Overture (Earth Song) (30 page)

As
if that news wasn’t terrifying enough, Aries was hit by a bombardment of micro meteors yesterday. Damage was superficial except for the loss of a percentage of their fuel. If they continued on their mission it was a one way trip. “We gave them the option and they decided to continue on,” Leo’s contacts informed him. Leo had been thinking about the numbers being relayed back to Earth on Lebowski’s orbit and dimensions. Aries was an archer hurtling toward its target with a hundred megatons of arrows in his quiver. “It’s not going to be enough,” Leo said to his darkened room. Alone with his thoughts he began to feel more at home with the decisions he’d made.

Kadru sat in the living room of her Park Avenue penthouse apartment and stared out over the darkened city. She'd returned to her luxurious home for the first time in almost a month after those final violent events in Central Park. There had been nowhere else to go. Even in darkness, it was a beautiful place.

The
police and other agents of evil were scouring the city looking to round up the remaining faithful.  The last thing she wanted to do was spend her final days rotting in a jail cell.

She
wished desperately to know how many had made it through to Heaven, but it seemed that information would elude her. After the fighting around the Portal dome ended they began removing prisoners. There were so many of them she feared the worst. The helicopters arrived and began sweeping the area, forcing her to retreat from the park entirely.

Her
virtual answering machine announced when she entered that she had more than twenty-five messages, and she had nearly tripped over the huge pile of mail dropped through the door slot. She owned the penthouse outright and all the bills were paid by her personal trust, so there was no fear that she would be evicted. She did have a few greedy relatives who might rush in to declare her dead and take her possessions prior to her demise. She salvaged some edible food from the pantry and resigned herself to sending a few carefully worded messages on her computer to let people know she was still alive.

That
dreadful task finished, she turned her computer toward the remnants of her most recent work. Through the three off-shore accounts she controlled, Kadru signed into the Followers of the Avatar website. Instantly a CIA Watch Dog program seized her URL and began tracing it back. She handed off that account to an unsuspecting college network server in Montana and quickly logged back into the Followers site while the Watch Dog was busy chasing her red herring. There were a few messages and signs that numerous spy and intrusion programs had tagged the site. Its database had been compromised as well. She took her access all the way in and quickly sent a message to all logged accounts that they were likely on a wanted list and to run for it. No sooner had she finished than the Watch Dog was back and she had to abandon that account as well.

Later
she lay back on the expensive couch and sipped from a glass of equally expensive wine. She’d taken her pain medications a short time ago and washing them down with alcohol was insanity. With the skyline of Manhattan spread out before her as sunrise approached, she considered her life. On the table sat six empty bottles of narcotic painkillers.

George Osgood watched the scientists race around the dome trying furiously to finish preparations against the 12:30 pm deadline. The sudden decision to send over a scientist pushed them to their limits. The dome and most of its equipment had been heavily damaged in the fighting. The only thing left completely intact was the Portal dais itself. Osgood insisted on pushing back the schedule to the afternoon to allow the recording instruments to be put in order. Now the time was drawing near they still weren’t ready.

He
noticed a few more people entering the already crowded dome and was about to chase them out when he realized that one of them was Leo Skinner. With a bounce in his step, he hurried over to greet him. “So glad you could stay, Leo.”

“
Thrilled,” the professor said, shaking the offered hand heartily. “I came up here on the pretext of helping get you folks free from the cult, but the NSA people managed without my help.”

“
You met Mark Volant yet? He’s the one who’s been snapping the whip. He was shot to shit and blown up in the fighting. Too fucking stubborn to die. I think he’s going to be back today. I’m glad your friends could stay, too.”

“
They’re old students of mine.”

“
From SETI? Sorry to hear about that accident in Renton.” Mindy gave half a smile and nodded her appreciation. Harold chewed his lip and shrugged nervously. “I must say I’m surprised to find you still here.”

“
It’s a long story,” Mindy said.

“
I bet.”

“
Mindy just might be able to tell us what star system the planet is in,” Leo told Osgood. The head scientist looked surprised and pleased.

“
That would be wonderful. I must admit I’m curious.”

“
About what?”

“
How a less than notable astronomer, nothing personal, can manage to do what a couple hundred of the best in the field working for NASA have failed to do?”

“
They don’t make abstract astronomy a hobby.” Osgood looked at her expectantly. “I’ve been a sci-fi fan forever. Way back in college I made it my pet peeve that every time they showed another world I'd examine the star field. I started trying to imagine what the sky would look like, say from a few hundred light years away. It became a hobby.”

“
She even wrote her master’s thesis on it,” Leo said. “She probably would have had it rejected if I hadn’t been on the board of governors. She got her degree, and I tapped her when I got involved in this.”

“
If that’s all you used to bring her into this, Volant’s going to have a fit.”

“
Think about how valuable this could be to us. Knowing the location of the star system tells us the age of the world, more or less. Besides, we need to know where it goes.”

“
Do we? Is it really that important?”

“
All we’re talking about is bringing in two more people. And unlike some of the grunts Volant brought in, these people are knowledgeable and competent in multiple areas.”

“
I heard that,” came a new voice. They all watched a middle-aged man roll up in an electric wheelchair. Both of his legs were in casts, one of them an advanced bone regeneration model. His face and arms were covered in recently healed scars and a few old ones. When he looked at them, Mindy knew he held the power to end their involvement in the Portal Project right then and there.

“
What did you hear?” asked Leo. “The part about your people being ignorant grunts or these two being knowledgeable and competent?”

“
Both,” he said and rolled to a stop. He looked them both over critically and shook his head. “Two more mouths to feed? I’ll surprise you by agreeing to allow these two to stay in the project.” Leo and Osgood both looked stunned. “I have no objections to a few more eggheads as long as they are willing to take orders and contribute. You two can take orders, can’t you?”

“
Yes, sir,” they both said, although Harold was a heartbeat after Mindy. Volant didn’t miss that, either.

“
Good. So, I understand from my eavesdropping that you are a bit of an authority on figuring out where a planet is from just by looking at the stars.”

“
If there is such a thing as an authority on that, Mindy is it,” Leo said proudly.

“
She’s a grownup, doctor, let her speak for herself.”

Mindy
found she liked the guy despite her reservation. “Well, I’ve been doing it in my head and on paper for years. Any astronomer worth their salt could do it with practice and some determination.”

“
Well, a hell of a lot of eggheads stared at pictures from over there and haven’t been able to figure out shit. If you can, you just might find yourself on a short list.” Mindy’s eyes gleamed and she smiled at the man. She’d half expected a devil taken human form after hearing Leo’s stories, but this man seemed agreeable enough.  Volant realized everyone in the room was drifting so he clapped his hands and continued, “Alright, Leo, when do we get this show on the road? I’m due back for some PT in about four hours.”

“
The equipment won’t be completely finished for another six hours,” Osgood explained.

“
Piss on that, how many times are you going to record the flashing purple donut?”

“
As many times as I can.”

“
Right, well, like I said, I’m on a deadline here.”

“
Since you’re impatient, we can go in about an hour.” He glanced over at a set of clocks on a table nearby. “It’s dusk right now on the other side, so if we wait a complete hour we should have total darkness. Since Miss Patoy here needs to see the night sky, that will give her the best look. Assuming clear skies, of course.”

“
Can’t you work from pictures?” Volant asked.

“
I’ve been working off them for a couple weeks now,” Mindy jumped in, “that’s how I figured out about the Portal here.” Volant glared at Leo without saying anything. “I’ve got a nagging clue or two, but I need to be able to look at the night sky.”

“
Sounds a little too simple.”

“
Then you try it.”

Volant
chuckled and shook his head. “Okay, Miss Patoy, we’ll play it your way. Still, I’m curious if you can provide any results.” He rolled away and let them get to work. The hour went by faster than Mindy thought it would. She got a chance to meet the next person to go across: a twenty-five year old scientist who'd joined the military a few years ago and now taught geology for the Army Corps of Engineers. The dynamic young engineer/scientist would be the first woman to go across. Mindy was so jealous she could spit. Her name was Sgt. Amanda Broadmoore and she was every bit as cocky as Mindy.

“
Okay everyone, here we go again,” Osgood said after the hour was passed. There was broken applause for a moment before he held up his hands to silence it. “Once more unto the breach, dear friends,” he quoted from Shakespeare. This brought even louder applause. “And this time it is one of our own, a scientist who will be going over!” He had to wait for almost a whole minute this time.

“
Eggheads,” Volant grumbled, and that was when he noticed Steve Bradley coming into the dome. Volant steered his electric wheelchair over to meet him. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“
Nothing was blowing up at the moment,” the younger man said and shook Volant’s hand. “I wanted to see this thing work at least once.”

Volant
shrugged. “You’ve earned that. I don’t think I ever told you what an incredible job you’ve done. I put you in charge out of desperation and you not only did your job perfectly, you also managed to seize a golden opportunity and retake the Portal from those lunatics. Simply fantastic. I’m putting you in for a promotion to Associate Agency Director.”

“
I’m flattered, sir. I don’t know if I’m ready for this kind of responsibility every day.”

“
You’re just too humble to know a good thing when you see it. Either way, I’m making the recommendation. If you want to be a moron and refuse the promotion, that’s entirely up to you.”

“
Well, when you put it that way, what can I say except yes?”

“
Perfect, now let’s watch the eggheads play with their toy.”

Everything
was as ready as they could make it. Some of the equipment was still not working and signs of the recent battle were everywhere. Then the moment arrived and the volunteer walked up to the Portal. She was a lightly built blond woman with a rugged beauty about her. Dressed in camouflaged fatigues she had a pack on her back so big it looked like she could hardly stand, and a standard issue Glock on her hip. Everyone had been briefed on how this was to go and weren't surprised when Mindy climbed up behind her. The newest person to cross over looked back and took Mindy’s measure.

“
I could just follow you through and there’s nothing they could do about it,” Mindy said.

“
That’s true,” the other woman said with a nod of her head, “but there are seven US Army Special Forces soldiers over there who will take you into custody a few seconds after you arrive. This planet is likely a long way from here, right?”

“
Sure, probably a few thousand light years away.”

“
I suspect that’s out of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, the ACLU or anything resembling United States laws. How would you like to spend the rest of your life as a slave?” The woman smiled and Mindy was about to laugh at her then she thought about it. The military was in charge of this; they made the rules and enforced them. There was no civilian oversight or even a way to write a letter to your senator. She wondered if anyone in the Portal project had given any thought to what happened after they arrived over there.

“
I see your point,” Mindy said simply. The other woman gave her a wink and then walked through the Portal into another world.

The
entire structure flashed bright purple under Mindy’s feet. “Good God!” she said and looked after the other woman. Through the Portal was just what she had seen in dozens of partial pictures, the edge of an arboreal forest and a night sky. She had let a couple seconds go by before she cursed herself and went to work.

Leaning
as close as she dared without touching the invisible barrier between worlds, Mindy looked up and began studying the night sky. The newest person to arrive at Fort Eden could be seen running toward the compound. As usual, a pair of men came from behind the radiation shields and began to pass crates through the Portal, albeit with a little more difficulty since Mindy was taking up much of the space.

Osgood
observed the communications computer as the link was established with Fort Eden. Fast as light, files that had been waiting patiently were downloaded to Earth. There were only a few files pertaining to scientific research. He was now doubly glad they'd sent over a scientist, even if she were only a half-trained one.

Mindy
worked as fast as she could; carefully studying every aspect of the sky she'd never actually seen. There was that strange arrow-shaped formation, and there the one that looked like a dragon. In her head she had begun to name them. It made her feel like an ancient Greek mariner lying on a ship and staring up at the night sky. The constellations’ shapes began to take on personalities all their own and eventually grew into an entire pantheon. She wondered if that would happen to the future colonists of this new world.

Staring
at one tantalizingly familiar formation she squinted in concentration. She had dubbed it Osiris because, to her, it faintly resembled the Egyptian Eye of Osiris. Now staring at it through the crystal clear Portal, its familiarity reached a level so intense that her head hurt. It was like someone had sunk a fishhook into part of her brain and was tugging at it. All too quickly, the image swirled and vanished. “Damn!” she screamed and slammed one fist into the other.

“
You didn’t move a muscle the whole time,” Harold said as he came up behind her, “we were afraid you had a seizure.”

“
No, I’m fine,” she growled. “Damn it, I was getting close!”

“
You’ve been getting close for weeks.”

“
You don’t understand, I’m
really
getting close!”

“
Well, there’s nothing much to be done about it.”

Over
at the computers, Osgood was busily plowing through all the messages that the team on the other end had generated waiting for this chance to communicate. Many were intended for loved ones and would have to be combed before transmission. Others were of a technical nature, discussing the condition of their equipment and personnel. The few of a scientific nature were light in the way of hard information, another disappointment for him. And finally one was marked as urgent. He opened that one as Volant rolled over to spy past his elbow. They read it at the same time and then looked at each other.