Part 41 (1/2)

After a moment she raised a hand, signaled one of them. The fellow called back to her. ”It looks like somebody went nuclear, ma'am.”

”Hm,” said Smith. Unnerby's display hadn't even flickered.

”It was very far away, probably over the North Sea. Here, I'll set up a slave window for you.”

”And for Sergeant Unnerby, please.”

”Yes, ma'am.” The Southmost report in front of Hrunkner suddenly was replaced by a map of the North Coast. Colored contours spread concentrically about point twelve hundred kilometers northeast of Paradise Island. Yes, the old Tiefer refueling depot, a useless chunk of seamount except when you wanted to project force across ice. That was was far away, almost the other side of the world from where they were right now. far away, almost the other side of the world from where they were right now.

”Just one blast?” said Smith.

”Yes, very high up. A pulse attack. . .except that it wasn't more than a megaton. We're building this map off satellites and ground a.n.a.lysis from the North Coast and Princeton.” Legends scattered across the picture, bibliographic pointers to the network sites that contributed to the a.n.a.lysis. Hah. There was even an eyewitness report from Paradise Island-an academic observatory, according to the code.

”What did we lose?”

”No military losses, ma'am. Two commercial satellites are offline, but that may be temporary. This was barely a jab.”

What then? A test? A warning? A test? A warning? Unnerby stared at the display. Unnerby stared at the display.

Jau Xin had been here less than a year before, but that had been on a six-man pinnace, sneaking in and out in less than a day. Today he managed the piloting of the Invisible Hand, Invisible Hand, a million tonnes of stars.h.i.+p. a million tonnes of stars.h.i.+p.

This was the true arrival of the conquerors-even if those conquerors were duped into thinking they were rescuers. Next to Jau, Ritser Brughel sat in what had once been a Peddler Captain's seat. The Podmaster spouted an unending stream of trivial orders-you'd think he was trying to manage the pilots himself. They'd come in over Arachna's north pole, skirting the atmosphere, decelerating in a single strong burn, nearly a thousand seconds at better than one gee. The decel had been over open ocean, far from Spider population centers, but it must have been enormously bright to those few who saw it. Jau could see the glow reflected in the ice and snow below.

Brughel watched the icy waste rolling out before them. His features were pursed with some intense feeling. Disgust, to see so much that looked totally worthless? Triumph, to arrive on the world that he would co-rule? Probably both. And here on the bridge, both triumph and violent intent leaked into his tone, sometimes even his words. Tomas Nau might have to keep the fraud going back on L1, but here Ritser Brughel was shedding his restraint. Jau had seen the corridors that led to Brughel's private quarters. The walls were a constant swirl of pink, sensuous in a heavy, threatening way. No staff meetings were held down those corridors. On the way from L1, he heard Brughel brag to Podcorporal Anlang about the special treat he would bring out of the freezer to celebrate the coming victory. No,don't think on it. You know too much already. No,don't think on it. You know too much already.

The voices of Xin's pilots spoke in his ear, confirming what he already saw on his tracking display. He looked up at Brughel and spoke with the formality the other seemed to like. ”The burn is complete, sir. We're in polar orbit, alt.i.tude one hundred fifty kilometers.” Any lower and they would need snowshoes.

”We were visible across thousands of kilometers, sir.” Xin matched his words with a concerned look. He'd been playing naive idiot on the trip down from L1. It was a dangerous game, but so far it had given him some leeway. And maybe, maybe there is some way I can avoid ma.s.s murder. And maybe, maybe there is some way I can avoid ma.s.s murder.

Brughel grinned back smug superiority. ”Of course we were seen, Mr. Xin. The trick is to let them see-and then corrupt how they interpret the information.” He opened the comm channel to the Hand' Hand' s ziphead deck. ”Mr. Phuong! Have you cloaked our arrival?” s ziphead deck. ”Mr. Phuong! Have you cloaked our arrival?”

Bil Phuong's voice came back from the Hand' Hand' s ziphead hold. The place had been a madhouse the last time Jau looked, but Phuong sounded cool: ”We're on top of the situation, Podmaster. I've got three teams synthesizing satellite reports. L1 tells me they look good.” That would be Rita's team talking to Bil. She should be going off duty any moment now, for what Nau would probably claim was a rest break before the heavy work. Jau had known for a day that that ”lull” was when the killing would begin. s ziphead hold. The place had been a madhouse the last time Jau looked, but Phuong sounded cool: ”We're on top of the situation, Podmaster. I've got three teams synthesizing satellite reports. L1 tells me they look good.” That would be Rita's team talking to Bil. She should be going off duty any moment now, for what Nau would probably claim was a rest break before the heavy work. Jau had known for a day that that ”lull” was when the killing would begin.

Phuong continued, ”I must warn you, sir. Eventually the Spiders will sort things out. Our disguise won't last for more than a hundred Ksec, less if someone down there is clever.”

”Thank you, Mr. Phuong. That should be more than enough.” Brughel smiled blandly at Jau.

Part of their horizon-spanning view disappeared, replaced by Tomas Nau back on L1. The senior Podmaster was sitting with Ezr Vinh and Pham Trinli in the lodge in Lake Park. Sunlight sparkled on the water behind them. This would be a public two-way conversation, visible to all the Followers and Qeng Ho. Nau looked out across the Hand' Hand' s bridge and his gaze seemed to find Ritser Brughel. s bridge and his gaze seemed to find Ritser Brughel.

”Congratulations, Ritser. You are well placed. Rita tells me you have already achieved a close synch with the ground nets. We have some good news of our own. The Accord Intelligence chief is visiting Southmost. Her opposite number in the Kindred is already there. Short of accidents, things should be peaceful for a while more.”

Nau sounded so sincere and well-meaning. The amazing thing was that Ritser Brughel was almost as smooth: ”Yes, sir. I'm setting up for the announcement and network takeover in-” He paused, as if checking his schedule. ”-in fifty-one Ksec.”

Of course, Nau didn't reply immediately. The signal from the Hand Hand had to be bounced out of radio shadow to a relay and then across five light-seconds of s.p.a.ce to L1. Any reply would take at least another five seconds coming the other way. had to be bounced out of radio shadow to a relay and then across five light-seconds of s.p.a.ce to L1. Any reply would take at least another five seconds coming the other way.

Sharp on ten seconds, Nau smiled. ”Excellent. We'll set the pacing here so everybody will be fresh when the workload spikes. Good luck to all of you down there, Ritser. We're depending on you.”

There were a couple more rounds in their dance of deception; then Nau was gone. Brughel confirmed that all comm was local. ”The go codes should come down any time, Mr. Phuong.” Brughel grinned. ”Another twenty Ksec, and we fry some Spiders.”

Shepry Tripper gaped at the radar display. ”It's-it's just like you said. Eighty-eight minutes, and there it is coming out of the north again!”

Shepry knew plenty of math and had worked for Nethering almost a year. He certainly understood the principles of satellite flight. But like most people, he still boggled at the notion of ”a rock that gets thrown up and never comes down.” The cobblie would chortle delight when some comsat came trucking over the horizon at the time and azimuth that the math had predicted.

What Nethering had done tonight was a prediction of a different order, and he was just as awed as his a.s.sistant-and a whole lot more frightened. They had had only two or three clear radar bearings on the narrow end of the aurora. The thing had been decelerating even though it was well outside of the atmosphere. The Air Defense site at Princeton had not been impressed by his report. Nethering had a long-term relations.h.i.+p with those people, but tonight they treated him like a stranger, their autoresponse thanking him for his information and a.s.suring that the matter was being taken care of. The world network was full of rumors of a high-alt.i.tude nuke. But this had been no bomb. Departing southward, it had appeared to be in low orbit. . .and now it was coming back from the north, right on schedule.

”Do you think we'll be able to see it this time, sir? It's gonna pa.s.s almost right over us.”

”I don't know. We don't have any scope that can slew fast enough to track it overhead.” He started back toward the stairs. ”Maybe we could use the ten-inch.”

”Yeah!” Shepry raced around him- ”b.u.t.ton your breather! Watch the power cords!”

-and was out of sight, banging up the stairs.

But the little cobblie was right! There were fewer than two minutes until the object was directly overhead, then a couple more before it was gone again. Huh. Maybe not even time for the scope. Nethering paused, grabbed a widefield 4-ocular from his desk. Then he was running up the stairs after Tripper.

Topside, there was a faint breeze, a cold that bit like tarant fangs, even through his electric leggings. The sun would rise in about seventy minutes; dim though its light was, the best part of his observing time would be gone. For once it just didn't matter. Serendipity was up from the good cold earth this night.

There was at most a minute until the mystery came overhead. It should be well above the horizon now, gliding southward toward them. Nethering moved around the curved wall of the main dome, and stared into the north. From the equipment closet ahead of him, he heard Shepry struggling with the ten-inch, the little scope they showed the tourists. He should be helping the child, but there was really no time.

Familiar starfields extended crystal clear down to the horizon. That clarity was, for Obret Nethering, what made this little island truly paradise. There should be a fleck of reflected sunlight rising slowly across the sky. It would be very faint; the dead sun was such a pale thing. Nethering stared and stared, straining for the slightest motion-triggered gleam.. . .Nothing. Maybe he should have stuck with the radar, maybe right now they were missing their one chance to get really good data. Shepry had the ten-inch out of the closet now. He was struggling to get it aligned. ”Help me, sir!”

They both had guessed wrong. Serendipity might be an angel, but she was a fickle one. Obret turned back to Shepry, a little ashamed for ignoring him. Of course, he was still watching the sky, the swath just short of the zenith where there should be a tiny speck of light. A bite of blackness flickered across the glowing pile of the Robber's Cl.u.s.ter. A bite of blackness. Something. . .huge.

All dignity forgotten, Nethering fell on his side, brought the 4-ocular up to his lesser eyes. But tonight it was all he had.. . .He turned slowly, tracking along his guess at a sky-path, praying he could recapture his target.

”Sir? What is it?”

”Shepry, look up. . .just look up.”

The cobblie was silent for a second. ”Oh!”

Obret Nethering wasn't listening. He had the thing thing in the 4-ocs field and all his attention was on keeping up with it, on seeing and remembering. And what he saw was an absence of light, a silhouette that raced across the galactic swath of star clouds. It was almost a quarter of a degree across. In the gap between star clouds it was invisible again. . .and then he saw it for another second. Nethering almost had a sense of the shape of it: a squat cylinder, downward-pointing, with a hint of complexity sticking out amids.h.i.+ps. in the 4-ocs field and all his attention was on keeping up with it, on seeing and remembering. And what he saw was an absence of light, a silhouette that raced across the galactic swath of star clouds. It was almost a quarter of a degree across. In the gap between star clouds it was invisible again. . .and then he saw it for another second. Nethering almost had a sense of the shape of it: a squat cylinder, downward-pointing, with a hint of complexity sticking out amids.h.i.+ps.

Amids.h.i.+ps.

The rest of its track crossed lonely starfields down to the southern horizon. Nethering tried in vain to follow it all the way. If it hadn't been for its crossing the Robber's Cl.u.s.ter, he might not have latched on to it at all. Thank you, Serendipity! Thank you, Serendipity!

He lowered the 4-ocs and stood. ”We'll keep watch a few more minutes.” What other junk might be flying along with the thing?