Jack McDevitt - Coming Home

It took a bit longer than an hour, but eventually we pulled to within a few kilometers of it, off its port side. “Close enough,” JoAnn said. “Let’s stay where we are.” Barkley’s lights were on both inside and out. The ship looked occupied.

“The thing should take effect again in about an hour and a half,” said JoAnn.

We watched the display, which gave us a clearer view than we could get looking out the ports.

Nick pointed out that no one had eaten, but he seemed to be the only person aboard with an appetite. He got some chocolate chip cookies from the dispenser, and we all ate a couple.

The Carver floated quietly on the monitor, transfixed against the background of stars. I sat staring at it, literally praying, thinking how the evacuation problem was maybe about to go away. The Capella would arrive in three months, and we would get everyone off, and it would be over.

And Gabe would be back.

Shara commented that it was a new experience for her. “It’s the first time I’ve been involved in an experiment that had life-and-death consequences.”

JoAnn turned away from the display and looked out through the portal at the Carver . She wanted to be over there. I could see it in her eyes. My own thoughts were centered on whether we were too close.

I treated myself to a couple more cookies. There wasn’t much conversation. JoAnn seemed caught up in her notebook. Shara stayed by the portal for the most part. I thought about going back onto the bridge, but Nick hadn’t really suggested he’d welcome that, and I didn’t want to intrude. So I stayed in the passenger cabin and watched while the time ran down. JoAnn eventually pushed back in her seat and sighed. “Looks like about fifteen minutes.”

The AI posted a countdown on the display.

“Barkley,” JoAnn said, “let me know as soon as you feel something starting to happen, okay?”

“Yes, JoAnn. Of course. I’m already sending the readings from the drive unit.”

“Okay. Good.”

Nick’s voice came from the bridge. “You want them posted, too, JoAnn?”

“Yes,” she said. Then she turned to Shara. “I don’t think it’ll make much difference since I don’t really know what I’m looking for.”

“It’s beginning,” said Barkley.

The readings were starting to move. Fuel input. Conversion levels. JoAnn leaned forward, tapped the screen with an index finger. Quantum resistance. “We’re in business. Damn it. I wish I were over there.”

“Why?” demanded Shara. “You can’t do anything there that can’t be managed from here.”

“Maybe not. But the reaction would be a bit quicker. Okay, Barkley, cut the feed by point two two.”

“Complying. But everything’s becoming transparent.”

JoAnn was studying the numbers on her display. “It’s still too high. Back off to one seven.”

“Done—”

The Carver ’s hull was losing visibility. It faded from the display, but a ghostly silhouette remained. “Shara,” she said, “I wanted to be there because time of response is everything.”

And the Carver was gone.

“All right,” said JoAnn. “Good so far.”

Nick came in off the bridge. “You mean because it hasn’t exploded?”

“I mean because nothing has happened. That’s okay. I would have preferred seeing it stay visible. But let’s relax. Time is passing at a different clip inside the ship. If we got it right, it may take a while for us to see some results.”

Nick looked puzzled. “You said a few minutes.”

“I was being optimistic.”

So we sat and watched.

“It might just go downstream and surface at the epsilon point,” said Shara.

JoAnn chewed on her upper lip. “That would indicate it was still caught in the warp. It would be a failure, but not a disaster.”

It had been gone twenty-one minutes when we got a transmission. “JoAnn, I am back up. Not sure where I am.”

Nick was back on the bridge. “I’ve got him,” he said. “He’s on track. About eleven thousand kilometers.”

“Okay,” said JoAnn. “Not a complete success, but we’ve slowed it down.”

Shara’s eyes closed. “We still don’t know where we are.”

Three days later, the Carver was still adrift in linear space. The experiment had been partially successful, and people across the Confederacy were toasting JoAnn.

Meantime, I was back at the country house, while Alex’s taxi drifted in at midafternoon and descended through bright cold sunlight into the snow cover. He hauled his bags up onto the deck, came inside, and dropped them by the door. “Congratulations, Chase,” he said. “Looks as if we’re on our way.”

“I hope so,” I said. “JoAnn says she still can’t guarantee anything.”

“I’m sorry to hear it.”

“So,” I asked, “how was the trip?”

He shrugged. “Okay. Fairly routine until you and JoAnn and Marissa got into it.” He led the way to the conference room, which also served as a dining area, and sat down in one of the armchairs. “Tell me about the experiment.”

“It wasn’t quite what they’d hoped for, but JoAnn sees progress.” I got us some coffee and described what had happened.

“I’m sorry it wasn’t a complete success,” he said. “It would have made everything a lot easier.”

“JoAnn’s looking over the numbers, and they’re hoping she’ll figure out a way.”

“I was talking with John.” He meant John Kraus. “This was before you guys went out. He’s frustrated. They’ve been trying to get more ships from the fleet to help. He tells me it will be harder than they realized to break the Capella out of the warp because the damned thing is so big. JoAnn has it right, I guess. All they have to experiment with are yachts. They just don’t trust the results.”

“Maybe they should bring in one of the warships. They don’t have any use for them anymore.”

“John tells me even those are too small. They need another Capella .”

“Well, there are a few cruise ships.”

“They’re working on it. However that goes, John doesn’t want to take any chances on losing the ship. He’s not going to allow any experimenting with the drive unless they can guarantee the safety of the passengers. It doesn’t sound as if that’s going to happen.”

“So what’s the option?”

“The problem is that, because of its mass, the area where it may reappear has gotten a lot bigger. They’ll likely need five or six hours just to get somebody alongside.”

“That’ll probably be a yacht, and take off about ten people.”

“That is probably true. Given the time constraints, they won’t be able to get more than a couple of hundred people off, at best, when it reappears.”

“How long will it be accessible?”

“John says about ten hours.”

“It’s a nightmare,” I said.

“It’s why they’ve been hoping JoAnn could come up with something.”

“The fleet won’t provide any more?”

“The fleet maintains they don’t have any more. Some of the media people claim they’re keeping a force available in case the Mutes try to take advantage of the situation.”

“Alex, the bad times with the Mutes are over. Doesn’t anybody realize that? I mean, the Mutes have announced they’ll be sending ships to help with the search.”