Rob noted again the way in which Anson’s eyes lost all expression when he was receiving new information of a factual nature. It was as though he became an object without feelings or personality, a blank tablet on which the facts would be permanently stored. As soon as the storage was finished, the other Howard Anson turned back on, the pleasant and sympathetic gentleman with his own strong personality. That Howard was again in control, and frowning at Rob’s last comment.
“What do you mean, wouldn’t fit with what Pascal said? You’d get big forces if you swing by a black hole — the acceleration ought to be fierce.”
“It would be.” Rob nodded. “But you wouldn’t feel a thing. The gravitational and dynamic accelerations would balance exactly. You’d feel tidal forces if you were near enough, but they fall off very fast with distance. Before they were a factor you’d have to get really close. For most swing-bys, you’d feel as though you were in free fall all the way. It’s no good, Howard, you might as well forget about gravitational forces. They can’t explain what Pascal told you.”
“That’s it then.” Anson shrugged. “That was my last arrow. You’re the expert, so you tell me. What did happen to the Goblins, and where did they come from? You’ve ruled out the only things I can think of.”
“It’s worse than you realize.” Rob smiled ruefully. “I’ve ruled out the only things I can think of, too. Let me stew on it for a while. At the moment I’ve got my head so full of beanstalk movement and new mining methods, there’s not room for anything else.”
“Do you have to go out to Atlantis to observe the mining of Letitia?”
“It uses my Spider. And I promised Regulo that I would.”
“Maybe. But is either of those the reason why you’re going? Are you sure it’s not obsession with the Goblins, and learning more about them?”
Rob did not answer. After a few moments Anson shook his head and said, “I don’t know why I bothered to ask. All right, you’re going. Be careful, and come back quickly.”
“No question of that. Regulo won’t delay me — he’s as keen to see the beanstalk landing and tether as I am.”
“You’ll be able to get me a seat for the landing?”
“A front seat. I can’t allow you into the Control Center itself — it’s over-full already. But I can promise the outside room, and you’ll be seeing all the same displays that I’ll be using.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I guess you wouldn’t have time to talk to me, even if I was in the Control Center with you.”
“Certainly I would. Howard, all my work will have been done before the beanstalk landing begins — finished, checked, and checked again. I would never give a go-ahead otherwise. I have to be in the Control Center, but my plan is to sit, relax, and enjoy the action.”
“I don’t believe the relax part. But the action?” Curiosity replaced concern in Anson’s voice. “What ought we expect to see? Something spectacular?”
“That’s a great question. I know what I hope you’ll see. If something goes wrong, your guess is as good as mine — but it would sure be spectacular.” Rob smiled. “The better it goes, the less fireworks we’ll have to watch. I’ll make sure there are passes for you and Senta, for the Control Center in Santiago.”
“That’s one of the things I don’t understand. Why Santiago ? Why not at the tether point down in Quito ?”
“You can’t afford to put the control where it might get wiped out if things go wrong. If the stalk snapped, or if we can’t attach the ballast correctly at the upper end, nowhere along the equator will be safe. In the worst case, we might have to sacrifice Tether Control to save worse damage. We’ll have more than enough cable to wrap it round the Earth a couple of times.”
Anson was silent for a moment. A startled look came on his face. “You’re not joking, are you? I’m beginning to realize how much a hundred thousand kilometers of cable really is. Lordie. You and Regulo have built a monster, haven’t you? It’s bigger than Ourobouros — twice around the world instead of once.”
“Regulo insists that this is just the beginning. As soon as we have easy mass transfer from Earth we can really go to work on the System. We’ll put some of Earth’s water out on Mars, or bring asteroids down to the surface, bit by bit.”
“You’d need a Martian beanstalk, too.”
“That’s easy. We could have put one there long ago if we wanted one. You don’t need anything like as much strength in a Mars beanstalk — you could build one using ordinary graphite whiskers for the load-bearing cable. Anyway, Howard, I wasn’t serious about shipping Earth water to Mars. That wouldn’t be economical. It’s cheaper and easier to fly a comet in from the Outer System.”
“Could you do that?”
“I don’t know, but I expect so. I’m playing Regulo’s game, speculating in all directions.” Rob leaned back in his seat and rubbed at his reddened eyes. “I find I do that better when I’m tired out.”
“Of course you do.” Anson saw Rob take a quick look at his watch, and realized that the beanstalk’s schedule would control everything in Merlin’s life until the fly-in and tether. “It’s only when you’re tired out that you can let your mind run free. After this job is over, Rob, you’d better plan on a long holiday. You need a re-charge.”
“We can talk about that after the beanstalk is in position and working. Twenty more days. I leave for Atlantis in just a few hours. Will you look at a couple of other things for me while I’m away? I just don’t have time to follow them myself.”
Rob’s manner was becoming increasingly restless. His schedule was calling.
Anson nodded. “Tell me what you need.”
“I’m not quite sure. More about Cancer pertinax, that’s one item. I need to know how many people suffer from it, what the treatments are, and how close we are to finding a cure. It tends to be hereditary, but I’d like you to find out if there’s an infection possibility, too.”
“That should all be easy. The information will all be in public data banks or in research programs. Hmm. Unless Morel has treatments that he hasn’t reported yet. He might have. He always preferred to wait until his techniques were perfected before he would talk about them. But I’ll see what I can find. Anything else?”
Rob hesitated. “I don’t think this will be in any data banks, but I want to know about Corrie. Senta says she’s Regulo’s daughter. Corrie says she doesn’t believe it. Is there any way of finding out for sure, through chromosome tests or genetic matching?”
“Ah.” Howard Anson rubbed at his chest thoughtfully, running a lightning search of some internal data bank. “Sure there is, in principle. It would be dead easy if the genetic data banks were open, but they’re closed so tight I don’t know if I can crack them. It’s a privacy issue. I know there won’t be anything in the public files. A couple of years ago I talked about the same thing with Senta. I had the same reaction as you when I was told that Corrie is Regulo’s daughter. There’s nothing to support it in the birth records, and no other direct evidence. I asked Senta for more details, but she has big blanks in what she can remember. It’s probably part of the same set of memories that we’ve been trying to tap through the taliza trances.” He shrugged. “I’ll dig again, but don’t hold your breath waiting for answers. Can you think of any reason why Senta wouldn’t be telling the truth?”
“No.” Rob was reaching out to cut the connection switch. “No reason at all. Put it the other way round, though. Can you think of any reason why Corrie would be lying? They can’t both be right.”