Charles Sheffield - Starfire

“Nick, everything is urgent. Everything has been urgent for twenty-seven years. You reach the point where crisis is so much the normal operating condition that you can’t respond to it.”

“If Oldfield and Vjansander are right, we have less than thirty days.”

“Don’t lecture me, Nick. I’m quite capable of doing that to myself.” Celine was examining a list and crossing items off it. “I have to see Milton Glover.”

She noticed Nick’s tiny grimace at the name. “I can’t stand the man, either,” she went on, “but I’ve slipped his appointment every day for two weeks and he’s outside waiting. Jahangir Hekmat, too — he’s the head of the Socinists. They believe that God is a still-evolving entity. I owe them a meeting as a payback for a political favor.”

“I could try my hand with Hekmat if you like. I have some sympathy with the idea of an evolving deity — certainly the gods we’ve had in the past haven’t done too well by us. Why are they called Socinists?”

“They claim to be followers of a sixteenth-century theologian, Sozzini, who said that God wasn’t omnipotent and omniscient. God is still learning and growing. But let me warn you, today’s Socinists believe that the Alpha Centauri supernova is part of the evolving consciousness of the universe, and they say we ought not to defend ourselves against it.”

“Hekmat should be talking to Wilmer Oldfield. If I understand correctly, he and Astarte Vjansander believe something along the same lines. The gamma pulse and the particle flux didn’t come our way by accident. It all happened by intention .”

“Don’t believe everything Wilmer and Star tell you. When they get going they can be as crazy as Hekmat. Anyway, he can’t talk to them. They’re out on Sky City. Their work is too important for me to bring them back here.” Celine stabbed her pencil at the page and viciously crossed out another line. “I sometimes wish I were out there, too. It’s where the real action is.”

” ’They also serve who only stand and wait.’ ”

“Right. Stand, and wait, and meet with power-mad crazies like Gordy Rolfe, or self-centered bags of wind like Milton Glover. Don’t you ever long for the old times, when if you did just one thing well, at the end of the day you could feel satisfied with your efforts?”

“You mean your days on the Mars expedition?”

“That’s what I was thinking of.”

“You were young then. Look at it realistically. You spent a few years locked up in a metal can, you flew back home, and then half of your crew died.”

“Nick, you’ve got the soul of a sausage maker.” Celine stood up. “No trace of romance.”

“I could give you the names of fifty people less than five miles from this room who’d tell you different. But that would be gross indiscretion and betrayal.” Lopez stood up, too, towering over Celine. “I’ll go tackle Mr. Hekmat and his Socinist friends. But I’d rather not meet Milton Glover if I can avoid it.”

“No argument there. You go out the other door and I’ll direct Hekmat around to you. First, though, I’ve got to call Gordy Rolfe and make a date, then tell Claudette to arrange a flight to Houston—”

“No. Gordy’s not at The Flaunt today. He doesn’t go there much — doesn’t go anywhere.”

“Then where is he?”

“At his underground facility in Virginia. I told you, he’s getting stranger and stranger. Anybody who wants to see him now has to go there.”

“I don’t know where it is.”

“You do, actually — better than most people. The Argos Group underground location is where the old Legion of Argos had its headquarters. It’s the place where you were held prisoner when you returned from Mars. It’s the place where the commando team captured the Eye of God, Pearl Lazenby.”

“Hell and damnation.” Celine flopped down again onto her padded chair with its special back support.

According to the physicians, the bone loss from the long Mars trip had been completely restored, but her back had its own opinion. “That’s a place I never expected to go again, and never wanted to.”

“Better than standing and waiting. But I agree with you. I’ve been to Gordy’s hideaway, and I must say I didn’t like it one bit.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“You’ll see. I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.” Lopez gripped Celine’s hand briefly and headed for the door. “Good luck with Gordy. Call me as soon as you get back. I can’t wait to hear what he says. And let me know what you think of his underground habitat.”

After he had gone, Celine sat for a long time and stared at the wall of her office. Had she been conned? Conned into visiting Rolfe? Maybe it was a necessary act. But Nick Lopez’s voice, on his final remark, suggested that he already knew very well what she would think of Gordy’s underground home.

By midday Celine was eager to leave. Gordy Rolfe had agreed to a meeting easily. In her view, too easily, but Nick Lopez was not available for questions. He had spirited Jahangir Hekmat and his Socinist contingent away — to where, Celine neither knew nor cared.

One gone. The only other unavoidable meeting was with Milton Glover of the Trust In Government coalition, and that just might turn out to be an unexpected pleasure.

Celine had hopes as soon as she picked up her briefing folder and read the two notes inside. They came in response to her own one-word question, Nevada?, after the last meeting with Milton Glover.

1. Trust In Government interest in leasing federal lands in Nevada stems from their stated desire to have access to old Comstock mine. Forty years ago, the mine had underground tunnels and chambers extending for many miles.

2. A recent classified survey indicates that the Comstock mine and associated deep drillings and excavations were filled in by floods and land subsidence at the time of the Alpha Centauri supernova, and all tunnels remain inaccessible.

The Trust In Government group might be unaware of the contents of that second note. But why weren’t they more cautious? Was there some other reason for their willingness to purchase?

When the door of her office slid open and Milton Glover walked in with his old-fashioned white suit and insincere smile, Celine couldn’t wait.

She cut off Glover’s usual florid greeting before it could begin. “Milton, I’m delighted to tell you that your request to lease the Nevada federal properties has been approved. As soon as you sign on behalf of TIG and thereby provide legal commitment, rights to the lands will belong to your organization for the next fifty years.”

“Why, Madam President, that is splendid news.” But Glover’s face was puzzled.

“Why don’t I bring in witnesses, and we can sign the papers?” Celine buzzed her outer office. “Claudette? Would you and Frederick come in, please.”

“Wonderful!” Glover laughed, but his pale blue eyes were not smiling. Instinct told him that something was not quite right. “However, I think we must let our lawyers take a look and approve before I actually sign anything.”

“But they have already seen the documents, and they have approved. See? Their legal opinion is attached.” I guess Trust In Government lawyers and Trust In Government geologists form nonintersecting sets. “ The Secretary of the Interior has already signed also.”

“So he has.” Glover spoke slowly. He stared around the room, first at the two people who had just entered and then at the window.

No escape for you that way. Celine held out a pen. “Milton, you already know Claudette Schwinger, and this is Frederick Wollaston. They will serve as witnesses. If you would like to sign first?”