Commander Tripolk. She snorted at the sound of the title. There must be another reason—he had acted more as a coward than a commander.
She stood up and ejected the d-cube from the terminal. In Rurik’s holo her own face looked back at her, a younger face, before her dreams had been shattered. One thing she did know was that Rurik was a traitor—and a murderer.
Anna put the cube on the floor and crushed it with her heel. Then she brushed at her jumpsuit, searching for her own dignity, and walked stiffly out the door.
A commander belonged in the command center.
Very well. She would see just what she could do there.
Chapter 49
AGUINALDO—Day 60
From the Aguinaldo’s observation blister, the array of sail-creatures looked like a gossamer armada, ready to skim the Earth and crawl back up the gravity well to L-5. Techs had arranged the sail-creatures in a staggered two-dimensional mosaic, sails oriented perpendicular to the Sun.
Luis Sandovaal could barely make out their full outlines, the stubby central bodies with only a hint of the enormous cell-thin wings.
President Magsaysay stood with Sandovaal, Dobo, and Dobo’s wife. Sandovaal thought Dobo’s wife looked puffy—probably from living in low gravity for too long, or perhaps she had just been crying a lot lately. She should feel proud of the great adventure her husband was about to undertake, not whimper about it.
Outside the colony, spacesuited Filipino techs swarmed over the score of metamorphosed sail-creatures, attaching fiberoptic lines between the sails—wires that connected each creature to its nearest neighbors. The middle two sail-creatures were being readied to house Sandovaal and Dobo. Hormone capsules and a patchwork of electrodes had been inserted into the cavities of the other eighteen giants.
Sandovaal started to speak, but felt a lump rise in his throat. What an odd sensation! The sight outside looked so beautiful; it was a climax to his bioengineering career. The mosaic of sail-creatures was no doubt the largest cluster of life-forms the solar system had ever seen. He found it impossible to say anything—and the intense emotion embarrassed him. Sandovaal turned away and spoke in clipped sentences so his voice would not crack.
“Dobo. It is time for us to go.”
Dobo continued to stare out the crystal blister. He kept an arm around his wife’s plump waist. The Aguinaldo rotated, giving the group an encompassing view of the sail-creatures, the stars, and the vast distance they would have to travel.
Sandovaal began to grow cross. “Dobo—”
“Luis, Luis.” Magsaysay put a hand on Sandovaal’s shoulder and nodded toward the exit. “You have to go.” Sandovaal grunted and led the way from the veranda toward the airlock end of the Aguinaldo.
When they arrived, Magsaysay studied Sandovaal’s ice blue eyes. “The techs are not through checking your sail-creatures. You want to make sure everything will work, do you not?”
“We tried it on one sail-creature. Ramis was successful. The neural network will ensure that it works for all of them.”
Magsaysay replied with uncomfortable silence.
What was taking Dobo so damned long? Sandovaal fidgeted and tried explaining further.
“Once the electrodes are implanted in the sail-creatures’ cysts, I can apply the same pressure to each one and steer them all as a group. The effect is the same as having one vast sail. The additional sail-creature nymphs we are carrying will provide more than enough means for us to return—unless the blasted American colony eats them or something.” Sandovaal felt annoyed—back to normal after that dangerous flirt with emotion.
Magsaysay sighed and turned to face him. “I know you think you must go to Orbitech 1 to get the weavewire for our own use. But we could likely use MMUs to get over to the Orbitech 2 construction site. Ramis proved that Jumping is possible, though it is not as efficient for transporting supplies.” The dato pursed his lips. “At least this way you will be able to bring Ramis back. But I do not want your confidence to blind you to danger.”
Indignant, Sandovaal drew himself up, though Magsaysay stared out one of the viewing windows. “I am a big boy, Yoli. I know how to take care of myself.”
“You are too crusty sometimes.” The voice came from behind him. Sandovaal whirled to find Dobo and his wife in a tête-à-tête.
“What!” Sandovaal squinted at Dobo, but he and his wife stood preoccupied, holding hands like juveniles. When Dobo failed to look at him, Sandovaal snorted and turned back to President Magsaysay.
Magsaysay suppressed a smile. “This has greater implications than just bringing back the weavewire, Luis. You are going to determine if we should continue these trips, bring the colonies together.” He hesitated. “I never thought I would see the day this would really happen.”
“This trip will never be an everyday occurrence,” Sandovaal said, wondering if Magsaysay was trying to lessen his accomplishment.
“Maybe not now, but it will happen. I assure you.”
“That is not my main concern. If we do not get moving, the sail-creatures will die before we reach Orbitech 1.” He snapped at his assistant. “Dobo! Finish kissing her and let us get out of here!” Sandovaal pulled on his helmet.
Dobo dabbed at his wife’s face with a tissue. Sandovaal started to admonish his assistant again, but realized that Dobo couldn’t hear him with his helmet on.
Sandovaal grumbled to himself and started checking his suit status. The anti-radiation treatment he had taken was already making him queasy, or maybe it was just anxiety about the long journey.
Minutes later a voice in his helmet transceiver interrupted him. “Dr. Sandovaal, are you ready?”
Dobo stood by the airlock, fully suited. At the other end of the room, his wife forced a smile. Sandovaal grunted something meant to be unintelligible and met Dobo by the airlock. “Well, what are you waiting for?”
As the airlock door swung shut, Sandovaal forced himself to wave. The holocameras would be recording all this for the daily intercolony broadcasts, suitably embellished with the appropriate Filipino patriotism. At least he had managed to avoid being present while the bishop blessed his space suit.
Magsaysay stood outside the chamber with his hand on the shoulder of Dobo’s wife. She held her chin up high, proud. Sandovaal felt a twinge of guilt that he had yelled at his assistant—it might be the last time that either of them saw the Aguinaldo. Dobo remained silent, much to Sandovaal’s relief.
The external door cycled open and left them staring at empty space. Outside, three techs moved forward, outfitted with compressed-air tanks for maneuvering. They steered Sandovaal and Dobo by the arms toward the waiting sail-creatures.
The magnitude of the fragile mosaic became evident to Sandovaal as they drew near. The delicate wings, extending scores of kilometers, could not withstand much more than the solar photon pressure that would push them on their journey.
A glimmer of light brought Sandovaal’s attention to the array of wires connecting the sail-creature bodies. With them, the sails would be somewhat limited in their ability to turn, but the increase in weight the array of creatures could carry more than made up for the limitation. Ramis’s trip had been by the seat of his pants; by comparison, this one would be a walk in the barrio.
Two of the techs turned and jetted off with Dobo to one of the central sail-creatures. Sandovaal allowed himself to be taken to the other. The cavity in the core of the creature widened like a womb, into which the techs inserted him. Sandovaal tried to cooperate and help them, but he soon lost his temper and yanked his elbow away from a too-persistent tech.