In the freighter bay, a large entourage had just arrived. President Lambert and his staff marched in, many of them carrying suitcases, bags and satchels, or wheeling boxes strapped to hand-trucks. Security quickly organized a lane that gave them access to the Makalu’s cargo entrance, and through shouted demands and plaintive cries directed at them, Lambert and his people made their way aboard.
Many people ironically protested the special treatment being given to Lambert and the presidential staff. Even as they were about to board, people in line for boarding were shouting out for someone to come and take their place. Incredible amounts of money were being offered as incentive to trade places with them, right then and there. In addition, many people who had managed to arrange a trade, but who had not brought proper documentation of the trade, clogged up the security teams trying to verify individuals and get everyone aboard.
As Lambert’s people filed their way in, security scanned each ident to match it to a returnee. Enu Thompson had already passed through security, and was watching the rest of the staff who came through in order to make sure their luggage and cargo was properly handled. Abruptly, he noticed a woman he did not recognize, and who carried only a backpack and no other luggage, filing in with the rest of the staff. He started to step forward and inquire who she was, when the woman’s ident was scanned, and an automated voice announced her as Colonel Emily Stearns.
Thompson smoothly stepped back, and allowed the woman to pass him and enter the freighter.
Roy Grand watched many of the passengers as they entered the ship and found seats. Almost before he realized it, he was suddenly confronted by Walter Gordon, his staff in tow.
Gordon’s gaze bore into him, and he growled, “You’re taking this act of piracy very calmly, aren’t you, turncoat?”
Roy smiled. “And why not? Ceo Lenz has already paid me and my crew four times my usual salary for these runs.” He put his hand on his hips. “Besides, what’re you complaining about? He offered to buy the Makalu from you, outright, when this is over!”
“At what, a quarter of the cost? Pah!” He spat on the deck at Roy’s feet, and glared at him. “I won’t forget this, turncoat. You’ll never work for any supplies company again!”
“Uh-huh,” Roy sniffed. “Go find your seat, and try not to piss anyone else off.” And with that, he turned and walked away from his former boss.
~
In CnC, Julian and Kris watched the activity on the central workstation. An overhead camera was trained on the boarding area around the freighter, giving them a bird’s eye view of the disorder. Julian looked on impassively, but Kris bit her lip in consternation as people were herded and ordered about, pushing and shoving, and punctuated by the occasional person being brought in by security, presumably because they had been avoiding arrival but got caught hiding somewhere.
“What a disaster,” Kris finally said aloud. Julian glanced at her, but said nothing. “You would have thought we could keep things better organized than this.”
“We could have,” Julian told her, “if those people actually wanted to go home.”
In a corner of the screen, Kris noticed a commotion. At first, she thought nothing of it, as there were many commotions going on at that moment. But in time, she realized that at the center of the commotion was a man, and unlike the others, he seemed to be fighting to get aboard the freighter! At one point, the man was jostled by another person in line, and when his face came about, it was caught on camera. Kris’ face frowned.
“Julian.” She pointed at the man on the column. “Isn’t that…?”
Julian looked carefully at the man, and in a moment, his mouth fell open. “Dr. Rios?”
~
“No, I’m not going!” Calvin insisted to the security girl at the entrance to the freighter. “I have to see the passengers! I have to verify—”
“What’s going on?” Calvin turned to see Reya Luis at his side, looking from him to the security girl. “Doctor, what are you doing here?”
“I’ve got to get aboard,” Calvin told her plaintively. “I need to… I need to see who’s leaving.”
“Are you looking for someone in particular?...” But even as Reya asked, she had a sick feeling inside that she already knew the answer. One look at Calvin’s face confirmed her suspicions.
Reya turned to the security girl, and said, “Let him on. And make sure he gets off!”
“Thank you,” Calvin was already saying, as he elbowed his way past and dashed onto the ship.
Calvin reached the bay, and skidded to a stop. The large hold had been converted to rows upon rows of seats, most of which were already filled with passengers. Many of them looked up at his rushed entrance, but said nothing to him. He looked at them in turn, then began scanning the entire bay, looking at faces in each seat, seeking only one.
I know she’s here. It was so chaotic outside, it would have been easy for her to slip in through the security, who were probably only checking listed names against idents, not bothering too closely about faces…
Calvin almost ran into a man carrying an RPI flight bag, who seemed to be acting as belligerently as he could get away with, without being sedated by the authorities. “Watch it! I don’t need you pirates pushing me into a seat, I’ll sit down when I’m good and ready!...” Calvin mumbled an apology, stumbled around the luggage that seemed to surround the man, and gave the man’s staff a quick once-over before moving on.
As he moved through the bay, he came across the section set aside for President Lambert and his staff. Lambert himself, milling about and talking to various people, noticed Calvin as he stepped into the area. “Doctor Rios? Is there something we can do for you?”
“No… no,” Calvin said. “Just… checking things…” Lambert went back to conversing with the others, and Calvin gave a quick glance through the section, not expecting to see anyone familiar among the President’s staff, though all the way in the back, he noticed a very dejected-looking Anton Lavary, looking much like he expected this was going to be his last flight on anything for quite some time—
And that was when another pair of eyes locked with his, in the back of the Presidential section. He did a double-take, and slowly turned in the direction of the woman in the back of the bay. And at that moment, the woman turned to him fully, her eyes wide, like an animal that knew it had been found in its hiding place.
Calvin could not move. He knew it would be… but he hadn’t really wanted to believe it. He’d wanted desperately for it not to be so. But there was Maria, seated covertly in the back of the freighter bay, cowering before his gaze. She was really going to leave me. His eyes fixed hers, and his thoughts were clear to her: How could you? What did I do to deserve this?
Maria’s eyes were equally expressive: Nothing, Darling. I’m sorry, but I have to do this… for me.
Calvin silently moved his lips to form a single word: Erin?
Maria shook her head. No. Not even for her.
To Calvin, the world seemed to recede… or himself, to shrink. Slowly, Maria lowered her eyes, then her head, and she herself seemed to shrink into the seat. And slowly, painfully, the bond between husband and wife snapped like a rotted string, and fell away like dust on the wind.
Eventually, Calvin started to back away, slowly, until he was clear of the bay and could no longer see his wife. Then he turned and trudged up the access ramp, past the last of the people boarding the freighter. He stepped past the security girl, not hearing her spoken question to him, and made his way through the bay.
“Doctor?” Reya Luis was by his side, before he realized it. “Did you find her?”
Calvin turned to Reya, his eyes sunken and moist. “My wife,” he said deliberately, “was not on board.”
And he continued on, out of the bay.
~
“Is this really such a good idea?” Hunter asked his superior officer. Next to him, Goldie was making the last adjustments to her flight suit, and listening intently.
“I kno
w it sounds risky,” Commander Kean nodded soberly. “But I watched the test-flight myself, and I’ve taken the liberty to check the probes that went with the freighter on its test-flight. I am one hundred percent sure that the effect caused by their device will include anything within a set radius of the device. All you have to do is stay within its influence. If your Wasps tuck in to within thirty meters of the hull by the engine bay, you’ll be fine.”
“That’s a tuck, all right,” Goldie commented.
“I’ll say,” Hunter added. “We’ll practically be able to reach out and hang on by our hands.”
“If you think it’ll help,” Kean said sarcastically. “Look, if you two don’t think you can handle a simple escort assignment, I can—”
“Sure we can handle it!” Goldie said quickly.
“Who said we can’t?” Hunter piped up after her.
Kean eyed the both of them. “Fine. Then quit grousing and get to your ships!”
Kean turned on a heel and left, and Hunter and Goldie turned to head for their fighters. Once he knew they were out of earshot of their commander, Hunter commented, “Maybe we should just leave the ships here and ride shotgun on the hull…”
“Well,” Goldie said, “what’s the worst that can happen? They do their jump-thing, and we’re still here? Not that I want to see anyone get hurt, but why we have to escort non-citizens is beyond me.”
“But we are supposed to be bringing citizens back,” Hunter pointed out. “And supplies. That’s worth escorting.”
“True,” Goldie admitted.
“I’d feel better,” Hunter added, “if I knew how it worked.”
“Why? You’ve already gone through it once, and you didn’t feel a thing. But if it’ll make you feel better, I can request to Kean that you be enrolled in a quantum mechanics class.”
Hunter looked at Goldie sourly. “Pass.”
Goldie grinned back. “Wishful thinking.”
~
“Ceo Lenz? I have Eo Luis on the line.”
Julian proceeded over to the workstation and leaned over the viewscreen. Reya’s face looked back up to him.
“Jules: Believe it or not… and I’m still not sure I do myself… we’ve actually got everyone and everything loaded. Security’s done their pass-through, and cleared the Makalu for departure.”
“Good work,” Julian said. “Lock it up and clear the bay. We’ll take over from here.” He turned towards the workstation that had been providing long-range communications with Earth since their arrival over Mars. “Is there any last-minute change to our confirmation from Earth?”
The technician looked up. “No, sir. Earth has verified our arrival itinerary, and is just awaiting the time.”
Julian checked a wall clock, which was still set to Greenwich Mean Time: It was ten minutes after two in the afternoon. Then he turned back to the technician. “Send this: Expect our freighter at fourteen thirty GMT.”
“Yessir.”
Julian then moved to the flight control workstation, where a technician was connecting to the Makalu in anticipation of his order. “Captain Grand?”
“This is Grand,” came Roy’s voice.
“You have clearance for launch. Earth is expecting you in twenty minutes. Pass the word to Dr. Silver. And good luck.”
“Thank you. We’ll hit space in five. Makalu, out.”
“Verdant, out.” Julian indicated the board, and said, “Send word to the escorts to launch and await the Makalu. They will take their flight orders from Captain Grand.”
“Yes, sir.”
~
Reya watched as security did their last checks, and the final stragglers were shooed out of the bay prior to launch. The Makalu was already sealed up, and the access tubes retracted, but she didn’t want to see any last-second shenanigans around the freighter before launch. As she watched, she noticed a bay mechanic arguing with a security guard to be allowed to go back to work in an adjacent bay. Reya called out to them, “I don’t care who you work for, you’re on break for the next five minutes! Get lost!”
She was standing not far from the access tube to Aerospace Force One, which had been sealed by its flight officers prior to boarding the Makalu. With her back to the ship, she did not notice the face, standing back from within the doorway portal so as to remain in shadow, watching the proceedings outside.
~
“We’re at one hundred percent across the board, Cap.” The Makalu’s pilot, a fair-haired Irish girl who looked barely strong enough to operate its controls, poised her hands over the release locks and waited for the word.
Roy Grand gave the control boards in front of his pilot, and those in front of his own consoles, one last look before nodding. “Okay, Haylee, kick us loose.” Her hands danced across her board, and in a moment, they felt the slight bump of the moorings releasing… then the feeling of lessened gravity as they dropped out of the bay.
“We’re in space,” Haylee confirmed, and applied power to the engines to remove the minute spin they had inherited from Verdant. She let the ship drift along, making space between the freighter and the satellite. “Our escorts are here,” she commented presently. Roy saw them on his boards, too, and as they watched, the two Wasps took up positions on either side of them.
Roy activated the com. “Goldie, Hunter, we’ll be at station-keeping in five, and doing our jump in ten minutes after that. We’ll be launching our probe first. Copy?”
“We copy,” came Goldie’s voice. “Proceed on your schedule.”
The Makalu continued to drift leisurely away from Verdant. In the makeshift passenger sections, everyone was strapped into their seats while under microgravity, which had the effect on many of them of stifling their grumbles and complaints, and thereby slightly lowering the volume level in the bay. Now some individual conversations could just be made out over the typical noises of the freighter (which, after all, wasn’t soundproofed to the extent that a passenger craft was), and a few other urgent but hushed conversations were evident, such as the one being carried out between President Lambert and Enu Thompson at the front of their bay section. A few were afraid of the impending “jump” to Earth, despite the assurances of others that they had already been subjected to the “jump” once on Verdant, and that the freighter had been tested. Others were simply upset about being uprooted from their work, their vacations, or their visits at such short notice. And some of them expressed dismay about having to return to Earth while Yellowstone was still spewing ash into the atmosphere… many people apparently believed Earth would be plunged into a lifeless millennia thanks to the caldera, and did not want to be forced to go back to an expected hell of a life on Earth.
In the rear of the bay, Maria Rios ignored all of the talk. All she could think about was setting foot on Earth again. As far as she was concerned, volcanoes blew, then they stopped… there was no reason to assume the worst. She was positive there were still good places still on Earth, and she would find them… no matter what it took.
Finally the Makalu reached its station, and an application of its retros brought it to a stop. The two Wasps brought up alongside the aft area of the freighter, edging close enough to almost touch the hull. At the same time, the spinal airlock opened, and the mechanical arm deployed the probe, as it had in the test-flight the day before.
“Patience, folks,” Roy Grand announced over the ship’s intercom. “It’ll just be another ten minutes to send the probe out, get it back, confirm our course… and then we go.”
Once the probe was placed at-station, and the arm retracted, it took only a minute before the probe disappeared from their screens. Two minutes later, the probe reappeared, and the arm extended out to retrieve it. After a few minutes had passed, the passengers in the bay saw one of Dr. Silver’s technicians float by them, in the direction of the bridge.
The technician reached the bridge, and Roy turned to see what was going on. “Is something wrong?”
“No, the probe was good,” the tech said. “Jus
t wanted you to be aware, though, that its sensor check turned up multiple spacecraft in your target vicinity. A lot of fuss pulses bounced off of it. They’re expecting us, in spades.”
Roy nodded. “It’s all right. No one’s going to shoot down the President and other American citizens.” He checked his watch. “Three minutes to scheduled departure. Let’s do it.”
Once the tech left, Roy got onto the com and passed the same information to Verdant.
“We concur,” Julian Lenz replied. “They will likely escort you down to a secure landing area, but not molest you. Don’t be surprised if you’re boarded before you hit atmo.”
“We know,” Roy replied. “We’ve got everything prepared back there.”
“Then, have a good flight, Captain. Verdant out.”
“Goldie, Hunter, this is Roy. You tucked in and ready?”
“We’re ready.”
Roy switched all of the com channels and intercom on. “Folks, we’ll be doing our ‘jump’ to Earth in… forty seconds.” Then he switched off the intercom, and after a few seconds, started a countdown. “In twenty… ten… five… go.”
Before he’d spoken his last word, Goldie, Hunter, and everyone on the Makalu became aware of a high-pitched tone, coming from seemingly everywhere around them. It rose in frequency, until it was beyond everyone’s hearing, but not quite beyond their ability to sense its presence. And then that sense, too, went away.
A moment later, the Makalu and the Wasps vanished from the orbit of Mars.
~
By the time Calvin made it back to his flat, he was sure the freighter had gone… he hadn’t stuck around to watch it go.
He turned around after closing the door, and saw Erin before him. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, as Calvin suspected his were as well. But her expression was blank, as if she had flushed all of her emotions out of her.
“I was listening on the news,” Erin said dully. “I saw the freighter go. They figure it’s already being escorted down to Earth by now.”
Calvin nodded. “Probably.”
Erin nodded. She stepped forward and hugged Calvin, who returned her hug with vigor. Presently, she said, “What are we gonna do without Mom?”
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