“A transdimensional jump.”
She laughed. “Okay. I know what you’re talking about. We’re on our way to Saturn. How long—?”
“Hang on,” said Priscilla. “Transition complete. Everybody prep for another jump.” She was enjoying herself. The drone of the engines changed again, and the mist was gone, replaced by a vast globe and a series of rings. “Okay,” she said, “we’re there.”
Vesta’s jaw dropped. An enormous yellow-brown globe filled the sky. And a set of rings. “That’s Saturn, right? How could we be here already?”
The rings spread across the sky, dazzling in their brilliance and perfection. Priscilla stared at them, thinking that if a convincing argument for the existence of God could be found, this was it.
“Incredible,” said the governor.
Priscilla wasn’t sure whether he was referring to the planet or the rapidity of the flight. It was her first visit also to Saturn, and she was probably as impressed as anyone at how quickly they’d arrived even though she’d known what to expect. But she was careful not to show it.
“I don’t understand,” Vesta said. “Why were we talking about three or four days for this?”
“We just did the easy part,” said Priscilla. She went back to the mike. “Everybody stay belted in, please. We’ll be making a course correction in the next few minutes. Then you can get up and wander around or whatever. By the way, be careful when you do. We are in a zero-gee environment. It’ll take some getting used to.”
* * *
“WHERE IS IT?” asked Vesta.
Priscilla put Iapetus on the display. “We did pretty well. We’ll be there in about twenty-seven hours.”
“Good,” she said. “I’m glad to hear it. Can you by any chance make it quicker? There’s a presidential campaign on, and whatever time we save—”
“I can, if you want. But if we do that kind of acceleration, we won’t be able to get out of our chairs, and nobody will be very comfortable.”
Those expressionless eyes came to life and targeted Priscilla as if she were responsible for any inconvenience. Then the animation faded. “Okay,” she said. “I guess we can live with that.”
Priscilla wondered how she’d have responded if they’d needed three days or so. That would not have been unusual. “So,” she said, “what’s the point?”
Vesta frowned. “What’s what point?”
“Well, as you said, you’re running a presidential campaign. What are you doing out here?”
She took her time responding, finally nodding toward the view, the giant planet, the rings, stars probably more brilliant than she’d ever seen them before this day. “The governor has a passion for history. He’s always wanted to visit the monument.”
Later, she had a chance to put the same question to McGruder. He smiled. “Are you serious, Priscilla? We’re talking about something that was put here by aliens thousands of years ago. Nobody knows who they were or what happened to them afterward. But it changed our whole perspective about the universe. We found out we were not alone. Why would anyone not want to come out here?”
“But you’re in the middle of a campaign.”
He nodded. Looked amused. “It’s an opportunity to remind everyone of the glories around us. And why we need spaceflight. And don’t look so surprised, Priscilla. It’s what presidents do.”
It’s what presidents do. “A month or two ago, Governor, you were opposed to all this. You were saying we were wasting resources out here. What happened?”
He smiled and shook his head. “I was wrong,” he said. “The country does have some fiscal problems, and I went for the easy solution. The obvious one. But I was wrong. I’ve said as much. The problem is that sometimes it’s difficult to change your mind. At least for a politician. You do that, and they call you a flip-flopper.”
“They will,” she said.
“They already have. Within an hour after we made the announcement about coming here.” He was staring at the rings. “Politics is the only career I know of where you’re not allowed to profit from experience. Not allowed to learn anything.”
“Well,” she said, “I hope it works for you.” She thought about adding that she’d vote for him. She expected to do that, but saying it would seem too much like groveling.
* * *
SHE SLEPT ON the bridge. Had to, because McGruder and his team showed no sign of retiring. It wouldn’t look right if she went back to her cabin while the passengers worked all night. She couldn’t make out what they were saying without turning on the commlink, but she wasn’t going to do that. They didn’t invite her to join the discussion. In the morning, when she woke, the passenger cabin was empty. By then, Iapetus was visible as a small disk. She went back to her quarters, showered, and changed clothes.
When they were still a few hours out, she got on the mike: “We’ll start braking in thirty minutes. Everybody up, please. You’ll need to be in your seats and belted in when we begin.” It was midafternoon of the second day.
She heard doors opening and closing. And voices. But no footsteps, of course. You never hear footsteps in zero gee. She got up and went back into the passenger cabin. Devlin, the governor, and Vesta were talking about his three Gold Party rivals, how to get rid of them without alienating anybody. Michael and Cornelius were missing. She wondered why they were along at all. Did someone think there might be an alien attack? “Everybody doing okay?” Priscilla asked. “Does anybody need anything?”
“Some gravity would be nice,” said Devlin.
McGruder laughed. “They’re working on it. Artificial gravity’s just a couple of years away.”
“We still have a few minutes,” said Priscilla, “before we start reducing speed. Once we do, we’ll continue for two hours, and you won’t be able to leave your seat. After two hours, we’ll take a twenty-minute time-out, and you’ll be able to wander around again, eat, drink, whatever you like. Then we’ll brake for another two hours. That’ll put us in orbit around Iapetus. In the meantime, if anybody needs to get to the washroom or something, let me know and we can go to cruise. One other thing. Iapetus is not visible from the windows here, but you can put the forward view on your display. Any questions?”
Devlin raised a hand: “Priscilla,” he said, “could you explain again how the shower works?”
* * *
VESTA D’AMBROSIA’S DIARY
Andy insisted on getting Hutchins to be the pilot for this misbegotten flight, on the grounds that she had received some recent publicity and people would recognize her name. Unfortunately, what they’re also going to recognize is that she’s a kid. This trip is going to draw a lot of mockery as it is. I can see the comedians and the cartoonists now, showing Andy standing next to that concrete two-legged lizard on Iapetus talking about having a meeting of minds. They’ll kill us. At least, if we had a grizzled tough-looking captain, we might be able to sell this thing. But no, instead we get a high-school kid.
—March 4, 2196
* * *
ON THE NET
So the guy who doesn’t believe in space travel goes to Saturn and develops an appreciation for alien art. Does he really think that’s going to bring in the swing voters?
—CatMan
CatMan, are there any voters at all out there, other than the loonies, who will be impressed by McGruder’s going out to Saturn? Maybe he could do us all a favor and stay out there.
—Big Joe
I wish I could go.
—Marcia43
Kosmik has two days to issue a statement terminating its terraforming program on Selika unless and until it finds a way to continue without harming local life. If it fails to do so, I will terminate the Wheel.