The hatch was shut. I wondered if it was locked. If we went out through the back door, sneaked up on him, and ran into a lock, it would probably blow the entire operation. Best was to give him the opportunity to open it. We put on their jackets. Alex and I could both have fit in Bong's. I also removed Krestoff's boots and pulled them on. They weren't a bad fit. Bong's boots, on the other hand, would have swallowed Alex, so he stayed with his own shoes. Krestoff smirked behind her gag. She didn't think we were going to make it. Her partner mostly made growling noises. We had a brief debate over who was going to go say hello to the pilot. Alex, of course, thought it was his responsibility as the guy in the operation. But I had a better chance of getting away with impersonating Krestoff than he did playing Bong. The last thing we wanted was for the pilot to see who was knocking at the door of the skimmer and take off. I picked up the smaller black box that they'd brought. It might provide a distraction. Any distraction would be good. I closed it, gave Alex a moment to exit by the back, then I opened the door and stepped out into the night. It was good to be in a real jacket. The house was illuminated behind me, but there was no easy help for that. The skimmer's lights were out, save for a convenience lamp at the hatch and the faint glow of the pilot's reading light.
I walked toward the skimmer. He saw me and looked my way. I raised one hand to say hello, but otherwise I kept walking, gazing down at the black box as if something had gone wrong with it. The less time he had to think about things, the better. The hatch opened as I reached it. I put the box inside, on the deck, and took out the gun. His eyes went wide when he saw it. "You're not Maria," he said. "Just sit," I said. "What's the AI's name?" "Doc. Hey, you're not going to use that on me?" "My name's Chase. Tell Doc to add me to the log." He hesitated, and I pointed the weapon at his head. "Do it." "Doc," he said, "this is Chase. Take direction from her."
"Yes, Karfa. Hello, Chase."
"Hello, Doc." I turned back to the pilot. "Okay, Karfa, please get out of the vehicle. Step down slowly. Give me your link. Don't make any unexpected moves." "Okay." He released his harness and got up. As he did I backed off a couple of paces. Alex came up from behind. He was carrying something wrapped in plastene. Karfa was a young guy. Not much more than a kid. Not the same pilot who'd brought us out there. He shivered in the cold, and he looked stunned. He couldn't keep his eyes off the scrambler. "What did you do with Maria and Shelby?" "Shelby's the tech?" "No. The agent. Shelby Corel." Shelby? Bong's given name was Shelby ? "Go find out for yourself," I said. "You can get in the back door. We left it open." I signaled for him to get started. He climbed down and headed for the rear of the house. "Be careful," I told him. "Don't go walking around back there." Alex got into the aircraft. I followed him and closed the hatch. As we lifted off, I saw Karfa disappear through the rear doorway.
"Congratulations," said Alex. "Thanks." I was feeling pretty good. "Doc, take us to the nearest spaceport." "Very good, Chase," said the AI. "Rendel is about an hour away." Alex nodded. "Yes," he said. "Good. We should be able to get clear before anybody notices Krestoff's missing." "What do you have?" I said, looking at the package. "This? It's the Churchill."
"I should have realized." "Absolutely correct," said Alex. "You should."
Fortunately, Miranda was in the sky that night. Over Rimway it would have been scarcely visible. But in the wide-open spaces above Salud Afar, the planet glittered and sparkled. When we settled on course for Rendel I couldn't help noticing that Miranda could have performed the function of a guide. It lay almost dead ahead. In the cabin, I have to admit we were gloating. Well, actually, I did most of the gloating. I'd laid out Krestoff's muscle with one swing, and Alex was talking with Samuels. Yes, they told us, they'd have the Belle-Marie ready to go when we got there. So we sat and talked and felt good about ourselves. "First thing we're going to do," said Alex, "is go out to the asteroid." "Why?" I said. "You'll see." I hated it when he got like that. "It's really Wexler, isn't it?" I said. "Sure. You saw the way she reacted." I was sitting with my head resting on the back of the seat, thinking how glad I'd be to get on board the Belle-Marie , where I'd be safely out of the reach of the CSS and of Mikel Wexler, hero of the Revolution. While I was sitting wrapped up in my happy thoughts, I noticed that Miranda had vanished from the sky. That didn't alarm me, because it probably meant only that there were some clouds ahead. One of the complications that ensues from a starless sky is that you can never tell whether it's a clear night or not. Unless they were accompanied by lightning, storms after dark had a tendency to sneak up on you. It had been about a half hour since we'd left the plateau. Below us there were only occasional lights, a cluster of streetlamps, now and then a ground vehicle. I don't know why I twisted around in my seat, but I did. And I saw Miranda. Behind us. We were headed back the way we'd come. I caught Alex's eye, let him know something was wrong, and put my finger to my lips. I wasn't familiar with the vehicle we were riding, but these things all have an AI shutoff. "It's to your left," said Doc. "Open the green panel." That shook me. But he was right. I opened it and there was the disconnect. "How'd you know?" "It's all in the body language, Chase. How did you know?" "Miranda."
"Oh. Well, there was nothing I could do about that."
I touched the toggle. "I'm going to shut you down, Doc."
"It won't work."
I tried it, pulled it into the position marked DISCONNECT AI.
"Chase, this is what is known as a special situation."
"You're taking us back?" asked Alex.
"Of course. I suggest you sit back and allow this special situation to run its course. It will be best for everyone."
TWENTY-FOUR
The notion that earth and sea are solid is an illusion. It is a trick played upon us by our monkey brains. In reality it's not like that at all. This sofa here, for example, is mostly empty space. Ninety-nine percent empty space. So I say to you now and forever, we are fortunate that we do not know the real world. Were we to confront the world as it actually is, we would have nowhere to sit.
- Nightwalk
"We've got the guns," I said. Alex was looking out the window, trying to see what the ground looked like. "No. We don't know that we have them all. Anyhow, once we land on the plateau, we'll be stuck there again." "What do you suggest?" "Can we disable it?" "I've already tried." "I mean the skimmer." "You want me to crash it?" "I'm open to a better idea." There was storage space behind the backseat. I opened it, but it was empty. "Have to use the scrambler," I said. "That is not a good idea," said Doc. "Then turn control over to me."
"I'm not able to do that."
I took out the weapon, went digging through the cockpit until I found the hardware that housed Doc. I checked to be sure the scrambler was on paralysis mode, aimed it at the hardware, and pulled the trigger. "Doc?"
"I'm still here."
"I'm not surprised." I found a lightning icon that provided a setting to shut off the aircraft's power. "What do you think?" I asked. Alex looked down at the ground. "Leave it on." "Unless you want to go back, or jump, it's all we have." "We'd lose antigrav, too, right?" "We've got wings. We might be able to glide in." He thought about it for a long minute. "Doc," I said, "can you take us lower?"