Jack McDevitt - Infinity Beach

There were some differences of opinion, minor and unavoidable among a group of people who talked politics and history, science and philosophy, apparently ran a book discussion group, and engaged in virtual gaming. Kim and Solly were never privy to the games, but they judged by what they heard afterward that they included a fair amount of sexual byplay. There was, however, no evidence of tension between Kane and Tripley, or between the women. Apparently there was an arrangement, but Kim couldn’t sort out its precise nature.

Solly had fallen asleep. Kim was weary but she wanted to hang on until she found out what would happen. If indeed anything would happen. She’d begun to fast-forward through the conversations, planning to come back later and listen more closely. Sometimes Kane was alone in the pilot’s room, reading, writing in a notebook, occasionally doing sketches on a pad which he kept on a side table. She thought she detected an early version of the Autumn .

She was moving quickly through the record when she saw, for the first time, an empty pilot’s room. A klaxon was sounding and lights were blinking. She noted the time: 11:17 P.M., February 17, the fifth day of the mission.

The picture went to a split screen, adding a shadowy area that she recognized as the engine room.

She woke Solly.

“Problem with the jump engines, looks like,” he said.

“But they’re in flight, right? Coasting. The jump engines aren’t actually doing anything at this point, are they?”

“They’re still online,” Solly explained, “and any of a number of things can go wrong.” He brought up the data stream and examined it for a few minutes. “Auxiliary feed system,” he said. “It’s a redundant safety feature. Monitors the antimatter flow controls during the jump. If there’s a problem, it takes over.”

“You mean the engines would still work okay without the system in place?”

“Oh, sure. But you don’t want to do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because antimatter is a cranky fuel. It has a tendency to blow out controls. If the secondary system isn’t there, and you get any kind of overload at all, you can kiss your baby blues goodbye.”

Solly switched back to the visual record in time to see Kane come down the stairs into the engine room. Emily, wrapped in a robe, was right behind him. He paused before a console, touched it, and the alarms died. “ It’s okay, ” he told her. “ We’re not in danger. ”

He sat down at a monitor and was paging through schematics when the others arrived. “ It’s the auxiliary feed system, ” he said. “ We’re going to have to abort the mission. ”

“ Abort? ” Emily looked stricken. “ Is it really that serious? Can’t we fix it? ”

Kim knew she would have asked whether they were in trouble.

“ I can jury-rig it temporarily. But we don’t want to be running around the Golden Pitcher with a busted AFS. ”

“ Why not? ” asked Tripley. “ What exactly is the risk? ”

“ Hard to put a number on it. It’s a safety device that we won’t need unless we need it. If you follow me. But my opinion doesn’t matter. The regs require us to head back. ”

“ Who’d ever know? ”

“ I would. We die out here, it’d be my responsibility. ” He took a deep breath. “ It’s not the end of the world, Kile. There’ll be another day. ”

“ Yeah. ” Tripley glared at the engine as if it had deliberately betrayed him. “ Okay, what do we do now? ”

“ I need a few hours to work on it. Make some temporary repairs. We’ll get out of hyper and do the job. When I’m finished, we’ll jump back in and head for home. ”

“They have to get out of hyperspace,” Solly explained, answering the question he saw in her face, “in case something goes wrong. It’s a precaution against getting stranded.”

“Bingo,” said Kim. “This is where the encounter happens.”

“ Home? ” Tripley said. “ Why not St. Johns? Why go all the way back home? ”

“ It’s a major job. Not the kind of thing they do out there. They’d do what I’m about to, put together a patchwork solution. But to get recertified for flight, we need Sky Harbor. ”

Emily gazed up at Tripley. “ I’m sorry, Kile. ” She made a sympathetic face.

“ Okay, ” he said. “ Do it. Goddammit. ”

Kane opened a channel to the AI. “ Hunter, abort TDI. Take us out. ”

“Wait a minute,” said Kim. “Are they near a star?”

“Don’t know,” said Solly. “Depends how you define near . If you mean inside a planetary system, I’d say it’s real unlikely.”

“Then this isn’t right. They have to go sight-seeing. They have to decide to come out near one of the seven stars.”

Solly shook his head. “It’s not going to happen.”

She watched Tripley leave the pilot’s room, watched Emily and Kane belt down. The AI counted off the minutes, and then they sailed out of hyperspace. They were in a heavily populated area of Orion, and the sky was filled with great clouds of stars. She couldn’t see enough of it to determine whether there was a nearby sun.

They fast-forwarded. Kane used two hours to make his repairs. Then he alerted the others they were ready to go, and they began the acceleration toward the jump. Twenty-five minutes later they slipped uneventfully back into hyperspace and started the long journey to Sky Harbor.

The eastern sky was beginning to brighten, and a brisk wind rattled the windows. “I just don’t believe it,” she said.

He shut off the computer, glanced meaningfully at her, slid back on the sofa, and closed his eyes. “Looks like it was all a false alarm,” he said.

Her commlink woke her. “Kim?” It was Matt’s voice. Flat. That set off alarms. “Where are you?”

“In Salonika,” she said.

“Were you planning on checking in any time soon?”

“I assumed you’d call if you needed me, Matt.” She kept it on audio.

“I need you.”

She sighed. “Okay. What are we doing?”

“A delegation of physicians and surgeons is coming in tomorrow. We’ve offered them a tour of the Institute.”

“Okay. I’ll be there. What time?”

“Ten.”

“I’m on my way.”

“It’s an opportunity to do some good public relations. Media will be here. And Johnson.”

World’s leading cosmologist. Guarantees lots of attention.

“We’re going to spring for lunch. I’d like you to accompany the tour and talk to them over the salad.”

She listened, said she’d take care of it, and started to disconnect.

“I’m not through yet.”

“What’s wrong, Matt?”

Solly knocked softly and stuck his head into the room. She waved him in.

“Have you been nosing around Sara Baines? Asking questions?”

“Sara Baines? Who’s Sara Baines?” She looked desperately at Solly.

His lips formed the words Deny everything .

“Tripley’s grandmother , for God’s sake. We got another complaint from him. Says somebody was out to interview his grandmother for a book. She can’t remember the title. But I don’t guess Tripley trusts you very much. He showed her your picture.”

“And?”

“She says no. But Tripley thinks it was you. Was it?”

“I guess I did it, Matt.”

She heard him let out his breath. “Kim, what am I going to do with you? Are you determined to lose your job? We’ve been through this before, and it’s not going to happen again. You will keep away from Tripley. Do you understand me?”