April 4: A Different Perspective (39 page)

"That seems an odd thing for him to have."

"He had thirty of them, new, in factory packaging, sitting in a case that held fifty."

"And the other twenty?"

"They don't have serial numbers. But there was one of each left out in plain sight in the two agents homes. With the married fellow it had to be positioned on his dining room table the morning he disappeared, after his wife went to work and before his absence was noted. There were no signs of entry and their alarm system was activated. The critical difference is the two left behind had been used. Both had abrasions to indicate they had been pushed into the ground. Under the microscope there were loose particles attached inside by electrostatic attraction and very minute grains embedded in the outside surface. It was regolith."

"Moon soil?"

"Yes, very uncommon and distinctive thing to find. We also found a prepaid cell phone and other materials at the supervisor's home that are a dead end. The numbers on the cell phone log were listed to people killed in the Patriot Party attempt on you."

"Why would the Patriot Party involve themselves with planting these, uh, reflectors on the moon?" Wiggen asked.

"I'd say they wanted to be able to make good on their promises to act against Home without delay, once they seized power. The Central people with who you have had so much trouble are all Home citizens, are they not?" Mel inquired.

"Yes, yes it makes a sort of sense that way. But does this mean the Home folks think I'm planting targeting devices, might as well call them bulls eyes, on their moon colony?"

"I sincerely doubt that, President Wiggen," Wainwright said, shaking his head - no. "They went directly for the persons responsible. I'm sure they have interrogated them and by now know it was a Patriot Party connection, just like we do. Our head of the CIA swears he had no idea that station and its head, was Patriot Party infiltrated. Leaving the devices behind was a message. It crossed a big line for them to take direct action. I'm just dismayed again what capable assets they have. If they thought
you
were responsible for them, I think we'd have found them pushed in the White House lawn – which would have been a very different message."

* * *

"That's it?" Tara asked. "It doesn't look like much. We can pick it up between us."

"Look at the size of the output connections. Those are meant to handle some serious current," Lin told Tara.

"Hmm. Does this mean you are going to scrap out the Diesels and put in electric motors?"

"Not at all. Do we want to come gliding up to a dock, obviously under power and no Diesel thumping away? No, that leads to too many questions. We'll keep those as an in-harbor and backup system," Lin assured him. "Nor do I wish to change the balance of the boat that much."

"What then?  Can you pass the screw shaft through the electrics?"

"We could, but I intend to put a couple jet drives at the rear, to the outside corners and a couple smaller maneuvering thrusters at the front, for pushing the nose around."

"Hmm, I'll probably forget how to handle her with just sail, if we have such luxury."

"I'll make sure everybody has plenty of practice under sail," Lin promised. "We don't want to look lazy to our guests. They might get the idea anybody can sail her."

"It'll be nice to have some air conditioning."

"That and heat and a
big
still for fresh water and no need to skimp for lights and cooking, or high end electronics. The sort of a boat that can entertain some very wealthy guests and charge premium rates," Lin said, smiling.

* * *

"We're going to set the shuttle down after supper. You want to come see if it blows up like a bomb?" Jeff invited. "Heather came back for it and Dave and his foreman will be there."

"Wouldn't miss it for anything. Is there room for Gunny?"

"Sure, we may all have to breathe out to get the door closed, but bring him along."

* * *

Mr. Gilroy was a retired aerospace engineer who held a number of patents and still owned a respectable interest in a Luxemburg corporation which built aerospace components. He had retired to the French habitat and recently transferred to Home. He occasionally consulted with Dave's and other ship fabricating shops, but from the stock reports of his company, he very likely didn't need the income to survive.

He was waiting for Frank to get through fitting his current customer and take his measurements to order some shirts and the sort of loose canvas working man's pants he'd grown fond of as a young man working in eastern Europe. He had no idea where to buy them now. He couldn't find an online source that wasn't a variation on western jeans. His last two pairs were worn well past the point of soft and comfortable and into ragged and ready for the trash. Still, one could serve as a model for the tailor, if he could buy some real canvas.

Lindsy served him tea and sat quietly, because he hadn't been chatty the last time he came in. She was learning to tell quickly what people wanted. But he was watching her sketch intently.

This week's drawing included a pleated skirt. Something she had never seen yet on Home, but Cindy wanted it. The male model was wearing an unstructured linen jacket with no pockets and a thin unnotched lapel. They were standing in the corridor looking at one of her drawings in the shop window. They were seen from the shop side of the window, avoiding a succession of smaller versions of the same picture and besides, it showed their fronts this way. The new electronics store across the corridor got a free plug too. Getting just enough reflection to hint that the glass was there was challenging.

"If I were to bring you a photo of a breakwater, running out to a light in a harbor. Could you do a drawing of me standing leaning on the hand rail?"

"Sure, you want me to draw you leaning forward on your elbows, or back to it?"

"Forward and seen from the front quarter, with the breakwater running away to the right, just like it is in the photo."

"Just you or do you want other people in it?"

"If I gave you another photo of me with a lady, do you suppose you could do us side by side?" his voice caught funny and Lin looked at him surprised.

"This was a special time and I'm afraid we didn't take many pictures back then. We took a trip there the autumn before she died. I'm fortunate to have the one I'd show you as a model."

"This is somebody special to you?" Lindsy asked. She wasn't totally oblivious.

"Very. We were going to get married, but she was taken from me before that happened."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'd be happy to do that for you."

"What is your commission?"

"I'd be happy to do it as a favor and thank you for your trust." Lindsy said. She could feel herself tearing up at the story. Her brother might mock her, but she couldn't charge him.

"No, I'm not poor and you deserve to have your skills properly acknowledged. I'd insist on paying you," he said, but kindly.

"Then look at it when I'm done and gift me whatever you feel compelled to offer."  

"That's fine," he agreed. "I keep copies on my pad. I'll transfer them right now."

* * *

Jeff and Heather, April and Gunny Mac, Happy and Jeff's hired man Louis, Dave and his foreman all crammed into Jeff's offices. There was tension and excitement and the strong odor of brewing coffee in the air. Everyone was settled in for a long session. The repaired
Happy Lewis
was in polar orbit as the observation platform and relay, because it still carried high definition cameras and booms to separate them for an artificial aperture. Jed Allison was mission commander, although not piloting.

"We will lose sight of  
Dionysus' Chariot
 briefly during its braking and descent. But the
Happy
will catch up and come across the horizon before it touches down. Unless there is some problem, we intend to let it land on automatic. It has a simple millimeter radar that can survey the landing area from about a kilometer in altitude and steer away from any large boulders or highly sloped areas," Dave explained to everybody.

"And if there is a problem, what then?" Gunny asked.

"There could be a couple tenths of a second delay, going through the
Happy
and relay satellites, so we don't want to land it by remote manual control. We'd have it abort the landing and lift it back into orbit. We'll try again, or do it somewhere we can remote control it real time, if it can't land itself."

Jeff spoke up. "We don't have a good enough set of controls for remote handling yet. We'll make up a set that closely duplicate the actual controls in the shuttle, but for now we'd have to use game controllers. That's fine for training simulators, but not remote control. The orbit to orbit simulators are too different and I don't want to risk my shuttle to generic game junk. If it craps out we don't get a do over. I want that stuff built to serious specs."

"Who decides on the abort?" Happy wondered.

"The landing software can declare it has no solution and give up, or Jed being closer with less lag can act, or I can decide to abort it from here, as a last resort," Jeff added. "Grab coffee if you like, there are sandwiches in the refrigerator too if anyone wants. We will be doing an initial  burn to polar orbit in about six minutes."

Everybody was seated and comfortable, there were a couple low conversations that cut off when the speaker came on. "Earth Control, this is the armed merchant
Happy Lewis
out of Home. We are performing a burn to polar orbit. Transmitting the elements to you now."

"
Happy Lewis
, your maneuver does not interfere with any other traffic. We are obligated to advise you that you will be repeatedly entering the Siberian special interest zone. They advise all  traffic that using downward looking targeting radar, or separation of any object from your vessel can result in being fired upon with no warning. This is a notice from a sovereign and is only repeated, not issued, by Earth Control." 

"Understood Earth Control, given the ridiculous prices of nuclear missiles, I don't blame them for failing to provide a warning shot. This will not inconvenience us." 

Earth Control seemed immune to humor and failed to acknowledge that at all. "
Happy Lewis,
your orbital path approximates the drone freighter
Dionysus' Chariot,
running about twenty minutes ahead of you.
Are you controlling that vehicle?"

"Negative, Earth Control. We are observing that drone, but it is in testing and running autonomously. We have the ability to command destroy it, if it should become a hazard to navigation."

"That's good to know
Happy Lewis,
it's very unusual to see a private drone in polar orbit. Usually they are government surveillance platforms and then they are usually lower."

  Earth Control had certainly gone from all business to chatty suddenly. Were they trolling for information? and for whom? "We're the ones with the cameras," Jed Allison acknowledged. There were plenty of people they would be overflying who could
see
they had booms out on each side. Not much else those could be. So it was hardly a secret revealed. "It's always nice to have pix of where you have been to show the kids back home," he quipped.

"Indeed, thank you
Happy Lewis
, Earth Control out."

The display showed the orbital changes. Nothing would happen for a bit so several people used the restroom and Gunny and April grabbed a sandwich. People were texting their work or checking the news. That all quieted down as the
Dionysus' Chariot
came up on its de-orbit burn.

"Thirty seconds," Jed reminded them from the
Happy
. Another minute went by silently. "We have a good burn and cut-off. The throat should be sealed with a disk now, the arm remaining until there is air pressure on it. She has flipped and oriented for aerobraking successfully."

Dionysus' Chariot
was a meteor across the south Atlantic sky. A handful of ships might see her and not know if it was a natural object or manmade.

"Telemetry indicates stable attitude and skin temperatures in hypersonic flight," Jed noted aloud what they could also see in the data feed.

"
Happy Lewis
, we lost radar tracking on your drone. Have you lost the vessel?"

"Negative Earth Control, this is an expected maneuver."

"We need to be aware of traffic descending below sixty thousand meters for interference with civilian air traffic, including high altitude drones and aerostats that can fly higher than manned aircraft."

"Earth Control,
Dionysus' Chariot
will not descend into controlled airspace until it is south of sixty degrees south. We checked to see there are no scheduled supply flights for any of the Antarctic stations for the next three days, she will set down briefly in a remote uninhabited area and lift again as a test of her landing systems."

"All Antarctic landing have to approved by the ATS under the Antarctic treaty. You can't just land on the continent without permission."

"Actually, Home is neither a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty, nor has it acceded to it formally, so we are not bound by its provisions. However just to assure you, we neither intend to discharge any pollutants, nor will we collect any samples. We're simply going to set down and lift again. We'll disturb an area no bigger than one of the scientific teams would pitching a tent and for a shorter time."

"I'm obligated to forward this to the proper authorities," Earth Control warned him.

"I'm sure you are," Jed laughed. "It seems you have a hard time understanding, we don't acknowledge the same authorities. So, 'I'm going to tell' doesn't mean much to us."

"If everybody just flew wherever they wanted it would be chaos and there would be accidents!"

"We totally agree," Jed assured him. "That's why we call and tell you when we shift orbits and move station to station, that's reasonable, but we're landing in a remote area of high altitude desert, with no population or ecology to speak of. Nobody
owns
it. The signatories have all agreed to form a club and respect each other's pledge not to use the whole continent for any commercial purpose, etc, etc. But I have yet to read that they have agreed to exclude by force anyone not in their treaty. Do you mean to tell me nobody has intruded south of sixty degrees since 1959?"