Portal-eARC (37 page)

The aliens were signaling.
Yes. Yes.
And on the backs of three, the image of
Zarathustra
being left behind while the oceanic creatures swam away to something blurry that seemed to be where a
lot
of them lived—”a
city!
” Helen murmured—and waited; then
Zarathustra
’s arm struck its body three times, three times again, and Europan people swam out of the fuzzy “city” and came to hover in front of
Zarathustra
.

“They understand!” Helen said.

“They do. And we can go home.”

A.J. rose from the controls, then waved along with Helen. The Europans waved back.
Maybe it’s a gesture they alrady use, or maybe it’s just an obvious greeting and farewell for anyone with manipulating members. I don’t know.

Reluctantly, Helen followed him out of
Zarathustra.

They rejoined the others and turned and looked back at the rover. “You know,” Joe said, “a part of me has never been happier to get
away
from a vehicle. And the other part of me is gonna miss
Zarathustra
.”

“Same here,” said Helen.

“Well,” Madeline said, “If this area stays reasonably intact, people
will
come back here. Maybe even to swim with our alien friends. The pressure isn’t beyond human diving technology.”

“Not sure
I
would be up for that,” A.J. said. “But I’ll bet a lot of people would. And with your permission, Maddie, General, I’m going to lay both cable and relays all through the tunnel leading here so that there’s a guaranteed connection. We
can’t
drop this ball.”

“Of course,” Madeline and General Hohenheim said together; the two chuckled. “As long as it is equipment we do not need to return home,” Hohenheim continued, “you may use anything you like.

“We now know we are not alone in this universe,” he said, “and we will make sure they, also, are no longer alone.”

Chapter 47.

“All secure?”

Madeline checked all the telltales once more; all the ones that mattered for this maneuver showed green. “All secure, Horst.”

They were the only people aboard
Munin
and
Nebula Storm
. All the others—Joe, General Hohenheim, Helen and A.J., Jackie, Petra, Larry, Brett, Mia, Dan, and Anthony—all of them were now aboard
Odin
, stowing away all supplies, preparing for their departure.

She looked at the main display of
Nebula Storm
, to see the oddly-tilted view of Europa Base—the living quarters, Hotel Europa, the circular track and armature of the centrifuge. The structures remained standing; there was no good reason to pack them and bring them along on this trip back, and perhaps future visitors would find them useful, if they survived.

Athena
, too, was staying. Despite its glitches the melt-probe had performed heroically, but it had no purpose on the return trip. If anything remained for
Athena
to do, it would be here, on Europa. Mia and A.J. had carefully shut the probe down into storage mode, locked into its support structure above the last hole it had made, braced to withstand even another monster quake.

The view was tilted because—with muscle power, mechanical advantage, and judicious application of
Munin
’s jets—
Nebula Storm
had been turned around to be sitting at an angle on the ridge into which it had crashed.
Munin
now sat
underneath
the IRI vessel, locked to it by the best umbilical restraints they could devise.

The fact that
she
was here to pilot
Nebula Storm
and that Horst was piloting
Munin
had been settled in somewhat acrimonious debate. The General, it turned out, was more than capable of flying
Munin
, and had intended to do so for this final maneuver. However, he had been overridden. “General, our endgame for this entire adventure relies on your presence,” Maddie had said. “I am expendable, you are not.” She had silenced Joe with a gesture. “I know that isn’t a popular way to state things, but it’s easier if we address this directly. I am also the person who
landed
Nebula Storm
after flying her tandem, and similarly Horst is the one with experience—much more experience, now—in flying
Munin
.”

The General had, grudgingly, accepted this logic.

And now we come down to the end.
“
Munin
, we are coming up to launch window. Is everything a go on your end?”

“All green,” Horst reported.”

This will be trickier,
Maddie admitted to herself. With the nozzle now gone, she really couldn’t use
Nebula Storm
’s main rocket anymore.
Munin
would provide almost all the transport this time, until it was necessary to dock with
Odin
. “All living quarters folded back and locked. Tether release mechanisms armed.”

“Acknowledged,” Horst replied. “
Munin
engines now readied on standby. Launch window in ten seconds.”

“
Nebula Storm
maneuvering thrusters fully charged, ready for use. Model reports all operations within parameters. We are a go for launch.”

“Understood,
Nebula Storm
. We are go for launch. General Hohenheim, please confirm.
”

On the tight-beam communicator, the General’s voice was steady and certain. “All telemetry shows green. Launch window has arrived. Launch when ready.”

“Beginning countdown,” Maddie said, and took a deep breath. The automatics would stil do most of the work, but this cobbled-together vessel, modeled or not, would almost certainly need the human touch to fly straight. “Ten seconds to launch. Full control of
Nebula Storm
attitude jets now assigned to
Munin
. Override controls on
Nebula Storm
show green.”

“Five seconds,” Horst picked up the countdown, “Prepared to launch…two…one…”

The belly thrusters of
Munin
activated first, rearing the double ship up until it pointed upward at an angle of eighty-two degrees. Then the main drive cut in, a rumble, then a roar, and the implacably heavy hand of acceleration pressed down on her.
I am
so
weak now; even with all the exercise in the centrifuge we have all weakened. Bone structure, at least, hasn’t shown much deterioration. If this works, we will have better options for keeping us fit on the way home.

“We have liftoff from Europa,” she reported, and could not keep the excitement and triumph from her voice. “
Nebula Storm
and
Munin
are up and accelerating.” A higher-pitched jet sound. “
Nebula Storm
maneuver jets firing automatically for pitch and yaw. Minimal roll tendency.”

Don’t need to endure much of this.
“Past the halfway mark, all green. Yellow now on course—”

“On it,” Horst said, cutting her off. The side jets of both
Munin
and
Nebula Storm
fired. The plot went green again. “Course now optimal within projected limits. Main burn concluding in three, two, one,
zero!
”

Even as she said it, the main rocket went silent. “On course for rendezvous,” she said, and heard the responding cheer. “Matching burn at Europa L-1 point in less than one hour.”

She let herself relax, read a few chapters of the latest novel she’d had transmitted from Earth, and re-checked all systems again; this took up the time until they were closing in on the matching burn.

“
Odin
, this is
Nebula Storm
and
Munin
,” she said. “We are now on approach to match with you at the Europan L-1 point. Confirm you have us on radar and visual?”

“Confirmed,
Nebula Storm, Munin
. Telescopes have you on visual and are tracking. Radar shows you on approach with minimal deviation from projected path. Proceed with matching burn.”

“Roger,
Odin
,” Horst said. “Rotating both vessels.”

The joined vessels performed a lazy somersault and stopped, oriented now one hundred eighty degrees from their prior heading. “Rotation complete. Orientation now correct. Closing to rendezvous location. Beginning matching burn in three, two…”

The roar of
Munin
’s engine, transmitted through their mutual connections, was shorter this time, as some of the prior burn had of course been necessary to climb some distance out of Europa’s gravity well. She checked the instruments and smiled. “Relative velocity of
Munin
and
Nebula
Storm
now five point six meters per second.”

She could see
Odin
now, the once-elegant ship now little more than a cylinder drifting in space, the old mass-driver units cut so short that they were barely nubs showing at one end.
“Munin
,
Nebula Storm
is initiating separation in ten seconds.”

“Initiating separation, understood.
Munin
standing by.”

And here we go
. “Separation…now.”

The tethers and umbilicals were severed in a precise sequence, ending with a tiny burn of one of
Nebula Storm
’s underjets that set both ships slowly drifting apart. Her smile broadened as she saw the results. “Separation complete and successful,
Munin
.”

“
Munin
also shows full and successful separation. Proceeding to dock at hangar. Good luck,
Nebula Storm.
”

“Thanks,” she said.

She watched
Munin
move away towards
Odin,
and waited while the still-huge EU vessel loomed closer. No point in killing her speed until she was very close.

Once she’d done that, though, the tricky part began. “
Odin
, this is
Nebula Storm
. Prepare for docking and integration.”

“Acknowledged. We are ready, Maddie. Come home.”

“On my way.”

She used the maneuvering jets to position herself directly “ahead” of
Odin
, opposite where
Nebula Storm
’s old rocket nozzle was now installed. She could vaguely see a blackish circle with her unaugmented vision, but by kicking in full assisted display she could see a tapered tunnel built directly into the center of
Odin
. Even as she watched, bright white LED panels blinked on, positioned all along the length of the tunnel on the four main axial directions. It was a landing strip in three-D.
That will help the automatics.

“In position. Accelerating to docking.”

She nudged
Nebula Storm
forward. At a hundred meters, the closing velocity was a meter per second. When she reached twenty meters, she decelerated, to ten centimeters per second.

The automatics triggered tiny lateral burns.
Nebula Storm
drifted sideways imperceptibly, a few millimeters a second, until the opposite—side laterals activated, making
Odin
utterly stationary before her, just looming up now in all directions.

Two meters and she triggered another burn, a centimeter per second, as the sharp nose of the ancient Bemmie hull entered that tunnel.
All to the automatics now…and to the design and engineering skills of Brett, Mia, Joe, and Horst
.

A sudden, tremendously short burst from the jets, and then there was a jolting impact that echoed through the ship. At the same time she heard other sounds, tiny clicks, subsidiary clacking noises, and green lights blossomed across the panel where things had been dark a moment before. One glowed amber, then flashed to green.

“
Nebula Storm
,” Hohenheim said, “docking is complete. All connections have been made. Welcome back, Agent Fathom.”

She sagged back in her chair. “Thank you, General.”

“Please wait a few moments. We will begin to spin the ship up to full rotation. Then you may exit.”

“Acknowledged.”

“In addition,” Hohenheim continued, “we are now not two ships, but one ship, on a single and final mission. I do not think it is appropriate to call this vessel by the name of either of its parts.”

“I would agree,” Madeline said. “Did you have a name in mind?”

“I do,” the General said, “and one I think is most appropriate and in keeping with current namings beside.”

“Ha!” came A.J.’s voice. “Then I know what it is!”

“I have no doubt you do, Mr. Baker.” The General’s voice was amused. “And you are a man of dramatics; go ahead, then, tell us.”

“You sure? Don’t want to steal your thunder, so to speak.”

Even Maddie laughed. “By all means, go ahead, Mr. Baker.”

A.J.’s voice was suddenly serious, the same tone as when he had christened
Nebula Storm
those many months ago. “Okay, than. Born of the power of
Odin
, wielding the force of the
Nebula Storm
, this is
Mjölnir
, Thor’s Hammer, short of handle, mighty in power. Thrown out into the solar system we both were, and now we return!”

The others clapped. “A good name indeed, General, A.J.,” she said. “And I think appropriate in another way.”

She unstrapped herself, feeling that
Mjölnir
was already rotating, and let the living quarters extend themselves outward. “We are also now a weapon.”

Chapter 48.

“We are on course, General.” Jackie said. “Ready for Oberth maneuver in…ten minutes.”

General Hohenheim chuckled.

“What is it, General?”

Hohenheim glanced towards Anthony LaPointe, who was sitting to Jackie’s right. “Recollection, Dr. Secord. Those precise words were spoken to me once before…by Dr. LaPointe, as I recall…and the maneuver did not turn out to be quite as routine as we thought.”

There were laughs around the engineering room which was now
Mjölnir
’s bridge. “Well,” A.J. said, “this time there’s just one ship making the turn, so we’re not going to get into an argument with each other.”