“It looks unlikely.”
“Okay. Clear something up for me, if you will. This propulsion method, the Locarno: Its power source, I take it, is different from the Hazeltine.”
“I’m sorry, Darwin. I’m really worn-out. This has been a long few days.”
“Doctor, I can imagine how difficult it must be to come by another starship to test your system. If you’d be kind enough to answer my question, I might be able to make a suggestion.”
He was tempted simply to say good night, but something in Darwin’s manner implied it might be a good idea to continue. “The Hazeltine is powered by the main engines,” he said. “You know that, I’m sure. The Locarno carries its own power pack. It has to, because the power flow has to be carefully modulated. You need a rhythm. Trying to control the power flow from a starship’s engines simply isn’t practical.”
“So you really don’t need a set of engines?”
“Only to charge the power pack.”
“Can’t that be done in advance?”
“Sure. But it goes flat with each jump.”
“All right. But you don’t need a starship’s engines, right?”
From the mouths of real estate dealers. “No,” he said. “Actually, we don’t.”
“Okay.” Darwin allowed himself a smile. “Why did you use a starship in your test? Why didn’t you try a shuttle? Or a lander? Something a little cheaper?”
Jon had no answer. Using a different kind of vehicle had never occurred to him. Jumps were always made by starships. Not by landers. But he saw no reason they couldn’t have done it that way. “You’re right,” he said. “That probably would have been a better idea.”
“Okay,” said Darwin. “So all you need for the next test is a lander.”
Or for that matter, a taxicab. Well, maybe not. They’d need something that could navigate a little bit. “Thank you, Mr. Darwin. You may be on to something.” Even a lander, though, would not come cheap.
“I might be able to supply one, Doctor.”
“A lander? You could do that? Really?”
“Maybe. Are you interested?”
“How much would you want for it?”
Darwin’s face clouded with disapproval. “You have an ultimate drive, and you can’t spring for a lander?”
Jon laughed. “Probably not at the moment.”
“Let me look into it. I’ll get back to you.”
“Matt,” said Julie, “that’s goofy.” They were sitting in Cleary’s, over lunch, while a soft rain pattered against the windows. “They won’t do it.”
“How do you know?”
“Look, it’s a great idea. But they’re a school board. They aren’t usually tuned to great ideas.”
“What can we lose by asking them?”
“Oh,” she said, “by all means, ask them. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t. But I’d hate to see this guy blow up our lander. And the board is going to feel the same way.”
“Maybe I can give them a reason to take the chance.”
“I hope you can. But I can tell you they won’t be happy.” She was eating roast beef on rye, with a side of potato salad. She took another bite and chewed it down. “Six thousand physicists can’t be wrong,” she said. “That’ll be their position.”
“Julie, you know most of the people on the school board.”
“Yes, but I don’t have any influence over them. They don’t take teachers very seriously.”
“You don’t think there’s a chance they’d go along?”
She lifted her iced tea and jiggled the cubes. “What you’d have to do is persuade them they’d get something out of it. They’re politicians, Matt. Maybe you could tell them what it would mean to their careers if they took a chance with the lander, and it worked. Next step—”
“The governor’s house. Beautiful. I like that.”
She grinned and took another bite out of the sandwich. “I’ll be there to watch the show.”
“Julie,” he said, “how long has the school system had the lander?”
“Six years. No, wait, I think it’s more like five. It was my second year here when they got it.”
“All right,” he said. “Thanks. You have any idea what kind of shape it’s in?”
“Not very good, I wouldn’t think. I mean, there’s no maintenance program. It’s just been sitting on the lawn, getting rained on.” Her eyes sparkled, and he read the message: You’d just love to get back out there, wouldn’t you?
“Can you arrange to open it up for me? Let me take a look at it?”
PENGUINS MAKING COMEBACK
Off Endangered Species List After Half Century
CAN MACHINES HAVE SOULS?
AI at St. Luke’s Requests Baptism Congregation Splits Down the Middle
INTELLIGENCE A LEARNED TRAIT?
New Study: Anybody Can Be a Genius
WINFIELD TELESCOPE TO BECOME OPERATIONAL TOMORROW
Expected to Provide First Glimpses of Extragalactic Planets
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER TO BE NATIONAL MONUMENT
Eight-Year Reclamation Effort Planned Shuttles, Capsules, Rockets to Be on Display
TURMOIL CONTINUES IN MIDDLE EAST
World Council to Promote Liberal Education
Mullahs Denounce Plan
EARTHQUAKE KILLS SEVEN IN JAPAN
ANTIGRAV BELTS TO HIT MARKET FOR CHRISTMAS
Several States Push for Ban
Drunks at 2000 Feet?
HUMANS RETAIN BRIDGE TITLE
AIs Own Chess, But Weak at Nonverbals
Roman AutoMates Last in Berlin Tournament
HANLEY WINS NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR LIGHTS OUT
BABES AT MOONBASE ENDS 29-YEAR RUN
Succeeds The Twilight Diaries As Longest-Running Broadway Show
TORNADOES HAMMER DAKOTAS
Seven Dead in Grand Forks
Chapter 11
The head of the school board was Myra Castle, a staff assistant at a pharmaceutical company. Myra had political ambitions, was perpetually annoyed, and had, he suspected, never held any kind of authority position until she was elected to oversee the county educational system. If Julie could be believed, she was a petty tyrant. Myra had once introduced Matt to her husband as “the space guy” who went over to MacElroy occasionally to talk to the kids. When he called and asked if he could meet her for lunch, red flags must have gone up. “Why?” she asked.
“I have an idea for the school system. Something you might be interested in using.”
She was a small, pinched woman. One of the few, apparently, on whom the rejuv treatments had minimal effect. She was only in her fifties, but was visibly aging. “What’s the idea, Mr. Darwin?”
“I’d rather talk to you in person. If you can find the time. I know you’re busy.”
“Yes, I am, as a matter of fact. It would help if I knew at least generally what this is about.”
So much for Matt’s charm. “I wanted to talk to you about the lander.”