Solar Express

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  At that point, the message from Emma arrived.

  Alayna—

  And I thought our instrumentation might be questionable! No. We’re seeing the same things you are. Your figures are probably more accurate. If this isn’t an aberration of a few days, we’re on schedule—as if anything solar can be scheduled—for the most restrained solar minimum ever.

  Your Solar Express—and I’ll always think of it as yours (I’ve put in a few mentions in a few places, and Jay Mehlin was most impressed with your response)—your Solar Express looks like it will put on quite a show. Send me some images if it’s possible.

  Dorcaster is playing realiestar as if he knew what your artifact is. When it’s all over, do let me know. I know there’s more you’re not saying. Much more.

  Alayna smiled. Emma might come across as a gushy type, but the brain behind that warm exterior was a superchilled quantum computer. And that means you’d better find a way to let her know some of what you do … without letting the world know as well.

  In the meantime, Alayna decided she needed to get on with seeing if any of her correlation programs were showing anything.

  70

  RECON THREE

  28 NOVEMBER 2114

  By 1015 UTC, Tavoian was bleary-eyed after almost seventeen hours of alternating two-hour periods of acceleration and zero grav. He’d never been that good at having his sleep disturbed, but that hadn’t been a problem when he had been piloting two- and three-hour trips between various Earth and lunar orbit stations. After having an egg bagel sandwich breakfast, and lukewarm tea that should have been hot, but hadn’t been and wouldn’t be, he stared at the control displays.

  He still had a headache, and it didn’t help that the CO2 level was still rising, now at two point seven percent, although he wondered if his headache was as much from worry and fatigue as from CO2. Two point seven percent wasn’t that bad. People had endured those levels for weeks without even long-term effects. Just so long as it doesn’t get too high too quickly. Because there was no way he was getting back to where he could leave the ship for a bit more than a week. Eight more days, plus close to eight hours of decel and zero grav.

  Earlier, much earlier, almost twelve hours ago, he had dispatched a message to the colonel, but only after the first two-hour acceleration leaving the artifact. So far there had been no response. In the meantime, there was little Tavoian could do except go over the last images recorded before he left the artifact and see if he’d missed anything. That, and look at the monitors and screens that showed very little, a reminder of just how empty space was. He did both.

  The colonel’s daily message arrived at 0817 UTC, along with the news summary, and a message from Alayna, date stamped as being sent at 0814 UTC on November 27, 2114.

  So kind of them to delay it a full day.

  Tavoian decided to read the colonel’s message immediately, if only to gauge just how much trouble he might be in.

  Tavoian, Christopher A.

  Major, NSC

  NSS-21/Recon Three

  Understand departure rationale. Regret inability to remain on station longer. SC confirms excessive speed of artifact.

  So he actually went to Space Command to see if what you reported was accurate. Tavoian smiled crookedly. In the colonel’s position, he probably would have done the same thing.

  Maintenance suggests you check the following settings on the atmosphere controls …

  Tavoian did. He could do that remotely. The settings matched those recommended.

  … If they match, reset the air heating ten degrees higher and see if this improves system efficiency. Wait at least two hours to determine effect. It is strongly recommended you not increase the air heat more than a maximum of thirty degrees over the recommended setting. Thermostat settings have proved variable in the past.

  Variable? Great! What else?

  There weren’t any other suggestions for dealing with the CO2 problem.

  Your last report did not contain latest images and data. Request you provide those at your earliest convenience.

  For obvious reasons, Tavoian hadn’t taken the time to report when he had discovered just how fast Recon three had been traveling and how much closer to the sun he had been than anyone had originally anticipated. He’d been more interested in resolving the “small” difficulty of departing before it would have become even more difficult for him to survive the return. After that … it had just skipped his mind.

  So the next thing he did was head back to the atmosphere control panel, which was behind a security lock in the cargo space. For a moment, he wondered if the techs had forgotten to recode the lock to him, but it finally opened. He made the settings. Out of concern with the sluggish lock, he left the panel unlocked when he returned to the controls.

  Next he went to work on composing the report for the colonel, making certain he found and included the most recent images from before he had left the artifact, including one, if from a slight distance, of the Sinese assembly being towed back to the larger Sinese vessel. It was almost an hour later before he sent off the report and turned to Alayna’s message.

  He smiled as he read the words about her work, but the smile vanished as he came to the part about the artifact’s projected speed. And the frigging colonel held up her message until after you found out that you’d have been fried or asphyxiated if you’d depended on his information and mission plan. And all he’d said was to remain with the artifact as long as it was safe to do so.

  Reading over her message again, Tavoian could sense the worry and concern behind the words. You’re getting more support and better advice from a woman you barely know than from your own organization. Except that wasn’t quite true. After almost a year of messaging, he felt he knew Alayna better than most people. She’d even taken risks, possibly jeopardizing her future, in informing him and the Space Service about the nature of the artifact.

  Why had the colonel left it up to him? With no real warning? But that wasn’t true. The colonel had to have read Alayna’s message. Or had the colonel been under pressure to keep Tavoian looking for the elusive technology of the ancient aliens for as long as possible … and leaving it to Tavoian in terms of safety was the most he could do? Tavoian didn’t know what to think, and he might never know. One way or the other.

  He was still mulling all that over, thinking of how to reply, when the message from Kit arrived.

  Dear Chris,

  I haven’t heard from you. I continue to hope all is well with you …

  It’s been less than a day … He frowned. A day ago had been her last message to him, but when had he actually last messaged her? He checked his outgoings. The twenty-fifth? Three days ago? Things had been hectic, but still … he should have answered sooner, much sooner. He kept reading.

  Mother still hanging on, longer than we had thought, but she’s so frail, and so helpless. She still has moments when she’s fully alert, but it takes her so much effort …

  Tavoian continued to read. When he finished, he reread the message. There’s something … it’s not right. Had their mother already died, and was Kit keeping it from him, worried that he might already be handling more than he should be? Yet … You’ve never once suggested you’re in danger. He paused. You’ve also never denied it, and Kit knows you … and she deserves an immediate answer.

  He began his response.

  Dear Kit—

  I get the feeling that matters are even worse with Mother and Dad than you’re letting on, and that you may be keeping things from me because I’m in danger or not in the best position. I hope, probably vainly, because you’ve done your best to protect me, that this isn’t so, but you have a reason for your concerns, although it appears the reasons may be lessening.

  THE CO2 LEVEL IS NOW AT TWO POINT NINE PERCENT. ALL SYSTEMS REMAIN WITHIN OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS.

  Frig! Maybe the system hasn’t had time to respond to the changes. He thought about readjusting the air temperature in the CO2 removal section of
the atmosphere control system once more. Give it another hour. He forced himself back to the message.

  You may have read about the Noram mission to the alien artifact, the Solar Express. It required a pilot. You can fill in the details. I’m on the way back now. I couldn’t stay any longer, not that close to the sun. I can’t say much right now, but it is an artifact, and it’s definitely alien, and it’s been in orbit around the sun for a long, long time. When we left, I didn’t have any idea about Mom. Obviously, there wasn’t much I could do at that point, but even if I hadn’t been doing what I’m doing, no one was or is getting Earthside leaves, not with all the trouble between the Sinese and the rest of the world … and solar system, I suppose …

  When he finished, he read through it, and then sent it off. Would the colonel let it go through? He had no idea, but Kit certainly wouldn’t know if he didn’t try. Even if he doesn’t, you’ll feel better for trying. He had his doubts about that rationalization. He should have messaged Kit sooner.

  He still needed to reply to Alayna, and he definitely had the time, more than enough time, considering how little real work he had to do … although it wouldn’t hurt to do a better job of reorganizing the gear he’d so hurriedly secured the day before.

  Dear Alayna—

  I just received your message a few minutes ago. If you’ve observed your artifact, you can see where I’m not. If you hadn’t made me aware, early on, of the increasing speed of the artifact, matters could have become somewhat problematical, if not worse. My departure was rather hasty.

  The construction of the artifact suggests that it is capable of withstanding enormous energies and perhaps even utilizing them. I have to wonder if its course toward such a close encounter with the sun was not planned before whatever happened to the main body occurred and if the fragment that is the artifact is just continuing on a course determined tens of thousands of years ago. If so, it is quite possible that it will survive its encounter. In fact, I would be surprised if it did not. Obviously, my ship is not designed for that. I will be unable to witness what happens, but as you can, I would hope you will keep me informed.

  I haven’t mentioned this earlier, but just after I left on this mission, I received word that my mother had contracted T3. Kit has been keeping me informed, but the disease is so nasty and so resistant to almost anything that it’s not likely I’ll be able to return in time …

  Tavoian couldn’t bring himself to spell out directly what he knew was about to happen to his mother, if indeed, it hadn’t happened already.

  … it gives me some better sense of how you must have felt when you lost your mother so suddenly. I’m still a bit numb about it all.

  I hope I’m not sounding maudlin, but when you see something as magnificent as the artifact, severed from whatever incredible ship the aliens constructed as if it were nothing and left blindly orbiting a nondescript star, one of possibly two hundred billion suns in our galaxy alone, in turn one of more than three hundred billion known galaxies in the universe, and when at one moment, someone you love can be there, and just as quickly gone, it makes you, or at least me, question why anyone would push to the point of destroying billions of people who would rather live under different governments and systems, not to mention the threat to their own people. The universe could care less, and one way or another, the future, if there is one, will forget. If there isn’t a future, what’s the point of all that destruction? So what’s the point of trying to stop another space elevator by destroying most if not all of civilization? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just too tired to see this clearly.

  It took Tavoian more than a little time to come up with an appropriate quote, but time was no longer as pressing as it had been just a day before.

  On a more upbeat note … with what we both are engaged in, I thought this quote from Observations was singularly appropriate:

  Some things are worth doing because they are worth doing, not because they will generate jobs, profits, or glory, but because they are worth so much more that their value cannot be calculated. Being trustworthy is one of those things, because any high-tech society will eventually fail if trust is breached too often. So, too, is higher education, but only for those who can think, and not use their knowledge as a bludgeon to force others to their way of thinking, because the world always has a surfeit of opinion and a shortage of considered thought. And so is the pursuit of knowledge, because only through knowledge unhampered by the need for repayment can this world reach its full potential … and perhaps the stars.

  In closing, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for your knowledge, your caring, your willingness, even passion, to strive to do what is right … and for just being there.

  He hoped he hadn’t said too much, but that was the way he felt. He felt even more that way ten minutes after he’d dispatched the message and began to read the grim news displayed in the latest news summary, especially the summary of the latest levels of Sinese and Indian mobilization and readiness.

  Now what do you do? Stare at monitors and see nothing? Worry about events you can’t control?

  He shook his head. At the very least, he needed to write up everything he had learned, felt, or considered about the artifact. He also wondered about the Sinese. What were their orders? At least, the colonel had left it up to him.

  “Can you determine anything about the artifact?”

  THAT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE WITH ANY ACCURACY.

  Tavoian settled himself before the controls to put down everything that he could recall. At least, it would pass the time. And keep you from thinking about the CO2 levels.

  71

  THE TIMES OF INDIA

  30 NOVEMBER 2114

  (NEW DELHI) “We have come to that place from which we cannot return,” declared Prime Minister Narahaj Ravindra yesterday. “We cannot and will not submit to another form of imperialistic colonialism.” With those words Ravindra rejected the Sinese threefold demand that India stop all work on the Dyaus space elevator, demobilize its armed forces, and re-open its borders to trade and commerce with Sinese bloc nations. He also called on the Federation to provide more details about the ice asteroid reportedly heading in-system toward Mars.

  The response from the Sinese Federation was swift and negative. “The nations of the Sinese Federation cannot allow the militarization of space. That is what the so-called Dyaus project is all about. That is its only purpose. That militarization cannot continue, or the Federation will be required to use force—immediate force—to halt the project,” declared Sinese Defense Minister Wu Gong. “There is absolutely no need for another space elevator. The Federation has made its space elevator available to all at the same rates as Sinese users are charged.” The minister indicated that a timetable for dismantling the Dyaus project had been sent to New Delhi and that failure to comply would have serious repercussions on all of India.

  According to knowledgeable sources, the fact that no comment was forthcoming from Sinese Head of State Jiang Qining indicates there is little chance of the Sinese backing down. The Sinese did not respond to the request for information about the ice asteroid.

  Sinese officials denied that two Zhou-class force projection ships are missing after operations in the eastern Indian Ocean. “Should any ships be missing,” said Sinese Defense Minister Wu Gong, “that would represent the most serious provocation. It could not go unanswered.”

  Indian military officials denied having anything to do with any Sinese vessels on the open seas and noted that all Indian naval ships had been ordered to give Sinese ships on the high seas a wide berth. That raised speculation that the force projection vessels had been engaged in operations near the site of the converted oil platform that will serve as the ocean base for the Dyaus elevator. India has claimed that platform and the waters surrounding it as Indian sovereign territory.

  Claims of not having anything to do with the reputed disappearance of the Sinese vessels would not be inconsistent with past Indian acts. India is known to have more than ten
ultra-stealthy nuclear attack submarines based on the design of the never-built British Seaguard class, armed with ship-killer torpedoes and boasting maximum underwater speeds in excess of forty knots, and stealth speeds of more than twenty knots.

  Noram Secretary of Defense Olassen Trudeau called for a meeting between Sinese Head of State Qining and Prime Minister Ravindra to discuss more peaceful ways of resolving the crisis. The fact that neither President Yates nor Secretary of State Hadfield was the one to make the suggestion was taken as an indication that the Yates Administration believes the suggestion will be rejected.

  72

  DAEDALUS BASE

  29 NOVEMBER 2114

  Chris’s message was waiting for Alayna when she hurried to the COFAR control center early on Thursday. She hurried through it, feeling relief as she read about his hasty departure, then anger as she thought about what he hadn’t written. They didn’t warn him?

  When she got to the part about his mother, she nodded. She still felt a sense of numbness and loss when she thought about her own mother … and a sadness in thinking about the fact that she could never talk to her and hear what she had to say. She’d enjoyed and looked forward to those conversations. Life can be so fragile. When she got to the last lines of Chris’s message, she had to read them again. Those words from your self-contained pilot?

  Except he’s not yours.

  Alayna wanted to send something back, but she also wanted to think about it more … especially after the way he’d ended his message. Something had definitely happened out there. Was it just the artifact? Or a combination of factors? He hadn’t said, and probably wouldn’t ever put that down anywhere there was a record.

  She pursed her lips. She did need some time to let what he wrote sink in. She also needed to get to work … and to see the latest images of the sun.