Crescendo Of Fire

by Marc Stiegler

  Dmitri shrugged. “I’m either the baby-killer or the baby-defender, depending on who I sell my munitions to. When I’m selling to my personal customers, I tend to be a baby-defender.” His voice took on a darker tone. “But when I’m doing deals on behalf of the Premier, it’s not so good.” With a note of barely-controlled rage, he growled, “When I’m working for the Premier, I’m pretty much a murderer.”

  Dash stared at him making such a candid admission. “Why don’t you stop? It looks like you have enough money to do whatever you want.”

  Dmitri laughed. “It’s not that simple. But there’s good news; it won’t be complicated for much longer. The Premier’s not a young man.” The knuckles on his hand turned white as he clenched his glass. “I can outlive him.”

  He shook himself. “Aren’t you cold out here? Such a little thing as you, wearing a dress like that? Which I’d mention is beautiful, by the way, except I’m sure everyone else has said that already, and I so hate following the crowd.” He gestured back into the mansion. “Come, let me show you the rest of my place.” He turned to lead the way, then, as if suddenly remembering something, added, “And my yacht! Today’s not the day for it, but you simply must let me take you out for a cruise some time. My Buccaneer’s the biggest mega-yacht here.”

  “Of that I am sure,” Dash agreed, without necessarily agreeing to go for a cruise.

  Alexei stood near the entrance, watching Dmitri show off his absurd collection of garish art and ridiculous trappings. He spoke softly. “I still say we should just take her, here and now. The party’s so full of noise and crazy rich people, no one will notice she’s missing until we’re long gone.”

  Vasily shushed him. “Don’t look now, but Ping and Jam just slid into the passage from Ben’s place. If you think they won’t notice, you’ve got a screw loose.”

  Alexei shrugged. “So we invite them in and take them too. We’re Spetsnaz, for heaven’s sake.” He turned slowly, pretending to just become aware of the ladies for the first time, and smiled.

  Vasily groaned. “Rapists and mass murderers smile the same way you do. Stop it.”

  Turning away, Alexei continued his assessment. “Surely we can take a Pakistani girl and an itty-bitty ninja.”

  Vasily closed his eyes for a moment. “Of course we can. But there’s a considerable risk someone would hear us. And if the noise or the bodies reached the passageway, the security vidcams would light up like Christmas trees.”

  Alexei grunted.

  Ping nodded to Alexei as he smiled at them. She whispered to Jam, “He looks just like a rapist or mass murderer when he smiles, don’t you think?”

  Jam put her hand on Ping’s shoulder. “Relax. He’s just being a bodyguard.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t have to be so obvious about it.” Ping grinned at Jam. “He’d look a lot less conspicuous if he wore a Karl Lagerfeld ensemble, the way Dash’s bodyguard does.”

  Jam laughed softly. “I think he’d look very conspicuous in Chanel.”

  Ping twirled her diamond necklace. “I just can’t help thinking there’s something wrong here. Maybe it’s just the rumor Colin told us that the Russian Union Premier was behind that kidnapping attempt. Or maybe I just have a strange imagination—”

  “You’re just bored and want some action.”

  “But I can’t help wishing I had my chura—your chura— with me.”

  Jam refrained from pointing out there was no place Ping could conceal a chura in her current dress. Well, one place, but Jam refused to think about that. “If it comes to that, you can probably use your Vivienne as a garrote.”

  Ping brightened. “You think?” She stopped twirling the necklace, and held it in both hands thoughtfully, snapping it taut several times as she looked at Alexei. “You don’t think it would break, would it?”

  From the corner of his eye, Vasily caught the sudden halt of the spinning necklace. Studying Ping’s face, he muttered to Alexei, “And now the itty bitty ninja looks like she’s measuring your neck for a garrote.”

  Alexei rolled his eyes. “Honestly, you have the strangest imagination.”

  Eventually, Dmitri escorted Dash back to the entranceway, from whence Jam and Ping escorted her back to the main party. Gleb and Yefim drifted up.

  Gleb observed admiringly to Dmitri, “I have to say, boss, you were really convincing as you explained to Dash how much you hated the Premier. If she were at all suspicious you work for him before, she certainly isn’t now. I believed you hated him myself.”

  Dmitri growled as he continued to smile in case Dash and company looked back. “No acting required, Gleb. That murdering scumbag may have given me the monopoly I needed to become a billionaire, but he’s given me plenty of reasons to hate him. Plenty and more.”

  Alexei couldn’t let the opportunity pass to complain again. “I still say we could have taken her right here, right now. Ping and Jam included.”

  Dmitri laughed gruffly, slapping Alexei on the shoulder. “But it would be so much easier without Ping and Jam, wouldn’t it? And I just overheard good news. Colin is sending those two away when the Fuxing and Prometheus fleets depart.”

  Gleb, Yefim, and Vasily all visibly relaxed. Gleb spoke for them all. “Thank heaven. Without those two hanging around, this’ll be smoother than we ever dreamed.”

  Alexei grumbled, “But it won’t be half as much fun.”

  A grim aura hung over the governor’s office. The news media were all howling. Blue media howled with rage that SpaceR, their beloved rocket company, had betrayed them by stealing the state’s money and offshoring their launches. The fact that a majority of SpaceR rockets still launched from Texas for equatorial orbits was an overlooked factoid. SpaceR was a California company, so it needed to launch rockets from California.

  The Red media simply howled in laughter at the way the California government had once again bitten its own nose to spite its own face.

  The governor kept resetting his worried expression to a poker face. The new plan for punishing SpaceR was his own idea, as simple as it was effective. But somehow every time the BrainTrust got involved, even the simplest plans got complicated.

  The Attorney General was once again riding high on his elation at the new plan. “I can see why you’re the governor. This is a brilliant solution to the problem. We’re going to make those bastards scream for mercy. With punitive damages, we’ll be able to balance the budget for years.” He sagged sideways a little. “Well, maybe not that long. With the new funding stream straight from SpaceR revenues, there are a lot of new government programs we could start.” He straightened up again. “We should announce it today. That’ll put a damper on their celebration.” In the governor’s office, they had the wallscreen tied to live coverage of the impending launch. They would watch it firsthand, along with just about everybody else in the world.

  The governor shook his head. “We are not going to announce it today. Or tomorrow. Our message would just get swallowed up in the wave of SpaceR news media coverage. No, we’ll let them have a couple of days of cheering. Then we’ll knock them cold in the next news cycle.”

  The Attorney General acquiesced. “You’re the boss. And besides, you’re probably right. Wait till they’re standing tall before we knock ‘em down.” He frowned for a moment, then a big grin erupted across his face. “Besides, the rocket could blow up on the pad, and wipe out the BrainTrust with it.”

  The governor brightened considerably. “Good point. I had forgotten that possibility.”

  Matt Toscano, like the governor, found himself reflecting on the possibility of an explosion, though his reaction to these thoughts was quite different. “At least get everyone indoors if you’re not going to move the fleet farther away. You can make them all move indoors, can’t you?” he asked.

  Colin replied in soothing tones, “Relax. We closed all the gangways. Everyone is going to be inside for the duration. We made special arrangements so everyone should be able to get window seats to watch the sho
w.”

  Matt breathed a sigh of relief. “Great. What about evacuations? Did a lot of people take you up on the opportunity to take a ferry ride and get away from here?”

  Colin chuckled. “And miss the biggest party of the decade? Are you kidding? Understand that the BrainTrust population is heavily tilted toward young people eager to see the future become better. You know the ferries we commissioned to take people away?” He paused for a dramatic moment. “Those ships arrived full of friends and family of the BrainTrusters, all of whom wanted to come aboard to watch the launch. The ferries left empty.”

  Matt just lowered his face into his hands.

  Colin slapped him on the back. “Cheer up. If this goes as badly as you fear, you and I will not be around to take the blame.”

  At that moment a beautiful soprano voice, trained to project by a decade of leading cheers, sang through the crowd. “Matt!” his wife called. Gina waved at them across the room so vigorously it set her hair to swaying. Her hair, a brilliant red fire with streaks of blonde running through, was said by her most viciously polite enemies to be her finest feature and did great credit to her hair stylist. Gina herself claimed her hair was naturally that way, mostly correctly. She sashayed up to them wearing a navy strapless mermaid dress with gold embellishments.

  Matt hugged her fiercely. He put his mouth to her ear. “You have to leave now,” he ordered. “I’ll arrange a yacht to take you farther away, and safer.”

  She kissed him on the cheek. “I love you too, darling.”

  And the ship-wide speaker system, tied for the moment into a BrainTrust-wide net, started droning out the final countdown.

  Thousands of rocket launches like this one had occurred over the course of the preceding decades. A certain mundane dreariness should have cast a mundane gray pall over the event over time. There were YouTube videos beyond count of such launches.

  But for human beings with their hardwired fascination with fire and its kindred phenomena, the thrill never faded. People would have held their breaths as they watched just another launch from Vandenberg or Boca Chica. For this launch, in this place, they held their heartbeats.

  The lambent flame billowed from beneath the rockets. Those on the upper decks could now see the purpose of the black lines that emerged from the pad and extended to both the port and starboard sides. They were flame trenches, down which the fury of the exhaust gases flooded in brilliant burning light that submerged the impervious black tiles.

  Up the ship went, oh so slowly. Surely, surely, such a tall narrow structure must topple over, destroying itself, the ship, and most of the people watching.

  Instead, it continued to rise. Eventually, it tilted as it sought orbit.

  On the Haven, attention turned to a series of large display screens hooked to cameras holding steady on the ship through a telescopic lens. There was an explosion, sudden, terrible. More than one person screamed in horror.

  Matt laughed explosively. “Nothing to worry about, folks,” he asserted in strong, commanding tones. “That’s just the first stage separating. Everything is good.” He took a pair of short breaths. Quietly, he said in disbelief, “Everything is good.” He wiped a hand across his eyes. He did not have tears in them. Absolutely not.

  Gina hugged him. “Congratulations, lover boy.”

  Ben raised his champagne glass high and shouted. “Congratulations to SpaceR and the BrainTrust!”

  A chorus of congratulations roared in his wake.

  Applause erupted throughout Ben’s abode. People stepped back, leaving Matt and Gina in the middle of an empty space. Gina nudged him. “Say something, dearest.”

  This was not Matt’s thing, but he would make do. “To the future!” he roared. Then, considering the audience, “To the BrainTrust!”

  Many of the older billionaires toasted only half-heartedly. But the young ones understood and answered in kind.

  And then it was over. Matt put down his glass. As Ben came up to him, Matt said, “We have to go. They’ll be waiting for me on the Argus.”

  “All of SpaceR and half of everyone else, I imagine,” Ben said dryly. “You better hurry.”

  Matt crooked his elbow and Gina put her arm through his. Matt searched the crowd, spotted someone he needed, and pointed. “Dash, come with me.” Gina nudged him again, forcefully this time. “Please,” he added.

  Dash looked at him in surprise. Then Jam had her by one arm, Ping by the other, pushing her forward. “Go,” they said in unison. Ping continued, “Celebrate with the people who actually made it happen.”

  Matt grabbed Colin as well on the way out.

  At the elevator to take them up to the copter pad, Colin begged off. “I’ll catch up with you on the Argus in a few minutes.” And he was off.

  When they reached the copter pad, Gina released her grip on her husband and grabbed Dash. “You’re with me.” She guided Dash to a beautiful navy blue copter.

  “I’ve gotta rush,” Matt said. He turned to the thin teenager standing next to his machine. “Let’s go, Ted.”

  Ted, who looked too young to drive a car much less a helicopter, hopped into the pilot’s seat and brought the copter blades up to speed while Colin slid into the passenger seat. Like almost all the homebrew copters on the BrainTrust, Ted’s machine could carry just two passengers.

  Gina yelled, “You’re in a hurry, huh? You can’t possibly beat us with that old slug.”

  Ted’s yell of disagreement was drowned by the sounds of the copter blades.

  Gina whirled into her own pilot’s seat after coaxing Dash in on the passenger side.

  Matt and Ted got off the pad first, and Ted cranked her up to full speed. They were well on their way when the navy blue copter motored up next to them. Gina waved gaily and egged Dash into waving as well, then motored past.

  In his head, Matt could hear his wife laughing wickedly at him. He grumbled, “Can’t we go any faster?”

  Ted watched them sail into the distance admiringly. “She looks like one sweet ride, Mr. Toscano.”

  Matt was about to clock his pilot when he realized Ted was referring to the machine, not the woman.

  Ted continued, oblivious. “We can’t go any faster with this copter. She’s right, you know. This one is a little obsolete.” He paused, licked his lips, “You know this was the first copter I ever designed. I could build a much better one now. Really fast.”

  A glint rose in Matt’s eyes. “Fast enough to leave her in the dust?”

  “Absolutely, Mr. Toscano.”

  Matt touched Ted lightly on the shoulder. “Congratulations, Ted. You just got yourself an angel investor.”

  On Minerva Street, a fluke of atmospheric conditions allowed the sound of the SpaceR rocket to reach a little girl. She ran into the living room, grabbed her kitten and tugged on her mother. Once her mother stood up, she grabbed her father and dragged him out under the invulnerable roof that would protect them all from the rocket. They huddled together, the little girl shivering in the middle.

  After the sound had passed, she handed her kitty to her mother and reached out with both arms to hug both her parents. “Mom, Dad, I love you so much.”

  ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

  Merit tokens can be exchanged for free time, sporting goods, and lab equipment for your own independent research.

  —Accel Educational Framework. Topic: Introduction. Module: Student Rewards.

  The departures of the BrainTrust Fuxing and the BrainTrust Prometheus fleets had been postponed till the successful First Launch. Two days had passed since then. Now it was time for everyone to go. Ping, Jam, and Dash stood on the Argus, at the gangway that would take Jam and Ping to the Mount Parnassus of the Prometheus fleet. More interconnecting gangways would take them through the Mount Helicon of the Fuxing fleet, thence on to the Taixue where everyone from the fleets was gathering for final briefings.

  Ping was eager to roll. Since the Prometheus fleet was being dispatched to Africa, she was certain she’d have the chan
ce to fight pirates. Since Colin had told her she was going, she’d been practicing with her Big Gun continuously. “Don’t shoot till you see the whites of their eyes,” Ping said excitedly, tapping the weapon strapped to her back. “Of course, with the digital sights on this baby, you can see the whites of their eyes from fifty kilometers.”

  Jam remained unimpressed. “Only if you can hold it steady enough to see with that resolution without jumping kilometers every which way before you can blink. And your Big Gun is bigger than you are, Ping.” Jam thought back over the past forty-eight hours, which had been a whirlwind.

  The day after Colin had promoted Jam to Expedition Commander for the Fuxing, she’d confronted him and Amanda and argued against it. Jam had patiently explained that she was not qualified to run a team. They had patiently explained to her that no one is ever qualified to run a team, and all too often the ones who think they are, are in fact the least qualified.

  Next Jam had demanded, “Which peacekeepers are you putting into our cabin next to hers?”

  Colin had shaken his head. “No peacekeepers, Jam. As I said earlier, we’re going with a more subtle approach during the next phase of her research. Trust me.” He paused, watching their eyes. “You do trust me, don’t you? It all worked out OK last time, right?”

  Amanda had joined Jam in just staring at him suspiciously.

  In the end, he had just laughed. “Go, take the next step. You’ll be back with Dash soon enough I promise.”

  Jam had just rolled her eyes. “Very well, Colin Wheeler. We are counting on you.”

  Now the last members of both new BrainTrust fleets were boarding. Dash, Jam, and Ping were still huddled together by the gangway. Everyone was holding back tears.

  Ping shouted, “Group hug!” And they did.

  Jam whispered in Dash’s ear, “Take care, girlfriend.”

  Dash answered them, “You are the ones sailing into danger. Be careful.”