— Gregory MacAllister, “Valentina”
The news came first from the Rehling, relaying reports it received from the Salvator, the WhiteStar II, and the West Tower. They described Valya standing atop the sphere, confronting the globes. Trying to talk the moonriders away while the WhiteStar docked and took people on board. And the desperate run of the Aiko Tanaka, which blew its drive unit trying to get there in time.
Those who had witnessed the event, most of them watching through telescopes on the Salvator, or from the shuttles, had to have been struck by the sheer courage of the woman. She was wearing a go-pack and could easily have gotten clear. But she stayed. Even when the globes closed in, were obviously preparing to attack, when she had to know they were getting ready to fire on the Tower, she had stayed. She’d refused to leave Terri Estevan and the others.
But Hutch saw something else. She replayed the message she’d sent to Valya. “I would have preferred to do this here. But you’ll undoubtedly be getting a message from the people at Orion — ”
Damn. Why hadn’t she waited? Send something like this to a woman alone in a ship. Alone except for Eric, which was the same thing.
“We haven’t accounted for Amy’s experience. If you can shed light on that, if you know beyond question that’s another hoax, then let’s just forget this pony ride. Turn around and come home.”
She suspected, no matter what had happened at the West Tower, Valya would have been lost.
Her resignation had arrived, effective at the end of the current mission. But Hutch had tabled it. Hadn’t intended to allow her to resign. Valya was to be terminated.
And so she had been.
Hutch sighed. My God. What had she done?
She relayed the incoming Origins traffic, without comment, to Asquith’s office. The commissioner was still missing, although he’d left a message to the effect that he would arrive later that day “to see that everything was running properly.”
Hutch directed Marla to connect her with MacAllister. She knew the media might already have the story, and she didn’t want him finding out that way. But his AI told her he was unavailable. “In conference,” Tilly said. “I’ll inform him you called.”
“Please ask him to get right back to me.”
“Of course, Priscilla.”
Thirty seconds later Mac was on the circuit. Dark blue jacket, an ID tag hanging from his top pocket, a notebook in his hand. Looking worried. “I just heard. They hit the other Tower.”
“Yes,” she said.
“How many casualties?”
“Looks like ten. The report I saw says they got most of their people out.”
“Well, thank God for that. Is Valya okay?”
Hutch looked away, and he knew immediately. “What happened? She was in the ship, wasn’t she?”
“Apparently she tried to challenge the damned things. Stood on top of the Tower and delayed the attack while they got people loaded and out.” She was struggling to control her voice.
“She was standing on the roof when they attacked?”
“Yes.”
He lowered himself into a chair and stared at something she couldn’t see. It was the first time she had seen him at a loss for something to say. Finally: “You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
His eyes slid shut. “Okay.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.” He shook his head. Fought back tears. “We were planning on running the Galactic story in this issue. But it would get lost now. I think we’ll wait.”
They stared at each other across light-years.
“Something else,” he said. He had to stop to regain control of his voice. “A couple of my people have been talking with some heavyweight physicists. You remember the notion that the hyperaccelerator might rip a hole in the time-space continuum? Whatever that is?”
“You’re going to tell me — ”
“It’s apparently not that far-fetched. We can’t find anybody who thinks it’s likely, but a lot of them say it could have happened.”
“Moonriders to the rescue.”
“That’s what it sounds like. There was so much involved in this project, nobody wanted to speak up. Say something about Origins, and it was your career.”
When he was gone, she got up and walked over to the window and looked down on the cobblestone paths and fountains. There were always visitors down there. They came to see the Retreat, which had been brought in from the Twins and reconstructed just north of the Academy. And the Library, with its wing dedicated to George Hackett, whom she still loved so many years after his death on Beta Pac III. She’d never told Tor about him because she’d never entirely succeeded in putting him behind her. There had been times she’d made love to her husband while visualizing George.
It was a Friday afternoon. End of the week. And she watched two kids with a dog running past the Library. She knew that Valya also would never go away.
THE FIRST INDICATION she got that Asquith was back came in the form of a memo. “See me.”
You bet.
She walked into his office and found him on the circuit with someone. Audio only. He looked up and pointed toward a seat. She stayed on her feet. “Have to go, Charlie,” he said. “I’ll get back to you.” Then she got his full attention. “You did the right thing. Getting that rescue fleet in place.”
“Thanks.”
“Congratulations. I’m sorry we lost Valya, but the Academy is going to come out of this looking pretty good.”
She waved it away. “A lot of people are dead. Maybe we should have taken Amy more seriously.”
“Listen. Hutch, we can’t blame ourselves for that. We tried to warn them.” He came around the desk, stood in front of it, leaned back against it.
“Was that Dryden you were talking to?”
“Yes. Why?”
She let the question hang. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”
“Knew what?”
“About Valya. About the setup. You knew what was going on, and you let it happen. You lied to me. And you let me lie to the media.”
“That’s not so.”
“Dryden denied you were part of it, but they couldn’t have managed it without you. You might not have known the details of what they were doing, but you knew something was happening. You insisted on my assigning Valya to pilot the original mission. You set it up.”
He hesitated. Saw it was no use. “Okay, I knew. And if you’d had any guts, Priscilla, I wouldn’t have had to lie to you. This was something we needed. You and me professionally. The Academy needed it. And by God, unless you were willing to stand by and watch us close up the interstellar program and shut down everything we’ve worked for, you should be glad somebody was willing to put his neck on the line.”
“We could have done it without the lies.”
“Really? How? If you knew a way, I wish you’d have clued me in. And please don’t stand there with that holier-than-thou expression. I didn’t do this for myself.
“And to set the record straight: Nobody was ever in danger. Orion had a ship near the Galactic ready to go in and take everybody off had the need arisen.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “You know, Michael, you’re pathetic.”
He was above such things. “I was thinking the same thing about you, Priscilla. You’re good at running an established operation. But you don’t have the courage to make the tough calls. You don’t have any guts.”
“Right. And how do you think the Academy’s going to look when this story comes out?”
“Nobody can prove anything.”
“The woman who first spotted the Galactic asteroid has given MacAllister a statement.”