The Great Symmetry (24 page)

“How will we know he’s not having his afternoon nap?”

“You just don’t know. Evan, you didn’t trust me before. Trust me now.
This is what we need to do.”

“Is he our only choice?”

“Axiom is the one choice that might work.”

“My mother taught me a business rule,” put in Kate. “And that was – Never make a big decision when you think you don’t have a choice.”

Mira turned and glared at her.

“Well, there was one exception,” Kate admitted. “That was if you really didn’t have a choice.
Then you have to do it.”

Evan threw up his hands. “Publish or Perish! And if our publishing house is Uncle Axiom, then so be it.”

Contingency Planning

Captain Roe located his second in command, Commander Varma. “It’s been some time since we’ve seen the prospect of action,” Roe told him. “Let’s do a few things to sharpen up. I want to start with an EVA practice, then we’ll do some tactical exercises.”

“An EVA? You won’t be called on to do that, sir.”

“It sharpens the mind. Makes me aware of the present moment and helps me concentrate. Meet me in Lock Six at the top of the hour.”

His second looked perplexed. “If you say so.”

Varma was there at the appointed time, ready to go. Roe had four bundles with him. Old fashioned limpet mines, still carried in the ship’s armory. In previous campaigns, decades before, they had been used to gain entrance to disabled ships that refused to open a port. “I’ve made sure they are disabled,” he told Varma. “Let’s do an exercise placing them and taking them up.”

It was good being outside once more. Working through the procedures, to stay safe and to stay attached to the ship. Although each EVA had a limited thrust capability, it was definitely good practice to be in contact with the ship, or be on a line, at all times. They practiced radio silence, a needed discipline for operations of this type.

Roe and Varma took turns placing the mines and then picking them up. Each belayed the other in turn on the safety line. They worked their way forward, magnetic boots holding them to the hull.

Finally they reached the hump just short of the bridge, near the nose of the ship. Roe placed a limpet mine at the base of the hump.

Even after years on the ship, from the outside it was difficult to orient on the locations of the rooms within. In this case, Roe had studied the ship’s plan carefully, and he knew that this was the right place.

Roe pulled off one of his gauntlets. It hung in space, tethered by a thin retention line. The inner glove allowed for detail work, and would protect his hand for a few minutes. He opened a small panel on the mine and keyed in a complex control sequence.

The mine was now armed and active. If it received a certain coded signal, it would detonate.

Roe pulled the gauntlet back on to his hand, and turned to his companion. He pointed to the mine and waved his arms across each other and then apart, palms down. Nullification. Negative. Then he pointed aft and started that way, belayed on the line from Varma.

Twenty-three years. They had served together for over two decades. Roe was counting on two decades of trust.

Now they were together at an anchor station. Roe clipped in to the metal loop, pointed at Varma, and again pointed aft.

Varma pointed in the direction of the mine.

Roe repeated. Nullification. Varma. Aft.

They stared at each other. Roe pointed one more time. Varma began to head aft, now belayed by Roe.

They leapfrogged their way back to the lock and cycled in.

Roe spoke quickly. “Thanks, that was a good refresher. I feel more alert already. I’ll put all three of these back in the locker right now. Let’s get together for some tactical exercises after lunch.” Then he just looked at Varma.

Twenty-three years, apparently, was enough. “Yes, it was good. I’ll see you this afternoon. Thank you, sir.”

Roe had no expectation of using the mine. In a few days, he and Varma would go out once again and retrieve it. Nothing would ever be said.

If he had learned anything in his career, it was contingency planning. Cover all of the possibilities. Be able to react to changing circumstances. It was not at all likely, but there were a few scenarios where using the mine could be necessary.

Meanwhile, he would do as he was instructed. And watch.

Into Thin Air

They peered up at daylight. “There she is,” announced Mira. “Last climb of the day. I’ll have to take a minute to figure out the best way to approach it.”

“You haven’t climbed this one before?” Evan asked.

“Nope. I couldn’t exit and just go back to camp on the surface. That would have blown my little secret
. From that spot where you’re standing, I stopped and went back through the cave. Okay, I think I’ve got it. Remember, before you top out, make absolutely sure you are not sending any signal of any kind. We’ll be on the surface again.”

It had been, as Mira promised, a long journey. Up, up, and up. Mira had been leading the climbs.
After a while she had said she was tired, so they had each tried in turn.

Mira had watched as Kate had led up the next climb. She had a completely different style from Mira, who leaped from ledge to ledge. Kate reached for small holds and balanced carefully, step after step, up to the top. Not too bad, actually, even graceful.

The next climb had been Evan’s. Thirty five meters tall, with big overhangs. As Evan had sized up the climb, Mira considered offering pointers. “Do you want advice?” she had asked. It was polite to ask before providing advice – if someone wanted to figure out a climb for themselves, you didn’t want to ruin the challenge for them.

“I’ve got it,” he had
told her, and bounded up to the first ledge three meters above the ground. And he was on his way.

The crux was twenty meters above the floor. An overhanging ledge five meters above was the next real hold, and there was nothing but blank wall and air below that.

Mira had watched Evan
pause and consider. Would he call her to come up and solve it for him? Mira had hoped he would stay with it. There are few things more satisfying than sending a climb on the first try.

Evan had launched himself with everything he had toward the ledge. It had looked like he’d overshot, and
he had adjusted on the fly to take hold of an even higher ledge. He had made the move. Mira had known that the rest of the pitch was easy.

From there, they had taken
turns leading the climbs.

After they had left the water, silence had ruled, with just the sounds they made in the air. Breathing, panting, scuffling, and talking when they had had
enough wind.

And now they could see the light above.

From a standing start, Mira leapt four meters in the air to the first ledge, already reaching for the next as she landed. From there she progressed steadily upward, the silver line trailing behind her. Within a few minutes she called down. “Guys, don’t bother trying
to climb this one. We’ll just use the rope.”

Kate went next, easily pulling herself up the line. Evan followed her, and the three were above ground on
Kelter once again.

Way, way above.

The ledge was perhaps ten meters wide, and extended along the cliff in either direction as far as they could see.

Mira, Kate, and Evan looked out over the lowlands, more than a kilometer below. To their right, a massive bulge of rock blocked the view to the south. To their left, the cliff line faded into the distance. Above, a series of overhangs reached progressively farther over their heads.

“We’re blocked out,” Mira told them. “We can’t get a signal anywhere. I still like our plan, but we won’t be able to do it from here. We need to get to where we can connect, so we can send everything to Axiom. Damn – I thought we were going to come out on top of the plateau.”

“Maybe we can rig something up,” Evan suggested. “We can make a parachute
or a glider and send one of the readers off the edge. The reader doesn’t need a person to make it work. If we can get it to move away from the cliff for a hundred meters or so, it will be clear of that rock, and I bet it can get a signal.”

Mira lay down, and walked forward on the tips of her fingers. Soon the three of them were peering over the edge, more than a thousand meters. Straight down.

She saw that
the others had backed off. It was not a spot for everyone. Even Mira felt some vertigo.

Mira pulled herself away from the edge. “What kind of parachute can we rig?
There’s just a little updraft, it could really help give it a soft journey down.”

There wasn’t much, but it might do. Evan took off his thermal undershirt and offered it for the cause. They had the line available, sixty meters of precious silver, five millimeters thick. Mira hated to cut it, even a meter or two.

Never, ever, cut the rope.

She addressed Kate and Evan. “Should I? This could come in handy, you know. We might have to climb, either up or down. Or go back through the cave.
”

“How much?” Evan asked.

“I reckon five meters. Leaving fifty five.”

“It’s worth it,” declared Kate. “If that signal gets through, then someone will come for us. For better or worse. And we will still have most of the rope.”

Mira held up her knife. “Last call,” she said, and then began cutting.

Soon it was done. The stupidest jeetertech she had ever seen. The body of the parachute was a shirt, with the sleeves cut off. Four segments of the precious line
. The all-important reader, wrapped in the disconnected pieces of shirt sleeve, with just the card opening visible, for now, waiting.

Evan pulled out a card from a zipper pocket of his pouch, and first put it into his tablet. “Tablet,”
he said, “Add a readme file, with the following text: Tell Everyone.”

“File added,” said the tablet.

Evan pulled out the card and handed it to Mira, who pushed it into the reader, and now it was live.
She then pushed the reader deeper into the bundle of the cut-off sleeves, for protection.

Mira gathered up the parachute in as orderly a bundle as she could. Two steps from the edge of the abyss, she flung it.

It was a great toss and a promising deployment. The shirt opened, and the reader hung below the improvised parachute as it floated downward.

“I’ve got the best optics to follow
it,” Mira said as she crawled up to the edge and watched the contraption’s progress carefully. As the parachute descended, Mira steadily increased her zoom, tracking along effortlessly. She saw the chute waver, away from the cliff and then toward it
. Closer, too close. When it touched the cliff, the parachute collapsed, and began to tumble. Mira hurried to keep up. The more she zoomed, the harder it was to keep the object in her field of view.

Then, it was still. Hung, on something. In the huge blank cliff, part of the parachute
had somehow found a feature.

Mira backed off and delivered the news. “One hundred twelve meters down, it’s stuck. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere. And if it gets free, the parachute probably won’t deploy.”

She saw the mystified look from Kate. She tapped her left temple. “Best ey
es money can buy,” she told her.

She went back to the edge to see if she could pick up the signal. Negative. Backing off again, she gave the update. “I think we’re out of luck.”

The three sat in silence. Evan held the other reader in his hand.

“What’s that sound?” Kate asked.

Mira scanned the sky and then pointed. “I count six. Coming our way. No markings.”

“Vacation’s over,” Evan put in.

Mira knew what she had to do. “I need the best detail map we can get, of this area,” she called out. “Check what you have locally.
”

Kate and Evan turned to their tablets, to work on the classic problem. When everything was always available online, why store anything locally? Fortunately this crew was used to being in remote locations. “I have a decent one,” Kate replied, and passed over her tablet.

Mira scanned the map. It was good. Really good. Topography, color photos, full three dimensions. Mira flew and zoomed along the edge of the cliff, looking for any weakness. First north, then south.

“I use it to help understand the land, for my painting,” Kate told her.

Mira had found a place that might just work for her wisp of a plan. Right there. It would have to do. A small change in the direction of the cliff, creating an open book
between two faces, just a hundred meters away, extending downward for several hundred meters.

“I’ve got it. And, thank you.” She gave the tablet back to Kate. “This way!”

They rushed to the south, staying as close to the cliff
as they could. Going along the broad ledge, it was easy to stay five or ten meters away from the edge. And then they came to the spot.

The sound of the approaching choppers was growing louder.

Seen in person, the open book was very wide open. Not a lot to work with. The walls on either side of the crack were practically parallel. A darkened stain ran down the juncture between the two faces. It might have been made by a trickle of water, thousands of years ago
in the times when rain still fell here.

Mira tried to visualize the inspired series of moves she would have to make, playing one face off against the other on her way down. It was more difficult than any descent she had ever attempted.

Four more choppers suddenly pulled around the large rock bulge to the south. Mira zoomed in on the closest of them. “Kelter government,” she announced. “I guess they still have a few fliers left.”