New Title 1 (52 page)

As Roy watched the receding woman in the wheelchair, Walter Gordon touched the ground, and made a beeline for the first officer he could see, which was General Boulle. “General,” he shouted, leveling an arm at Roy, “I want that man arrested, and that ship confiscated! That ship is my property, and that man is directly responsible for stealing it from me!”

The General regarded him for a moment. “You would be Walter Gordon of RPI?”

“That’s right,” Gordon snapped. “I own that ship! Grand and the leadership of Verdant—”

“Yes, we know, we received information about it, and you, from Verdant,” the General cut him off. “After examining the details, it is our opinion that the Verdant leadership made the best choice possible, under the circumstances.”

Gordon’s eyes slowly widened, until they threatened to pop out of their sockets. “What!” he screamed so sharply that his voice cracked. “Are you out of your minds? They stole that ship without my consent!”

“They also offered to compensate you for the ship,” General Boulle noted, giving Gordon an impatient look. “Considering without that ship, and their help, you might not have even made it home, I’d consider that a fair exchange, myself. And for the record, so does the United States government. Now, if you want to take it up with the U.N., feel free to—”

“Jesus Christ!”
Gordon boomed loudly enough for his voice to echo down the tarmac and back. “You’re
all
a bunch of pirates! You’re condoning the stealing of private property! You’re violating my rights as an American citizen, taxpayer and corporate owner!”

“Not yet I’m not, but don’t tempt me,” Boulle snapped, gesturing to a soldier. When the soldier arrived and saluted, the General said, “Private, escort this man directly to room D-6.” His expression suggested that the soldier should subdue and carry him there, if necessary.

“Yessir!” the Private replied smartly, as Gordon said, “D-6? Where the hell is that? What’s going on?”

“We’ll talk about your situation later,” Boulle replied, as the soldier took Gordon by the arm and started marching. Gordon was led into the hangar, away from the other passengers, struggling against the soldier’s grip on his arm. They reached a small set of offices in the corner of the hangar, whereupon the soldier opened the door and forced Gordon inside. The moment the door closed, Gordon’s yelling and ranting could no longer be heard outside.

In the meantime, Boulle had turned back to Roy. He cocked a sympathetic eyebrow. “That was your boss?”

Roy shrugged. “Fortunately, he didn’t spend much time around the docks.”

Boulle nodded in understanding. “He may be spending even less in the future.”

Roy cocked his head in confusion. “Huh?”

Boulle lowered his voice, to make sure the passing passengers would not overhear. “Commander Hollen com’d us about the explosive device found on your ship. Their scans indicated his fingerprints were found on the bulkhead surfaces around the device.”

Roy grimaced at the news. “I had a feeling,” he commented.

Boulle nodded again. “Probably planned to set it off after he left, or at some point after you leave Earth, if he didn’t get his ship back. If convicted, he’ll be spending his retirement in prison for attempted assassination of the President of the United States. I’d say you changed bosses at an opportune time.” Then he resumed his normal voice and formal stance. “Captain Grand, you are not under arrest. However, we’d appreciate it if you could answer some of the questions we have about the events following Verdant’s leaving our orbit. Once that’s done, we’ll start arranging the cargo transfer.” He raised a hand towards the hangar. “If you please?”

Roy glanced back at the
Makalu
, and momentarily, decided it was in good hands. “All right. Let’s go, then.”

Lambert walked into the High House less than five minutes after climbing into the limo, followed by Thompson, Shay Vaughn, and the staffers. As most of them fanned out to return to their designated workstations, Lambert, Thompson and Shay headed straight for the President’s office.

Of all of them, Shay was the only one who stared about as if she had just been invited into a royal’s castle, or on a private tour of the Louvre. She was in the High House! Shay had, over the years, been in the company of rich, important and powerful people before, and was not unfamiliar with opulence, politics or exclusivity. But this was the home and office of the President of the United States of America! Even she could not help but be awed by her good fortune.

Her bubble was burst slightly, before they reached the President’s office, when Thompson turned to her and brought her up short. “The President will have to call for you later.” He snapped his fingers, and a nearby intern responded quickly. “Herb, here, will escort you to the President’s quarters.” Then he turned and followed Lambert, without another word.

Shay stared after Thompson, then looked over at the intern, just in time to catch his eyes roving over her figure with envy. Herb’s eyes snapped up when her head came around, and he quickly waved an arm in another direction. “This way, ma’am,” he said, abruptly bringing to Shay’s attention that he barely looked old enough to shave. Then he was off down the corridor, leaving Shay no choice but to follow the boy.

When the door to the President’s office opened, Lena Carruthers immediately stood up from the desk. She came around as Lambert strode in, Thompson close behind, and she extended her hand. “Welcome back, Gaston,” she said, a faint touch of irony in her voice.

Lambert caught the inflection. “Did you enjoy running the shop while I was gone?”

“I most certainly did not,” Lena replied, though she kept any real venom out of her voice. “Things are a mess around here. And what’s the story with Verdant? Did you find out how they got you to Mars?”

“No,” Lambert told her, stepping around to his desk, and sitting down. “They’re keeping it close to the chest. But I’m hoping we can do something about that. Sit down, you two. We need to figure out how we’re going to turn this to our advantage.”

~

Roy Grand checked the time on his com, to confirm to himself that he had been sitting, alone, for the past ten minutes. He glanced around the room where he had been escorted and left, in the same hangar as the rest of the passengers, and Walter Gordon, wherever he was. It was little more than an interrogation room, complete with two-way mirror dominating one wall… although, he reflected, at least the chair was comfortable.

Without warning, the single door clicked open. Roy looked up to see General Boulle and another officer enter the room. When Boulle saw Roy, he indicated the other officer. “Captain Grand, this is Major Cates.”

Major Cates extended his hand to Roy. “Sorry I’m late. Transportation is an iffy thing around here these days… even for us.”

“I understand,” Roy said, shaking his hand. As Cates and Boulle sat down on the other side of the table, Roy asked, “Has flying gotten any better since we left? Or is all of the atmosphere this bad still?”

“Most of it is pretty bad,” Cates told him. “A few areas of the atmo have managed to stay relatively clear of ash, depending on the jet stream currents or other local conditions, but it’s been two weeks. The ash has managed to circumvent the globe. Some cities haven’t seen sunlight since the eruption.”

“That is bad,” Roy agreed. “I live in Madison.”

“Wisconsin?” Cates shook his head. “Hope you don’t mind taking a train home.” He glanced at the General, then removed a handheld secretary from his jacket pocket. “Captain, we’re trying to get as much information as we can regarding Verdant’s disappearance, and we’d like to ask you some questions.”

“Go ahead,” Roy said.

Cates reviewed his secretary, taking out a stylus as he did so, then asked his first question. “Where were you when Verdant was about to leave Earth orbit?”

“First,” Roy said, “let me say that I only
think
I know when Verdant left Earth. I was in the
Makalu
—my freighter—back in the engine bays, because one of my guys had reported some worn engine components, and I was looking at those. I was worried that, if something happened, we might need to attempt to leave and de-orbit, which I didn’t want to do, because we weren’t fully fuelled at the time… but at the same time, we had offloaded our cargo, so we had an outside chance of pulling it off if we had to.

“Anyway, our engine bay is generally pretty loud. Some of my guys said they heard something in the bay they hadn’t heard before, but I didn’t hear it. We looked around to see if it was some new engine problem. When we came out later, everyone was running around saying Earth had changed. A lot of guys thought Yellowstone had erupted again, even worse than before, and Earth was being roasted or something. We all found out later we were looking at Mars. So sometime during my being on the
Makalu
, we made our jump.”

“Were you aware of any problems in Verdant command during these events?”

“Problems?”

Cates consulted his secretary. “Had you heard comments or rumors about command conflicts, changes of command, fights, mutinies, anything like that?”

“No, not really,” Roy replied. “I did hear someone say much later that CnC was as surprised as everyone else when we did the jump. But that was some mechanic in the bays, and I don’t know who they are or what they might really know for sure, so I can’t take that as gospel.”

Cates made a note on his secretary. “Had Verdant’s envelope or superstructure been compromised in any way? Had the satellite suffered any catastrophic damage?”

“Nothing that I know of,” Roy replied. “But everyone knew there were fighters outside, if that’s what you’re referring to… and that the other satellites had been attacked.”

Cates nodded. “Describe this ‘jump’ for us, Captain. Do you know how it works?”

“I don’t have a clue,” Roy stated honestly. “It’s supposed to involve deeper physics than anything I got in school.”

“Then how do you work it?”

“I don’t,” Roy replied. “Verdant’s engineers run it from the bay where it’s installed. The system is completely separate from a conventional drive system, and our guys have nothing to do with it. I just tell them when we’re in position, then they tell me when it’s over.”

Cates and Boulle exchanged veiled glances, before Cates asked, “What happens when you jump? What does it feel like?”

“You hear a noise,” Roy told them.

A few seconds ticked by. “A noise,” General Boulle finally prompted.

“A high-pitched whistle,” Roy went on. “The pitch gets higher and higher, until you can’t hear it anymore. Next thing you know, you’re somewhere else. You don’t see or feel a thing.”

Cates’ and Boulle’s glances were even less veiled this time. It was clear to them that they weren’t getting anything more out of Roy on the subject, so Cates consulted his secretary, and continued.

“All right: After the jump… again, any comments or rumors about command conflicts, changes of command, fights, mutinies, anything like that?”

“No.”

“So, as far as you know, this was all carried out by, or done with the approval of, Verdant’s command staff?”

“As far as I know, yes.”

“Do you know Doctor Jacqueline Silver?”

“I’ve met her,” Roy replied.

“Did she invent this jump drive?”

“They’re calling it the Verdant drive, just so you know,” Roy informed them casually. Cates noted that in his secretary. “I honestly don’t know who invented what. Dr. Silver is chief of the science department on Verdant, so she organized everything. I’d guess it was a team effort. But everyone seems to think she’s smart enough to have invented it all by herself.”

Cates nodded. “Does Dr. Silver strike you as a rational person?”

Roy looked at him with a puzzled expression. “You just asked me if she was smart enough to invent the Verdant drive!”

“I didn’t ask if she was
smart
,” Cates said. “I asked if you think she is a well-balanced person. Do you think she is capable of irresponsible, irrational acts?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Has she ever exhibited signs of paranoia, or spoke of feelings of persecution? Any hint of dementia?”

“I’ve only met the women recently, and I’ve hardly spoken to her,” Roy stated. “I’m the wrong person to ask.”

“Did you ever hear her speak negatively about the United States of America? Did she seem glad that America was having problems? Did she blame America for Verdant’s predicament?”

“Nothing I ever heard.”

“Did she ever voice a desire or preference for attacking the United States?”

“No.”

“Did you hear any of the Verdant command ever voice a desire or preference for attacking the United States?”

“No.”

“Did you ever hear Dr. Silver, or anyone within the Verdant command, discuss using the Verdant drive as a weapon?”

“Yeah, I thought that’s where you were going,” Roy commented, leaning back in his chair. “But
no
, I never heard anyone talk about using the drive as some kind of weapon. I mean… come on, guys! They’re not crazy! They want to come home, because they know they can’t stay in Mars orbit forever! Why would they do something to antagonize you guys back here? That’s why we brought the non-citizens back! It’s called a ‘show of good faith,’ you know?”

Cates considered Roy’s comment. “Captain, were you a regular attendee to Verdant CnC’s command meetings?”

“No.”

“Would you consider yourself a friend, lover or confidant of any of the CnC staff?”

Roy chuckled. “No.”

“Then,” Cates said, “you admit that you do not have any firsthand knowledge of the thoughts, plans or strategies discussed by the Verdant command?”

After a moment, Roy shook his head. “No. I’ve only discussed this one mission with Ceo Lenz. My job was to bring the citizens home, and take my cargo back. I can’t tell you anything else about CnC.”

Cates and Boulle exchanged glances again, and Cates nodded. “Captain Grand, do you consider yourself a patriot?”

Roy smiled then, a knowing smile that he shared with both men. “Major Cates, I consider myself a freighter Captain and a businessman. I fly for whoever pays me, I’ll carry any cargo that won’t get me in trouble, and I don’t care who I do it for. I was born in the United States, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m a citizen of the planet Earth, and an American only by a happenstance of birth.”