Starfire
Page 43
He was slightly more surprised when he was handcuffed and placed aboard a transport bound for Washington D. C. Yes, he’d lost his ship and most of his crew. But what else could he have done?
It dawned on him when he was driven into the mountains south of Maryland that his government must be looking upon the mission as an utter disaster. In retrospect, he had to agree with them. It had been a gross failure.
He became truly concerned when his unsmiling, silent guards placed him an interrogation chamber in a remote underground bunker. He’d recognized the facility on the way in. It was built in the mountains of West Virginia. Operating as a fallout shelter in years past, it now served as a meeting spot for government officials in times of crisis. It was one of those proverbial “undisclosed secure locations” mentioned in news reports.
What concerned him most about the bunker was the knowledge that the facility had also served as a clandestine prison after nine-eleven.
His eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom when the door clanged shut. He blinked and squinted. Who sat across from him, shrouded in shadow?
“Madam Secretary?” he guessed.
“Yes,” Clayworth said. “Imagine finding me down here with you, Sandeep.”
Sandeep smelled something then, something surprising, but familiar. A tiny flame flared, lighting up the Secretary’s face. She held a lighter to her face and lit a cigarette with it.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” he said.
“I haven’t done so for almost thirty years. Do you know what got me started again?”
Sandeep licked his lips and drew in a breath. The smoke made him want to cough, as he wasn’t use to it, but he managed to contain himself.
“I know that the results of the Starfire expedition must be a disappointment—”
“Shut up,” she snapped. “Of course I’m disappointed. You flew out there with our best ship—our only ship—and you returned with nothing.”
“Six of us made it back, that’s something.”
“Six? Ah yes, your Russian comrade. How could I forget him? When in possession of a ship full of valuable technology, a ship that flies with an independent engine of alien-Russian design, what did you do?”
Sandeep squirmed. “I made choices,” he said. “We escaped together, we flew home together. We returned to Earth united after having faced a new enemy.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Listen to yourself, man! At least you should have the balls to admit you’re ball-less!”
Sandeep rankled at her words. “I disagree. I salvaged what I could from both missions for the good of all humanity.”
“Very high-minded of you. Imagine how that’s going over in my private meetings with the President.” Clayworth leaned forward over the steel table between them. “You should have commandeered the ship and flown it here. My department could have been debriefing Burkov and eventually releasing him to the Russians. Better yet, you could have killed that Russian spy and tossed him out of an airlock.”
Sandeep shook his head. “I couldn’t do that. I’m not even sure that my people would have allowed it. We fought together shoulder-to-shoulder against alien beings. That changes how individuals interact afterward.”
Clayworth leaned back, defeated. She puffed on her cigarette. “The defense people were right. The mission should have been all military. Instead, I sent a pack of nerds out there to squander opportunities and die in humorous ways. I should have known this wasn’t destined to be a scientific mission of exploration.”
“What’s done is done,” he said.
Musing, she went on as if she hadn’t heard him. “I wish Clark had been in command. He wouldn’t have screwed this up. Or Colonel Dyson—she could have gotten the job done if she’d lived long enough.”
Sandeep said nothing, as there was a fair chance she was right about her suppositions. He thought back to the voyage. He’d grown to rely on every member of the crew, even Burkov. The ship had been a Russian ship, but everyone on it had become a desperate human by the end of the journey, not Russian or American. He doubted he could get this across to the Secretary, but he felt he had to try.
“Secretary Clayworth,” he said. “I think you’re failing to see the bigger picture.”
She made a scoffing grunt, but he pressed on.
“By the initial parameters of my mission, you would of course be correct in your criticisms. I should have stolen Troika and brought back every secret I could have. What I’ve done instead is bring home knowledge of a new, grim reality. We aren’t alone in the cosmos, and we have to deal with that.”
“We’ve always known that, Sandeep,” Clayworth snapped. “Where did you think all this technology came from in the first place? We knew there had to be a civilization out there somewhere in space.”
“Well, I made contact with them. It went badly. Only the fact they wanted to capture a live specimen at the end allowed us an opportunity to escape. We did it by uniting against a common enemy. Now, if we want the Russians to share their new tech, we have to approach this matter as a shared effort.”
“We’re Homeland Security, not the State Department.”
“I’m well aware of that, but the facts I’ve stated are undeniable. The aliens are real, and they’re alive out there somewhere right now. They built a base in our Solar System, and they are very much aware of us. We can only assume they’ve been spying on us all along. Worse, they have technology we still don’t understand.”
“All the more reason you should have brought it home to your country, not handed it over to the Russians.”
“With all due respect, Madame Secretary, our species could be at the dawn of a new war for survival. We need the Russians on our side. We need a coalition. We must operate as allies.”
She shook her head. “That will never happen. We don’t even have a ship. We might be able to build new engines—but that’s supposition. We’ve got nothing. We’re planet-bound. The United States is hamstrung, and it’s all due to your poor decision-making.”
Sandeep thought about that for a second. “But…as you appointed me to this position, that makes my decisions your fault, does it not?”
“Finally,” she said, tapping her ashes onto the table. They glowed orange and left a dark soot-stain. “Finally, you understand why you’re still alive.”
He nodded. “Because you can’t make a mistake of this magnitude?”
“I would not survive it. But you won’t either, so you won’t mention this to anyone.”
“It is our secret. What do we do next?” Sandeep asked hopefully.
Clayworth looked at him for a long, cold moment. He knew she was appraising him, considering her options. She could still have him suffer a quiet death. It had happened before and it would happen again. Times had changed in America, and not for the better.
She let him sweat for several more seconds, then nodded her head. “All right. This is how we’ll play it. There is only one silver lining to our predicament: we’re in the midst of an election cycle.”
“I see,” Sandeep said, daring to hope.
“You’ll be my sock-puppet,” she went on. “I’ll walk you around the chambers of power. We’ll talk to Senators and State Department officials. They’ll hit the media first, and when the reporters and commentators are in a frenzy for ratings, I’ll trot you out with me to hit the interview circuit. We’ll talk about our new found partnership with the Russians. About thrilling discoveries in space.”
“Has the President approved all this?”
“The release of information? Yes. With the election looming he needs something to divert attention from the economy. This story is tailor-made to grab headlines.”
“I’ll do my best to present the mission in the best possible light.”
“Yes,” she said ominously, “you will.”
Chapter 75
Aptos, California
Afternoon
Jenna was playing in the gentle surf of northern Monterey Bay. Each wave that
swept up made Jackie want to rush into the water and pull the girl back—but she didn’t because the child was having such a good time.
“She’s only up to her waist and she’s wearing a vest as big as she is,” Victor Perez said in a reassuring voice. “Stop worrying.”
“I can’t stand the thought of her falling out there and losing sight of her,” Jackie said. “This is the first time I’ve seen a smile on her face since she learned of her father’s death.”
“She’s tough,” Victor said. “She’s been through a lot, and none of it seems to faze her.”
“There’s got to be psychological damage.”
Perez shrugged. “Some bad memories. Best to help her forget them as much as possible.”
“Victor?” Jackie asked, looking at him. “I…I want to try to become her guardian. Permanently, I mean. They gave me custody for this visit because they thought it would be good for her to have a familiar face around. But I’d like to go for more than that.”
He eyed her seriously for a moment, then nodded. “You’re asking for my help, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she said. She wasn’t at all surprised that he’d figured it out so quickly. Most men she’d known in her life barely knew what she was talking about much less what she was thinking. Victor Perez was different. He was always listening and tracking. He was very empathetic. Sometimes he seemed to know her mood before she did. It had been a little disconcerting at first, but it had become endearing after she’d gotten used to it.
Victor wasn’t slow on the uptake. He stepped forward, put his arms around her waist, and she let him. They’d only made love once, one lonely night in the radiation module aboard Troika. The entire thing hadn’t gone well. Sex in null-G was for acrobats, or people who’d really studied the process carefully.
Jackie stiffened at his touch, but then put her hands on his shoulders. Together, they watched Jenna play in the surf, running back and forth along the shore. She was racing away from the waves now on the wet sands, letting the water chase her while she shrieked in delight.
Her eyes left Jenna and went up to the top of the cliffs above her house. She knew there were men up there, watching them. They were always there. They couldn’t let people like these three have a break. The agents tried to be discreet—but they were always watching.
“What do you know about kids?” she asked Victor, still staring up at the cliffs.
“Nothing, really. But I can learn.”
She smiled, squinting in the sun and watching Jenna again. She believed him.
That night, many hours later, she lay in her bed beside Victor. He didn’t snore in his sleep. In fact, he woke up every time she moved, making her feel guilty.
She had trouble sleeping. Jenna was in the other room, comatose after a day on the beach. Jackie knew she’d have to call Clark in the morning, but that might end someday if they played their cards right. Clark seemed to be losing interest in the girl now that they’d lost Starfire forever.
Another half-hour passed but sleep still didn’t come. She looked out the window. Above the sea a full moon loomed. She stared at it thoughtfully.
Who was out there? Who, besides the government men on the cliffs, was watching her right now?
Each question brought another into her consciousness in a seemingly endless chain. Would she ever meet those aliens again? If she did, would it be far out in space, or right here on Earth? Would the next encounter end in peace, or war?
Jackie tried to relax, but it took a long time for sleep to quiet her worried mind.
The End
From the Authors: Thanks Reader! I hope you enjoyed STARFIRE. If you liked the book and want to see this story become a series, please put up some stars and a review to support it. For those of you looking forward to other books, MACHINE WORLD is next!
-the Authors
More SF Books by B. V. Larson:
UNDYING MERCENARIES SERIES:
Steel World
Dust World
Tech World
STAR FORCE SERIES:
(In chronological order)
Swarm
Extinction
Rebellion
Conquest
Army of One (Novella published in Planetary Assault)
Battle Station
Empire
Annihilation
Storm Assault
The Dead Sun
Outcast
Exile
IMPERIUM SERIES:
Mech Zero: The Dominant
Mech 1: The Parent
Mech 2: The Savant
Mech 3: The Empress
The Black Ship (Novella published in Five by Five)
OTHER SF BOOKS:
Element-X
Technomancer
The Bone Triangle
Z-World
Velocity
Visit BVLarson.com for more information.