We’ve just conducted the first conversation between humans and a representative from a technological civilization. It wasn’t at all what I would have expected. And Rudy has made his disappointment clear enough. When it was over, he shook his head, drank his coffee, and asked nobody in particular, “Where’s the majesty?”
Chapter 25
The world rotated once on its axis in twenty-one hours, seventeen minutes, and change. Tomorrow they’d put on a show, and, with luck, go down and say hello to Mr. Smith.
Good old Smitty.
Aboard the starships, there was again talk of celebration, but it didn’t happen. Too soon, Jon said. Matt thought they shouldn’t push their luck. See how it goes first. Don’t jinx things.
Hutch and her passengers went over to the McAdams. (They thought of it as a night out, a chance to get away.) They decided both ships would make the lunar passage. She and Matt planned the maneuver, then they all settled in to relax. “I wish Henry could have been here,” Jon said.
Hutch could think of a number of people with whom she’d have liked to share the moment, especially those who’d given their lives. George Hackett. Maggie Tufu, lost in the hunt for the Monument-Makers. Preacher Brawley, killed in the chindi search. Herman Culp and Pete Damon, murdered by creatures who’d resembled angels. There were others. It had been a long and bloody track, leading ultimately to a moon crossing in a place incomparably far from home.
She drank to them, silently, thinking, they were all there. They had all contributed. All those who had gone out over the years on the Academy flights, and for the Europeans, and on various independent missions. Here’s to everybody.
They’d all come home disappointed. Occasionally someone had found a living world, and that had been a victory of sorts. And there’d even been a handful with sentient creatures. But until now, other than the lunatic Noks, there’d been no one with anything resembling modern technology. Nobody who understood why there was rain or what stoked the fire in the sky.
Nobody.
She slept well, got up late, showered, ate a light breakfast, and sat talking quietly with Jon. He was, in some ways, still a kid. He was already wondering what he could do for an encore after the Locarno. “It’s going to be all downhill from here,” he said, laughing.
“It’s not a bad thing,” she told him, “to achieve something so monumental that it might not be possible to do something even bigger.”
He was seated beside her in the common room. He looked relaxed, happy, almost smug. “I know,” he said. “The problem is that, had Henry not been there, it would never have happened. I mean, this isn’t something I can actually take credit for. He did the breakthrough work. All I did was rearrange the circuits.”
“But you seem to have been the only one who could do that, Jon. You’ll get a lot of credit. And you’re doing exactly the right thing, handing it off to Henry. He deserves it. But that doesn’t diminish what you’ve accomplished.”
Hutch and matt maneuvered the ships into position and began the crossing. They were side by side, less than a kilometer apart. The event would be visible from the ground for at least forty minutes.
“Phyl,” said Hutch, “make the call.”
Mr. Smith picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?”
“Mr. Smith,” said Hutch, “I talked with you last evening. Do you have your telescope?”
“You’re back again? What did you say your name was?”
“I don’t think I gave it.”
“Well, whoever you are, I’d be grateful if you would leave me alone.”
“Please go to the window, Mr. Smith. And look at the moon.” While they waited, Phyl commented that he was making sounds that she could not interpret.
“He’s grumbling,” said Jon.
“Okay, I’m at the window.”
“You can see the moon?”
“Yes. I can see the moon.”
“Do you have a telescope? A lens of some kind?”
“Look, whoever you are, is this really necessary?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I don’t have a lens.”
“Yesterday you said you did.”
“I thought you’d go away.”
“Mr. Smith, you’re aware there are transmissions coming into this planetary system from outside? From other places?”
There was a pause. Then: “Yes. Of course.”
“Those signals are what brought us here. We’d like to talk with you about them.”
“Look, the joke’s over. I’m too busy for this.”
“My name is Priscilla Hutchins. How can we prove to you that we are what we say?”
Phyl’s voice broke in: “Hutch, I’ll have to make up a name for you. He wouldn’t be able to pronounce yours. Especially Priscilla.”
“Do it, Phyl. Whatever works.”
Rudy and Antonio were watching her. Rudy was acquiring a desperate look. Antonio wore a cynical smile. Things always go wrong.
“Priscilla.” Smith was speaking again. “The only way I can think of would be to bring your starship down, park it on my lawn, and let me walk around it and kick the tires.”
Hutch sank back in her chair. “I may have improvised a bit with the language on that one,” said Phyl.
Rudy stared at the overhead. “Maybe we should try someone else.”
“This guy’s a physicist,” said Antonio. “If you can’t get through to him, what chance do you think you’d have with a plumber?”
“I think,” said Jon, “anyone would be skeptical. How would you react to this kind of situation?”
“Mr. Smith,” said Hutch, “are you willing to concede the possibility that we might be what we say we are?”
“Good-bye.” And suddenly, the line was clear.
“He disconnected,” said Phyl.
Hutch nodded. “Yeah, I got that impression.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Matt.
“I guess we have to get his attention.”
“Are we thinking the same thing?”
“Probably.”
“Do we do it in daylight?”
“No. It’ll be more spectacular at night.”
The city spread out below them. It was on the western coast of Mr. Smith’s continent, mountains behind it, a large developed harbor, ships moving in and out, a busy airport several kilometers to the north, where the mountains were lower. There was lots of ground traffic and a couple of dirigibles.
Everything was laid out in squares, a chessboard city, glowing with lights. It gave the appearance of having been designed rather than simply having expanded from something smaller. A cluster of tall buildings rose near the waterfront area, although large structures were scattered throughout. There were parks, a river, and even a couple of small lakes. The air looked clean.
The moon was in the east. It was a bright, clear night, the sky full of stars.
They came in off the sea, both landers barely two hundred meters off the ground, moving slowly, not quite seventy kph, far slower than a standard aircraft could maintain. They passed over a cluster of piers and buildings that were probably warehouses, and over an avenue filled with traffic. At Hutch’s word, they switched on their navigation lights and turned north.