Starhawk (A Priscilla Hutchins Novel)

by McDevitt, Jack

  IVY: So what does it mean if they’ve got it right?

  JANICE: I would say it means that life can take on more wildly different forms than we have ever thought possible. It looks as if there’s an open door for anything. Now we know there could be living things swimming on Jupiter. Maybe an entire galaxy can be alive. I just don’t know where the possibilities would stop.

  Chapter 52

  FOR THE SECOND time in a few days, Priscilla was forced to change her mind about someone she hadn’t liked. Her respect for Governor McGruder had soared during the mission. He’d seemed genuinely interested in the monument, had been unable to take his eyes off Saturn, had reacted with dismay when the news from the station arrived. Moreover, he’d expressed his concern for her when he learned she’d be returning to Union after taking them to Reagan. “I wouldn’t want to see us lose you,” he said. “Can’t they send someone else?”

  “I’ll be fine, Governor,” she said. “But I appreciate your concern.”

  The transdimensional portion of the flight had taken little more time than the blink of an eye, and they’d surfaced only a few hours out. The Earth, Europe, Africa, and a substantial piece of Asia, filled the sky ahead. Immediately after she’d informed her passengers they were free to move around, McGruder appeared on the bridge and took the right-hand seat. “Priscilla,” he said, keeping his voice low, “I have a suggestion.”

  “What’s that, Governor?”

  “It’s going to take time for you to deliver us to Reagan, then go back to Union. Why not go directly to the station, pick up as many people as we can accommodate, then head home?”

  “Governor, that would put Vesta and Al and the Secret Service guys at risk.”

  “We’ve already talked. They have no problem.”

  “Cornelius and Michael are okay with it?”

  He hesitated. “They don’t want me doing it. But you know how it is.”

  “I’d have to run it by Frank.”

  McGruder frowned. “Who’s Frank?”

  “My boss.”

  “Okay. Ask him.”

  “Louie,” she said, “get me a channel to Ops.”

  Yoshie responded: “Go ahead, Thompson.”

  “Yoshie, can you patch me through to Frank?”

  “Wait one, Priscilla.”

  It took a couple of minutes. In the meantime, McGruder thanked her for what she was doing. She was impressed that he was willing to take an unnecessary risk to get a handful of strangers off the Wheel early. It wasn’t the sort of behavior she routinely expected from a politician. Then it occurred to her that, if he’d bypassed the station and gone home, had thought only of himself, it would almost certainly have been used against him in the campaign. Especially if a few people died because the bomb went off before they’d completed the evacuation. It might even destroy his chances.

  Frank’s voice broke through: “Yes, Priscilla, go ahead.”

  “The governor wants to go to the station first to pick up more evacuees.”

  “You mean before he leaves the ship?”

  “Yes.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “You want to explain that to him?”

  * * *

  CORNELIUS WAS NOT happy. Priscilla heard raised voices as she made a course adjustment and headed for Union. His objections were logged and forwarded to the appropriate authority. Vesta and Devlin seemed somewhat nervous, but they raised no objection. And a few hours later, as they approached Union, McGruder dropped another bomb.

  “Priscilla, we’ve been talking, and we’re going to stay on the station until the evacuation has been completed.”

  “Governor,” she said, “no. Absolutely not.”

  “Notify whoever needs to know.”

  “What are your Secret Service people saying?”

  He smiled. “I think Cornelius is going to have a stroke. But they’re going to stay, too. How many people can this thing carry?”

  “Normally about ten. We can add a couple more in an emergency for a short flight.”

  “Good. Set it up for me, okay?”

  “What about Vesta and Al?”

  “They’ll stay, too.

  * * *

  CORNELIUS WASN’T THE only person riding into stroke country. “What the hell is going on out there?” demanded Frank. “We can’t allow that.”

  McGruder was still on the bridge. He signaled for the mike. “Frank,” he said. “This is Andy McGruder. How’s the evacuation going?”

  “Slowly, Governor. We don’t have the resources that we need.”

  “I’m beginning to realize that. Well, maybe if I can make it into the Oval Office, we can change things. Meantime, we are going to stay on at the station until the evacuation is complete. Priscilla informs me we can put between ten and twelve people into this ship. I’d appreciate it if you have them ready to go when we arrive.”

  “Governor, you can’t—”

  “Frank, I’m sure you have more important things to do than waste time arguing with me. Everyone here is on board with the idea. So please just make it happen.” He smiled. “Thompson, over and out.”

  * * *

  THEY DOCKED AT the station and began refueling. Priscilla said good-bye to the governor, to Vesta, who was beaming when she wasn’t looking scared half to death, and to Devlin, who was first through the air lock and turned immediately to get pictures of McGruder coming out. They would, she realized, be all over the networks within ten minutes. She wished Michael and Cornelius luck, and they just shook their heads.

  The governor took a long look at Priscilla. “I appreciate everything you’ve done. If I can ever return the favor, Hutch, please let me know.”

  She smiled at the name change. “Thanks, Governor,” she said. “I hope everything works out for you.”

  “So do I.”

  “I have a question before you go.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Would you have done this if you weren’t running for president?”

  He hesitated. “I don’t know. I like to think I would have. I hope so.”

  Then they were gone, the governor, his aides, and the security guys. Moments later, a group of ten people carrying luggage arrived, with a tech. “Your passengers, Priscilla,” the tech said.

  * * *

  SEVERAL OTHER PEOPLE showed up and also tried to board. But more guards appeared and kept them out of the tube. Priscilla returned to the ship, took her new passengers on board, closed the air lock, and invited everyone to spread out through the spacecraft. “Find a seat somewhere and belt down. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes.”

  She took her own position on the bridge and ran through her check-off. Yoshie informed her that she was refueled and ready to go. She released the magnetics and began to move away from the dock. The launch doors opened. The last thing she saw before pulling away was a young woman out on the concourse watching the Thompson. She looked to be in tears.

  “Thompson, this is Yoshie. Your destination is the Brandenburg Terminal, in Berlin.”

  “Roger that,” she said. “Do the passengers know?”

  “Negative. The decision’s just been made. Berlin will probably not be the terminal of choice for them. But it gets you back here quickly, which is what we need right now. You are expected there, and arrangements are being made to move your passengers as necessary. There’ll be no additional cost to them. Union out.”

  * * *

  THE PASSENGERS SPOKE several different languages. Priscilla relayed the destination by putting a map on the displays throughout the ship and marking Berlin. They understood it was a make-do operation, so they were not surprised they weren’t going back to their home terminal. One of the men, a father with two kids at his side, told her in Spanish that it didn’t matter, as long as they were off the station. Priscilla had no grasp of
Spanish, but it would have been impossible to miss the message.

  Two hours later she delivered her passengers to Brandenburg. Everybody thanked her and pretended they’d enjoyed the ride, but they were obviously relieved to get back onto solid ground. They refueled the lander, and within minutes she’d lifted off and was on her way back to the Wheel.

  The call came in before she got clear of the atmosphere. “Priscilla?”

  “I read you, Frank. I’m on my way.”

  “We need you to do something else first. The Venture’s back, but Jake is reporting a problem. We’re not sure yet what it is, but he’s lost control of the ship. He’s accelerating, and he can’t shut it down. We’ve already fed you his course information. We want you to get within range of him and stand by.”

  “Okay. You think he might need an evacuation?”

  “I’m not sure yet what we’re looking at, Priscilla. By the way, you may not be able to do much in any case. He’s moving too fast, coming in at two hundred thousand klicks at last count and still accelerating. Just get close, okay? If you can.”

  “Two hundred thousand?” she said. “That’s crazy.”

  “Like I said, he’s lost control.”

  “Okay.” She didn’t see what she could possibly do. But—“Louie, open a channel to the Venture.”

  * * *

  JAKE DIDN’T SOUND happy. “Acceleration’s constant, Priscilla. It’s taken over.”

  “Frank says you’re at two hundred thousand klicks.”

  “We’re at two ten. And climbing.”

  “That’s not good,” she said. “I’m on my way.”

  “I don’t see what you can do, Priscilla.”

  “I don’t either. How much fuel do you have left?”

  “At this rate, maybe twenty minutes. We expect the acceleration to shut down momentarily. We’re almost out of fuel. Whatever’s controlling the ship will want some left for last-minute adjustments.”

  “Last-minute adjustments to do what?”

  “We think we’re aimed at the station.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Jake,” she said, “how about putting everybody on the lander? Get out of the ship, and I can pick you up.”

  “Can’t do it, Priscilla.”

  “Why not?”

  “The acceleration’s too much. Nobody can move. We’re sucking a couple of gees. We’ll have to wait until the acceleration stops.”

  “Okay. Then that’s what we’ll do. Just hang on. I’m headed your way. When the engines shut down, I’ll catch up and take you off.”

  “If I’m right about this, the engines will shut down in about ten minutes. If they don’t, there’s no chance we’ll ram the station, and we can stop worrying. But I don’t expect that to happen.”

  “If they shut down, Jake, how long will we have before the Venture gets to the station?”

  “A little over an hour.”

  A chill rippled through Priscilla’s breast. “Okay,” she said. “One problem at a time. First, you need to get off the Venture.”

  Louie was putting the tracking on the navigation display. The Venture and the Thompson were running on intersecting trajectories. But the Venture would go past her like the proverbial bat out of hell. “Jake, once you launch the lander, I’m going to need a couple of hours to catch up.”

  “Okay.”

  “Have you told Frank?”

  “Of course.”

  “What’s he saying?”

  “You know how he is, Priscilla. Don’t worry. Everything’s under control. But he can’t give me any answers. The only other ships they have available are the Baumbachner and the Copperhead. The Copperhead left the station a half hour ago with a bunch of evacuees. The Bomb just unloaded some people in Toronto. It’s on its way back, but it’s not in a position to do anything either.”

  “Jake, how could this happen?”

  “Somebody screwed around with the AI. I have no way of knowing how they managed it. But they set up the system and made it vulnerable to a code. We got an odd message a little while after we surfaced. I’m pretty sure that’s what triggered it. Welcome home. Glad to have you back. Something like that. Signed Lyda. You know anybody named Lyda?”

  “Not anybody who’d be likely to commit mass murder, no.” She had to fight down a growing sense of panic.

  “As soon as I can move around, I’m going to see if I can disable something. Shut us down. If I can do that, we should be able to head off any collision.”

  The mechanical aspects of AIs and engine drives were a mystery to Priscilla. “You think you can?”

  “I hope—”

  * * *

  A FEW MINUTES later, Frank was back. “Priscilla,” he said, “set up for a conference with Jake.”

  “Okay, Frank. Hold one, please.”

  Louie’s comm lights blinked. “Got him, Priscilla,” he said.

  “All right,” said Frank. “We have three-hundred-plus people on the Wheel right now. So there are a lot of lives hanging on this. Jake, when your drive shuts down and you can move around again, I want you to get everyone off the Venture. Everybody goes into the lander. Then launch the thing. Do it as soon as you can.”

  “Okay, Frank.”

  “Priscilla, you’re going to have to intercept the Venture. If we’re lucky, and it runs past the point where it no longer presents a threat to the station, we’ll let you know and you can forget it and go after the lander. Okay?

  “But if it shuts down at the wrong time, where we’re still a potential target, I’m going to need you to take it out. We’ll let you know if that becomes necessary. In the meantime, assume that it will. We’ve fed the information to your AI. It’ll put you on the right trajectory.”

  Take out the Venture? She didn’t have a cannon on board.

  He’s talking about ramming it.

  “Louie,” she said, “can we manage a collision? With the Venture?”

  “Priscilla, it will be traveling at an extreme velocity when we intersect with it, approximately 220,000 kilometers. It will require precision.”

  “Then we can do it?”

  “Yes. But I will have to make immediate course adjustments, and set for acceleration. You should go down and get into the lander while you can.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll let you know as soon as I’m set, Louie.”

  She went through the hatch into the passenger cabin, got her gear, took a last look around, and went down the tube to the cargo bay. Frank came back: “The Baumbachner has been given responsibility for picking up Jake’s lander. So all you have to worry about, Priscilla, is the Venture.”

  “Who’s in the Baumbachner?” asked Jake.

  “Drake Peifer.”

  “Good,” he said. “You got the right guy. Priscilla, are you in your lander yet?”

  “I’m on my way.”

  “Priscilla,” said Frank, “if you have to launch, you should be able to make it into the Wheel on your own.”

  Provided the Wheel is still there.

  “We’re coming up on fifteen minutes,” said Jake. “If they’re actually targeting Union, this is the prime spot for a shutdown.”

  “Okay,” said Frank. “Good luck, Jake.”

  Priscilla was just arriving on the cargo deck. She climbed into the lander and shut the hatch. “Okay, Louie,” she said, pulling the harness over her shoulders, “whenever you’re ready.”

  “Very good, Priscilla. Course correction commencing.” She was pushed back into the seat.

  “Frank,” said Jake, “once the engines are off and I can move around, it might be possible to disable them. If the virus can’t bring them back up, it won’t be able to make the final adjustment. That should solve the problem.”

  “Do it my way, Jake: When the engin
es cut off, just get everybody out of there. Okay? And leave the rest to Priscilla.”

  “Will do.”

  “All right. I’ll see you both back here in a while. I hope. Priscilla, you are in the lander, right?”

  “Yes, Frank,” she said. I figured out it might not be a good idea to stay on board.

  “By the way,” said Frank, “you might be interested in knowing that Kosmik has issued a statement agreeing to stop the terraforming and wait for the development of a less invasive methodology.”

  Jake laughed. “I always knew their hearts were in the right place.”

  Priscilla had enjoyed being on the bridge of the Sydney Thompson. It was quieter than the other ships she’d ridden. And somehow smoother. This would have been the perfect vehicle for a casual flight with friends to Epsilon Eridani. It had been ideal for transporting the presidential candidate out to the Iapetus monument.

  Now she would lose it.

  “Priscilla.” Jake again. “Frank, our engines just shut down.”

  * * *

  LOUIE’S VOICE: “NINETEEN minutes to impact with the Venture.”

  Priscilla started to decompress the launch bay.

  Jake would need about five minutes to get everyone inside the lander, another four minutes to get it launched.

  The station was now visible through the Thompson’s scopes. At least, its lights were. It was just coming around the planetary rim. If this thing played out, next time around it would be in the crosshairs.

  The blinkers representing the Venture and the Thompson on her navigation screen were gradually drawing together at about a sixty-degree angle. “Jake—?” she said.

  “Should be out of here in just a couple more minutes.”

  She sat in the darkness. Louie announced that decompression was complete. “Open launch doors?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  Jake came back: “Okay, Priscilla. They’re gone.”