Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

Author:Jack McDevitt [McDevitt, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, General
ISBN: 9781101532744
Google: Olwg4MbMpzsC
Amazon: 1472203194
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1994-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

17.

On board NCA Winckelmann. Friday, February 18; 1025 GMT.

They rode outward from the sun. Winckelmann’s twin Hazeltine engines were fully charged, and she could have made the insertion into transdimensional space at any time, but regulations set minimum standards to avoid backwash. Her flight plan called for a jump in twenty hours.

Carson sat with Hutch on the bridge. He was an odd mix that day: delighted that they were finally on their way, fearful that the recall might come, uneasy about the nature of the mission itself. “It’s hard to plan for,” he said. “I hate going into a situation blind.”

“That’s what makes it interesting,” said Hutch. The atmosphere was thick. They had both been glancing frequently at the communications console. “Maybe we ought to take out some insurance against getting canceled.”

“How can we do that?”

“We should probably have a communication malfunction.” She checked the time. “We’re due to file a movement report in a few minutes. I’ll garble it. That’ll establish the problem for official purposes. After that, we don’t respond to anything. Once we’re in hyper they can’t talk to us in any event. When we get to Beta Pac, we can effect repairs, or not, depending on events.”

“Do it,” he said.

“Okay. Now I have a question for you. If we get positive results from this trip, is it likely to help get Henry off the hook?”

Carson didn’t think so. “It can’t hurt. But the Academy is in a corner. If they don’t act against him, then they’re in effect condoning his action. They can’t afford to do that. No. Maybe history will do right by him. The Academy won’t. And the media won’t.” He looked at her, and she could read the pain in his eyes. “And maybe they’re right. He is responsible.”

He fell silent, took out his notepad, and drifted away from her. After a while, he began writing. Hutch had detected a change in Frank Carson since the Temple. Like Henry, he seemed to have aged. He was more reflective, less optimistic. Despite the bravado talk about going beyond the mission parameters, she sensed he would be more cautious than he might have been a few months earlier.

She caught a glimpse of a title in his notebook, and smiled: CARSON AT BETA PAC. It sounded like Napoleon in Egypt, Schliemann at Troy, Costikan at Pinnacle. I hope you make it, Frank.

She turned her attention to the movement report, brought it up on her screen, and garbled the back half of it. No way they could misunderstand: Wink has a communications problem. She hit the Transmit button.

The response was almost immediate.

WINCKELMANN: SAY AGAIN YOUR MR08.

Okay, she thought. We’re in business.

A few hours later, while Hutch was making final enhancements for the transdimensional insertion, the message board chimed again. Hutch assumed it would be another request for a communication status check. But this was altogether different:

WINCKELMANN FROM ACADEMY: ABORT MISSION AND RETURN. ABORT REPEAT ABORT. PLS ACKNOWLEDGE. HORNER.

She cleared the screen and switched on the ship’s intercom. “We’ll be making our jump in eleven minutes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.