Moving Mars (50 page)

A shove applied to the entire planet, however slightas might be given by removing solar tidal forces, for example could upset the plumes and re-start tectonic activity. He stopped for a moment, hands hovering beside the frozen diagram of Mars. Without a large moon to keep Mars in balance, relatively slight changes may also tilt the axis.

If we leave, it must be to venture closer to the sun, no? Abdi asked.

We havent decided, I said.

If that is so, there would be much greater effects than I have calculated. And my results already point to resumption of tectonics.

What would that mean? For all of us living here? Wachsler asked.

More marsquakes. Substantial activity along the old plate boundaries, perhaps. Volcanoes. There is no way to predict the long-term effects.

Short-term? Wachsler asked.

Several major marsquakes, but it would take decades before volcanism became widespread along new arcs of fire.

Would it be reversible? Wachsler.asked.

How do you mean?

Once we jiggled it, could we expect Mars to become stable again?

Not for perhaps tens of millions of years, Abdi said. Stability is stability. Instability is not.

Aelita? Leander asked, patting his new offspring on its arbeiter carriage.

Aelitas voice was smooth and huskily feminine. Its image, a long-faced, classically featured female with black hair cut in a short shag, reminded me of a Disney wicked queen. Dr. Abdis conclusions seem reasonable. My libraries do not provide complete information about Marss interior.

You have all thats available, Leander said.

Then I suggest we learn more, Aelita said.

Abdi glanced around the table. He smiled.

We will, I said. Dr. Abdi, well need more information about Marss interior within twenty days.

Yes, Madam Vice President, Abdi said happily. Am I to understandI will do a survey, on the quick, larger than that of Dr. Wegda himself?

Please, I said. Its very important. You understand security requirements?

I do, said Dr. Abdi solemnly.

Doctor Wachsler, every station should make a structural report. How well can they withstand quakes? Do any stations lie directly over old plate boundaries?

A few. Wachsler frowned and shook his head. Weve never designed stations to withstand heavy areologic activity.

Can they be strengthened? I asked.

Some stations sit on old alluvial soils. If theres a major marsquake, every seam will be torn out, tunnels breached You name it.

Those well have to evacuate, wont we? I said. Well meet with the folks in charge of civil preparations and discuss, that tomorrow. Dr. Wachsler, Dr. Abdi, I authorize you to draw funds from government accounting, tagged Black, Preamble. Aelita will monitor your experiments, and you will report every week to this committee.

Wachsler stared at us as if we were all out of our minds. I understand were dealing with some spectacular technologies here, but have you thought about the human impact?

His note of condescension rankled me. Thats almost all Ive thought about, Doctor.

What could Earth possibly do to us that would be worse than what youre contemplating? Weve all seen the destruction at Melas Dorsabut thats nothing compared to hundreds of stations facing quakes.

Charles raised his hand like a student in class. May I answer?

Certainly, I said.

The locusts are just the beginning. In a few more months, they can turn Mars into a burnt cinder. If that isnt enough, they can drop us into the sun, or shoot us out into space.

Wachslers face went pale, but his dander was up. He obviously could not comprehend what Charles was saying, and was going to treat it as high exaggeration. He crinkled his eyes dubiously. You truly believe this?

Abdi said, My dear doctor, was it trivial that a moon was shifted from its orbit, and moved instantly to the vicinity of Earth?

I only know what I was told, Wachsler said stubbornly.

I was there, Leander said. So was Charles.

Wachsler shrugged. All right, he said. Madam Vice President, I know my duty. But I must express my dismay that so much disruption and even destruction is contemplated, yet nobody is going to ask Martians what they want.

I wish there were time, and that we had the means, I said.

No, you dont, Wachsler said. Not really. If Martians decided to vote this idea down, to stay where we are

That could be suicide, Charles said.

Do we have the right to choose our fate? Wachsler asked heatedly. Or do you believe you can choose for us, because you are so much better informed?

To this there was no good answer. Wachsler had expressed the dilemma admirably. I hope we are judged less harshly, Doctor Wachsler, I said quietly.

Dont count on it, Madam Vice President, he said.

Charles stayed behind after the meeting ended. Aelita stayed as well. We havent talked about Ilya, he said.

Id rather not, I said.

Doctor Abdi reminded me Id like to express my sorrow. He was a wonderful man.

Please, I said, looking away. It was all the more unbearable coming from Charles.

Do you blame me for his death? Charles asked, his voice plaintive.

No, I said. How could I?

If I had died ten years ago, none of this would have happened Not this way.

What kind of megalomania is that? I asked.

Without my contribution, we wouldnt have built a tweaker for another five or ten years. Earth might have built it first.

I stared at him, wondering whether I could maintain my careful mask of neutral efficiency. Im as much to blame as you are.

I need to know. Because if you blame me for that, I dont think I could stand it. Really.

Tears welled in his eyes. I turned away, absolutely unwilling to join him in a display of emotion. Get yourself together, I said, a little harshly.

Ive never felt more together and clear-headed in my entire life.

My head is not clear and Im not at the top of my form. Please. Please. I pounded the table with my fist. Just please dont.

I wont, he said,

I spoke to Ti Sandra a few hours ago, I said, swallowing and regaining my composure. We have to choose where well take Mars when the time comes. If it comes. And well have to make a test run with Phobos.

Ive been planning that, Charles said. We can take the Mercury and the original tweaker to Phobos within a few days. The larger tweakers should stay here.

We need to disperse the tweakers and thinkers, in case Earth makes another, more directed attempt to stop us.

Charles looked away. We could destroy all of our equipment, he said. Provide proof to Earth.

Id do that in an instant, I said, if Earth could possibly believe us. They cant. The stakes are too high. Politics and survival drive everything now.

I thought Id make the suggestion. I would kill myself if I thought it would change the situation. If I thought I could stop your grieving.

I glared at him. Id kill all of you, myself, if The admission startled me, and the last few words came out weakly, with a sudden decrease of breath. Charles did not seem startled or shocked.

I envied Ilya. I remember you years ago, he said after a pause of many seconds. Ive been with a fair number of women since, and none has had your strength of purpose, your conviction.

Purpose? I asked. Conviction?

I said to myself, Shes as crazy as you are.

Jesus, I said, forcing a laugh.

I believed I could rock the century-long status quo, discover how the universe worked. And you I said youd become President of Mars. Remember?

Ill go back through my diaries and check it out, I said. Maybe you can read tarot after all this is settled.

It will never be settled, Charles said. Events this large never finish. Youve never asked about my wife.

Its none of my business.

She was a sweet woman, a true Martian. She stood by me for three years. She had a strong sense of duty, and she really tried. But eventually she left. She said she never knew where I waswhat I was thinking.

Im sorry, I said. You obviously werent well-matched.

No. He turned away, seeming to wilt. I wondered how much the QL links were draining him.

I needed to bring us back to our focus. Where should Mars go? I asked.

Charles straightened and linked his slate to the main display. Aelita, these are rough coordinates and star numbers. Link and update with the astronomy library.

Aelita graphically depicted a scatter of densely-packed stars.

We cant just move a few light-years away. With present tracking and measuring, Earth could find us anywhere within a few hundred light-years. If we move at all, its because Earth has proven it will do everything it can to destroy us And will keep on trying.

Bald expression of our dilemma still had power to chill me.

So Im suggesting we make a grand leap. Ive looked at the new surveys, run them through Aelita for processing, and come up with a candidate. Its the best of all possible places in the near galaxy. About ten thousand light-years away, five thousand light-years closer to galactic center. A narrow, restricted cloud separating from the leading edge of a galactic arm. A thick cluster of stars a few billion years younger than most of the stars near the sun, stable and rich with metals. Beautiful skies, bright nights.

I searched the Galactic Survey Twenty-Two Catalog and found a yellow dwarf star about nine-tenths the size of the sun, with perturbations suggesting four large planets. Rocky worlds unknown, of course. And there are a dozen similar stars in the same region.

I give them to you, he concluded. All the clouds and stars, a new garden of flowers. He watched me closely. Choose. Become mother to the new Mars.

I remembered the ancient flowers Charles had given me near TrHaut Mc, cut from the Glass Sea beds. Now he offered me a bouquet of stars. After the weariness and grief, Charles could still take my breath away.

I want to apologize, I said. Ive been very rough on you. Youve done magnificent work.

Thank you, he said. His face brightened, and he watched me with gentle intensity. I still had such power to please Charles. I had never had such a hold on Ilya, and perhaps that was why I loved him.

I stared at the stars circled and blinking on the outskirts of the elongated blob. Will we need reservations? I asked.

I interrupted an argument the next day, as I walked with Dandy and Lieh to inspect the progress on the big tweakers.

The central laboratory had been finished the week before, the equipment had been consolidated in one chamber, and a few simple tests had been run converting small samples of oxygen to anti-oxygen. When we entered the lab, I heard Leanders voice rise above shouting.

Doesnt anybody understand what were up against?

Mitchell Maspero-Gambacorta and Tamara Kwang had squared off against Charles, Leander, and Royce. Kwang saw me enter the lab and fixed her face in a chilly mask. Maspero-Gambacorta shook his head, swearing beneath his breath, and walked to squat on the low bench supporting the larger force disorder pumps. Royce gathered up his slate and a few tools and seemed about ready to leave, but relented, standing awkwardly with his arms full. Leanders face had flushed with emotion; Charles, sitting with hands wrapped on one crossed knee, appeared calm, even a little distanced from the row.

Disagreements? I asked.

Nothing we cant handle, Leander said, a little too quickly.

Tamara and Mitchell feel we should open our research to public scrutiny, Charles said.

Its the sanest thing to do, Kwang said.

None of this is sane, Maspero-Gambacorta murmured, folding his arms.

Whom would we tell first?

Earth, obviously, Kwang said. I have friends on Earth, people who could help all of us sort these things through the political problems, the misunderstandings

Misunderstandings? I asked.

Im not a fool, Kwang said defensively. I know what our situation is, but if only we could talk, find common ground It would make me feel so much better Her words faded and she shook her head.

Weve been over this time and again, Leander said.

Its a feedback dilemma, Charles said.

I know! Kwang shouted, raising her fists. They might kill us if they think we know how to kill them But they wont kill us if they think we can get to them first. We cant tell them what we know, because we know how to kill them. And if we tell them, theyll know how to kill us. That is not sane!

I agree, I said. The best solution is to let things equalize, cool off.

By running away? Maspero-Gambacorta asked. Doesnt seem very adult.

Can you think of a better idea? I asked.

Yes, he replied. A dozen better ideas. None of them supported by Charles or Stephen.

Tell me, I said. Maybe Ill see their value.

He screwed up his face in frustration. All right, theyre idealistic, screwball risks, not better ideas. But maybe if we tried one of them, we would sleep better nights!

The point is not for us to sleep better, I said. Its for Mars to live, and live free.

Were all working as hard as we can, Kwang said. Dont think just because we disagree, were not doing our work.

I dont think that, I said. If you come up with a better ideaidealistic or cynical or whateverplease let me know.

Royce sat emphatically, arms still folded, and said, All right. Over with? Can we get back to work now?

Weve got about four more weeks before we have no secrets whatsoever, Ti Sandra said at the beginning of our next daily conference call. Alone in my quarters, surrounded by hollow sounds of construction echoing through the soil into the tunnels, I watched Ti Sandras range of expressions as I might examine the face of an idol, hoping for clues. Its time to survey, she said. Take Phobos to our suggested destination. People will notice that a moon has been borrowed, so well need to have the moon back before any alarm is raised. The trip must take less than five hours.

Charles and I have discussed the details. He thinks we can manage, I said. I want to go with them.

Why? Ti Sandra said.

I wont even think about sending Mars someplace unless Ive been there first.