Starclimber (7 page)

I said nothing.

Mr. de Vries leaned in still closer, and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. “We’ve indulged our daughter terribly, of course,” he said in a confidential tone, “letting her study abroad. We’ve let her have a long holiday from the real world. But this is her world, right here, in Lionsgate City, and she’ll come to realize that before too long.”

I wasn’t sure Mr. de Vries knew his daughter terribly well. The mansion and gardens were all very nice, but I couldn’t see Kate settling for the view when she had the whole world to choose from.

“Next year,” Mr. de Vries continued, “she’ll be back home for good, and she’ll likely receive several proposals of marriage. I have no doubt she’ll make an excellent match.”

When he said this, he looked directly at me, and his eyes had a sudden piercing clarity that made me uneasy. Did he know how I felt about Kate after all? His words seemed meant to warn me off.

“Hello, you two,” Kate said, strolling over.

“Ah, Kate, I was just talking with Mr. Cruse,” her father said. “A capital young fellow. He’ll go very far indeed. Splendid, splendid. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He hailed a gentleman across the lawn and walked off.

Kate grinned at me. “So what did you and Daddy talk about?”

“You, mostly. Apparently you’ll be married off by next year.”

She chuckled. “Gosh, I had no idea. I should talk to my father more often.”

“Rumor has it James Sanderson is the lucky man.”

“The heir to the Sanderson fortune?” she said, eyes wide with mock amazement.

“The same.”

“My father didn’t tell you that, did he?”

I shook my head. “Miss Simpkins.”

Kate waved her hand impatiently. “She’s just making trouble. Don’t give Mr. Sanderson a second’s thought.”

“That’s a shame. I’ve already thought of three ways to kill him.”

Her eyes glowed. “Really?”

“Two of them were quite good. The third would’ve been messy. It involved chopsticks. So you haven’t heard of this plan?”

“Oh, my parents may have mentioned it once or twice.”

I looked at her. “This might be funny to you, but it’s really”—I didn’t know how best to finish my sentence—“very painful for me.”

“I’m sorry, Matt. Can you really see me marrying someone for their fortune?”

“No.”

“Then that’s all you need to know.” She gave me her warmest smile. “Your mother and sisters are delightful. You never told me your mother was so beautiful. I hope she liked me.”

“How could she not?” I said, happy that it mattered so much to her.

“Did she say anything about me?”

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet.”

“No, of course not.”

“I think your father’s going to let you go on the voyage,” I said.

She nodded, beaming. “I have no doubts at all. But I should move on now,” she said abruptly. “We’ve talked long enough. I can see my mother staring at us.”

“When—” I had been going to ask her when we could see each other again, but she was already gone, floating away across the manicured lawn in her white summer dress.

I was on my way to find my mother when I spotted my sister Sylvia talking to none other than James Sanderson. He was standing too close to her for my liking, talking and smiling, and once touching her on the forearm. Sylvia’s cheeks were very bright, and she kept laughing gaily. I hurried over.

“Oh, hello, Matt,” she said, not looking altogether thrilled to see me. “This is James Sanderson.”

“Pleased to meet you,” I lied.

He was not quite as handsome as he’d appeared from a distance. And I was happy to see I was slightly taller than him, even though he must have been three or four years older. He had rather pronounced shadows under his eyes; no doubt he stayed up late, carousing.

“So you’re Matt Cruse,” he said. “I saw you talking to Miss de Vries and wondered if it was you. You’re quite a hero around here, you know. That whole pirate Szpirglas incident. That was sensational.”

His tone, I realized with surprise, was genuinely admiring, and not at all mocking.

I wondered if he was going to ask if I’d killed Szpirglas with my bare hands; luckily he didn’t.

“You’re studying at the Airship Academy, aren’t you?”

“I graduate next spring.”

“What brings you back to Lionsgate City?”

“Just visiting my mother and sisters.” I turned to Sylvia. “You should check on Isabel.”

“But—”

I smiled at her, and she knew from my expression that I meant business.

“It was very nice meeting you, Mr. Sanderson,” she said.

“A pleasure, Miss Cruse,” he said. When she’d left, he smiled at me. “Charming girl. Say, you’re not here because of the astralnaut training program, are you?”

This took me by surprise. “The what?” I said.

“The city’s all abuzz with rumors. They say they’re choosing astralnauts for the first space voyage.”

I let my eyes widen. “Is that right?”

“Bet you wish you were part of that, heh?”

“That would be something.”

“Ah well, maybe when you’re a bit more experienced. So, do you know Miss de Vries very well?”

“Not really. I see her in Paris from time to time.”

“She’s quite lovely, isn’t she?”

I followed his gaze and saw he was watching her across the garden. The fellow seemed smitten.

“I find her a bit plain,” I said, and had to bite my lip so I wouldn’t laugh.

“I don’t think so,” he said, sounding surprised. “But it’s odd, though, don’t you think? All her studying, and in foreign parts too.”

“That’s not the half of it,” I said.

“Really?” He seemed simultaneously intrigued and alarmed.

I lowered my voice. “She’s notorious in Paris.”

He stepped closer. “Is she?”

I nodded. “Rumor has it she’s opened her own secret circus. All sorts of freakish things she’s gathered up.”

“You don’t say…”

“They say she punts along the river at night, dredging up dead things from the bottom. Then she sews them back together, all mixed up, and
zaps
them with high voltage to revivify them.”

He gave a little jerk and looked at me queasily. “That does seem unnatural,” he murmured.

“Just rumors, though, old boy,” I said, slapping him hard on the shoulder.

He looked across the party at Kate with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Well, nice chatting with you,” I said, and walked away, feeling mightily pleased with myself.

Riding home on the streetcar with my mother and sisters, I realized they’d all had a good time. Isabel had devoured three bowls of ice cream; Sylvia had had her dress and shoes complimented several times, and been invited to a tea party next week; and my mother, to her surprise, had not been snubbed at all. In fact, she’d been offered enough new work to take her through the winter.

“What did you think of Kate?” I asked.

“I liked her,” she said carefully, ‘But…” I prompted worriedly.

“She’s a beautiful girl, and very bright and confident, and I can see why you think so highly of her. But I wonder if she thinks rather highly of herself too.”

“She can be exasperating sometimes,” I said. “But that’s just her way.”

“I just wouldn’t want to see you getting hurt,” my mother said to me.

She was sounding alarmingly like Miss Simpkins. It seemed everyone today was warning me away from Kate. I started to feel a bit foolish. Even Kate herself had scarcely spoken to me as we’d played our parts as polite friends. Or maybe she too was beginning to realize how impossible our romance was. Paris seemed a long way away.

“Are you going to marry her?” Isabel asked me.

I chuckled uncomfortably. “It’s too soon for me to marry anyone,” I said. “Anyway, first I’ve got to go to outer space.”

M
y heart sank when I entered the gymnasium and saw all the other astralnaut trainees. There were easily a hundred, all men, and most of them looked older than me by ten years. I couldn’t be sure what any of them did, for Mr. Lunardi had given us instructions not to wear any kind of uniform. Still, it was easy enough to tell the military men, by their short-cropped hair and the way they stood so straight. Some looked like weight lifters, others had the lean and fanatical look of mountain climbers. As my nervous eyes moved over the crowd, I imagined everyone else as a firefighter, or engineer, or world-famous athlete. I was amazed Mr. Lunardi had even asked me to try out. Surely they didn’t want someone as young and inexperienced as me.

No one was talking much. We were all strangers—and competitors—and we stood restlessly with our duffel bags at our feet, waiting for things to start. It was seven o’clock Monday morning.

Last year, Lionsgate City had hosted the Olympic Games. Playing fields and arenas and residences for the athletes had been hastily built along the shores of False Creek. The buildings were mostly vacant now, and it was here that Mr. Lunardi had set up his secret training facility. He’d chosen well. When the cabdriver had dropped me off, the site was eerily deserted, and it took me a while to find the right building.

All eyes went to the stage now as Mr. Lunardi walked out to greet us.

“Gentlemen!” he said. “I am delighted to see you all safely arrived, and looking so eager and fit. You know why you’re here, so let me introduce you to the man who will oversee your training for the next two weeks. Some of you may already know his name. He’s one of the finest sky captains of his time, and will be the commander of our first voyage to outer space. Do your best, gentlemen! I hand you over now to the care of Captain Samuel Walken.”

I had a big smile on my face as he in turn strode onto the stage. I hadn’t seen Captain Walken since leaving the
Aurora
to start my studies at the Academy. Three years I’d served aboard his ship, and happy years they were. He’d always encouraged my ambitions, and done all he could to advance me. I wanted to wave at him and shout out a hello, but of course I didn’t.

He stood for a moment, beaming down at us as though he couldn’t imagine any finer company in the world.

“Gentlemen, good morning. You’re all here because you’re exceedingly skilled at whatever it is you do. Look around this hall and you’ll see soldiers and surgeons, submariners and sky sailors, gymnasts and high-altitude construction workers. Working in extreme conditions is commonplace to many of you, but our new venture will require unusual skills, some of which have never been taught. My task is not to question your expertise, but rather to find out who has the peculiar combination of skills necessary to pilot a vessel in outer space.”

His kindly eyes traveled over the assembly, and I thought they came to rest on me for a moment with the glimmer of a smile.

“It might give you some comfort to know that I myself have already undergone this training regimen, and if a grizzled fellow like me can get through it, so too can you! Some of the tests are grueling, I’ll admit, but I can’t imagine they’ll pose any problem to the excellent candidates I see before me. Now, you’ll be divided up into groups, given a tour of the facility, and then to work! Space awaits, gentlemen!”

A great cheer rose from the crowd, and my voice was with it. Captain Walken had always had a way of encouraging men to give their utmost.

The gymnasium was suddenly filled with athletic-looking fellows with clipboards, shouting out names. I heard mine called, grabbed my bag, and stepped smartly over. Our group leader looked a proper Viking, with flowing red hair, a full beard, and large biceps bursting from his shirtsleeves. He had a wide and slightly sadistic smile.

“You are Group Four,” he told us, “and I am Grendel Eriksson, but no doubt you will call me other things as the training progresses. Grab your things and follow me—you’ve got a busy day ahead of you.”

There were ten in my group, and as I looked around, I spotted a fellow around my own age. He was a bit shorter than me, compact, with dark wavy hair. His blue eyes were quick and intelligent, and though his face was frank and open, his thick eyebrows hinted at a temper.

“Matt Cruse,” I said, extending my hand.

“Tobias Blanchard,” he said, and we shook.

There was time to say nothing more, because Eriksson was already marching us out of the gym. Without stopping, he barked out his commentary.

“Refectory through there. Delicious food—no one’s ever survived to complain. Breakfast at six
A.M.
, lunch at noon, dinner at six thirty. Half an hour for each. Chew quickly. To the right is Disorientation Training.”

“What happens in there?” someone asked.

“Don’t want to spoil the surprise. Through that door is Celestial Recognition. Off to the left is Low Gravity Familiarization.”

“What about that door there?” Tobias asked, pointing to a formidable door that looked like the entrance to a vault.

“That’s the bathroom, in case you need to be sick,” Eriksson said. “Up now!”

We jogged up two flights of stairs and were shown our dorm. We were assigned cots and lockers, and handed two fresh sets of training kit. Then we were shown the toilets and showers and told when we could use them. We were also told when to get up and when to sleep.

“Check the notice board bright and early every morning, gents,” Eriksson said. “If your name’s on it, congratulations—you can sleep in and you’re free to leave.”

“You mean we got the boot,” said one of the trainees.

“Correct. You can’t all go to outer space. Only a small number of you will make it to the final trials at the end of two weeks. Now get into your kit and assemble on training field number two immediately.”

“I like him,” Tobias said to me from the corner of his mouth.

“He’ll make a fine prison warden one day,” I replied.

We stripped, quickly pulled on our training gear, and hurried after the others. Everyone seemed awfully keen.

“I’ve read about you,” Tobias said as we jogged downstairs. “You killed the pirate Szpirglas in a sword fight—and all you had was a butter knife.”

“Don’t believe everything you read,” I said, pleased he’d heard of me.

“You didn’t have a butter knife?”

I sighed and said, “He slipped, actually. Fell to his death.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh. Well, that’s still something. What do you do now?”

“I’m a student at the Airship Academy. You?”

“Underwater welder,” he replied a bit sheepishly. “Seems most of you have high-altitude experience. I’m not sure why they wanted me to have a bash at it. I couldn’t go swinging around in the air.”

“I’m not sure I could suit up and dive underwater.”

“Sometimes it’s a suit, sometimes it’s a diving bell. I do ships and bridges mostly. I work in Victoria.”

I’d flown over Victoria enough times on my way to the Orient. It was a pretty city, filled with tourists who promenaded along the Inner Harbour and drank tea at the Empress.

“I feel like a little kid here,” Tobias said, nodding at the other men in our group.

“You and me both. How old are you?”

“Nineteen,” he said.

“Seventeen,” I admitted. “So you’ve got a hankering to go up into space?”

He reached into his shorts pocket and pulled out a small stone. “Ever since I got given this.”

It was an ordinary-enough-looking piece of rock, intriguingly flecked with black and silver.

“What is it?”

“Part of the meteorite that made the Badlands Crater. My uncle was prospecting out there and brought it back for me. They say it’s got stuff in it that’s never been found on earth. Minerals and the like.”

He let me hold it, and it was amazingly light—like holding nothing at all.

“It feels warm,” I said in surprise.

“That’s just ’cause I rub it.”

I chuckled, but the glamour of the rock was undiminished. Where had it come from? Before it struck earth, it must have passed through countless worlds. Was it a fragment of planet that had met its doom? Had other galactic creatures touched it, as I did now?

“Bit of a lucky charm,” Tobias said, shoving it back in his pocket. “I take it down with me whenever I dive. Figure I’ll need it now.”

Grendel Eriksson ushered us through a set of doors and across a plaza toward the coliseum. It looked twice the size of the one in Rome. We went inside through one of the enormous archways.

“Welcome to the trial by fire, gents,” Eriksson said, with some delight.

“What the hell is that?” said Tobias, gazing up.

In the middle of the open-air coliseum, hovering at one hundred feet, was a lightweight metal platform, held aloft by a hydrium balloon at each corner and tethered to earth by ropes. Dangling from an opening in the middle of the platform’s underside was a wispy rope ladder. Safety nets had been strung beneath it.

“This is Altitude Familiarization,” said Eriksson.

“You want us to climb up there?” Tobias muttered, looking queasy.

“For starters,” said Eriksson. “Let’s go, gents, one at a time. Douglas, you’re first, you lucky devil. Further instructions when you’re topside! The rest of you form a line. No pushing. Everyone gets a turn, I promise!”

I was second in line, with Tobias right behind me.

We all moved under the shadow of the platform to the rope ladder. Douglas took a breath, gripped the rungs, and started climbing purposefully.

“You do this all the time, I suppose,” Tobias said to me in a low voice.

“Are you afraid of heights?” I whispered back.

“Not until now. What’re we supposed to do when we get up there?”

I shook my head.

Douglas was now halfway there. The rungs were baggy, so climbing was no easy thing. The ladder swayed with every step. He seemed to be getting on all right, though he did falter for a moment after looking down.

“Cruse, you’re next,” said Eriksson.

I grasped the rope and started up. I felt no fear. After a while I glanced up to see Douglas clamber shakily through the opening in the platform’s underside. I checked on Tobias below me, doggedly hauling himself up, staring straight ahead, and hoped he wasn’t scared. I was almost at the platform and wondering what was going to happen next when I heard a cry of pure terror. From the corner of my eye, I saw Douglas plunge earthward, arms and legs flailing.

I froze, staring. When he was no more than twenty feet from the ground, Douglas slowed miraculously, hovered for a split second, and then bounced back up. It was only then I noticed the slim cord trailing from his ankles. He soared halfway back to the platform, bounced a few more times, and was then lowered gently to the ground. Two attendants removed his ankle harness, and the line was winched back up.

I swallowed and kept going, pulling myself through the opening and onto the platform.

“Good morning, Mr. Cruse.”

Captain Walken stood there grinning, as if our paths had just crossed in the town square.

“Sir,” I said, “I’m very, very glad to see you again.”

“As am I.” He grasped my hand in both of his and gave it a warm squeeze. “I’m delighted Mr. Lunardi was able to lure you away from Paris. I understand you’ve had some very interesting adventures since we last spoke.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I look forward to hearing about them. But for now,” he said, nodding at the platform’s edge, “how do you fancy a little land diving?”

“Douglas seemed to enjoy it,” I said.

Captain Walken chuckled. “The first time’s always the hardest. But you’ve jumped off higher things, Mr. Cruse.”

I smiled. Over the Pacificus he’d seen me swing from a rope into the gondola of a sinking hot-air balloon. And he knew how Vikram Szpirglas had pushed me off the
Aurora
’s back, and I’d flown and grabbed hold of the ship’s fins. Lighter than air, they used to say about me.

“I think I can manage,” I said.

“I have no doubt. Hugo and Walter will rig you up.”

From one side of the platform a narrow gangplank jutted into thin air. Two assistants quickly fastened the elastic rope to my ankles.

“The Pentecost Islanders were the first to do this,” said Captain Walken. “Apparently they use vines. Oh, here’s a little puzzle they want you to solve while free-falling.”

He tossed a kind of cube to me, with colored segments that could be rotated and turned.

“Just get all the red squares on the same side. It’s fairly simple.”

“I’ll do my best, sir.”

“Jump on the count of five,” said one of the assistants. “One, two—”

But I saw no point in waiting. I leapt, arms out, putting on a bit of a show, and giving a whoop of delight as I soared through the air. I’d never feared heights. Funny, how time can stretch out so long when you’re moving so fast. Each second was like a little room I could explore. Clouds through the coliseum’s open roof, one in the shape of a blue whale. Light on the tiers of arena seats. The faded chalk lines of the racetrack. The ground attendants watching my fall, hands raised to shield their eyes from the sun.

I almost forgot about the puzzle. It was pretty simple; you just had to turn the cube segments a few times. I think it was just to see if you could concentrate on something else while free-falling. I got it done before the second bounce.

If I was expecting any praise from Eriksson and the other attendants, I was disappointed. They silently unfastened my diving line, checked the puzzle, and scribbled on their clipboards.

“Back of the line,” Eriksson told me. “You’ve got another dive ahead of you. But this time we’ll be moving the platform higher.”

I took my place in line and watched Tobias do his land dive. He made no noise at all, but when he joined me a few minutes later, his eyes and hair were wild.

“I didn’t like that,” he said.

“You did it, though,” I told him, clapping him on the shoulder.

“I dropped the stupid puzzle,” he muttered.

“You’ll get another shot at it.”