Thunderbird (23 page)

Thou, nature, art my goddess; to thy law

My services are bound.

—Shakespeare,
King Lear
, 1606

B
RAD
AND
A
PRIL
were in the Roundhouse, as were the media, when Walker arrived to see the space-station mission off. He wished them luck, spoke briefly with Jack Swiftfoot, the mission's security escort, then got back out of the way when Jennie Parker came in, followed by astronauts Melissa Sleeman and Boots Coleman.

The pressure suits were already laid out on one of the tables, along with a laser that Jack would use to get through the door that had blocked egress to the rest of the structure. Melissa did a brief introduction, explaining that they weighed about 110 pounds, so they would be bulky until the wearer got into a zero-gee environment.

“We've checked the radiation levels,” she said. “Since we don't know where this place is located, we didn't want to take any chances. But they're lower than they'd be if it was in Earth orbit. In fact, the level's only about half what we have. So there shouldn't be a problem.”

“They must have had life support,” said Jennie. “I wish we could get it up and running again.”

“Me, too,” said Melissa. “Eventually, it'll probably get done. But you'll be fine. The only thing you want to do is watch where you go and don't crash into anything. Don't play with anything that has a sharp edge.” Brad wasn't sure whether she was kidding.

They pulled the suits on, and Walker watched as Melissa and Boots made the connections for them, lower to upper torso, then added the gloves. Everything seemed to be a matter of just twist and lock. “It's simple enough,” Melissa said, “if you line it up. But you have to get it right, or you'll lose air.”

Jennie grinned. “Okay, I'm for that.”

They handed out communication rigs that looked like hats with wiring. “This is your ‘Snoopy cap.' It has a mike and earbuds and plugs into the comm unit
here
.” She connected it to the upper torso segment. “Put it on and say hello.”

Brad pulled his down around his head. “Hello.”

She nodded. “Good. Be careful about movement. The place
has
gravity, but it's only about a third of what you're used to. So be careful. Low gravity is a whole different environment from what you're used to. If you push something that doesn't give, it'll push back, and you'll go flying. So no sudden moves. Just keep everything low key, all right?”

“All right,” they said.

Andrea Hawk was standing just behind Brad. “You're really lucky, big guy. I wish I'd been able to persuade the chairman to send
me
on this mission. I could use a bigger audience, and I can't think of a better way to get one. Though I don't guess I'm telling
you
anything new, am I?”

“No,” Brad said. “I don't expect it'll hurt the ratings.”

“Okay.” Melissa took a stance in front of them. “Everybody hold out your helmet.” They complied, and she walked past them carrying a yellow canister, spraying the interior of each unit.

“What's that?” Brad asked.

“Reduces fogging.” She took his helmet and placed it over his shoulders, twisted, and locked it down. “Take a deep breath.” Her voice was coming in through the earbuds. “Everything okay?”

“It's good.”

She repeated the process with Jennie, April, and Jack. “It's pure oxygen,” she said when she'd finished. “The tanks are in the backpack. Your helmet has lamps if you need them.” She demonstrated.

The visor was tinted. But the suit was extremely awkward. Brad's hands were muffled in thick gloves, and everything else was layered in protective materials. “Hope I don't have to go anywhere in a hurry,” he said.

Melissa was all business. “So do I. The suit will remain stiff, Brad. Just sitting down can be a hassle, so whatever you decide to do, take your time.” She looked down at her notes, then at the four of them, checking to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. “Okay,” she said, “you're all set. Am I missing anything, Boots?”

“I think we're good.”

“Anybody have a question?”

“I think I've got it,” said Jennie. She and Brad were dressed and ready to go.

April and Jack were just getting their helmets on. Melissa and Boots watched until they were in place, then started getting into their own suits.

Brad looked around at the security crew. There were three of them, all signaling thumbs-up, good luck. Chairman Walker sat down at the desk and leaned over a mike. “Don't take any chances out there, people. Keep in mind, you've only got a six-hour air supply. Be back here in
five
hours. At the latest.” He stood.
“Tókhi wániphika ní.”

Jack's voice broke in: “He's saying
good luck
.”

•   •   •

J
ACK
WAS
SCHEDULED
to make the initial crossing. He picked up the laser and stepped onto the grid. Andrea activated the rings icon. Brad watched the light turn on and gradually fold around the Sioux escort. Then he was gone. A minute later, a notepad came back.

Boots and Jennie were next. Then Brad and Melissa. Brad was doing
what he did when he went to the dentist, or had a blood sample removed: He tried to think about the topics he'd try to emphasize during the next
Grand Forks Live
and the questions about the space station that he could expect from callers.
Was there any indication anyone other than you guys had been there recently? Could you see anything that suggested what the people who built the place looked like?
And somebody would ask whether there was any possibility the Arkons could have been responsible? (
Arkon
was now, at direct order, the official terminology.) As he tried to think of a clever response, the light enveloped him.

He was slow stepping down off the grid. The weight of the pressure suit went away, and he was back to normal.
Better
than normal. Had he been home, he could have jumped onto his rooftop.

“Careful,” said Melissa.

They were in a long, gently curving chamber filled with machines, illuminated by a magnetic lamp that Boots had attached to the wall. Additional light was provided by their helmets and wrist lights. There was a single room-length window on one side of the chamber and a cluster of windows on the other side. At first he thought they were only black panels. Then he realized the panels
were
windows but that everything out there was so dark it was easy to miss. Was absolutely without light. A sky with no stars.

April arrived next, completing the team.

Jack was already kneeling in front of the sealed hatch.

Jennie stood near the window. “Can't see a thing,” she said.

Melissa was staring. “That
is
a window, isn't it?”

“It
is
,” said April. “But it's an empty sky.”

“Where's the galaxy?” asked Boots.

“When the first missions came here, they all saw it. But as the station rotated it gradually slipped down out of the window.”

“Pity,” said Melissa. “I'd love to see it.”

Jennie pressed as close to the window as she could. “It certainly isn't out there anywhere.”

Jack activated the laser and began cutting.

Brad took a minute to examine the wall behind the grid. It had the stag's head, the rings, and five other icons, none of which duplicated those at the Roundhouse. Two were geometrical figures, both based on curving lines. There was also a backward E. Another resembled a flower, and the last one was a circle with an X in the center. April came over, told Brad to stay clear of the grid, and tested the icons. The geometrical figures were nonresponsive, but the backward E, the flower, and the X all lit up.

“It's called an existential quantification,” said Jennie.

“What is?” said Brad.

“The turned E.”

April's face suggested they had better things to talk about. “Let's just go with the backward E and pass on the explanation,”

Okay. Jennie turned on her wrist lamp and aimed it out the window. Brad did the same. Both shafts of light simply faded out. There was nothing whatever to see out there, like an overcast sky at midnight. And that didn't even describe it. With an overcast sky, you were at least aware of the clouds. This was simply a dark vacuum.

“All right,” said Jack, “it's working. It'll take a while, but we're getting through.”

•   •   •

T
HEY
REMOVED
THE
hatch and passed into a large room furnished with chairs and tables, and, against one wall, a set of control devices, though what they controlled Brad had no idea. “Nobody touch anything,” said Jack.

The furniture was small. Seats and tabletops were low. “These were designed for kids,” said Boots. The chairs were padded and looked comfortable. Boots put a hand on one of the seats and pushed. It was rock hard.

“Frozen,” said April.

Brad touched it, too. “Well, it obviously wasn't the Arkons who were using this place.”

The windows continued, the long one extending the length of the room on one wall and the clusters on the other. Jennie was looking outside, trying to find something. “Darkest thing I've ever seen.”

Brad didn't like the suit. “This thing is seriously awkward.”

Jennie would have been delighted to get rid of hers, too. “It's like walking around in an outfit made of brick.”

“I know,” said Melissa. “Sorry about that. It takes a little getting used to. But you wouldn't want to be traveling through here without it.”

There was another hatch. They were happy to see that this one was open. The windows continued but stayed dark. Jennie was getting frustrated. “What happened to the damned galaxy?”

A pair of ramps led to upper and lower levels.

“Jack is right,” said April. “Stay away from anything that looks like a switch or a button or whatever. There'll be a follow-up team later with a better idea than we have of what's going on. Let them do the experiments.” She was taking pictures while Jennie walked across to the far exit.

“Looks like a chow hall,” she said. “And the window keeps going.”

“Which way do we go from here?” Brad asked.

“Let's do the ramp. Try down,” said April. “Maybe we can find a ground floor somewhere.”

•   •   •

T
HEY
DESCENDED
THREE
levels through identical chambers. Each had a version of the long window. “That's enough,” said April. “I wonder how far down it goes?”

“It might go twenty floors,” said Jack. They got off the ramp and moved through another doorway. Chambers that had apparently been living quarters appeared. They were equipped with chairs and storage cabinets and probably pull-down beds though the team couldn't get any of them to work. The cabinets contained a few odd pieces of clothing, shirts and slacks. They found one pair of shoes. It was all on a scale that would have fit young teens.

Eventually, the passageway passed what appeared to be a theater. They aimed lights directly forward, across a floor filled with chairs. There was a stage at the far end. A dark curtain was drawn back on either side.

“What kind of shows,” Brad said, “do you think were performed here?”

“Maybe musicals?” said Melissa.

The stage was higher than Brad would have expected. “I wonder,” he said, “if one of the basic characteristics of an intelligent species will turn out to be an appreciation for music?”

April was beside him. “I have no—” She delivered an “
oops
” and grabbed his arm. He should have been okay, but his head started to spin, and they both went down.

Jack hurried over to help. “You guys okay?”

“Yes,” April said. “I'm—”

“Something's wrong,” said Jennie. “I feel dizzy.”

And Boots: “I keep trying to fall on my head.”

Melissa was playing her lamp across the dance floor. “It's tilted,” she said. “The floor slopes down.”

Light beams flashed in several directions.

Melissa took a few more steps across the room, walking parallel to the stage. “We're on top of a hill.” She swung her lamp around and pointed it at the rear doors, where they'd entered. “Look at it.” It was downhill all the way.

Jennie reached out to Boots and held on to him. “How could we not have noticed that when we came in here? I mean I was sure the floor was level when we came in the door.”

Boots started back, taking careful steps to avoid falling. “This isn't possible,” he said.

Jack was looking at the stage. “Why the hell,” he asked, “would they tilt the place? If you were sitting here watching a show, you'd be looking uphill all night.”

“Dancing would be fun, too,” said Melissa.

Jennie retreated into the passageway. Then she turned around. “What the hell? The place looks flat from here.”

They stared at her. “What do you mean?” said Jack.

“The floor's
flat
. Normal. No tilt at all.”

Brad could see that she was well below where he was standing. It wasn't a steep decline, maybe only ten or fifteen degrees. But you couldn't possibly miss it.

“Come on,” she said. “Look for yourselves.”

They trooped back. Brad felt the floor leveling out as they went. As if it was moving. By the time they crowded into the corridor, his stomach was giving him trouble. The angled floor was almost gone. He thought for a bad moment that he was going to throw up.

“Maybe,” said Jack, “we should get out of here.”

Jennie took a deep breath and walked carefully back into the theater. “I think I know what it is. The gravity's screwed up.”