Starhawk

Chapter 10

EVENTUALLY, THERE WERE lights in the sky, and the Sydney Thompson came out of the darkness and eased alongside. Priscilla faced the girls in the passenger cabin. “Who wants to go over to the Thompson with Shahlah for the ride home?”

Ten hands went up. Priscilla wasn’t surprised. No happy memories here. And, of course, they liked Shahlah. “All right. But we can only send five.”

“We do not wish you to misunderstand,” said Ishraq. “It’s not because we didn’t enjoy our time on the Copperhead—”

“I know,” she said. “I think I’d want off, too. But we need five of you to stay here. Food and water issues on the Thompson. Can you guys decide? Do it quickly so we can get everybody some fresh air again.”

Ishraq and Ashira volunteered to stay. Layla raised her hand. And Karida and Kareema.

“Okay,” Priscilla said. “Good. Get your luggage. The Thompson shuttle will be here in a few minutes. No spacewalk this time.”

Johara pretended to be disappointed.

There were hugs and a few tears and an agreement that they’d all try to get together back at Union. That was speculative. Depending on where the ships were when they surfaced in the solar system, there could be as much as three days’ difference in arrival times.

Jake looked as if he were in a distant place. He returned the embraces with the emotion of a robot and watched the five girls, escorted by Drake Peifer, pass through the cargo-bay air lock into the Thompson lander. Shahlah was the last to leave.

“Thanks, guys,” she said. “I hate to think where we’d have been without you.”

Priscilla helped carry the baggage. Then Shahlah took her aside. “Is he all right?” she asked, meaning Jake.

“He’s a bit rattled. But he’ll get past it.”

“I hope so.” She wiped away a tear. “Let me know if I can ever do anything.”

“Of course. Thank you. I just wish things had turned out differently.”

“So do I, Priscilla. So do I.”

They embraced, and Priscilla returned to the cargo bay. The air lock closed, and the lander was gone.

* * *

THE THOMPSON LEFT first. Priscilla was just taking her place on the bridge when a message came in from Union. “Jake.” A male voice. “Hope everything is going okay at your end. We’ve been worried. Appreciate everything you guys have been doing.”

“That’s Frank Irasco,” said Jake. Irasco was the assistant director for WSA at Union.

“We were glad you were in the area,” Irasco continued. “Keep us informed.”

That was it. Jake sat down beside her but said nothing. The air being dispersed by the vents had already begun to feel breathable again. Priscilla switched on the mike. “Girls,” she said, “the flight to the home system will take three days and about six hours. Then it’ll be probably another couple of days to get back to Earth. We’ll be moving out in five minutes, so you should take care of any last-minute business and get belted down.” She switched off and turned to Jake. “I’ve never been more happy in my life to get away from a place.”

* * *

THE SOMBER REACTION that had taken hold of the girls when they learned of Captain Miller’s death subsided. They played games, watched holos, laughed about boys. They especially enjoyed the space-adventure series Deep Skies. They had an Arabic version. Priscilla watched an episode with them, and was fascinated by the visuals and the show’s distinctive score, suggestive of intergalactic space and cosmic mystery. She tried it in English, got hooked, and became a fan on the way home. She was especially taken with Ryan Fletcher, who played the daredevil skipper of the Excelsior, Captain William L. Brandywine.

Ishraq often joined her on the bridge. “I’d love to do this when I grow up,” she said.

“Keep going the way you are, Ishraq, and I suspect you’ll be able to do anything you please.”

“It’s very nice of you to say that.”

“You’ve already done pretty well. You’ve won a science prize. You’ve been off-world.”

“That’s not exactly the same as operating an interstellar.” She squeezed her hands together. “I’m just not sure—”

“You can do it. All you have to do is make it happen.”

“You really think so?”

“Of course.”

The hatch opened behind them. Ishraq turned to see who had come in. It was Jake. Escorted by Tawny. “Hello, Captain Loomis,” she said.

“Hello, Ishraq. You keeping Priscilla out of trouble?”

She smiled. “Oh, yes.” Then back to Priscilla: “You know the ship I’d really like to have?”

“No. What?”

“The Excelsior.” She got out of the chair to make room for Jake.

“From Deep Skies?” Jake said.

“You watch it, too?” Her eyes shone.

“I’ve always been a big fan.” That was hard to buy.

Ishraq turned back to Priscilla. “May I ask a favor?”

“Sure.”

“In a few years, when I start training, would you be willing to teach me?”

“Of course. I’d love to. By the way, that’s what Captain Loomis has been doing for me.”

Ishraq gave Jake a shy smile but continued speaking to Priscilla: “I think you’re very lucky.”

“I’m the one who got lucky,” said Jake.

Ishraq’s smile widened. “Yes,” she said. “She is very pretty.”

* * *

PRISCILLA HAD NOT known Jake before the qualification flight. But when you spend three weeks alone with someone, especially when the nearest other human being is light-years away, you get to know him pretty well. Jake had been easygoing, patient, amiable, a guy who did not take himself seriously, and who seemed able to adjust readily to setbacks. But the experience with the Gremlin had changed him.

It wasn’t that he’d become angry, or that he spent a lot of time staring at bulkheads. He didn’t retire to his cabin and remain there. In fact, he spent as much time on the bridge and in the passenger cabin as he ever had. But he didn’t laugh easily anymore, and when he did, the laughter was forced. His voice and, indeed, his entire bearing had leveled off into a monotone. The vitality was gone.

It would have been difficult in any case to join in games with the girls because of the language difference. But Priscilla sensed that the Jake who’d been with her originally would have found a way. He didn’t even try, however, and because he didn’t, she also abstained. Instead, they sat on the bridge, talking about trivia, or rerunning the same dialogues, about the bright futures that surely awaited their passengers, or grumbling one more time about the kind of maniac who’d put a bomb on an interstellar.

The conversations were marked by long pauses, uncomfortable moments when no one could think of anything to say. When the best she could come up with was how much she’d enjoyed the scrambled eggs that morning.

She just wanted it to be over.

* * *

TWO OF THE girls, Karida and Layla, had become competitive with each other. It wasn’t about anything in particular, Ishraq explained. They’d decided they didn’t like one another much. “If you want the truth,” she said, “I think they’re just tired. They want to get home.”

“I don’t guess,” said Priscilla, “you can put a bunch of kids into a tin can and keep them there for a couple of weeks and not expect them to get tired of it.”

“I think you’re right, Priscilla,” said Jake. “Even if there’d been no bomb, I’d have suggested a different kind of award next year. No more long-range space journeys. Or maybe—”

“What?”

“We could take them to the one in the solar system. The monument on Iapetus.”

She shrugged. “It would take a couple of days to get there, too. Anything like that, for teens, is maybe too much. What we need is a more precise long-range drive. Something that could really take you in close to the target instead of just getting into the general area. Something faster than the Hazeltine would help, too.”

“Yes, Priscilla, it would. So what kind of award do you think we should give the prizewinners next year?”

“If I were running it—”

“Yes?”

“I’d take them to Moonbase and throw a party.”

* * *

LAYLA WAS SITTING on the bridge with her when they arrived in the solar system. By then they’d learned enough of each other’s language to be able to communicate reasonably well. She looked at the navigation screen and saw the distant sun. “How much longer,” she asked, “before we get back home?”

Priscilla hated to answer the question. “Three days. We’re kind of far out.”

Layla groaned.

But a flood of messages took some of the sting out of the wait: They began arriving within an hour after they’d surfaced, coming from family, friends, teachers, and even from groups of schoolkids who had no direct connection with the girls. “Welcome home,” said the third grade at St. Gabriel’s elementary school in Kansas City. And West Park High, in Nottingham, promised that chocolates would be waiting when the Copperhead docked. Greetings came in from Jerusalem, Cairo, Belfast, Tokyo, Bangalore, Port Blair, Morocco, and several dozen other places.

“How do they know we’re back in the solar system already?” Layla asked.

“I suspect,” said Priscilla, “we’ve been making news, so a lot of people are tracking us. Even if they weren’t, ship arrivals get posted online as soon as Ops picks them up.”

“Well,” she said, “I certainly didn’t expect anything like this. It’s great to be back.”

* * *

NEWSDESK

SIX DEAD AFTER ATTACK BY GUNMAN AT CORNINE UNIVERSITY

Killer Angry at Cornine Support for Terraforming

Statewide Search Under Way

MCDERMOTT BILL PASSES BY WIDE MARGIN

All Federal Elections Will Be Financed by Government

UNEMPLOYMENT RATES DROP SEVENTH STRAIGHT MONTH

GDP Hits New High; Stocks Soar

NEW CLAIMS FOR INTELLIGENCE DRUG

Can a Daily Pill Really Make Us Smarter?

EVIDENCE MOUNTS THAT INCREASED IQ LEADS

TO SOCIAL DYSFUNCTION

Research Indicates There’s a Reason It’s Set Where It Is

RUSSIA MAY DEFUND UNION ORBITER

Cites Growing Debt Problems

India May Be Next

TANK NOBE MAY BOYCOTT SEASON

Baseball Fans Outraged; Ticket Prices Rise Across All Four Leagues

RESEARCH DESCRIBES BASEBALL FANS AS ADDICTS

“They Need to Back Off, but They’re Helpless.”

STARSHIP CAPTAIN DIES DURING RESCUE

Joshua Miller Sacrifices Life for Passengers

Memorial Ceremony Planned

JENNIFER HOPKINS ARRESTED AGAIN

Drunk and Disorderly after Hollywood Party