Whatever he is working on, he thinks it is important.”
“Oh, why?”
“When he first called to tell me that he had arrived safely, he was very excited. I could see it in his eyes.”
“Interesting. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
“Can you tell me what this is about, Mikhail?”
“No, dear lady. Not at this time. We will keep you informed as things develop, however. And perhaps it would be best if you do not mention this conversation to Professor Rheinhardt.”
“I cannot keep secrets from my husband, even if he does not think the way we do about this interstellar foolishness.”
In fact, Ben and Salli Rheinhardt often argued about the expense of exploring the nearer stars. Ben maintained that understanding alien biospheres was necessary to the advancement of science. Salli thought the money could better be used to solve problems at home. Neither was particularly interested in planting colonies around other stars, especially on the kind of marginally habitable worlds that humanity had found to date.
“You may tell him what you wish, of course. I had thought to keep him from having ... professional difficulties, shall we say?”
“I will think about it.”
“Then we will be in touch dear lady. Thank you for your assistance.”
#
Mikhail Vasloff let his features fall into a frown as the view of Salli Rheinhardt faded from the screen.
What he had learned was interesting, but not very satisfactory. What had begun as a favor to a rich contributor had taken on all the aspects of a major mystery. Mark Rykand had been right about one thing. Magellan had come home early - eight months early to be precise. Moreover, that had only been the first of a long list of odd goings-on.
The Stellar Survey had an operating procedure for ships returning from exploring alien star systems. They would dock at High Station, which orbited more than 100,000 kilometers over the equator. The station was so high, in fact, that it appeared to orbit retrograde in the sky. Once there, the returning ship was placed in routine quarantine until everyone was sure that it had not brought back any parasites or diseases. Following the end of quarantine, the scientific community was invariably invited to attend a conference at survey headquarters where the ship’s discoveries were announced, and bids taken on research projects.
Magellan had done none of those things to date, despite having returned more than a month previous.
The ship had materialized out beyond Jupiter, and then made its approach normally until, at the last, it had assumed a polar parking orbit rather than an equatorial one. Polar orbit was much beloved by survey satellites and those with a need periodically to scan the entire surface of the Earth, but by no others. The truth was that it was damned costly to get to. Moreover, PoleStar was in an exaggerated elliptical orbit that made it even more expensive a place to reach from the equatorial orbits.
Yet, despite the expense and difficulty associated with the change-of-plane maneuver required to reach PoleStar, someone had set up a regular shuttle service to do just that. Vasloff had found that to be curious when he had first learned of it. After all, it was cheaper to reach polar orbit from the Earth’s surface than it was from equatorial orbit, so why would any cost-conscious company set up a ferry service from orbit?
Then there were the scientists who seemed to be traveling to Equatorial Station and then vanishing into the vacuum of space. At first, it had seemed sufficiently mysterious to have the makings of a good technothriller. Vasloff’s computer had searched out their ticket records and verified their debarkation aboard Equatorial Station, yet could find no other destination. They had not seemed to embark for Luna, the outer planets, or any other of the usual destinations. In fact, it had been his investigation into the missing scientists that had first alerted him to the shuttle service to
“Oh, why?”
“When he first called to tell me that he had arrived safely, he was very excited. I could see it in his eyes.”
“Interesting. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
“Can you tell me what this is about, Mikhail?”
“No, dear lady. Not at this time. We will keep you informed as things develop, however. And perhaps it would be best if you do not mention this conversation to Professor Rheinhardt.”
“I cannot keep secrets from my husband, even if he does not think the way we do about this interstellar foolishness.”
In fact, Ben and Salli Rheinhardt often argued about the expense of exploring the nearer stars. Ben maintained that understanding alien biospheres was necessary to the advancement of science. Salli thought the money could better be used to solve problems at home. Neither was particularly interested in planting colonies around other stars, especially on the kind of marginally habitable worlds that humanity had found to date.
“You may tell him what you wish, of course. I had thought to keep him from having ... professional difficulties, shall we say?”
“I will think about it.”
“Then we will be in touch dear lady. Thank you for your assistance.”
#
Mikhail Vasloff let his features fall into a frown as the view of Salli Rheinhardt faded from the screen.
What he had learned was interesting, but not very satisfactory. What had begun as a favor to a rich contributor had taken on all the aspects of a major mystery. Mark Rykand had been right about one thing. Magellan had come home early - eight months early to be precise. Moreover, that had only been the first of a long list of odd goings-on.
The Stellar Survey had an operating procedure for ships returning from exploring alien star systems. They would dock at High Station, which orbited more than 100,000 kilometers over the equator. The station was so high, in fact, that it appeared to orbit retrograde in the sky. Once there, the returning ship was placed in routine quarantine until everyone was sure that it had not brought back any parasites or diseases. Following the end of quarantine, the scientific community was invariably invited to attend a conference at survey headquarters where the ship’s discoveries were announced, and bids taken on research projects.
Magellan had done none of those things to date, despite having returned more than a month previous.
The ship had materialized out beyond Jupiter, and then made its approach normally until, at the last, it had assumed a polar parking orbit rather than an equatorial one. Polar orbit was much beloved by survey satellites and those with a need periodically to scan the entire surface of the Earth, but by no others. The truth was that it was damned costly to get to. Moreover, PoleStar was in an exaggerated elliptical orbit that made it even more expensive a place to reach from the equatorial orbits.
Yet, despite the expense and difficulty associated with the change-of-plane maneuver required to reach PoleStar, someone had set up a regular shuttle service to do just that. Vasloff had found that to be curious when he had first learned of it. After all, it was cheaper to reach polar orbit from the Earth’s surface than it was from equatorial orbit, so why would any cost-conscious company set up a ferry service from orbit?
Then there were the scientists who seemed to be traveling to Equatorial Station and then vanishing into the vacuum of space. At first, it had seemed sufficiently mysterious to have the makings of a good technothriller. Vasloff’s computer had searched out their ticket records and verified their debarkation aboard Equatorial Station, yet could find no other destination. They had not seemed to embark for Luna, the outer planets, or any other of the usual destinations. In fact, it had been his investigation into the missing scientists that had first alerted him to the shuttle service to
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