Charles Sheffield: The Web Between the Worlds

“I do. The King of Heaven himself — and he wants to see you.”

Rob stared again at the aircraft. “He told you to tell me all this?”

“No.” She shook her head, and the chestnut hair swirled about it. “You don’t know Regulo. He would never give an order like that. It’s not his style. `Go on down there,’ he said. `Stop that young fool killing himself on the mountain and bring him up here to talk to me.’ That’s all the instructions he gave me. He’ll never tell you how to do a job, he says that’s what he pays people for. Results are the thing he cares about.” She noticed the way that Rob was eyeing the aircraft. “You’re an engineer — he’s a man you ought to know.”

Rob glanced down at the path ahead, then at the woman. “No fooling me, now. If I go with you we’ll head straight off to meet Regulo?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Right.” Rob walked over to the craft and slung his pack into the back of it. “I don’t know how you knew it, but that’s a strong lure to me.”

She was smiling to herself as they climbed together into the aircar, she at the controls and Rob behind her next to the camera assembly. He eyed that curiously, then looked at the TV screen on the opposite wall of the cabin.

“I see what you mean about keeping your eye on me. Did you have that high-gain scope trained on me when I was climbing?”

She nodded without looking around. “It gives a good picture.”

Rob snorted. “Too right it gives a good picture. I guess I don’t have many secrets from you.”

“I might argue with that. You have a reputation,”

“Look, I’m here. You hooked me with Regulo’s name. But who are you, and what’s his interest in me?”

“I’m Cornelia Plessey. Don’t feel bad that I was watching you. I was told to be ready to help if you got into trouble on K-2, and I couldn’t do that if I didn’t look.”

She keyed in a course assignment and set the autopilot, then swivelled in her chair to face Rob. She was smiling. He peered at her face closely, looking for the faint scars that signalled rejuvenation. There was no sign of them. Was she really as young as she looked? It didn’t seem consistent with her ease of manner.

“I’m twenty-six years old,” she said, interpreting his look. “Don’t worry, though, I have all the authority I need. We can talk money, if that’s a big factor with you. Regulo leaves it to me to tempt you with wealth, my body, my brains, or anything that works. All I should really tell you is that Regulo wants to talk with you about a project that will make all the other projects you’ve ever done look like games with children’s blocks. When you hear about it, money won’t seem relevant.”

Rob raised his eyebrows. They were dark and bushy, concealing deep-set eyes. “And I suppose — just by coincidence — it will turn out that this project of his will need the use of the Spider?”

“It will need you to improve the Spider, speed it up by a factor of twenty. I don’t know the details, but I’m quoting Regulo on that.”

“Sweet Christ!” Rob rubbed again at his beard and sniffed. “Do you realize how fast the Spider is now? I don’t know anything about Regulo apart from his reputation as a super-engineer, but on this one the old fellow doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Look, Cornelia—”

“Corrie.”

“All right, Corrie. I’m intrigued, the way you expected me to be. But I’ll have to know a lot more about Regulo before I decide anything. I’m sure you checked out my background, and you know I don’t have experience in off-Earth construction work. Now, the one thing I do know about Regulo is that he never does work down here on Earth. He’s the `Rocket King’ for moving materials all over the Solar System. So why would he be interested in me?”

“You’ve been listening to the news outlets, and they don’t know what they’re talking about.” It was her turn to sniff. “Regulo hates rockets. You’ll learn that in your first meeting with him. I just wish you could get all your information from him at first hand.” She was thoughtful for a moment, then leaned forward in her seat. Her skin was clear and unlined, a dark even tan underlain with a smooth ivory. “Look, most people couldn’t get to see Regulo if they tried for a year. He’s a very private person and he’s forced to live off-Earth, in low gravity. He doesn’t bother with publicity, doesn’t even bother to correct the nonsense that’s put out about him. But one rumor you’ll hear is true: Regulo keeps a two percent carried interest in everything that’s shipped in the System — including material to and from Earth orbit. If it were a question of money, Regulo could outbid everyone else in the System. If that’s a worry of yours, then forget it. But if you look for more than money in a project — and I think you do — then you ought to come and see Regulo. I’ll give you my personal word that you’ll be fascinated by what he is proposing.”

Rob had been watching her closely as she talked, evaluating her manner more than her words. He nodded and peered forward through the front screen. “I’ll risk a day or two. We’ll be at Suget Jangal in twenty minutes. I want a hot bath and a hot meal, then I’ll be ready to go with you. Where is Regulo now?”

“He’s waiting in temporary space quarters, in geostationary orbit above Entebbe. We’ll have to get there in two jumps. From here to Nairobi in this ship, that will take about three hours, then it’s a Tug from there to geosynch. How soon can you be ready to leave? Don’t forget that you’ll have to find a way to avoid the other groups back at the hotel.”

“I’m experienced at doing that.” Rob shrugged. “They can’t make me talk to them. But won’t it take a while to see when the next Tug is scheduled? It might be anything up to twenty-four hours from now. Is there any point in rushing over there if we have to wait around at Nairobi ?”

Cornelia Plessey had returned to the controls and was preparing for a landing on the primitive airfield at Suget Jangal. It was little more than a long cleared patch of flat rock. She turned back to Rob for a moment, an amused look in her pale blue eyes.

“You’ll have to get used to the idea that things are different if you work for Darius Regulo. I doubt if there is a Tug scheduled for departure in less than twelve hours. There will be by the time that we get over there. How long before you can be back at the plane here?”

“Give me an hour.” Rob began to climb out as the craft halted in a ground hover. Then he turned and hesitated in the doorway. “I’ll leave my pack in here to save time. Just as a matter of curiosity, what would you have done if your argument hadn’t worked? Suppose I had told you to go and get lost when you tried to persuade me to go up and see Regulo?”

Corrie smiled. “I’d have tried another approach, what else? It’s something that Regulo taught me. When you get up there, take a look at the top of his desk. You’ll see little signs built into the top of it. One of them says: ` There are nine-and-sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, and every single one of them is right .’ I looked at that sign for years and years, with no idea what it meant — and then finally I understood why he had it there. Now, I keep on trying, one method after another, until I get one that works.”

Years and years .

Rob looked puzzled. He seemed about to ask another question, then changed his mind and climbed out of the plane. As he walked across the rocky surface of the landing strip toward the small town, Corrie stared into the camera mounted on the wall of the ship. “Still there, Regulo?”

“Yes.” There was a pause before the gravelly voice spoke again. “Well done, Cornelia. I have already sent a message to have a Tug ready for you at Nairobi in five hours.”