enough, we can get to him, and we can keep ourselves alive while we do it. That leaves just one more problem: why are we going out to Odin? ”
Everyone, A.J. included, stared at her. “Er…what?” Joe said after a pause. “We’re going there to rescue the General, Maddie. Wasn’t that what we were all just talking about?”
She shook her head. “Yes, and of course that’s what we’re doing. But what do we want everyone back home to think we’re doing?”
Now A.J. got it. “Crap. Of course, we’re trying to keep the General a secret. So we need a reason to go out there that makes sense but doesn’t involve rescuing someone.”
“Well, couldn’t we be trying to salvage something from the wreck?” Helen asked.
“Maybe,yes,” Horst said, frowning, “but it would have to be something very valuable—crucial for our survival. Look at how much we are risking. To help another survivor, it makes sense, yes, people will often do things that are very risky for that; but if we’re not admitting that this is our reason, then we need a motive that’s very, very strong.”
“What about superconducting cable?” A.J. suggested. “We could say that a big chunk of Athena ’s got heated too high during the landing.” As with many other materials, heating the Bemmie-derived room-temperature superconductors too much could destroy critical parts of the metamaterial structure that made it work.
Maddie looked thoughtful, but Horst shook his head. “Never work; there’s only one place on Munin that Athena would have been stored, and for it to get that hot, we’d have had a lot more problems. Ones probably ending with us all dead.”
“Why not just say we’re going to look for survivors?” Brett asked. “We didn’t know there was a piece of Odin intact before, now that we do we feel obligated to check.”
It was Madeline’s turn to shake her head. “That one unfortunately fails the strength-of-motive test. Oh, it could be assumed we had that discussion, but anyone would know that I would be against it—and, not to waste our time with false modesty, I’m fairly certain that I could make sure we didn’t go down that road if I felt it was a bad idea.”
No one seemed inclined to argue; the Nebula Storm crew had worked with Madeline Fathom for years and knew exactly how formidable she was, and of the former Odin crew, several knew that Madeline was the only person who had worried Security Chief Richard Fitzgerald.
There was a short silence as all twelve castaways tried to think of something that met the stringent requirements.
A rippling chuckle suddenly broke the quiet. Startled, all heads turned to the source. “What’s so funny, Doctor?” Dan asked.
Petra Masters smiled. “Well, it’s a tad trite, that’s all. But why not medical supplies? I used up quite a bit of ours,” her face was momentarily shadowed, “trying to save David and Titos. We’re going to be working on a damaged nuclear reactor, on a moon—let’s be honest, actually, a planet that just happens to be going ’round an even larger planet—that might be unstable enough to get us injured rather directly. And we still could get ill in other ways—that old hackneyed standby appendicitis could rear its head, to name one. Munin was supplied with the assumption that Odin would be orbiting overhead in case of any real emergency, at least in terms of medical supplies. Now we have twelve people and a real state of emergency.”
A.J. found himself nodding along with Madeline; the delicate-looking blonde said, “I like it. Yes, I think that’s excellent. Most of the experimental medications for low-gravity exposure are on Odin as well. That’s really a very good idea, Dr. Masters.”
“Well, we do tend to think of our own specialty first.” The English doctor tried not to look overly pleased.
“All right then, people. Let’s get to it. Keep the General breathing, get the tanks refilled, and prepare our stories to withstand any
Everyone, A.J. included, stared at her. “Er…what?” Joe said after a pause. “We’re going there to rescue the General, Maddie. Wasn’t that what we were all just talking about?”
She shook her head. “Yes, and of course that’s what we’re doing. But what do we want everyone back home to think we’re doing?”
Now A.J. got it. “Crap. Of course, we’re trying to keep the General a secret. So we need a reason to go out there that makes sense but doesn’t involve rescuing someone.”
“Well, couldn’t we be trying to salvage something from the wreck?” Helen asked.
“Maybe,yes,” Horst said, frowning, “but it would have to be something very valuable—crucial for our survival. Look at how much we are risking. To help another survivor, it makes sense, yes, people will often do things that are very risky for that; but if we’re not admitting that this is our reason, then we need a motive that’s very, very strong.”
“What about superconducting cable?” A.J. suggested. “We could say that a big chunk of Athena ’s got heated too high during the landing.” As with many other materials, heating the Bemmie-derived room-temperature superconductors too much could destroy critical parts of the metamaterial structure that made it work.
Maddie looked thoughtful, but Horst shook his head. “Never work; there’s only one place on Munin that Athena would have been stored, and for it to get that hot, we’d have had a lot more problems. Ones probably ending with us all dead.”
“Why not just say we’re going to look for survivors?” Brett asked. “We didn’t know there was a piece of Odin intact before, now that we do we feel obligated to check.”
It was Madeline’s turn to shake her head. “That one unfortunately fails the strength-of-motive test. Oh, it could be assumed we had that discussion, but anyone would know that I would be against it—and, not to waste our time with false modesty, I’m fairly certain that I could make sure we didn’t go down that road if I felt it was a bad idea.”
No one seemed inclined to argue; the Nebula Storm crew had worked with Madeline Fathom for years and knew exactly how formidable she was, and of the former Odin crew, several knew that Madeline was the only person who had worried Security Chief Richard Fitzgerald.
There was a short silence as all twelve castaways tried to think of something that met the stringent requirements.
A rippling chuckle suddenly broke the quiet. Startled, all heads turned to the source. “What’s so funny, Doctor?” Dan asked.
Petra Masters smiled. “Well, it’s a tad trite, that’s all. But why not medical supplies? I used up quite a bit of ours,” her face was momentarily shadowed, “trying to save David and Titos. We’re going to be working on a damaged nuclear reactor, on a moon—let’s be honest, actually, a planet that just happens to be going ’round an even larger planet—that might be unstable enough to get us injured rather directly. And we still could get ill in other ways—that old hackneyed standby appendicitis could rear its head, to name one. Munin was supplied with the assumption that Odin would be orbiting overhead in case of any real emergency, at least in terms of medical supplies. Now we have twelve people and a real state of emergency.”
A.J. found himself nodding along with Madeline; the delicate-looking blonde said, “I like it. Yes, I think that’s excellent. Most of the experimental medications for low-gravity exposure are on Odin as well. That’s really a very good idea, Dr. Masters.”
“Well, we do tend to think of our own specialty first.” The English doctor tried not to look overly pleased.
“All right then, people. Let’s get to it. Keep the General breathing, get the tanks refilled, and prepare our stories to withstand any
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