Orbital

Twenty-Five Operative

When I’m brought back into the conference room an hour later, only Saul, Ozuki and Jessup are still there. When Stennis exited through the lobby, she gave me a look over her shoulder that I couldn’t figure out if it was contempt or pity.

“Do you understand what that was all about?” asks Saul.

“Not a clue. If I had to guess, it was some inter-agency push the blame around thing.”

“Essentially. Bringing back that astronaut has caused a world of trouble.”

I shrug. “I can’t say that I wouldn’t do the same thing again.” I know Jessup wants me to play along, but I have to be upfront about that.

“I believe you would. To be honest, before the CS operation, I still wasn’t quite sure what kind of man you are. You killed two cosmonauts and shot three Americans in the interest of self-preservation.”

Did she just say, “shot” instead of kill? Did Vaughn and his goons survive? I’ve got a million questions but I can see from Jessup’s cold expression I should keep my mouth shut.

“Bringing that man back jeopardized the entire mission. Why did you do that?” she asks.

“I thought we just went over that?”

“I’m not talking about the legal reasons. Why did you do it?”

“Because it was the right thing. I’m an astronaut, not a killer.”

“You’ve killed more people in space than anyone else,” says Ozuki.

Ouch. I glare at him, forcing myself to bite my tongue. I take a deep breath. “Lives were at stake. It was the only option. There’s a not a night where I don’t wake up thinking about what happened.”

“Good,” replies Saul.

I turn to her. “Good?”

“It means you’re human and not some robot sociopath. That’s what Flavor wanted. And that’s what the CIA thought they were getting in you.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“We’re not. You might have more use for us, yet. How comfortable are you in zero-g?”

“I’ve never had any problems with nausea in my three trips or on the zero-g test plane.”

“Do you think you could handle an extended stay?”

Where is this going? “Yes. I live for that opportunity.”

She reads her laptop. “You tested equipment for iCosmos?”

“Yes. Spacesuits, tools, habitats. Everything.”

“How do you deal with small environments?”

“Like the DarkStar? Well enough.”

“I mean space habitats.”

“I’ve spent weeks inside the iCosmos test compartments at the bottom of a pool and in the ocean.”

“They put them under water for that long?” asks Ozuki.

“Yes. Psychologically, it’s better to put someone in as isolated as an environment as you can. When you know help is just on the other side of the fake airlock, it’s not the same.”

“And you were okay with this?” asks Saul.

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“And how are you working in teams or small groups?”

“I spent a month inside the iCosmos test lab with seven other people. I didn’t have any problems.” Others did, but there’s no need to mention that.

“George, do you have any questions?”

“I’m satisfied,” says Ozuki. “We’re still going to have to deal with the blowback from the other agencies. But I think we’re okay on our end for now.”

“Admiral Jessup?”

He nods to me. “I say ask him.”

And here we go. This is what that weird story about the cat peeing on the carpet was all about. They’re going to ask me to do something space-related. Turning it down could mean they suddenly won’t be so interested to intervene on my behalf.

“We’ve looked at the data you collected from the Chinese laser and it matches with Russel’s crystal — as we expected. In fact, we were able to pinpoint which version they copied it from. They didn’t just have the formula, they actually had a physical sample to grow their own from in zero-g. Batch 67. All of those samples were grown onboard the Sagan Orbital Research Station.”

The Sagan is a science and industrial lab consisting of about thirty different modules, each one owned by a country or research institution. Companies, countries and universities pay to have a lab placed there. Researchers share a common area. It’s kind of like an industrial park in space.

“Batch 67 was supposed to have been destroyed and the samples returned to Earth in an unmanned module,” says Beth.

I know where this is going. “The VTX module that burned up two months ago?”

“Correct. The batch 67 samples were supposed to be on that ship. Because it was destroyed, we have no way of knowing if they were ever even placed onboard.”

“I thought it was odd that the VTX was destroyed. We haven’t had lost an unmanned craft in years.”

“Indeed. Which makes this even more troubling. Someone not only stole the sample, they sabotaged the reentry vehicle.”

“And this person was onboard the Sagan?”

“Possibly still onboard. There’s twenty-two people up there right now. Sixteen were there when the VTX was destroyed.”

“Wilmer Donald is the head of the DARPA lab and runs it with two other people. We’re reasonably confident they weren’t the ones behind this. But the lab is a locked facility and they’re the only ones with access.”

“Well that’s inconvenient for them,” I reply.

“Indeed. We need to have someone up there to take a look at the security procedures and possibly figure out how this happened. Given your experience in finding…workarounds, for gaining access to space vehicles, and your background in testing equipment for iCosmos, we thought you might be a good choice to send up.”

“And I’m the only person you’ve got right now…”

“Yes. There is that. Until Space Ops is up and running, you’re basically the go-to guy. I can understand your hesitation given what…”

I cut her off. “I’ll do it.”

Jessup speaks up. “You should know something about what happened to the VTX.”

“What’s that?”

He exchanges glances with Saul, then turns back to me. “It wasn’t going to be unmanned until last minute. They never let that part out.”

“Wait? Are you saying someone was almost killed in that thing?”

Saul replies after a moment of hesitation, “What we’re saying, David, is that whoever the operative is onboard the Sagan, they were willing to kill someone to get that sample. And that’s where we’d be sending you.”