Jack McDevitt - Coming Home

“It’s okay.” It’s all I could say.

“I owe you.”

“You know,” I said, “no matter what I told him, Dyke wasn’t going to change his mind.”

“You’re probably right.”

“I hope so, John. Because at the moment, it’s the only thing keeping me sane.”

Another general broadcast came in: First a voice we didn’t recognize: “We are on approach, John. Will rendezvous in about twenty minutes.”

“Glad to hear it, Bark. Capella has opened its cargo hold.”

“The reference,” said Belle, “is to Bark Peters, captain of the Sadie Randall .”

“Bark,” said John, “I have estimated time to transfer lifeboats as approximately three hours. Has there been any change?”

“Negative that.”

“And you have forty-four boats?”

“Confirmed.”

“All right. The three hours will take you right up to, and maybe a little past, the projected Capella departure. You have no wiggle room.”

“I’m aware of that, John.”

“One other thing: Be careful. Break off at the first sign of instability. We don’t want you getting pulled down, too.”

“I’ll take care of it, John. You can leave the details to me.”

He didn’t sound very flexible.

“Okay. Have it your way, Bark. FYI, we also have a yacht closing. The Mary Lou Eisner will arrive within minutes after you guys do.”

“I hope,” I said, “it’s not another Mute.”

“The Mary Lou Eisner ?” said Belle. “That seems unlikely.”

“I was kidding. What’s its capacity?”

“Nine people.”

“ We could do better.”

“It would be close.”

“There are—what?—two more coming in after that?”

“Yes. The Shang-Chi and the Morrison . They’re about an hour apart. Both small, so they won’t be able to take many.”

“At least they’ll be in and out quickly.”

We were getting pictures from the Randall as they approached. “I have a question for you, Belle,” I said.

“Okay.”

“Who was Belle-Marie?”

“Her last name was McKeown. She was one of Gabe’s girlfriends. A special one.”

“What happened to her? They never married?”

“No. She walked away from him.”

“She walked away from Gabe ?”

“Yes. Damaged him emotionally, I believe.”

“And he named his new yacht for her?”

“I thought it was strange, too. Why do you pay tribute to somebody who discards you? He could have called it the Giddy-Up or something. But he told me she never knew about it.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear it.”

“Gabe was, is, kind of tough on the surface, but down under all the manly stuff, he’s pretty sentimental.”

“Did you ever meet her? Belle-Marie McKeown?”

“Yes. I have it from others who saw her that she looked good. I do not normally develop emotional reactions to people. Certainly not based on their appearance. But I will confess that I never cared for her.”

“Because of the way she treated Gabe?”

“No. I didn’t like her before that happened. I’m not sure I can give you a reason. She was a bit distant. I think Gabe always realized he wasn’t going to be able to hold on to her, but he stayed with it as long as he could.”

Bark Peters came back: “John, we are pulling alongside the Capella now. Lifeboats will be on the move in three minutes.”

Bark Peters provided close-up pictures of the lifeboat packages as they were sent one by one out of the Randall ’s storage compartments. Twin jets were attached to the packages. Two crew members in green-and-white jet-assisted pressure suits traveled with each unit. They guided it across a gap of about forty meters into the Capella ’s cargo hold, where some of the cruise ship’s people corralled it and took it into whatever open space they had available.

An additional four members of the Randall ’s crew, with jetpacks, served as wingmen, hovering between the two ships, lending a hand where necessary. It was an efficient process, but it was slow . They lost control of one package, and two of the wingmen had to chase it down. On another occasion, one of the Capella ’s people, apparently not paying attention, got clobbered by an incoming unit and had to be taken inside the ship.

By the end of the first hour, twelve lifeboats had been moved across and stored, and three were en route. They were slightly ahead of schedule, and the operation was improving as the two crews became more efficient.

Meantime, the Mary Lou Eisner arrived and took off an additional ten people, one more than expected. The Chang-Shi came in a half hour behind it and collected eleven more. Then we heard John’s voice: “Got a problem, Bark. One of the people from the Chang-Shi has gotten loose on the Capella . He’s taken control of the drive. Says he’s going to shut it down. Cease operations immediately and get clear.”

I was still getting pictures from the Randall , watching its crew continuing to move the lifeboats into the Capella . Despite the instructions, the Randall showed no sign of leaving. A few minutes later, John called me . “Chase, do you know an Archie Cicotte?”

“Negative.”

“He’s the pilot of the Chang-Shi . He’s on board the Capella . He’s the one threatening to shut down the engines. He’s telling them it’s the only right thing to do. That it will stop the ship from getting sucked under again.”

“You sound as if you expect me to do something.”

“He says Alex told him to do it.”

“What? That’s crazy, John.” Then I remembered. “Alex was on a show last week. The host—I forget who it was—asked him what he would want to happen if he were stuck on the Capella . He said he’d want somebody to shut down the engines. Take the chance. Something like that.”

“Well, wonderful. Now we have to deal with this lunatic who took him at his word.”

“I don’t think it ever occurred to Alex—”

“Let it go.”

“How’d he get into the control room?”

“Can we talk about that later? I need you to talk him down. Tell him who you are. That Alex didn’t mean it or something.”

How did I keep getting into the middle of these things? “Okay, John, put me through.”

We got a visual. I could see four crewmen keeping their distance from a short, beefy guy who was bent over the controls. Everybody’s eyes, except his, turned my way.

“Look,” he was saying, “I’m sorry I’m scaring the hell out of you people, but in a few minutes, you’ll all be glad I did this.”

“Archie,” I said. “You don’t really want to be responsible for killing twenty-six hundred passengers, do you?”