The Black Sun by Jack Williamson

Author:Jack Williamson [WILLIAMSON, JACK]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780575112070
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2015-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

Rivera came out of the elevator with a steward and a wheeled tray loaded with mugs of coffee and a platter of soyasweets. Cruzet and Mondragon reached for them gratefully. Stecker tapped his empty glass with a fingernail that had lost most of its gold enamel. The steward took the glass away. Andersen pushed his coffee aside and looked back at Glengarth.

“That’s our story, sir.”

The room was quiet for half a minute, people turning uncertainly to one another.

“I don’t like it,” Stecker muttered at last, scowling at Andersen. “What does it mean for us?”

“Sir, that’s hard to tell.” Andersen shrugged and paused to frown. “Most of what we learned is very ancient history. The amphibians may once have been the dominant race, but they had powerful enemies. One whole face of the building is covered with carvings that depict gigantic predators hunting them.

“God knows what has happened in all the ages since, but I think something intelligent has survived. Something able to detect us far out in space and flash that signal from the ice cap. Something in that island tower able to kill Jake Hinch. And something now …”

He shook his head.

“Something what?”

His shoulders hunched.

“We’ll tell you what.” Stecker paused to let Roak speak. When Roak sat silent, he glared across the table. “We’ve got to get off the planet. As quick as we can.”

“Sir …” Jim Cheng hesitated uncertainly. “Without Nik and Kobo, I don’t think we can ever launch—”

Stecker stiffened. “What’s that?”

“Nik was our systems designer,” Cheng said. “Leader of the team. Kobo was our top quantum engineer. You probably know that the wave conversion algorithm has to be recalculated for half a dozen factors before any takeoff. Gravity field, magnetic field, angular momentum, air pressure, mass balance, quantum vectors. A very slight error in any function could blow us up in the pit or drive us into collision with our own dwarf star.”

Stecker opened his mouth to speak, but only gaped. His small eyes darted desperately around him. He looked, Mondragon thought, like a frightened animal in a trap. With a defeated shrug, he turned to beckon imperatively at Roak.

“Mr. Glengarth—” Roak stopped for a moment, but raised his voice and stiffened himself commandingly. “Captain Stecker will not abandon our launch. You’re a trained officer. Dr. Cruzet and Dr. Andersen are competent quantum engineers. You will organize another team and complete the facility.”

“Sir, I respect Jim’s opinion that we can’t launch.” Glengarth turned inquiringly to Cruzet and Andersen. They looked at each other and shook their heads.

“A suicidal gamble,” Andersen muttered. “The effort would take time and resources we don’t have left.” His voice lifted. “Sir, there’s another alternative Tony and I have discussed.”

“What’s that?”

“We still don’t know anything about our neighbors. They killed Jake Hinch when he dynamited the door to their tower, but they let the rest of us go. Maybe they felt offended when Indra tried to enter their temple. We just don’t know.”

“So what?”

Andersen turned to Cruzet for the answer.

“Sir, we want to find out.

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