The eyes were watching him.
“Matt,” said the AI, “the other ship, the one that issued the call for help, is gone. It must have been taken inside the cloud.”
“Jim, get us over there. Minimum time.” That meant using the Locarno, but they’d need about thirty minutes to charge. “Hutch, I don’t know whether you can hear this, but we’re on our way.”
“Wait,” said Jon.
“We don’t have time to screw around, Jon.” They began to move.
“Kill the engines. You’re doing this the wrong way.”
“How do you mean?”
“Shut the engines down. Please.”
“Why?”
“Just stop the goddammed thing.”
“Do it, Jim.”
“Complying, Captain.”
“Okay,” said Jon. “Now ask the AI to put me on with Hutch. And just one live mike.” He touched the one in front of him. “This one.”
“Why?”
“Time may be short. Will you just do it?”
“Okay. Jim, open a channel.”
Jon hunched over the mike. “Hutch, this is Jon.”
“You understand—”
Jon shushed him, and covered the mike. “Okay, go ahead.”
“You understand she probably can’t hear you.”
“That’s okay.”
Matt sighed. Shook his head. When dealing with a lunatic, it’s always best to pacify him. “All right. Do what you have to. But make it quick, all right?”
Jon went back to the mike. “Hutch,” he said, “we don’t know whether you can hear us or not. But the thing in the cloud wants to seize the Preston. You can guess why. We’re sorry, but”—he held up a hand, signaling Matt not to interfere—“but we’re going to have to destroy you.”
Matt almost jumped out of his chair. Jon covered the mike again. “Trust me,” he said.
“What are you doing?”
“Have faith, Brother. You want to save them?”
“Of course.”
“This might be the only way.” The hand went up again, index finger pointed at the overhead, his expression warning Matt to be silent. “We’re starting a countdown, Hutch, to allow you and Antonio a few minutes for prayer and reflection. We’ll blow the ship in precisely five minutes. I’m setting the clock now.”
He shut off the mike, sat back, and exhaled.
“What did you just do, Jon? They may have heard that. If they did—”
“Matt, we don’t actually have the capability to destroy them, do we?”
“No.”
“Okay. Then what would they be worried about?”
“At a time when they’re in deep trouble? They’ll think we’ve lost our minds.”
“Matt.” He went into his professorial mode. “Hutch is pretty smart. By now she’ll have figured out what’s—”
“Incoming transmission,” said Jim.
Matt was beginning to feel he was in a surreal world. “From Hutch?”
“No, Matt. I’m not sure who it’s from. It originated in the cloud.”
Jon was wearing a large, told-you-so smile. “Let me handle it,” he said.
Matt was glad somebody had an idea what was going on. “Go ahead,” he said. “I assume you know who’s on the circuit?”
“He has big eyes,” said Jon. “Jim, connect.” When the white lamp came on, he said, “Go ahead, please.”
“Do not destroy the Preston.” It sounded like the same voice that had called for help. The one Jon insisted sounded like Matt.
Jon switched off the mike. “Now you see what we’re dealing with?”
“No. What the hell is going on?”
Jon held up his palm. Okay. Be patient. Stay out of it. He switched the mike back on: “I’m sorry. Unless you can give me a good reason not to, I have no choice. It is standard procedure.”
“Why would you wish to destroy friends?”
“You were listening to us all along, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“The flashing lights. That was a game, wasn’t it?”
“I am not familiar with the term.”
“Game: an activity of no consequence.”
“No. It was a way to start communication. It was a beginning.”
“Now you want the Preston.”
“Yes. I wish to make an arrangement.”
“I’m listening.”
“First, stop the clock.”
“I’ll stop it if I’m satisfied with your answers.”
“How do I know you are telling me the realistic thing?”
“You mean, how do you know I can actually destroy the other ship?”
“Yes.”
“I can prove it by doing it. Be patient and you will see.”
“That is not satisfactory.”
“If you choose not to believe me, and I am telling the truth, telling the realistic thing, you will lose access to the Preston. If you allow me to take off my associates, whether I am telling the realistic thing or not, you will still have the ship.”
“Yes. That is so.”
Jon covered the mike and looked over at Matt. “People always told me you could be a good engineer and still be dumb.” Then back to the microphone: “All right. I have put the clock on hold.”
“That means what?”
“It’s not running. But I can start it again at any moment.”
“How does it happen you have such capability? To destroy the other ship?”
“You are aware of the Penzance pirates?”
“No. What is a Penzance pirate?”
“They are from Penzance.”
“I am not familiar with Penzance. Or with the term pirate.”
“Penzance is a barbarous empire out near the galactic rim. Far from here. They are all pirates. They attack ships. Like ours. Seize them. Rob the crew and passengers. Kill people for no reason. We found only one way to protect ourselves. Let them come on board, then destroy the vessel. Either self-destruct, or from nearby.”
“It is hard to believe you would do a thing like this.”
“We no longer have problems with pirates.”
“Does that not kill your people as well as those whom you oppose?”
“They’re called enemies.”
“Yes. Enemies.” It seemed to be tasting the word, as though something might be learned from it.
“Yes, the strategy kills our people. But they live on. It is honorable to die in a just cause. To die while fighting your enemies gives us salvation.”
Love your theology, thought Matt.
“How do they live on? If they are dead?”
“There is a part of them that is immortal. That lives forever. Like you, perhaps.”
“I do not live forever.”
“I’m sorry to hear it.”
“What is ‘salvation’? A method to dispose of the remains?”
“It’s complicated. But I sincerely wish you would give us cause to destroy ourselves, as well as our friends.”
“You are a strange species. But I am unable to accommodate you.”
“I see.”
“I offer you the lives of your friends. You may go and collect them from the ship. But then you must leave. I ask only that you not damage the Preston.”
“Beyond what you’ve already done.”
“The essentials remain.”
“Okay,” said Jon. “I’m sorry to hear that. They will not be pleased to be taken off. They expect that we will grant them the opportunity for salvation.”
“You may tell them I am sorry for their inconvenience.”
“I’ll tell them.” He scratched his forehead, waited a few beats, then spoke again: “Who were you signaling?”
“I do not understand.”
“There’s someone you hoped would see the clouds, the explosions, and come to your assistance. Is that not correct?”
“Yes. It is correct.”
“Who? Others like you?”
“Yes. Like
me.”
“Why have they not come?”
“They know they would be trapped here if they did. As I am.”
“Then why bother? If they will not come?”
“It is all I have.”
At that moment Jon would happily have killed the thing. “Have you any idea how many have died, how many civilizations have been destroyed by your goddam signal?”
“I did not know there were life forms like you.”
“Yeah. One more thing: If you attempt to strike us in any way, know that we are not without recourse.”
“I understand.”
“We will know in advance that a strike is coming, and we will immediately destroy both ships.”
“Yes. I understand that also.”
“I hope so.”
“And if I fulfill my part of the agreement you will not destroy the Preston?”
“No. You have my word.”
“OKAY, JIM,” MATT told the AI, “get us over there as quickly as you can.”
“No,” said Jon. “Don’t show it the Locarno. Just use the main engines.”
“Why?”
“Best to keep a surprise available. Charge the Locarno on the way. And keep it ready.”
“Okay, Jon. Now, how about telling me where that other ship came from? And why this thing wants the Preston at all? Especially after it crippled the thing. Even if it was operational, something as big as that son of a bitch is couldn’t fit inside.”
“It manufactured the other ship. To lure Hutch closer. And no, of course the creature couldn’t fit inside.”
“Then what’s going on?”
“We can assume it wants to get out of here. That means it needs thrust. What makes the Preston go?”
“But—”
“I suspect what it wants is to get a look at the Preston’s engines and thrusters.”
“So it can reproduce them?”
“On a much larger scale. Or maybe just make a zillion of them. I don’t know—”
“You think it can do that? Manufacture thrusters?”
“It makes omega clouds and their triggers, doesn’t it? We’ve seen it make a transmitter. We know it has nanotech capabilities. I’d say sure. It can manufacture the engines, the fuel, probably whatever it needs. It just doesn’t know how.”
“And we’re going to leave it a design? So it can get clear?”
“One problem at a time, Matt.”
“I don’t think we should let this happen.”
“I know you don’t. At the moment, all I really care about is picking up Hutch and Antonio and getting out of here.”
It was a betrayal. “If the idiot woman had listened to me, none of this would be happening.”
“You can complain to her when we have them back on board.”
“Jon, you know, after we get them back, it might be possible to destroy the Preston anyhow.”
“Matt, I promised the thing it could have the ship.”
“I know. But we have a defense system. We have particle beams.”
“Matt, the Preston is armored. The particle beams might do some damage, but I suspect it would be minimal. The thing would probably still be able to figure out how the engines work.”
“Probably.”
“You’d have to pretty much melt the engines to hide the design.”
“If we fired a few shots right up the tubes, we’d bypass the shielding. There’d be a decent chance of blowing the ship apart. We could pick them up, then at least make the effort.”
Jon looked unhappy. “Wouldn’t you have to maneuver into position to do that?”
“Yeah.”
“And if you succeeded, we’d have to make a run for it. Against lightning bolts.”
“We already know the thing’s a scattershot.”
“I don’t think it would have to have a very good aim to take us out.”
“I don’t know. If that’s the case, why didn’t it disable the Preston when it got so close right at the beginning? Why did it have to arrange that elaborate ploy with the alternate ship to get her even closer?”
“I’d say because it wasn’t a matter of taking down the Preston; it was a question of securing the ship afterward.”
“So what do you think?”
“I think we do what we said we were going to do. Let it have the Preston and count ourselves lucky if we get clear with Antonio and Hutch.”
THEY WERE TOO far away to get a good look, but as Matt accelerated toward the Preston, they could see that tendrils still clung to it. The forward motion of the ship had not yet stopped, but it was barely moving.
“It’s not letting go,” said Matt.
Jon nodded. “It won’t.”
Matt got back on the circuit. “Hutch,” he said. “We know you can’t transmit. But we’re on the way. Be there in a couple of hours. Hang on. We’re going to—”
Jon held up his hands. Stop. He scribbled a note. Careful what you say. Enemy listening.
“See you then,” he finished.
Jon took over, explained how they intended to make the transfer, and signed off. When he’d finished, Matt wondered what the enemy remark was about.
“If we sound anxious to get them off, Frank might conclude the story’s a fabrication.”
“So what if it does? I mean, really, as long as it gets to keep the ship, why would it care?”
“If I were Frank,” said Jon, “I’d prefer two ships to one. In case something went wrong. In case the engine in one was damaged to the extent I couldn’t figure out how it worked. Maybe just because I’m a mean son of a bitch who wants to kill everybody in sight. Look, what would your mood be like if you’d been stuck out here a million years?”
“Okay.”
“We need it to be convinced we’re suicidal.”
Jim broke in: “Forward motion by the Preston has stopped.”
“Okay,” Matt said. “Maybe it’s best we stay off the link.”
“Until we get there, anyhow.”
“It is beginning to retract. The ship is being drawn back toward the cloud wall.”
They reached cruise velocity, and Matt released the harnesses. “Time to get to work,” he said.
They climbed into e-suits and went below to cargo. There, they collected two lasers and began cutting into the ship’s outer bulkhead.
WHEN THEY GOT within a hundred kilometers, they picked up a transmission from the Preston. “Glad you guys are coming. We’ll be waiting.”
“Very good, Hutch,” said Matt. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Jon leaned forward. “Hutch, in the various communication media, as in all things, caution is the watchword.”
“Understood, Jon. Nobody ever got in trouble for something she didn’t say.”
The Preston was being dragged relentlessly toward the cloud wall.
“Jim,” said Matt, “you get any indication of increasing activity inside the cloud, let me know right away.”
“Yes, Matt.”
Jon got on the link. “Being in the cloud, we do not have a name for you. How do we address you?”
He got only static back.
“Okay. It doesn’t matter. We’re approaching the Preston. In a few minutes we will be taking our people off. When we have accomplished that, I’ll signal you, and at that point you may do as you will with the ship.”
“Yes,” it said. Still using Matt’s voice. “Agreed.”
“Okay.”
Matt brought them in carefully. He tried to angle the ship so he could get clear quickly if attacked. But he knew, they both knew, that if things went wrong, there’d be no evading the lightning. Not at this range.
“Okay, Hutch,” he said, “we’re ready to go.”
“Need a couple minutes,” she said.
Matt grumbled under his breath. They were presumably putting on e-suits, getting ready to go down into cargo. But they’d had plenty of time to do that. It was irritating that she hadn’t been ready to move on signal.
“All right.” He didn’t add What’s the holdup? but his voice must have given it away.
“We’re packing,” she said.
Packing? What the hell was the matter with the woman? “Hutch, you have nothing over there we can’t replace.”
“Need my clothes,” she said. “Just be a few minutes.”
He pushed back in his chair. “Goddam women.”
And he waited.
Jon went below to take a last look at the shielding they’d welded to the hull of the lander. More had been placed inside the vehicle wherever possible. It didn’t look pretty, and it wasn’t much, not in the surrounding electromagnetic maelstrom, but it was something.
The minutes dragged. Didn’t she realize the monster in the cloud could change its mind at any moment and fry them all? What the hell was she doing over there?
Then, finally, she was back. “Okay, Matt. All set. You’ll want to hurry up, though.” Urgency in her voice. That’s right. Take your time and now let’s hustle. He wanted to say something, but best not. Not with Frank listening.
“Thank God,” he said. “Jettison the lander.”
Since the Preston had no power, Hutch and Antonio would have to release the locks and the cargo hatch manually. That would expose them to the outside radiation, but she’d said not to worry, she could take care of it. Probably she had done much the same thing he and Jon had, taken down some of the interior shielding and built a shelter near the hatch that they could hide behind.
The Preston cargo hatch was located on the port side. He watched it open. The lander, like the ship, had lost power, and they needed to get it out of the way. Even in zero gravity, it retained its mass, and would therefore require some serious pushing. Hutch and Antonio would be behind their makeshift shielding pulling on lines to drag the lander through the launch doors. He was relieved to see it emerge and begin to drift away.
Matt opened his own cargo door.
Hutch called over. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Incredible. She was annoyed at him.
“I hope you got all your blouses,” he told her.
“Say again, Matt?”
“Nothing.” The McAdams lander slipped out through the hatch and started toward the Preston.
“Jim, don’t forget they have no gravity over there.”
“I know.”
It crossed the twenty or so meters that separated the two ships and entered Hutch’s cargo section.
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