horvath dialed Mori’s private line. When he answered the call, she
could see the Chinese delegates in the room. However, he listened to the game
console with an earphone.

Without preamble, she hissed, “Conrad
never touched your daughter, and you know it.”

She barely noticed the
communication delay when Mori replied, “Dr. Drang says the baby is healthy. My
wife is with Kaguya, fulfilling her duties as a grandmother.”

“You stole Red’s eggs! Why should I
let you get away with that?”

“Because the criminal Dr. Zeiss is
the father of my grandchild, I might be able to prevail on my Chinese guests .
. . to use their veto to take the death penalty off the table at his trial.”

Inside, Nena seethed at the
blackmail. The egg was already implanted; she couldn’t change that. The witch
could still miscarry. “If I die, how do I know you’ll keep your word?”

“
Mira Hollis
just arrived. I’ve
vouched for her identity to all present.”

He knew everything.
Damn
. “Transfer
the remainder of Red’s samples to the Mira Hollis you just mentioned.”

“Done. We are in agreement?”

“One big, happy family, you
thieving bastard. None of you had better ever come into orbit.”

To the others in the conference
room, Mori announced, “She calls me an old fox, congratulates me on the new
child, and submits to your terms. Let us celebrate by broadcasting the contents
of the flight recorder on three of our international channels. Each country
will be allowed to rebroadcast with its own subtitles.”

Nena disconnected the phone call,
unable to keep her face placid. “Daniel, it looks like we’re going to share a
grandchild with the two people we hate most on Earth. I feel like I just made
the same decision your dad would have, and it makes me want to shower.”

Instead, she called the command
bunker and told them the news: fewer L1 people to rescue, half the missiles,
more protection, and refugees. Colonel Francis replied, “Damn, you’ve been
busy.”

After she hung up, she took off her
clothes and slid into the bed with Daniel. She’d done everything she could. The
universe would just have to take care of itself for a few hours.

At T plus 10 hours, despite the
brilliant lights in the sky, nothing disturbed her rest.

Zeiss stared at the screen in wonder. “Moon base survived.
Nothing penetrated their defenses this volley. A
miracle
worth
celebrating.”

Since that was Red’s real first
name, she planted a kiss on his cheek. “Stop taking my name in vain and get to
work training Lou.”

“Slave driver. Let me check in with
Herk first.” Switching channels, Zeiss said, “Good news. Moon base lived to
fight again another day.
Cherub
is making tracks back to L1; they should
return to moon base just in time for the next wave. We have nine hours of relative
peace.”

Herk snorted. “Thank heaven for
small miracles.”

“I’m not
that
small,” said
the five-foot-two-inch Red.

Zeiss kissed her on the forehead.

The act of affection was so
instinctive, and so like her parents, that Mercy stared. Over the link, she cleared
her throat and said, “We love the detail on the map. I can’t wait to print out
a copy once I get done marking all the mass points.”

“Ha,” said Herk. “All this high
tech, and it doesn’t exist until we can touch it on paper.”

Zeiss explained, “We’re penciling
in the names as places are discovered.”

Herk asked, “Like the Stairs of
Mercy?”

“I think she chose Default Helix 3,
but I like yours better,” Red noted.

“I’ll compromise: Zeppelin Point,
in honor of your father,” Mercy suggested. Everyone agreed on the site of the
stairway to the heavens. “I think Yvette called Crawfish Creek.”

“And Twisted Knee Hill,” Herk
replied with a chuckle. They heard a few choice French curses in the
background.

“Has the gravity stayed
consistent?” asked Zeiss.

“More or less. The river tends to stay
in the overlap between fields, and we followed that.”

Mercy said, “Away from the river,
you can tell the level of gravity by the height of the plants.”

“And north by the moss?” joked
Herk.

“No, the moss would tend to be on
the mountainward side,” Zeiss corrected. “Although I can’t see getting lost in
this little world.”

“Are we going to name the ship?”
asked Red. “Because I was first on board.”

“You can use your wiles to convince
me later,” Zeiss said with a grin. “Let Herk finish his report.”

“We reached the mountain before the
bombardment but haven’t located a cave yet. We took shelter in a deep hollow.
The gravity at the low point measures about eight-tenths Earth standard. It’s
comfortable and out of the wind. If we don’t find any caves, this would be a
good colony site. We’ll store our boxes and the gimp here while we come back
for the next load. Risa can stay and help Yvette put together the camp for us
to sleep in tonight—estimated bedtime around T plus 20 hours.”

“What, fixing up the bedroom is
woman’s
work?” demanded his wife from a position near his elbow.

Still over the air, Herk defended
his plan. “No, you’re a mechanical engineer, and Yvette’s camped more than all
of us combined.”

Zeiss interrupted the matrimonial
bliss. “Be tucked in by T plus 19 hours in case we need to evade in a hurry. If
they figure out our new location, there’ll be missiles coming our way, too.
Over.”

“Roger. We’ll call you when we’re
in sight of Zeppelin Point so you can roll out the red carpet. I’ll bring you
an apple from the orchard that we pass on the way.”

When they disconnected, Red said,
“Sanctuary.”

“What?” asked Zeiss.

“She wants to name the alien
inversion fortress,” Mercy said, remembering her friend’s tenacity. “You know,
a shelter from your enemies or a place to hide, usually named from the medieval
code that said those fearing for their lives could take refuge inside a
church.”

Zeiss nodded. “This place does feel
like the inner sanctum—almost sacred. Sure, babe.
Sanctuary
it is. Did
you mean the saucer, or the whole place?”

“The whole place. Mercy can name
the saucer if she wants.”

Mercy deferred. “I think Yuki
should get some credit here.”

Sojiro shouted, “Fortress of
Solitude, Sky City 1000, or Angel Station.”

The Japanese woman shook her head.
“I’ll stay simple—baggage claim.”

The manga artist feigned a yawn.
“At least pick a name from mythology like Olympus. I’ll have to do a total
rewrite for my manga.”

“Maybe, let’s talk in private.”

While Lou started his training
session, Red taped the ship’s new name over the outside door. Mercy wished she
could grab a few painkillers from Auckland. Eyestrain from repeated interface
use had given her a headache.

****

Lou threw up after his first
attempt in the interface. Auckland rushed over to examine the patient.

“Tons of high-tech equipment and
not a trashcan in the place,” Zeiss noted.

As the contents of Lou’s stomach
floated in globules and drifted across the room, everyone looked at Mercy
expectantly—perhaps because she’d already cleaned up after so many of them in
the showers. Sighing, she grabbed an empty plastic bag from one of the storage
rooms and went to work capturing the spinning gobbets.

Yuki eventually helped out with a
large, plastic cooking spoon. “You know, I have a master’s degree in electrical
engineering.” She snagged a large chunk before it struck the window. “I can
disassemble and reassemble every piece of equipment I manage in my sleep.”

Mercy grinned. “I’ll bet you played
lacrosse, too.”

“Tennis. The skirts are better,”
Yuki retorted.

Auckland said, “He has motion
sickness. What were you doing?”

“Simulations under the rubber
sheet, trying to map the currents between here and our chosen planet,” Zeiss
explained.

“Everything in rapid motion. Some
of the paths gone in an instant. It’s like trying to ride lightning,” Lou said,
looking pale and about to heave again.

“I’ll take him to the showers,”
Yuki said, handing Mercy the spoon.

Sojiro raised an eyebrow at the
woman’s salivating enthusiasm. “I can help.”

Zeiss shook his head. “You’re next
in the snowflake. We have to get a handle on this interface. Lou’s right, it’s
constantly shifting. The only fixed points are the giant suns at the anchor
points. If you come out of the undergirding anywhere else, you need to hop back
through the same hole as soon as possible, or risk being stranded sub-light for
years.”

“Why hop out at all?” Mercy asked.

“To change threads and head a
different direction,” Zeiss explained. “We also need to take in sunlight or all
the plants could die.”

“There’s no light underneath?”

“We just don’t know. This ship is
obviously designed to dive under the sheet. I’m guessing those submersions
cause a period of extended night or even winter. Our course will need to take
that into consideration. We don’t want the main ship to go below freezing. That
means we’ll schedule the journey with more, shorter hops, which will take time.
The first hop is the trickiest to plan.”

“What about Alpha Centauri?” asked
Sojiro. “It’s closest.”

“The three orbiting stars make the
equations too complex. We could come out too close to one of them and fry.”

“How about Barnard’s Star?” Sojiro
suggested. “At about six light-years, it’s close enough that we could coast
home in under fifty years without using subspace. It’s very well behaved, and I
hear it has a couple planets.”

“The planets were disproven, which
is probably why the Daedalus Project was canceled. Although the star is warm
enough, the light might be too weak to sustain our biosphere.”

“That leaves Tau Ceti, at almost
twelve light-years—it’s plenty bright, and we know it has at least five
planets.”

“Couldn’t we aim somewhere
reasonably stable and replan once we know more?” asked Red. “Like an airline
hub?” Squinting at the overhead bubble, she said, “I think I see a couple
candidates. Let me climb into the harness, and I’ll guide.”

Auckland interrupted, “Not yet.
Mercy did too much, too soon, and she paid with a migraine.”

“Me, too,” admitted Zeiss,
sheepishly.

The doctor ordered, “Give Sojiro
his turn on the spin-and-puke ride, and then you can take another shift. I’m
limiting people to thirty minutes a session from now on. The computer output
seems to be stimulating the optic nerve and parts of the brain directly,
bypassing the eyes. You’re etching new neural connections at a phenomenal rate,
utilizing parts of your mind we never suspected. I think caution is in order
before you all burn out.”

“Care for the lives of our planners
could be part of the test,” suggested Sojiro.

When Yuki and Lou were gone, Red
whispered to the manga artist, “Why didn’t you want the spy taking Lou?”

“She traded her naming rights for
information about him. This room is now Olympus. When she took advantage of him
so soon, I felt I owed him a little protection.”

Mercy snorted. “It’s not like they’re
going to do anything in the low-g
shower
.”

People who were part of a couple
looked away discreetly. Sojiro changed the subject. “What’s my mission, boss?”

Zeiss replied, “The trickiest one
of all in a chaotic branching system—the initial condition. I have no idea
where we should enter subspace.”

“This ship can do that?” Sojiro
asked.

“We’re already most of the way
underwater, like a submarine with the periscope out. When we find the nexus, we
can submerge the rest of the way, and the jet stream will take us. The exit
points are more like holes in the arctic ice where we can metaphorically pop up
for fresh air. We need the entry point before we can solve anything else.”

“Isn’t that technique part of
probability mechanics?”

“Yeah. That’s pretty much the only
page talent we didn’t bring.” The way Zeiss glanced at Red was accusing. She’d
been the one who insisted on bringing the absolute minimum number of Actives.
Now they were working against the clock on a problem no one had the tools to
solve elegantly. There were bound to be more alligators in this swamp caused by
their undermanned state. He’d just have to survive the first hurdle before they
could discover the next difficulty. Would the second problem prevent them from
returning home? Or worse, would they be unable to leave subspace and freeze to
death while streaking away from Earth at speeds so high that no one would ever
be able to rescue them? He could already feel the headache building. “One We
have 109 hours to invent a whole new discipline in mathematics.”

****

No one had cracked the subspace
navigation problem by T plus 18 hours. Everyone experienced minor headaches,
and Mercy had a nosebleed. Yuki had been flirting with Lou when she noticed the
trickle of red fluid seeping under her friend’s helmet. The technician
triple-tapped Mercy’s helmet off before Auckland arrived.

When the physician examined Mercy,
he concluded, “No more till morning, for
any
of you. Red has raccoon
eyes, and Z keeps bumping into things.”

“Just a few spots in front of the
eyes,” the commander mumbled. “Almost half of the incoming missiles have
changed directions, tracking our orbit. We can’t stay here.”

“But we don’t know where the
transfer point is yet,” Sojiro replied.

Yuki waved her hand. “That’s mathematician
thinking—solve everything before doing anything. Technicians are more practical—close
enough is good enough for now. Even the
Ascension
could lead those
missiles away from moon base just a little faster than they can travel. Head
out into the outer solar system at a gentle pace. Statistically, the entrances
are most likely near the heavier planets, right? We’ll be heading in the most
likely direction and luring killers away from our friends. Win-win.”

Zeiss looked to Red. “Better
idea—run the missiles through the dark-side junk heap. Lou can plot a course at
minimum acceleration; he’s had the least snowflake exposure. Yuki and Auckland can take turns on watch while we rest.”

When they checked in with the
ground party, Herk said, “We just powered on the lights and arranged beds for
everyone. Anyone not building the bunkhouse collected plant samples. I’ve
called in all the explorers for now, but we’ll continue to search for caves around
the mountain tomorrow.”

“What are you doing until the
fireworks?”

“We already have the crawfish
boiling. Yvette’s making a rice dish with all vacuum-pouch spices for the
cautious half of us. However, Johnny says the meat looks fine, and that pot
smells delicious. Risa’s trying a little fruit and some local nuts with her
rice. Eventually, we’ll all have to adjust to the local microbes. I just hope
it’s not too painful.”

“Are you up for a full g for the
next hour? Mercy says there’s a way to cancel some of the excess acceleration,
but we’re too fried for anything but the basics.”

“Affirmative.”

“Do you have a name for camp one
yet?”

“I liked Yellowstone, but my better
half who built the place had other ideas. She wants Garden Hollow.”