Jack McDevitt - SEEKER

“When did it happen?”

“We don’t know that either,” Alex said. “We don’t know any more now than you do.”

“What about the colony?”

“We haven’t even figured out where the colony was.”

His voice caught. “You found the Seeker, but you don’t know where the colony was?

How’s that possible?”

“The ship is adrift in a system that has nothing approximating the kind of world you’d have needed. We don’t have a clue why it’s here or where it came from.”

“How hard can it be?” he demanded. “Just look for a class-K.”

“You’re not listening, Harry. There is no class-K in this system.”

Harry shook his head. Can’t be. “Where are we now?” he asked.

I told him. Tinicum 2116. Same as last time.

“Do you know where the colony was established?” Alex asked. I could hear growing impatience in his voice.

“No. I’ve told you, I’m only a composite.”

“I don’t mean you, the avatar. I mean you, Harry Williams. When the first flight left Earth, taking the colonists out to wherever the hell it was, did Williams know the destination?”

“No.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. Not in the sense you’re asking. I couldn’t have told anyone where it was. I’d been there. I knew what the world looked like. But I don’t know anything about star travel.”

“You just knew it was out there, somewhere.”

“Yes. There was no need for me to have specifics beyond that. They were irrelevant.”

In spite of everything he managed a smile. “Tell me something was fifteen degrees west of Antares, and I would have no idea what you were talking about.”

“All right. Let’s try it this way. Who originally planned the details for the flights to Margolia?”

“Clement Estaban.”

The name meant nothing to me, but Alex nodded. “The man who walked away,” he said.

“Yes. At the last minute, he changed his mind. He wasn’t the only one.”

“How did that come about?”

“Estaban was an engineer. Made some of the early exploratory flights. And he found a summer world.”

“Was he the first to suggest the idea of a colony?”

“No. I don’t think so. To be honest, I don’t remember who first suggested it. But-”

He was still having trouble with his voice. “I hope they’re okay.” He spoke as if the original colonists might still be alive somewhere.

“Harry,” said Alex, “what were the long-range plans for the Seeker and the Bremerhaven?”

“You mean after they delivered the colonists?”

“Yes.”

“Simple enough. After the third voyage, the two ships were to remain with the colony.

They were going to be put in orbit. Kept accessible in case we needed them.”

“Okay. That means you intended to maintain them. But did you actually have the people to do it? And the equipment?”

“Yes. We had both. We sent an orbital dock out with the colony. With all the parts and equipment we would need for the foreseeable future. And we had a few engineers. Not specialists in that kind of work, but willing to learn. But-”

“-But what?”

“I don’t think we were that concerned about the ships. We didn’t seriously expect to use them again. Our sense of the situation was that we were going to be a long time getting the colony up and running. Years. Maybe decades. We weren’t much interested in maintaining an interstellar capacity. There was no need for it.”

“Okay.”

“We were going to keep the ships so we didn’t lose the technology. So we’d be able to manufacture our own, when the time came.”

“Suppose the colony got into trouble? There was no long-range communication. You couldn’t call for help.”

“What kind of trouble could we have gotten into?”

“Plague,” I suggested.

“We were going to be an off-world life-form. None of the local bugs could have touched us.”

“How could you possibly be sure?” demanded Alex. “In the beginning of the interstellar age, the notion that disease could only affect life-forms from its own biosystem was only theory.”

“We talked to the top people. They said it wasn’t possible.”

“They were wrong, Harry. There’ve been some incidents.”

He made a noise in his throat. His eyes were filled with pain. And I know. It was only an avatar. Not real. But you should have been there. “Belle,” I said, “can you cut the emotional levels? We need to be able to talk to him.”

“Sorry, Chase,” she said. “If I make adjustments in the personality, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the model.”

“It’s okay,” said Alex. “Harry, you put, what, five thousand people out in the middle of nowhere. How could you be sure something wouldn’t go wrong?”

“We were very careful. We knew the place we were going to. I assure you it was safe.”

“Suppose somebody changed his mind. Wanted to go home?”

“The colony would be home.”

“Come on, Harry. You know what I’m saying.”

His eyes closed for a moment. “Actually, we knew that would happen and we made provision for it.”

“What was the provision?”

“Counseling. And, where necessary, a way to return.”

“How did you manage that?”

“We knew some people wouldn’t be able to adjust. We also had a couple of crew members to take care of. Who were to go home. They weren’t all members of the community, you know.”

“I assumed-”

“You assumed wrong.” The voice was angry now. “No. Abe was one of us. But that’s because of his girlfriend. It wasn’t a matter of principle with him. Two of the engineers were not staying. One on each ship. And Taja wasn’t.”

“The captain of the Seeker.”

“Yes.”

“So how were they going to get home?”

“The Boykins was going to pick them up.”

“The Boykins.”

“Yes. They were to be taken back, as well as anyone else who wanted to return.”

“So someone else did know where Margolia was?”

“Of course. The pilot’s name was Yurawicz. Marco Yurawicz.”

“Did he actually make the flight? Did anyone go back? Other than the crew members?”

“He made three flights. He returned almost four hundred people who’d changed their minds.”

“Four hundred?”

“Actually a bit more than that. We knew it would happen. We just didn’t know how many. We didn’t advertise our intention to provide an opportunity to return because we knew a lot of people would apply simply to see whether they’d like the experience.

Give us a trial run. We wanted committed people only. But we knew we had to make provision.”

“Wasn’t that too many people to expect to keep a secret?”

“They were like me, Alex. They had no idea where Margolia was. And I don’t think anybody in the government cared where it was.”

“And the crew members never told anybody?”

“As far as I know. That was the deal. They were well paid, and they were obviously as good as their word.”

“What about Taja?”

“She never did return to Earth. Must have liked the new world. Probably found someone and settled down.”

We went back next day for a final visit.

We broke into the captain’s cabin, as well as those set aside for her executive officer and the other three crew members. The cabins were well preserved. Desks and chairs, at least the ones still secured to the deck, were reasonably intact. They’d had their own washrooms. I couldn’t resist punching the pad over the shower, but of course there was no water. Outside, in the passageway, the bulkheads were stained where water lines had burst.

We found a few pictures on the bulkheads. In the compartment we guessed to be Taja’s, there was one of a man, an adolescent girl, an older woman, and a child about five. In the adjoining cabin, we saw a picture of two attractive young women.