The Wind From a Burning Woman: Six Stories of Science Fiction (4 page)

Turco may not have been raving, but she was coldly suggesting a cataclysm to swat what amounted to a historical fly. That made her a lunatic in anyones book, Geshel or Naderite. And his life was well worth the effort to thwart her.

That didnt stop him from being angry, though.

* * * *

Kollert impatiently let the physician check him over and administer a few injections. He talked to his wife briefly, which left him more nervous than before, then listened to the team leaders theories on how Turcos behavior would change in the next few hours. He nodded at only one statement: Shes going to see shell be dead, too, and thats a major shock for even the most dedicated terrorist.

Then Turco was back on the air, and he was on stage again.

Ive seen your ship, she said. I went outside and looked around in the direction where I thought it would be. There it wastreachery all around. Goddamned hypocrites! Talk friendly to the little girl, but shiv her in the back! Public face cool, private face snarl! Well, just remember, before he can kill me, I can destroy all controls to the positioning engines. It would take a week to rewire them. You dont have the time! The beep followed.

Giani, we have only one option left, and thats to do as you say. Well admit we played a part in the sabotage of Psyche. Its confession under pressure, but well do it. Kollert pressed his button and waited, holding his full chin with one hand.

No way its so simple, Kollert. No public admission and then public denial after the danger is overyoud all come across as heroes. No. There has to be some records-keeping, payrolls if nothing else. I want full disclosure of all records, and I want them transmitted around the worldfacsimile, authenticated. I want uninvolved government officials to see them and sign that theyve seen them. And I want the actual documents put on display where anyone can look at themmemos, plans, letters, whatever. All of it thats still available.

That would take weeks, Kollert said, if they existed.

Not in this age of electronic wizardry. I want you to take a lie-detector test, authenticated by half a dozen experts with their careers on the lineand while youre at it, have the other officials take tests, too.

Thats not only impractical, it wont hold up in a court of law.

Im not interested in formal courts. Im not a vengeful person, no matter what I may seem now. I just want the truth. And if I still see that goddamn ship up there in an hour, Im going to stop negotiations right now and blow myself to pieces.

Kollert looked at the team leader, but the mans face was blank.

* * * *

Let me talk to her, then, Porter suggested. Direct person-to-person. Let me explain the plans. She really cant change them any, can she? She has no way of making them worse. If she fires her engines or does any positive action, she simply stops the threat. So Im the one who holds the key to the situation.

Were not sure thats advisable, Bill, Lunar Guidance said.

I can transmit to her without permission, you know, he said testily.

Against direct orders, thats not like you.

Like me, hell, he said, chuckling. Listen, just get me permission. Nobody else seems to be doing anything effective. There was a few minutes silence, then Lunar Guidance returned.

Okay, Bill. You have permission. But be very careful what you say. Terrorist team officers on Earth think shes close to the pit.

With that obstacle cleared away, he wondered how wise the idea was in the first place. Still, they were both Geshelsthey had something in common compared to the elite Naderites running things on Earth.

Far away, Earth concurred and transmissions were cleared. They couldnt censor his direct signal, so Baja Station was unwillingly cut from the circuit.

Whos talking to me now? Turco asked when the link was made.

This is Lieutenant William Porter, from the Moon. Im a pilotnot a defense pilot usually, either. I understand youve had pilots training.

Just enough to get by. The lag was less than a hundredth of a second, not noticeable.

You know Im up here to stop you, one way or another. Ive got two options. The one I think more highly of is to get in line-of-sight of your boreholes and relay the proper coded signals to the charges in your interior.

Killing me wont do you any good.

Thats not the plan. The fore end of your rock is bored with a smaller hole by thirty meters. Itll release the blast wastes more slowly than the aft end. The total explosive force should give the rock enough added velocity to get it clear of the Earth by at least sixty kilometers. The damage would be negligible. Spectacular view from Greenland, too, I understand. But if weve miscalculated, or if one or more charges doesnt go, then Ill have to impact with your aft crater and release the charge in my cargo hold. Im one floating megaboom now, enough to boost the rock up and out by a few additional kilometers. But that means Ill be dead, and not enough left of me to memorialize or pin a medal on. Not too good, hm?

None of my sweat.

No, I suppose not. But listen, sister

No sister to a lackey.

Porter started to snap a retort, but stopped himself. Listen, they tell me to be soft on you, but Im under pressure, too, so please reciprocate. I dont see the sense in all of it. If you get your way, youve set back your cause by God knows how many decadesbecause once youre out of range and blown your trump, theyll deny it all, say it was manufactured evidence and testimony under pressureall that sort of thing. And if they decide to hard-line it, force me to do my dirty work, or God forbid let you do yoursweve lost our homeworld. Youve lost Psyche, which can still be salvaged and finished. Everything will be lost, just because a few men may or may not have done a very wicked thing. Come on, honey. That isnt the Geshel creed, and you know it.

What is our creed? To let men rule our lives who arent competent to read a thermometer? Under the Naderites, most of the leaders on Earth havent got the technical expertise to... to... I dont know what. To tie their goddamn shoes! Theyre blind, dedicated to some half-wit belief that progress is the most dangerous thing conceived by man. And when they wont touch our filthy nuclear energy, we get stuck with it because otherwise we all have to go back four hundred years, and sacrifice half the population. Is that good planning, sound policy? And if they do what I say, Psyche wont be damaged. All theyll have to do is fetch it back from orbit around the sun.

Im not going to argue on their behalf, sister. Im a Geshel, too, and a Moonman besides. I never have paid attention to Earth politics because it never made much sense to me. But now Im talking to you one-to-one, and youre telling me that taking revenge against someones irrational system is worth wiping away a planet?

Im willing to take that risk.

I dont think you are. I hope you arent. I hope its all bluff, and I wont have to smear myself against your backside.

I hope you wont, either. I hope theyve got enough sense down there to do what I want.

I dont think they have, sister. I dont put much faith in them, myself. They probably dont even know what would happen if you hit the Earth with your rock. Think about that. Youre talking about scientific innocentsflat-Earthers almost, naive. Words fail me. But think on it. They may not even know whats going on.

They know. And remind them that if they set off the charges, itll probably break up Psyche and give them a thousand rocks to contend with instead of one. That plan may backfire on them.

What if theywedont have any choice?

I dont give a damn what choice you have, Turco said. Im not talking for a while. Ive got more work to do.

Porter listened to the final click with a sinking feeling. She was a tough one. How would he outwit her? He smiled grimly at his chutzpah for even thinking he could. Shed committed herself all the wayand now, perhaps, she was feeling the power of her position. One lonely woman, holding the key to a worlds existence. He wondered how it felt.

Then he shivered, and the sweat in his suit felt very, very cold. If he would have a grave for someone to walk over...

* * * *

For the first time, she realized they wouldnt accede to her demands. They were more traitorous than even she could have imagined. Orthe thought was too horrible to acceptshed misinterpreted the evidence, and they werent at fault. Perhaps a madman in the Psyche crew had sought revenge and caused the whole mess. But that didnt fit the facts. It would have taken at least a dozen people to set all the psychotropic vials and release them at oncea concerted preplanned effort. She shook her head. Besides, she had the confidential reports a friend had accidentally plugged into while troubleshooting a Hexamon computer plex. There was no doubt about who was responsible, just uncertainty about the exact procedure. Her evidence for Fanner Kollerts guilt was circumstantial but not baseless.

She sealed her suit and helmet and went outside the bubble again, just to watch the stars for a few minutes. The lead-grey rock under her feet was pitted by eons of micrometeoroids. Rills several kilometers across attested to the rolling impacts of other asteroids, any one of which would have caused a major disaster on Earth. Earth had been hit before, not often by pieces as big as Psyche, but several times at least, and had survived. Earth would survive Psyches impact, and life would start anew. Those plants and animalseven humansthat survived would eventually build back to the present level, and perhaps it would be a better world, more daunted by the power of past evil. She might be a force for positive regeneration.

The string of bubbles across Psyches surface was serenely lovely in the starlight. The illumination brightened slowly as Earth rose above the Vlasseg pole, larger now than the Moon. She had a few more hours to make the optimum correction. Just above the Earth was a tiny moving point of lightPorter in his cargo vessel. He was lining up with the smaller borehole to send signals, if he had to.

Again she wanted to cry. She felt like a little child, full of hatred and frustration, but caught now in something so immense and inexorable that all passion was dwarfed. She couldnt believe she was the controlling factor, that she held so much power. Surely something was behind her, some impersonal, objective force. Alone she was nothing, and her crime would be unbelievablejust as Porter had said. But with a cosmic justification, the agreeing nod of some vast all-seeing God, she was just a tool, bereft of responsibility.

She grasped the guide wires strung between the bubbles and pulled herself back to the airlock hatch. With one gloved hand she pressed the button. Under her palm she felt the metal vibrate for a second, then stop. The hatch was still closed. She pressed again and nothing happened.

Porter listened carefully for a full minute, trying to pick up the weak signal. It had cut off abruptly a few minutes before, during his final lineup with the borehole through the Vlasseg pole. He called his director and asked if any signals had been received from Turco. Since he was out of line-of-sight now, the Moon had to act as a relay.

Nothing, Lunar Guidance said. Shes been silent for an hour.

Thats not right. Weve only got an hour and a half left. She should be playing the situation for all its worth. Listen, LG, I received a weak signal from Psyche several minutes ago. It could have been a freak, but I dont think so. Im going to move back to where I picked it up.

Negative, Porter. Youll need all your reaction mass in case Plan A doesnt go off properly.

Ive got plenty to spare, LG. I have a bad feeling about this. Somethings gone wrong on Psyche. It was clear to him the instant he said it. Jesus Christ, LG, the signal must have come from Turcos area on Psyche! I lost it just when I passed out of line-of-sight from her bubble.

Lunar Guidance was silent for a long moment. Okay, Porter, weve got clearance for you to regain that signal.

Thank you, LG. He pushed the ship out of its rough alignment and coasted slowly away from Psyche until he could see the equatorial ring of domes and bubbles. Abruptly his receiver again picked up the weak signal. He locked his tracking antenna to it, boosted it, and cut in the communications processor to interpolate through the hash.

This is Turco. William Porter, listen to me! This is Turco. Im locked out. Something has malfunctioned in the control bubble. Im locked out...

Im getting you, Turco, he said. Look at my spot above the Vlasseg pole. Im in line-of-sight again. If her suit was a standard model, her transmissions would strengthen in the direction she was facing.

God bless you, Porter. I see you. Everythings gone wrong down here. I cant get back in.

Try again, Turco. Do you have any tools with you?

Thats what started all this, breaking in with a chisel and a pry bar. It must have weakened something, and now the whole mechanism is frozen. No, I left the bar inside. No tools. Jesus, this is awful.

Calm down. Keep trying to get in. Im relaying your signal to Lunar Guidance and Earth. That settled it. There was no time to waste now. If she didnt turn on the positioning motors soon, any miss would be too close for comfort. He had to set off the internal charges within an hour and a half for the best effect.

Shes outside? Lunar Guidance asked when the transmissions were relayed. Cant get back in?

Thats it, Porter said.

That cocks it, Porter. Ignore her and get back into position. Dont bother lining up with the Vlasseg pole, however. Circle around to the Janacki pole borehole and line up for code broadcast there. Youll have a better chance of getting the code through, and you can prepare for any further action.

Ill be cooked, LG.

Negativeyoure to relay code from an additional thousand kilometers and boost yourself out of the path just before detonation. That will occurlets seeabout four point three seconds after the charges receive the code. Program your computer for sequencing; youll be too busy.

Im moving, LG. He returned to Turcos wavelength. Its out of your hands now, he said. Were blowing the charges. They may not be enough, so Im preparing to detonate myself against the Janacki pole crater. Congratulations, Turco.