The Wind From a Burning Woman: Six Stories of Science Fiction (5 page)

I still cant get back in, Porter.

I said congratulations. Youve killed both of us and ruined Psyche for any future projects. You know that shell go to pieces when she drops below Roches limit? Even if she misses, shell be too close to survive. You know, they might have gotten it all straightened out in a few administrations. Politicos die, or get booted out of officeeven Naderites. I say youve cocked it good. Be happy, Turco. He flipped the switch viciously and concentrated on his approach program display.

* * * *

Farmer Kollert was slumped in his chair, eyes closed but still awake, half-listening to the murmurs in the control room. Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he jerked up in his seat.

I had to be with you, Farmer. Gestina stood over him, a nervous smile making her dimples obvious. They brought me here to be with you.

Why? he asked.

Her voice shook. Because our house was destroyed. I got out just in time. Whats happening, Farmer? Why do they want to kill me? What did I do?

The team officer standing beside her held out a piece of paper, and Kollert took it. Violence had broken out in half a dozen Hexamon centers, and numerous officials had had to be evacuated. Geshels werent the only ones involvedNaderites of all classes seemed to share indignation and rage at what was happening. The outbreaks werent organizedand that was even more disturbing. Wherever transmissions had reached the unofficial grapevines, people were reacting.

Gestinas large eyes regarded him without comprehension, much less sympathy. I had to be with you, Farmer, she repeated. They wouldnt let me stay.

Quiet, please, another officer said. More transmissions coming in.

Yes, Kollert said softly. Quiet. Thats what we wanted. Quiet and peace and sanity. Safety for our children to come.

I think something big is happening, Gestina said. What is it?

* * * *

Porter checked the alignment again, put up his visual shields, and instructed the processor to broadcast the coded signal. With no distinguishable pause, the ships engines started to move him out of the path of the particle blast.

Meanwhile Giani Turco worked at the hatch with a bit of metal bracing she had broken off her suitpack. The sharp edge just barely fit into the crevice, and by gouging and prying she had managed to force the door up half a centimeter. The evacuation mechanism hadnt been activated, so frosted air hissed from the crack, making the work doubly difficult. The Moon was rising above the Janacki pole.

Deep below her, seven prebalanced charges, mounted on massive fittings in their chambers, began to whir. Four processors checked the timings, concurred, and released safety shields.

Six of the charges went off at once. The seventh was late by ten thousandths of a second, its blast muted as the casing melted prematurely. The particle shock waves streamed out through the boreholes, now pressure release valves, and formed a long neck and tail of flame and ionized particles that grew steadily for a thousand kilometers, then faded. The tail from the Vlasseg pole was thinner and shorter, but no less spectacular. The asteroid shuddered, vibrations rising from deep inside to pull the ground away from Turcos boots, then swing it back to kick her away from the bubble and hatch. She floated in space, disoriented, ripped free of the guide wires, her back to the asteroid, faceplate aimed at peaceful stars, turning slowly as she reached the top of her arc.

Her leisurely descent gave her plenty of time to see the secondary plume of purple and white and red forming around the Janacki pole. The stars were blanked out by its brilliance. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was nearer the ground, and her faceplate had polarized against the sudden brightness. She saw the bubble still intact, and the hatch wide open now. It had been jarred free. Everything was vibrating ... and with shock she realized the asteroid was slowly moving out from beneath her. Her fall became a drawn-out curve, taking her away from the bubble toward a ridge of lead-grey rock, without guide wires, where she would bounce and continue on unchecked. To her left, one dome ruptured and sent a feathery wisp of debris into space. Pieces of rock and dust floated past her, shaken from Psyches weak surface grip. Then her hand was only a few meters from a guide wire torn free and swinging outward. It came closer like a dancing snake, hesitated, rippled again, and came within reach. She grabbed it and pulled herself down.

* * * *

Porter, this is Lunar Guidance. Earth says the charges werent enough. Something went wrong.

She held together, LG, Porter said in disbelief. She didnt break up. Ive got a fireworks show like youve never seen before.

Porter, listen. She isnt moving fast enough. Shell still impact.

I heard you, LG, Porter shouted. I heard! Leave me alone to get things done. Nothing more was said between them.

* * * *

Turco reached the hatch and crawled into the airlock, exhausted. She closed the outer door and waited for equalization before opening the inner. Her helmet was off and floated behind as she walked and bounced and guided herself into the control room. If the motors were still functional, shed fire them. She had no second thoughts now. Something had gone wrong, and the situation was completely different.

In the middle of the kilometers-wide crater at the Janacki pole, the borehole was still spewing debris and ionized particles. But around the perimeter, other forces were at work. Canisters of reaction mass were flying to a point three kilometers above the crater floor. The Beckmann drive engines rotated on their mountings, aiming their nodes at the canisters rendezvous point.

Porters ship was following the tail of debris down to the crater floor. He could make out geometric patterns of insulating material. His computers told him something was approaching a few hundred meters below. There wasnt time for any second guessing. He primed his main cargo and sat back in the seat, lips moving, not in prayer, but repeating some stray, elegant line from the Burgess novel, a final piece of pleasure.

One of the canisters struck the side of the cargo ship just as the blast began. A brilliant flare spread out above the crater, merging with and twisting the tail of the internal charges. Four canisters were knocked from their course and sent plummeting into space. The remaining six met at the assigned point and were hit by beams from the Beckmann drive nodes. Their matter was stripped down to pure energy.

All of this, in its lopsided incomplete way, bounced against the crater floor and drove the asteroid slightly faster.

When the shaking subsided, Turco let go of a grip bar and asked the computers questions. No answers came back. Everything except minimum life support was out of commission. She thought briefly of returning to her tug, if it was still in position, but there was nowhere to go. So she walked and crawled and floated to a broad view-window in the bubbles dining room. Earth was rising over the Vlasseg pole again, filling half her view, knots of storm and streaks of brown continent twisting slowly before her. She wondered if it had been enoughit hadnt felt right. There was no way of knowing for sure, but the Earth looked much too close.

* * * *

Its too close to judge, the president said, deliberately standing with his back to Kollert. Shell pass over Greenland, maybe just hit the upper atmosphere.

The terrorist team officers were packing their valises and talking to each other in subdued whispers. Three of the presidents security men looked at the screen with dazed expressions. The screen was blank except for a display of seconds until accession of picture. Gestina was asleep in the chair next to Kollert, her face peaceful, hands wrapped together in her lap.

Well have relay pictures from Iceland in a few minutes, the president said. Should be quite a sight. Kollert frowned. The man was almost cocky, knowing he would come through it untouched. Even with survival uncertain, his government would be preparing explanations. Kollert could predict the story: a band of lunar terrorists, loosely tied with Giani Turcos father and his rabid spacefarers, was responsible for the whole thing. It would mean a few months of ill-feeling on the Moon, but at least the Nexus would have found its scapegoats.

A communicator beeped in the room, and Kollert looked around for its source. One of the security men reached into a pocket and pulled out a small earplug, which he inserted. He listened for a few seconds, frowned, then nodded. The other two gathered close, and they whispered.

Then, quietly, they left the room. The president didnt notice they were gone, but to Kollert their absence spoke volumes.

Six Nexus police entered a minute later. One stood by Kollerts chair, not looking at him. Four waited by the door. Another approached the president and tapped him on the shoulder. The president turned.

Sir, fourteen desks have requested your impeachment. Were instructed to put you under custody, for your own safety.

Kollert started to rise, but the officer beside him put a hand on his shoulder.

May we stay to watch? the president asked. No one objected.

Before the screen was switched on, Kollert asked, Is anyone going to get Turco, if it misses?

The terrorist team leader shrugged when no one else answered. She may not even be alive.

Then, like a crowd of children looking at a horror movie, the men and women in the communications center grouped around the large screen and watched the dark shadow of Psyche blotting out stars.

* * * *

From the bubble window, Turco saw the sudden aurorae, the spray of ionized gases from the Earths atmosphere, the awesomely rapid passage of the ocean below, and the blur of white as Greenland flashed past. The structure rocked and jerked as the Earth exerted enormous tidal strains on Psyche.

Sitting in the plastic chair, numb, tightly gripping the arms, Giani looked updownat the bright stars, feeling Psyche die beneath her.

Inside, the still-molten hollows formed by the charges began to collapse. Cracks shot outward to the surface, where they became gaping chasms. Sparks and rays of smoke jumped from the chasms. In minutes the passage was over. Looking closely, she saw roiling storms forming over Earths seas and the spreading shock waves of the asteroids sudden atmospheric compression. Big winds were blowing, but theyd survive.

It shouldnt have gone this far. They should have listened reasonably, admitted their guilt

Absolved, girl, she wanted her father to say. She felt very near. Youve destroyed everything we worked fora fine architect of Pyrrhic victories. And now he was at a great distance, receding.

The room was cold, and her skin tingled.

One huge chunk rose to block out the sun. The cabin screamed, and the bubble was filled with sudden flakes of air.

<>

* * * *

THE

WHITE HORSE

CHILD

When I was seven years old, I met an old man by the side of the dusty road between school and farm. The late afternoon sun had cooled, and he was sitting on a rock, hat off, hands held out to the gentle warmth, whistling a pretty song. He nodded at me as I walked past. I nodded back. I was curious, but I knew better than to get involved with strangers, as if they might turn into lions when no one but a little kid was around.

Hello, boy, he said.

I stopped and shuffled my feet. He looked more like a hawk than a lion. His clothes were brown and grey and russet, and his hands were pink like the flesh of some rabbit a hawk had just plucked up. His face was brown except around the eyes, where he might have worn glasses; around the eyes he was white, and this intensified his gaze. Hello, I said.

Was a hot day. Must have been hot in school, he said.

They got air conditioning.

So they do, now. How old are you?

Seven, I said. Well, almost eight.

Mother told you never to talk to strangers?

And Dad, too.

Good advice. But havent you seen me around here before?

I looked him over. No.

Closely. Look at my clothes. What color are they?

His shirt was grey, like the rock he was sitting on. The cuffs, where they peeped from under a russet jacket, were white. He didnt smell bad, but he didnt look particularly clean. He was smooth-shaven, though. His hair was white, and his pants were the color of the dirt below the rock. All kinds of colors, I said.

But mostly I partake of the landscape, no?

I guess so, I said.

Thats because Im not here. Youre imagining me, at least part of me. Dont I look like somebody you might have heard of?

Who are you supposed to look like? I asked.

Well, Im full of stories, he said. Have lots of stories to tell little boys, little girls, even big folk, if theyll listen.

I started to walk away.

But only if theyll listen, he said. I ran. When I got home, I told my older sister about the man on the road, but she only got a worried look and told me to stay away from strangers. I took her advice. For some time afterward, into my eighth year, I avoided that road and did not speak with strangers more than I had to.

The house that I lived in, with the five other members of my family and two dogs and one beleaguered cat, was white and square and comfortable. The stairs were rich dark wood overlaid with worn carpet. The walls were dark oak paneling up to a foot above my head, then white plaster, with a white plaster ceiling. The air was full of smellsbacon when I woke up, bread and soup and dinner when I came home from school, dust on weekends when we helped clean.

Sometimes my parents argued, and not just about money, and those were bad times; but usually we were happy. There was talk about selling the farm and the house and going to Mitchell where Dad could work in a computerized feed-mixing plant, but it was only talk.

* * * *

It was early summer when I took to the dirt road again. Id forgotten about the old man. But in almost the same way, when the sun was cooling and the air was haunted by lazy bees, I saw an old woman. Women strangers are less malevolent than men, and rarer. She was sitting on the grey rock, in a long green skirt summer-dusty, with a daisy-colored shawl and a blouse the precise hue of cottonwoods seen in a late hazy days muted light. Hello, boy, she said.