Ring Around the Sky - Allyn Gibson [7]
“Which doesn’t make Commander Gomez’s theory wrong,” said Faulwell, “or your own theory negates hers. It could have been a bit of both.”
“Or one facilitated the other,” said Tev. “Or neither may be correct.” He shrugged. “We haven’t the evidence to make a definitive conclusion.”
Faulwell stroked his chin, as if lost in thought. “Commander,” he said, “how long did it take the Tellarite colonists to work out how to use the elevator system?”
“Twenty years, if memory serves,” said Tev.
“You mean that this structure the Furies built fifty thousand years ago works without regular and ongoing maintenance?”
Tev nodded. “Essentially, yes.”
“One thing about Fury engineering,” said Gomez, “is that they build using ‘brute force’ principles. One hundred years ago the Rath wasn’t shielded; it had thick plate armor, instead.”
“Correct, Commander,” said Tev. “The elegance of the Kharzh’ullan solution to building a space elevator is that the structure is self-supporting and requires no outside assistance for its own maintenance. The Ring and the elevators were built to stand the test of time. Except for a single incident a few decades ago, the safety record of the elevators has been impeccable.”
“What happened?” asked Abramowitz.
“A passenger carrier coming from orbit down the elevator crashed into the base when the braking magnets failed to engage,” said Tev softly.
“Survivors?”
Tev shook his head wearily and looked downward. “None. Estimates placed the speed of impact at nearly two thousand kilometers per hour. Many of the bodies recovered were never positively identified.”
Abramowitz nodded when it became clear that Tev had nothing more to say on the matter.
“This mission sounds too simple, Commander,” said Stevens. “A vacation compared to some of our other missions.”
Gomez smiled. “We can’t go black-hole-diving on every mission, Fabian.” She paused. “The Kharzh’ullans want to use the S.C.E. as consultants on the rebuilding, to give them advice and point them in the right direction. If they have matters in hand, I can’t imagine this mission requiring any more than myself, Commander Tev, and Pattie for materials analysis.”
Around the conference table heads nodded.
Tev looked to Captain Gold. “Sir, what is our ETA to Kharzh’ulla IV?”
“About sixteen hours,” said Gold.
Gomez nodded. “Tev and I will meet with the planetary leaders, and then we’ll proceed from there as events develop.” She took a look at each of the faces around the conference room table. “Any further questions?”
Other than a few head shakes, there was no response.
Gomez smiled. “Very well, then. Dismissed.”
Chapter
3
Sonya Gomez caught her breath as the transporter effect dissolved around her, surprised at how light she felt. “Gravity, Tev?” she asked.
“Eighty-two percent of Earth normal, sixty-seven percent of Tellar’s gravity.”
Gomez nodded. The air seemed thinner, too. She knew Kharzh’ulla was a small world by Class-M standards and not especially massive, poor as its crust was in the heavier metals, but there was a world of difference between knowing that intellectually from reports and experiencing directly the effect of the planet’s lesser gravity upon her body.
She glanced around the entrance hall to the presidential palace. “I’d have thought there would be someone waiting for us,” she said, seeing that she and Tev were alone in the massive hall.
“Patience, Commander,” said Tev with a flare of his nostrils. Gomez smiled. Tev got annoyed at the slightest provocation, and there were times when she couldn’t resist baiting him.
The ceiling vaulted far above Gomez and Tev. White marble columns rose to support the roof, and a fresco depicting the Tellarite planetfall two hundred years before adorned the ceiling. Ringing