Seeker

THIRTY-FOUR

You may have your quantum-powered marvels, darting into the deepest vaults of the sky. You may jump between the galaxies, leaving light in your wake. As for me, I like to see what’s out the window.

Give me a brisk wind and a schooner under a full head of sail.

- Kasha Thilby,

Signs of Life, 1428 The acceleration pinned me to a bulkhead in the airlock, and I had to wait it out. After a few minutes, it shut down and I was able to get out of the lock and up to the cockpit.

Windy was dead, tangled in the harness, frozen, asphyxiated, bloated. It didn’t look like her anymore.

I pulled her clear and set her on the deck. The AI wasn’t going to accept direction from a stranger, so I went off-line and started the long turn that would take me back to the Spirit. Then I used the Lotus ’s comm system to contact the Gonzalez, and told them we needed assistance. Not an emergency, I added, because by that time we had things under control. They acknowledged and said they’d be on their way in about an hour.

I put Windy in one of the compartments and closed the door.

Needless to say, Shara and Alex were relieved when I pulled alongside the Spirit and took them off.

We closed the outer airlock hatch and repressurized. They listened to my account of what had happened, and Alex became solicitous. Was I okay? You did the right thing.

No choice.

We debated going back to the Spirit to recover Charlie’s body. But it entailed too much risk. We were getting deep into the dwarf’s gravity well. So we took a pass and lifted away, while the Spirit continued its long plunge toward the bright red clouds.

Alex got on the circuit with Brankov and guaranteed he’d find the flight worthwhile.

He refused to divulge details, but Brankov had no trouble guessing we’d found Balfour.

We welded a patch over the section I’d burned out of the airlock, restoring it to working order.

“I think it’s time,” Alex said, “that we take a look at Balfour.”

The optical equipment on board the Lotus was minimal. The yacht had a single telescope, intended for navigation only, which meant no serious long-range capability and no fine-tuning. We couldn’t make out much planetary detail until we were virtually on top of the place. The atmosphere, a gauzy cloud-filled envelope, looked terrestrial enough. Gradually two island-continents and a vast globe-encircling ocean came into view. We could see a few storms. Polar ice caps appeared. And mountain chains and rivers.

“I guess they knew what they were doing,” said Alex.

Shara looked thoughtful. “I don’t see how it could have made any difference. They couldn’t have survived the transition phase. But it would have been a nice try.”

Alex asked again about ground conditions while the world was being hauled out of orbit.

“It’s unlikely any of the larger land animals could have survived,” Shara said. “After the initial shock, planetary rotation would have been disrupted while it went into tidal lock. That triggers everything. They’d have had turbulent oceans, supersonic hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, you name it.”

“And this would last-?”

“Forty years. Maybe fifty. Maybe longer. It’s not my specialty, but I’d guess it would continue well beyond any capability a colony would have for survival.”

“It looks placid now,” I said.

Blue water, clouds, river valleys. Even the jungles looked inviting. “It’s exactly the right distance from the dwarf,” said Shara.

“For reasonable ground temperatures?”

“Yes. On the facing side, of course. The back side of the world will be pretty cold.”

“Would the ocean freeze?”

“Don’t know.”

Clouds were, for the most part, white cumulus, but colored by the crimson glow of the pseudosun. The storms we’d seen through the scope drifted across the broad expanse of the ocean. Snow lay on some of the higher peaks. “You were right about the jungle,” said Alex. It appeared to be spread across both landmasses.

The Lotus burned an exorbitant amount of fuel. Alex had been anxious to get to Balfour, so we came in at a pretty good clip. “I’m going to use the planet to slow us down,” I said. “We’ll go around, about three-quarters of an orbit. A lot of it over the cold side. I’m sorry about that, but there’s not much I can do.”

“Okay,” said Alex. “What then?”

“We’ll come out with an angle that’ll allow us to go into orbit around the dwarf.

When we’ve shed enough velocity we’ll come back here. Less stress on everybody and a lot easier on the fuel.”

Alex looked wistfully at the arc of the world. “Wish we had a lander,” he said.

“The Gonzalez will have one.”

Shara laughed. “I’m sure Emil will be happy to accompany you down.”

We were in orbit around the dwarf when the Gonzalez contacted us and announced it was in the neighborhood. “What is that thing?” asked Brankov, referring to the dwarf.

“Is that the surprise you promised us?”

“Yes,” said Alex. “That’s it. Or part of it, anyhow.”

“What’s the rest of it?”

“I’m not sure where you are just now, Emil. But can you see the blue planet in orbit around it?”

“Negative.” His response took more than a minute. So the Gonzalez was still at a considerable distance. He was wearing a Beron jacket, one of those stiff models with pockets everywhere. “Is there a blue planet here somewhere?” I wasn’t sure whether he was asking us or his pilot.

“In orbit around the dwarf,” said Alex. “A living world.”

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay. That’s interesting. What’s it have to do with us?”

“It used to be in the Tinicum system.”

Brankov grinned. It was a big, what-time-does-the-celebration-start expression.

A few hours later we slipped into an equatorial orbit around Balfour. We were over the dark side during those early minutes, and could see nothing below, except land and water.

We watched the sun rise, and crossed the terminator into the daylight. It was our first leisurely look at the world. Alex was glued to the viewport, and Shara was watching the monitor. They both reacted at the same time, Alex pumping a fist while Shara told me in an excited voice to look.

I saw an inland area on one of the island continents. Other than that-?

Shara tried to enhance. Alex waved me closer to the viewport. Get a better angle, look, down there.

The jungle seemed to have been cleared away and there was a cluster of straight lines.

Near a large lake.

“A city?” I said.

“And there,” said Alex. More lines, farther north. Embracing a river.

I’m not sure what I saw in his eyes at that moment. Usually, when we find a new site, he assumes his modest genius appearance. Sometimes, if it’s been a long hunt, he doesn’t bother, and there’s simply a sense of triumph. But I don’t know what it was that time. Delight. Sadness. Wistfulness. Exhilaration. All wrapped together.

“More,” Shara said. Along the southern coastline, but still in the terminator. We counted five clusters.

“Nothing on the other big island,” said Alex.

“That’s because it’s in direct sunlight,” said Shara. “It’s too warm. Everything we’ve seen is in the twilight zone. That’s where the weather would be most comfortable.”

We passed over and lost them. The Lotus didn’t have a telescope that could look down to the rear. Alex confronted Shara with a huge smile. “So much for the tidal waves and tornadoes,” he said.

She was frowning. “Shouldn’t have been possible.”

“Sure it was. They rode it out in orbit. In the Bremerhaven. They stayed there until things calmed down.”

“For forty years?” Shara and I both blurted it out. Nobody was buying that story.

“Yes. That’s why they needed the greenhouses. Look, they needed to get the Seeker under way as quickly as possible, so it could get to Earth and, they hoped, trigger a rescue effort. They expected there’d be some survivors on Margolia. But they probably didn’t trust the Seeker. It was their best shot, but they weren’t sure. They knew Balfour would eventually become livable and that conditions on Margolia would be extreme. So, before cannibalizing the Bremerhaven, they used it to bring some people here. Then they stripped it and sent the Seeker on its way.

“The Balfour group stayed on board. In orbit. Forty, fifty years. Whatever it took.

When conditions settled down on the ground, they were able to go down and establish themselves.”

“That’s why there was no lander,” I said.

“Right. It’s below us, somewhere.”

“How many you figure there were?” I asked.

“Don’t know. Not many, I’d think. As few as they could get away with. Only a few hundred, probably. Maybe not that many. The fewer they had, the better their chances.

What’s the minimum number you’d have to have to allow safe reproduction?”

Nobody knew.

Shara stared at the blue world. “Pity,” she said.

“Why? What do you mean?” I asked.

“The cavalry’s a little late.”

Suddenly there was ocean before us again. Behind us, the dwarf-sun sank toward the rim of the planet. The sea was blue and polished and quiet. We rushed toward the darkness.

“That one area,” said Shara, “is probably the only piece of real estate on the planet that has comfortable temperatures. I’ll tell you what I think-”

We never found out because she broke off and squealed and pointed at the screen.

Something in the ocean.

“Can you enhance it?” she asked. “It looks-”

Like a ship.

It wasn’t much more than a wake. The object leaving it was too small to make out.

“Might be a large fish,” said Alex. I tried to get a better picture but it went fuzzy.

“Damn this thing,” he said.

Confirmation came from the Gonzalez, which was, as it approached, able to use its telescopes. I’ll never forget Brankov’s first words: “My God, Alex, they’re alive down there.”