Jack McDevitt - SEEKER

We disengaged from the crowd and found seats in one of the boarding areas. I think we were just beginning to grasp the reality of what had happened. Twenty-two dead.

It would constitute one of the worst disasters of modern times. But I’m not sure that was what I was feeling. I pictured myself inside the cabin and suddenly blown into the sky.

“You okay?” Alex asked.

“Yeah.”

The security people came back and took us to a central location where we described Charlie again for an artist. “Did you know,” Alex asked, “there was a time they used surveillance cameras in places like this? Recorded everything.” In fact, he added, Rainbow had sold one of the devices to a collector years ago.

“Maybe we need to get them back,” I said.

By the time we were finished, we’d missed the nine o’clock shuttle, too. Assuming there’d been one.

Nothing quite shocks the system like murder. It reminds us that, even in this relatively enlightened time, there are still barbarians among us.

- Barringer Tate,

Civilized to a Fault, 1418 By morning they had the names of the passengers. I was not surprised to see there was no Charlie Everson among them.

“He wasn’t one of our people,” Windy told me, speaking over the circuit. “I didn’t even know you guys were back until your call came in.”

“We got in yesterday.”

“Thank heaven you weren’t on it. You really think this was an effort to kill you and Alex?”

“It’s the third attempt.”

“My God, what’s going on?”

“Alex thinks somebody was hoping to put us out of the picture and claim the Seeker.”

She brightened considerably. “You found it?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me about it. What kind of condition is it in? Where is it? Did you find Margolia?”

I paused briefly for effect. “We orbited the place.”

She caught her breath. “Really? You wouldn’t kid me.”

“No, Windy,” I said. “We were there.”

She clapped her hands, screamed “Yes!” and came out of her chair with such force I thought she was going to charge physically into my office. “Marvelous!”

“It’s a jungle now. Nothing left.”

“It’s okay! But you found it? Wonderful! Are you sure? How do you know if there’s nothing left?”

I needed several minutes to explain. Then another few minutes elapsed while we talked about the effect it would have on the archeological community. After she’d settled into a radiant glow, she switched back to the shuttle. “What did Charlie look like?”

I described him.

She shook her head. “Rings no bells.”

“I assume it’s safe to say you don’t know anything about a tracker either, right?”

“No. What tracker?”

“Somebody tried to play bumper cars with us.”

“This is crazy,” she said.

“Right. We think the danger’s past now that we’ve filed the claim.”

“Be careful anyhow. When did you file?”

“First thing this morning.”

“You included us?”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. We need two things.”

“I’m listening.”

“We’d like to have an announcement made right away. With a big enough splash so we can be sure these lunatics know it’s gone public. Just in case they’re not following developments at the Bureau of Records. We want them to know Margolia is off the table.”

“Okay. I’ll set one up for tomorrow morning. What else can I do for you?”

“I assume Survey will be sending a mission?”

“Of course.”

“Okay. You’ll want to get moving on it. These people, whoever they are, have a head start. They could do a fair amount of looting before anyone gets there.”

As soon as I’d finished talking to Windy, I called Shara. “I heard what happened,” she said. “I’m glad you guys missed the flight.”

“There’s more to it than that, Shara. Somebody tried to take us during the mission.” I explained about the tracker.

“How could that happen?” she asked. “Who knew where you were going?”

I hesitated. “Nobody except you.”

She covered her mouth with a hand. “Hey,” she said. “I didn’t tell anybody.”

“That’s what I wanted to ask. No one came around, asking questions?”

“No. Not a soul.”

“Would anybody have had access to the information you gave us?”

She took a deep breath. “The staff.”

“What staff? Who, specifically?”

“Chase, anybody who works for Survey’s administrative staff could have pulled it up.”

“Shara-”

“I used my office to run the program. That made it accessible.”

“To the whole world.”

“I’m sorry, Chase. You didn’t say anything about a need for secrecy.”

“I thought it was obvious.”

“It wasn’t. I’m sorry.”

“Okay. At least we know what happened.”

“If I’d realized, I could have put a security code on it.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

“I didn’t know-”

Fenn called us and that afternoon we got interviewed by two more investigators. We went over everything we’d told the first team, then went over it again. They asked who would want us dead and looked skeptical when we told them we didn’t know.

“Not that I don’t have enemies,” said Alex. “Can’t avoid it in my business. But I don’t know of anyone who’d qualify as a homicidal maniac.”

“And you think they were after this Margolia?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds like the biggest claim jump of all time.”

They were male and female, very serious, thank you ma’am, are you absolutely certain? The male was short and dumpy, the female tall and trim. The male seemed to be in charge.

They called up images of every Charlie Everson on the planet. None of them was the guy. Then they showed us through a rogues’ gallery. Nobody there, either.

“Was it a bomb?” I asked.

The woman nodded. “Yes.” Her voice showed strain. Subdued rage, maybe. “Hard to believe,” she added after a pause, “anyone would put a bomb into a vehicle loaded with people. I don’t know what we’re coming to.”

“They’ve implemented all kinds of security measures,” said the male.

Alex asked whether the police had any idea who might have done it.

They replied they weren’t in a position to comment.

They advised us to be careful and call if we saw anything suspicious. “Don’t assume you’re safe,” the woman said, “simply because you’ve filed a claim. It would probably be best if you didn’t travel together. Until we sort this out.”

Nobody was much interested in archeological discoveries when the breakup of the shuttle was dominating the news. Windy tried anyway. She arranged the press conference for next day as she said she would, and Alex made the official announcement. He stood in front of a crowd of about fifteen writers and journalistsnormally, for an event like this, there would have been close to a hundred-and told them Margolia had been found.

The immediate reaction was laughter and snorting. Surely he was speaking metaphorically.

No. “It’s actually there. We’ve been there.”

“Are they alive?” someone asked, to more laughter.

“No. It’s a long time dead. It’s jungle now.”

“Are you sure?” They started to calm down. “You’ve got the right place, I mean?”

“Yes,” said Alex. “There seems to be no question.”

He went on to describe what we’d seen, and what we surmised about how it had happened. Probably a passing star.

The writers kept him busy more than an hour. How long had the colony lasted before the catastrophe? How had he felt when he went inside the Seeker? How do you spell that? What did we estimate the population of Margolia had been when it was destroyed? Were we going back? What had led us there?