Authors: Albert Ball
Lincoln was the only passenger so there was no delay in lifting off and he was soon in freefall
,
circling the moon at an altitude of one hundred kilometres. He had never mastered the art of graceful movement when weightless so when the time came to transfer to the large vessel he gratefully accepted a friendly hand from the pilot. He was gently assisted towards the stability rail in the airlock.
"Easy does it doc
,"
said the pilot cheerfully. Lincoln thanked him and clasped the rail.
Two minutes later when the transfer procedure was complete he pulled himself aboard the 'Selenian Princess', a large mixed traffic liner owned and operated by the Gagarin Spaceflight Corporation
A flight attendant was waiting for him. A pleasant girl in her early twenties Lincoln guessed. She was dressed in the company's blue one piece uniform which retained a surprising degree of femininity in an essentially functional garment.
"Good day Sir. Welcome aboard. May I please check your identification?"
Lincoln pressed his palm against the portable scanner then answered a few standard questions about his health and reasons for travel. The formalities over
,
he followed clumsily behind the girl towards his cabin.
"We shall break orbit in thirty minutes and tran
sit time to earth will be sixty-
one hours. Please observe all safety precautions
,"
she intoned routinely.
"Thirty minutes!
" exclaimed Lincoln, "l
ast time I made the trip I was aboard
nearly
a week before departure. I must be the last passenger to board."
"This is a special flight Doctor Lincoln. Our departure was scheduled for four day's time but has been advanced by
special request
of the WSA."
Lincoln was taken aback. "Do you mean to say that the flight has been advanced because of me?"
The girl laughed at his reaction. "You are more important than you think doctor. If you need anything just press the button over your head." And with that she went out, leaving a bewildered man who had suffered more perplexity in the last few hours than he had expected in a lifetime. Things were moving altogether too fast for a plodding astronomer.
Inevitably his mind began to turn over this new information. This was one of the new Pisces class vessels with a crew of forty
,
a passenger capacity of five hundred
and a very large cargo hold
. To depart from a scheduled run would cost a large fortune. The effect on the intended passengers would be enormous. Several hundred people, tourists, scientists, technologists and business people would expect transport in four day's time but would be seriously delayed. The return journey would be similarly offset. In fact it could take well over a month for the repercussions to iron themselves out. George Dent wanted to see him urgently and this was the quickest way of achieving that end.
Lincoln felt much too insignificant for this treatment. He could not conceive of anything that he could do or say that would justify such expenditure or inconvenience.
D
espondency settled over his mind. He was being vastly overestimated, he didn't know what Dent wanted of him but he would be sure to fall short of the great man's wishes.
Further thought was interrupted by the cabin speaker bursting into life.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking. It is now fifteen minutes to break of orbit and you should clip yourselves securely into the harness provided. Instructions will be found on the cabin door. If any difficulty or discomfort is experienced please call for assistance."
Lincoln looked round for the harness. In his cabin it was attached to the ceiling, or what he would have called the ceiling had gravity operated in the direction that seemed normal. The harnesses were in different relative positions in the different cabins, the arrangement being so that the force of acceleration would push the occupant's back against the bulkhead. For normal manoeuvres the force generated was not severe and the acceleration was deliberately increased slowly so that anyone not strapped in would come to no harm. But if an emergency
arose
that resulted in excessive acceleration then an unsecured person could suffer serious injury.
The precautions were duly observed and Lincoln waited.
A few
minutes later the flight attendant looked in to check his harness. Another f
ew
and the Captain announced the impending departure.
"Ladies and gentlemen, break of orbit will commence at the end of this announcement. Acceleration will build up to a maximum of point one gee and will be sustained for just over fifteen minutes. If any discomfort or distress is felt please call for assistance. Do not leave your position during the manoeuvre. Thank you."
Lincoln felt better during the period of acceleration. The steady pull gave an illusion of security. Afterwards he settled in the aft observation lounge and watched the moon slowly recede into the blackness of space. She presented a beautiful sight, but Lincoln knew that her beauty was cold and hard. The moon was
a
desolate
world
, devoid of welcome or comfort. He was not sorry to leave. At best the moon provided
only a temporary place to work. H
e could never regard it as home.
The journey passed without event as the vast majority of spaceflights did. He contacted
Mendeleev
twice for news but no further developments were reported. He called his wife once and was tempted to call George Dent but decided against it.
Earth orbit was reached after the predicted time and the transfer to the earth ferry made with routine efficiency. Only one ferry was needed for the forty
-
three passengers and Lincoln's feet were back on Mother Earth only two days and seventeen hours after Dent's call.
"Dad, Dad
,"
two voices chorused. William and David had spotted their father as soon as he arrived at the gate. They scampered across the concourse and all but knocked him down in their eagerness to greet him.
"Steady on, careful now," h
e called out laughing, "o
ne gee takes a bit of getting used to."
Arthur Lincoln
,
family man again
,
clasped his sons to him and felt the familiar old lump in his throat. His wife Emma was only a few seconds behind and there were tears in her eyes. The sight of her brought tears to Lincoln's own eyes and neither was able to speak for a time. They hugged and laughed and cried all at once.
"I didn't expect you to meet me here but I'm glad you did
,"
he said when some of his composure had been regained. "When did you leave Scotland?"
"Yesterday, our flight was arranged by the WSA. I haven't had time to absorb all the details yet, everything has happened so fast. I only found out about the arrangements after your call so I couldn't let you know. A gentleman from the WSA drove over with
us;
he's waiting to meet you."
Lincoln looked in the direction indicated by his wife's eyes. A quiet unobtrusive man dressed in a dark grey suit was waiting patiently, smiling kindly at the reunion and standing only a dozen metres away. Lincoln had not noticed him at all until that moment. The man realised that he was now included in the group and walked over.
"Nice to see you again Arthur
,"
he greeted cheerfully, extending a hand in welcome. "Hope you had a pleasant journey."
George Dent in
person. This was just like him,
a simple greeting as if the two had been close friends for years. Lincoln had only met him once before, and that had been five years ago when he had acc
epted the position of second-in-
command at
Mendeleev
Observatory under the Director, Don Higham. Don's time was largely taken up with duties on earth so Lincoln was effectively head of the base. He had been unsure of the meeting beforehand but soon realised he had no reason to fear this man. His open objective manner soon put Lincoln at his ease and the two had chatted over plans and possibilities for some considerable time. Dent's enthusiasm was infectious. Lincoln had left his company fired with a determination that he had retained ever since.
"George," gasped Lincoln, remembering an earlier rebuke for referring to him as 'Mr Dent', "I didn't expect to see you here in person, yes, thanks, the trip was fine."
"I must apologise for all the rush, and I know you would like some time with your family
,
but we must discuss our immediate plans right away. There is a conference room available in the terminal. I have arranged for several people to meet us there. Shall we go?" And turning to Lincoln's wife added
,
"I'm afraid I have to steal your husband for a while Mrs Lincoln, I'll try not to take up too much time. My driver will take you over to see the research labs. I'm sure the boys will enjoy a tour and
as a
historian I think you'll find our background and early development fascinating
.
"
A kiss for his wife, a hug for his boys and Lincoln was off again. He looked round to see his family disappearing into the sunshine, Dent's driver carrying Lincoln's bag and already being swamped with questions from the two boys about the surprise visit.
For a relatively small man George Dent could walk surprisingly quickly. Lincoln could keep up but found it difficult to hold a conversation at the same time.
"The flight rearrangements have caused
uproar
,"
said Dent with a wry smile. "I'm already in trouble with two governments over bringing forward the departure time and the passengers that managed to get aboard are unhappy about having the only ferry land in Queensland."
"I must confess that I don't see how my presence here can possibly be worth such expense or trouble." Lincoln felt the need to prepare him for the inevitable disappointment.
"You'll see, you'll see
,"
was all Dent would say in reply. "I've arranged a meeting with Freda Withers, Ranjit Khan, Philippe Heymann, Margaret Trip and Kumar Elango. I think you know them all don't you?"
"I know them by reputation but I've only met Mr Khan." The level of this meeting was only just beginning to dawn on Lincoln. Freda Withers was Chief Consultant to the United States Department of Communications; Ranjit Khan was Dent's second
-
in
-
command and a leading astropsychologist; Kumar Elango was a retired general and now senior military adviser to the Indian government; Philippe Heymann was Chief Arbiter at the International Conciliation Council and Margaret Trip was Science Editor of a prominent news agency.
"If we seven can reach agreement on the way to deal with this contact then we can sway world reaction. There'll be plenty of pressure groups trying to whip up support for panic measures and feeding on fear when the main communications start. You are the world's most competent xenothologist. You have written more sensible papers on the subject of human-alien
communication
than anyone except Hon Chow Kwan and he's dead."
"But this co
ntact is not the sort envisaged. M
y work is in the field of
communication
with aliens in the absence of any common ground. These aliens already know our primary language and probably all about us, so ninety
-
nine percent of my work is useless."
Dent remained unperturbed. "Maybe so, but your one percent is more than anyone else can offer and your opinion will be respected."
The plan was beginning to clear a little in Lincoln's mind. He was beginning to suspect that his own presence was not particularly important in itself. Perhaps it was necessary only to convince the world of his importance. To make a great show of
bringing him down from the moon
,
the greater the cost and trouble the better
,
so that his value was unlikely to be questioned. He looked across at Dent striding along confidently and smiled to himself. Perhaps he might not disappoint the cunning old fox after all.
Perhaps he might even exceed his expectations.
4
O
ne
G
igahertz
Geoff North stroked his chin pensively.
"Everything OK
?"
e
nquired Sergio.
"I don't know. Try to find Jean for me would you? I'd like her to check these figures."
Sergio left the control room feeling a little annoyed. It wasn't his job to act as messenger boy but as the newest arrival and youngest member of the team he frequently found himself in this role. It was Dag Fransson's shift at the
communication
console and he looked up on hearing Sergio's question.