Jack McDevitt: Firebird

“I don't know. I'd been down at the church. They were having a social. When I got home, I went to bed. Apparently, Eliot brought Chris home shortly before midnight. I never heard the skimmer.

“Whatever happened after that-” She shook her head. “He never came inside; I'm sure of that. I woke up during the night because of the earthquake. We didn't take any damage, but we got some tremors. It's a scary thing when the ground shakes under you. I never realized they'd been there until I heard, two days later, that Eliot had died in the quake. I couldn't understand that because he was supposed to be out with Chris. But it left me fearful that Chris had been stranded somewhere. That Eliot was supposed to go back and pick him up.” Her voice shook. “It's all very confusing, Ms. Kolpath.”

“Call me 'Chase,'“ I said. “Do you know where they'd gone? Your husband and Eliot?”

“No. It was always orbital stuff, and I just wasn't very interested. I guess I should have been.”

“Were you expecting him home that evening?”

“Not really. He'd said he expected to be gone about a week. By then he'd been gone three or four days, so no, I wasn't looking for him.”

“Did he usually let you know when he'd be back?”

“He sometimes came back early. When he did, he'd usually call from Skydeck. But not always.”

Alex got up and walked over to his desk. “So he did this often?” he asked. “Traveling off-world?”

“Yes. He did it all the time.”

“Did you ever go with him?”

“Three or four times. I don't particularly enjoy it. I used to get dizzy just going up to Skydeck.”

“You deleted everything in the house AI. Why?”

“Too many memories. He was there. In the system. I could have spent endless evenings talking with him. Enjoying him. Pretending he was really in the house. Really alive. I knew if I did that, I'd never survive.”

“It would have been hard,” Alex said. There've been cases of people who needed treatment when they refused to let go of loved ones who'd died. “How did you find out Cermak had been to the house? Was it neighbors?”

“We didn't really have anyone living close enough to qualify as a neighbor.” She smiled ruefully. “I loved the house, but I didn't like the solitude. We were all alone out on the Point. That was Chris's idea. I went along with it.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “There were a couple of people out for a walk. Along the ocean. They saw the skimmer come down. When they described it, it sounded like Eliot's. But since Chris had never arrived, I thought it must have been just a coincidence that it looked like his. But the two witnesses, they swore it landed. And, of course, when it turned out that Eliot had gotten home and been killed in the quake-”

“It must have been a terrible shock,” said Alex.

“It was,” she said. “And it never went away.”

I brought up the images of the Robin collectibles. Again, it was the portrait of the starship that drew my attention. The bulky, retro interstellar that had hung on Robin's wall. “Jacob,” I said, “can we connect this vehicle with anything?”

He was briefly silent. Then: “Working.”

I studied the ship. The two odd symbols on the hull.

The ship's designator. But it was a language I'd never seen before. Mute, possibly?

“I have a match, Chase. It's the Sanusar contact. It passed by the station fifty-four years ago. It has never been identified.”

Bingo. And that probably explained why Alex thought he'd seen it before.

“It was visible for several hours.”

“Did they get any radio contact, Jacob?”

“Negative. They tried, but got no answer.”

When I reported what I'd learned to Alex, he let me see he already knew. “And I've a surprise for you,” he said.

“What's that?”

“Let me show you something. Found this last night.”

Suddenly, I was looking at a crowded concourse. Something was going on. Everybody was excited, and people were moving close to where a familiar figure was being interviewed by a virtual journalist.

Chris Robin.

“So,” said the reporter, “what do you make of it, Professor?”

“I'm not sure,” said Robin. “But it's not just a lost ship.”

“It's Sanusar,” I said. In 1380. A half century ago. “And Robin was there-?”

“Why do you say that, Professor? That it's not just a lost ship?”

“Because of the way it left,” he said. “If you look at the record, you'll note it didn't simply move into hyperspace. This was different.”

“You know,” I said, “maybe this is why he got interested in these sightings in the first place. He happened to be present when one of them occurred.”

“Maybe.” Alex looked puzzled. “But I think there's more to it than that.”

“How do you mean?”

“Let me show you the media reports for the second week of the new year, 1387. Jacob?”

The monitor lit up, and I sat down in front of it and scanned the headlines:

M EYER ARRESTED ON CORRUPTION CHARGE SCIENTISTS PREDICT HOT SUMMER FREEDOM PARTY UNDERWRITES S TRIP JOINT SARA GOLD SEPARATES FROM HARRY

POLICE OVERREACTED, SAYS ANGRY MOTHER

And, finally:

ALIEN SPACE VEHICLE AT SKYDECK?

(WWP) An alien ship may have passed through the planetary system last night, the Deep Sky Operations Directorate reported this morning. It appeared without warning at the outer edge of the Rimway launch and recovery area, did not respond to calls from the operations center, and, approximately three hours later, passed out of range of the scanners. It was also sighted by a private yacht, which was able to get pictures of it.

Authorities believe the contact was not a standard Confederate vehicle because of its method of departure, which signified an unknown type of drive unit. The vessel did not appear to be Ashiyyurean.

The intruder never approached close to Rimway. According to authorities, it was at no time considered a threat. And they have stated they do not believe it to have been of alien origin. According to the spokesperson, it is deemed far more likely it was an experimental spacecraft and that its origin will become apparent within a short time. No one, however, could explain why it did not respond to repeated queries.

The private yacht was the Breakwater, owned and operated by Eliot Cermak. It was, unfortunately, unable to overtake the intruder. Pictures taken by Cermak indicate that the unknown ship simply accelerated well beyond the yacht's ability to stay close.

An investigation is under way.

“Cermak?” I said. “The same one who was ferrying Robin around?”

“Yes.”

“Do we know whether Robin was in the Breakwater at the time?”

“No. But I'd bet on it.”

“You don't believe in coincidence?”

“No.”

“But you think he was present for two sightings.”

“I didn't say that was a coincidence.”

“How could he possibly have known in advance?”

“I don't know, Chase. Answer that, and we'll be a step closer to finding out what happened to him.”

Alex made two more public appearances over the next few days, and was interviewed by the Celestial, a magazine that specialized in sensational stories. When I suggested he was playing into his critics, he told me it was product enhancement, and it was an essential part of the business.