Infinite Reef (43 page)

“When will we start seeing the ground?” asked Mary, looking doubtfully out the window.

“Soon,” volunteered Alex Four. “We’re five minutes from Titan Base.”

“I guess we’ll be landing in a haze?” Alex replied, pleased to get a response from the sullen Sensor.

“That depends on the weather,” said Christine. “It’s usually clear at ground level.”

“So, you’ve visited here before,” asked Mary.

“A time or two.”

“It must be a dreary place,” Mary opined, peering out at the fog.

“The biggest complaint from visitors is not being able to see Saturn,” answered Johnny’s daughter. “One can see it, of course … some days.”

The shuttle lurched a bit as it made another course correction, then the ship broke out of the fog. Blunted gray peaks first greeted their view. Surrounding them was a dark landscape, dotted with black lakes that softly reflected the orange sky.

“I expected ice,” remarked Alex. “This looks like soot.”

“Hydrocarbons,” said Alex Four. “Mostly methane. But everything’s stained by the hydrocarbons.”

They were interrupted by a beep that signaled the final approach to Titan Base. Without being told, everyone began tightening their seatbelts. As he did so, Alex studied the terrain that was looming before them. He saw no buildings or evidence of a landing area. “I can’t see the base,” he said somewhat nervously.

“Dead ahead,” answered Christine, pointing to the front. “Seated where you are it should be easy to see. Look for a dark patch at the base of the mountain?”

“I see it on the scope, Alex,” remarked Johnny. “Don’t you?”

The mountain loomed larger, a huge heap of black rising out of the misty plain. Alex shook his head. “No … not really, Johnny,” he said glumly. “As far as I can tell we’re headed for crash city.”

Alex’s response elicited chuckles from Christine and Alex Four.

“I see it, Alex,” Mary offered hopefully, pointing straight ahead. “It’s a fairly large opening, just above the mist line.” She looked back at Alex Four who met her glance with a raised eyebrow. “It IS pretty hard to make out. If you don’t have bio-engineered eyes,” she added, almost derisively.

Alex Four met Mary’s gaze with a confident smile but said nothing.

Seconds later, just when it looked as if their shuttle would splash into the oily black mountain, Alex saw the slightly darker portal that was the entrance to Titan’s colony. Automatically
Diver’s
whining engines changed pitch as unseen flight controllers guided her to a landing.

They came to a stop in a blue lit cavern lined with glass fronted observation rooms. Alex switched off the null-gee and felt the moon’s mass pull him down into his seat. “Dingers!” he breathed. “Haven’t felt this heavy since Old Blue.”

“Really?” said the Commander’s daughter. “Isn’t this about the same as
Goddard
?”

Johnny looked at Christine and smiled as he unbuckled his seat harness. “I’d gauge it at about a third more.”

Mary and Alex Four were out of their seats first and headed toward the airlock, but they didn’t open it. Instead, they pressed their faces to the door’s window and watched for the outer hatch to open. Commander Baltadonis remained in his seat with a finger to his earphone as if listening to instructions. A moment passed before he raised the cyber-bubble that surrounded him and finished unbuckling himself from the seat. “They say a security detail will be debriefing us,” he announced calmly. “Is that normal?” Johnny looked at Alex Four for an answer. The clone ignored him.

Christine gave Commander Baltadonis a dark look. “You should be asking me, father,” she replied. “Not my assistant.” She stiffened in her seat after freeing herself from its constraints. “And … yes, it’s normal.”

Alex wasn’t so sure. Feigning putting away some gear, he opened a small hatch under his seat and reached inside. There his fingers touched the cold metal of the pinger that he’d stowed there long before the Lalande mission. He smiled slightly, slipping the tiny gun out of its hiding place, and moved it deftly into a pocket into his coveralls. Finding it there was reassuring. His ship had been refurbished many times by the mechanics aboard the
Goddard
and on Ganymede before its mission to the faraway star, but apparently no one had ever found it. He glanced at Mary who was giving him a look of alarm. Her hand was to her temple as if she was using her implanted broadcast system.

Alex remembered suddenly that there were now two sensors aboard who could read his thoughts. He struggled to shift his mind to the work crew that was now approaching
Diver
with a sled to move it to an airlock. Glancing again at Mary he could see he had been lucky. Only she had read his mind. Alex Four was still standing at the door with his back to them. He was clearly focused on the work outside, perhaps communicating with Titan Control. Alex removed the gun from his pocket and slipped it back into its slot beneath his seat, all the while thinking about the workers outside. Mary smiled and nodded, then she too turned away to face the airlock door.

It took only a few minutes for the outside crew to jockey
Diver
into a berth inside the great gray metal wall to their left. Moments later a rap at the door signaled them to disembark. Alex Four was first through the hatch, followed by Commander Baltadonis, his daughter, Mary, and finally Alex, who closed the hatch behind him as he stepped onto the metal grating that served as the floor for the brightly lit hangar. Alex sniffed the air. “Ammonia,” he said to Mary. She nodded. “How can they stand it?”

“Titan,” said Johnny’s daughter, overhearing them. “They can’t filter out all of its atmosphere. At least not in the hangar section.”

No less than ten armed guards were standing several meters away watching the disembarkation dubiously. Each of the large gray suited officers was covered with battle gear. Chief among these were oversized rifles whose barrels seemed too large to fire ordinary bullets. From their ranks stepped a stocky, obviously older soldier. Alex noticed that he was the only one with his weapon secured over his shoulder. But even strapped tight as it was to a back pack, the thing still swayed heavily side to side as the man walked to meet the group.

“W’come to Titan Alpha,” the officer called out to no one in particular. “Which o’ ye’s C’mander Baltadonis?”

Johnny raised a hand. “That would be me.”

“You’re t’ visit wi’ the president, Commander,” growled the officer without shaking Johnny’s hand or saluting. “A tubecar’s waitin’.” He pointed to a door at the rear of the hangar.

“Some cannon you’re carrying,” volunteered Alex with a grin. “Why so well armed?”

“She’s a penal colony,” the soldier said coldly.

Alex nodded. “Expectin’ jail-breaks?”

This brought a smile to the man’s face. But it didn’t make him appear any more cordial or appealing, producing only craggy wrinkles on a weathered spacer’s face and a frightening display of teeth.

In a swift and practiced way, the man swung the gun from his shoulder and pointed it directly at Alex. “Ne’er saw one o’ these, I’ll bet,” he chuckled. “You bein’ aways an’ all. She’s a thumpa … sonic ‘r plasma. Name yer licks. Take yer pick.” His black gloved hand touched a red knob on the stock and the weapon began to hum ominously and a small red light flickered to life deep inside the barrel. Alex sensed the small dot of warm laser light dancing on his forehead. The man grinned at his mates who waited watchfully some distance away. “We only bring these fer guests! Azat’s right lads?” When he laughed heartily a few of his solders did too, only briefly. Soon they were quiet and unflinching as a well trained pack of dogs.

The smile faded as the old soldier faced the group again.

“And who might you be?” asked Mary.

“Yer service, C’m’der Suttons, ma’am.” This brought a half-hearted salute from the guard, but he relaxed immediately and, one by one, sized up each face before him. He seemed to recognize Johnny’s daughter and Alex Four, nodding to them respectfully. “You two’re meetin’ w’ the Duff. Through them doors.” He pointed to a hatch directly behind the group.

“An’ you two …” he said to Alex and Mary, “… Quar’ntine.”

Alex couldn’t ignore the fact that the soldier did all his pointing with the nose of his weapon. Now it was trained directly at him again, the laser still casting an ominous dot of red on his chest. It was as if the mechanism was somehow attached to the soldier’s finger.

Alex felt violated but he kept his calm until the others, particularly Alex Four and Johnny’s daughter, had left the hangar. He waited until he heard the door clang closed behind him before he acted.

When the soldier blinked at the noise Alex snatched the barrel of the gun and pulled the soldier, off balance, toward him. With his other hand he spun the man around and threw his arm around the soldier’s neck. The gun the man had been carrying was now in Alex’s hand and pointed at the other soldiers. Alex pressed his teeth to the man’s ear. “You know, this place stinks almost as bad as your attitude, soldier. Get this. I don’t like guns pointed at me and neither does the lady. Understood?” The soldier gurgled as Alex squeezed his throat 220 tighter. Speech failing him, he nodded instead. Alex pushed him away, but kept the weapon pointed directly at the soldier’s forehead.

“How does it feel, Suttons …” Alex said, “… with a red light on
your
forehead?”

Alex’s action had surprised even Mary. She said nothing, but Alex could hear her voice inside his head. “Alex, are you trying to get us killed?”

The other solders were holding their guns and several dots of light were also dancing all over Alex’s blue flight suit.

Suttons swallowed hard and rubbed his neck. Then he seemed to regain his composure and grinned. “What … wha … what’re ye by?” he managed to say. “Tryin’ t’ get y’se’f killed?”

The old soldier smoothed his rumpled uniform and glanced at his mates. All nine of them crouched defensively with their weapons pointed at Alex. But Alex held his weapon’s laser steady on the forehead of their Commander. “No,” he said, taking a half a second to glance at his wife. Mary stood coolly a few feet from him, looking oddly at ease. She shrugged when their eyes met. “Your call, my love,” she said coolly.

In his mind Alex spoke to her. He had to trust that she was listening hard. He let the thoughts go as if he was using his voice, but he was careful not to betray this by moving his lips. “Mary, I hope you can hear me. I have a bad feeling about this. Get Johnny. Radio him. Anything. I’m getting us back to
Diver
.” If Mary heard Alex she gave him no sign of it, and he couldn’t hear any of her thoughts in his mind.

Mary returned a smile then looked at the officer. “It seems we’ve a stalemate, officer. I’m a Sensor, as you probably know, and I’m authorized with the full legal authority of the Federation.”

“I knows yer, Mizz Seventeen,” replied Suttons. “So wh’t’s goin’ on? Is ‘e spacers?” Suttons looked scornfully at Alex, who stood defiantly pointing the weapon at him. “So … wh’t’s yer frien’ on about?”

Mary ignored him and turned away putting a finger to her ear. Then she looked back at Suttons. “I’d appreciate it if you’d all put those guns away while I contact the authorities.” Mary glared at Alex, apparently trying to appear annoyed by the men around her. “Now, please!”

Alex wasn’t going to give up his advantage. He shook his head as he targeted the weapon’s laser at a mole on soldiers forehead.

It glowed orange in the ruby light. “I can remove that mole for you, Suttons, if you’d like,” he smirked. Then he looked quickly at Mary.

Mary sighed and thought quickly. In the depths of her bio-mechanical nervous system she was able to channel her message through the
Goddard’s
switchboard. She could see only one way out of this mess.

The message was brief. “Commander Baltadonis required aboard Goddard, A.S.A.P.” It was sent to Johnny’s personal com link.

Mary knew that Johnny would get it on his wristband and it would appear to be an authentic communication from his ship.

“The message has been sent, gentlemen,” Mary announced to Alex and Suttons. “In the meantime, Alex, you can explain to this gentleman why you put a choke-hold on him and took his gun? It isn’t THAT big of an emergency, that you have to be … violent!”

“Emergency?” Alex and Suttons spoke the word as one voice.

Mary huffed. “Commander Baltadonis is needed aboard the
Goddard
. “ She looked at Alex in mock surprise. “I thought you knew that!

With the words of his wife, “Play along, love,” suddenly echoing in side his head, Alex lowered his gun. The old soldier and his men seemed to relax a bit. One of them, a young black lieutenant, stepped forward, his gun conspicuously pointed at the floor. “Is it a medical emergency? I’m a meddie.”

Mary shook her head and smiled. “Thanks, but no. I think it’s administrative. All I know is that it’s a priority message. We should wait here for the Commander’s orders.” A beep in the depth of her bio-mech senses told Mary that Johnny had received her message. His voice came back to her weakly. “What sort of emergency? I’m about to enter a tram here and go to a briefing.”

Mary responded with another false message via
Goddard
, “Please return to the shuttle bay. The shuttle is being primed for takeoff.” She raised an eyebrow, looked at Suttons and said, “The Commander requests our shuttle be cleared readied for take-off.”

Suttons shifted uneasily, and frowned. “I’d like me weapon back, miss, be’fo’ I does an’thin’.”

“To point it at me, again?” Alex lifted the barrel of the gun ominously.

“I’m the sorries, mate,” Sutton apologized. “I should n’ o’ poked ‘er in ye’ face.” He reached out for the gun with a patronizing smile.

Alex knew it was Mary’s ball game now. He handed the soldier the weapon. “Use ‘t wisely, mate.” He released the plastic strap still wrapped around his wrist. He knew they were doing the right thing. From the beginning the entire visit to Titan had had ominous overtones. And the purpose of the visit had never been explained. A briefing, they were told. But what kind of briefing? Weeks had passed since they’d entered the solar system and still no one aboard
Goddard
had been allowed to contact their kin. No exceptions. No legal reason was large enough to break this quarantine. And no reason was ever actually given for bringing Johnny, Alex, and Mary to Titan Colony. It had all the earmarks of an arrest but no warrants or charges were ever spoken of, either. This left all of them, including the 1200 plus crew of
Goddard
, in limbo. What would be their fate? Would they be allowed to assimilate? Could they collect the matured value of their economic holdings? Or were there debts owed to the crew that the Federation didn’t want to pay? How much interest had their estates earned? After all, no one, not even the man who conceived the Lalande mission, had anticipated that the return to Earth would take so long.