Thunderbird (15 page)

“On my shoulder.”

“Maybe it can sense it's a weapon. Why don't you back off? Give it some distance? Maybe it'll come out.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” He turned and walked back toward the trees, stopping at the edge of the forest. “April?”

“Yes, Jack?”

“You have a word for good-bye?”

The creature's eyes were focused on him. Fangs were visible. April gave him the word, and he repeated it.
“Gormana.”

He took a few more steps into the woods.

The creature came out into the sunlight.
“Gormana,”
it said.

The ice of life is slippery.

—George B. Shaw,
Fanny's First Play
, 1911

P
AULA
WAS
HAUNTED
by the vision of the city on the river. She'd said nothing to her mom. Or to the guy she'd been dating. He was also a member of the security detail. And she certainly didn't want to tell the chairman. But she had no choice.

She liked Walker. And she loved being part of the security unit. It was painful to know she'd put all that at risk, but if she had it to do again, she wouldn't change a thing. The prospect of being dismissed hung over her like a dark cloud. She'd wanted to get it over with, to tell the chairman what she'd done, but he wasn't present when she got back to the Roundhouse, and she took advantage of that to go home and put off facing him.

She lay awake most of the night framing what she would say. Nothing sounded very convincing. In the morning she called Sioux Headquarters and asked for an appointment with him.

“May I ask why you want to speak with him, Paula?” said his secretary.

“Security issue, Miranda.”

“Can you be here at two?”

•   •   •

T
HE
TRIBAL
HEADQUARTERS
was only ten minutes from her home, but it was one of the longest drives of her life. She finally got there, pulled into the parking lot, and, after a long moment, got out of the car and walked into the Blue Building. Miranda notified the chairman that she had arrived and invited her to have a seat. Several minutes later, a man she didn't know came out of Walker's office, glanced her way, and left.

Then the chairman appeared. His expression suggested he was not looking forward to the interview. He already knows, she thought. Normally he would have said, “Come in, Paula.” But on this occasion he simply stood aside and looked back into his office.

She entered and sat down. He turned to the secretary. “Hold any calls, Miranda.”

“Yes, sir.”

Walker closed the door, circled the desk, and settled into his chair. “Are you okay, Paula? I heard about the underwater episode.”

“Yes, sir,” she said. “I'm fine.”

“Good. What can I do for you?”

“You may not have the whole story, Mr. Chairman.”

“What am I missing?”

She cleared her throat. “I used the Strike link, too. Don't know why I was so dumb. But I wanted so much to see what was there. And I thought nobody would ever know.”

His expression darkened. “And what did you see?”

“Probably the same city you did. Riverwalk.”

Walker had not crossed over. But he let that pass. “Have you told anyone about this?”

“No, sir.”

“You're sure? What about—?” He stopped, picked up a folder, and looked
through it. Then his eyes targeted her again. “George? You told George, didn't you?”

“Yes, sir. He made me promise to come here and tell you what I'd done.”

“I see.”

“I'd have done it anyway. Come here, I mean. I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. I don't know what got into me. It's very exciting to be over there. And I felt that if I didn't do it, I might not get another chance. And I'd always regret it. But I won't do anything like that again. Not ever. And I won't say anything to anyone. I'd like very much to keep my position with the security unit. If you'd be willing to trust me again. I'll understand if you don't. “

“When you were there, at this place, were you seen by any of them?”

“No, sir. Not that I'm aware of.”

“Tell me about the city.”

“It's beautiful. The transport station is in the middle of a park. There are lights. Music. People walking around. They're like us, but not really people. They're different. I'd love to drive around in the place. To really get a chance to look at it.”

“You mentioned people? Did you get a good look at them?”

“No, sir. It was nighttime. And I couldn't get close without their seeing me. Their faces are different. The features are sharper. Eyes are farther apart, I thought, though I couldn't be sure. And they're smaller. I didn't see anybody who appeared to be over five feet. The males would probably come up to about my shoulders.”

“You called it Riverwalk.”

“A made-up name, sir. Of course.”

“It's a good fit, judging from what I've heard. You're sure it wasn't a city on Earth?”

“No. It wasn't one of ours. For one thing, they had a different moon. And the inhabitants are certainly not human.”

“Anything else you can tell me, Paula?”

“It looked like a nice place to live.”

“Would you say they're more advanced than we are?”

“Oh, yes. It's maybe the way our cities will look in the far future.”

“That was April's reaction, too.” Walker chewed on his lower lip for a moment. “Thanks for coming in, Paula. It's probably too late to stop this from getting around. But I don't want you discussing it with anyone. I've sent out an update warning the security unit about the octagon icon. And also stipulating that anyone else who violates the protocol will be terminated. You may keep your job, Paula. But I won't tolerate a second offense.”

When she was gone, Walker sat staring at the framed photos of Carla and the kids. It seemed inevitable that eventually something would go wrong. And the Sioux knew too well what happens when a high-tech civilization shows up and moves in. You lose everything. Even with the best of intentions.

•   •   •

A
PRIL
LOOKED
ACROSS
a bevy of television cameras. Chairman Walker reached out to shake their hands as she and John got down off the grid. John joined the other members of the team who were standing off to one side. “It's good to have you all back,” he said. “Welcome home. And congratulations.” He stepped out from behind the lectern, making room for April.

She nodded. “Thanks, Mr. Chairman. It's been an incredible experience.”

The reporters wasted no time shouting questions at her. “How does it feel to be the first person to shake hands with an alien?”

“Did it scare you?”

“Are they really apes?”

She raised both hands and waited for them to quiet down. “First off, they are
not
apes. Or anything like that. I'm sorry that got back to you, but it's not accurate.” She handed her cell to Andrea Hawk.

“What did it have to say? Were you actually able to talk to it?”

“Is there a civilization up there?”

“Did you see any planes or cars?”

April started to explain that they had a printing press but she was interrupted when the screen lit up and a picture of Solya literally took over the room. She was in shirt and slacks, with bright eyes and a wide smile. The photo minimized her fangs.

A long minute passed before the questions resumed. “Is that
her
?”

“When will you be going back?”

“Weren't you afraid of her?”

For the next ten minutes, everything was about Solya. “Will you guys be bringing her back here at some point?”

“She just invited you inside? And you trusted her?”

It became absolute chaos. Questions from all directions.

April let it run for a while before eventually taking control. “Nobody asked her name,” she said. “It's Solya. And she asked me to say hello to everybody.”

That brought some skeptical laughter.

“It's true,” said April.

Jim Stuyvesant waved a hand. “How about sending one of
us
to Eden? It's been a while since you let any of us go. You must have figured out by now that it's safe.”

“We've sent Brad. But I hear you, Jim. Eventually, I think we'll get back to providing better exposure for the media. At the moment, though, we're still concerned about the risks.”

Photos of Solya and her cabin continued to appear on the screen. The TV cameras recorded everything. When the series had finished, the room filled with applause again.

When it ended, Walker took the floor. “I have some additional news for you,” he said. “We've had a team working here, trying to pin down a more precise date when the Roundhouse was built. We have a tentative result. They're saying it was constructed approximately twelve thousand years ago. So it's a little older than we thought. But not by a whole lot.”

April by then knew a substantial number of the reporters. One, Mike Tower of the
Chicago Tribune
, asked how they'd come up with that number. “I thought the materials used to make this place,” he added, “were completely foreign to us.”

“They didn't actually date the building,” said Walker. “They did an analysis of the soil. Don't ask me to explain it. It had something to do with melting glaciers and Lake Agassiz retreating. When the lake drained, it left sediment layers. The sediment layers tell us when a given area was a coastline. Anyhow, they say the date is correct within a few centuries.”

“Close enough,” said one of the reporters.

The grid lit up, and Jack appeared. “Just the guy I've been waiting for,” Walker told the reporters, motioning him to his side. “April wasn't the only one who had a conversation with an alien today. Jack Swiftfoot welcomed one to the Eden station a few hours ago. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get the kind of photos April did.” They put up a picture of the second creature. It was walking away, toward a cluster of trees. “This one was inspecting the Cupola. But before you ask, they don't seem to know anything about it other than that it exists. So we still have no idea who developed the technology.”

•   •   •

W
HEN
IT
WAS
over, April asked James if they could go out to his car for a few minutes. “Of course,” he said, realizing more was coming. When they got settled in, he started the engine to get some heat. “So what else do you have?”

“You saw the pictures of Solya's library.”

“Of course.”

“We should do some rethinking. Eden has a civilization. It may or may not be high-tech. We don't know. Solya didn't seem familiar with electricity, and she almost fell out of her chair when I showed her the photos. But they have the printing press. We shouldn't get so locked down on the city by the river that we don't try to find out something about Solya's culture as well.”

“Of course. What's your suggestion?”

“We start by learning the language. We need somebody who's good with this kind of stuff to go back and spend some time with Solya. And maybe eventually we could even bring her
here
.”

“How about
you
? That would give her somebody she's familiar with. I think she'd be more comfortable with you than with anybody else we could send.”

“I'd love to do it. But I barely got through my French courses in college. No. We need somebody who has some serious linguistic talent.”

“Okay. I think I know who to ask.”

“Who's that?”

“The Snowhawk.”

“Who?”

“Andrea. She's—”

“Oh, yes. Another talk-show host. Yes, I know about her. She's good with languages?”

“As far as I can tell. I'll ask her. You got anything else?”

“Solya's library. We should try to make a deal to get hold of one of the books. Do a trade of some sort. Whatever it takes.”

“I'll do what I can, April. Listen, one other thing?”

“Yes?”

“I think, considering what we've accomplished, we should do a celebration. Get some public relations out of it.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“We'll set it up for next Friday night in Fort Totten. If you want to suggest some people we should invite, let me know, okay? But let's get right on it.”

•   •   •

A
PRIL
RODE
BACK
to Grand Forks with Brad. She was usually a quiet sort, inclined to let others carry the conversation. But that afternoon, as they crossed the prairie, she couldn't stop talking. “Absolutely historic,” she said.

“You don't think there's any possibility that Solya's ancestors could have built the Roundhouse, do you? Could you develop that kind of technology and then lose it?”

“I suppose anything's possible. The technology probably came from Riverwalk, though.”

“You'd really like to go there, wouldn't you?”

“Sure I would. Who wouldn't? Imagine having an opportunity to sit down with a couple of them and talk about their history. I wonder what they've seen? With that kind of technology they'd have no need for starships or anything like that.”

“But they
do
have vehicles, right?
You
saw them. Boats and aircraft.”

“That's true. And what it tells me is that they enjoy traveling. And not just arriving in different places. By the way, the tribe's doing a celebration next weekend. Friday evening. You'll be getting an invitation from James.”

“Great,” he said. “Donna, too, right?”

“Of course.”

“Okay. We'll be there.”

“He hasn't said yet, but I suspect it'll be formal.”

“I'm for it. Haven't worn a tux since my prom.”

“There's something else. We'll be sending another couple of missions out during the next month.”

“Back to Eden?”

“There'll probably be another one to Eden as a follow-up. But the ones the chairman has in mind will be going to the Maze and to the space station.”

“What's the purpose?”

“We just want to look around a bit.”

“Okay. That's as good a reason as any, I guess. Good luck.”

“I think you'd especially enjoy the view from the station. Are you interested in going?”