Infinite Reef (11 page)

Alex and Mary had slept late, and the strip sun that illuminated the biocylinder was at its midday setting as they breakfasted by the com room window, looking out on the park and Lake Geneva beyond. The scene looked almost utopian.

On the faux beach were scores of children playing and splashing in the water, watched over by a robotic lifeguard and a few less trusting parents. The sailboats had moved farther up the lake, driven by the steady breezes stirred by the turning cylinder.

Mary spotted the dolphin crew swimming a dozen meters or so off shore. They, too, seemed to be frolicking and enjoying the day.

“It looks like everyone’s on vacation,” commented Mary. She pointed to the causeway that led to the peninsula. “There’s lots of people in the parkland.” Mary was dressed in a bright outfit provided by Abby, the Captain’s wife. The woman had started a fashion explosion in the colony, a response to the drab fatigues worn by most of the crew. Mary’s outfit was a white tunic and pants affair gaily decorated with pastel clouds. Abby had made it for Mary Seventeen especially, saying it would go with her ‘pale beauty’. No fashion maven himself, Alex shrugged off the trend, wearing his usual blue flightsuit. As they left the house just before noon, Alex felt more like Mary’s escort than her husband. She’d never looked lovelier, the picture of spring.

By the time they reached the peninsula enough people had greeted them by name that Alex no longer felt conscious of their clothing. Once they were recognized a small crowd gathered, mostly just to greet them, but several asked questions. One man, wearing the orange coveralls typical of the Tech staff, grabbed Alex by the arm and looked deeply into his eyes. “Mr Rose,” the man said. “What do you think those aliens are up to?” Alex noticed the man’s wife a few feet away, looking at Mary and smiling appreciatively.

“Why ask me?” asked Alex. “The computer tells all!”

The balding gentleman seemed disappointed. “Because you’ve seen them. You’ve been down there.” Then he cocked his head doubtfully. “Is it okay if I talk to you?”

“Sure!” Alex took the man’s sleeve and pulled him closer. He pointed to the crowd. “What’s going on?”

“Celebrating going home!” said the man, smiling.

“How do you know that?”

The man looked at Alex oddly and nodded. “Nice to meet you, Mr Rose.”

A security wagon arrived right behind Alex and Mary and two guards got out. When Alex turned, they explained that the Commander had decided to make his announcement with the crew of
Diver
beside him. “We’re your ride to the stage, sir,” he concluded with a broad smile.

Alex and Mary got into the back seat and the car headed down the peninsula, following the shoreline road, toward the large building used for speeches and events.

“People say we’re headed home,” Alex said to the driver.

“Going home is on everyone’s mind,” said the elder of the two officers, seated beside the driver.

Alex noticed that the transparent side panels of the cab covered a rack of guns. The driver saw him looking at them.

“Handled the pulsers biggies, you have, sir,” he said, smiling broadly. “I’m with Tsu. I wudda lumped that ball.”

“Missed a good opportunity to test the pulsers on ’em,” echoed the senior officer.

“You know Connie?” Alex asked the driver. “Are you from Callisto?”

“No ways. I’m wi’ the Titan squad. Hey,” he added, leaning back toward Alex. “Why didn’t you shoot? Ya hadda chance, a good’un.”

Alex smiled. In his mind he heard himself saying that it was that last thing he wanted to do. But what he said was, “No way to treat a fellow spacer, shoot’n ’is balls off, is it?”

The guards laughed and the senior officer handed Alex a small cigarette. “I saw you flyin’ that ultralight, Rose,” he said with a grin. “Smoke this next time you’re up there.” He pointed skyward. Alex glanced up and saw a few ultralights flying high overhead. “
Diver’s
dream, they call it.”

“Is this what I think it is?” asked Alex, examining the cigarette. He sniffed it, surprised by the strong herbal odor. “Is this grown here?”

The guard smiled and put a finger to his lips. The driver looked at his mate and smiled. “Essential herbs and spices, my man!”

Mary took the cigarette from Alex and sniffed it cautiously. “You named this stuff after our shuttle?” she said, giggling a bit. Then she handed it back to Alex and looked away. “I don’t want to know.”

The officer smiled as Alex pocketed the item. He might have refused the contraband, but he thought better of it, considering its source. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll save it for a special occasion.”

When they reached the building at the head of the peninsula. the cab came to a stop in front and everyone except the guards, got out. The rest of the crews of
Diver
and
Tai Chi
had assembled in a loose group on the stage that protruded from the building. The small crowd that had already gathered cheered as Alex and Mary climbed the stairs. Stubbs stood in front of the group wearing a silver Pulse Suit, the garment command staff wore only during faster-than-light travel. His appearance in it was a message in itself.

The Commander was clearly enjoying the moment as spoke into his wrist communicator. His voice suddenly boomed over all the local speakers. The crowd in front of the stage was small, comprised mostly of early arrivals – perhaps a few hundred. They were nonetheless enthusiastic, cheering Stubbs onward toward the inevitable news. “Please indulge a Commander’s showmanship,” he said to them. “It seems appropriate though, don’t you think, that we add some ceremony to my announcement that we are going ... home.”

A wild cheer rose up from the onlookers, but Stubbs turned and raised his hand, quieting them. “We’ve accomplished a great deal,” continued the Commander, looking up at the expanse of the cylinder. “But we have overstayed our welcome, I fear. Our exo-sociologists are worried, too. Our interactions, our blunders, however understandable, nearly cost us a crew.

They also cast us in the role of invaders. If the same thing had happened on Earth – an alien crash, a rescue mission – the human reaction would be defensive, at least. We can expect no less a reaction from the Lalandians. We have no idea what the aliens think of us, or our effect on them. All we can do is take their actions at face value.” Stubbs no longer wore a reassuring smile. He looked down for a moment and sighed deeply. “That said, I think they want us out of here. The sphere is still propelling that engine module toward the Solar System. That should tell us something.

“Our military specialists hold the view that we may never be allowed to leave now that the Lalandians know where we are from. They even worry that by going home we will target Earth for military action.” Stubbs gestured toward the crew.

“These people were the first to set foot on Lalande b.” He began clapping and the audience joined him. “They hold the view that the sphere was trying to send the
Goddard
toward home.”

Stubbs turned again toward the crowd. “It is reasonable to assume, I suppose, that if we hadn’t ejected our motor, that the sphere might have pushed us toward home. But that is not a universally held view.” He paused and looked up as an ultralight crossed noisily overhead. The Commander paused again, with eyes fixed on the ultralight. It was riding the intricate thermals with the ease of a hawk. The Commander didn’t seem to be annoyed by interruption. His smile never left his face.

Finally, when the noise diminished, he spoke again. “Others here should have a chance to comment before I give the general order. But, I want to remind everyone that we have no time to lose. Before we get underway the lake must be drained and the ship battened down. Our best launch time, starting from now, is in seventeen hours. Comments?” The Commander looked expectantly at the group, then his eyes fell on Alex.

To his own surprise, Alex stepped forward and began talking into his wristband. “Alex Rose, pilot of the shuttle
Diver
.”

His words echoed through the cylinder, but his thoughts were linked to Mary. “A lot of you know I was down there inside the egg with the rest of these people. I’ve also been to Jupiter’s Reef. Most of you know about that, too. Understanding the aliens is harder than understanding the reef, and we don’t know if the reef is full of trillions of animals, or if it is all just one animal.” Alex looked at Mary and she smiled. “Likewise on Lalande,” he continued, now feeling more confident of his words. “Did we accidentally puncture the skin of a single beast? Or was it the shell covering a world full of people? To me there isn’t much difference. All that matters is that we screwed up any plan for a meeting. I say the sooner we leave under our own power, the safer we’ll be. It’s better than having more spheres come along and push us home. That’s all I wanted to say.”

Alex took a step backward and Stubbs nodded.

Commander Stubbs waited a few more seconds, giving the others on stage a chance to speak up, but no one did. His silvery flightsuit glittered as he moved around the stage, giving him a regal look. He had his eyes lowered as if in deep thought, then he spoke again. “Well, we seem to have a quorum. We’re going home.” He looked out at the suddenly cheering crowd and held up a fatherly hand. “Save your celebrating,” he shouted to them. “We have a lake to drain and a big ship to batten down. Let’s get to work.”

4
There was little for Alex and Mary to do but go home, secure their belongings, feed the cat, and wait. From the upper story window of their com room, they watched as boats strung nets across the lake to divert the marine life into holding tanks. The operation took a surprisingly short time, only an hour. Scurrying crews moored the boats to the shore. Moments later the house shuddered as the lake’s giant flood valves opened, and they noticed the water far out in the lake begin to swirl. Soon it became an immense whirlpool.

“I can hear the water draining, even through this window,” said Mary. “And the ship is already moving. My guess is that they’re guessing the shove will help drain the lake.”

She seemed to be correct. The lake drained almost too quickly. Soon all that remained was a U shaped channel, full of water, where Mary spotted her dolphin friends. “I guess they’re checking if everything is okay in the lake.”

Reports on the preflight preparations flashed intermittently on the viewscreen. The sudden order to launch had taken many by surprise. Distribution lines became chaotic. Medical and scientific procedures had to be abandoned or postponed, and the cylinder’s biota weren’t cooperating. But after several hours, halfway through the countdown, everything began to go smoothly.

Alex and Mary wanted to go outside to watch the proceedings, but their only orders had been to stay in their quarters until the preflight prep was finished. Unfortunately they didn’t know how long that would be.

Mary retrieved the tiny cigarette the security officer had given Alex from the pocket of his flightsuit. “We may as well smoke this,” she said. “Nothing else to do but watch the show.”

“I think we should get some reports on the effects of that stuff before we go torching it up,” said Alex. “Besides, he gave it to me. You put that away. You’ll hurt our son with that crap.”

Mary smiled. “Of course you don’t care what happens to me if I smoke it, right?”

“Not a bit,” Alex quipped with a wry smile. “But it’s mine, so put it away.”

“Where do you suppose he got it?” asked Mary, ignoring Alex’s cuteness and his order. “He was a security officer.”

“Are you surprised?” asked Alex, raising an eyebrow in disdain. “Cops make the best dealers.”

“Jeeps, Alex,” said Mary with a sigh. “You can really bring a girl down.”

“It’s true,” defended Alex.

Alex took the contraband from Mary and put it in his lapel pocket.

The cylinder was getting noisier. Various crews were barking instructions, and robotics were whirring all around the cylinder. Time wore on and finally even Alex got bored. He took the cigarette from his pocket. “Okay. What the hell. We could, um, jump into our egg, smoke this and watch the show.”

“You left out ‘naked’.” Mary stripped off her robe and ran, bare except for a tiny pair of panties, toward the bedroom.

The cocoon covering their unmade bed was open and activated. An automatic audiovisual program was already running, offering them instructions. Mary peeked inside. “Alex!” She jumped into bed and made room for him. “We have entertainment!”

Sensing both Alex and Mary were in the bedroom, the computer began explaining the module’s function.
“This is a
Pulse Protection Module. Its function is to assure your survival during faster than light travel. Please watch this brief
program....”

Mary lay on her back, long legs crossed and hands pillowing her head. She watched Alex undress, then looked up at the diagrams and images floating above her head and sighed. “Alex, why isn’t that lit?” she asked coyly.

Finally doffing his briefs, Alex grabbed the illicit cigarette and quickly slid into bed beside her. “Computer, do we have to sit through this every time we make a jump?” Mary moaned.

“It is required to refresh your awareness of the dangers ...”

“Proceed, computer. Spare us the lecture, please,” ordered Alex.

“As you wish.”

Mary snatched the cigarette from Alex’s fingers and put it to her lips. “Light ’er up, dude,” she said, looking at him sternly.

Alex reached on to the floor and produced a small welder’s torch. “You’ll need a light, my dear.
Diver’s
dream is useless without flame.” With the precision of a trained mechanic Alex ignited the reefer and put the tool away. A moment later he was close beside her warm body, staring up at the ceiling. “Where did you get a line like that, Mary? Light ’er up, dude?”

“Cheech and Chong?”

“Martian drug dealers, or something?”

“Movie stars.” Mary started to cough and handed the cigarette to Alex.

The dome was soon full of a bluish smoky haze as they lay there, side by side, relaxed and having no desire to move.

The computer had their full attention and they both watched the briefing with broad smiles on their faces.