Jack McDevitt - SEEKER

Shara, who is not given to messing around, held the beam on him as he went down.

“That’s enough,” Alex said. He took the weapon from her. Charlie lay flat on the deck with his face gone and a wisp of smoke rising from his skull.

The controls were a disaster area, charred and cut.

Shara looked at Alex, assured herself he was okay, and turned to me. My leg wasn’t so good, and my neck hurt. “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten me,” she said.

“I wish we could have gotten you out of there a bit sooner,” I said. “I’d hoped you’d get him when he first came aboard.”

She gazed at Alex. “There was never enough separation between you. He kept the laser aimed at your neck.”

“Well,” said Alex, “he’s out of business. That’s all that matters.”

I wasn’t so sure. “Kalu,” I said, “status report, please.”

“Hello, Chase. I no longer have control over the flight path. Control systems for main engines and attitude thrusters on both beams are inoperative. Quantum engines are down. I have no specifics on them at the moment. Life support is okay.” He started reading off a laundry list of problems, but I interrupted. “Details later, Kalu. Are we losing air?”

“Hull integrity is intact, except hole punched through lower deck.”

“Can we maneuver at all?”

“I can turn us around the central axis. That’s about it.”

“How about we use the lander to get clear?” said Shara.

“It doesn’t have enough thrust. We’d just follow the Spirit down.”

“Go to manual,” suggested Alex.

“The problem’s not the AI,” I said. “It’s the controls. They don’t exist anymore. Kalu, send a code white to the Gonzalez. Tell them they have four hours to get to us.”

“No,” said Alex. “Wait.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Is the comm link off?” Alex asked.

“I shut it down a few minutes ago.”

“Then Windy doesn’t know what happened?”

“No.”

“You send that code white and Windy’ll know quickly enough.”

“It doesn’t matter, Chase,” said Kalu. “The long-range transmission system is inoperative. We do have radio available.”

“That would get them here in maybe six months,” said Shara.

Alex was opening the deck hatch. “We’ll have to make repairs,” he said. “We have spare parts.”

I took a long look at the bridge. “I hope we have a lot of them.”

The future is no more uncertain than the present.

- Walt Whitman, “Song of the Broad-Axe,” 1856 C.E.

“Can you make repairs?” asked Alex.

I looked at the wreckage. “I’m not optimistic,” I said.

Outside the viewport, the vast red clouds blocked off half the sky. “I’m not asking you to be optimistic. Just jury-rig something.”

They watched hopefully while I did a quick survey. “I could get it up and running again,” I said, “if we have the parts, and if we had time. I’ve got Kalu to help. But the relays are gone, the wiring’s up in smoke, some of this stuff is fused. Give me a week, and I might be able to put something together.”

“It’s that bad,” said Alex.

“That’s about it,” I said. “The answer’s no.”

“You have three hours, fifty-seven minutes,” said Kalu, “before reaching a point from which we will not be able to extract the ship.” I guess he was trying to be helpful.

I looked at Shara. “Why don’t you call it a red dwarf?”

“They’ve always called this kind of object a brown dwarf.”

“The yacht’s our only way out,” said Alex.

“I don’t think Windy’s going to invite us over.”

“I love riding with you guys,” said Shara. “Does this kind of thing happen all the time?” Despite the bravado, she looked frightened. “Anybody have any ideas?” She’d gotten the burn ointment and was rubbing it into my leg while I sat with my head back and my eyes closed.

“Does Windy know,” asked Alex, “that we’ve lost thrust?”

“Yes,” I said. “No way she could miss that. What she’s waiting for now is for Charlie to tell her our communications are also down, that we can’t contact anyone. Then it’s just a matter of picking up her guy and clearing out.”

Alex looked down at the body. “If she figures out Charlie’s gone to his reward, she’s just going to take off and leave us.”

“Look.” I pointed at the viewports. Windy’s yacht was pulling into position off our starboard beam. Getting ready to extract Charlie.

I did a quick scan of the vehicle. “It’s a Lotus,” I said. “Carrying capacity is three.

Pilot plus two passengers.”

“My God,” said Shara. “We’ve got to do better than that.”

Alex was staring at the approaching yacht. “Only if we’re worried about Windy. I think I’m past that point.”

“Well,” I continued, “there’s always a safety margin. You can get one or two more on board. Considering the size of that thing, I’d say one. But if we could take the damned thing, we could alert Brankov; and then it would just be a matter of hanging on until he got here.”

“You figure there’s anybody else over there?” asked Shara.

“I doubt it,” said Alex. “This isn’t the kind of flight where you take friends along.”

Shara was standing with her back pressed against the bulkhead. “Okay, how do we manage it? She’s not going to open up for us.”

“She might,” Alex said. “After all, she’s expecting Charlie.”

“So we give her Charlie?” I said.

“Exactly. Kalu, can you impersonate Charlie’s voice?”

“I believe so.” I jumped. It sounded as if Charlie was up and around again. “I want to remind you. No surprises. I want you standing directly in front of the airlock when it opens. With your hands in the air. If you’re not there, I’ll kill him. Do you understand?” Tone and inflection were perfect.

“Good,” said Alex. “Beautiful. Now let’s call Windy and have Kalu do his Charlie impression and tell her everybody’s dead and he’s coming home. Tell her to open the airlock. If I put on his pressure suit, I should be able to cross and get inside without her being aware it’s me.”

“You?” I said.

“Who would you suggest?” He knew what was coming and sent me a warning glance.

“The sooner we get this going, Chase, the better.” He checked to make sure he had the laser.

“I should go,” I said.

“Why?”

“Same as before. I have more experience working in vacuum. And this time all our lives depend on getting it right.”

“Chase, it’s too dangerous.”

“You think it’s not dangerous sitting here waiting to see how things turn out?”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look, it’s not that I don’t think you can handle it. But you’re right: All our lives are on the line here. We have to give ourselves the best possible chance. She may have to be killed.” His eyes bored into me. “Are you prepared to do that?”

“If I have to.”

Shara had been watching the sparring. “You know,” she said, “I don’t want to create more problems, but this babe is a psycho. She might be thinking this is a golden opportunity to get rid of the one person who ties her to it.”

“You think?” I asked.

“Why not? If I were in her place and operated the way she does, the minute Charlie checked in and told me everything here was taken care of, I’d say good-bye, Charlie, hasta la vista, and be on my way.”

Alex and I traded unsettled glances. “She’s got a point,” he said.

“So what do we do?”

“We better think about it before we call and tell her anything.”

“We need a better idea,” Shara said. “And by the way, since my life is hanging here, too, if somebody’s going to make a jump across to the Lotus, I want the most experienced person doing it.” She looked at me.