Farthest Reef (14 page)

Chapter 7

1
Diver
lifted from the clouds and rose slowly, gulping gasses from the atmosphere to recharge her fuel tanks. Despite all the urgency to return, they were forced to delay liftoff until the
Goddard
assumed the proper orbital position for the rendezvous. While they waited, Alex flew
Diver
in a shallow climb to the upper edge of the Red Spot’s doming atmosphere. Even at this altitude Jupiter looked table flat and infinite in size.

As Alex gazed at the world beneath his ship he wondered what was going on down there, deep in the reef. Would the two clicker men be missed? And what would be the legacy of this mission? As the reef’s discoverer he still couldn’t shake his sense of responsibility over its fate. He thought about the stunned clicker men, littering the cavern floor. Had they been wrong to use the weapon? He had electrified
Diver’s
hull on two previous missions to drive the clicks away, but it had never stunned them. Johnny thought the charge was excessive because of the carbon fluff that the clicks had stirred up. Zapping the clicks had been unintentional, but it might as well have been intended. After all, it got them out of the reef with the hostages in tow.

Alex surveyed the clouds. He wondered if he’d ever revisit the reef. Maybe to bring the clicks home, he decided. Still, considering the voyage ahead, he and Mary might not ever see their own home on Ganymede again, either. Without asking anyone’s permission he switched on the music they’d played to the reef. None of the crew complained. Mary and her cat were curled up and had fallen asleep. Everyone else was just relaxing.

Alex looked back at the clouds and wondered if the reef was actually a single organism, interconnected in every way. He and Mary had come to think so. If so, could the balloon creatures hovering in the clouds be the reef’s eyes? Was the entire spot a gigantic eye? Certainly it had a curved and layered surface. The idea seemed preposterous, a joke, really. After all, the Great Red Spot looked like an eye. Yet it did seem as though the whole reef was alive. Its creatures seemed to communicate universally. Why, Alex wondered, were the balloon critters attached to the reef? Could the reef be watching? Had the reef known about humans all along, as Mary once said? Did they know Alex would come?

Tsu shook him awake. He had been dreaming of clicker men watching the Earth on great screens, deep in the reef. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes. “Dingers,” he said. “What’s up, Tsu?”

“It’s time,” she said. “Time to launch.”

“She’s in your hands, Connie,” Alex said. “Ever blasted off before?” He leaned back in his seat.

“Actually, no.”

Alex raised an eyebrow and pointed to her control stick. “Well …?”

“Why not?” said Tsu, smiling faintly.

“
Forty seconds
,” said the computer.

2
With the ship’s engines at full power and using null-gravity to save fuel, Connie Tsu placed
Diver
in a perfect orbit ten thousand kilometers above Jupiter, there to rendezvous with the
Goddard
. They timed their liftoff so that the two ships would meet when
Diver
reached orbit, and Tsu took them to a flawless docking in
Goddard’s
shuttle bay.

“You’re a hell of a pilot, Tsu,” said Alex as they moved inside the great ship. “You can fly my buggy any time. I see why they invited you along.”

Tsu smiled. “You’re not a bad jockey, yourself, Alex. But you worry way too much.” She laughed as she brought the ship to a stop in the hangar.

A new scaffolding was waiting for them inside the shuttle bay.
Goddard’s
flight controller had warned them that
Diver
would have to be sanitized in a plasma field and given a micro-bacterial scrub. This meant that everyone had to stay inside the ship for the duration of the process. The controller had added apologetically that it would take ‘a while’. No one aboard
Diver
complained about the delays. Nor did they talk much. They were all exhausted and glad to be packing for departure.

The clicks were unloaded as soon as the ship was secured in its gantry and
Goddard’s
outer doors were sealed. A flurry of activity resulted in the quick removal of the entire catcher mechanism, together with the click tanks. Everything was carted off on dollies to parts unknown. Then the sterilization began. As promised, the process took hours. When it was over, the beleaguered crew of
Diver
were asleep at their stations.

Mary awoke to the sound of the flight controller shouting in her ear. “Is anyone alive in there? Come on, people, we’re on the clock!” She acknowledged the message and set about waking the crew. In a few minutes everyone was up and ready to disembark.

Before entering the shuttle tubes that led to the great rotating interior of the
Goddard
, Alex took a moment to watch his ship cocooned in a framework of white metal by giant robotic arms. The machinery, governed by persons Alex couldn’t see, drew the ship tightly to the superstructure of the mother ship, like a silver moth trapped in a white spiderweb.

As the pressure doors clanged shut behind him, Alex joined Mary and the rest of the crew. Still in the weightless outer hull, they were taken to a room where they stripped, showered and sanitized. They were all given flight togs made of the white foam material that Alex and the crew of
Goddard
had worn during the jump from Mars. An hour later, Alex and Mary arrived at their house, or at least the structure that had been their house. Now it was only one story high.

“Where’s the rest of the house?” asked Mary as she stepped from the cart.

“It’s all there,” said the driver. “It’s been lowered underground for stability during launch. You’ll just enter upstairs and walk down. You’ll find all the houses and buildings are linked by tunnels underground,” continued the man. He tugged nervously at the straps on his own foam suit. “It’s only like that during travel.”

“That makes sense,” said Alex.

The crewman nodded. “We launch in a few hours. No time to look around, I’m afraid. We started preparing for launch as soon as we heard you were coming back.”

“You guys
are
in a hurry,” said Alex.

“You need to be secured in your jump pods by then.”

“Shouldn’t Stubbs be explaining all this to us?” asked Mary, examining Inky inside the pet carrier.

“My name is Ned Binder. I’m Stubbs’ special assistant,” the young man said, holding out his hand. “He would have come himself, but they’re giving him … prepping him for travel.”

Mary frowned. “Prepping him?”

The young man laughed nervously. “They’re putting him in stasis for the trip. He has a weak heart. They’ll implant a pacer when we get to the Lalande system.”

“Are the medical facilities here up to that?” said Mary. “Someone could take his place.”

“Unthinkable to Stubbs, I’m afraid, Mrs Seventeen,” said Ned. He pointed to the bags he’d unloaded at their door. “Those bags have been sanitized,” he added. “Everything else is stowed and will be delivered when we get to Bubba. We launch in less than fifty minutes,” he reminded them. Then he and his friend sped off in their scooter.

“Dingers,” said Alex. “Launching already? I expected some orientation, or something.” He looked longingly at Mary.

“There will be time for that later,” said Mary. “Grab the bags, my sweet. I need a shower to get this disinfectant smell off me before bed.”

3
Mary wished she were naked. So did Alex. But their first night in their new bed wasn’t a social moment. They both wore the bulky foam suits and lay side by side in their bed pod, as Alex called it. When they were both in position, sensors triggered a mechanism that transformed the bed into a domed shell. Over their faces text messages scrolled across its white surface. “
This module will afford you both comfort and safety when
Goddard
makes its historic jump through worm space to another star system.”

Alex stared up at the dome. He reached up to determine how close it was and discovered that he could extend his arm completely without touching it. A soft glow illuminated the module. Alex couldn’t tell at first where it came from until he realized that the dome wasn’t white, it was glowing. The entire dome was a high resolution screen.

Mary lay to Alex’s right with her arms folded across her chest. She looked angry as she watched the repeating text scrolling above. He didn’t have to ask what was wrong.

“I’m not in the mood to read,” Mary said. “I don’t travel well in foam, either.”

“Good afternoon, Mary Seventeen,
” said a soothing voice.
“Not to worry. You and Alex are special guests on the
Goddard
. Without your personal sacrifice our mission would be compromised.

“To say thanks, we have assigned you this special dome, complete with all features including a real-time view outside. You may watch the launch if you wish or you can turn this unit off. You may remove your foam suits during launch. Please, however, have them handy in case of emergency.
”

The next sound Alex heard was Mary’s suit unzipping.

“Lights down a bit if you please, computer,” said Alex.

The lights dimmed to a dull glow.
“Launch in forty-three minutes, Mr Rose,”
answered the computer.

“That sounds about right,” said Alex.

Mary giggled.

4
“
You can give me a name or continue with the designate ‘computer’.
”

Alex and Mary had made love twice. They lay naked and exhausted, staring up at the screen. “What shall we call her … him? I guess it’s an it.” said Alex.

Mary was on her side, looking at him, ignoring the overhead screen. “I have no idea,” she said. “Did you notice that some of your red hair is turning white?”

“I asked you a question. The computer asked you a question. What do you want to call the computer?”

“Okay, how about … computer. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Mary caressed Alex’s hair. “Computer,” she said.

“
Yes, Mary
,” said the computer’s soft voice.

“Can we see what’s going on in the control room?”

“
Specify control room, please.
”

“Command and control.”

“
That would be where your friends … Professor John Baltadonis, Captain John Wysor, and Assistant Commander Ned Binder are stationed at the moment,
” said the computer, its voice sounding artificially cheerful.

“Right,” answered Alex. He looked at Mary and winked.

“
Would you like two-way communication and viewing?
” asked the computer.

“No!” shouted Mary, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

Suddenly, on their overhead dome they were seeing the control room. Alex guessed the camera was located near the commander’s station. It took him a while for him to recognize anyone because they were all seated and helmeted for the launch. Captain Wysor was speaking. “… a bit more to the MXPCs.” There was a loud whirring sound somewhere near the microphone that obscured other people’s comments in the control room.

“Computer. Can you improve the sound? I can only hear the Captain,” asked Alex. Suddenly the sound cleared up. They could easily hear Johnny talking to Stubbs’ assistant about the power converters. “That’s great,” said Alex. “Are there microphones all over the ship?”

“
Yes, Alex,
” answered the soft voice. “
But in this case there were no other mikes, so I edited out the offending sounds.
”

Alex listened for a moment. “Oh yeah,” he said. Then he noticed a digital readout on the control room wall indicating four minutes until launch. “Are we launching soon, computer?” Alex asked.

“
See that for yourself, Alex. The control room clock says exactly three minutes and forty-seven seconds. Forty-six … would you like me to continue the countdown? Forty-four …
”

“No,” said Mary. “We’ll just watch, thanks.”

“
You’re very welcome, Mary. May I add how proud everyone aboard is of your heroic accomplishments and priceless contributions?
”

“Dingers, Mary,” said Alex. “This could get old fast.”

“Did I embarrass you?”
The computer voice sounded concerned.

“Computer, I’d like to hear the control room,” said Alex. “That’s all. Would you please stop talking?” The computer didn’t answer. Alex found comfort in the fact that its patronizing banter could be cut short with a simple command.

Inky appeared from behind the headboard, meowing. “Inky,” said Mary. “I almost forgot about you.” She scooped him into her arms. “I have two loverboys with me now.”

There were two minutes remaining on the clock. As the tension grew in the control room the activity seemed to cease, as did the conversation. The only voice remaining was that of Captain Wysor. Alex and Mary lay back, absorbed in the holographic image that surrounded them. Soon they were part of the scene, ghosts in the control room.

Wysor looked around. “Optimum grid layering … green … we have four … five engines … six.”

“Are we going to jump now?” whispered Mary, as though they might be heard.

“I doubt it,” said Alex. “As I recall, the plan is to get away from planets … moons … settlements. We’ll be accelerating for a while before we jump.”

Mary looked at him doubtfully.

“Johnny told me,” said Alex defensively. “What’s the matter?”

Mary still looked dubious. “You’ve jumped in the
Goddard
before,” she said. “And you said very little about the experience. I jumped in the
Houston
, I know, but we were in its hold and inside
Diver
. I don’t know why I never wondered about it before. Are we in for some shit?”

“Some shit? Where did you get that?”

“Answer.” Mary was up on one elbow staring into his eyes. “Are
we
going to vomit?”

Alex closed his eyes. “Dingers, Mary, last time they put me in a sarcophagus and … I had a reaction to the drugs. This is better, believe me. And if you’re worried about the jump itself, well, they’ve spent years testing the gee-pulse. I’ll admit it was a weird experience. And no, I didn’t vomit. Nor did I shit.”