Launch (24 page)

The initial UCLA Medical Center setup team
arrived with two doctors and six robots. The doctors said Mark’s cougar
sculpture and the carpet Amira had given Claire and David had to go into
storage. The carpet would make it harder for hospital gurneys to roll, and the
sculpture was an obstacle that might be damaged.

Over the next four days, Broadview was
converted into a small hospital. The foyer became a reception area, and the ten
unused bedrooms became treatment rooms. Temporary dividers were erected in the
ballroom for patient rooms, a lab, and a pharmacy. Robots put radiology
equipment at the back of the ballroom level storeroom where stray radiation
would be absorbed by the surrounding earth. The living room and dining room
were set up for specialized medical services, and the family den was designated
a staff break area. The indoor swimming pool was covered, and robots brought in
dividers and cots for staff who otherwise would have been evacuated. Gym
equipment was left as is and made available to everybody. Both kitchens were pressed
into service.

Staff arrived, and patients who lived in nearby
safe areas arrived soon after. Claire was glad to help in any way she could,
and people were thrilled to meet her. With Elf’s help, she learned new
techniques and was soon carrying a substantial workload.

The nursery adjacent to Claire and David’s
bedroom, which had been planned for one, became a nursery for many. It
overflowed into the bedroom, and Claire wound up sleeping on a cot on the pool level
with other staff members.

Naomi volunteered herself and Mark to help in
the nursery; she thought it would be a good idea for them to get hands on
experience. “Thank you very much,” he said under his breath. Before long they
were both working full time and then some.

▼

One night Claire used blips from a low-power
flashlight to make her weary way down to her cot without disturbing other
sleepers. She took off her wriscreen and earcharm, slipped her feet out of her
shoes, and crawled gratefully into her cot as waves of exhaustion rolled over
her. Through the thin partition, she could hear soft voices in an adjacent
sleeping cubicle, but she was sound asleep within seconds and did not
understand a word.

“When I saw that video of her flying
Origin
through that asteroid field it almost scared me to death. I would have crashed
into the first one, but she just went on and on and on and on. It was
unbelievable.”

Another voice said, “I know. And it’s not
enough that she’s a hero and friends with the President, she lets her husband
go to push that asteroid off course in the last weeks of her pregnancy. Then
she gives up her house to be used as a hospital. What really impresses me is she
works like a . . . a . . .”

“Robot!”

“Yeah, like a robot, and she’s eight months
pregnant! She’s awesome!”

▼

Claire went into her audio-video center just
before noon every day to talk to David. The day before the asteroid was to
enter Earth’s atmosphere he said, “You look tired.”

“I am a bit,” she confessed.

“Are you bullying the staff into letting you do
too much?”

She was offended. “I don’t bully anybody!”

“You may not mean to, but you’re strong-willed,
and who’s going to say no to the famous Doctor Claire Archer? If you’re doing
too much, you could hurt yourself and the baby.”

▼

Later at an afternoon decaf tea break with Naomi,
Claire asked, “I don’t bully people, do I?”

“Who says you do?”

“David implied I take advantage of my
celebrity.”

Naomi smiled. “You’re strong-willed, and it’s
hard to say no to the famous Doctor Claire Archer.”

“That’s what he said.”

“You’re a kind and generous person, Claire, but
celebrity is power. You have to be careful to use your power wisely, so you
don’t accidentally hurt anyone—or yourself.”

Claire thought about what David and Naomi had said,
about how tired she had been. She nodded. “Point taken.”

▼

The pain woke Claire, and she looked at her
wriscreen. It was three forty-seven in the morning on March 24, 2554, breakaway
day for David, impact or skip day for the asteroid.

False labor
—
I hope.

The next pain woke her up seven minutes later.
The third pain was seven minutes after that.

Claire got dressed. In the west elevator to the
main floor, she said, “Three possible labor pains, Elf. The last two were seven
minutes apart, and the last one was a minute after four.”

“Room six is available and ready, ma’am. Elf
will advise the attending physician.”

The autoscanner’s diagnosis of early stage one
labor was unequivocal. Claire realized sadly that David would probably not be
there for the delivery.

When she missed her noon call to David, he
called her and was connected to the delivery room. “What’s going on?”

“First stage labor. It started at three
forty-seven this morning,” she said.

“Will the baby be born before I can get there?”

“Probably.”

“I’m sorry, Cougar.”

“Me, too,” she said. “But it’s not your fault.
I should not have volunteered so much.”

▼

After talking to Claire, David noticed that the
probability of impact had increased to 51%.

“What happened to impact probability, Elf?”

“The asteroid is closer to Earth, sir. Image
resolution has improved, and surface irregularities on the asteroid are more
visible. Recalculation of the drag that will be caused by the surface
irregularities indicates that the asteroid is less likely to skip.”

“Any suggestions?”

“No, sir.”

“Could you get some more suborbs up here?”

“Not enough time, sir.”

There was no alternative. He was going to have
to ask what he did not want to ask. “What would happen if
Michael
continued to push on the asteroid after the breakaway point?”

“There would be a 75% probability of a skip and
a 95% probability of you being killed, sir.”

“No chance of splitting the difference and
making it eighty-five eighty-five?”

“Correct, sir.”

“You have no sense of humor.”

“True, sir, but Elf has enough understanding of
humor to know that subject is not funny.”

It was still hours until breakaway, so he had
time to think about the unthinkable.
She came with me on Origin because she
wanted a better life for us and our children
.
But what kind of life will
we have if the asteroid hits? Maybe we’ll freeze to death together with our
baby.
David shook his head. No
! No way. Not Claire. Not if I can do
something about it.

It occurred to him that he could break away
from the asteroid, land, pick up Claire and the baby, launch the twelve Pilgrim
couples, and fly to Bedford even if the asteroid hit.

But would it be that simple if Michael was
the last chance on Earth for survival? Would we be allowed to take the baby and
leave, or would somebody else take the ship? Even if we did get away, what
about Amira, Naomi, Omar, and Mark and Al and his family and the other friends
we’ve made? How could we leave them to die? What about the other millions of
people on Earth? They want to live. They deserve to live as much as we do. What
about all the other babies, the children?

The screen he was staring at was blurred. He
blinked and the tears in his eyes rolled down to join the others on his face. David
did not want to die. He did not want to leave Claire.

He wiped his eyes and had to clear his throat
before he could speak. “Elf.”

“Yes, sir.”

“No breakaway. I’m going to ride it out.”

“That is an ethics decision, sir. Elf cannot
approve it. It will have to be approved by President Saleh.”

“I’m making the decision. I’m approving it.”

“You are not authorized under the
circumstances, sir.”

David wondered what Elf could do to stop him,
and then he remembered the robot in the other maneuvering control compartment.
“Get on with it. Get the approval.”

“Yes, sir.”

It was several minutes before Amira called
David with video. “Are you sure?”

“I don’t have a choice, and you don’t either. I
wish we did.”

Amira looked down. When she raised her head,
tears were spilling down her cheeks. “Your decision is approved.”

She paused to blot her tears and regain her
composure before saying, “There are many on Earth, including me, who love you.
Come back to us, General David Archer.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“That was not a request, General. You are
hereby returned to active duty. That was a direct order.”

“Aye-aye ma’am.”

David was left alone to face his future in the heart
of a fireball. He put on his spacesuit, belted himself into his maneuvering control
console, sealed all doors, and made a final check of
Michael
’s systems.
He set the cooling in the cabin and his suit to maximum, and he was cold.

I’ll be warm soon enough
.

“Elf, I want to talk to Claire.”

“She’s not available, sir. She’s in second
stage labor in the delivery room. The staff will not approve the call.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yes sir, but she’s under enormous stress.”

“Can you give me one-way video and audio?”

“Yes sir,” Elf said as a view of the delivery
room appeared on David’s screen.

As David watched and listened, Claire grimaced
and grunted during the contractions and squeezed Naomi’s hand, hard. Naomi
grimaced, too, but she did not take her hand away. Breakaway time came and went
unnoticed as David ached to help Claire. The baby crowned. Then the head and
shoulders appeared. David’s control console swiveled to try to protect him from
increasing
g
forces as the asteroid and
Michael
entered the
atmosphere and became a flaming meteor. The ship began to vibrate, and the
vibration became shuddering jolts. Heat overpowered the ship’s cooling system
and the cooling in David’s spacesuit. Superheated fuel ruptured fuel tanks. He
felt awe, heat, and pressure while his daughter was lifted clear. She cried,
demonstrating her awareness of the world outside the womb. Directly overhead in
the middle of a meteor fireball, clearly visible in broad daylight, her father
ceased to be aware of anything. David’s last thought before he went into full
cardiac arrest and oblivion was
One billion plus my daughter.

In an audio-visual-center down the hall from Claire’s
delivery room, Amira watched the meteor fireball flash across the sky.

“What happened, Elf?” she asked.

“A skip, ma’am. The asteroid will go into orbit
around the sun. It is no longer a threat to Earth.”

“How’s David?”

“Elf does not know, ma’am. Communications with
Michael
have been lost. It is severely damaged and appears to be welded to the
asteroid.”

“How soon can we launch a rescue?”

“All of the spacecraft that could rescue
General Archer were destroyed while helping the asteroid skip, ma’am.”

Amira was overwhelmed with grief as she
realized that David was dead. She put her hands against the wall to brace
herself, put her head down, and cried.

When she was able to begin pulling herself
together, she said, “Tell the evacuees when they will be returned to their
homes. I will make a statement later.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Amira composed herself as best she could. Then
she went to see Claire, who appeared to be exhausted. Naomi looked tired, too.

As she took one of Claire’s hands in both of
hers, Amira asked, “How are you?”

“I’m bushed. Where’s David?”

Amira’s tears started again. “David chose to
stay with the asteroid to improve the probability of a skip. I approved his
decision. The asteroid skipped with
Michael
severely damaged and welded
to its surface. We’ve lost communications and don’t have rescue capability.”

▼

Claire believed the PLC would take her baby if
it did not have a father. With
Michael
gone, there was no escape from
Earth and no escape from the PLC. Because of meteors, because of forces beyond
her control, she had lost her mother and David. Now she was going to lose her
baby.

Huge, gasping sobs overwhelmed her.

Amira and Naomi held Claire and tried to
console her. After what seemed like an eternity, she choked out, “I’ve . . . I’ve
lost them . . . lost them all . . . to . . . to meteors.”

With a puzzled expression, Amira asked, “All of
whom?”

“My mother, David, my baby . . . .”

Naomi said, “Your baby’s here. She’s safe.”

Claire shook her head, sobbed, and gasped. “No .
. . father. The . . . the PLC will take her.”

Amira said indignantly, “They will not!”

“They will. They tried to take her when David
was here. Now he’s . . . he’s gone.”

“Listen to me,” Amira said emphatically. “After
the PLC meeting on March 9, I read the court transcript of the appeal. I was
outraged that you and David were harassed like that! I called two committee
chairmen in Congress. They feel, as I do, that you and David were discriminated
against because you were from a different time. A bill was passed yesterday
grandfathering unlimited parental rights to all persons born before July 4,
2476, the date the present Constitution became effective. I was going to sign
it at the White House with you present. Under the circumstances, I will sign it
now: Elf, affix my signature to the Parental Rights Bill on my desk.”

“Yes, ma’am. It has been done ma’am.”

“Elf, for Claire’s sake, is the bill now law?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“There. You and David and everybody else over
the age seventy-eight are exempt from the law requiring a license to have a
baby.”

Claire’s tears of grief became tears of
gratitude. After a minute, she pulled herself together enough to ask, “What
about David? Are there no options?”

Amira shook her head. “The suborbs that could
have caught the asteroid were sacrificed to help push it off course. Nothing is
left that can catch it.”

With her baby secure, Claire’s emotional
strength began to return. As she was drying her eyes, she said, “Elf, get me the
president of Bec Corporation . . . , voice only.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When Caleb Eastman answered, Claire asked, “How
soon can Bec finish the starship tractor it’s building, so I can use it to
rescue General Archer?”

Mr. Eastman said, “Computer?”

“Does the customer have a government priority
for the current emergency?” Bec’s computer asked.

“Computer, this is Amira Saleh, President of
the United States. This project has an immediate life or death government
priority.”

“Forty-five days, ma’am.”

“Build it,” Claire said. “My husband’s still on
that asteroid, and I’m going to get him.”

“It will be done and the forty-five days start
now,” Mr. Eastman said.

“Good. Be sure the flight controls function
exactly like the first starship.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bec’s computer answered.

“Elf, confirm to Bec that I have fifty-five
billion dollars in convertible assets available in addition to the original
contract price.”

Naomi’s eyes went wide with surprise. One of Amira’s
eyebrows went up slightly.

“Yes, ma’am,” Elf responded. “Additional assets
that can be sold for fifty-five billion dollars will be at the disposal of
Doctor Archer after the markets reopen.”

“Four things, Mr. Eastman: One: I will give you
an additional one billion dollars for each
day
you beat your
forty-five-day estimate without compromising quality.”

Mr. Eastman sounded surprised when he answered,
“Yes, ma’am.”

“Two: I’m going to need deep space,
ship-to-ship transfer capability including robots with cutting torches to get
my husband out of
Michael
. Don’t let this interfere with the build time
for the new starship.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Three: I want modern medical facilities aboard
with the capability to care for any medical problems that my husband may have.
Don’t let this interfere with the build time for the new starship.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Four: If Bec Corporation meets or exceeds the
contractual arrangements we are making now, and I bring my husband back alive
on the new starship, I will give Bec Corporation a ten billion-dollar bonus.”

“Yes, ma’am. If there’s nothing else, please
excuse me. You have given me a lot of work to do.”

“Goodbye Mr. Eastman, and thank you.”

Claire explained to Amira and Naomi, “Medical
facilities, a medically trained robot, and several years of life support were
onboard
Michael
. It’s reasonable to hope that he will still be alive in
the forty-six or so days it will take me to get to him.”

After a pause, Claire said, “We’re joined at
the heart. If he was really gone, I would feel it.”

After Claire calmed down and her breathing and
blood pressure returned to normal, a doctor brought her swaddled baby and
helped her begin breastfeeding.

While she relaxed with her nursing daughter in
her arms, Claire said, “Thank you, Naomi, for being here for us, and thank you,
Amira, for saving my baby.”

▼

Amira flew back to the White House. She kissed Omar
and asked him to hold her. After a few minutes with Omar and some rest and
meditation, she had her makeup and hair touched up, and then went on the air.

As President of the United States, she told
people they were safe: that General David Archer had chosen to ride in the
heart of a flaming meteor to ensure the survival of everyone but himself.

▼

Tributes for David poured in after Amira’s
speech, and Congress unanimously awarded him a Medal for Extraordinary Valor.

Amira visited Claire every day. On the third
visit, Amira said, “Many people have asked me when we should hold the medal award
ceremony.”

Claire did not hesitate. “After I bring him
back,” she said.

▼

A week after the baby was born, Lauren Dobson
called Claire and reported: “The appeal was denied, and your license is still
valid. The court said that Bernice Moore and Jason Kim were clearly motivated
by personal prejudice. It ordered the Department of Parent Licensing to show
cause why the Department should not be fined for allowing a frivolous appeal. The
court also ordered employee reviews for Moore and Kim, including a review of
all the licensing applications they have voted on.”

Claire was relieved that the last threat to her
baby was gone, and she thanked Lauren.

When she had time to reflect, Claire thought about
the court’s decision.
The courts are just: another good reason to stay.