Infinity Beach

“And God help me I knew it had been the fuel cells, that the celestials had somehow transferred them to the lander, and that Kile and I were responsible.

“I did what I could to help. Emergency teams from Eagle Point and elsewhere came in quickly. I tried again to raise Kile, but I never heard from him again.

“At the time I believed people would know who had done it. How could they not know? We were just back, the explosion had been triggered by antimatter, Kile was almost certainly dead in the blast. We had another crew member missing, and a third dead in the village. Clearly we had been up to something.

“Nevertheless I could not face public humiliation, and I did what I could to keep these events from coming to the attention of the authorities. It seemed to me two things needed to be accomplished.

“The first was to dispose of Yoshi’s body, so that it would not be found at the scene of the disaster and, when she was identified, raise even more questions. I wrapped it in plastic, weighted it, and put her in the river, above the dam, in the deepest part.

“Second, I had to remove the starship. I’d decided to bury it in the mountains, and then try to ride out the storm of suspicion which I knew would rise, and which indeed did rise, after the event. But when I got back to Kile’s villa, to my horror his mother had arrived and taken charge of things. I had no immediate opportunity to retrieve the microship, so I left it, hoping that no one would recognize it for what it was. Several days later, when I visited her, she was talking about sending it to her grandson.

“The thing that attacked Yoshi is still loose in the mountains. People come back with stories, and it has become something of a local celebrity, although fortunately very few take it seriously. And they are written off as lunatics.

“I have felt some sympathy for the creature, lost and alone in a strange world. I do not believe it meant to injure Yoshi, but only wished to clear the way for the escape vehicle. I’ve even gone looking for it on occasion. If it’s there, and if it recognizes me, it stays away.

“The lost crew of the microship, in spite of everything, has my respect. They killed two, and possibly three, of our people. Yet they must have known an explosion was imminent, and they took the fuel with them anyway. Did they do it for some incomprehensible reason? Or did they recognize they were in a populated area and sacrificed themselves in an effort to save creatures for whom they should have had no concern and no sympathy?”

The three great stars in Orion rose out of the sea at about nine o’clock. Kim sat on her deck, watching them. Next door, they were celebrating a birthday with loud music and rockets. When the noise subsided and the lights eventually went out, she was still there.

30

One assumes the kindness of a friend;

But the kindness of a stranger,

Ah, that is of a different order of magnitude—

“And you thought Tripley’s grandmother put the body in the river.” Matt’s eyes contained a rare twinkle.

“I couldn’t imagine who else might have done it. I never even thought of Kane.”

“Do you think Tora knows?”

“She knows.” They were on the sundeck at Kim’s home. It was a trifle cool but the day was pleasant and the sound of the surf soothing.

“I wonder what the customs people will say when they find out somebody smuggled a starship past them.” His eyes closed. “So what are you going to do now? You can’t really sit on something like this.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Turn it over to Woodbridge.”

“Then what?”

“Then nothing. We’re out of it at that point.”

“Matt—”

“Look, Kim, I understand how you feel. The reputations of Kane and Tripley are hanging out there. People think they’re killers. But they’re the ones who mismanaged everything. You have an agreement with Woodbridge and he’s absolutely right. We’re just going to have to swallow this as best we can.”

She stared out to sea. “Matt, we aren’t talking reputations anymore. Or politics. Think about what happened out there. At Alnitak.”

“They blundered.”

“Yes, they did. They encountered a vehicle from another civilization, and they hijacked it.”

“I know.”

“One of the most important events in human history. We need to find a way to set things right.”

“Are we talking about the celestials?”

“Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Kim, how in heaven can we do that? It’s done. Fini. Too late.”

“Maybe not. We could try mounting another mission. Go back to Alnitak and try again to talk to them.”

“That’s good. Wasn’t it you the other day who was calling them murderous sons of bitches? Who wanted to kill them all? Wasn’t it you who stirred up Woodbridge? Warned him that we shouldn’t let anybody near the little bastards? I think that’s quoted correctly.”

“Matt—”

“—Who encouraged him to cancel Beacon? Which project, by the way, the director was proud of? And which your colleagues had been working on for years?”

“Matt, I was wrong. Think about what happened. The crew of the Valiant sacrificed themselves to save members of a species that had kidnapped and marooned them. Why do you think they did that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they weren’t very bright.”

“I think they’re worth getting to know.”

A couple of joggers were passing. They waved, and Kim and Flexner waved back. “Flip-flop,” he said. “Are these things dangerous or not?”

“Of course they’re dangerous. But think how the Hunter incident must have looked to them. Look, we know that the Valiant had a hyperspace capability. That would also mean they’d have hypercomm. If they were in trouble, as apparently they were, they’d already sent out a call for help. What would they have done when the Hunter arrived? Another message, right? ‘My God, you ought to see this huge son of a bitch that just showed up.’”

“Okay.”

“And what do they say next?”

“‘They’re trying to grab us.’”

“Exactly. The transmission probably gets cut off in the middle. That’s why Solly and I found an unfriendly welcome when we arrived in the neighborhood. Ask yourself how we’d react if a giant ship grabbed one of ours. No wonder they wanted to know our address.” She listened to him breathe and wondered why he was so fearful. Why was there no one like Solly in the upper levels of the organization?

Flexner shook his head. “It’s too late to repair the damage now. I mean, how can you do it? It looks as if it’s a shoot-first situation out there. And we can’t even talk to them.”

“Sure we can.”

“Oh yeah. Two-four-six-eight. That’s good.”

“Matt, we’ve got to talk with something other than language. Something they’ll understand.”

He got up, walked to the end of the deck, and looked out at the sea. “What would you suggest?”

“The Valiant. I think we go back and do a gesture.”

“Meaning—?”

“Return the Valiant. Tell them we’re sorry and leave it to them to figure out what the words mean. The important thing is the gesture. So we stand out there, give them a clear shot at us, show them we trust them, and return their ship.”

“Sounds like a formula for getting killed.”

“Maybe,” she said. “But people who’ll sacrifice themselves for strangers—” A couple of kids playing tag ran giggling through the yard and past the Institute flyer. Kim watched them for a minute.

“Let me think it over,” said Flexner. “We can make a judgment on that more easily after we’ve had a good look at the thing. After we have a better idea what their technology looks like.” He gazed at her uncertainly. “What’s wrong?” he asked.