2010 Odyssey Two

THE TRIAL Chapter 2: TSIEN Chapter 7 Tsien
When Heywood Floyd's voice came from the comset speaker, the two dolphins suddenly stopped circling around the pool and swam over to its edge. They placed their heads on the rim and stared intently at the source of the sound.

So they recognize Heywood, thought Caroline, with a twinge of bitterness: Yet Christopher, crawling around his playpen, did not even stop playing with the colour controls of his picture book as his father's voice came loud and clear across half a billion kilometres of space.

'... My dear, you won't be surprised to hear from me, a month ahead of schedule; you'll have known for weeks that we have company out here.

'I still find it hard to believe; in some ways, it doesn't even make sense. They can't possibly have enough fuel for a safe return to Earth; we don't even see how they can make the rendezvous.

'We never saw them, of course. Even at its closest, Tsien was more than fifty million kilometres away. They had plenty of time to answer our signals if they wanted to, but they ignored us completely. Now they'll be much too busy for friendly chat. In a few hours they'll hit Jupiter's atmosphere  -  and then we'll see how well their aerobraking system works. If it does its job, that will be good for our morale. But if it fails, well, let's not talk about that.

'The Russians are taking it remarkably well, all things considered. They're angry and disappointed, of course  -  but I've heard many expressions of frank admiration. It was certainly a brilliant trick, building that ship in full view and making everyone think it was a spacestation until they hitched on those boosters.

'Well, there's nothing we can do, except watch. And at our distance, we won't have a much better view than your best telescopes. I can't help wishing them luck, though of course I hope they leave Discovery alone. That's our property, and I bet the State Department's reminding them of it, every hour on the hour.

'It's an ill wind  -  if our Chinese friends hadn't jumped the gun on us, you wouldn't have heard from me for another month. But now that Dr Rudenko's woken me up, I'll be speaking to you every couple of days.

'After the initial shock, I'm settling down nicely -  getting to know the ship and its crew, finding my space legs. And polishing up my lousy Russian, though I don't have much chance of using it  -  everyone insists on speaking English.

What shocking linguists we Americans are! I sometimes feel ashamed of our chauvinism  -  or our laziness.

'The standard of on-board English ranges from absolutely perfect  -  Chief Engineer Sasha Kovalev could earn a living as a BBC announcer  -  down to the if-you-talk-fast-enough-it-doesn't-matter-how-many-mistakes-you-make variety. The only one who isn't fluent is Zenia Marchenko, who replaced Irma Yakunina at the last moment. Incidentally, I'm glad to hear that Irma made a good recovery  -  what a disappointment that must have been! I wonder if she's started hang-gliding again.

'And speaking of accidents, it's obvious that Zenia must also have had a very bad one. Though the plastic surgeons have done a remarkable job, you can tell that she must have been severely burned at some time. She's the baby of the crew and the others treat her with  -  I was going to say pity, but that's too condescending. Let's say with special kindness.

'Maybe you're wondering how I get on with Captain Tanya. Well, I like her very much  -  but I'd hate to make her angry. There's no doubt exactly who runs this ship.

'And Surgeon-Commander Rudenko  -  you met her at the Honolulu Aerospace Convention two years ago, and I'm sure you won't have forgotten that last party. You'll understand why we all call her Catherine the Great  -  behind her broad back, of course.

'But that's enough gossip. If I run overtime, I hate to think of the surcharge. And by the way, these personal calls are supposed to be completely private. But there are a lot of links in the communications chain, so don't be surprised if you occasionally get messages by  -  well, another route.

'I'll be waiting to hear from you  -  tell the girls I'll be speaking to them later. My love to you all  -  I miss you and Chris very badly. And when I get back, I promise I'll never leave again.'

There was a brief hissing pause, then an obviously synthetic voice said: 'This terminates Transmission Four Hundred Thirty-two Stroke Seven from Spacecraft Leonov.' As Caroline Floyd switched off the speaker, the two dolphins slid beneath the surface of the pool and glided out into the Pacific, leaving scarcely a ripple in the water.

When he realized that his friends were gone, Christopher began to cry. His mother picked him up in her arms and tried to comfort him, but it was a long time before she succeeded.