Octavia Gone

by Jack McDevitt

  “I was. It would have been strictly about what happened at the space station. It never occurred to me that the Dyson world would have any connection with it.”

  “I think you have the right idea. We don’t reveal the nature of the secret. Or the location of the Dyson world. For all anybody else knows, Harding might have come across an abandoned alien ship with a dangerous technology. A hyper weapon of some sort.”

  “And how would we know that?”

  “Look, no matter what we make up, there’s no way Harding will come out of this looking good. Or Housman and Womack, for that matter. Even Charlotte will take a hit. We should just back off, forget what we know, and let everything play out. Eventually it will all go away.”

  “But it won’t. It hasn’t gone away in twelve years.”

  He was standing at the hatch to the passenger cabin. “Maybe we’re too close to it now. Let’s just shut it down for a while. Better yet, maybe Gabe will be able to help. This is going to be a tricky memoir. You’re probably going to have to keep some of this from your readers.”

  “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “I’m sorry to see that happen. How do you feel about making stuff up?”

  “Alex, have you actually read any of the books?”

  “More or less.”

  “Then you know I’ve already hidden a lot of information. I’ve changed people’s names, dates, all kinds of personal data. Sometimes I’ve fudged the information that you used to figure out what was going on. For example—”

  “Skip the details. I know that. This time, the explanation for what happened to Octavia is the only thing that matters. And that’s at the heart of the narrative. I don’t see how you can lie about it.”

  • • •

  I wondered if I should resign my position with Rainbow Enterprises. I’d gone through recent confrontations with both Gabe and Alex, and I suspected both might have been happy to see me leave but were reluctant to make the suggestion. Maybe it was time to move on. Getting a new situation wouldn’t be hard. And I could get rid of the accounting and other administrative duties, which were hopelessly boring. But I would probably find myself taking tourists to Earth or Tau Ceti or 58 Eridani. The same flights over and over. After a dozen years with Alex, I didn’t think that was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. We were still in the first week of our return flight when I broached the subject with him. I don’t remember what we’d been talking about, but it had nothing to do with the tension that I was still feeling.

  “Obviously, Chase, you should do whatever would make you happy. But I can tell you in all honesty that neither of us, Gabe or me, would want to see you go. If I can keep you by raising your pay, I’ll certainly make it happen.”

  “You’re serious? Both of you guys want me to stay?”

  “Of course. Why would you think otherwise?” We were in the passenger cabin, having breakfast. “Something else: we should probably bring Lashonda into it. Tell her everything we know and see what she thinks we should do.”

  “You trust her?”

  “She gave us access to the cannon AI. Yes, I trust her. We’re going to need her help to get through this.”

  “But she could become a leak.”

  “I think, ultimately, we have to tell people what happened. We just don’t say where this place—Kalwaka?—is. Do I have that right? There are billions of stars out there. Anybody who goes hunting for these guys is going to be at it a long time.”

  “But a star that’s relatively nearby, with a Dyson Sphere, wouldn’t be that hard to locate.”

  “We don’t mention the Dyson Sphere. And we don’t talk about distances. We’ll be okay, Chase. There is something else. Lashonda has the details on the families. What I’d like to do, instead of taking this thing on HV, is to bring the families in, and friends of the victims, let them know we have some information about Octavia. However we decide to present it, I’d prefer to give it to them first before it goes public.”

  “I just don’t see how we can handle that.”

  “Maybe Lashonda can figure something out. Possibly we send them messages inviting them to come into Andiquar for a conference, and ask them not to say anything to the media.”

  “You think there’s any chance that would work?”

  “It might. We can try it.”

  “I’m not sure it wouldn’t be better to just blame it on aliens. Anything would be better than the truth. Imagine their reaction if we tell them that Harding rammed the station with the shuttle and killed everybody. That Charlotte Hill caused it all because she talked too much. That Housman could have—” I stopped to catch my breath. “He could have shut it all down. He and Womack. All they had to do was promise to keep their mouths shut. Everybody looks bad, Alex. The families are better off where they are, thinking it’s aliens or lunatics or something.”

  “That’s not what you said last time.” I’d never seen Alex look so uncomfortable. “We’ll figure out a way.”

  I didn’t want to bring up any more problems, but eventually we’d have to address it. “There’s another issue,” I said.

  “What’s that?”

  “The transmission. The families are going to want to hear it. So will the media. Can you imagine what they will go through listening to Charlotte describe what’s happening?”

  “Fortunately we have lots of time to think about it.”

  “Or Angela,” I said. “How’s she going to react when she finds out what her brother did?”

  XLI.

  The instrument that drives accomplishment is not the mind but the will. The mind recommends a course. But it is the will that puts us in the saddle or, for lack of it, leaves us lying in the dust.

  —MARLINA EVERETT, ALL IN OR FORGET IT, 8611 CE

  The Korba star drive doesn’t normally get you within walking distance of whatever world you’re aiming for. The jump did okay by those standards. It brought us into our solar system out near Galaya, which, as locals would know, is a gas giant several billion kilometers from Rimway.

  I told Alex where we were and immediately began recharging the drive unit. “Before we go under again,” he said, “let’s let Gabe know we’re back.”

  “Okay,” I said. “What are you going to tell him?”

  “Just that we’re here.”

  “You want to send Lashonda a message too?”

  “No. We’ll contact her when we get home.”

  “You still don’t know what you’re going to say to them, do you?”

  “To the families? No, I don’t.” He stared out at the stars. “Whatever else we decide to do, we don’t give the location of the Dyson world away. That means—”

  “I’ll rewrite the memoir and eliminate anything that might point in its direction. And the nature of the inhabitants.”

  “Good. We’ll be home in a few days, right?”

  • • •

  We went back and forth on the issue all the way to Skydeck. Where we had something else to deal with. I looked at Alex and then down at the frame that held Belle. He smiled and, without actually saying it, indicated yes.

  “Belle,” I said, “you there?”

  “Of course.”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yes. You’re really going to do this?”

  “I got a couple of batteries from storage. I’ll insert them before I remove you.”

  “Good,” she said. “I wouldn’t want the lights to go out.”

  • • •

  We clipped links onto our jackets so she could talk to us. But despite the batteries, she went quiet after we disconnected her. Alex placed her in his shoulder bag. The link also allowed her to see pretty much everything we did. And we did get a few occasional comments. For example, after we boarded the shuttle, she said she was uncomfortable being on a vehicle she couldn’t control. But how happy she would be to finally get a look at the country house. She asked if we had a robot she could use. Alex trained his eyes on the shuttle’s overhead. Rob
ots were not cheap.

  Gabe was waiting for us when we arrived at the Andiquar spaceport late that morning. He was standing in the departure area with a visible cloud over his head. “Hi, guys,” he said, trying to conceal obvious concern. He took a bag from each of us and we started for the exit. He smiled when Belle said hello to him.

  “Belle,” he said. “Is that you?”

  “In the flesh, Gabe.”

  He looked at me. “I should have guessed this was coming,” he said. “Aren’t you concerned that Jacob will get jealous?”

  “I’m more concerned,” said Alex, “that they’ll be too distracted playing chess to take care of the work.”

  Gabe was laughing as we passed out of the terminal. “Veronica called this morning,” he said. “She asked me to say hello.”

  Alex lit up. We needed some good news.

  “So what’ve we got?” Gabe asked.

  Alex held up a hand. Wait till we get away from the crowd. We hauled everything out to the skimmer, loaded it, and climbed in. Gabe and Alex sat up front; I settled in the rear. As we lifted off Gabe turned to his nephew. “How bad is it?” he asked.

  “It’s not good.” Alex played the recordings for him as we drifted out over the forest west of the city. I watched the color drain from Gabe’s cheeks.

  Other than grumbling something, he said nothing for several minutes. We were circling, settling down into our parking area, before he responded. “You know what he was trying to keep secret?”

  “The Dyson world.”

  Gabe glanced at me. “You told him?” He read my answer in my expression and I saw disappointment in his. “And that’s what it was all about?”

  “Apparently.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “I don’t know,” said Alex. “You have a suggestion?”

  “You don’t really have any option other than the truth, Alex. There’s no way you can hide this. You owe it to everyone involved to let them know what happened.”

  “But it means revealing the issue with the Dyson world.”

  “I know.” Gabe retreated into a dark place. “I just don’t see what choice we have.”

  • • •

  We called Lashonda when we got home. After asking whether she was alone, Alex informed her that we knew what had happened. Gabe and I were with him in the conference room, visible to her.

  “I was wondering where you’ve been, Alex. What have you got?”

  “Can we come over and talk to you at the center?”

  She got the message. “No aliens, huh?” It was obvious she’d been hoping that Alex would not come up with anything.

  “No.” I’d never seen him look so dismayed. “Unfortunately not.”

  “When can you be here?”

  “We just got in. We need an hour to pull ourselves together. How about two o’clock?”

  “You all coming in?”

  Gabe said he would pass. “I have nothing to add.”

  • • •

  I showered and changed and we were on our way. It was a bright, warm day. The sun floated in a cloudless sky. Another skimmer drifted past. A couple of kids, perched in back, waved in our direction. We arrived at DPSAR behind a couple of other vehicles, which were riding into the Cyrus Branch parking lot, delivering customers to the restaurants and the shopping area. Immediately to the north, a swarm of tennis players were having it out at the Domingo Courts.

  We landed a few minutes early, went inside, and were greeted by a guy in one of the center’s green uniforms. He smiled at us, called us by name, and took us to the director’s office, where Lashonda was waiting. She was talking to a bearded elderly man I’d met before but whose name I couldn’t remember. “Thank you, Jason,” she said. He left and she turned her attention immediately to us. “Good to see you guys again.” She signaled for us to sit down before settling into a Gala lounge. “So what have we got?”

  “We have a radio transmission from Charlotte Hill. Two of them, in fact.”

  “I don’t think I understand.”

  “These went out on the day the station vanished.”

  That needed a moment to register. Then her eyebrows rose and she looked as if she was about to ask him to get serious. When Alex simply sat and waited, she realized he wasn’t kidding. “Did you bring them with you?”

  “Of course. You want to hear them?”

  She was trying to maintain her skepticism, but it was gone. “How did you get them?”

  “That’s a long story.”

  “All right, Alex. Let’s hear what you have.”

  • • •

  Lashonda paled as Charlotte’s voice filled the room. Her lips formed the words “That’s her.” She listened while Charlotte took the blame. While she described the antipathy that had developed on the station and her own fears when Harding disappeared with the shuttle.

  “What is she talking about?” she demanded.

  “You want to hear part two first?”

  “There’s more? Oh yes, you said there were two of them. Please, yes.” Her features tightened as if she were looking into the face of a crocodile.

  We listened again to the second transmission, absorbed by those final tense moments. We heard Charlotte’s terror, heard Housman pleading with Rick Harding to turn aside, and finally trying to get Charlotte to talk to him. Then it ended.

  “What the hell’s it about?” she demanded. “What was going on?”

  “Years before any of this, Harding discovered a world where an advanced civilization had killed itself off. Except for some AIs. They’d apparently been subject to control by their creators. They were happy the creators were gone. But they were terrified of the possibility they would return, or someone like them would show up. They’d had enough of being controlled and persuaded Harding not to reveal their location. He gave his word.”

  “And . . . ?”

  “You’ve got the rest. For whatever reason, he told Charlotte, and she passed it on to Housman and Womack.”

  “So Harding killed them all?”

  “That seems to be what happened.”

  “Why do you think he told Charlotte?”

  “I suspect it’s hard to keep a secret when you’re living in that kind of solitude. It’s probably the same reason Charlotte passed it on. She knew how Housman and Womack would react to that kind of story.”

  “And he did this for a bunch of AIs?” Her eyes were closed and her lips locked together. A tear ran down her cheek. She tried two or three times to say something before finally getting it out. “You could hardly have brought worse news.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded. Waited another minute or two while she thought about it. Then: “What are you going to do now?”

  “What are your thoughts?” Alex asked.

  “Bury it.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not? If it gets out it will do a lot of damage. To the families, and to us.”

  “Lashonda—”

  “We put a lunatic out there. On a remote space station with three innocent people.”

  “It wasn’t your responsibility.”

  “I trusted him.”

  “So did the aliens. In any case, I don’t think Harding qualified as a lunatic.”

  “What else would you call him? Anyway, I’m not talking about me. I’m concerned about the organization.”

  “You mentioned the families.”

  “Yes. Think what it will do to them.”

  “So you’d prefer to leave this unsettled? Leave everybody to wonder what happened to their loved ones?” Alex’s brow creased. “I think, in the long run, that would be crueler than revealing the truth.”

  “Are you serious? The Hardings will find out their son killed the others. Can you imagine what that will do to them?” She turned in my direction. “Chase, if you were Harding’s sister, what would your preference be?”

  It was easier than I expected. “I’d want the truth.”

  �
�� • •

  It took a while. We went through a lot of glaring, sighing, and clenched fists. Finally Lashonda just shook her head. “Maybe you’re right,” she said. “How do you want to handle it?”

  “We call a family conference. And ask them to say nothing.”

  “You know that won’t happen.”

  “We do what we can. We have nearby contacts with each family. Call them in tomorrow. And yes, of course it’ll leak out. No way we can stop that.”

  She delivered a soundless “yes” with her lips. “I guess it’s all we have.”

  “We’ll call the families,” said Alex. “Just tell them we have news.”

  She stared at us for a long minute. “I’m so sorry you got into this, Alex.”

  “I know. I am too.”

  “Do you want me to set it up?”

  “That would work best. Not here, though. Your conference room will be too small. But you want DPSAR to be part of the process, of course.”

  “Yes, of course. Who else knows about this?”

  “Just Gabe.”

  “All right. Let’s get it done as quickly as possible. I’ll schedule it for tomorrow.”

  “Good.”

  “Give me an hour. I’ll call you when I have a place.”

  “Sounds perfect. We’ll contact the families.”

  Lashonda didn’t move. “Alex,” she said.

  “Yes?”

  “Do what you can for them. Try to frame it so it doesn’t sound so terrible.”

  “I’ll take as much sting out of it as I’m able. It’s why we’d better get rid of the AIs. If the victims all died because one of them was protecting a data system, we’ll have nothing but outrage. These people have had enough suffering. I’ll make a few changes.”

  “You’re going to lie?” I asked.

  “I’ll avoid the details.”

  “Okay.” Lashonda nodded. “Good.”

  “Lashonda, nobody else can know about them. About the AIs.”

  “Of course. I’ll say nothing.” She looked at me. “Chase, you have anything to add?”

  “You can trust him,” I said. “If anybody can pull this off, he can.”

  • • •

  A call from Chad was waiting when I got back to the cottage. I connected and watched him blink on in the living room. He looked exasperated but said how happy he was that I was back, that he would like to take me to dinner, and that it seemed as if I’d been gone forever. “Did you get my message?” he asked.