“That is most unlikely,” Tutor declared sadly. “Indications are that the Drive would not function.”
“You mean – we’re stuck here?” Richard stared out at the monitoring truck gloomily.
Tutor ignored Richard and continued working on the malfunction. Finally, something suspiciously like pride could be detected in the announcement Tutor made:
“I have reactivated an equipment maintenance system, and it is restoring some function to the temporary power accumulators… Yes! The power for the microwave bursts will now be supplied by the auxiliary power system; there will be little or no further reduction of the beryllium supply.”
“Why don’t you just stop the power drain?” Richard asked, puzzled.
“The safety system is detecting an overload in the Power Coupling Unit; the best I can do is to restore the system’s capability to temporarily store drive energy, and trick it into building up enough energy – diverted from the auxiliary power system – to replace the power lost in each burst. Indications are that Vochan would have done this if the spare had not been available; a quick return to the point of departure would then have been attempted.”
“But what about leaving here? Can’t we do the same thing?” Karen repeated Richard’s question.
“Vochan could have done that, back in 1426, when the fuel was still available, and the fault was still fairly minor. Since then, each time the false overload was detected, and power was dumped to prevent a catastrophe, a little more of the beryllium went up into the atmosphere as microwave energy. Initially the burst was only a fraction of a second long, but as the fault worsened, the dumping lasted for bigger fractions, then seconds, more seconds, then eventually minutes, each time. Now there is so little left, the overload would soon have been going to start to draw power from the auxiliary systems. No, it is not possible without additional fuel,” Tutor confirmed, almost apologetically.
“So, we had better go and get some beryllium,” Richard concluded soberly under his breath. “And we’ll have to travel in a more conventional manner.”
“Correct.” Tutor obviously had no difficulty with low volume audio communications.
“Tutor, where will we find this stuff?” Karen wondered.
“The computerized records available to me indicate that a significant quantity of the metal is presently in storage in a warehouse belonging to the Ranklin Group in Springfield, Massachusetts.” Tutor seemed to have accessed the information without any discernable delay or difficulty. “A large shipment to a California-based company is due to occur in four days’ time. That is the nearest supply available; the next nearest significant quantity is in Nevada.”
“So, all we have to do is sneak out of here, make our way across hundreds of miles of country, steal the beryllium, and somehow get safely back into Citadel without being caught, and then we’re safe?” Richard sounded incredulous.
“I think I can get us out of here tonight,” Karen declared quietly.
Richard stared at her in amazement. She really thinks we can do this!
“We have to try. And yes, I think we will succeed. Don’t you think it’s a bit of a coincidence that we met when we did, that you came to Redcliff exactly when I needed you?” She looked at him calmly. “Both my Mother and my Father believed there was some purpose to life. I never knew anything about their beliefs when I was growing up here, all alone except for Tutor, but I realise now I had the same convictions, even then. I haven’t changed. I think you feel the same, deep down.” Karen turned and spoke to her mentor, considering that the subject was satisfactorily concluded.
“How much of this metal do we need, Tutor? From what little I understand of matter-to-energy conversion, you get a lot of energy even when only a small fraction of the material is converted, so I presume we won’t need very much. “
“The ship’s log indicates that departure from the point of origin occurred with eighty seven point three kilograms in the Drive storage. The use of the Star Drive as an interplanetary transportation system requires the reactor to run at one hundred percent of capacity.”
“That much?” Karen was surprised, then the full significance of Tutor’s statement registered. “Did you say ‘point of origin’?” She became very excited and forgot her first question. “Departure from where? Does it say? Did you find where they came from?”
“I have the Galactic coordinates of the point of origin. It is in a dense cluster of stars much further in towards the centre of the Galaxy than our present location.”
“You mean you know now where my parents came from? And how to get there?”
“Affirmative. It was considered the centre planet of the Galactic Council; it is called ‘Arshonna’.”
Karen turned and hugged Richard in delight. He felt quite dizzy, almost intoxicated by her emotions this time. Finally she pulled back a little, aware at last (because of the physical contact) of the full extent of his reservations. She looked at him questioningly.
“Great, now we know where they came from.” Richard shrugged dismissively. “We also know where to go and what we need to get before we can start the journey back there.” He ignored her look for the moment. “But for all we know, half the US Army could be out there, waiting for us to make a move.” He gestured at the seemingly benign scene outside. “We’ll never make it! And if it were just a few pounds of beryllium that were needed, we could probably smuggle it in, but now we discover we need a couple of hundred pounds of it. We can hardly hide that up our sleeves.”
Karen leaned back a little more, but kept her hands on his shoulders, with one forefinger touching his neck, so she could fully sense his thoughts.
“I know it’s hard to see any purpose to life when your entire family is destroyed in an accident. But there is a purpose, of that I’m certain.” She stroked his hair back gently. “Open up to me; please don’t hide inside yourself.”
Richard realised she was talking about his family, and their senseless deaths in the collision with the truck; then his understanding expanded, and he saw that her parents had also died with medical solutions close at hand, but never even conceived of – in other words, just as senselessly. He nodded hesitantly.
Karen felt his reservations crumble, and she poured out her feelings and let them soak into him, as she had done once before to teach him her language, only this time it was deeper and more intense than ever.
“Feel my thoughts, share my confidence.” She looked into his eyes until she could feel and see his acceptance of her faith.
“I’ll try, Karen. I promise I’ll try.” Richard felt humbled by her absolute confidence and reliance in him; he wondered, once again, what he had done to merit such an attitude. “I would never want you to be unhappy because of me.” He paused, wondering why the first step is always the hardest to take on any difficult journey.
Karen grinned, and her eyes sparkled with emotion as she continued to stroke his hair.
“I’m happy now, as happy as I can ever recall being – no, that’s not even the half of it. I didn’t really know what happiness was, before I met you.” She let her hands fall to her sides, but still watched his expression with an intensity he would previously have found unnerving.
He just smiled a little sheepishly, and finally looked away, his eyes settling on the glorious view of ocean and sky, and the distant horizon, where they met. There was just one more question Richard wanted to ask, so he took a deep breath and tried it out.
“Tutor, Karen has talked a lot about purpose, but I imagine that possibilities such as her parents believed in are beyond your capacity to determine. Is there any indication in the data banks you now have access to, of the purpose of the mission that brought Karen’s parents to Earth?”
“You are correct; I have not been programmed to analyze such things. I do not have any logical thought processes that relate to such matters. As to your second question, there is no record of purpose in those sections of the log that are still accessible and have not been corrupted.
However, I infer from the conversations that Sheldrif and Melleny had with Vochan that one of the purposes was to observe the inhabitants of Earth and their civilizations. The official record only gives departure times and locations, and states that this was the maiden voyage of Citadel.”
“Thanks, Tutor.” Richard spoke quite formally, as if this information satisfied him immensely. “Sheldrif and Melleny’s observations have survived, at least in part, so they did succeed, they did do what they were sent to do, despite all that Vochan did to hinder them. I’m really glad about that.”
Karen smiled her thanks for this information and Richard’s upbeat summation of it, and turned aside slightly, relieved that her best and newest friend had really felt her confidence, convinced that between them they would succeed.
Richard watched her as her regard turned to the distant clouds – a view that might just resemble one seen on her parents’ home planet. She seemed to look deeper, until her lovely eyes lost their focus and the tint became a mix of blue and grey. He could see that she was deep in thought, imagining what the future would hold for them.
“Arshonna…” she murmured. Karen spun around and looked directly towards Richard; her eyes lost their dreamy look and turned their deepest sky blue. “We must make our plans!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Impossible is just another way of saying ‘beyond my imagination’ – Yendalte, VIC Theoretician
About an hour had passed since Ed Baynes had sent his niece down to the harbour to enjoy the afternoon sunshine and watch the boats, as a reward for her efforts, and to give him time to decide on his next move. One of the FBI agents was wandering around down there, so he knew she would be in safe hands, and of course she was still wearing the miniature camera/transmitter, so he could even see what she was doing, if he felt sufficiently concerned to tune into the remote. Ed was not at all concerned, however. Amber had come through the experience unscathed, except for a bruise on her head which she received when Smoke knocked her down a shade too enthusiastically and she fell back against the rock-hard surface of Citadel.
Ed wondered if he should arrange for her return home. She certainly deserved credit for her performance; she had acted coolly, despite his emphasis of the gravity of the situation, and had managed to ‘chase’ Smoke all the way around the structure, stopping frequently to allow for the camera to focus on the dull, black walls from every angle, before ‘catching’ him and climbing back over the fence. He still considered that there was a chance, albeit a small one, that he might need her to tour the strange edifice again; perhaps there would be a particular view that hinted of a revelation, if a closer look were taken. He even put a call in to his sister, making it very casual, just to reassure Amber’s parents that all was well, and to keep his options open. It was quite the non-event, really.
Ed Baynes was sitting in the truck with his team, reviewing the video obtained during Smoke’s ‘frolic around the castle’. Most of the pictures of Citadel were in focus, and Amber’s description of the feel of the wall as ‘cold and hard’ agreed well with Judy’s deductions from her remote surveillance, and the comments from Mr. Stranberg, the Redcliff High School Principal. Some of the close-up views showed Citadel’s curved sides very clearly, but these did not reveal any visible joints or seams, or even any texture, in the super-smooth surface. I don’t see anything new that wasn’t discovered or deduced last night. Ed’s train of thought was broken by Judy’s cool voice.
“This hasn’t provided us with any new information, sir,” Brisson stated flatly.
“I don’t know about that.” Her comments seemed to agree with Baynes’ thoughts on the matter, but he decided to fish for ideas by provoking discussion with a few unlikely theories. “What if this structure is a power source left here as an emergency supply for the big black ship that was used in the kidnapping and in the removal of the food trailer? What if it is the ‘shuttle craft’ normally used to fly from the huge black ship to Earth? Or how about this - Citadel here is actually a microwave beacon, used in emergencies to signal for help?” Ed watched the faces of his team members to gauge their reactions. “Maybe Citadel is some kind of antique power accumulator that was left here by mistake and it has recently been reactivated by some kind of deterioration of controls?” No one responded to his ideas. Ed paused to give them more time, then he continued. “So what is the connection between Citadel and the other incidents? Why have we not elicited any response to our probes?”
Judy looked like she was ready to speak, but the others were still reflecting on the unusual events of the past few days.
Ed signalled her to hold off on her comments until he was finished.
“No, I believe Amber and Smoke’s frolic around ‘the black castle’ has shown us something,” Ed began, touching the index finger of his right hand as if he were counting. “One, this Citadel is way ahead of American technology, but essentially passive… Two, we have been unable to detect any modulation in the microwave energy bursts which would indicate a signal, unless the signal is encoded in the frequency of burst repetition, which would be so slow as to defy reason… Three, obviously we cannot decode what we cannot detect; and… Four, anyone inside the structure could not have failed to detect our presence, after all the tests we have run.” He looked around at his team expectantly. “Don’t you see what all this must mean?”
He paused to let the others make their comments, signalling again to Judy not to respond, but soon realized that they were too uncertain. “Go ahead, then, Brisson.”
“I think there never was anyone inside Citadel. All my scans indicate that it is a solid structure of highly efficient energy-absorbing material designed to supply not information, but power to some orbiting structure. The fact that the beaming of microwave energy has just been discovered suggests that it was initiated very recently by those involved in the other incidents which NUIT has been investigating. Once started, the power bursts continue at pre-specified intervals, entirely automatically. They knew that we could detect the bursts, so they obviously feel confident that we cannot affect the operation of Citadel. References to Citadel as some kind of residence are simply a red-herring designed to distract our attention from activities elsewhere.” She finished, and sat back with a barely suppressed flush of satisfaction.
Or perhaps, even though it seems impossible, they really do live inside the structure, and are so powerful that they don’t even consider us a threat, Ed thought, privately.
The silence lengthened into another pause, then Leroy commented laconically:
“If that’s true, sir, what are we doing here?”
“Good question,” Baynes complimented Fraser, nodding slightly towards him. “There’s a chance that Brisson and I are wrong, in which case we might consider the possibility that we have them trapped. Anyway, this is as good a place as any to coordinate the search for further events from. I want you to contact all the monitoring stations and reemphasize the necessity for constant vigilance. If that ship reappears anywhere on Earth, we must be the first to hear about it. And, just in case the owners of Citadel are over-confident about its impregnability, tomorrow we’ll try and find a way into that thing.”
“That might be dangerous, sir,” Judy spoke up reluctantly. “We might activate some kind of automatic self-defence mechanism.”
“That’s a chance we’ll just have to take. We’ve got to justify our outrageously generous salaries somehow!”
No one laughed, but Leroy did groan inaudibly to himself. Ed got up, indicating that the miniature conference was over.
“Now, I’m going to be busy finishing off some trivial but essential details concerning my niece. I’ve got to take Amber to get her a new jacket to replace the one I wrecked this morning. Got to get her something real nice. Fraser, make arrangements for her to fly back in about two hours... see if you can get the same pilot that flew her up here. I’ll be on line throughout. Inform me if there is the slightest change in the situation.”
He walke
d towards the side door, then stopped and turned back, as if the next point was just an afterthought. “After you’ve done that, contact our army connections and arrange for a complete evacuation and blockade of the town starting tomorrow morning. Ideally the forces should arrive during the night, to be ready to enforce the blockade first thing in the morning.”
“Okay, sir, I’ll get on it right away,” Leroy nodded briefly, completely unfazed by this gargantuan request.
“Brisson,” Ed turned to Judy. “Come up with some suitable excuse – plausible reason – for the evacuation and prepare to publicize it as soon as the forces are in place... You know, dangerous hazard of some kind. I want this town sealed up tighter than the Pentagon, Fort Knox, or even... the surface of this Citadel. If you’re right and we do set off a self-defence mechanism, I don’t want three thousand extra civilian casualties on my soul!”
“Yes, sir!” Judy saluted enthusiastically.
Leroy managed to supress his amusement at her officiousness, reached over to his display, toggled a switch, and then nodded to his commanding officer once more. “Your com-link is functioning fine, sir; I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
Ed returned Judy’s salute casually, and stepped outside.
“Hey’ Eric,” Fraser drawled. “Come on down this-a-way and watch some T.V. for me while I set up the ‘Amber taxi-jet service’.” He stood up and waved the marine into his chair.
Kirouac sauntered over and gave a highly exaggerated salute to Leroy, then sat down and made a show of studying each view of Citadel intently in turn. If that canine investigation didn’t provoke any response, I doubt we’ll see any action now. He leaned back complacently after completing his mime.
“Now. Judy B-b-brisson,” Fraser began, playing with her name. “What’s going to be the ‘disaster of the day’ for today’s unsuspecting newscaster menu?” He sat down in the chair next to her and pushed it back, taking the excuse to study her face for a while.
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