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administration; but the fact remained that they were innocent people, and
Norfield had been troubled.
And then Don's team of physicists, reconstructing their timetable of those
past events, had come up with a modified version of the plan that didn't call
for the damaging of so much as a blade of grass in
Nebraska.
Carol turned her face toward the microphone stem on the console and said
quietly, "Computers.
Activate program TIMESCAN and unlock communicator coordinates on this
channel."
"TIMESCAN running," the machine's voice confirmed. "Channel coordinates
unlocked. Awaiting instructions."
Carol drew a deep breath to compose herself. Pearson was watching from an
auxiliary screen.
Indicators showed that the pilot signal activating the solar projectors had
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completed its sixteen-minute round-trip. The beams were arriving and ready for
the relays to switch into redirected mode onto
Nomad
.
The Garfax on the screen was talking via the communications channel of one of
Nomad
's receiver modules, located beneath the Columbus complex back in 2048.
Whether he himself was there too, or hooked in through a connection from
somewhere else, there was no way of telling. But there had been a time before
then when he had definitely been physically present in the same place as the
receivers. Carol was about to disconnect the channel on her console that was
showing Garfax in 2048, and scan backward through earlier times in
Nomad
's history times before the receiver modules had ever been brought back to
Earth at all.
"Go back ten months," she directed. Garfax vanished from the screen. The
console's other screens were still locked to the official channel, and the
faces on them continued to act normally.
A picture appeared of a man who looked like a technician, working with his
back to the viewing point the communications screen on the same receiver
module, but ten months before the time when the
Garfax of a few moments before had been speaking through it. "Busy?" Carol
inquired casually.
The technician whirled around. "What's going on?" he demanded. "Who turned
that on? Where did you come from?"
"It would take too long to explain, and I don't have the time. Just answer a
couple of questions, please.
Are you down a shaft underneath the Columbus complex?" The technician nodded
mutely. "Installing the receivers?" Another nod. "How long ago did the
receivers arrive there?"
"Two months. They were shipped here at night, all secret. That's all I know.
Now would you mind "
"Thank you. Computers, resume scan. Back another three months."
This time she found herself talking to a bewildered government scientist
aboard the spacecraft
Ulysses
.
"Let me see if I can guess," Carol said. "You're taking the receiver modules
from the Belt back to Earth.
The
Servochron has been sent off on a thirty-year round-trip, and the
Damocles ship recently had a nasty accident on its way home. What do I get,
ten out of ten? And who have you heard that said by before?"
"Goddammit, who are you?" the scientist choked, turning crimson. "That's
highly classified. I've never seen you before. On whose authority "
"Computers, resume scan. Back another month."
She tracked the receiver back to the time when it had formed a part of
Nomad
. There were lots of different people around it at various, closely spaced
times. Evidently a lot of work was going on. As
Carol had by then guessed, many of them were from the
Damocles mission. On one of these occasions, she thought she maybe spotted
Phillip Waverley in the background. But she let it go at that.
Eventually she was greeted by an astounded general in former USAFSC working
fatigues and a white-haired civilian, both wearing overjackets that carried
the
Damocles emblem on the breast pocket.
"You're with the
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Damocles mission from Earth," she stated without preliminaries. "How long ago
did the mission arrive at the
Servochron
?"
The general returned a puzzled look. "At the what
? Is that what this thing is called? Who the hell are you? Is that a major's
insignia you're wearing? Where are you talking from?"
"Oh, I see," Carol said. "It's early days there. They haven't told you what it
is yet. How long ago did the mission arrive, sir? It's extremely important."
"About five days," the general told her. "Do you know what this alien thing
is? We were told we were being sent to steer off a rogue meteor. Which service
are you with? I don't recognize those badges."
Carol ignored the questions. "When you arrived, was Garfax already there, and
a scientist called
Kreissenbaum? Maybe a few others with them?"
"Major, this kind of cross-examination of a senior officer is most irregular.
I must insist that I talk to your commander."
"Yes, they were all here," the white-haired civilian came in. "I don't know
why or how. The
Ulysses was here too. It was supposed to have disappeared years ago. There's
something very odd about this whole affair. I don't know who you are or or how
you come to know what you seem to know, but it would assist us greatly if "
"Computers, terminate." Carol thought for several seconds. The
Damocles ship had arrived at
Nomad five days before that last point. Three days cruising would put it out
of the danger zone. "Resume scan, go back eight days," she said. Surely this
would be the last stop.
A surge of jubilation came over her as the screen activated again. This was
going to be better than she had dared hope. She was looking at the familiar
gnomish face, only this time it wasn't cackling. It was openmouthed with
surprise, its beady eyes popping beneath the tuft of unruly hair.
"Good day, Mr. President," Carol greeted tightly. "You have no idea what a
pleasure this is."
Garfax blinked uncertainly. "Who are you? You're not from the
Ulysses
. What are you doing here? . . .
Are you here?" Two more figures joined him, evidently attracted from somewhere
near by his agitation.
"Ah, Mr. Josephson and Professor Kreissenbaum. I'm delighted." It was going
to be even better.
so
"Who is she?" Kreissenbaum demanded, turning sharply toward Garfax. "How does
she have access to the device? Where is she speaking from?"
"Major Carol Waverly, U.S. Space Force," Carol informed them. "Speaking from
2075." Three dumbfounded stares confronted her. "Why so surprised?" she asked.
"You've had more than two years to figure out what the
Servochron is, haven't you? You must have all the answers by now. Why else
would the president have gone out there?"
"How much do you know about this?" Josephson growled, sounding menacing.
"Oh, we know everything," Carol answered. "It didn't occur to you that after
thirty years we might have put together even more of the pieces than you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]