"It's a secret facility, more or less." He gave her hand a squeeze. "The Intelligence Secretariat maintains any number of research projects throughout the Federated Commonwealth. They all differ in the level of security and knowledge about them. For example, weapons-research project facilities run by the NAIS on New Avalon are considered top-secret, but folks know they exist and where they are. It's more that getting to them is inconvenient and very littie is known about any particular project they might be working on."
Kai rocked back on his heels and stood, brushing twigs and leaves from the knees of his jumpsuit. "Remember all the UAP sightings on New Avalon ten years ago?"
"Unexplained Aerial Phenomena?" Her blue eyes nearly shut as she concentrated. "I never went in for much of that outer-space alien stuff, but I think I remember hearing something about it. What of the sightings?"
"Well, the Federated Commonwealth, at the Hudson Gulf Aerospace Center, was testing Hammerhead prototypes built from plans recovered in a Star League-era computer memory core. The project was very secret, so the flights were made only at night and UAP buffs kept calling in sightings of aircraft doing impossible things. The AFFC refused to comment on the sightings and stonewalled the whole thing. That, of course, just made it worse and UAP 'investigators' said the government's silence proved the existence of aliens and that the government was in secret negotiations with them."
Deirdre folded up the map. "I think I saw a holovid about that. I thought it was a real laugher. It said that a crashed ship and alien bodies were on the Hudson Gulf base, in area 51, hangar 18b."
"I remember that, and I remember the crash." Kai shrugged his bullet-proof vest on, being careful not to crunch his ribs. "One of the prototype Hammerheads went down on a farm just outside Moore's Folly in the Roswell district. The AFFC folks quarantined the place and picked up every bit of material that had been on the plane, including ferro-fibrous armor.
"It turned out they missed a scrap or two, a piece of which was turned over to UAPologists, who immediately proclaimed it something mankind was incapable of producing. They claimed the government had bodies of aliens stashed away. Mostly the UAP folks were paranoid conspiracy-theorists running amok and all they did was cause trouble for clerks having to process requests for information."
"So you don't believe in 'flying saucers,' Kai Allard?"
The MechWarrior shrugged. "It's not to believe or disbelieve. I don't know if they are out there, and I really don't care. If one of them wanted to come along and give us a ride home, I'd accept it."
"And that's why we're going to the radio telescope facility, is it?"
Kai said nothing as he zipped up his jumpsuit. He had told Deirdre he hoped the radio telescope could be used to send a coded message out into space. He knew, and was pretty sure she knew, any message sent in that fashion would take centuries to reach New Avalon, and at least two decades to hit the nearest Federated Commonwealth world. They both knew it would be a long shot to hope some JumpShip was still lurking in the system and capable of carrying their message away, but they deemed it worth a chance.
What Kai had not told her was that he knew of the secret communication devices the Federated Commonwealth had developed to supplant ComStar's monopoly on interstellar communication. The black boxes sent messages at a rate much slower than ComStar's hyperpulse generators, but it would get a message to the Federated Commonwealth before either one of them had grown too old to appreciate being rescued.
He did not know if that facility had one of the fax machines or not, but the possibility was one he could not pass up investigating. Kai regretted withholding that information from her, but he only knew about it himself because of his father and things he had picked up as a child. To share that information, even with the woman he loved, would violate his father's trust and put her in needless jeopardy.
"Best bet for getting us a galactic-taxi off this rock, I think." Kai shouldered his pack. "I think it will take us another couple of weeks to get up into the mountains. We zip through Tedesco Pass and we're at Mount Sera. We send the message and wait."
Despite his seeming casualness, Kai knew it would not be that simple. The hike would take them through the Vorrei National Forest, around a city and two villages, and up into the foothills. The old-growth forest would be picturesque, with its tall pines and golden meadows, but it still meant a lot of wear and tear on their bodies. When they reached their goal, they would be ragged and tired.
Deirdre stuffed the map into her pack. "And you're sure the facility is there?"
"Very sure, in fact." Kai scattered the ashes from their little fire with his right foot. "At the New Avalon Military Academy, I attended a talk by Professor Todor Meir. He talked about research he had been doing, scrupulously avoiding any mention of where he had been. Later, at a reception, he noticed I was wearing a diver's watch and we started to talk scuba diving. He mentioned the Mar Negro on Alyina. A minimal amount of detective work put the puzzle together for me, and my father confirmed the accuracy of my deductions."
Deirdre smiled as she fell into step beside him. "Like father, like son, I guess."
Kai glanced at her, looking for any hint of her old hatred, but her beautiful face showed none. "I'd like to think so."
She stepped over a fallen tree. "Oh, I think you do well in that regard. I know your parents are very proud of you."
"Really?" The jolt of pride shooting through his chest surprised Kai. "What makes you say that?"
Deirdre silently paced a few steps further through the shadow-laced forest before answering. "When I had to testify on Outreach about your actions on Twycross, I could read it in their eyes. Though I wanted to hurt your father, I could only tell the truth. I don't think they could be more proud of you, Kai. Your background has made you the kind of person I'd like to be."
"Don't say that. You've done wonderful things, and you'll do more."
She shrugged. "I'm trying to atone for the things my father did. My background hasn't been much of a help in anything I've tried to do."
Kai shook his head and worked his way up a hill using a lattice of roots as steps. "You dwell too much on what you think are the sins of your father. Peter Armstrong might not have been the greatest father in the universe, but I don't think you're his daughter, really."
"What?"
"Look, you say you wanted to make up for your father and what he did to the Federated Commonwealth. You could have chosen a million different ways to do it." Kai reached back and helped her top the little hill. "You chose medicine as the avenue through which you contribute to the Federated Commonwealth. I think that's because your real father, Roy Lear, was a doctor. I think, in choosing what you would do with the rest of your life, you built from your real background."
Kai shrugged. "Of course, what do I know? I should leave all this psychology to the professionals."
Deirdre tucked strands of dark hair behind her left. ear. "I never looked at it that way. I always thought of my stepfather as a mentor, not a father. I loved him, but not in the normal way."
"But who is to say what is normal?" Kai chuckled lightly as he thought about his family. "My parents were forever heading off for this or that reason. State dinners, meetings on other worlds, wars to plan and fight—the list had no end. Even so, they made sure we each knew we were loved. They had confidence in us and wanted us to become whatever we desired. Despite not seeing them for months at a time, it may have been better than having a parent who was always around but never loved you enough. The way I grew up might not be classed as normal by an outsider, but it was normal for me."
She slipped her left hand into his right. "You're pretty smart for a soldier, you know."