“Is Gabe going?”
“He’s no dummy. Okay. See you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be there. But I’d just as soon stand off to the side and watch. Unless you need me up front.”
“Who’s McCord? I remember the name, but what’s his connection?”
“All right. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I needed a snack. Some chocolate cake. I cut a piece and had just sat down to enjoy it when Carmen informed me of another call.
That wasn’t good. My first reaction was to have Carmen tell her I wasn’t available. But that would only be a temporary solution. “Put her through, Carmen.”
I hadn’t met Faulkner but I knew she was a producer in the news division. She blinked on, seated at a circular table in a leather chair, tapping at a keyboard. Lush velvet drapes covered a window behind her, and a crowded bookcase stood to one side. Soft music filled the background. She looked up at me, smiled, and got to her feet. The music stopped.
“Yes.”
“Jill, I’m not in a position to comment on this.”
Morgan Winslow Show
“Thank you. But I have to decline.”
I was still sitting behind my piece of cake when she began to approach. She was considerably taller than I am, and she radiated a sense of compassion.
Carmen’s lamp began blinking. “One second, Jill,” I said. “What is it, Carmen?”
He was the producer for the .
“Tell him I’ll get back to him.”
Jill said.
“Thanks for the offer. But I have nothing to say on the subject.”
She was about to respond, but I disconnected and switched back to Carmen. “Give me Pasciwicz. If anybody else calls, I’m not available.”
she said.
“Put him on.”
he said,
“It’s already started.”
I gave Pasciwicz a no comment. We were still fending off calls when a skimmer arrived with emblazoned on both sides. That was enough. I packed a bag and, at the first opportunity, left the cottage and checked into a nearby hotel.
XLII.
When I walked into the Holgrove Hotel’s auditorium, Lashonda was at the front table, just taking her place behind a lectern. I didn’t see Alex. The media were filing in, as well as others who undoubtedly had a personal connection. Olivia Hill was among them. She was seated at a table near the front.
Lashonda waited for everyone to settle in and then looked over at an open door. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, “we have finally a report on what happened to the Octavia. For that, we are indebted to Alex Benedict. Alex, would you come out here, please?”
He came through the doorway and took his place at the lectern. She shook his hand and returned to her seat. The crowd grew quiet.
Alex looked out across the audience. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Recently, we intercepted a twelve-year-old radio transmission from Octavia. It was sent by Charlotte Hill from the space station on the day of its disappearance. They were at that time blocked by the black hole from communicating with any of our bases or worlds. They were in that position for about thirty-one hours. Charlotte was concerned about what was happening on the Octavia, and consequently she informed a friend that, if something untoward happened, she would send a radio transmission to one of the surrounding stars. The message to the friend was not immediately clear, which is why it has taken so long for us to catch up with it.”
Hands went up and questions were launched. Who was the friend? What star? Did you get the transmission? What did it say?
“Yes,” he said. “We did make the reception.”
“What did it say?”
Alex held up a hand. “This will go better if you let me finish.”
The audience calmed down.
“Rick Harding had a secret for years. He had discovered a world with a civilization that, at one time, apparently had a technology well in advance of ours. But the inhabitants had died off. They were killed in a series of wars, leaving behind another species that they’d enslaved. The survivors were terrified at the prospect of being treated the same way if someone else with advanced technology showed up. So they pleaded with Harding not to reveal their existence. He said nothing for a long time. For years. But life on Octavia involved a lot of solitude. People in a place like that have a hard time keeping secrets. Rick apparently revealed the story to one of his colleagues with the understanding that the information would go no further.
“Unfortunately the recipient of the information faced the same challenge about not sharing it. Assuming the others on the station would say nothing, she passed it on. The details aren’t clear. But it seemed simply unreasonable to her colleagues to remain silent about a discovery of that magnitude. They confronted Rick and apparently made it clear to him that they felt keeping that kind of discovery quiet was irrational. That they had an obligation to pass it on to others in the scientific community.
“Rick tried to dissuade them.” Alex paused for a breath. “But he was unable to do so. When that happened, he got desperate and took the shuttle out. He rarely did that, but he must have considered it his only option. The only way he could protect the people to whom he had given his word. Charlotte and the others suspected he was going to use the shuttle to destroy the station. Del tried to talk him down, while Charlotte described the situation in the transmission she sent to the star. She knew it would be easy for an interstellar to acquire it, but she hoped their fears were unfounded and that the message, as well as the conflict, would simply disappear into the void. Ultimately, Charlotte tells us that the shuttle was coming back, and it was evident that Harding was going to crash it into the station.”