Let us enjoy this short while before we enter the gate."
Again he closed his eyes.
XXV
Today Ira Quick held off Toronto's winter by a recording, played on the giant viewscreen, of York Minster. It was not static but moved slowly around the delicate facades, soaring and intricate vaults, glowing windows of that loveliest of medieval churches. Tuned down to bare audibility, yet losing none of its might, a Gregorian chant gave background. The show was a reminder of what man, Earthbound and alone, had achieved: the heritage now menaced by inhumanness. It strengthened him in his resolution.
Simeon Ilyitch Makarov, premier of Great Russia, sat across from his desk. He had flown here incognito at Quick's urgent request. "You are the most powerful individual in our group," the North American had said, "and the two of us are the most determined. We're at a crisis point, I'm afraid; we have to confer and decide. I shouldn't be more specific over the phone, scrambler or no. And I can't come to you. All my present lines of communication center on this office."
Arrived, Makarov lit an atrocious cigarette, inhaled hard, and demanded in accented Spanish, "Well, what have you to report?" He was a stocky individual with a walrus mustache and thin gray hair, his garb unfashionable and rumpled, a survivor of combat in the civil wars which had sundered his country, his existence ever since consecrated to its eventual reunification.
"No knowledge you don't already possess. You're as well aware as I that Chinook is approaching the T machine, scheduled to arrive in about three hours. That's why I must stay put. Someone has to give new orders in case something unforeseen happens." Quick slapped his palm down. "Christ! Transmission time of more than twenty minutes!"
"Yes, our group agreed you are best positioned to take that responsibility. Why do you suddenly want me to share it?"
"You do in any case, Sr. Makarov." Quick frowned. "There is one new development, I hope unimportant. I learned about it while you were on your way. I've been kept personally informed about the San Geronimo Wheel. The fact that a pet research project of mine is supposed to be going on there is sufficient excuse. Troxell doesn't send any details by laser, of course, but he is supposed to beam a periodic `All's well' signal. It's overdue."
"That could be bad!"
"Or it could be plain carelessness. He's grown less than punctual; the isolation, the strain are getting to him and his men. I don't think I should send an immediate inquiry - too conspicuous, makes me look too concerned - right when Chinook demands my total care." Quick paused before he added weightily: "And yet analysis of radar data shows the ship used quite a peculiar, uneconomical boost pattern to get onto the path we required. It had her effectively in the radar shadow of the Wheel - given that astronomical distance, plus the electromagnetic shielding - for hours."
Makarov grunted as if struck. "Why did you not tell the rest of us at once?"
Quick sighed. "I only found out lately. Please understand, sir, we, I must proceed with caution. As is, too many people are involved. If I call for information on a top priority basis, they will speculate why. If I lay stress on a particular question, they will speculate further."
"Hunh! I've gotten things better organized in Great Russia."
"That's a major reason why you are so valuable, so critical to our effort," you barbarian tyrant.
"Precisely how much information has leaked, what kind, and to whom?"
Quick spread his hands. "Precisely' is an impossible requirement. I am, as I said, not dealing with a handful of disciplined men like yours, whose silence is guaranteed. I've done my best to keep you au courant, as well as I can follow events myself."
"Yes. I do, though, have many different matters claiming my attention. Suppose you summarize for me, whether or not you have already described a specific item."
Is he playing with me? Or is he, underneath a peasant shrewdness, basically a dullard? This isn't what I need him for today... I do need him. I must oblige. Maybe, several years hence- Quick arrayed the facts in his head and began:
"Our original group knows the full story, of course. That includes those subordinates we have co-opted." Among them were the entire crew of the watchship Lomonosov, most of them newly assigned, which had gone ahead to wait at the Phoebean T machine for Chinook to arrive. They were either veterans of Makarov's, who entered space service after the wars but remained devoted to their old leader, or else technically trained covert agents of his. Quick had had to admire how swiftly the premier arranged this when appealed to. The Astronautical Control Board had been grateful to have the arrangement made on its behalf, especially at such short notice. Now Bohr need not leave her station to escort the vessel of wanted men off to detention.
"I had the crew of the Dyson interviewed by a psychological team. The pretext, which the psychologists themselves bought, was trying to find out how spacemen react to peculiar occurrences. Apparently none of them suspect the truth, though they do wonder about the incident. No serious problem, I'd say." Dyson was the watchship at the Solar portal when Emissary returned to the Phoebean System. Quick almost wished he had a God to thank, that Tom Archer, captain of Faraday, guardian craft at the other end of the gate, was smart as well as loyal. He'd sent a pilot fish ahead, asking Dyson to come through and lend emergency assistance; then he shepherded Emissary in the opposite direction.
Finding no one at the Solar System exit, as he had hoped, he instantly led his captive off to a safe distance and got in touch with Quick. By the time Dyson returned, the minister had a message ready for the puzzled captain - apologies and all that, but it had suddenly proved necessary to transfer a certain load in secrecy, for it was not the kind of thing that extremist elements on Earth or Demeter ought to know about.
"Faraday is much more difficult, but I needn't repeat that, need I?" Archer and his mate were sworn to the cause, but it had not been feasible to hand-pick the rest of that crew. Those persons had inevitably rejoiced at the reappearance of Emissary and had made a fuss over leading her into quarantine not as a public health precaution but as if she were an enemy. After consultation with his masters, the captain told his men, in effect, "It turns out she may really have brought back something dangerous - maybe not, but the government wants to investigate thoroughly and cautiously, and meanwhile does not want public hysteria. So to make dead sure of preserving security, we're off to Hades on a scientific assignment." Fast and versatile, watchships often did serve as exploratory vessels; and the outermost world in the Phoebean System did have curious features about which the planetologists would like to know more. "Yes, this will keep you from the families and friends you expected to see before long, but orders are orders. They'll be reassured we're all right. And we'll collect fat pay for the extra duty, remember that." Faraday would not stay out there forever.
"Troxell and his agents may be a larger hazard still," Quick proceeded. "No matter how carefully we chose them, they've been exposed for weeks on end to some damnably persuasive prostellar arguments. If one or two of them should be converted, they could ruin us the same day they set foot back on Earth.
"Those are the obvious people to worry about. We have plenty of less obvious. They run the whole gamut from my assistant Chauveau or Zoe Palamas, for example, whom I've fed forebodings about incipient rebellion on Demeter, down to technicians in space stations who were asked to locate Chinook and transmit the command to her that she return home.
"Sir, the situation is precarious and worsening. I'm less and less able to stay on top of it by myself. I must have strong help. Of our whole group, you can best supply that."
Makarov stubbed his cigarette viciously before he sent it down the ashtaker and reached for another. "What would you have me do, this exact hour?" he growled.
Quick sighed. "If I knew that, sir, I probably wouldn't have had to call on you. The truth is, though, what will happen soon is unpredictable. If matters go wrong, I may well be unable to maintam secrecy alone. Nor was I ever used to doing so to this extent. Your advice, your connections, your action- Do you follow me?
"Suppose everything does proceed as we hope. Chinook comes to the T machine, obediently maintaining outercom silence. The regular watchship is Copernicus, the hastily dispatched special one is Alhazen. Crews of both have been warned that the travelers are wanted on Demeter on criminal charges and must be presumed dangerous. Additionally, Broussard of the European Confederacy has seen to it that the captain and gunner on Aihazen, though not privy to the facts, are men who can be depended on to obey his command to shoot when in any doubt; his national government will protect them afterward before the board of inquiry.
However, suppose Chinook passes through to Phoebus without incident. There Lomonosov waits to conduct her off. When remote from Bohr, Lomonosov sends a boarding party which secures the Demetrians, interrogates them, communicates with Governor Hancock, and waits for further instructions.
"We still won't know for a while exactly what the Brodersen gang has done or can still do. We may get a nasty surprise. For instance, they may have propagandized the Wheel. We had better be prepared to respond fast and decisively.
"For now, though, what if trouble comes in the next few hours, in any of a hundred unforeseeable ways? What then? I repeat, sir, events are moving too rapidly for us. We've had to improvise, we're overextended, our cover stories are full of gaping holes, too many people - from Hades to the Wheel and back - will shortly be asking too many questions. What shall we do?"
Makarov blew smoke. It stank. "That will depend on what the reality is," he said. "You are right, I had best keep vigil with you." After a moment he added: "The absolute reality is always death."
Quick sat straight. I half feared this. Did I also half wish for it?
"I don't quite understand," he faltered.
"Do they not have a proverb in English, `Dead men tell no tales'?"
Yes; and how many graves have your executioners filled, Makarov? Quick's mouth was turning cottony. He felt cold, though the office was well heated. "We have... our group has
discussed extreme measures, true. But strictly in case of dire need."
"You have been telling me the need has become dire - whether you know you have or not."
Quick clutched the arms of his chair. Attack! "Perhaps you should be more specific, sir."
Makaroy waved his cigarette. "Very well." His tone stayed matter-of-fact. "I have given thought to this, you realize, and have sounded out others in our team. If you were not included, no insult. Your actions, yes, your leadership demonstrate you are fundamentally a realist.
"We can have Chinook and her crew destroyed. We can send a trustworthy detachment to dispatch the personnel in the Wheel, including Troxell's.
"Faraday - I am not yet sure. We can have Lomonosov destroy her at Hades. Later we can explain these losses as a sad set of accidents, coincidentally happening in close succession. Well, there is no haste about Faraday. If possible, I prefer we spare her, since her crew is primed with hints of monsters from the stars.
"Ideally, we arrange the scene at the Wheel so it appears the monsters, who had enslaved the Emissary crew, took over the quarantine station as well. Yes, and when Brodersen arrived on his private investigation, they lured him to them, captured him and his men, departed in his ship for their planet. Fortunately, they betrayed themselves to the alert Lomonosov, which blew them to pieces."
Despite having entertained similar notions - as fantasies, as fantasies - Quick felt it incumbent on him to whisper, "Do you seriously imagine we could get the whole human race to swallow such a piece of sensationalism?"
"Enough of it, probably," Makarov said. "Nothing a government claims is too preposterous for most of its citizens.
"Bear in mind, I do not say this strategy is feasible. That we must find out. For example, will Stedman cooperate fully? His nerve may fail him when he imagines facing his God. If he or somebody else becomes unreliable, what can we best do about them? In any event, how do we explain and justify the fact that so many in the Council, in higher echelons everywhere, were not notified and consulted at once? What evidence can we manufacture, what particulars can clever men invent for us?
"The advantage of creating invaders from the stars is that we can then easily attain our objective, a guard at both T machines to wipe out any alien ships the instant they appear. Public opinion will support this, yes, require this, and an end to exploration. But we do risk failure and exposure.
