“God works in mysterious ways, my boy. You have been chosen. Accept that fact.”
“It’s going to ruin my life,” Grant argued. “Four years away from my wife, four years wasted out there doing God knows what. I’ll never get my doctorate!”
Beech nodded again. “It’s a sacrifice, I realize that. But it’s a sacrifice you should be glad to offer up to heaven.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I’m the one whose life is being turned upside-down.”
“Let me explain something to you,” Beech said, tapping the paper-strewn desk with a fingertip. “Do you have any idea of what the world was like before the New Morality and similar organizations gained political power across most of the world?”
Grant squirmed slightly in his chair. “There were lots of problems…”
Beech spat out a single, sharp “Hah!” His eyes were the color of a lion’s, Grant realized. He was staring at Grant the way a lion watches a gazelle.
“I mean, economically, socially—”
“The world was a cesspool!” Beech snapped. “Corruption everywhere. No moral leadership at all. The politicians gave in to every whim that any pressure group expressed. They took polls and strove for popularity, while the people’s real problems festered.”
“The gap between the rich and poor got wider,” Grant recited, recalling his high school lessons.
“And that led to terrorism, wars, crime,” Beech agreed, his voice rising slightly. “Civil wars all over the world. Terrorists with biological weapons.”
“The Calcutta Disaster,” said Grant.
“Three million people killed.”
“And São Paolo.”
“Another two million.”
Grant had seen the videos in schooclass="underline" piles of dead bodies in the streets, emergency workers in space suits to protect them from the lethal biological agents in the air.
“Governments were paralyzed, unable to act,” Beech said firmly. “Until the spirit of God was returned to the corridors of power.”
“It was something of a miracle, wasn’t it?” Grant muttered.
Beech shook his head. “No miracle. Hard work by honest, God-fearing people. We took control of governments all around the world, the New Morality, the Light of Allah, the Holy Disciples in Europe.”
“The New Dao movement in Asia,” Grant added.
“Yes, yes,” said Beech. “And why were we successful in bringing moral strength and wisdom into the political arena? Because religion is a digital system.”
“Digital?”
“Digital. Religious precepts are based on moral principles. There is right and there is wrong. Nothing in between. Nothing! No wiggle room for the politicians to sneak through. Right or wrong, black or white, on or off. Digital.”
“That’s why the New Morality succeeded where other reform movements failed,” Grant said, with new understanding.
“Exactly. That’s why we were able to clean up the crime-ridden streets of our cities. That’s why we were able to put an end to all these self-styled civil rights groups that actually wanted nothing less than a license to commit any sinful acts they wanted to. That’s why we could bring order and stability to the nation—and to the whole world.”
Grant had to admit that from what he’d learned of history, the world was far better off with God-fearing, morally straight governments in power than it had been in the old, corrupt, licentious days.
“We are doing God’s work,” Beech went on, sitting even straighter than before, his hands splayed on the desktop, his eyes burning. “We are feeding the poor, bringing education and enlightenment to all, even in the worst parts of Asia and Africa and South America. We have stabilized world population growth without murdering the unborn. We are raising the standard of living for the poorest of the poor.”
His mind spinning, Grant heard himself ask, “But what does this have to do with Jupiter… and me?”
Beech eyed him sternly. “Young man, there comes a point in everyone’s life when he must make the choice between good and evil. You’ve got to decide which side you’re on: God or Mammon.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The scientists out at Jupiter are up to something, something that they want to keep secret. We must find out what they are doing and why they are trying to hide their actions from us.”
“Shouldn’t that be a task for the IAA?” Grant asked. “I mean, they’re the organization that directs the scientific research.”
“We have representatives on the International Astronomical Authority.”
“Then shouldn’t you leave it to the IAA?”
With an almost pitying expression, Beech said, “The price of great power is great responsibility. In order to maintain stability, to make certain that no one—no scientist or revolutionary or terrorist madman—can threaten all that we’ve worked so hard to achieve, we must control everyone, everywhere.”
“Control everyone?”
“Yes. Those scientists at Jupiter think they are beyond our control. We must teach them otherwise. You are our chosen agent to begin this process. You will help us to learn what they are doing and why they are doing it.”
Grant was too confused to reply. He realized that the decision had already been made. He was going to Jupiter. They expected him to find out what the scientists were doing there. He could not avoid this duty.
He sat before Beech’s desk, his mind awhirl, torn between the duty that he knew he could not avoid and resentment at having absolutely no voice in the decision that would determine the next four years of his life.
Like it or not, he was going to Jupiter.
Then Beech added with a slow, unexpected smile, “Of course, if you find out what they’re up to quickly enough, perhaps we can arrange to transfer you to another research facility—such as the Farside Observatory.”
“Farside?” Grant clutched at the straw.
Nodding solemnly, Beech said, “It might be arranged, in return for satisfactory performance.”
Grant’s sudden burst of hope faded. Carrot and stick, he realized. Farside is the carrot that’s supposed to encourage me to do what they want.
“You will act alone at the Jupiter station, of course,” Beech went on. “No one will know your true reason for being there, and you will tell no one about this.”
Grant said nothing.
“But you will not be alone, Mr. Archer. You will be watched constantly.”
“Watched?”
Smiling thinly, Beech said, “God sees you, Mr. Archer. God will be watching your every move, every breath you take, every thought that crosses your mind.”
THE ENDLESS SEA
It is a boundless ocean, more than ten times wider than the entire planet Earth. Beneath the swirling clouds that cover Jupiter from pole to pole, the ocean has never seen sunlight, nor has it ever felt the rough confining contours of land. Its waves have never crashed against a craggy shore, never thundered upon a sloping beach, for there is no land anywhere across Jupiter’s enormous girth: not even an island or a reef. The ocean’s billows sweep across the deeps without hindrance, eternally.
Heated from below by the planet’s seething core, swirled into a frenzy by Jupiter’s hyperkinetic spin rate, ferocious currents race through this endless sea, jet streams howling madly, long powerful waves surging uninterrupted all the way around the world, circling the globe over and again. Gigantic storms rack the ocean, too, typhoons bigger than whole planets, hurricanes that have roared their fury for century after century. It is the widest, deepest, most powerful, most dynamic and fearsome ocean in the entire solar system.
Jupiter is the largest of all the solar system’s planets, more than ten times bigger and three hundred times as massive as Earth. Jupiter is so immense it could swallow all the other planets easily. Its Great Red Spot, a storm that has raged for centuries, is itself wider than Earth. And the Spot is merely one feature visible among the innumerable vortexes and streams of Jupiter’s frenetically racing cloud tops.