Read Online A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jack McDevitt
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Fantasy, War, High Tech, Life on other planets, Heroes
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records indicate that the drive did require an extensive overhaul."
"Then where's the problem?"
"Gabe couldn't find anyone who'd actually worked on the Armstrong units. And Survey got upset when they found out he was asking questions. He was formally denied access to their facilities."
"How the hell could they do that?"
"Easy. They declared him a safety hazard. I'd have liked to have seen that." She smiled. "I was on Saraglia when that happened. Judging from the tone of his messages, he was having apoplexy. But then he told me that Machesney had come through, and that he was on his way out to meet me. And for me to get a ship."
"Machesney?"
"That's what he said."
"Who the hell is Machesney?"
"I don't know. All this stuff about Christopher Sim. Maybe he meant Rashim Machesney."
I shook my head. "Is there anyone at all involved with this who hasn't been dead over a hundred years?" Rashim Machesney: the grand old man of the Resistance. Genial, fat, brilliant, expert in gravity wave theory, touring the planetary legislatures with Tarien Sim and throwing his enormous influence behind the Confederate cause. How could he have "come through" ?
"I don't know any other Machesneys," said Chase. "Incidentally, once repairs were completed, Survey wasted no time shipping the Tenandrome out again. They had a mission set up and ready to go. The captain and most of the original crew went with her."
"Could it have been a return flight? Were they going back?"
"No," said Chase. "At least I don't think so. Their destination was an area eighteen hundred light years out. Too far. If we can assume that Gabe did know where they'd been, and that was where he was headed."
"What about the ship's logs? Don't they routinely become part of the public record? I'm sure I've seen them published."
"Not this time. Everything was classified."
"On what grounds?"
"I don't know. Do they have to tell you? I just know that Gabe couldn't get access to them."
"Jacob? Are you there?"
"Yes," he said.
"Please comment."
"It's not all that unusual to withhold information if, in someone's judgment, its release would damage the public interest. For example, if someone gets eaten, the details would not be made Page 27
available. A recent example of nondisclosure occurred on the Borlanget flight, when a symbolist was seized and carried off by some sort of flying carnivore. But even then, only that part of the record dealing with the specific incident was held back. With the Tenandrome, it's almost as if the mission never happened."
"Do you have any idea," I asked Chase, "what they might have seen?"
She shrugged. "I think Gabe knew. But he never told me. And if anybody on Saraglia knew what it was about, they weren't saying."
"It might have been a biological problem," I suggested. "Something they were worried about, but had settled by the time they got to Fishbowl."
"I suppose it's possible. But if they'd put their minds at ease, why are they still hiding information?"
"You said there were rumors."
She nodded. "I told you about the plague. The most interesting one was that there'd been a contact. I heard probably two dozen variations on that, the most common being that they'd barely got away, that the central government was afraid the Tenandrome had been followed home, and that the Navy had been called in. Some people said the Tenandrome that came home was not the same as the one that went out."
That was a chilling notion.
"Another story was that there'd been a time displacement, that more than forty years of ship time had passed, and that the crew members had aged severely." She considered the depths of human gullibility. "Gabe was able to talk to one of the members of the research team, and he was perfectly all right. I don't know who that was."
"Hugh Scott," I breathed. "Did he say why they aborted the mission?"
"Whoever it was delivered the party line: the ship had problems with its Armstrong units, which they couldn't repair without heavy
"Then where's the problem?"
"Gabe couldn't find anyone who'd actually worked on the Armstrong units. And Survey got upset when they found out he was asking questions. He was formally denied access to their facilities."
"How the hell could they do that?"
"Easy. They declared him a safety hazard. I'd have liked to have seen that." She smiled. "I was on Saraglia when that happened. Judging from the tone of his messages, he was having apoplexy. But then he told me that Machesney had come through, and that he was on his way out to meet me. And for me to get a ship."
"Machesney?"
"That's what he said."
"Who the hell is Machesney?"
"I don't know. All this stuff about Christopher Sim. Maybe he meant Rashim Machesney."
I shook my head. "Is there anyone at all involved with this who hasn't been dead over a hundred years?" Rashim Machesney: the grand old man of the Resistance. Genial, fat, brilliant, expert in gravity wave theory, touring the planetary legislatures with Tarien Sim and throwing his enormous influence behind the Confederate cause. How could he have "come through" ?
"I don't know any other Machesneys," said Chase. "Incidentally, once repairs were completed, Survey wasted no time shipping the Tenandrome out again. They had a mission set up and ready to go. The captain and most of the original crew went with her."
"Could it have been a return flight? Were they going back?"
"No," said Chase. "At least I don't think so. Their destination was an area eighteen hundred light years out. Too far. If we can assume that Gabe did know where they'd been, and that was where he was headed."
"What about the ship's logs? Don't they routinely become part of the public record? I'm sure I've seen them published."
"Not this time. Everything was classified."
"On what grounds?"
"I don't know. Do they have to tell you? I just know that Gabe couldn't get access to them."
"Jacob? Are you there?"
"Yes," he said.
"Please comment."
"It's not all that unusual to withhold information if, in someone's judgment, its release would damage the public interest. For example, if someone gets eaten, the details would not be made Page 27
available. A recent example of nondisclosure occurred on the Borlanget flight, when a symbolist was seized and carried off by some sort of flying carnivore. But even then, only that part of the record dealing with the specific incident was held back. With the Tenandrome, it's almost as if the mission never happened."
"Do you have any idea," I asked Chase, "what they might have seen?"
She shrugged. "I think Gabe knew. But he never told me. And if anybody on Saraglia knew what it was about, they weren't saying."
"It might have been a biological problem," I suggested. "Something they were worried about, but had settled by the time they got to Fishbowl."
"I suppose it's possible. But if they'd put their minds at ease, why are they still hiding information?"
"You said there were rumors."
She nodded. "I told you about the plague. The most interesting one was that there'd been a contact. I heard probably two dozen variations on that, the most common being that they'd barely got away, that the central government was afraid the Tenandrome had been followed home, and that the Navy had been called in. Some people said the Tenandrome that came home was not the same as the one that went out."
That was a chilling notion.
"Another story was that there'd been a time displacement, that more than forty years of ship time had passed, and that the crew members had aged severely." She considered the depths of human gullibility. "Gabe was able to talk to one of the members of the research team, and he was perfectly all right. I don't know who that was."
"Hugh Scott," I breathed. "Did he say why they aborted the mission?"
"Whoever it was delivered the party line: the ship had problems with its Armstrong units, which they couldn't repair without heavy
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