Octavia Gone

by Jack McDevitt

  “Hello, Jacob. How’ve you been?”

  “We missed you. Maybe you should think about retiring. Just hang around.”

  We went inside. “What’ve you been up to?” Gabe asked Jacob as the door closed behind us.

  “Watching Bellarian plays.” Jacob loved the theater and spent a lot of his time in virtual box seats.

  “Bellarian?” I said. “Where are they from?”

  “Fourth millennium. Bellarius was the first world to produce its own shows.”

  “Maybe we could attend some together,” said Gabe.

  “I can arrange that. I’m planning on watching Graveyard Shift tonight, if you’re interested. It’s a comedy.”

  “I’ll need a couple of nights to settle in, Jacob. But sure, let’s set something up.”

  We carried everything to his quarters in the rear. Gabe was looking around the apartment, shaking his head, commenting that it was hard to believe he’d been gone over a decade. “By the way,” he added, “did we ever find out what happened to Octavia?”

  “That happened,” I said, “just before you left. Am I right?”

  “That’s correct. Just a few weeks earlier.”

  “No,” said Alex. “They never got any answers. It had to have gone into the black hole, but the people who were running the program claimed that just wasn’t possible. There was a major commotion at the time when you guys disappeared too. The media were full of rumors about a connection.”

  “So they never came up with anything at all?”

  “Not anything definitive. Mostly all they had was speculation.”

  “You think it could have also gotten tangled up in a time warp?”

  “I’ve no idea, Gabe. According to the experts, you need a star drive unit to make that happen. The station had thrusters but that was all. The search parties found nothing. They put together a commission that decided the only reasonable solution was that one of the four crew sabotaged the place. That caused a lot of anger. Members of the commission took considerable heat. Eventually the media suggested they were trying to conceal a defect in the station. But they went over other stations of the same model and found nothing.”

  “Now that I’ve had some experience being stranded myself,” said Gabe, “I can tell you it’s seriously unsettling. We knew for about a week that something had gone wrong and it was scary. We thought we were going to be there forever. I’d hate to think something like that happened to the people on Octavia.” He settled into the sofa. “I knew one of them.”

  “Really? Which one?”

  “Del Housman. We grew up together. Both members of the Explorers back in grade-school days. We never really lost touch. Until Octavia happened. You met him. We had him over to the house a couple of times when you were there.”

  “I have no recollection of him. But you had a lot of visitors.”

  “What was he like?” I asked.

  “He was a good guy. A lot of the other kids treated him like a nerd. But he shrugged it off. They got especially annoyed with him because he refused to believe that AIs were actually alive. I think he’s the reason I figured out that the house didn’t really care what happened to me. That the voices were all automatic.” He paused for a smile. “He was always popular with the girls though.”

  “He looks pretty ordinary,” I said.

  “I guess. But that didn’t matter. He was a charmer. They loved him.”

  • • •

  Gabe had provided a home for Alex, who’d lost his parents in a hurricane when he was two years old. He was tall, with black hair parted on the left in a style we didn’t see much anymore. He had intelligent blue eyes that reflected the patience derived from so many years digging into dozens of archeological sites around and beyond the Confederacy. There was an intensity in his manner that tended to draw attention whenever he entered a room. Alex was just coming in off the porch when Gabe came through the door carrying a captain’s cap. “It’s Deirdre Schultz’s,” he said. She had been the Capella’s commanding officer.

  “Beautiful,” said Alex. I understood. It was already valuable and would become, in time, priceless. “How did you persuade her to give it to you?”

  “I just offered to replace it. She laughed and turned it over. Wouldn’t accept any money.”

  “That was generous of her.”

  Gabe couldn’t avoid shrugging, as if she’d have done it for anyone. “She told me I was her public relations guy.” She’d signed an authentication. “I think she suspected that if she let me have it, it would eventually wind up in a museum.”

  “She read you pretty well,” said Alex.

  The laughter continued, and neither said anything about what must have been on both their minds: that Alex, left to his own inclinations, would have eventually sold it to the highest bidder.

  “You know,” Alex said, “leaving Rimway was probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.” They shook hands, both looking as if they had finally put the old quarrel behind them. “And thanks for this.” He looked up at the house. “I’m going to call Joyce Bartlett and have her take care of whatever legal formalities are necessary to return everything.”

  “Who’s Joyce Bartlett?”

  “My lawyer.”

  Gabe looked puzzled. “Oh. I get it. You’re talking about my will.”

  “Yes.”

  “Holy cats, Alex. I hadn’t thought about that. I mean, from my perspective, I’ve only been gone a couple of weeks. And by the way, call me Gabe, okay? We’re both adults now.”

  “Gabe.” Alex was testing it. “Sounds strange.”

  “This whole business has been pretty strange.”

  “I know. You were officially declared dead three years ago.”

  “So this place is now yours?”

  Alex nodded. “Yes. It is. But you’ll have it back pretty quickly.”

  Gabe stared out at the trees, the carefully trimmed bushes and the sculpted lawn. “You took good care of it,” he said.

  “Of course, Gabe.”

  “I won’t have you leave it. It’s your home. Has been for years.”

  • • •

  A worldwide celebration was staged two nights later. Passengers, families, and crew arrived at thirty-six sites around the planet, and one at the space station, to share drinks and memories and to say thanks to those who’d been part of the rescue effort, as well as to President Davis.

  Telemotion technology enabled them to embrace and shake hands. The Andiquar group met at the Miranda Hotel. The event broke every Rimway record for total number of viewers and participants. And for at least those few hours, we became a global family.

  An army of Gabe’s old friends and relatives descended on the country house during the next few days. They took him out to luncheons and dinners, and spent time with him just sitting around talking about what, for them, were the good old days. Since for Gabe the good old days had been only three weeks earlier, there was a fair amount of disorientation on both sides. “We held a funeral service for you,” Alex told him.

  “Did anybody come?” Gabe asked.

  Alex got an uncertain look in his eyes. “I can show you some pictures.”

  “Let’s let it go.”

  Veronica Walker was standing beside Alex. She was an elementary-school teacher with chestnut hair, brown eyes, and a killer smile. I watched her squeeze his hand as he spoke to his uncle. They’d met at an auction when she’d outbid Alex for a lamp that had belonged to Wally Candles, the poet who’d become famous during the Ashiyyurean War. “Gabe,” she said, “I’m glad to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. I wonder if I could have you come by the school and talk to my kids?”

  “Sure. Would that be about archeology?”

  “Whatever you like. But especially about why history matters.”

  • • •

  Alex and I had no problem adjusting to Gabe’s return. We’d both missed him, and getting him back became a gift of immeasurable substance. I was happy to note that whatever r
esistance Gabe had mounted against his nephew’s habitual salvaging of historical artifacts and putting them up for sale to private collectors did not show itself during the weeks that passed after he came back. If he was still embarrassed by Alex’s profession, he refused to show any indication of it.

  But there were some difficult moments.

  Alex updated him on a few family deaths, including two great-grandparents on his mother’s side. And there was his cousin Tom Benedict, an MD who’d died on the primitive world Lyseria, where a plague had broken out and killed almost the entire colony. Tom had gone to help in spite of dire warnings by friends and relatives. After a long struggle, he became one of the casualties. Eventually the plague was neutralized, but not in time to save him.

  Gabe and Tom had been close, had spent a lot of time together, and had taken the young Alex on camping trips and boat rides back in the early days. They’d also taken him along on a couple of interstellar tours, which Alex told me had changed him forever. “They gave me a passion for history. For artifacts, especially. I loved touching them, touching history. I especially liked an artifact when I had a name to go with it.”

  • • •

  I got a surprise the next day when Gabe informed me that April Rafferty would be arriving at about noon. A shadow had crept into his eyes. “Except,” he said, “that her name isn’t Rafferty anymore. She’s April Dutton now.”

  April Rafferty had been his fiancé eleven years earlier, when he climbed aboard the Capella and disappeared into the night. They hadn’t set a wedding date when it happened, but it had been obvious they weren’t going to delay it much longer. April had been heartbroken when the ship was lost. She’d waited, praying that someone would figure out what had happened and provide a reason to keep up hope. But after a few weeks without contact, everything turned negative. Whatever had occurred, the experts said, we may never know, but it’s obvious we’ll not see them again.

  The Confederacy went into shock. It was easily the worst interstellar disaster ever. The Capella had disappeared and taken everyone with her. April had come to me because I was a pilot and she thought I might be able to offer a ray of hope. Interstellars had been occasionally disappearing over the centuries. A few came back after having suffered minor engine damage of some sort, combined with a communication blackout. But that sort of thing was extremely rare. So when she showed up at my cottage one evening a few days after the incident and asked whether I thought there was any chance that Gabe was alive somewhere and whether there was any possibility he’d be found, I said nothing to give her hope. I thought a claim in which I had no confidence would do nothing except extend the pain.

  April arrived exactly at noon. I told her how good it was to see her again. She responded by saying much the same thing. She hadn’t changed, except that maybe some of the vibrancy that I remembered was gone. But that was natural after so many years. I let Gabe know and led her into my office. His office door opened in back, he came forward, and I tried to figure out how to get out of the way. I recall saying something about how I hoped she was happy with whomever it was she’d married.

  Then Gabe arrived. They exchanged warm smiles. “April,” he said, “you won’t believe this but it’s only been about three weeks since I saw you.”

  “That’s what I’ve been hearing,” she said. “Gabe, I missed you.”

  They moved into a cautious embrace while I excused myself and left the room. The last thing I heard was Gabe asking whether she was okay.

  II.

  Celebrate whenever and whatever you can. Wed, bring forth a child, repair a broken door, cut the grass, and do not waste the opportunity to beat the drum with friends and throw a party. It is the essence of life and joy.

  —CHEN LO COBB, “CAREFUL WHERE YOU WALK,” FROM COLLECTIBLES, 614

  A few nights later, we threw another party. We cleared several rooms, brought in a band, served drinks and side dishes, and danced well into the night. I’d hoped that Gabe might have invited April and her husband. But he said nothing either to Alex or to me. I’d thought about making the suggestion but realized it would be a terrible idea. So I kept my distance.

  Guests included a couple of archeologists from Andiquar University; people from several museums, including Argus Konn, who’d traveled halfway around the globe to attend; and historians, one of whom was writing an archeological book that featured Gabe in a prime role. There were also a few family members and old friends. And there was someone else from his earlier days: his pilot, Tori Kolpath. My mom. I watched them fall into each other’s arms. For me it was the highlight of the evening. She’d come from the other side of the continent to be here. And when she began talking about her reaction to his reported death, tears rolled down her cheeks. Gabe told me later it was the only time he’d ever seen that kind of emotional outburst from her.

  • • •

  Fenn Redfield, a police commissioner who’d been only an inspector when the Capella vanished, was also present. He’d helped Alex on several occasions and also, to Gabe’s surprise, became his longtime tennis partner. Gabe had never known Redfield to play tennis.

  We all sat down to prep for the banquet. Alex kicked things off by introducing Gabe to a round of enthusiastic applause. “He was the man,” he said, “who made it possible to uncover the truth about Christopher Sim.” Sim, of course, was remembered as the George Washington of the Confederacy, the legendary hero who’d held the Mutes at bay during the war years. Gabe spoke for a few minutes about how happy he was to be back with old friends on solid ground.

  Amanda Ornstein, one of the University Museum directors, commented how quiet everything had been while he was gone. “All the excitement of the old days,” she said, “kind of subsided. I don’t know if Gabe ever thought of himself as a driving force, but I think we came to realize how much we needed him.”

  Gabe looked up from his drink and smiled. “You want some old-time excitement, Amanda?”

  “Of course,” she said. Amanda was tall, serene, a onetime actor who still attracted the attention of males despite her advanced age.

  “Good enough.” Gabe grinned. “I was going to let this go for a while, but this is probably as good a time as any. Give me a second. I’ll be right back.” He finished his drink, got up from the table, and left.

  Amanda looked toward Alex. “I didn’t mean to start anything.”

  “It’s okay. He’s still making some adjustments.”

  Quinda Arin, another of Gabe’s longtime friends, just stared at the door he’d passed through. “It’s really nice having him back. I don’t think I ever appreciated him until we’d lost him. Alex, do you have any idea what he’s talking about?”

  “None whatever. But apparently he’s got something hidden in his room.”

  Amanda asked her audience if anyone knew whether Gabe planned to resume his archeological career. Several hands went up, and the answer was a resounding yes. Several of our visitors had posed the question to him, and in each case Gabe had responded with enthusiasm. Of course he was. There was some inconsistency about the nature of his next project, but details didn’t matter.

  Eventually Quinda approached me. “You think he’s okay?”

  “Sure.” I thought about saying I’d go check, but that was silly. He was gone longer than we expected. We all assumed he’d gone to get something, but when finally he came back, his hands were empty and he looked frustrated. His eyes settled on Alex and me. “I had an artifact back there. A silver trophy. I think it was on the shelf in the closet. You guys by any chance know what happened to it?”

  We’d kept his quarters pristine for a year or so. But gradually we’d begun using it for storage of artifacts owned by our clients. They were usually for sale, and they sent them to us to ascertain their value and arrange delivery when they were moved.

  “A silver trophy?” asked Alex.

  “Yes. The owner was, I think, Angela Harding. She wanted me to figure out whether it was an artifact. Possibly from a high-tec
h civilization. There was an imprint using characters I’d never seen before and wasn’t able to track.”

  Alex thought about it. “I don’t recall seeing anything like that in there.”

  Gabe turned toward me. “It was shaped like a flower vase, widening toward the top. It had a cone image in front and three lines of characters that didn’t match any known language. How about you, Chase? You ever see it?”

  Yeah, I’d seen it. Four or five years ago. “I remember it.”

  Gabe’s eyes grew intense. “What happened to it?”

  “I returned it.”

  “To whom?”

  “Its owner. I think she had a receipt.”

  “You think?”

  “Gabe, it’s been a long time. But yes, I wouldn’t have given it to anyone who couldn’t prove she was the owner.”

  “Did you run it by Alex?”

  “I think at the time he was out on a project.”

  Alex broke in: “Gabe, who did it belong to?”

  “Angela Harding.”

  “Give me a minute,” I said. “I’ll check it.”

  “Please do. We need a contact.”

  • • •

  I left the room and walked down the hallway to my office. The door opened for me and I went inside. “Jacob, check out Angela Harding for me, please.”

  I sat down and started some soft music.

  “I have her, Chase.”

  “Did she pick up a silver trophy several years ago?”

  “That is correct.”

  “Was she the owner?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was the source of the trophy?”

  “That is unknown, Chase.”

  “Do we have a receipt?”

  “Yes, we do.”

  “Print a copy, please.”

  • • •

  Amanda was still overseeing a conversation between Gabe and the audience when I got back. “We have it,” I said, and handed him the receipt.

  “Good.” He looked over at Alex, who nodded, suggesting he’d told his uncle I wouldn’t give anything away without getting the appropriate paperwork. “Alex, you know who Angela Harding is, don’t you?”