Odyssey

“Let’s discuss it later. Stein managed to evacuate a few of his people. They weren’t attacked. So whatever’s driving these things, they want the structure gone. Not you. I suggest you get as many people off the platform as you can.”

“How am I supposed to do that? We have two shuttles and that’s it.” She paused, trying to collect herself. “When will they get here?”

“They’re just past the second ring.” She did the math. The rings were 150 kilometers apart. The globes had needed about ten minutes to get from the first ring to the second one. “If they maintain current velocity, you’ve got about five and a half hours.”

Why were they moving so slowly?

“Maybe that’s their top speed,” said Eric.

“I doubt it,” she said. “Bill, let’s go back to the shuttles.”

“Very good,” said Bill. “They’re panicked.”

He switched over. Screams and yells erupted from the speaker. “You’re safe,” said Valya. “They’re gone.”

A woman’s voice spilled out. Margo Somebody. “I’m the pilot. Salvator, do you see the bastards?”

“They’re well up the line. Headed away from you.”

“Toward West?”

“Looks like. Listen, stay put. Help’s coming. I’ll make sure somebody gets over here to pick you up. They’re still probably six or seven hours away. But just sit tight.”

She did a final search of the area, on the off chance she might have missed something. But there was no one on the commlink, and the sca

Minutes later, they passed the first of the rings that supported the collider. It was charred. Now they knew what had flared up. A second ring was in the same condition.

Dead ahead, she made out the globes. They were dark, proceeding at a leisurely pace. On impulse, she slowed and blinked her navigation lights. The globes blinked back.

She tried a second time, but the phenomenon did not repeat.

“They’re taking the entire thing down,” said Eric.

“Apparently.” She brought Bill back up. “What’s the latest on the rescue fleet?”

“Valya, everything is currently on the way, but they’re all still in hyper. The Rehling is supposed to make its jump into local space in about an hour.” After which they’d need some time to get to the Tower. “The Rehling can carry nine passengers. The Granville should be ru

She reco

Estevan listened, rage and frustration barely controlled. “All these years of work,” she said. Her voice trembled.

AN HOUR LATER, as they approached the West Tower, Bill a

“Valya.” The voice belonged to Mark Stevens, a veteran pilot with whom she’d worked on several occasions. “We’ve just completed our jump. Got a good one. We’ll be at the West Tower in about three hours.”

“Make it as quick as you can, Mark.”

A frightened crowd awaited them as they debarked. “What are these things?” they demanded. “What’s happening? Is it as bad as we’re hearing?”

“Help’s coming,” Valya said.

“And these things are coming here, is that right?” demanded a tall, gangly young man with red-blond hair and a Denver Hawks jacket. “Why are they doing this?”

“Nobody knows,” she said. When they get here, you can ask them.

“We’re all going to die.” A frightened voice, somewhere. Somebody else whimpered.

“We can take some of you off on the Salvator,” Valya said. “More ships are on their way.”

It didn’t help much.

The interior was a mirror image of East Tower. The dining room that had been on the right was on the left. Conference rooms were reversed, as were the library and a gym. They pushed through, picked up an escort, and hurried down passageways and climbed into the upper levels until they reached Estevan’s office.

The deputy director looked as if the world had ended. She sat in a chair with a notebook open on her lap, staring at the opposite wall. She glanced up, said hello, thanked the person who’d accompanied them, and signaled for her to close the door on her way out.

Design charts of Origins at various stages of construction covered the walls. There was also a picture of two toddlers. Probably the director’s grandchildren. Estevan was smaller than she’d appeared on the commlink. Her face was ashen, and a vein throbbed in her neck. “For God’s sake,” she said, “what are we supposed to do? You tell me to evacuate. Where? How? I have no ships — ”

“They’re coming,” said Valya.

“When?”

“The Rehling’s three hours out. The others haven’t jumped yet, so it’s impossible to be sure. But the Granville should also be here before the moonriders. And if we get lucky, maybe one or two others.”

“How many can they carry?”

“Thirty-one between them.”

Estevan closed her eyes and fought back tears. “It’s maddening,” she said. “The potential for this facility…” She tried to shake off the mood.

“How many are on the station?”

“Seventy-eight, counting me.” She almost sounded resentful. “You look surprised.” It was more than Valya had expected. “So what do we do, Valya?”

Na pari o diaolos. How did Valya wind up in charge? This was a bit above her pay grade.

The Salvator could squeeze nine on board, not counting herself and Eric. That was well over capacity. But she could manage it for a limited time. Assuming the Granville and the Rehling got here before the moonriders, that would leave thirty-eight still on the station. “You said you had shuttles?”

“Two.”

“Are they the same as the ones at the other end? The TG12s?”

“Yes. I believe so.”

“That’s sixteen more.”

“They only hold six. Including the pilot.”

“They’ll hold eight in an emergency.”

Estevan didn’t believe her. “They’ll suffocate.”

“The air’ll get a bit close. But it’s only until more ships arrive. And we’ve got a lander on the Salvator. That’ll take another four.” That left what? Eighteen. “How many breathers does the Tower have?”

Estevan made a call to get the answer. Whoever was on the other end had to check. Valya lowered herself into a seat. Estevan exhaled. Looked around the room. Then spoke into her link again. She listened, nodded, frowned. “We have six,” she told Valya. “They’re telling me there are usually two more, but they went to the East Tower a week ago.”

“And your shuttles each have two?”

“Yes.”

Each breather had a two-hour air supply. “Have them make sure the air tanks are filled and ready to go,” she said.

“Why?” she asked. “What’s the point?”

“You put as many people on the ships as the life support will maintain. Then you give the rest breathers and put them on board, too. It’ll be uncomfortable, but they’ll survive until the other ships get here.”

Valya had the eight from Union, and the two that were routinely kept on board. That was twenty. If the Rehling and the Granville got there before the moonriders, they could get everyone off.

ESTEVAN BROUGHT IN her senior staff, three men and two women, and introduced everybody. Larry Kleigma

Angie Sudara was the acting construction chief. Her boss had been at the other tower. She was barely five feet tall, middle-aged, light brown hair, good-looking in an unkempt, windblown way. “Good to see you guys,” she said.

Julie Halper headed the West Tower medical department. Julie was a Nigerian, obviously a woman who worked out, with a good smile, but, at the moment, an intense, scared expression.

And Santos Kerr, tall and lean, in a white jumpsuit. A mathematician who had, Kleigma

And finally, the deputy’s chief of staff, Ho Smith. It sounded like the name of an action hero, but he looked scared. Ho had Asian features, but spoke Oxford English.

Without wasting time, Estevan got down to business. “Right now, it looks as if these savages will be here in about three and a half hours. The Salvator is here to evacuate some of us, and Valya tells us it’s ready to go.

“As things now stand, we should be okay. I wish we could do something to stop these idiots from blowing up the rest of the facility. Ho has been trying to contact them, but they’re not talking to us.” She glanced over at Ho. He nodded. Yes, he had been trying, and no, there was still no response.

Did any one have a suggestion?

No one did.

“Okay. Then let’s go talk to the troops.”

ESTEVAN MARCHED THROUGH the somber crowds in the passageways, trying to be reassuring as she went, wearing a smile as if everything was under control.

She strolled into the dining area flanked by her staff and followed by, Valya thought, everyone in the facility.

She signaled for Valya and Eric to stand with her. Then she waited for silence. When it didn’t immediately come, Kleigma

She climbed onto a chair. It was a bit wobbly, and Santos took her hand to steady her. She started by giving her assurance that everyone was going to get off the station before the aliens showed up. Then she introduced Valya and Eric, who had arrived “in the first of several evacuation vessels.” That brought cheers. “Ladies and gentlemen, you already have a pretty good idea what’s going on. But let me lay it out for you.”

She was good. There’d been a transformation of sorts between the quivering wreck in the office and the woman who now dominated a frightened audience. In a tense but matter-of-fact tone, she explained what had happened and what was being done to rescue them. “I’ll be honest,” she said. “This whole thing is as scary for me as it is for you. But we have every reason to be optimistic. Help is on the way. And the good news is these creatures don’t seem intent on killing us. Apparently, they simply want to destroy the facility.”