John Ringo - East of the Sun, West of the Moon

“I’ll be informing each of you individually,” June said, referring to her clipboard. “Ah, one of the pilots. Mr. Ram, if you’ll accompany me?”

“Icarus,” Keating said, settling in one of the chairs. “How fascinating .”

“Icarus?” Linda said, sitting down next to him as the Blood Lords filed out of the room.

“A Greek myth,” Keating replied, musingly. “The inventor Daedalus and his son Icarus built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. Thereafter, Minos imprisoned them in a tower so that Daedalus couldn’t tell the secrets of the Labyrinth to anyone else. But Daedalus constructed wings of wood and wax and the feathers of the seabirds that flew around the tower. Then he and Icarus flew out of the tower. Daedalus had warned Icarus not to fly too high, lest he get too close to the Chariot of Apollo, the sun. But Icarus, drunk with the glory of flight, flew too high and the wax melted from his wings, casting him into the sea and to his death.”

“And that means… what?” Linda asked.

“Oh, many hypotheses exist,” Keating said with a twinkle in his eye. “They could be planning on seeing if we can survive a high drop into the sea. A low-order hypothesis, I’ll admit,” he added with a chuckle.

“Or they could use an inventor to build a labyrinth,” Linda said, getting into the game. “All you’d have to do is rewrite your particle theory equations then run walls from one set to another. That would be labyrinthine enough!”

“Do you really think they were too complex?” Keating asked, worriedly. “I found them elegantly simple, myself.”

“Some of us, sir, are mortals.” Linda sighed. “I think I stayed with it up to the second theta transform and then I went out to a party and tried very very hard to forget. I’d thought I was pretty good at transform equations until I tried to keep up with you.”

“Well, such things take time to fully explore,” Keating replied unhappily. “But we can take a look at it here,” he added, pulling out a scrap of charcoal and picking up one of the books. Turning to the back page he found a clean area and started inscribing equations. “The second theta is a quaternary transform—”

“Linda Donohue?” June said, from the door.

“Later, Professor,” Linda said, tapping him on the arm. “I’d be fascinated to try to figure it out.”

“Do you know who is sitting in there?” Linda snapped as the door closed.

“Manuel Sukiama and Geo Keating?” June said, leading Linda down the corridor.

“And do you know who Geo Keating is ?” Linda said, angrily.

“It says he’s a particle field theorist,” June answered, pausing to consult her clipboard.

“He’s not just a particle field theorist,” Linda snarled. “He’s one of the finest minds in history . And he’s been working as a day laborer in Raven’s Mill! The man is a legend in his field and he’s sitting in there sketching equations that not two people on Earth can understand! If we still had things like Nobel Prizes he’d take the Nobel in physics every year!”

“I’m…” June said then paused. “I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of him. But I’ll be very polite when I interview him. And I’ll try to explain his importance to Commander Herrick.”

“Herzer Herrick is here?” Linda said, her eyes widening in horror.

“Yes, he’s… well, we need to have our in-briefing,” June said, tilting her head. “Is… do you and Commander Herrick have a… background? I know that he has had… a number of lady friends.”

“It’s not that…” Linda said, her face tightening and then a look of horror even worse than the last crossing her face. “Oh, God, Countess Travante isn’t here, is she?”

“Yes,” June said, raising an eyebrow.

“I need to leave ,” Linda snapped, looking around wildly and panting in panic. “I don’t care what this is all about. I need to leave right now !”

“Two things,” June said, glancing at one of the Blood Lord guards in the corridor. “The first is, you cannot leave. Period. You can try to run, but the camp is guarded and you will not be permitted to leave after entering the camp. So… just calm down. The second is, we need to talk about why you were brought here. But not in the corridor,” June said, gesturing down the hall. “Come on, find out why you’re here, then make decisions.”

“Crap,” Linda said, glancing at the Blood Lord and shaking her head. “Let’s go. I’ll listen. But Megan is… crap. I’m gonna die…”

“I think we need to talk, dear,” June said, patting her on the shoulder.

June’s office was comfortably appointed and she gestured Linda into a chair, then collapsed behind her desk.

“I didn’t ask for this job.” June sighed, opening up a file and shaking her head. “But I got it for my sins. Miss Donohue, the reason you were brought here is that when you applied for your job with the government you listed a background in quantum engineering. That was your hobby, pre-Fall?”

“Yes,” Linda said, shrugging. “I tinkered at it. Particle field generation theory, ionization theory and fusion mechanics.”

“A mission group is being formed that needs persons with your background,” June said. “Whether you agree to go on the mission or not, you will be confined to this camp until the completion of the mission. Even the fact that we are gathering such persons cannot come to the attention of New Destiny. Therefore, for reasons of security, we can do that under the War Powers Act. Your employer, which is the government after all, will be informed that you will be ‘away’ for a period of time and that you must be given your previous job back. You may send a note to one person,” June said, pulling out a printed card and slipping it across the desk. “That is the only communication that you will be permitted.”

Linda looked at that card and blanched. It was preprinted with a trite message about being unavailable for at least two months and helping out “the War Effort.”

“This is bullshit ,” Linda snapped. “Damnit, I work for Duke Dehnavi! You can’t do this to me!”

“That is as it may be,” June said, sighing. “As I said, I hope that people won’t take this out on me. At a later time you’ll have people to shout at that are much more responsible for your predicament than I. And they’re better at being shouted at.”

“Herrick,” Linda spat.

“He is one, yes,” June said. “Can I ask you your… background with Commander Herrick. It won’t affect your being here; that is set in stone. But it may affect your participation in the mission.”

“No, you may not,” Linda answered, shaking her head. “What a nightmare !”

“Yes,” June said, shaking her head. “That is one adjective used for it. Insanity. Power-mad-myrmidons. Idiocy. Stupidity. Shanghaied, a very old term which I fortunately recognized. Insanity, again. Nightmare. One gentleman, who was a student of ancient literature along with being a qualified pilot, used ‘Kafkaesque’ for which I needed an explanation. But you haven’t gotten to the good part, yet.”

“And what is the good part?” Linda said angrily.

“The mission for which you are being asked to volunteer,” June said, smiling humorously.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” Linda said.

“Probably not,” June replied, shaking her head but still smiling. “But let me get most of my spiel out before you start screaming, okay?”

“Ooo-kay,” Linda said cautiously.

“You’ve been brought here to join a mission to retake the returning helium three refueling ship,” June said. “My bet is that your response will be: ‘You are joking.’ Possibly followed by either: ‘Right?’ or ‘Tell me you’re joking.’ That’s as opposed to more stereotypically male responses such as: ‘No fisking way.’ ”