Marooned on Eden by Forward Robert L & Forward Margaret Dodson

Author:Forward, Robert L & Forward, Margaret Dodson [Forward, Robert L & Forward, Margaret Dodson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 0671721801
Publisher: Baen Books
Published: 1993-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

FINDING

Unbidden, the dream played itself out again. First the scream from Shirley: "We're spin . . ." cut off in mid-cry. Then, the interminably dry voice of James: "Engineering telemetry reports left rear rocket engine has burned through. Beagle is now sinking in Crater Lagoon . . ."

"George! Wake up George!"

I awoke in my dark bedroom, lit only by the soft laser lights of my imp, who was trying to comfort me as best as it could. "Your heart beat had risen to dangerous levels and I thought it best to try to wake you. Was it the same dream again?" asked the solicitous voice of James.

"The same one I have every time I try to go to sleep these past few days. I feel so helpless and useless. I'm in charge and there is nothing I can do!"

I wearily got out from under the tension sheet as James raised the lights in the bedroom. I was still dressed in the wrinkled coverall I had worn when I turned in. I stopped at the bathroom, avoiding the bleary-eyed and unshaven grisly-gray face in the mirror as I took care of the necessities. I was too impatient to hold still and wait while my imp gave me a shave, pulling up and snipping off each whisker in turn, so I palmed my way out the door of my apartment, dove down the central shaft, and swung out onto the control deck of Prometheus.

The night shift crew was busy at their consoles and did not look up. Tony was managing the lightsail, keeping Prometheus balanced over the inner pole of Zuni, where the Beagle had gone down. Linda was monitoring the communications console—silent except for the occasional engineering status report from one of the orbiting commsats around Zuni. At the same time, she was continuing to use her astronomical telescope to look down at Zuni in a search for the missing spacecraft. From the image on her console screen, there was little to see except layer after layer of dark rainclouds, which had not broken since the Beagle had crashed.

Sam was at the science console, evaluating the floods of data still pouring in from the robotic orbiters and surface vehicles scattered all throughout the Barnard planetary system. Despite the tragedy that lay below us and the desires of everyone to help, someone had to keep working at the primary reason we had been sent to this distant star—collecting scientific information about the Barnard system and transmitting it back to Earth—six light-years away.

When Sam saw me appear he murmured to his imp, "He looks terrible, James! Tell him to go back to bed and get some sleep!"

"Can't sleep," I replied grimly back at James. I turned to look hopefully at Linda's console screen. "Has Linda seen anything yet?" I asked James.

Linda avoided looking at me. "Nothing but clouds," came back her reply through my imp. Then, knowing full well what the next question was, she added. "Nothing over the radio but lightning static. The cloud cover is starting to break up, however.

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