“Because the people running the company are morons. They think sites can be exhausted. Like fuel.” He checked the time. “Listen, Chase, I’d love to continue this, but my daughter will be home soon, and we have some work to do.”
“One more minute?”
“Okay.”
“Tell me about Bannister.”
“Who?”
“Rachel Bannister. You must have known her. She was a pilot for World’s End at the same time you were.”
“Oh, yes. Rachel.” The color was draining from his cheeks. “Wow. That’s a long time ago.”
I waited.
“I don’t know. She was a competent pilot. Looked pretty good. That’s mostly all I can remember. As best I can tell, she got the job done okay.”
“She quit about the same time you did.”
“Did she? I don’t remember.” He shrugged. Got up. “Have to go.”
“Was anything going on at the time? Any reason the two of you would have left?”
“No. Not that I know of.”
“The flights she made, they’d have been to places you scouted, wouldn’t they?”
“Yes,” he said. “Probably. Chase, do you mind if I ask what this is about?”
“I’m just trying to get it clear in my head how the system worked.”
“But how does that have anything to do with Rachel Bannister?”
“Probably nothing, Hal. Was anyone else running scouting missions at that time?”
“Lord, Chase, I really don’t remember. I don’t think so.” He sat back in his chair. “You know, this is beginning to sound like a grilling. Is something going on here that I should know about?”
“Well, okay. Let me level with you.”
“Please do.” He swallowed.
“We’re trying to track down the origin of what might be an artifact. A tablet with a strange inscription.”
He shrugged. “Don’t know anything about it.”
“All right. One last question, Hal. Do you know where Rachel Bannister went on her last flight?”
He looked at me and somehow couldn’t break away. There was fear in his eyes. “Hell, I have no idea.” His voice shook. “I barely remember her, Chase. Let alone a last flight.”
“He’s hiding something,” I told Alex when I got home.
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know. But he knew Rachel better than he was willing to admit.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” We were riding home from the train station. “While you were gone,” he continued, “I was able to track down some of the families who went on the tours. During Rachel’s time.”
“And—?”
“Hugo Brockmaier was a corporate lawyer. In 1399, he and his wife Mira went out with World’s End to celebrate their sixtieth anniversary. Rachel Bannister wasn’t the captain. But they took time on the flight to record the highlights. It provides an interesting picture of what they actually did on some of these flights.”
“And you’ve got the record?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve seen it?”
“I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. Just at the description they sent with it. I think we should watch it tomorrow.”
At home that evening, I received a call from Yolanda Till. Yolanda had been a close friend since we were little kids growing up in Neuberg. We’d been in the Explorers together, had both been on the swim team, had shared boyfriends, and roomed together in college. We’d kept in touch. Yolanda had become an engineer and eventually gone to work for New Dallas Historical, which specialized in archeological excavations. She was currently involved in a recovery project on Mars in the home system. “But that’s not why I called you,” she said.
“Where are you now?” I asked.
“On approach to Skydeck. Just passing through. Won’t get time to stop. I’m here to check some details on a cargo flight. Going back out with them in a few hours.” She pushed her dark hair back. “You look good, Chase.”
I loved Yolanda. I couldn’t imagine those early years without her. “I suspect,” I said, “we could still clear the tables at Wally’s.” The bar we used to hit when we were seniors.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “We need to do a rerun before you get married, sweetheart.”
“What makes you think I’m getting married?”
“You’ve got that look. Is it going to be Robin?”
We did some more girl talk before she came to the point. “Chase, New Dallas is going to be hiring two pilots this month. When I heard about it, I immediately thought of you.” She flashed that big smile that had never changed. “They pay pretty well.”
I pretended to think it over. Didn’t want to reject the idea out of hand. “I don’t think so, Yolanda,” I said finally. “I have a good situation here.”
“Okay, Chase. You know, you’d have some upward mobility, which you probably don’t have with Alex. And, with a little luck, we might be able to manage some time together.”
“That part of it would be nice. But I’m really not ready to make a change.”
She hesitated. The smile faded, and was replaced by concern, the way she used to look when she disapproved of a guy I was going out with. “All right. I’d thought—”
“What, Yolanda?”
“That you’d be anxious to get away.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Never mind, Chase. Let it go.”
“Seriously: What were you about to say?”
“Well, life with Alex must be stressful. You never say anything, but I can see it sometimes in your eyes.”
“Yolanda, I have no idea what we’re talking about.”
“Okay. Look, I know you and he have made major contributions. And I wouldn’t take anything away from that—”
“But—?”
“But, you know what Alex’s reputation is in the academic world. He’s a looter, Chase. You know that as well as I do. I just thought maybe you’d want to get clear. It doesn’t help your reputation either, you know what I mean?”
“No,” I said. “I’m fine. I like working for him.”
“Okay. No offense. Anyhow, I expect to be back during the summer. Maybe we can get together then?”
PART II
Parties in Flight
FOURTEEN
The human race will never make peace with itself. The reason for that is not ongoing tribal instincts, as some would have it, but the sheer joy of wreaking destruction. The pleasure one gets from building, say, a town hall, does not approach the exhilaration to be had from blowing it apart. I don’t know why that is, nor can I advance an evolutionary rationale. It is something we do not talk about. But I will confess that my one great regret in life is that I have gone through so many years and never had an opportunity to drop a bomb on something.
—Timothy Zhin-Po, Night Thoughts
THE BROCKMAIER FAMILY GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY RECORD, 1399
Alex and I watched them toast the golden couple, watched the Brockmaiers and their friends and relatives dance the night away in a trendy dining hall, while a band played and toasts were offered. The happy couple wandered the floor, shaking hands, embracing friends and relatives, posing for pictures. They were surrounded by children and grandchildren. The holo included an attachment that would have allowed us to identify everybody had we been of a mind to do so.