Farthest Reef (4 page)

Projected brightly against a darkened dome in the center of the circular room was the planet Jupiter, looking almost three dimensional. “That’s a magnification of our first objective, Alex. This ship’s magnetic field is a good interferometer,” observed Stubbs. “We’re testing it now.”

“It can see where we’re going … but not to the sides.” Johnny steadied himself against the door. “No rear view or side view, either,” he added.

“It’s something,” said Stubbs.

“This is the helm?”

“One of them. There are several,” Johnny said. “All at this latitude. But this is the main one.”

Stubbs smiled condescendingly at Johnny. “Of course, with the computer system the ship can be helmed from anywhere.”

Alex recognized familiar faces as he surveyed the room: Bob Walters, a crewmate he thought had died at Ra Patera, Tony Sciarra and Connie Tsu from the last mission. “Old faces,” he noted, smiling as he waved. “Who’s flying this tub?”

“It’s a starship, Alex. And we’re not moving at the moment,” said Stubbs. “But Captain John Wysor will be pointing the needle when the time comes.”

Alex was glad to see the Ganny pilot helming the ship, happy to see a smile that he could trust. The Captain came to greet them, trotting deftly past workers installing consoles. After saluting Stubbs and nodding politely to the rest, Wysor gave Alex a Ganny style bear hug. “Where’s y’r Mary, y’ ol’ pirate?”

“We’ll be seeing her at Jupiter,” offered Stubbs. “Alex is bacheloring at the moment.”

Wysor acknowledged the commander with a nod but no comment. “So,” he began. “On to th’ briefin’? This way, gents.”

The Captain seemed at ease with the surroundings as he led them to the center of the room. He directed everyone to a group of empty work stations near his own. When they were all seated he returned to his own console, near the front of the group.

A large black hemisphere lowered from the ceiling a few meters in front of the Captain. It reminded Alex of the bubble Johnny had installed aboard his shuttle before the exploration of Jupiter’s reef. It had been Johnny’s eyes and ears during the mission, providing a virtual environment driven by the sensor array. This bubble, however was much larger. When it locked into place, a few meters above the Captain’s head, the room darkened.

He guessed that the
Goddard’s
mission probably had something to do with Jupiter’s reef, but he couldn’t imagine the connection. This was no short hop vessel. He’d been aboard its prototype, the first GeePulse ship. It, too, had jumped to Jupiter, but from Earth, not Mars.

But when the large dome overhead suddenly lit up with a star chart, he was sure this was more than a planet hopping mission. He noticed a small reddish star at the center of the dome. Looking closely at it he could see two tiny planets orbiting it.

Stubbs’ quiet voice broke the silence in the room. “Now that Captain Rose is here, I want to compliment him for his patience with me …” The commander chuckled as he looked at Alex. “I especially appreciate his volunteering for our mission. We’ll no doubt need his help, not to mention his piloting skills, which I assume are still intact.” Stubbs cleared his throat as he looked again at Alex. In the darkened room, his face was lit from below by his console, his grin almost demonic.

Without commenting on the commander’s remarks, Alex pointed to the dome. “Is the
Goddard
going there? Are we going to another star system?”

Stubbs’ grin remained fixed like a Cheshire cat, hovering over his console. “I assume that to be obvious.”

Alex’s heart began to beat faster. “Then, with all due respect, what do you need me for? You have Wysor here.” He searched the faces around him, but no one looked back at him. The silence persisted a few seconds. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I interrupted.”

“No problem,” said Stubbs. “You were getting ahead of me, Alex, but I understand. I apologize that mission confidentiality has prevented many of you from obtaining more details. To answer your questions, Alex: yes, that is a star system you’re seeing. Lalande 21185, to be exact. And, no, we certainly don’t expect you to pilot the
Goddard
. Captain Wysor and a few others will handle that.”

Alex wasn’t satisfied with the answer, and Stubbs seemed to read it in his expression. “You and Mary Seventeen will be part of the mission – a very special part.”

“Having to do with the reef?”

“Oh, yes. Very much so.” Stubbs smiled at Alex. “Let me outline our mission.” He touched his console and the image above them changed to a simple diagram. “In a few hours we will make the jump to Jupiter. We’ll orbit Ganymede where you will be reunited with Mary Seventeen. We have been monitoring her medical progress and feel she’s ready to join the mission. As you learned from the briefing you received before boarding the
Goddard
, Mary’s internal communication nodes have been augmented. We hope that the modifications will enable her to communicate more effectively.”

“Why would she want to do that?” asked Alex. “If they have a language, she never understood it. And their constant chatter practically drove her crazy. Won’t those modifications just make it worse? And why should we go back? You have people you could send and …”

Stubbs stood up and faced Alex. “Lalande is 8.3 light years away, with two planets similar to Jupiter.” He smiled at Alex’s wide-eyed expression. “We intend to explore the system, using the
Goddard
as a base, but our primary interest is the inner gas giant. They’re calling it Bubba, for some reason. Anyway, the gas giant is 1.6 times the mass of our own, and the best imagery suggests a spot in its atmosphere, positioned and structured very much like Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.”

“But you said we’ll be going back to the reef on Jupiter,” said Alex. “What does this have to do …?’

Stubbs held up a hand. “Patience, Alex,” he said. “Yes. First Jupiter, where you, Mary, Tony Sciarra, and Connie Tsu will take your ship,
Diver
, into the reef. Your shuttle has been modified for that mission.”

“You worked on my ship without a word to me?”

“Yes, and you won’t be getting a bill for the upgrade or the bells and whistles we added.” Stubbs took a deep breath. “ANYWAY, Alex, you will pilot your ship into the reef and bring back at least one clicker man, hopefully more than one, alive. Then you and your ship will be brought aboard
Goddard
and we will make the jump to Lalande.”

“You want me to capture clicker men?”

Stubbs nodded. “We want one of them aboard when we explore Lalande b’s spot.”

“Why?”

Baltadonis raised his hand. “Johnny?” acknowledged the commander. “Do you wish to answer Alex’s query?”

“Thanks, Harry.” The younger Professor turned to face Alex. “The primary question is if life exists on a gas giant in the Lalandian system, and, if so, if it’s similar to what you found on Jupiter. We want to know if Jovian life generated spontaneously in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Lalande may yield that answer. Our mission hopes to answer once and for all if life starts on gas giants or on planets like Earth.”

“You think the life on Earth came from Jupiter’s reef?” Alex leaned back in his foam seat.

“Perhaps. Jovian life has DNA,” observed Stubbs. “So does Earth life. We don’t know where it came from. But, suffice to say, we need reef experts. And if anyone can go in there and capture a clicker man it’s you and Mary.”

“But why is that necessary?” Confused, Alex slumped in his chair.

“If I may volunteer an answer to that, Commander,” said Professor Baltadonis. “If life is found on Lalande, Alex, and it proves similar to the life we have in Jupiter’s reef … then we want to communicate with it, if possible.”

Stubbs nodded impatiently. “Details, Johnny. Not important now.” He looked at Alex earnestly. “We need Jovian life aboard to compare with what we find on Lalande b. It’s as simple as that. We need to be prepared for any eventuality.”

Wysor and Sciarra had been sitting nearby, quietly listening to Stubbs’ briefing. Until now they hadn’t said a word. Sciarra raised his hand.

“Another country heard from,” quipped Stubbs. “Yes, Sciarra?”

“Seems you’re crammin’ a lot down Alex’s throat all ’t once. Why’d you boys keep him in the dark about your plans?”

“Compliance issues,” said Stubbs.

“How long have you been including Mary and me in these plans of yours?” Alex was way past the intimidation point. He felt like a bomb about to explode. He thought of Mary then, and the thought defused his anger.

“A year,” said Johnny. “Maybe longer.”

“Have you sent … others … to the reef?” Alex fixed his eyes on the hologram of the star. It was easier than looking at Johnny.

Professor Baltadonis hesitated and looked at Stubbs, who nodded and picked up the conversation. “I understand your feelings about the sovereignty of the reef, Alex. No. We haven’t sent people in, but we’ve sent probes.” He looked sympathetically at Alex. “There’s no colonies down there yet. You can relax. We tried to locate some of those key places you visited. Those cities. Places the clicker men haunt.”

“Did you find them?”

“Who? The clicker men?”

Alex smiled, but not pleasantly. “Them.”

Wysor and Sciarra both stood up. “If you won’t be needing us, I think we both have work to do. We jump soon.”

Stubbs raised the black bubble and illusion vanished. The windows that had been darkened for the presentation now cleared again, filling the room with blinding light. “That was dramatic,” said Alex, shielding his eyes with his hand. Both professors were already wearing sunglasses. Stubbs handed an extra pair to Alex. They seemed bulky and fitted poorly at first, but in a minute they warmed and conformed to his face.

“It’s noon,” said Johnny. “Good for the plants, hard on the eyes.”

Alex forced a smile as Captain Wysor came to him and offered his hand. “I donno wa’ t’ say, chiefy,” the Captain said sympathetically. “I vol’nteered, meself. Seems ya bin’ drafted. I might say no to ’em for th’ Se’enteen … but not f’ me t’ say.”

“They could have asked,” said Alex, still shielding his eyes from the light. “But what difference does it make?”

The professors had put their heads together after the meeting broke up. Now they faced Alex. The Captain tipped a finger to Alex, then to the professors, and walked quickly away.

“That was it?” said Alex. “That’s the briefing?”

Johnny and Stubbs looked at each other, and Stubbs smiled. “Do you want to join the mission, Alex?”

“Sure.” Alex tried to sound as casual as possible. “Chance of a lifetime, right?”

Stubbs grinned. “Good. We hoped you’d say that. You’ll need to know more … and there is much, much more to know. But right now a crew is waiting to train you with your new shuttle.”

“Are you talking about modifications to
Diver
?”

“We’ve installed a clever extraction system,” added Stubbs. “Our reef probes gave us enough information to be able to simulate the reef environment. The pod we installed in the belly of your shuttle will hold at least three clicker men.”

“Is
Diver
aboard?”

“Yes it is.” Johnny seemed surprised that Alex didn’t know his shuttle was aboard
Goddard
.

Alex had moved past anger to seeing it all as a strange joke. He slapped the Professor on the back and laughed bitterly. “Blackmailed me and stole my ship. And I thought piracy was a thing of the past.”

“I trust history will argue with you, Alex,” Baltadonis replied soberly, wincing a bit. “If you’re worried about the peril of the
Goddard’s
mission, there’s plenty to worry about. It could be a one way trip, to a star or to the reef. Both are dangerous. The star part … well, that’s up to the crew of
Goddard
. The reef mission is up to you.”

“I’m thinking about danger to Mary,” Alex muttered disdainfully. “Not danger to myself.”

“Of course.” Stubbs pointed to the control room door. “Your ship is in the hold not far from where your transport docked. We have an hour before the jump to Jupiter. You are already authorized to see her. The tubeway is working, you should take that.”

Alex lifted the sunglasses and saw two women in blue uniforms standing at the main entrance, looking at him. They nodded and smiled when he noticed them.

4
Without an escort Alex would never have found his way to the shuttle bay. The
Goddard
was larger than a city. The guides seemed delighted with their task as they cheerfully took him outside and down the same path he’d followed earlier.

The huge lighted column that spanned the length of the cylinder was much brighter than before. “Why so bright?” he asked, shielding his eyes despite his dark glasses.

“At the moment they are adjusting it. Testing its output,” answered one of the girls dutifully. She pointed to the door he’d used when entering the cylinder. Over it was a sign that said, “Main Tubeway.”

Before they entered the guides introduced themselves. The taller of the two, an oriental blond, did most of the talking. She told Alex to call her Suzy and introduced the other, a black girl with bright flashing eyes, as Marie. “This is our tubeway,” said Suzy. “They’re still working on parts of it.”

“Very complicated,” added Marie.

“Yes,” Suzy cut in. “There are three types: personnel, commercial, and cargo.”

“Commercial?”

“The main tubeway, like this one,” said Suzy as she opened the doors. The two girls let Alex go first and he felt them eyeing him as he smiled courteously and entered the tubeway.

They went down a short flight of stairs and found themselves in a tunnel. The tubeway was made of the same white material as the smaller tube he’d been in earlier. Before them was a smoothly shaped cylindrical vehicle large enough for four people. Front and rear side doors were spread open like gills on a fish. The car sat on a gleaming rail that disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel. When he entered the car bobbed slightly underfoot, as if floating on a cushion or spring. “Mag lev,” commented one of the guides.

“Has this been tested?” he asked.

The two girls ignored his question as they entered the front of the car. Once inside Suzy looked back at him from the front seat. “There’s no driver seat in this. The computer runs everything.”