“Okay, Frank.”
“Priscilla, you’re going to have to intercept the Venture. If we’re lucky, and it runs past the point where it no longer presents a threat to the station, we’ll let you know and you can forget it and go after the lander. Okay?
“But if it shuts down at the wrong time, where we’re still a potential target, I’m going to need you to take it out. We’ll let you know if that becomes necessary. In the meantime, assume that it will. We’ve fed the information to your AI. It’ll put you on the right trajectory.”
Take out the Venture? She didn’t have a cannon on board.
He’s talking about ramming it.
“Louie,” she said, “can we manage a collision? With the Venture?”
“Priscilla, it will be traveling at an extreme velocity when we intersect with it, approximately 220,000 kilometers. It will require precision.”
“Then we can do it?”
“Yes. But I will have to make immediate course adjustments, and set for acceleration. You should go down and get into the lander while you can.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll let you know as soon as I’m set, Louie.”
She went through the hatch into the passenger cabin, got her gear, took a last look around, and went down the tube to the cargo bay. Frank came back: “The Baumbachner has been given responsibility for picking up Jake’s lander. So all you have to worry about, Priscilla, is the Venture.”
“Who’s in the Baumbachner?” asked Jake.
“Drake Peifer.”
“Good,” he said. “You got the right guy. Priscilla, are you in your lander yet?”
“I’m on my way.”
“Priscilla,” said Frank, “if you have to launch, you should be able to make it into the Wheel on your own.”
Provided the Wheel is still there.
“We’re coming up on fifteen minutes,” said Jake. “If they’re actually targeting Union, this is the prime spot for a shutdown.”
“Okay,” said Frank. “Good luck, Jake.”
Priscilla was just arriving on the cargo deck. She climbed into the lander and shut the hatch. “Okay, Louie,” she said, pulling the harness over her shoulders, “whenever you’re ready.”
“Very good, Priscilla. Course correction commencing.” She was pushed back into the seat.
“Frank,” said Jake, “once the engines are off and I can move around, it might be possible to disable them. If the virus can’t bring them back up, it won’t be able to make the final adjustment. That should solve the problem.”
“Do it my way, Jake: When the engines cut off, just get everybody out of there. Okay? And leave the rest to Priscilla.”
“Will do.”
“All right. I’ll see you both back here in a while. I hope. Priscilla, you are in the lander, right?”
“Yes, Frank,” she said. I figured out it might not be a good idea to stay on board.
“By the way,” said Frank, “you might be interested in knowing that Kosmik has issued a statement agreeing to stop the terraforming and wait for the development of a less invasive methodology.”
Jake laughed. “I always knew their hearts were in the right place.”
Priscilla had enjoyed being on the bridge of the Sydney Thompson. It was quieter than the other ships she’d ridden. And somehow smoother. This would have been the perfect vehicle for a casual flight with friends to Epsilon Eridani. It had been ideal for transporting the presidential candidate out to the Iapetus monument.
Now she would lose it.
“Priscilla.” Jake again. “Frank, our engines just shut down.”
* * *
LOUIE’S VOICE: “NINETEEN minutes to impact with the Venture.”
Priscilla started to decompress the launch bay.
Jake would need about five minutes to get everyone inside the lander, another four minutes to get it launched.
The station was now visible through the Thompson’s scopes. At least, its lights were. It was just coming around the planetary rim. If this thing played out, next time around it would be in the crosshairs.
The blinkers representing the Venture and the Thompson on her navigation screen were gradually drawing together at about a sixty-degree angle. “Jake—?” she said.
“Should be out of here in just a couple more minutes.”
She sat in the darkness. Louie announced that decompression was complete. “Open launch doors?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Jake came back: “Okay, Priscilla. They’re gone.”
That brought another chill. “They’re gone. What do you mean they? Jake, are you still on the Venture?”
“Priscilla, I don’t know how this thing is programmed. It could do evasive action. Who knows? There are too many lives at stake. I have to try to shut the engines down so they can’t be brought online.”
“It might not matter, Jake. You could hit the station anyhow.” She was close to screaming. “We’re ten minutes away from the collision.”
“I know.”
“How the hell am I supposed to do this with you on board?”
“Don’t worry about it. If I can shut it down, I’ll know pretty quickly. If I can do that, I can get control of the ship again, we’ll get out of your way, and the problem’s solved.”
“Jake—”
“Priscilla, I don’t have time to argue. I backed off once. I’m not doing it again.”
“Is that what this is about? You and Joshua Miller?”
* * *
SHE COULD HAVE ripped her seat from its moorings and thrown it against the bulkhead. Outside, the launch doors were open. “Louie,” she said, “Good-bye.”
“Good-bye, Priscilla.”
Jake’s voice again. “You out of there yet?”
“Heading out now. How are you doing?”
“Probably not going to have enough time.”
She thought about trying to talk him into getting some air tanks and leaving the ship. She could try to pick him up in the lander. But that wouldn’t work. They were both moving too quickly, and in different directions. She’d never get to him before he ran out of air.
“Jake, this is crazy.”
“Quiet, Priscilla. Please.”
She was out of time. She took the lander out and turned hard to starboard, watched the Thompson race ahead and dwindle quickly to a handful of lights.
She stayed off the radio. Did not want to distract Jake.
“We are safe,” said the lander AI. “It is extremely unlikely we will be hit by any debris.”