A Deepness in the Sky

"Damn it, Sherk. Like what?"

Sherkaner steadied himself on his perch, and his words came low and fast. "Like aliens from outer space. They've been here since before the New Sun. You and I saw them in the Dark, Hrunkner. The lights in the sky, remember?"

He rattled on, his tone so unlike the Sherkaner Underhill of years past. The Underhill of old revealed his weird speculations with an arch look or a challenging laugh. But now Underhill spoke in a rush, almost as if someone would stop him...or contradict him? This Underhill spoke like...a desperate man, grasping at fantasy.

The old fellow seemed to realize that he had lost his audience. "You don't believe me, do you, Hrunk."

Hrunkner shrank back on his perch. What resources had already been sunk into this horrifying nonsense? Other worlds—life on other worlds—that was one of Underhill's oldest, craziest ideas. And now it was surfacing after years of justified obscurity. He knew the General; she'd be no more impressed by this than he was. The world was teetering on the edge of an abyss. There was no room to humor poor Sherkaner. Surely the General did not let this distract her. "It's like the videomancy, isn't it, Sherk?"All yourlife, you've made miracles. But now you need them faster and more desperately than ever before. And all you have left is superstition.

"No, no, Hrunk. The videomancy was just a means, a cover so the aliens wouldn't see. Here, I'll show you!" Sherkaner's hands tapped at control holes. The pictures flickered, the color values changing. One landscape morphed from summer to winter. "It'll be a moment. The bit rate is low, but cha

On the display, the colors were shifting, the landscapes melting into low-resolution chaos. Several seconds passed.

And Sherkaner gave a little cry of surprise and unhappiness.

What was left of the picture was recognizable, if much lower bandwidth than the original video. This appeared to be a standard eight-color video stream. They were looking out a camera in Victory Smith's office at Lands Command. It was a good picture, but crude compared to true vision, or even Sherk's videomancy displays.

But this picture showed something real: General Smith stared back at them from her desk. The work was piled high around her. She waved an aide out of the office, and stared out at Underhill and U

"Sherkaner...you brought Hrunkner U

"Yes, I—"

"I thought we discussed this, Sherkaner. You can play with your toys as much as you please, but you are not to bother people who have real work to do."

Hrunkner had never heard the General use such tones and such sarcasm with Underhill. However necessary it might be, he would have given anything not to witness it.

Underhill seemed about to protest. He twisted on his perch, and his arms flailed, begging. Then: "Yes, dear."

General Smith nodded and waved at Hrunkner. "I'm sorry for this inconvenience, Sergeant. If you need help getting back on schedule..."

"Thank you, ma'am. That may be. I'll check with the airport and get back to you."

"Fine." The image from Lands Command vanished.

Sherkaner lowered his head until it rested on the console. His arms and legs were inward-drawn and still. The guide-bug moved closer, pushed at him questioningly.

Underhill moved toward him. "Sherk?" he said softly. "Are you all right?"

The other was silent for a moment. Then he raised his head. "I'll be okay. I'm sorry, Hrunk."

"I—um, Sherkaner, I've got to go. I have another meeting—" That wasn't quite true. He had already missed both the meeting and the inspection. What was true was that there were so many other things to attend to. With Smith's help he might be able to get out of Princeton fast enough to catch up.

Underhill climbed awkwardly down from his perch and let Mobiy guide him after the sergeant. As the heavy doors slid open, Sherkaner reached out a single forehand, gently tugging on one of his sleeves.More insanity?

"Don't ever give up, Hrunk. There's always a way, just like before; you'll see."

U

Then he was gone, and the elevator was sinking downward. For a moment, U

U

Around the level of the cobblies' old park, the elevator slowed. U

The doors slid back—

"Well! Sergeant U

A young lady lieutenant, dressed in quartermaster fatigues. Victory Smith as she had been so many years ago. Her aspect had the same brightness, her movement the same graceful precision. For a moment, U

The vision stepped into the elevator, and U

Of course. U

Viki put a couple of arms affectionately across his shoulders. "No. You're allowed. Somehow, I don't think I'll ever be giving you orders. Daddy said you were coming up today....Have you seen him? Do you have a moment to talk with me?"

The elevator was sliding to a stop, foyer level. "I—Yes, I did....Look, I'm in a bit of rush to get back to Lands Command." After the debacle upstairs, he just didn't know what he could say to Viki.

"That's okay. I'm on minus minutes myself. Let's share the ride to the airport." She waved a grin. "Twice the security."

Lieutenants might manage a security escort, but they are rarely the subject of one. Young Victory's group was about half the number of U

"So. What did Daddy have to say?" The tone was light, but Hrunkner could hear the anxiety. Viki was not quite the perfect, opaque intelligence officer. It might have been a flaw, but then he had known her since she had cobblie eyes.

And that made it all the harder for U