Footfall

“New asteroid?” Owen asked.

“That’s what I thought,” Dr. Mouton said. “Except … take a good look, Rick. And think about what you’re seeing.”

He stared at the screen. Jeanette came closer. She couldn’t see anything strange. You take the pictures on two different nights and do a blink comparison. The regular stars won’t have moved enough to notice, but anything that moves against the background of the “fixed stars,” like a planet or an asteroid, will be in two different places on the two different photos. Blink back and forth between the two plates: the “moving” body would seem to jump back and forth. That was how Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto. It was also a standard photo reco

“What’s the problem?” Owen asked.

“That’s moving too far for the interval.”

“It’s close …”

“Not that close,” she said. “I got the plates from a few weeks ago. Rick, I had to trace back damn near night by night, it’s moving so fast! It’s in a hyperbolic orbit.”

“Come on, it can’t be!”

“It is,” Dr. Mouton said.

“Excuse me,” Jeanette said. They both turned to look at her. They’d obviously forgotten she was there. “What’s a hyperbolic orbit?”

“Fast,” Owen said. “Moving too fast for the sun’s gravity. Objects in a hyperbolic orbit can escape from the solar system altogether.”

She frowned. “How could something be moving that fast?”

“Big planets can make it happen.” Richard said. “Disturb something’s orbit …”

“It’s under power,” Mary Alice Mouton said.

“Aw, come on!”

“I know it’s silly, but it’s the only explanation I can think of. Rick, I’ve followed that thing backward for weeks, and it has decelerated most of the way.”

“But …”

“Jupiter can’t do that. Nothing can.”

“No, of course it — Mary Alice?”

“The computer plot fits perfectly if you assume it’s a powered spacecraft.” Dr. Mouton’s voice had taken on a flat, dry note. “And nothing else does.”

An hour later. Two more astronomers had come in, looked at the plates, and left shaking their heads. One had insisted that whatever else they found, the early plates were genuine; he’d taken them himself. The other hadn’t even admitted seeing anything.

Owen used the telephone to call Arizona . “Laura? Rick Owen. We’ve got something fu

“Good! Looked at them? Could you please go look? Yes, now. I know it’s not convenient, but believe me, it’s important.”

“You don’t really believe that’s a powered ship, do you?” Jeanette asked.

Mary Alice looked at her with haunted eyes. “I’ve tried everything else, and nothing fits the data. And yes, I remember the pulsars!” which meant nothing to Jeanette.

They drank coffee while Owen talketh. Finally he put down the phone. He looked flightened. “Kin Peak has seen it,” he a

“Bother the credit, what is it?” Dr. Mouton demanded. “Rick, it’s big, and it’s under power, and it’s coming here.”

In California it would be three in the morning. Linda heard the phone ring three times, then the sleepy voice. “Yes?”

“Linda, this is Je

“Je

“Kind of, Sis. I need to talk to your husband. Fast.”

“What?” There was a pause. “All right.”

“And get him some coffee,” Je

Presently she heard the newly awakened voice of Major General Edmund Gillespie. “Je

“General, I have something strange to report …”

“General. Are you being official?”

“Well … formal. Yes, sir. I’ve already called my colonel, and he agreed that it would be a good idea to call you.”

“Just a second, Je

“Yes, sir.” As she spoke, she tried to imagine the scene. General Gillespie sitting on the edge of the bed, growing more and more awake. His hair probably looks like his head is exploding. Linda pacing back and forth wondering what in the world is going on. Maybe Joel had been awakened. Well, there wasn’t any help for that. A lot of people were going to be losing sleep.

“Je

“Sir, we both know there can’t be any men from Mars. Or anywhere else in the solar system. But this is a large object, it’s moving faster than anything that could stay inside the solar system, it has been decelerating for weeks, and it appears to be coming here. Those are facts, confirmed by three different observatories.” Suddenly she giggled. “Ed, you’re an astronaut. What do you think it is?”

“Damned if I know,” Gillespie said. “Russian?”

“No,” Jeanette said.

There was a long silence from the other end. “You’d know, wouldn’t you? But are you that sure?”

“Yes, sir. I’m that sure. It is not a Soviet ship. It’s my job to know things like that. I’ve been monitoring the Soviet space program for ten years, and they can’t build anything like that. Neither can we.”

“Je

“For God’s sake, General, why would I joke about this?” she demanded. “I told you, I already got my colonel out of bed! He’s going through cha

“I can think of people to call,” Gillespie said. “I’m just having trouble believing it.”

“Yes, sir,” Je

“Yeah, I know, so must you,” Ed Gillespie said. “But I see your point. If it’s an alien ship, we’ve got some preparing to do. Je

“Colonel Robert Hartley G-2 Strategic Army Command, Fort Bragg . Here’s the phone number.”

Linda watched as her husband put the phone down. He looked worried. “What’s my kid sister done now?”

“Maybe earned herself a medal,” Edmund said. He lifted the phone and began dialing.

“Who are you calling now?” Linda asked. “This is crazy!”

“Hello, Colonel Hartley? General Ed Gillespie here. Captain Crichton said you’d be expecting my call … Yeah. Yeah, she’s always had a level head. Yeah. Yeah, I believe her too. Okay, so what do we do about it?” This is crazy, Linda thought. Absolutely crazy. My kid sister discovers flying saucers. I don’t believe it. I will not believe it. Only … Only Je

She saw that Edmund had put the phone down. “So now what?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Hard to think. Have to let people know. Have to let the President know. I’m not sure how to do that.”

“Wes Dawson could do it,” Linda said.

“By God!” He looked at his watch. “After six in Washington . Wes might be up. I’ll wake him up. You got his home number handy?”

David Coffey had always thought of himself as a night person, but that wasn’t possible now. The President of the United States couldn’t sleep late. It just wasn’t done.

He couldn’t even insist on being left alone for breakfast, although he tried. As he sat down on the terrace to enjoy the lovely spring day in Washington , the Chief of Staff said, “Wes Dawson. California—”

“I know who he is.”

“Insists on joining you for breakfast.”

“Insists?”

“He didn’t put it that way, but yes. Said he was calling in any favors he had coming. Vital, he said.”

David Coffey sighed. He felt the pressure of his belt. There was a cabinet meeting at eleven, and he’d hoped to get in a half hour swim before then. Tighten up the gut a bit. “Tell Congressman Dawson I’m flattered,” he said, “And ask the housekeeper please to set another place at the table.”