Starhawk by Jack McDevitt Page B

minutes.”
    Â * * * 
    GREMLIN LOG
    Finally, the girls are safe. Now we have to see whether our own luck holds. Let the record show that a quicker response, however that might have been arranged, would have been seriously helpful.
    This will probably be our last entry. The log will be recorded on a chip, and the chip will be delivered to the
Copperhead
and made available to those inquiring into a more effective methodology for responding to emergencies.
    â€”Joshua Miller, November 17, 2195

Chapter 7
    THEY TALKED ABOUT their favorite assignments, about the ineptitude of the people who ran Union, about politics, about the silliness that reigned on holovision. About the lunacy of people who planted bombs on interstellars. “They go on about the sanctity of life, then they kill innocent people.”
    They did
not
mention the occasional bumps and nudges as they descended closer to the atmosphere.
    Shahlah described her feelings when she was assigned to deliver the good news to the winners of the Jamal Touma Science Award. Joshua recalled a run-in he’d had with police after taking umbrage with his sister’s husband, who had attacked her. “I wound up in jail,” he said. “For doing what someone needed to do.”
    â€œYou hit him?” asked Shahlah.
    â€œOf course.
He’s
the one who should have been arrested.”
    â€œWhy wasn’t he?” asked Jake.
    â€œMy sister wouldn’t press charges.”
    And they talked about the
Thompson
. Where was it?
    They interweaved bouts of silence with comments about what they’d do when they got home. (Nobody said “if.”) Shahlah announced that it would be a long time before she tried something like this again. “I thought these things were safe. Otherwise, we’d never have allowed the girls to come on this flight. My father wanted it to be something special. He’ll be heartbroken when he hears what happened.”
    â€œNevertheless,” said Josh, “I think everyone will appreciate his generosity.”
    â€œOh, yes.” She paused. “Jake, speaking of appreciation, I’m glad you were in the area. Don’t know what we’d have done—”
    â€œWell.” He wasn’t sure how to respond. If the
Copperhead
hadn’t been available, maybe they’d have sent a ship with appropriate capacity. “I’m glad we’ve been able to help,” he said.
    She approached him, looked into his eyes, and pressed her lips against his cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.
    Â * * * 
    â€œYOU GUYS ARE waiting too long,” Priscilla said. “We’re starting to hit some atmosphere.” But Jake told her to be patient.
    And, finally, the AI warned them that the situation was deteriorating and it was time to go. They were crossing one of the oceans, which was bright and gleaming in the sunlight. Jake let Priscilla know they were coming. Then they got into their gear. Jake and Joshua both wore jet packs. When they were ready, the
Gremlin
captain took a last look around. “I’ve been here almost two years,” he said. “This has been my home.” He sighed, took Shahlah’s hand, and led her into the air lock. “Don’t worry about anything,” he told her. “Just stay with me when we get outside.”
    â€œI’ll be fine,” she said.
    The last thing Jake saw before they closed the inner hatch was an image on the navigation monitor. One of the telescopes was pointed down, high mag, at the ocean. Something with a long neck seemed to be looking back at him.
    The lock went through the decompression cycle and opened. The
Copperhead
was about a hundred meters away.
    Â * * * 
    â€œIT’S NOT AS frightening as I’d expected,” Shahlah said.
    â€œThat’s because there’s no
down
,” said Josh. “No way you can fall.”
    She and Joshua pushed off together. Jake followed