Read Online A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jack McDevitt
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Fantasy, War, High Tech, Life on other planets, Heroes
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facilities."
I sighed. "Then that was probably the reason. The fact that Gabe couldn't find anyone who'd actually done the work hardly seems significant. And maybe the captain was anxious to get home for personal reasons. I suspect that this whole business has a series of simple explanations."
"Maybe," she said. "But whoever Gabe talked to—Scott, whoever —refused to tell him who else was on the flight." She pressed her fist against her lower lip. "That's strange."
The conversation wandered a bit, and we went over old ground, as though there might be something there that had been missed. When Machesney's name came up again, she sat up straight. "Gabe had somebody with him on the Capella," she said. "Maybe that was Machesney."
"Maybe," I said. I listened to the sound of the fire, and the creaking of the old house. "Chase?"
"Yes?"
Jacob had provided some cheese and a fresh round of drinks.
"What do you think?"
"About what they saw?"
"Yes."
She exhaled. "If they weren't still sitting on information, I'd be inclined to dismiss the whole business. As it is—they're hiding something. But that's the only real evidence there is. That they won't release the logs.
"Despite that, if I were pinned down, I'd have to think that Gabe's imagination ran away with him." She bit off a piece of cheese, and chewed it slowly. "The romantic thing, of course, is to conclude that there's some sort of threat out there, something rather terrifying. But what could it be? What could possibly scare people at a distance of several hundred light years?"
"How about the Ashiyyur? Maybe they've broken through into the Veiled Lady."
"So what? I suppose that would cost the military some sleep, but it's not going to bother me.
And anyhow they're no more dangerous out there than they are along the Perimeter."
Page 28
Later, when Chase was gone, I called up the passenger list for Capella. Gabe's name was there, of course. Gabriel Benedict of Andiquar. There was no Machesney on the flight.
And I wondered, far into the night, why Gabe, who had navigated all kinds of ships among the stars, would want to hire a pilot.
IV.
That's a hell of a pile of real estate.
—Chief Counsellor Wrightman Toomey, on hearing that there was an estimated 200
million habitable worlds in the Veiled Lady.
THE DEPARTMENT OF Planetary Survey and Astronomical Research was a semi-autonomous agency, funded by the central treasury and an army of private foundations. It was controlled by a board of directors representing the associated interests and the academic community. The chairman was a political appointee, responsible to the foundations, but ultimately answerable to the Director herself. All of which is to say that, though Survey was officially a scientific body, it was very sensitive to political pressures.
It maintained administrative offices in Andiquar, for the purposes of recruiting technical personnel to man the big ships, and processing applications from specialists who wanted to join the research teams. There was also a public information branch.
Survey shared its office building with several other agencies. They were all on the upper levels of an old stone structure that had once housed the planetary government in the years before Confederation. The west wall was discolored where an interventionist's bomb had gone off during the early days of the Resistance.
The reception room was depressing: washed-out yellow walls, hard flat furniture, group photos of the crews of a couple of starships, and a portrait of a black hole. Not much of a public relations operation.
I got up from the straight-backed chair into which I'd arrived, as a holo strode efficiently out of an adjoining room. The image was that of a cheerful young man, slender, coolly efficient. A stock character, actually, whom I'd seen before in other situations. The door closed behind him.
"Good morning," he said. "Can I be of assistance?"
"Yes," I replied. "I hope so. My name's Hugh Scott, and
I sighed. "Then that was probably the reason. The fact that Gabe couldn't find anyone who'd actually done the work hardly seems significant. And maybe the captain was anxious to get home for personal reasons. I suspect that this whole business has a series of simple explanations."
"Maybe," she said. "But whoever Gabe talked to—Scott, whoever —refused to tell him who else was on the flight." She pressed her fist against her lower lip. "That's strange."
The conversation wandered a bit, and we went over old ground, as though there might be something there that had been missed. When Machesney's name came up again, she sat up straight. "Gabe had somebody with him on the Capella," she said. "Maybe that was Machesney."
"Maybe," I said. I listened to the sound of the fire, and the creaking of the old house. "Chase?"
"Yes?"
Jacob had provided some cheese and a fresh round of drinks.
"What do you think?"
"About what they saw?"
"Yes."
She exhaled. "If they weren't still sitting on information, I'd be inclined to dismiss the whole business. As it is—they're hiding something. But that's the only real evidence there is. That they won't release the logs.
"Despite that, if I were pinned down, I'd have to think that Gabe's imagination ran away with him." She bit off a piece of cheese, and chewed it slowly. "The romantic thing, of course, is to conclude that there's some sort of threat out there, something rather terrifying. But what could it be? What could possibly scare people at a distance of several hundred light years?"
"How about the Ashiyyur? Maybe they've broken through into the Veiled Lady."
"So what? I suppose that would cost the military some sleep, but it's not going to bother me.
And anyhow they're no more dangerous out there than they are along the Perimeter."
Page 28
Later, when Chase was gone, I called up the passenger list for Capella. Gabe's name was there, of course. Gabriel Benedict of Andiquar. There was no Machesney on the flight.
And I wondered, far into the night, why Gabe, who had navigated all kinds of ships among the stars, would want to hire a pilot.
IV.
That's a hell of a pile of real estate.
—Chief Counsellor Wrightman Toomey, on hearing that there was an estimated 200
million habitable worlds in the Veiled Lady.
THE DEPARTMENT OF Planetary Survey and Astronomical Research was a semi-autonomous agency, funded by the central treasury and an army of private foundations. It was controlled by a board of directors representing the associated interests and the academic community. The chairman was a political appointee, responsible to the foundations, but ultimately answerable to the Director herself. All of which is to say that, though Survey was officially a scientific body, it was very sensitive to political pressures.
It maintained administrative offices in Andiquar, for the purposes of recruiting technical personnel to man the big ships, and processing applications from specialists who wanted to join the research teams. There was also a public information branch.
Survey shared its office building with several other agencies. They were all on the upper levels of an old stone structure that had once housed the planetary government in the years before Confederation. The west wall was discolored where an interventionist's bomb had gone off during the early days of the Resistance.
The reception room was depressing: washed-out yellow walls, hard flat furniture, group photos of the crews of a couple of starships, and a portrait of a black hole. Not much of a public relations operation.
I got up from the straight-backed chair into which I'd arrived, as a holo strode efficiently out of an adjoining room. The image was that of a cheerful young man, slender, coolly efficient. A stock character, actually, whom I'd seen before in other situations. The door closed behind him.
"Good morning," he said. "Can I be of assistance?"
"Yes," I replied. "I hope so. My name's Hugh Scott, and
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