Sarha quickly ran a review of the images the fleet had recorded on their approach, watching the cloud formations. Oh my Lord, they split, she said disbelievingly. About a hundred kilometres offshore the clouds split like theyve hit something. She ran the time-lapse record for them, letting the tumbling clouds sweep through their neural nanonics visualization. Great billowing bands of cumulus and stratocumulus charged across the ocean towards Amarisks western shoreline, only to branch and diverge, raging away to the north and south of the Juliffes mouth.
Jesus. What would it take to do that? Not even Kulu tries to manipulate its climate. Joshua switched back to a real-time view from Lady Mac s sensor clusters. A cyclone was being visibly sawed into two unequal sections as it pirouetted against the invisible boundary. He ordered the flight computer to open a channel to the Gemal .
Yes, weve seen it, Terrance Smith said. It has to be tied in with the red cloud cover. Obviously the invaders have a highly sophisticated method of energy manipulation.
No shit? The point is, what are you going to do about it?
Destroy the focal mechanism.
Jesus, you cant mean that. This fleet cant possibly go into orbit now. With that kind of power available theyll be able to smash us as soon as were within range. Hell, they can probably pull us down from orbit. Youll have to abort the mission.
Its ground based, Calvert, were sure of that. It cant be anywhere else. The blackhawks can sense the mass of anything larger than a tennis ball in orbit, you cant disguise mass from their distortion fields. All we have to do is send in the combat scout teams to locate the invaders bases. Thats what we planned on doing all along. You knew that when you signed on. Once we find the enemy, the starships can bombard them from orbit. Thats what youre here for, Calvert. Nobody promised you an easy ride. Now hold formation.
Oh, Jesus. He looked round the bridge to make sure everyone shared his dismay. They did. What do you want to do? At five gees I can get us to a suitable jump coordinate in twelve minutesmark.
Melvyn looked thoroughly disgusted. That bloody Smith. His naval programs must have been written by the most gung-ho admiral in the galaxy. I say jump.
Smith has a point, Warlow rumbled.
Joshua glanced over at the big cosmonik in surprise. Of everyone, Warlow had been the least eager to come.
There is nothing hostile in orbit, the bass voice proclaimed.
It can chop up a bloody cyclone, Ashly shouted.
The red cloud is atmospheric. Whatever generates it affects lower atmospheric weather. It is planet based, centred on Amarisk. The blackhawks have not been destroyed. Can we really desert the fleet at this juncture? Suppose Smith and the others do liberate Lalonde? What then?
Jesus, hes right, Joshua thought. You knew you were committed after you took the contract. But ... Instinct. That bloody obstinate, indefinable mental itch he suffered fromand trusted. Instinct told him to run. Run now, and run fast.
All right, he said. We stay with them, for now. But at the firstand I really mean first , Warlowsign of the shit hitting the fan, then we are out of orbit at ten gees. Commitment or no commitment.
Thank God somebodys got some sense, Melvyn murmured.
Sarha, I want a constant monitor of all the observation satellite data from now on. Any other shit-loopy atmospheric happenings pop up and I want to be informed immediately.
Yes, Captain.
Also, Melvyn, set up a real-time review program of the grav-detector satellites data. I dont intend us to be dependent on the Gemal informing us whether weve got company.
Gotcha, Joshua, Melvyn sang.
Dahybi, nodes to be charged to maximum capacity until further notice. I want to be able to jump within thirty seconds.
They arent designed for long-term readiness
Theyll last for five days in that state. Itll be settled one way or another by then. And I have the money for maintenance.
Dahybi shrugged his shoulders against the couch webbing. Yes, sir.
Joshua tried to relax his body, but eventually gave up and ordered his neural nanonics to send overrides into his muscles. As they began to slacken he accessed the fleets command communication channels again, and started to format a program which would warn him if one of the ships dropped out of the network unexpectedly. It wasnt much, but it might be worth a couple of seconds.
The atmospheric probes began to lose height, sliding down towards the surface of the red cloud. Systems are functioning perfectly, the flights controlling officer reported. Theres no sign of the electronic warfare effect. She flew them to within five metres of the top, then levelled them out. There was no reaction from the serene red plain. Air analysis is negative. Whatever holds the boundary together seems to be impermeable. None of it is drifting upwards.
Send the probes in, Terrance ordered.
The first probe eased its way towards the surface, observed by cameras on the second. As it touched the top of the layer a fan of red haze jetted up behind it, arcing with slow smoothness, like powder-fine dust in low gravity.
It is a solid! Terrance exclaimed. I knew it.
Nothing registering, sir, no particles. Only water vapour, humidity rising sharply.
The probe sank deeper, vanishing from its twins view. Its data transmission began to fissure.
High static charge building up over the fuselage, the control officer reported. Im losing it.
The probes datavise dissolved into garbage, then cut off. Terrance Smith ordered the second one down. They didnt learn anything new. Contact was lost twenty-five seconds after it ploughed into the cloud.
Static-charged vapour, Terrance said in confusion. Is that all?
Oliver Llewelyn cancelled the datavise from Gemal s flight computer. The bridge was dimly lit, every officer lying on an acceleration couch, eyes closed as they helped coordinate the fleets approach. It reminds me of a gas giants rings, the captain said. Minute charged particles held together with a magnetic flux.
The blackhawks say there is no magnetic flux, only the standard planetary magnetic field, Terrance corrected automatically. Was there any sign of biological activity? he asked the flight control officer on the Cyanea.
No, sir, she said. No chemicals present either. Just water.
Then why is it glowing?
I dont know, sir. There must be a light-source of some kind deeper inside, where the probes cant reach.
What are you going to do? Oliver Llewelyn asked.
Its a screen, a canopy; theyre covering up whatever theyre doing below. Its not a weapon.
It might only be a screen. But its beyond our ability to create. You cant commit your forces against a total unknown, and certainly not one of that magnitude. Standard military doctrine.
There are over twenty million people down there, including my friends. I cant leave without at least making one attempt to find out whats going on. Standard military doctrine is to scout first. Thats what well do. He drew a breath, entering the newly formatted data from the probes into his neural nanonics and letting the tactics program draw up a minimum-risk strategy for physical evaluation of the planetary situation. The combat scout teams go in as originally planned, although they land well clear of the red cloud. But Im altering the search emphasis. Three teams into the Quallheim Counties to find the invaders landing site and base; that section of the mission hasnt changed. Then nine teams are to be distributed along the rest of the Juliffe tributaries to appraise the overall status of the population and engage targets of opportunity. And I want the last two teams to investigate Durringhams spaceport; they now have two objectives. One, find out if the McBoeing spaceplanes are still available to effect a landing for the general troops were carrying in the Gemal . Secondly, I want them to access the records in the flight control centre and find out where the starships went. And why.