Article 23

by William R. Forstchen

  "A top plebe, sir?" Justin hesitated. "You sure of that, sir?"

  Thorsson laughed and shook his head. "Just like your father. Never really sure just how well you're doing. Sure, Astro-Navigation needs some polishing, but there was that lifesaving award showed quick thinking and guts, more guts than you know you have. By the way, Cadets Everett, Smith and Leonov will be going along, so you'll have some friends to keep you company."

  "That's great, sir. May I tell them?"

  "Sure. Mention it to Cadet Colson as well. He's your roommate, isn't he?"

  Justin hesitated.

  "Yes, sir."

  Thorsson smiled knowingly.

  "Is there a problem?"

  "Oh, no, sir," Justin said quickly.

  Thorsson chuckled. "Ah, yes, the Code. Never squeal to an officer or upperclassman about another cadet. Well, I think having Mr. Colson going with you and especially with Mr. Everett might be the right touch."

  "Sir?"

  Justin was confused. The tension in their room since the start of the semester had been as thick as an arctic freeze. Justin had noticed that Colson tended to hang with several other cadets who had stated their disdain of offworlders and especially of the freewheeling style of solar sailors. Matt had tried to remain aloof, though there had been several sharp exchanges.

  "Bell, there's a lot of tension on this ship, and not just among the plebes. I just cashiered two junior-level cadets today for a fistfight over the separatist issue. Though I know it's against tradition to talk about it I think it's safe to say that even up here in officer country there are some sharp disagreements."

  Justin said nothing, feeling it best not to comment.

  "If this system, this dream, is to work, then we have to bridge the differences within our own community. I remember once reading about an old hero of mine, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain ever hear of him?"

  "Yes, sir, I have. He was a Civil War general. My grandpa had an interest in the subject and even has his autograph."

  "A good choice of heroes, Joshua Chamberlain. Chamberlain once wrote about how he had hosted a visitor shortly before the war. This man was from the South, Chamberlain from the North. Both were well educated and, given the climate of the times, the subject turned to the crisis that was about to divide your country. Chamberlain later wrote that their conversation simply broke down, with the Southerner finally announcing that Chamberlain could never understand how the South felt. Chamberlain realized at that moment that if two intelligent men could not bridge the gap, reach some sort of understanding or at least acceptance of the opposing view, then they were all doomed."

  "And are we doomed, sir?"

  Thorsson shook his head. "Not yet. At least I hope not. The separatists have to realize that the countries and businesses on Earth that financed this great expansion have invested trillions of dollars, and they expect a return and a certain amount of control. On the other side, those on Earth have to realize that we now have a new generation, like your friend Matt, who were not born on Earth they see their ship, or colony, or planet, as their place of allegiance. Offworlders like those have a hard time understanding how corporate administrators and political leaders millions of kilometers away can or should decide their destiny.

  "If the separatists continue to move towards a radical position, people like Mr. Colson's father could lose hundreds of millions, even billions. But if Earth doesn't back off, grant more autonomy and ease taxes and restrictive trade regulations, the radicals will gain even more converts."

  "So then it comes down to Matt and Wendell being ready to tear into each other," Justin said, a comment he instantly regretted, fearing that he had revealed something.

  "I sort of assumed that," Thorsson replied, waving his hand to still Justin's uneasiness. "A pity. Neither Chamberlain nor his acquaintance from the old South created the divisions that divided them. That situation had taken generations to develop, but they certainly paid for it with their blood. I fear a reprise."

  Justin was silent, not knowing how to respond.

  "There are some in this Service who are all but ready to drum anyone out of our brotherhood if they weren't born on Earth, or willing to take an unconditional oath of allegiance. They fear that offworlders might seize a ship or some such madness and give it to the radicals on the other side. Let's just hope that calmer heads prevail."

  Thorsson stirred uncomfortably, as if he had said too much.

  T think your friend Mr. Everett will continue to show restraint. He's a good cadet and a worthy friend. I'd like to think that you could help him and Mr. Colson come to an understanding. That, in some small way, would most definitely prove something to us oldsters."

  Justin felt as if he had just been given an order.

  "I'll try, sir."

  "Good. Going to Mars, especially this close to conjunction, might seem like short-haul stuff but I think all of you will find it interesting. Captain MacKenzie, who commands the ship you'll be on, is a tough man of the old school. Not to be crossed. He's not like the officers you know here on the Academy and that's part of the reason I

  want some of my best students to go out with him. Let's call it a dose of reality, Mr. Bell, one I hope you all learn from."

  Thorssons voice trailed off.

  "Make me proud of you out there, BelL Have fun on your jump this weekend, and see you in a month."

  "We're going to Mars," Matt chortled. "I still can't believe it. Out of the classroom and away from Davis and his bloody Astro-Nav course, what a treat!"

  Justin nodded, unable to speak as he double-checked his suit.

  "All right, you guys, ready for a little fun?"

  Brian stepped in front of Justin, checking the straps that secured the reentry shield and retro-pack to his back. Even at five hundred klicks out, gravity aboard the Skyhook Tower was just slightly less than on the surface of Earth, so that his suit and jump gear weighed over four hundred pounds. He wasn't even going to try and stand up from his sitting position in the support frame.

  "Now, this is gonna be a cinch," Brian continued. "Remember, it's all a drogue line-run everything is on auto. No fancy high-low stuff or group maneuvers on this drop. You know the routine from the briefing, so just hang on and enjoy the ride."

  "Yeah, sure," Justin replied softly.

  Seay didn't bother to prompt him with a "sir." Once off the Academy ship he had slipped back into a slightly less formal routine.

  "Now remember, you guys are A Company, so no screaming or hollering on the way down. If anything should malfunction, just tap into my channel. I'll be right above you all the way down."

  "OK."

  "Ready?"

  Justin gulped hard and nodded. All the way out on the weekend shuttle from the Academy to the Skyhook he had been trying to figure out some way to get out of this mess. He half-suspected that Seay knew he wanted out, and in response was leaning on him more to go through with it. Justin felt cornered, once again cursing himself for going along with this insane suggestion to "join the team."

  Until this very second he had been hoping for some convenient excuse or, better yet, the divinely inspired intervention of some real ailment. Brian had insisted upon eating before the jump and Justin had been tempted to get some sushi in the Skyhook tourist section--with luck it might have had bacteria in it. But then he realized that even if by a rare chance some bacteria did show up it'd be a while before it made him sick, whereas the taste of raw fish in his mouth just before a jump might have a more immediate consequence. He had settled for a chocolate milk shake, figuring that would not pose a problem even though it could not save him from his fate.

  Brian walked over to Matt and checked him over, then sat down in a support chair and strapped his own gear on.

  "Ready to depressurize," he finally announced and Justin tensed as the alarm bell sounded and then faded away into the silence of vacuum. The door into space slid open, sunlight streaming in.

  "All right, who's gonna be first?"

 
There was a moment of silence until Matt chimed in on the headset. "Sure, I'll be the hero."

  "Then let's go for it! Everett first. Bell, you follow. We're not doing any formation stuff, but I want a tight pattern, ten-second intervals."

  Justin waited for Matt to stand up and hobble towards the door. Justin stood up, straining against the weight of the suit, feeling the power servos kick in. Clumsily he took a step; the servos sensed his move and activated the suit's leg, and he lurched forward like Frankenstein.

  He shambled out on to the platform and looked around. Matt was already out on the gangplank extending from the walkway that encircled the tower. Justin gazed up, awed by the tower that soared straight towards the heavens. A car shot upward on tibe track behind him, disappearing from view within seconds. Another car streaked down, snapping silently past them.

  He looked around the walkway at the tourists moving clumsily in their space suits, closing in around them to watch the show. None of them were tuned into his circuit but he could see their faces, mouths moving silently, several waving encouragement, a few shaking their heads as if he were crazy. Many of them were already crowding up to the side of the walkway, hands clinging to the wire fencing which prevented the overly eager from tumbling into space. Unfortunately, the platform he was on had no such safety devices.

  "Hey, buddy, come on out!" Matt cried. 'The view is great." Matt made a show of jumping up and down on the gangplank as if it were a diving board.

  Justin carefully stepped up to the edge of the gangplank, which looked like a diving board with handrails on the side, and then made the mistake of looking over the side.

  Instinctively he clutched the handrails for dear life, his knees turning to jelly. Earth was five hundred klicks straight down. The city of Rio was directly below, and the Atlantic Ocean sparkled to the east. To the south the coastline curved away and he could clearly see the line of glittering white beaches that separated the blue of the ocean from the dark green of tropical growth. Early morning clouds were just beginning to appear over the jungle, soon to grow into towering thunderheads. Far to the west he thought he could see the peaks of the Andes catching the first light of dawn.

  He knew it was beautiful he tried to focus on that but the end of the diving board was only a couple meters ahead.

  "Hey, Bell, look out for this next step, it's a killer!" Matt chortled.

  "All right, you two," Brian announced. "Times awasting. No fancy chute work, just let it float you down. If you can get into the target zone, great. If not, no sweat. Winds are calm, visibility unlimited, a good morning for a jump."

  "Ten seconds, Everett."

  Justin listened as Brian received a final jump clearance from the control room.

  "Three, two, one! Jump, Everett, jump!"

  Matt bent his knees, extended his hands over his head as if he were simply going to fall a few meters into a swimming pool, and vaulted off.

  "Look out below!" Matt shouted.

  "Ten seconds, Bell. Move it up to the edge!"

  As if pulled by a force beyond his control, Justin took the final step up to the edge of the board and then looked down again. Without the support of the suit servos he knew he would have collapsed into a mound of quivering protoplasm, all resemblance to human form lost forever. He wondered as well if sixteen-year-olds could die of heart attacks, because if so, he knew he was dying his heart was out of its usual slot and was currently banging away some where up behind his mouth.

  Brians words echoed, dragging out with maddening slowness as if he were talking like some demented spirit trapped in a nightmare, "Threeee twoooo"

  There was still time to protest, to stop this ridiculous stunt, Justin thought All I gotta do is say no. Hell, discretion is the better part of; "One! Jump, Bell, jump!"

  He tried to move, but his knees were gone flesh, muscles, tendons, bones had melted into a puddle somewhere down in the toes of his suit.

  He tried to say something, anything.

  A sharp nudge tapped him from behind.

  The universe tipped over. First he saw the horizon of the Earth, then the morning sun, spinning up and out of view again the Earth, directly below. Weightlessness, no real sense of speed, just weightlessness. He slowly tumbled over, plummeting head down. The tower was racing past him. A car was slowing down for entry into the five-hundred-klick station; it whisked past and for an instant he saw astonished faces peering out at him. He continued his roll; now he was looking back up. Funny, the platform was far above, or was it below and he was falling up? It was a couple hundred meters away, in any case. He saw a dot separating from the platform.

  It was Seay, damn him! He pushed me!

  "Yeee Haaa! How we doing boys?" Seay cried.

  "On my way!" Matt shouted. "What a rush!"

  "Bell?"

  A stream of obscenities escaped from Justin, directed at Brian, Matt, and the universe. This was simply too damn much!

  His slow somersault continued. After several rotations it was clear that velocity was increasing. The side of the tower was becoming an indistinct blur. As he fell the circular ring around the tower was growing smaller, details disappearing. Directly below he could see the Earth rushing up. The rotations continued; each upward turn showed the docking station receding until it was only a barely visible bulge on the side of the tower. The horizon was contracting: the peaks of the Andes were no longer visible, and the bay of Rio was standing out sharp and clear; he could even see different shadings in the colors of the ocean.

  "Everett ten seconds to stabilization, thirty to shield deployment, retros kick in at forty. Hang on and check in. Bell, ten seconds after Everett."

  Justin held his breath, counting down, barely hearing Matt's shout that he had stabilized.

  Justin was still somersaulting; as he looked down he caught a brief glimpse of Matt. Suddenly a stabilizer jet on his backpack fired as the suit's inertial guidance system activated. The jet neutralized the slow head-over-heels tumble. Another jet fired, this one strong, positioning Justin on his back, instantly augmented by a third jet, which held him in a flat back-down position looking up. The tower seemed to have drifted farther away. A dim thought registered that this was because of the Coriolis effect. The angular momentum of jumping from a tower five hundred klicks above the Earth's surface deflected him away from the tower relative to a straight line back to the center of Earth's gravity.

  "Bell! Hey, Bell, you all right?"

  "Stabilized," Justin announced grimly.

  He counted off the seconds. If the shield failed to deploy, he was going to be a blazing light flashing across the morning sky. "Damn all, never again," he mumbled. "Never, ever again."

  He felt a sharp jolt from behind. An instant later he felt as if he were lying face up inside an umbrella. The reentry shield packed into his suit had deployed; a dozen meters across, it would protect him from the fiery heat of reentry.

  "Wow! Hey, these retros are a kick!" Matt shouted.

  Justin waited, breathing hard, and suddenly it felt as if someone had punched him squarely in the back. Weightlessness was replaced by a two-gee counter-blow that caused him to grunt from the shock.

  "Retro," Justin shouted.

  Looking up, he could see Brians ant-like figure disappear behind the disk shaped shielding. Seconds later there was a flare of light as the senior cadets retro-pack kicked on.

  "All right, kiddies, get ready for the ride of a lifetime!" Seay declared.

  Hie retro continued to fire. Looking to one side, Justin noticed a glow rimming the edge of his shield. Even as he watched, it shifted from a deep bluish-red, to scarlet, and then to a brilliant orange. When he glanced up he saw a cone of light pulsing around his shield. He'd reached the atmosphere, and the friction of reentry was ionizing the thin air a hundred and twenty klicks up.

  A blinking red light projecting on to his faceplate startled him for a second and then he saw that it was the retro shutting down. The gees were increasing as the friction of the air b
ecame sufficient to blunt his speed. The cone of light pulsed higher, turning bright yellow and then nearly white. He heard a distant sound. It was Matt, laughing with maniacal glee.

  Buffeting blurred his vision and deceleration pushed the load up to nearly four gees. He grunted hard as he fought to take in short gasps of air. Beyond his own fireball he could see the back of Seay's shield glowing white-hot.

  Strangely, it was silent. In the old movies a roar like a tornado always accompanied reentry. He was silent fire streaking through the morning sky. I'm the fire, the pillar of light coursing down from the heavens. In ancient times, he thought, I'd be seen as a god, coming on my fiery chariot. A sense of power coursed through him: he was in the center of the inferno, untouched, unscathed.

  He started to laugh, not even aware of the shouts of his two companions as they streaked down from the sky. A thought danced in the back of his mind the realization that if there should be the slightest imperfection in the shield, a flaw the size of a pinhole, it'd burn through. A two thousand-degree needle of fire would slice through his suit, gulping energy from his oxygen, blow-torching him apart so fast he'd barely have time to realize he was dead before he was already on the other side of that final mystery.

  But in spite of that thought he continued to laugh for here, in the fire of the heavens for at least an instant, he wondered if this was what it felt like to be totally alive, and then knew that it was.

  The fire died away, and then to his surprise there was indeed sound, a distant rumbling thunder. Straight overhead, just at the center of his vision, a few stars were still visible, but all around the edge of his shield the sky was a deep, dark blue. The gee-load began to bleed off. A mild buffeting rocked him. Another jolt startled him; it was the shield retracting into its backpack. He started to fall freely once again.

  Justin felt the tug of the thin atmosphere against his body. Drawing in one arm, he rolled over and faced down. As he recalled the practice session in the Academy wind tunnel he extended the arm back out, arched his back, and raised his hands up to either side of his head. He lurched back and forth, then finally stabilized. Falling through twenty-seven thousand meters, he saw Matt a thousand meters below and a bit to one side.