The Darwin Elevator

Chapter Twenty-seven

Anchor Station

7.FEB.2283

Tania waited anxiously at the desk in her room.

Her terminal displayed a detailed image of the object now approaching Earth. The high-resolution picture, taken the previous night by the main telescope, left no doubt as to what it was.

Ten minutes after she had first contacted Neil’s secretary, he finally picked up the communicator on the other end.

“Sorry,” he said between gasps, “didn’t want to take it on the station. Too many of Warthen’s goons around. I jogged all the way to my climber.”

“That’s okay,” Tania said. “Are you alone then?”

“As much as I can be. Let’s have it. There’s nothing coming, is there? All of this has been for naught?”

She hesitated, tripped by the uncharacteristic pessimism in his voice.

“I knew it,” he said. “The Aura failing, that’s the next event. Goddamn—”

“There’s another shell ship coming,” she said.

Neil missed a beat. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Tania said. “Exactly like the one we have here at Anchor, as far as I can tell.”

A long silence followed. “Is it headed for Darwin?”

“Impossible to know,” Tania said. “We need more time.”

After a few more seconds, he said, “Well, what do we know?”

“It’s rather close,” she said. “Natalie is trying to re-task the telescope for another shot tonight, which will tell us how fast it is moving, but not its rate of deceleration.”

“How long will that take to work out?”

Tania thought about it. “Three or four days, I think.”

“Why so long?” Neil asked.

“We’re sharing telescope time up here. The others are going to get suspicious if we keep changing the tasking program.”

“Who else is using the scope?”

“Greg,” she said. “Greg and Marcus.”

“I’ll send them a note,” he said. “Something suitably cryptic, telling them that their project is on hold and to give you full run of the thing.”

His ability to take such monumental news and immediately turn to practical issues amazed her. “I thought you’d be more excited,” she said.

A weary sigh came through the earpiece. “I’d convinced myself that the failing Aura was our next Builder event. Hell, it might still be.”

His tone confused her. Every time they talked it was like he’d already accepted that the Builders would keep returning, in some endless series. She reminded herself whom she was speaking to. Neil had a laser focus on the future, on opportunities and consequences. He wasn’t one to let events simply happen, to relish in the act of discovery.

“Things are not going well down here,” he went on. “The council is about ready to cave to Russell Blackfield’s demands. We’re going to have to act swiftly, before he gets a toehold.”

Tania felt her heart beat faster at the mention of Blackfield. A vision flashed in her mind, of Anchor Station crossed with the quarantine room at Nightcliff. She clutched the zipper on her jumpsuit and pulled it all the way up.

“Things are going to happen very quickly, Tania. We need to be ready.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, dear.”

Tania swallowed, and closed her eyes. “Did you know about the data in Toyama, before I asked for it?”

“Pardon me?” he said. “Of course not. What’s this about?”

“But you’d been to the telescope.”

“I don’t think so—”

“I saw a picture,” she said. “You and my father, standing in front of it.”

“Perhaps you’re mistaken?” he said. “Or, who knows … your father and I funded dozens of science facilities in our heyday. It may have slipped my mind.”

Tania could hear the lie in his voice. A subtle change in tone, something that took a lifetime of friendship to detect. “Perhaps so,” she said, staring at the picture in front of her. The time did not seem right to confront him. He might have simply forgotten.

“If it makes you feel better,” he said, “I can check our records.”

“No, forget it,” she said.

“Stay focused, dear.”

“I’d feel better if I knew the plan.”

“You will,” he said, “when it’s safe to tell you. But the critical piece of the puzzle is that ship. The what, when, and where.”

“I promise you’ll know as soon as I do,” she said.

“Good. And Tania?”

“Yes?”

“Watch yourself. Warthen tried to spook the council with talk of ‘secret research.’ Don’t forget he still runs the security staff there.”

“We’re being careful,” Tania replied. It almost sounded true.