Rock Killer (19 page)

They walked a short distance away.

“What can I do for you, Doctor?” McConnell asked condescendingly. He held his cigarette so the smoke curled around her head.

“I’d like to apologize,” Kirsten said through the cloud, “for what happened at your house last month.”

“I think your husband is the one who needs to apologize.”

“I know. But he’s not on Earth. I’d like to apologize for him.”

“Where is Mr. Chun?” McConnell asked, sucking on the cigarette and blowing the smoke her direction.

“He’s going to the belt.”

“He’ll be bringing back an asteroid?”

“Yes,” Kirsten acknowledged.

McConnell got a funny look of satisfaction on his face.

Then he looked at Kirsten and smiled under that bushy mustache.

“Apology accepted, Kirsten.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Kirsten breathed with relief.

“I’ll be going out of town for a few days,” he said. “But when I get back let’s get together and talk, okay?”

“Sure,” Kirsten said.

“Call my secretary,” he finished and patted her upper arm and walked away.

Kirsten thought he gave in awfully easily. But, still, she was sure her burps would taste like crow for a few months.

***

Charlie and the others spent the night in the desert. The temperature dropped dramatically and Charlie froze in the inadequate sleeping bag that had been provided. Beatty took a portable hydrogen-burning generator out of the trunk of the car, hooked up some hydrogen storage cells, and charged the car until the cells were empty. They took turns guarding, with a loaded M16, during the night. Charlie strongly suspected it was to get them used to the weapon more than to protect against–what? Police, scorpions?

The next morning they watched a magnificent sunrise as the sky went from black through every shade of purple and orange to deep, deep azure.

They ate another meal on the hood of the car and then practiced firing the other weapon that had been in the shed. It was a small assault rifle. Arabic writing was stamped into the side of the upper receiver. Beatty didn’t offer much information about it except how to use it.

Charlie sent a few rounds at the paper target missing a good deal.

“What happened, Shari?” Beatty asked. “Yesterday you were doing a lot better.”

“Beginner’s luck, like you said,” Charlie offered.

“Guess so,” Beatty said.

“Are these the kinds of weapons we’ll always use?” Charlie asked as innocently as she could.

“No, we have others,” Beatty replied simply. “Next,” he called.

Charlie knew she was dismissed.

The return trip was almost unbearably hot. They didn’t use the acoustic air conditioner. Charlie was starting to believe these people didn’t believe in doing anything that made them more comfortable, even if the impact on the environment was none or negligible.

They arrived at the house late at night. Charlie immediately found her room and crawled into the sleeping bag, dead tired. She knew they’d be up early doing more chores and listening to more lectures.

***

Alex watched the miners practice reacting to a breach in the outer asteroid shell. Damage control foam flew like food in a toddler feeding. But the simulated hole was plugged efficiently and effectively. Alex congratulated Tsuji, the miner chief, a muscular, Japanese woman who told Alex not to worry about her people; the implication being he should butt out.

Alex left the training area for the saloon. Thorne and Diana probably would be there if they weren’t in Thorne’s quarters, and in that case, Ibrahhim would be there. The doctor had, after some initial coolness, come into the circle of Alex’s friends. He’d seemed surprised that others thought he wanted to be left alone. Apparently, Dr. Jubair was just plain shy.

And Bill and Diana, Alex mused, seemed to be falling in love. Alex had never seen him happier. He hoped it lasted.

Alex passed his chief navigator in a corridor. “Hello, Naguchi,” he said, still wrapped in his thoughts.

“Hello, Director,” she said softly and continued walking.

“Bente,” Alex called after her.

She stopped. Alex was impressed how well she handled herself in low gravity. “Yes?” she asked.

“I was just headed for the saloon to meet some people,” Alex said. “Would you like to join us?”

“No, thanks, Director,” she said.

Alex debated insisting but changed his mind. “Fine. We’ll probably be there a few hours. Drop by if you want.”

“I will,” she said and turned to leave.

Alex watched her go. She was very attractive but seemed laconic to the point of almost being rude. Oh, well, he decided, he had other problems and didn’t need to worry about his navigator as long as she could do her job.

***

The next morning there was a change in tone at the GA house. Beatty was more demanding and everyone seemed on edge. Late in the afternoon a cab pulled up and a man got out. He was balding and fat and had a grizzled mustache. As soon as he exited the car he lit up a cigarette.

“Who’s that?” Charlie whispered to the girl standing next to her.

“Whaltham,” she answered.

Beatty and the newcomer spent hours in private. The rest went about their chores but in a more quiet, subdued manner. Charlie worked in the backyard of the house. She tried to find an excuse to be under the window of the room Beatty and Whaltham were in. But, even then, she couldn’t hear anything other than muffled voices.

Charlie pulled weeds from the garden, amazed at how fast they grew. A blonde girl was working beside her. Usually the girl, named Annie, was hard to shut up. Today she was even quiet.

“What’s going on?” Charlie asked softly.

“Last time Whaltham came, Maddie and Barb left with Griffin,” the girl answered back. “He only comes when something’s about to happen.”

Charlie nodded and continued working quietly. She hoped something would happen soon. She was going nuts in the organically grown, communal atmosphere.

***

The United States’ “Federal Comprehensive Bias Crime Act of 2021” stipulated that police departments around the nation report to the Justice Department any crime that was investigated originally as a bias crime but charges were reduced or dismissed and the reasons why. When the officer that had interrogated Charlie in Washington, County and State of Columbia had tapped the “bias crime” icon on his computer pad, noting that it may be a bias crime, it had made an indelible mark on the computer record. When Freeman talked the judge out of pursuing the bias crime aspect of Charlie’s offense, she had noted in her computer the reasons she decided the unlawful self-defense wasn’t also a bias crime.

Because of the limitations of the computer filing system, it was necessary for Washington police officers to spend hours, when they could be protecting under-protected civilians, at their computers sorting through the files with the bias crime marker looking for ones where the bias crime was not charged. These were copied onto data files and transferred electronically to the Justice Department, where they sat until over-worked clerks sorted through them on their computers to determine if the reason was good enough and, if not, how the law had to be changed to close that loophole.

A clerk named Brian Hocking eventually came upon Charlie Jones’ file. The first thing he noticed was the mug shot. If the woman looks that good in a mug shot then she must be outstanding, he imagined. He read the excuse, given by the judge, for not pressing the bias crime angle of the offense.

Hocking frowned. An FBI agent had convinced the DDA that the woman’s motives weren’t racial. He wondered if this was an overstepping of the bounds by those fascists in the Hoover building. He knew someone on the FBI oversight committee from their work together on political issues, so he downloaded a copy of the file to his personal computer and called Congresswoman Polasky’s office for an appointment.

***

Director Chun made a courtesy call on Captain Takashara as the
Kyushu
maneuvered to rendezvous with the asteroid. The trip was almost over.

The captain, in her small quarters, greeted Alex enthusiastically. The two had a passing acquaintance.

“The asteroid is in a relatively fast tumble,” she reported. “Your people should be able to stabilize it okay, though. The
Elara
arrived on site yesterday with the water and oxygen from Europa.”

“Great,” Alex said. “It’s been a long time doing nothing.”

“I understand,” Takashara said with a chuckle. “I took two months off last year to visit my family in Hiroshima and about went crazy.” She smiled bitterly. “My ship is due for an engine upgrade after this trip. I’ll have to spend almost a year on the Moon. I’m not looking forward to it. If I wasn’t the captain I could transfer to another ship, but I have to supervise the overhaul.”

Alex nodded in sympathy. He was probably the only person on the ship she dared reveal her feelings to. “The Moon’s a nice place,” he said consolingly.

“Yes,” she agreed. “Better than Earth.”

“Yes,” he said. If it weren’t for Kirsten, Alex wondered if he’d ever bother returning to that planet.

“I understand,” Takashara said softly, “you were friends with some of those killed on the Moon. My sympathies.”

“Thank you.”

“I don’t understand these Gaia Alliance people,” Takashara growled angrily. “And those that support them.”

“I know,” Alex agreed. “I met a couple on Earth that supports the GA. What idiots.”

“Who were they?”

“A psychologist in Denver and his wife.”

“I don’t understand,” Takashara started, “how an educated person can support terrorism.”

“You have to understand, Captain, his education was different from ours. I’m thankful I didn’t learn a damn thing from the American education system. Instead SRI taught me just about everything I know. The American schools didn’t have a chance to screw up my thinking.”

“I suppose,” she said, shaking her head and making her long, midnight hair wave about. “I guess that’s the main problem.”

***

Faruq never, ever said anything bad about the president. He let others do that.

The Baath Party Headquarters’ central meeting room was full of delegates from all the United Baath Arab States. But Faruq met in a smaller, more private room with those that actually wielded the power in the portions of the Middle East controlled from Damascus.

“The Zionist State continues to be a thorn in our side,” a member said. “What has the president done other than support ineffectual terrorists that only serve to harden the resolve of the Zionists and the Americans?”

There was general agreement.

“What needs to be done,” another man added, “is something that will cut at the heart of the West that supports the Zionists.”

Faruq smiled inwardly. These friends were doing their parts well. They would be rewarded with power and wealth when Faruq became president–but not too much. What made the president vulnerable was the trust he placed in his friends.

Faruq only had to wait. The asteroid would soon leave the belt and the attack would take place shortly after. Once he revealed his connection to this event, the party would be behind him completely. And then, it was only a matter of time.

Chapter Ten

“And then, we’ll kill a rock.”

Whaltham stayed at the house for almost a week, spreading the gospel of radical, revolutionary environmentalism along with a lot of fumes from his ubiquitous cigarettes. The tension eased after a few days but the place never returned to the joyful revolutionary spirit it had had. Whaltham repeated the same, old, tired arguments Charlie had heard from Beatty and the others. But he seemed more dedicated to violence than even Beatty.

At the communal table one night, Whaltham said, “For most of the twentieth century the Soviet Union contained the spread of capitalism and the ability of criminal corporations to steal natural resources.” He stopped to take a drag. “But,” he continued, “when the CIA was able to subvert the Soviet Union, there was no deterrent to unfettered capitalism and the exploitation that goes hand in hand with free markets. So we have to use violence to stop the expansion of capitalism. SRI couldn’t have existed in the twentieth century. Today it’s free to steal resources even from space, even though it could mean the end of life on Earth.”

“How?” Charlie couldn’t help but ask.

Whaltham regarded her with a yellow grin. “I’m glad you asked, Shari. The Gravitational Resonance Theory. According to the theory, accepted by almost all scientists, the asteroid belt is in a delicate, resonant equilibrium. Taking asteroids out of the belt disrupts the resonance. Eventually, the asteroid belt will fall apart and asteroids will move toward the sun. And what’s between the sun and the asteroid belt?”

“The Earth,” someone said.

“Right,” Whaltham agreed.

Charlie had heard of the GRT. It came up in the papers about every three years. A few “scientists” (usually the concerned type) were quoted. It was the current, popular disaster. And the villain was SRI. That was better than the Greenhouse or the Ice Age or the Swarm of Locust because the villain in those scenarios was “our industrialized society.” SRI was a lot more tangible, and had offices where one could protest.

Unfortunately for the advocates of the GRT, Jupiter affected the asteroids all the time and exponentially more than the small asteroids SRI took.