Exiled to the Stars (71 page)

Susan rolled her eyes and snorted as the others grinned and some laughed. Vlad caught Susan's movement. "Oh," he continued, "Don't pay any attention to the
real
genius in the house, here. I've had her fooled with my charm and good looks for years."

This time the laughter was general, and even Susan joined in. "Well," she said with a smile, "We certainly wouldn't want Ken to learn your horrible secret. I'm sure the Major and his people will get you hundreds of pictures. Right, Major?" A grinning Denis nodded. "See? Now, you come over here and rest your mighty brain. After all, you worked for almost five minutes straight, there. I'm sure you're exhausted."

Vlad allowed Susan to lead him to one of the 'saddles', tottering and staggering dramatically. Denis organized the laughing Explorers, and soon they were snapping hundreds of images on both cameras and tablets.

"Sorry about the stage show, there, honey," Vlad told Susan. "But I don't have the faintest idea what to do with the thing now that we've got it open. That sure ain't any of the circuit boards, or even the nanocircuits or semiliquids I've ever seen.

"And at this point," he continued, "I'm really more interested in finding ways to understand what's on those millions of balls upstairs if we ever
do
get this thing working. This thing can wait. It'll be here when we need it. Oh, I had the cleaning crew pack up all the tablet things for shipment back to the colony, so at least someone will be doing
something
. But what I
really
want is to close this thing up, and let these people get on with searching for some kind of hard copy."

Susan smiled, and ran her hand over his wiry hair. "I understand, dear. It's going to take weeks to search a city this size, though. Are you planning to go back with the samples?"

He shook his head. "I guess so, but probably not for a week or two. In a human city this size, there would be dozens of elementary and high schools, and probably even a few colleges, or at least junior colleges. I'm hoping it won't take that long to find something. Then again, there might not even be
any
schools here. What if they had a few large installations that were like crèches? They might have hatched their eggs and taught the young everything they needed to know before they even left the crèche."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, honey. There's a lifetime of work to be done up here. Those crèches I mentioned. And where are the factories?
Somebody
was making those tablet things; we've seen several different versions, now. And they probably weren't made in one of these thousands of identical buildings. 2000 klicks is a long flight. I suppose we'll need to go back home, at least for a while, but I
have
to come back up here."

Susan nodded. "I thought so. Well, Vlad Renko, if you think I'm going to let you come back up here without me, you're sadly mistaken."

Vlad looked surprised. "But what about the lab? The crèche? You have responsibilities in the colony, honey. You can't just walk away from them."

"We'll see," she said soberly.

Once he'd decided to temporarily return to the colony, Vlad started bubbling with plans. "I'm going to have Ken put me on the distribution for all of the reports from Site One," he said. "If we don't find anything here, we're going to want to get the tube system running. We can't explore an entire planet by airship, and besides, all
I'm
interested in are the cities and installations.

"Meanwhile," he continued, "I'm going to start making nice with Wen Ho Jackson. He's up here studying the power system. Maybe I can convince him to concentrate on the tube system first. And I'll need to get Ken to give me an assistant; there's going to be
way
too much work here for one old man.

"That 'honeymoon' dome they built for us will be good enough for me, especially since it's got that office and lab next door."

Susan was shaking her head. "No. If we're going to
live
here, we're going to need more room. While we're back at the colony, maybe the Major can get them to add a couple of add-on domes. A honeymoon cabin is one thing, but I want a
kitchen
!"

Realizing that their 'honeymoon' was drawing to a close, Susan and Vlad arranged for a special, private, candlelit dinner in their dome. They sat on their patio and enjoyed the sunset, chatting occasionally, but also enjoying companionable silences, simply sitting and holding hands.

Finally they went to bed and made love slowly, lingeringly. As Vlad frequently quipped, "I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was!" they fell asleep in each others' arms.

Susan awoke with a smile. She stretched deliciously and turned to Vlad. Still sleeping. She turned a fond glance on his brown face, and after a moment, her smile faded. Vlad's stillness was somehow wrong, unnatural. She reached out to touch him, and his skin was cold.

She jerked upright, and put a hand in front of his mouth. He wasn't breathing. Sure now what she would find, she put a hand on the cold, skinny chest. There was no heartbeat. Vlad was dead.

"Oh,
Vlad
!" she whispered. Susan was, of course, no stranger to death. She'd been seeing it, battling it, for over thirty years, now. But this was
Vlad
!
Her
Vlad! She regarded his gently smiling face for a moment, and then leaned over and kissed the cold lips. "Goodbye, my darling," she whispered. "I'll always love you."

She rose and padded, naked, to the 'fresher. She took particular care in her morning ablutions. Focusing intently on the mundane tasks helped hold off the emotional storm she knew would be coming. Vlad was an important and highly respected man. When she reported his death, it would touch off a circus of activity, both here and in the colony. She donned a simple, clean shipsuit, and with a sigh, she called Denis.

Denis was shocked.
Dr. Renko
? But he was an eternal presence, had been a major fact of colony life all Denis's life. He couldn't just
die
! After a moment, he rolled his eyes with a sour smile. That was probably the dumbest thought he'd had since he'd thought girls were gross.

He straightened. Well, it had happened, and it had happened on
his
watch. He called Lieutenant Rosa Chu, his wife. "Rosa, Doctor Vlad died last night."

Rosa's mouth dropped open with shock. "Oh,
no
!" she replied. "Doctor Vlad?
Dead
?" Denis suppressed a sour smile. He wasn't the only one having trouble accepting the loss of an icon. He nodded. "Yar. I'd like you to gather some volunteers and go help Doctor Susan. I'd try to find women, if I were you."

Rosa snorted. "Teach your grandmother to suck eggs. You take care of business. I would expect at least a heli or two, and maybe even an airship from the colony. And they'll be full of Councilors and big shot wannabes, all trying to be seen and show their devotion."

Denis smiled and shook his head. "Doctor Susan is telling them to limit visitors to immediate family, since she'll be bringing him back to the colony. They'll have to do their showing off there."

"How
is
Doctor Susan?"

Denis shook his head again. "She's doing her best to hold herself together, and her best is damned good. But she's in a lot of pain."

"I'll get some girls together and we'll go over there," Rosa said. "We'll take care of prepping the body for travel and display, and try to help Doctor Susan through this. You ham-handed males keep your distance. If you need anything from her, call me."

Denis nodded. "You got it, honey. You take care of Doctor Susan. I'll take care of everything else."

Susan called Ron Creding next. Elaine had to be told, and Ron was the only one close enough to help her through the flood of grief.

"
Vlad
?" Ron said in the shocked tone Susan was beginning to expect.

Susan nodded. "Yes. You can tell Elaine he died peacefully, in his sleep, with a smile on his face. He died happy, Ron. Make sure Elaine knows that." Ron could hear the desperation in Susan's tone. She was clinging to that thought with all her strength, and wanted to make sure Ron offered Elaine the same lifeline.

Ron nodded soberly. "Of course, Susan. I'll take Mom with me. She'll need comforting."

Susan nodded. "Yes, she will. Now, I've got half a dozen Explorers up here, helping get him ready to bring home. I'm going to call Ken next, and try to make sure half the colony doesn't try to fly 2000 klicks just to turn around and go back."

Ron nodded. "I understand. But Elaine and I will be up there as quickly as we can get a heli in the air. You two are going to need each other. And don't worry about calling Ken," he continued. "I'll call him before I go home. I've also got to arrange someone to watch the twins."

He shrugged. "It's still a long haul, though. Expect us late tonight. I'll have Denis arrange accommodations, and we'll fly back tomorrow."

Ron called Ken, and told him of his plan to fly to the city, and Susan's intention to bring the body back to the colony.

Ken nodded. "Susan's right," he said. "The entire colony is going to need a chance to mourn, to say goodbye to someone they've known all their lives. Don't worry, I'll handle everything on this end."

Ken immediately called Susan, of course, to offer his condolences, and see if there was anything she wanted done. Her eyes were wet, but it wasn't until Ken tried to comfort her that tears began flowing down her lined cheeks.

She shook her head. "Don't cry for Vlad, Ken. He lived more than a century, and managed to live two very successful lives. He was recognized worldwide as a roboticist on Earth, and here, he had a vital role in the success we've had. He's even given us a leg up on learning to understand the spider people. Together we had nearly forty years of love, and he died in his sleep, smiling. I only hope I'm as lucky when my time comes. No, my tears aren't for Vlad, Ken. My tears are for
me
!" Suddenly, her defenses collapsed, and she was weeping uncontrollably in the arms of Rosa Chu. Rosa leaned forward, and with a muttered, "Sorry, Administrator," cut the connection.

The shock ran through the colony like an earthquake, shaking its foundations. Except for the two hundred or so Earthborns remaining, the entire population had never known life without Dr. Vlad. For many, he
was
the colony, the link, the bridge between the pioneering of Cesar Montero and the city building of Ken Terhoe.

Chapter 29

Thirdmonth 14, Year 40 A.L.

Ken looked up from his desk at the sound of a familiar voice. "No, I said 'stay here'. I'll be fine. But I have some important matters to discuss with the Administrator."

"Susan!" Ken jumped to his feet. "I didn't expect to see you until after the memorial service. Are you all right?"

Susan waved a dismissing hand as she slid into a chair. She was in a high-necked coverall similar to a shipsuit. But this one was all black, offering an interesting contrast with her green-tinged paleness. "Of course I'm fine. You know as well as I that this 'memorial service' is more for the people than for me. Oh, I'll be there, and I'll be properly weepy, but you and I both know that my grieving has been and will be in private."

Ken nodded. If it was business-as-usual stoicism Susan wanted, well, he'd play along. A half-smile crossed Susan's face, almost as though she were reading his thoughts.

"So, what could be so urgent that it could interrupt your mourning?"

"I want to know what you're planning to do now."

Ken frowned. "About what?"

Susan looked momentarily annoyed. "About Vlad's project, of course. About the spider peoples' computers."

Ken sighed deeply and shook his head. "I just don't know, Susan," he said honestly. "I have only two people that could be called 'computer experts'. One is a near-hermit. A brilliant mind, but all he seems to care about is getting the ship's virtual reality system working again."

Susan rolled her eyes. "And the other?"

Ken shrugged. "She completed her Doctorate about a year ago. So, she has the 'book learning', but not a lot of 'hands-on' experience." He shook his head. "Neither is the type of person that could lead a team. That's why I was counting so much on Vlad."

He sighed. "Susan, I hated sending Vlad up to the city. He deserved every minute of retirement he could wring from life. But he was the only one I could trust with the project."

Susan stared at him, unbelieving. "Ken, are you feeling
guilty
for sending Vlad up there? That combination mission and honeymoon was the best gift you could possibly have given us. Vlad was happy and excited, bubbling with plans. And I was really
happy
for the first time in years. Don't you
dare
feel guilty! But tell me, what was the urgency all about? What's going on?

Ken frowned silently for a long moment. "All right, welcome to my private nightmare. Susan, we have less than twenty years to figure out that alien power system, or at least a way to manipulate it. You may or may not know, but we have had no luck finding exploitable deposits the elements needed to keep the fusactors running. EarthGov sent a supply of fuel, but at the rate we're using it, we'll run out in about twenty years."

He shook his head. "Ours is a technological society, and you can't run a technological society on wind and solar power. Don't forget, when we run out of power, we also lose the computer. And that damned thing has been the Font of All Knowledge for forty years, now. I could almost wish it weren't as good as it is. Maybe then, we'd have more computer specialists, and more scholars in general. For now, though, loss of power would be a catastrophe. We'd lose everything we've built, and be back to subsistence farming." He shrugged. "That's why I've been pushing so hard to expand our settlements, and secretly helping Roberto's fishing village. Subsistence-level life takes a lot of land.

"Anyway, we
need
that power system, and Angel's team is coming up empty. Oh, he keeps reporting 'progress', but his progress is taking measurements and adjusting decimal places. Everything we need to know about that system is in a spider peoples' computer somewhere. Vlad's report that he'd found something that could definitely be identified as a computer was the best news I've had in months."