Matt was in his office, after having spent a futile day showing medical buildings to people who, he now realized, had never been serious. “Maybe you can go back and say hello after we ride the lander to glory.”
“Yeah. Let them read about it.”
“So we can pick it up tomorrow?”
“They want another day or two to complete certification. Say the end of the week to be safe.”
“Okay, Jon. I’ll set up a launch date. You have any preferences?”
“Sooner the better.”
“All right. Meantime, we’ll leave it where it is until we’re ready to take it up to the station. We can do that, right?”
“Yes. That’s no problem. There’ll be a charge.”
“That’s fine. We can cover it.” He called Union Ops, got the watch supervisor, and explained what he wanted.
“Okay,” the supervisor said. “I hope it goes better this time.”
“Thanks.”
“I assume you’re speaking for the Foundation?”
“It’s not involved anymore.”
“All right.” He was studying a monitor. “Things are slow. We can do the launch tomorrow if you want.”
“We won’t be ready that quickly. We’ll need three or four days. Make it four.”
“How about Monday? Around 0900 hours?”
“Okay. That’s good. Can I arrange to have one of the scopes track the lander until it makes its jump? Like we did last time?”
“There’ll be a nominal charge.”
“Do it.”
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN the launch of the Happy Times two months earlier and the send-off given to the MacElroy High School lander could hardly have been more stark. The observation area had a decent crowd, but the tension was different. You might have said expectations were low. There was a comedy hour aspect to the proceedings.
Matt invited Hutchins, and she showed up with Rudy, but there were no other VIPs on the scene, no politicians, only one or two scientific observers. There were a few people from the Liberty Club and a delegation from the high school.
The media was represented, but they were primarily there for the sideshow aspects of the event. They were interviewing the kids and their teacher-escorts, and each other. Also on the scene were a few members of the fringe press. These were the guys who specialized in hauntings, scandal, prophecies, and celebrity marriages and breakups. One of them wanted to know whether they’d removed the AI, as Rudy Golombeck had for the earlier attempt. “After all,” he said, with a nod to his colleagues, “we wouldn’t want to hurt anybody.”
They all had a good laugh at Rudy’s expense. Pulling the AI had never occurred to Matt. It was after all just talking hardware. But he did feel a bit uncomfortable, now that he thought of it. Well, it was too late.
The questions, this time, were a bit off center. “Even if the lander makes it out to Pluto, do you anticipate the jump would have any negative medical effects on a pilot?”
“If it doesn’t work this time, do you plan to try again?”
“Did you know that some people who traveled with the Hazeltine system had a history of bad dreams on their return? Do you think that might happen with this new system?”
“Dr. Somebody had suggested the possibility that the Locarno, after it crumpled the Happy Times, took it into another reality. Did Dr. Silvestri want to comment on that possibility?”
When Matt replied that the questions were becoming strange, one reporter, from Scope, laughed and said sure they were, but all they wanted was an entertaining answer. We know nobody takes this stuff seriously.
“We’ll use the same general plan as last time,” Jon explained to the crowd. “This time the AI will be running things. It’ll take the vehicle out about forty minutes and make the jump. It’ll travel 3.7 billion miles, to the orbit of Pluto. And, if all goes well, it’ll send a radio signal back.”
He sat down in front of one of the viewports. Matt wished him luck.
“It’ll be okay,” Jon said. “I corrected the problem. This one’s going to Pluto.”
They got the call from Union Ops at 8:23 A.M. “Okay, Matt,” said the watch officer, “we’re ready to go.”
Jon sat back, nothing to worry about, and folded his arms. On-screen, the restraining lines let go and began to withdraw. Attitude thrusters fired. The vehicle moved away from the dock and redirected itself toward the exit. Launch doors opened. The MacElroy High School lander eased out of the station. When it was well away, its engine ignited, and the lander began to accelerate.
Jon took a deep breath. Somebody said, “Here we go.”
The onboard AI had been named in honor of Henry Barber. “All systems in good order,” Henry said. “Estimate thirty-seven minutes to transit.”
Matt got fresh coffee for them both. Hutch came over and gave him a calming smile. However things go, it won’t be the end of the world. Rudy huddled a few minutes with Jon. A news team from Worldwide moved in and set up.
The display gave them a crisp picture of the lander, as well as the rim of the Moon.
Matt drank his coffee, talked with reporters, talked with people who’d just wandered in to watch, talked with Rudy. Rudy congratulated him for coming up with the idea to use the lander. “Wish we’d thought of it earlier,” he said.
Exactly on time, Henry informed them the ship was about to make its jump. “I will be in touch with you this afternoon,” he said. “At seventeen minutes after three. Give or take a few minutes.”
Then it wasn’t there anymore. The last thing Matt saw was the MacElroy fourmaster emblazoned on its hull.
Jon pulled the recordings up, and they studied the images during the seconds before transit. The lander remained clear and bright as the time ran down to tenths of a second. They went through it methodically, moment to moment. The lander looked okay. No twisting or collapsing this time. No indication of any problem.
They looked at one another, and Jon ran it again. Slower. Hundredths of a second. And again it simply winked off. Between 76/100’s and 77/100’s of a second. No bending. No crumpling.
Jon rested his chin on his folded hands. “I think we’ve got it this time, Matt.”
THEY FOUND HUTCHINS seated in the Quarter Moon, talking with a reporter. She introduced him, George Somebody from the Savannah Morning News. “I know you needed a vehicle,” George was saying, “but whichever one of you folks came up with the idea of using the one at the high school was pure genius. And it’s a great way to get students interested in science.”
“Here’s the guy,” said Hutchins, nodding at Matt. “He’s been contributing his time to the school off and on for years.”
Matt tried not to look too pleased. George asked a few questions, mostly about how the school became involved. “Creative teachers,” he said. “And Myra Castle.”
“Who?”
“A school board member who cares.” He had a hard time delivering that one with a straight face, but he did his best.
“Okay,” said George. “Good.”
“Something else,” said Jon. “We got some kids interested in what we’ve been doing these last few weeks. If some of them go on to careers in the sciences, maybe that will have been enough.”
George turned off his recorder. He looked at Jon and smiled. “You don’t really mean that, but I like the sentiment.” He thanked them, saw someone else, and hurried away.
Matt turned back to Jon. “That will have been enough? Are you serious?”
“Am I serious?” said Jon. “Listen, Matthew, I want to hear that signal come in at three o’clock. It’s all I really care about.”
Matt sighed and looked at the overhead. “Whatever happened to simple honesty?”
“It’s all PR,” said Hutchins. “If we ever produced a person who was unrelentingly honest, everybody would want him dead.”