He accepted a thimble-sized glass of vodka. Bulacheff toasted, “To understanding.”
They both downed their drinks in a single gulp.
As Bulacheff wheeled his swivel chair to refill Markov’s glass, the linguist said, “It was good of you to find time for me. I know you must be very busy.”
Bulacheff’s bald pate gleamed in the light from the panels in the ceiling. “Actually,” he said, “I am very glad to see you. I want to discuss this Jupiter business with someone who is not in the Academy, not part of the official apparatus.”
“Oh?”
With an almost sheepish smile, Bulacheff eased back in his chair. “It is only too easy to become isolated in a position such as mine. The people I see are all members of the Academy or the government. Sometimes we become too ingrown; we lose sight of the important things because we are so concerned with the immediate problems of the moment.”
Holding his refilled glass in front of him, Markov nodded. “I see.”
“It is good to discuss this matter of”—Bulacheff inadvertently glanced ceilingward—“of ETI with a man of science, rather than an apparatchik.”
Is he looking to the heavens or for microphones in the ceiling, Markov wondered. He said, “It’s a matter of grave importance, true enough.”
“Yes,” Bulacheff agreed. “And the Americans are a jump ahead of us—as usual.”
“What do you mean?”
“This man Stoner…this idealist who wrote you that letter—do you know who he is?”
Markov shook his head.
“Our embassy in Washington reports that he was one of the astronomers who helped design and build the orbiting telescope that the Americans launched recently: they call it the Big Eye.”
“A telescope in orbit? Like a sputnik?”
“Exactly. No doubt the Americans are using it to study Jupiter very closely…much more closely than we can, since we have no such equipment in orbit.”
Markov stroked his beard with his free hand. “So they have found things that we cannot see.”
“Exactly! They have eyes and we are blind.”
“That’s…too bad.”
Bulacheff knocked back his vodka and put the glass carefully on his desk. “Science depends on politics. It has always been so. Capitalist or socialist, it makes no difference. We want to study the universe but we must beg for the money from the politicians.”
Markov agreed. “Even in the beginnings of science, great men such as Galileo and Kepler had to cast horoscopes for their patrons if they wanted to be supported for their true work.”
“Yes. And nowadays we have to invent weapons for them.”
Peering ceilingward himself, Markov said, “But that is necessary for the defense of the Motherland.”
“Of course,” Bulacheff said brusquely. Then he added, “And for the triumph of socialism.”
“It’s too bad we don’t have an orbiting telescope of our own,” Markov said.
“It would take ten years to get one into space—nine of them wheedling and begging.”
“I wonder…is there any way we can get to use the American telescope? Or to see the photographs they have taken?”
Bulacheff fixed him with a beady look. “When they won’t even admit publicly that they’ve discovered something? When they’re keeping the entire matter secret?”
“H’mm. Yes. That would be difficult.” Markov took half his drink down, felt the vodka burning its way through him.
“If it wouldn’t lead to war, I’d be tempted to ask our Cosmonaut Corps to seize the Big Eye,” Bulacheff muttered.
Markov almost laughed, but managed to control himself.
“No,” Bulacheff said gloomily. “Our only chance is co-operation with the Americans. But with the international situation the way it is, our political leaders will never accept being forced to ask favors from Washington.”
“It would be humiliating,” Markov agreed.
“But there must be some way to do it!”
Markov looked closely at the bald little man. Frail though he appeared, Bulacheff’s voice had iron in it. His eyes were glowing, and not merely from the vodka.
“About my report,” Markov began slowly, waiting to be interrupted.
“Yes?”
“I presume you’ve read it?”
“Thoroughly.”
Markov nodded. “If these radio signals from Jupiter are not a language, doesn’t that mean that the chances of there being intelligent life there are rather…well, nonexistent?”
“I would agree, certainly,” Bulacheff said, hunching his shoulders in something approximating a shrug, “except that the Americans are working like fiends on the problem.”
“They are?”
Bulacheff began ticking points off on his fingers. Markov noted that they were long, slender, delicate hands: pianist’s hands.
“First, your friend Stoner is working on the problem. He has left the American space agency to work for a small, out-of-date radio telescope facility.”
Markov began to say, “He is not a friend of…”
But Bulacheff went on, “Second, Stoner has influence with the space agency people who run the Big Eye. It seems that they are processing photographs from the orbital telescope and sending them to Stoner, through secure channels.”
Markov nodded.
“Third, the entire staff of this radio telescope facility—including your friend Stoner—has been forced to sign new security oaths by the United States Navy…”
“Navy?”
Bulacheff smirked. “The Americans are very sloppy administrators. Somehow their Navy is in charge of this project.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It makes no difference. The conclusion is that they are working on the Jupiter problem in secrecy. It seems that they have put a code name to their work: Project JOVE. They have told their NATO apparatus about the problem, apparently.”
“Maybe they will make a public announcement, once they have proof…”
Bulacheff shook his head. “No. They will want to make contact with the aliens. And keep the information from us.”
“Then perhaps we should announce to the world that we have received their signals, also!”
Again Bulacheff flicked his eyes ceilingward. “That would be against our government’s policy.”
“But we can’t keep it a secret forever,” Markov insisted. “And since the Americans already know, and are ahead of us, it would be to our advantage to make the whole thing public and force a worldwide co-operative program.”
“I agree, Kirill Vasilovsk,” Bulacheff said. “I have considered that possibility.”
Markov nodded eagerly.
“Our ambassador to the United Nations could reveal our discovery of the radio signals,” Bulacheff said, steepling his fingers, “and then we would get credit all around the world for discovering intelligent life.”
“And we could recommend an international program to study the signals,” Markov added, his pulse racing. “The Americans would have to go in with us.”
“But that doesn’t mean the Americans would share their Big Eye photographs. They could claim that they have never used the telescope on Jupiter. They could still keep the information for themselves.”
“Oh,” said Markov, crestfallen.
“Which is why you are so important to us,” Bulacheff went on.
“I am?”
“Of course! The American, Stoner, apparently trusts you enough to write to you and reveal that he is working on the problem.”
“He never said in so many words…”
“Between the lines, Kirill Vasilovsk, between the lines.”