Spindrift (55 page)

Before he had to answer another question, he reached up to snap off the com. “That was rather abrupt.” Ramirez said. “What if they…?”

“Jared, I'm getting tired of asking you to do this, but…”

“Shut up. Right.” Ramirez withdrew from the space between him and Emily.

Harker rubbed his temples with his fingertips. Beyond the cockpit windows, Coyote lay below them as a vast hemisphere that stretched as far as the eye could see, the outermost edge of its atmosphere appearing as a thin haze that lay above its curved horizon. Somewhere down there was human civilization, the first he'd seen in…a little over a week? No, years, really…and suddenly he found himself hungry to see his own kind again.

“What about you?” he asked, impulsively twisting about in his seat to look back at Jas. “You've met three humans…ready to meet some more?”

The
hjadd
said nothing for a moment. Within his visor, Harker saw only his own face. “I am prepared,” heshe said at last. “I have complete confidence that this encounter will be a success.”

“You do?” Harker was mildly astonished. “We haven't put on our best face, you know.”

“Precisely the reason,” the
hjadd
emissary said. “Your race does not know I am coming. So they have not pretended to be anything other than what they are.”

It wasn't until heshe said this that Harker realized that he'd neglected to mention the
hjadd
at all.

 

It was nearly sundown when the
Maria Celeste
made its final approach to Liberty. As the shuttle lost altitude, Harker got a chance to study the settlement from the air, and was surprised to see just how large it was. There were dozens of buildings down there, possibly more than a hundred, ranging from wood-frame homes and log cabins arranged along tidy streets, to larger structures near the middle of town that might be shops or municipal buildings, to vast glass-roofed sheds that appeared to be community greenhouses.

These people haven't wasted any time
, he thought. With night falling, lights gleamed within countless windows. He caught a glimpse of children playing softball in a schoolyard; they paused to stare upward at the spacecraft as it soared overhead. At least an entire generation has been born and raised here. Maybe more…those could be someone's grandchildren.

“Coming up on the coordinates.” Emily gently pulled back on the yoke. “Landing field should be just ahead.” She paused, then added, “Looks like there's more than just one town. I'm seeing more lights.”

As she said, there appeared to be another cluster of houselights, a little smaller than the first, located just beyond several hundred acres of farmland. Two towns so close to one another? There had to be some reason for this; he hoped it wasn't an indication of social division. “That must be the landing field,” he said, pointing to a broad ring of lights on the outskirts of the second settlement. “Go ahead and take her down.”

Emily reached forward to click the toggles that lowered the landing gear, then carefully pulled back on her yoke until the shuttle came to a midair standstill. Aside from the whine of the hydraulic systems, the low, steady hum of the
hjadd
drive was the only sound
Maria
made. No roar of engines, no blast of rockets; Harker could almost hear the wind whispering past the panes of the cockpit windows.

Glancing to his right, he caught sight of the spacecraft that had intercepted them just outside Coyote's atmosphere, descending within clouds of dust kicked up by its VTOLs. The CFS
Virginia Dare
was smaller and more streamlined than the older craft, but despite its advanced design, the
Maria Celeste
would have easily outraced it to the ground if Emily hadn't decreased her airspeed to allow the skiff to keep up with them. No doubt its crew was startled, yet they'd maintained radio silence except when absolutely necessary.

“Thirty meters…twenty…fifteen…” Emily kept an eye on the altimeter as she gradually coaxed her craft downward. “Ten…five…four…three…two…contact light, one…” The lightest of jars, no more than a gentle nudge. “We're on the ground,” she said, then reached up to kill the engines.

Yet she didn't need to turn off anything. Her console went dark, save for the life-support and communications panels. Red emergency lights glowed to life within the cabin, casting an amber radiance across everything. Harker looked back at Jas. “What do we do now?” he asked.

“Nothing.” The
hjadd
remained in hisher seat. “Your craft has safely landed. All you need to do now is disembark.”

“No, he means…” Clearly baffled, Emily stared at her instruments. “The engines. Don't we need to…I mean, do something?”

“The drive will remain inactive until I give you the authority to activate it again.” Jas didn't move. “Please do not attempt to examine or dismantle it in any way. The results would be unfortunate for all concerned.”

Apparently the
hjadd
had taken measures to prevent anyone from reverse-engineering their technology. The drive was, in effect, a sealed box that couldn't be opened without triggering some sort of booby trap. Best to leave it alone. “Whatever you say,” Harker murmured, then turned to Ramirez. “Make sense to you?”

“Sure. Fine with me.” Ramirez was staring out his window. “Getting it through to them, though…that's going to be the trick.”

Harker followed his gaze. Three people stood at the edge of the landing field: two women and a man, maintaining an uncertain distance from the shuttle. Behind them were two more men, standing near an open gate within the chain-link fence surrounding the field. Harker couldn't help but notice that, while the first three were dressed formally, the other two wore blue uniforms and carried carbines.

“Our reception committee,” Harker said. “Bet one of them is President Gunther.”

“Could be. It's the ones with the guns I'm nervous about.” Emily sighed, then unclasped her harness and rose from her seat. “Well, no time like the present.”

“Sounds good to me.” Harker unfastened his harness and followed her. Ramirez waited for them to leave the forward cockpit, then pushed himself up from his seat. Yet Jas stayed where heshe was. Hisher hands upon hisher seat's armrests, heshe gazed straight ahead, apparently unwilling to move. Harker stopped, turned around to gaze at himher. “Aren't you coming?” he asked.

“I will remain here.” The
hjadd
's helmet didn't move in his direction. “Bring your representatives aboard when you see fit. I will meet with them at that time.”

Harker hesitated, not quite knowing what to say or do next. This was the last thing he expected. After all, it had been the
hjadd
who'd wanted to make contact with humankind. Now that one of their race was there, heshe had suddenly become reluctant to leave the shuttle. Perhaps this was normal diplomatic protocol within the
Talus
, and yet…

“Pardon me,” he murmured to Ramirez, then gently squeezed past him until he stood beside the Prime Emissary. Bending low, he peered at the silver visor. “Jas…Mahamatasja Jas Sa-Fhadda…listen to me. There's no reason to be afraid…”

“I do not fear you.”

“No…no, I think you do.” Harker sat down on the armrest of Ramirez's seat. “When we were on
Talus qua'spah
, you were ready and willing to talk to us, but from the moment you stepped aboard our craft, you've been reluctant to speak. I know there are reasons why you can't share everything with us, but…” He let out his breath. “I know fear when I see it.”
Even from an alien
, he added silently.

“We do not fear you.” Jas's hands twitched ever so slightly. “My race has been from one end of the galaxy to another. We belong to the Elders of the
Talus
High Council. We have seen things that are beyond your imagination. We have beheld the Annihilator…”

“All this, and more. Of that, I have no doubt.” Harker hesitated. “And yet, you're frightened of us. I know this because I've seen it in my own kind. My captain, Ian Lawrence…so afraid of the unknown that he panicked when your ship appeared.”

“We have forgiven you…”

“You've forgiven us because you know why he did it.” Harker bent closer. “Fear got the better of him…just as fear is getting the better of you.”

The silvered faceplate swiveled toward him. “You presume too much.”

“Then prove it.” Harker opened his hands. “You know we're not barbarians. Otherwise, you wouldn't have bothered to revive the three of us. So come meet others of our kind.”

“He's right.” Ramirez came closer. “We've been waiting for you for a very long time. We have concocted countless stories, folklore, even entire myths and legends about you. Our people have waited centuries, even millennia, for this moment.” He paused. “I've told you of the mistake I once made,” he went on, speaking more quietly. “I know now why I was wrong. Life is too rare within the universe for us to waste it.”

“Exactly.” Harker glanced at him and nodded, then looked back at Jas. “This is our moment. Don't let it pass.”

The
hjadd
didn't respond. Hisher helmet turned away from them, and Jas sat still in hisher seat, staring straight ahead. Harker waited patiently, wondering where this was going to lead. After a few moments, hisher right hand moved slightly upon hisher armrest. The seat restraints folded away into the seat, and the emissary stood up.

“Very well,” heshe said. “I will accompany you, but only to the hatch. Once I have become convinced that your kind mean no harm…”

“We'll bring them aboard. Fair enough.” Harker stood up, turned toward the other two. “Emily…?”

“On my way.” She was already heading toward the aft compartment. A moment later, he heard the familiar whine of the gangway descending from the shuttle's lower hull.

Harker followed Ramirez down the aisle. Looking back, he saw that Jas was only a few steps behind. Emily patiently waited until everyone was in the aft compartment, then she touched the button that controlled the belly hatch. A hiss of escaping pressure, then the hatch slid open to reveal the lowered ramp.

“You realize, of course, you've got a lot of explaining to do,” Ramirez said.

Harker forced a smile. “Yes, well…so do they.”

 

The air was thinner than he expected, cool with the advent of early evening, yet nonetheless it was the first air he'd tasted in a week—longer than that, he reminded himself—that hadn't been reprocessed and filtered. At the bottom of the ramp, he stole a moment to take a deep breath, savoring the aroma of tall grass. Beneath the soles of his moccasins, he felt not the hard surface of floor plates, but the coarse, granular texture of dirt. He never thought common soil would ever feel so good.

Yet Coyote wasn't Earth. One glimpse of the ring-plane of the nearby gas giant, just beginning to rise above the western horizon, was sufficient to remind him of that. Even so, it was enough like Earth that he felt like he'd returned to a familiar place.
These people were lucky
, he thought, remembering the cold, barren landscape of Spindrift.
I hope they appreciate this.

He didn't have long to reflect on that. The three people whom he'd spotted from the cockpit were coming closer. An older couple, both apparently in their fifties, with a younger woman in her thirties close behind. All three were dressed in what looked like homespun clothes that nevertheless were a little more fancy than he would have expected: long dresses for the two ladies, a jacket, vest, and tie for the gentleman. Harker wondered if they'd dressed so formally for this occasion, or if, by some chance, some other matter merited their appearance.

The older of the two women led the others. She strode forward with a sense of purpose that marked her as a leader. Harker had little doubt who she was. He hesitated for a second, then stepped forward. “President Gunther?” he asked. She nodded. “Theodore Harker, first officer of the EASS
Galileo
…”
Damn!
he thought.
Screwed that up.
“Or perhaps,” he quickly added, “former first officer. As I told you earlier, the
Galileo
is no longer with us.”

“I understand.” President Gunther extended her hand. Harker shook it, trying not to show his nervousness. “This is my husband, former president Carlos Montero, and Commodore Anastasia Tereshkova, former commanding officer of the EASS
Drake
…”

“Now the
Robert E. Lee
, under the flag of the Coyote Federation. It was our skiff that intercepted you.” Although Tereshkova came forward, Harker noticed that she didn't offer her own hand. Even in the dim light, there was no mistaking the distrust in her dark eyes. “I've heard of you, Mr. Harker. The disappearance of the
Galileo
has become something of a legend.”