"Who the hell cares what he thinks?" Thor demanded. He looked to Fang. "Maybe it's time to move on."
"No, it's time for the merry soul to move on," Mike said. "That's Cole, of course. Not that it would be so obvious if we hadn't just seen him."
"Skim milk--Cole said that, too," Sherrine said. "Harry, you had a message for Cole!"
"And what were you supposed to do once you'd found us all and delivered the messages?" Bruce asked.
"I can tell you exactly what he said," Harry said. He looked uncomfortable.
"What?" Bruce said.
Harry looked out the window.
"Want me to tell them?" Jenny asked.
"No. No, I'll do it." Harry stuffed his hands deep into his jeans pockets. "Wade said, 'Harry, I trust your honor with my life, but I don't trust your judgment to go buy the beer. If nobody shows up, forget all this and meet me in--well, where we meet, next month. If anybody from Minicon shows up, go tell Oliver Brown, then deliver the messages, and stand by to help people. I think they'll want help.' "
"And that's all?"
Harry shrugged. "That's all."
"Where is Curtis now?" Mike asked.
Harry shook his head. "I don't know, and I guess I wouldn't tell you if I did."
"Great," Thor said. "So we have this nonsense from a drunk writer, and a messenger he doesn't trust with his drunken ravings, and we're supposed to get all excited."
Fang said, "Thor, it's a puzzle."
"Wade always did drink a lot," Oliver Brown said. "But he turned out the stories. He used to be in the space program you know. Other things. Were you ever in his study before they burned it down? Big place. Books. And a signed picture of Voyager--Hey!"
"What?" Bruce demanded.
" 'See what free men can do.' That was the inscription on the photo. By, by the man who built it-Dick Rhutan! Who flew Voyager around the world on one tank of gas. That Voyager."
"Rhutan. Voyager. King David in the desert!" Mike said.
"Mike?"
"King David's Spaceship! It's a book title. And the Rhutan brothers were working on a spaceship. A spaceship called--" He paused dramatically, holding a wide grin. "Wait for it. It was called Phoenix. They were working on it in the Mojave desert."
"Be damned," Bruce muttered. "That was that thing that looked like an inverted styrofoam cup--"
"Single stage to orbit, vertical take off and landing," Oliver Brown said. "SSTO VTOL."
Mike was frowning. "Sure, we all saw the briefing at a Worldcon. Long time ago. Nolacon? Somewhere in there. Wait a minute and I'll come up with the name of the guy who was in charge of the Phoenix project."
"Hudson," Oliver Brown said. "An old friend of Wade's."
"Hudson. An explorer in the desert," Mike said. "Yup. Well, there's no question what Wade was talking about. Phoenix."
"A spaceship. Where have I heard this before?" asked Alex. But his blood was beginning to sing. Again.
"Yes, I know," Sherrine said. "But--but Phoenix was real! They spent tens of millions of dollars on it. And Voyager was real, it flew around the world!"
Steve got up from the floor. As usual he seemed to float up, as if-he could turn off the gravity. "Phoenix is real, all right," he said. "I've seen it. It's in a museum in Mojave."
"Another museum," Gordon said. "I think perhaps this time we do not bother?"
"Suit yourself," Steve said. "But Phoenix flew once. I saw it."
"Flew!" Alex tried to stand. Fang noticed and helped him. "Flew?"
"Not to orbit," Steve said. "The Phoenix was just too heavy. Hudson had to make too many compromises. But it could have gone around the world, like Voyager, if NASA hadn't stopped him."
Thor said, "Like the Spruce Goose? There's always a reason why it didn't work."
Steve's muscles were bunching. Thor was getting to him, though he may not have been aware of it. "NASA said it had to do with flight safety. Gary Hudson got to take the Phoenix straight up fifty miles and dump most of his fuel and come straight back down. Then the budget cuts came, and the Green Initiatives passed, and the Greens got in control."
"So where is this Phoenix now?" Alex demanded.
"In a hangar on what used to be Edwards Air Force Base in California. It's been preserved as a reminder of Big Bad Science, just like the Space Center here. Actually, I think the military may have had ideas they could use it. They didn't have the money to fix it, but they never throw anything away either. It's out there 'as a monument.' People are supposed to go out and be scandalized; but… When I was there, a lot of the tourists had tears in their eyes."
"Probably for all the money that was wasted," said Fang sarcastically.
Steve nodded. "Truer than you think. I shed a few myself at the waste. That's where I met Hudson. They've got him conducting the tour."
Bruce jumped. "Himself? Why--"
"I thought the Single Stage Experimental Lifter was never finished," Thor said belligerently. "They proxmired the whole space program. They even outlawed private ventures, like Hudson's."
"That's what Gary said when I took the tour," Steve agreed. "SSX Phoenix was never finished. Just flew the once. Never fly again, he said. Over and over. One thing, though."
"What's that?" asked Bob.
Steve sighed and smiled dreamily. "It seats ten."
Sherrine felt her heart begin to pound. Seats ten, she thought. Seats ten. "Never finished," she said. "Phoenix is too big to hide. Hah!"
"Hah?" Mike said.
"Bottle shop," she said. " 'Explorers in the high desert keep bottle shops.' "
Smiles began to form. Bruce said, "Ah. A bottle shop sells miracles, and is not what it seems…"
"And the proprietor of a bottle shop usually lies. So what do we have? A rocket ship, in plain sight, and Gary Hudson who helped design the bird makes sure he tells everyone that it can never fly again." And it seats ten! It seats ten!
"I do not believe it," Gordon said. "It is one more goose to chase. A chimera."
"Me, either," Thor said. "People, it's been fun, but I am not chasing off to California after another rocket ship."
"So what do we do with the Angels?" Bruce asked.
Thor shrugged. "Not my problem. The Con's over. You're Chairman. You take care of the pass-on. You don't need Fang and me for that. Time for us to move on--"
Fang said, "Guests are my responsibility."
Thor shrugged. "Suit yourself."
"We all have places to be," Bruce said. "Except you and Fang. Steve, how are you getting back to California?"
"Amtrack. I have a ticket. Don't think I can get anymore. Maybe they'll be watching the stations anyway."
Harry had been uncharacteristically quiet. "Jenny and me, were headed that way. Maybe we could steal another bike--"
"We have a little money," Bruce said.
"Yeah, but--" Harry shook his head. "It's a rough trip, riding double. Don't think the Angels would make it."
Gordon laughed. "Nor do I, Harry!"
"It's all crazy anyway," Alex said. "You know where there is a ship. Single stage to orbit, seats ten. Assume it works, that unlike that ancient Titan, it has been well maintained. I don't believe it, but assume that. It will need-I'm guessing-half a million pounds of fuel? Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. They don't leave that stuff lying around."
There was no answer.
"Fine. You don't have the foggiest notion of how to get the fuel, or how to move it if you did--"