“Not yet, Bucky. But give us a chance to look around a little. We’ll be climbing down out of the lander in a couple of minutes.”
“Make sure you set up a video camera on one of the landing legs so we can see what’s happening.”
“Of course, Boss,” she said.
“Just making sure.”
“Bucky, that’s the fifth time you’ve made sure today.”
“Sorry.” He was grateful that she couldn’t see his guilty smile.
“Okay.” Bassinger took over as the voice on the speaker. “Are we all set for a Moon walk?”
“Help me secure my helmet, and I am,” said Neimark.
A moment later, they’d set up the video camera, and Bucky was able to watch them descend to the surface.
“It’s a shame the people back home can’t see this,” said Gaines. “But we can’t transmit this until we’re on the near side of the Moon.”
“Just as well,” said Bucky. “I’d like to know precisely what we’ve got before we start announcing stuff. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”
“Well, I don’t think there’d be any problem showing them walking on the surface,” said Gaines, “as long as we don’t show what they’re walking toward.”
“We’re not entirely sure what they’re walking toward,” said Bucky, staring at the screen.
“Oh, come on, Boss. What do you expect to find? A Russian base?”
“Save the sarcasm, Ben.”
“Okay. Sure. But we can show them walking, right?” persisted Gaines.
“Ask me when we’re in a position to transmit it.”
Bucky learned forward, concentrating on the two images on the screen. Like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin half a century before, they seemed suddenly unfettered by gravity, even by the weight of their assignment. They jumped up again and again, then trotted in huge strides that would have lifted them over high hurdles had there been any.
“My God, I feel reborn!” exclaimed Neimark.
“We haven’t had any gravity in the ship for a couple of days, but it’s not the same thing!” Bassinger could barely contain himself. “I never want to go back!”
“Use up all your oxygen, and you won’t go back,” said Bucky. “What can you see?”
“Bunch of rubble,” said Bassinger.
“That’s all?”
“Bucky,” said Neimark, “try to be patient. Give us a chance to get to the modules.”
“How close are you?”
“Maybe a quarter mile.”
“I thought you were supposed to land closer.”
“Oh, come on, Bucky—we’ve traveled 250,000 miles and landed maybe five hundred yards from our target. You can’t get much more accurate than that.”
“Okay, okay.” Bucky looked at Gaines. “I knew I should have gone down with them.” Then he leaned over the mike again. “Just get on with it. I want to know what’s over there.”
“There’s probably nothing, Bucky. Except the descent stages.”
“Just take a look, okay? There had to be a reason for the initial landings.”
“We’re moving as fast as we can, Bucky,” said Bassinger. “Just give us a few minutes, and we’ll settle it once and for all.”
“Go ahead,” said Bucky. He turned to Gaines. “I hate waiting.”
Gaines grinned. “I would never have guessed.”
“Can you blame me? I’ve bet my fortune and my reputation that there’s something out there, something that the government doesn’t want us to know about. Now we’re so close . . . Damn! I just hate this hanging around!”
“Stop yelling, Bucky,” said Neimark. “You’re hurting my ears.”
“Sorry,” said Bucky with a singular lack of sincerity.
“Tell you what,” she continued. “Count to two hundred, and by the time you get there, I’ll be able to tell you what we’ve found. If anything.”
Bucky immediately began counting.
“To yourself,” added Neimark.
He nodded to no one in particular, and began counting again, moving his lips soundlessly. Finally, he reached two hundred and looked at the screen, hoping to see something—but the video camera remained stationary, and the two figures were much smaller.
“Okay, Bucky,” said Neimark. “I am about fifty feet from one of the descent stages.”
“Okay. Good. What else can you see?”
“The other descent stage.”
Bucky was running out of patience. “Damn it. What else?”
“Nothing, Boss.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Negative. We’ve got two descent stages from lunar landers. Phil is taking photos of them from every possible angle. They’re about two hundred yards apart. And they’re in beautiful condition.”
“Why did they land there, Marcia?”
“Please!” said Neimark. “No yelling! It’s hard on my ears.”
“Sorry,” he said, and this time he meant it.
“Okay, taking a bunch of close-ups right now,” announced Bassinger.
“All right,” said Bucky, suddenly resigned. He’d been right. He’d scored a victory over the president of the United States. But suddenly it was tasteless. “All right, Marcia. Make sure you get close-ups of any ID.”
“Will do.”
“Well,” said Bucky. “At least I was right about the landings.”
“Looks like you were,” agreed Gaines. “Marcia, we’re about to lose contact with you. Catch you on the next orbit.”
“We’ll have all the photos we need by then,” she replied.
Then they were out of range, and Bucky turned his attention to Earth. “How soon before I can speak to Jerry?”
“Not long,” said Gaines. “I’ll let you know.”
Bucky studied the video of Neimark and Bassinger jumping around as if they’d been suddenly freed from confinement, then watched it again, and a third time, rapt with fascination and a sense of resentment that he wasn’t down there with them.
“Okay,” said Gaines. “Jerry’s trying to get through.”
“Put him on.”
“Video or audio?”
“Both.”
“Hey, Bucky!” said Jerry excitedly. “Do you read me?”
“Loud and clear,” replied Bucky. “We’ll be sending you a video transmission in a couple of minutes.” But Gaines was nodding at him, signaling that it had already been sent. “Hold on, Jerry. Ben tells me you should have it.”
“Wait one, Bucky.” He could hear voices in the background. “They’re telling me we got it. Give us five minutes, and we’ll know what you sent. I assume it’s not just Moon rocks?”
“A fair assumption.”
“If you don’t mind my saying it, you look awfully smug,” said Jerry.
“You’ll figure out why soon enough.”
Jerry spoke to someone off camera. “We’ll have it decrypted and enhanced in about three more minutes.”
“So how are the Giants doing?” asked Bucky.
“I assume you’re not about to give me a hint of what’s on the video,” said Jerry. “Okay, New York or San Francisco?”
Bucky smiled. “I had in mind the giants of industry.”
Jerry chuckled. “Well, the only one who counts is enjoying himself immensely by teasing his spokesman.” He paused. “I wish I was on that ship right now.”
“The ship? Or the Moon?”
“Either one. Ever since I was a kid . . .”
“Yeah, the whole world wanted to be Neil Armstrong.”
Suddenly staid, unflappable Jerry Culpepper let out a war whoop as he looked at something off to his left. “I’ll be damned! You found the descent stages!”
“You knew we would,” said Bucky happily. “It was the rest of the world that doubted it. Marcia Neimark and Phil Bassinger are next to them right now, taking close-ups. We’ll transmit them on the next orbit.”
“So far everything’s been encrypted, including this conversation,” said Jerry. “Let me know when you want everything released to the world.”
“Now’s as good a time as any,” said Bucky. “Can you patch me through and send the visual and audio of what I say next out to everyone—media, computers, everyone?”