“There is a ship, something had to bring it here,” Victor said. “They’re close, watching us, hell they’re probably even down here among us. How would we know? We’ve no idea what they look like, what they’re capable of. God Almighty, entities from another planet.” Perhaps it was just the emphasis his boyish face gave to any deeply felt emotion, but Victor’s dismay seemed to be on the point of crushing him.
“Aliens might have the technological advantage over us,”
Greg said. “But I’d be very surprised if they could land on Earth without the strategic defence networks picking them up. Am I right, Julia?”
She gave a subdued nod. “Yes. The sensor coverage is good, it has to be given the potential for kinetic assaults. You could orbit a ship two hundred thousand kilometres out without being spotted, fair enough, but the chances of detection increase with every kilometre you travel closer to Earth. Once you’re within fifteen thousand kilometres of the surface you’re visible. It doesn’t matter how good your stealth technology is, any physical body passing through the planetary magnetosphere generates a flux that the sensors will pick up. We’re tracking hundreds of thousands of objects up there, anything from discarded solar panels to composite bolts.”
“So where did the flower come from?” Eleanor asked.
Julia shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. And that’s what really worries me. I can’t believe even aliens have the ability to circumvent our technology to that extent.”
“You said you could feel a pressure,” Victor said. What kind of pressure?”
Greg shrugged, uncertain how to express it in words. “Something waiting.”
“Look,” Julia said. We know there’s been some kind of first contact; that there is, or has been, a ship visit the Earth, or at least the solar system. That’s your presence; no big mystery there. What I want to know is, how is Royan tied in? That’s what I came for, Greg. Where is he?”
“I don’t know. But you were right about the flower being a message. It might even be a warning.”
“Then why didn’t he say so?” she asked hotly.
Greg realized how much worry and concern was bottled up behind her tawny eyes.
“Wrong question,” he said. “We should be asking: what’s he warning us about? And why such a baroque warning? If he had enough liberty to send off flowers, why not just give you a call? At the very least he could squirt us a data package.”
“Bugger your questions, Greg! I want to know what’s happened to Royan.”
“Well, what did you expect? A seance?” He cursed as soon as he said it.
Julia blushed.
“No,” Eleanor said levelly, her eyes never leaving Julia. “You want the girl, don’t you? The one who gave Rachel the box.”
The blush deepened, she nodded once. “She’s the link. The only one we’ve got.”
Greg looked at Eleanor, then back to Julia. “I can’t,” he said, appalled at how much it cost to say. “Not me, not any more. Sorry.”
“Bloody right you can’t,” Eleanor said coolly. She fixed Julia with a stare. “Look around you; four children, a fifth on the way, the farm, the picking season.”
“I know,” Julia whispered. “But… aliens, Eleanor. It goes beyond me and Royan, though I wish to God it didn’t. Who else can I trust? Who would you trust? You want these aliens to contact the religious fundamentalist movements first? One of the South American dictatorships? We have to find him, quickly and quietly. Greg’s a gland psychic, worth ten of these new sac users, and he’s had proper training. The best there is, and my friend, Royan’s friend. Who else can I ask?”
Greg narrowed his eyes. Julia’s compulsion had always been stronger than any psychic power. And combine it with logic as well…
“Give me a name, Greg, someone better; Lord, someone your equal would do.”
“How the bloody hell would I know?” he snapped. “I left that game sixteen years ago. Victor? You must have whole memory cores full of psychics.”
“I do,” Victor said quietly. “And we reviewed them, that’s why we’re here. I’m sorry. These modern sac users are good, but they don’t have your training, your strength. Mindstar hunted out people with the highest potential. Today, anyone who has a minor flash of talent can take a themed neurohormone and think he’s some kind of warlock. In a lot of respects themed neurohormones are a step backwards; and no one ever developed one to boost intuition.”
“Jesus wept!”
“Royan’s out there, Greg,” Julia said. “Negotiating with aliens, holding them off, leading them in. Lord, I don’t know which. But I have got to find out, Greg. Please?”
He looked helplessly at Eleanor. She fumbled for his hand, and gave him a squeeze. He tightened his grip round her shoulder.
“He is a friend,” Eleanor said in a tiny voice. She sounded as though she was trying to convince herself and failing miserably.
“Yeah, he is that.”
“You’re not hardlining, Gregory,” Eleanor said firmly. “Not at your age.”
He twisted under the look in her eyes, wanting to object, or at least have it said in private. The trouble was she was quite right. At fifty-two he would be hopelessly outclassed by today’s youngsters. Logic and intuition were in concord over that, worst luck. And if there was one certainty about all of this, there was going to be trouble. Royan’s method of contact alone was evidence of that.
Nothing ever simple, nothing ever straightforward. His bloody life story.
“No problem in that direction, at all,” Victor said smoothly.
“One of Event Horizon’s security crash teams will be on permanent alert to assist you. With hypersonic transport, they can be anywhere on the globe within forty minutes. And of course you’ll have as many of my hardliners accompanying you as you want. All you have to do is ask the questions.”
“No,” Greg said. “If I’m doing this then I want someone I know watching my back. Someone who’s reliable, someone who’s good.”
“Of course,” Victor said.
“I’ll take Suzi.”
“What?” Julia sat upright in her chair.
Eleanor stiffened inside his encirding arm.
Greg resisted the impulse to smile.
“She is one of the more competent tekmercs,” Victor said grudgingly.
“Yeah,” Greg said. “She ought to be. I trained her.”
Victor raised an eyebrow. “I think you’ll find she’s grown a bit since those days. Reputation-wise, that is.”
“I’m sure Event Horizon can afford her,” Greg said.
“We certainly can,” Julia agreed. “There will be one of Event Horizon’s executive jets here for you first thing tomorrow morning. I’ve already cleared your entry into Monaco.”
Eleanor’s features hardened, spiking Julia with a voodoo glare.
“Fine,” Greg said phlegmatically. Had there ever been a time when Julia didn’t get her way? “We’d better visit Suzi this afternoon.”
“You might find you need more backup than Suzi by herself,” Julia said.
Greg gave her a hard look, he was rapidly tiring of revelations. Why?”
“The girl at Newfields, or somebody else, they took a sample out of the flower as well.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. The lab pointed it out as soon as they saw it. One of the stamens had been cut off. And it was definitely a cut, not a break.”
“Would a stamen be enough for a genetic test?” Greg asked. “I mean, this unknown who took it, are they likely to know the flower is extraterrestrial?”
“Yes. Theoretically, all you need is a single cell. A stamen is more than sufficient.”
Greg rubbed a hand across his temple. “I doubt it would be the girl who took the sample.”
“Why not?” Eleanor asked.
“Purely because she is just the courier, especially if Rachel is right about her being a whore.”
“Courtesan,” Julia corrected. “Don’t fall into the mistake of thinking she’s a dumb go-between. Believe you me, at that level there’s a difference. She’ll be smart, well educated, and knowledgeable.”