The Icarus Hunt

"Don't worry, it's not as bad as I first thought." His eyebrows lifted slightly.

"So you know who I am. What else do you know?"

I shrugged. "I know our alleged computer specialist Tera is your daughter Elaina Tera Cameron," I said. "Is it safe to walk on this stuff?"

"Perfectly safe," he assured me. "I'd avoid stepping on the displays, but everything else is as solid as the commark."

"The wires won't break or come loose?" I asked, dubiously eyeing the multicolored tangle beneath my feet.

"I've had a lot of time to examine them," he said. "Trust me, they're every bit as solid as the ones on the Icarus."

"Ah," I said, taking a cautious step toward him. "So in other words, all thatexaggerated care I took getting through the Icarus sphere was a waste ofeffort?"

"If you want to look at it that way," he said with a shrug. "Personally, I'venever found any effort to be completely wasted."

"Sure," I said noncommittally. The cables and conduits made little squooshingsounds as I walked over them, but aside from that it all felt firm enough.

Still, there was no point in taking chances, and I kept it slow and careful.

The gravity, I estimated, was about the same .85 gee as we had in the Icarus'slargesphere.

"So Elaina told you who she was," he commented as I picked my way toward him.

"I'm a little surprised by that. I was very clear she was to keep her identitysecret."

"It was a bit more complicated than that," I said, passing over the details.

"Just to save time, I also know how you smuggled the Icarus onto Meima, bothin its original disassembled form and then the orbital loop you did to bring itout of hiding and over to the spaceport. I know the Patth are becoming veryinsistent about getting their little paws on it."

I looked around the sphere. "And I used to know why they wanted it.

Apparently, I was wrong."

Cameron exhaled noisily. "As were we all, my boy. Tell me, do you have anyidea where we are right now?"

"Inside another of your alien artifacts, obviously," I said. "Which means thatinstead of a simple little stardrive, what your people dug up was actually theHoly Grail of the Einstein-Bashermain Unified Field Theory."

"An interesting but succinct way of putting it," Cameron said. "Yes, we are infact sitting inside the physical proof that all those exotic wormhole andteleportation theories are more than just mathematical constructs. There'sgoingto be a considerable amount of both gloating and backpedaling in the halls ofacademia when word of this gets out."

"Assuming word of it ever does get out," I said darkly. I had reached him now, and gave him a quick and hopefully unobtrusive once-over as I sat downgingerlyon the mass of wiring in front of him. His face was drawn and pale, his cheeksand chin peppered with an impressive collection of beard stubble. He hadn'tyetstood up; I wondered if he was perhaps too weak to do so. "If the Patth werewilling to bribe, suborn, and kill for a stardrive that might or might notcompete with theirs, imagine what they would do to get hold of a real workingstargate."

"The Patth or anyone else, for that matter," he said with a grimace. "Whichmakes it all the more urgent that we get the Icarus to Earth before anyoneelse does find out what it is."

I cleared my throat. "Yes, well, I can immediately see a problem or two withthat. Do you happen to have any idea how far we are from the Icarus?"

"All I know is that it's a considerable distance," he said, gesturing towardthe large sphere. "There are a handful of small viewports out in the receiver chamber—they're unobtrusive, but I found the controls to open them. I've spenta good part of the past two days searching for a constellation—anyconstellation—that I can recognize. There's not a single one I can find, noteven in distorted form."

"And I can assume you're not just talking Earth constellations?" I asked, justfor the record.

The smile this time was very brittle. "I've been from one end of the Spiral tothe other, McKell," he said. "I say again: Nothing was recognizable."

I felt a lump form in my throat. "Terrific," I murmured. "I hope like hellwe're not poaching on someone else's territory."

"That could be unpleasant," he agreed. "Still, I've been here eleven days, andno one but you and your little pet here has shown up."

He frowned suddenly. "It has been eleven days since we landed on Potosi, hasn't it? Time rather blends together here."

"Yes, eleven's about right," I confirmed. "I take it this little side tripwasn't part of your scheme?"

He snorted. "Why, did you think it might be?"

"Considering all the rest of the finagling you and your daughter have done onthis trip, I thought it worth asking," I said pointedly. "So how exactly didyouwind up falling down the rabbit hole?"

He grimaced. "I slipped into the Icarus's transmission chamber a little whilebefore we left Potosi," he said. "Right after my encounter with the would-bemurderer. I worked through the wiring—"

"Wait a second," I interrupted, the back of my neck tingling. "What do youmean, would-be murderer?"

"The man who was apparently pla

"Cabin Seven, down on the lower deck. Didn't you know?"

Ixil's cabin. "We knew something strange had happened there," I told himgrimly.

"But we haven't been able to make sense out of it. How about filling in theblanks?"

He shrugged. "There's not much I can tell you," he said. "Elaina told meeveryone was leaving to look for a runaway crewer—Shawn, I think she said, theone with the medical condition. I had already decided to temporarily relocateto the small sphere, so I waited until the ship was quiet and headed to the lowerdeck to pick up some extra food supplies."

"How did you get out of the 'tweenhull area?" I asked. "Through Cabin Two, Jones's old cabin?"

"That's right," he said. "Elaina told you about that, too, I see. I take itthat was you who chased me around the 'tweenhull area?"

"That's right," I confirmed.

"I thought so. At any rate, after you nearly caught me, I realized the'tweenhull area wasn't a safe hiding place. I also didn't think it safe tostaypermanently in Jones's cabin, which was why I'd decided to move into the smallsphere. But when I reached the lower deck, I found that all the overheadlightshad been turned off and there was a man with a small finger-light working onthe cabin door."

"Could you see who it was?" I asked, feeling my heartbeat pick up. At last, Iwas going to have a name to co

The anticipation was premature. "Sorry," Cameron said, shaking his head. "Thefinger-light was set very low, and he was nothing more than a shadowy shapecrouching by the doorway. From what little reflected backlight I was gettingon his face, though, he didn't look familiar. Possibly someone from the port areawho'd sneaked aboard while everyone was gone."

I clenched my teeth in frustration. "Unfortunately, the hatch was locked whenthey all left the ship," I said. "Which means one of the crew had to have comeback to let him in."

"Ah." He peered closely at me. "Jones's murderer, you think?"

"I think having both a murderer and the accomplice of an entirely differentmurderer aboard a ship the size of the Icarus would be pushing coincidence abit far," I said sourly. "All right, fine, so our murderer has friends. Whodoesn't?

What happened next?"

"He obviously thought the ship was deserted, because he was so engrossed inhis work that I was nearly to him before he even realized I was there," Cameronsaid. "He'd gotten a big wrench wedged into the doorway to hold it open. Oh, Ididn't mention that part. The door was only opening partway—"

"Yes, I know," I interrupted him. "I was the one who gimmicked it that way."

"Ah." He gave me an odd look, then shrugged. "At any rate, he turned just as Igot within about two steps of him. I frankly didn't think I would make it therest of the way, but he froze just long enough before straightening up andgrabbing for the wrench. Fortunately for me, it was jammed in fairly tightlyand he didn't have good leverage reaching over his shoulder that way, which meantI was able to step in close and get in the first punch. Edge-hand blow to theside of his neck."