Infinity Beach - Jack McDevitt [136]
“It’s because of the time differential in hyperflight,” he said. “We never know quite where we’ll materialize. So we want to be well away from Greenway.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Check your harness.”
She could hear power gathering in the jump engines. Solly activated the external sensors and telescopes. She sat back, but kept an eye on the hypercomm lamps.
As they clicked down to one minute, Solly sighed. “You really expect something to happen, don’t you?”
“I think something just did,” she said. “In any case, to answer your question: Yes, I think we should contact Matt as soon as we’re able. I want to tell him what’s going on.”
“So what are you going to say? That you think there’s something on board that shouldn’t be here?”
“That’s right.”
He grew somber. “If you do that, we may not get home anytime within the foreseeable future. You’ll scare them out of their socks, and we’ll spend the next few years on old Hammersmith.”
“I don’t know what else to do, Solly,” she said.
The clock ran down to zero and he pressed the key.
A wave of vertigo passed behind her eyes. But she tried to control her breathing and think of other things. Like how good it had been with Solly, despite the problems. Like the fact that Emily’s body was downstairs and somebody was going to pay up for that.
The sensation passed quickly and the windows lit up with familiar constellations. Greenway and its moons appeared on one of the auxiliary screens.
“Transition complete,” he said.
Kim nodded and kept her eyes on the hypercomm lamps.
Solly opened a channel to Sky Harbor. “This is Hammersmith. Approaching on manual. Computer out. Request assistance.”
While they waited for the signal to reach Greenway, and for the controllers to respond, Solly looked over his instruments. “Everything seems normal,” he said.
Kim couldn’t sort her feelings out. She wanted the problem to go away, wanted to get home with her discovery, wanted to enjoy her accomplishment. But she also wanted to be proved right, for Solly to see that the apparition had substance. Maybe she wanted to demonstrate that to herself as well. She wanted an apology from somebody.
“Hammersmith, this is Sky Harbor.” A female voice. “We’ve been expecting you. Patrol will escort you in.” They gave Solly a course and speed.
“That doesn’t sound good,” he said.
He brought the ship around to the prescribed heading and fired the mains. A blip appeared on the long-range navigation screen. “That’ll be our escort,” he said.
“How far are they?”
“Several hours.”
Something caught Kim’s attention. A movement, a shift in the light. She looked around the pilot’s room. Nothing seemed changed.
“Problem?” Solly asked.
“Don’t know.” She reached over and touched the hypercomm lamps. They were warm. “I think they’re out again,” she said.
He frowned and tried them for himself. And then scowled. He removed the orange lamp and held it up to his eyes. “They sure are.”
“Is there any other way to know whether we’re transmitting?”
“Yes.” He punched a button. “Patrol, Hammersmith. Do you read?”
“Hammersmith, this is Patrol one-one. Affirmative. Do you require assistance?” Male voice this time, Bondolay accent. Lots of r’s.
“Are we showing a hypercomm transmission?”
“Wait one.” He sounded as if he were being patient. Kim wiped her mouth while she waited for the response, which seemed to take an interminably long time. Then the voice was back: “Hammersmith,” he said, “that is affirmative.” He sounded puzzled. How could Hammersmith be transmitting and the pilot not know? “Is there a problem?”
“Computer is down,” Solly said, climbing out of his chair. “And we’re having some other minor malfunctions.” He signed off and left the pilot’s room in a dead run. Minutes later he was back, his face pale. “You were right, Kim,” he said. “There is something in the works and the son of a bitch is trying to talk to the folks at home.”
“The first thing it’ll do,” she said, “is tell them where Greenway is. Turn off the transmitter.”
“I