He looked around to see Hutchins watching him. She smiled as their eyes connected. Mouthed the words Almost there.
Jon was holding on to his coffee cup, not drinking any of it, just hanging on while his gaze wandered around the room. It swept across Matt, not pausing, not reacting. Whatever facade he’d been using, it was gone now. Only one thing mattered.
Somebody put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Julie. She hadn’t been there earlier. “Hi, Matt,” she said. “Big day, huh?”
There was a fudge factor. No way to be sure precisely how far the lander might have traveled. The signal could be as much as a minute early. Or a minute late. Probably no more than that.
Could be anytime now.
Everybody was watching the signal lamp.
He became aware of a barely audible heartbeat in the deck and bulkheads, rhythms set off by the systems that supplied power to the station.
One of the kids giggled.
A chair scraped.
Jon seemed not to be breathing.
A girl whispered, “Stop.”
Then it was 3:17.
Matt looked at the lamp. It was one of several status lights set in a vertical row. Six of them altogether. The one he was watching was four from the top.
Then it was plus thirteen seconds.
Fourteen.
Fifty-two.
He closed his eyes. When he opened them, about a minute later, the lamp was still unlit.
PSYCHIC SAYS INFERNAL FORCES BLOCKED STAR DRIVE TEST
Josh Coburn, the celebrated psychic from Havertown, PA., said today that dark forces are at work to ensure that humans do not succeed in making long-range penetration into the greater galaxy.
OMEGA CLOUDS MAY BE A HOAX
EDEN FOUND
Former Paradise Now Desert in West Saud
Bones May Have Been Adam’s
Scientists to Try DNA Analysis
GHOST OF AI HAUNTS MISSISSIPPI TOWNHOUSE
END OF DAYS NEAR
“All Signs Point to November,” Says Harry Colmer
HEAVEN LOCATED
Astronomers Reveal Shocking Photos
Giant Star Cloud on Other Side of Galaxy
JESUS’ FACE SEEN ON EPSILON AURIGAE MOON
WOMAN HAS CHILD BY NOK
First Human-Alien Hybrid
Experts Said It Couldn’t Happen
Named Kor After Father
HURRICANE MELINDA SENT BY GOD?
Billy Pat Thomas Says Evidence Points to Divine Anger
Church-Going Back Up in Mississippi
ATLANTIS FOUND
VAMPIRE LOOSE IN ALBANY?
Six Victims Drained of Blood
Bite Marks on Throat
Police Baffled
PSYCHIC TREES ON QURAQUA
Branch Patterns Reveal Future, Experts Say
SHOCKING TRUTH BEHIND MURDER OF PREACHER’S WIFE
Chapter 14
Matt had reserved his room at Union, expecting, hoping, to party through the night. Instead he canceled out, said good-bye to Hutchins and Jon, and caught the earliest available shuttle back to Reagan. Some of the students were on board. They wished him better luck next time.
Reyna called him en route. “Sorry,” she said.
He looked out the window. The skies over eastern North America and the western Atlantic were clear. “I guess we lost the school’s lander,” he told her.
“I guess. But they knew there was a chance that would happen.”
“I know. Maybe next time we should just send a missile.”
“Is that practical?”
“I don’t know. Probably not.”
She didn’t say anything for a minute. Then: “You okay?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine.”
“What will you do now?”
“Back to my desk at Stern and Hopkins.”
“No, I mean, are you going to give up on the drive?”
Two kids across the aisle were laughing hysterically at something. “It’s not really my call. But unless somebody is willing to donate another lander, yeah, I’d say my part in this drill is finished.”
Another pause. “What time are you getting in?”
“A bit after eight.”
“Can I treat for a drink tonight? Meet you at World’s End?”
“I appreciate it, Reyna, but it’s been a horribly long day. Let’s do it tomorrow, okay?”
Matt rarely ate at home. He didn’t like eating alone, so he usually went to Cleary’s or one of the other local restaurants. But not tonight. He picked up a roast beef sandwich at Reagan and took it with him in the taxi. It was a fifteen-minute flight below threatening clouds. As the vehicle descended onto his ramp, rain began to fall. He paid, went inside, said hello to the AI, kicked off his shoes, and turned on the news. There was nothing on the Locarno. Religious warfare was heating up in Africa and the Middle East, and a squabble was developing between the NAU and Bolivia over trade agreements.
He switched to Loose Change, one of the season’s dumber comedies, but it played just about at the level he needed. He poured a cup of coffee and nibbled his way through the sandwich. Not much appetite.
Jon had been hiding his feelings when they’d said good-bye. He’d thanked Matt and pretended not to be discouraged. There’ll be somebody out there, he’d said, who’ll be willing to take a chance.
And the truth was, he had less reason to be discouraged than Matt did. Jon could go back to tinkering with the theory. The corporations would come forward, and he’d get to try again. But Matt was done. He could expect to spend the rest of his life in northern Virginia, moving town houses, and wondering how things had come to this.
Well, he told himself, at least you have your health.
He could not sleep, so he stayed up, and was watching Last Train to Bougainville, a more or less incomprehensible mystery, when the AI’s voice broke in: “I’m sorry to disturb you, sir. But you’ve a call.” The room was dark except for the blue ring of light emanating from the clock. It was a few minutes short of midnight. “It’s from Union. From Dr. Silvestri.”
No. He was done with it. Didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Just tell him to go away, Basil.”
“Are you sure, sir?”
He tried to straighten himself. One of the cushions fell on the floor. “Yes. No. Okay, put him through. Audio only.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hello, Jon.” Matt rolled over onto his back. His eyes were closed. “What’s going on?”
“Matt.”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve got it. It came in.”
“What came in?” A new pledge of support? An offer of another lander?
“The transmission.”
That brought him awake. “The one we were waiting for?
“You know any others?”
“What happened? Why the delay? Did the equipment break down?”