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  Hawkins nodded. “That'll ease my mind a little, but not much. I did tell you what it was with Wynona, didn't I?

  “Yes, but tell it again,” Stacey asked with an elfish grin directed toward Dan.

  “She was recruited by the Russian Secret Service ten years ago while she was still working on her doctorate."

  “Wasn't she an American citizen? How did they manage it?"

  “Yes, she's a citizen but one of her parents was a Russian immigrant. Wynona is a lesbian and thought it would practically kill her parents if they found out. The Russkies did it like always, asking for only a little information at first, but gradually letting her dig a deeper and deeper hole, until the only way out would have meant not only the revelation of her sexual proclivities, but a life prison sentence as well, possibly even execution.

  “The Chinese go about it differently. Family means the world to them and they simply recruited a couple of scientists with relatives still in China. They were female, too, by the way."

  Stacey's grin became even more fey as Hawkins continued.

  “Of course their controllers taught all of them how to use sex to hook others, both male and female, and recruited them, too. Wynona was the apex of quite a busy little ring until she ran into you."

  “She almost did, literally,” Stacey laughed, remembering how embarrassed Dan had been while relating how Wynona used her physical attributes as well as the flash of light to distract him enough not to notice the pin-prick of the injection.

  Hawkins blinked, then thought he caught the meaning. He avoided joining Stacey in laughter by the barest of margins. “Anyway, once we promised to keep everything secret until we left, she and the others folded completely."

  “What'll happen to them?"

  “Oh, we'll probably trade them for some of our people who got caught, so long as you can assure the intelligence people they've learned nothing useful."

  “They haven't,” Dan said positively. “Hell, me and Stacey haven't learned a lot, if the truth be told."

  “All right then. Go ahead and move in tomorrow."

  “Great. Come on, sweetheart, let's go pack. No, first I guess we'd better send for the Hendersons and have them come for the doggies."

  * * * *

  Getting their personal belongings together and moved to the ship, and then unpacking and rearranging the stateroom to suit them both, had taken all day. On the second trip over, they met their personal aides: two Army sergeants, a male and female team.

  “We're sorry w e weren't here to help out your first time over,” the man said, speaking for both of them. “We just got the news that we'd landed the jobs. I'm George Stewart and this is Melinda Stewart. Call us any time of the day or night and we'll come running.” He spoke with a southern drawl and grinned hugely, obviously proud to have been appointed to the post.

  “And here's our data cards,” Sgt. Melinda Stewart said. She had a voice that reminded Stacey of wheat fields and sunny skies. She was plain looking and young, but appeared eager and enthusiastic.

  Dan noticed the identical last names and the wedding rings. “Are you two by chance married?"

  “Yes, sir,” Melinda answered. “You'd best call us by our first names to avoid confusion."

  “I think that's an excellent idea,” Stacey said. “Are you ready to go to work?"

  “Yes, ma'am!” They said in unison.

  Throughout the day the couple stayed close, taking time out only to eat lunch when the Captain and his executive officer did. They made the moving job immensely easier. Even so, at the end of the day Dan and Stacey were tired.

  Neither of them were interested in the news, even though there were only a couple of days remaining to watch it. The ship had made them understand that its peculiar propulsion system would prohibit contact from Earth once it began moving.

  “Do you want to watch a movie?” Stacey asked.

  “No. I'm ready for another christening ceremony.” He glanced knowingly over at the king sized bed, the only such one in the ship.

  “Does the Captain have something particular in mind?"

  “Yes, the captain most definitely does."

  “What are your orders, sir?"

  “Take your clothes off."

  “Yes, sir!"

  A hour later the stateroom and its most prominent piece of furniture had been well and truly christened.

  * * * *

  There was no way of preventing the news from getting to the crew that spies and traitors had been among them. It circulated and was magnified and distorted through gossip until Dan had to issue a synopsis of how the first one had been found and then named the others. He concluded with the announcement that all the ones aboard under false pretenses had been apprehended and everyone else was not only safe, but trusted.

  That wasn't the complete truth. There was still the possibility of others undiscovered as yet, but in order to stop the rumor-mongering he had to distort the truth somewhat himself. He consoled his conscience with the thought that he might indeed be telling the truth, but there was no way of knowing for certain.

  * * * *

  Ali Rashid Hussein finally began to relax. Despite the unnerving revelation of others like himself being ferreted out and removed from the ship in handcuffs, he had somehow been overlooked. Allahu Akbar he whispered softly to himself after reading Captain Saddler's announcement, as well as hearing a recording played at the noon meal. God is great. Now his task was to remain hidden in plain sight of everyone and wait until the Messenger arrived at its destination. Then would come the uprising. He had no doubt that others of the faithful would join him once the Captain and his whore of a wife were dead. All western women were whores; they must be, simply from the way they dressed, leaving so much of their bodies uncovered that he must be constantly averting his eyes lest he be tempted.

  One more day, Ali thought. One more day and the Messenger will be on its way. There had as yet been no announcement of how long it would take to reach its first destination but that mattered little. All that counted was to remain undiscovered and keep the little plastic pistol he had smuggled aboard hidden until it came time to use it. In the meantime, he knew how to make explosives from common ingredients found everywhere, even on a ship bound for space.

  * * * *

  Despite objections by General Hawkins, he had been appointed Ship's Chaplain, the primary religious position aboard ship. The Reverend Murray McCoy tried to be humble but found it hard to keep from showing his joy. One of the perks of the position was a stateroom by himself while most others had to share two-person rooms. He sat at the little desk in his stateroom, writing the sermon he intended to give this very evening, a Sunday, thanking the good Lord for his generosity in providing such a fine instrument as the Pioneer for spreading His word to the stars. And as a department head, he was entitled to have announcements appear on the screens that were present in every room. He had already used this privilege to announce the meeting tonight, to take place in the biggest auditorium.

  When the time came, he had to grit his teeth and smile through his disappointment at how few people came to hear his sermon. Scientists! he muttered under his breath as he finished speaking. Blasphemers and atheists! But the Lord would have the last laugh. He had faith in the Lord.

  * * * *

  Premier Cherkov declined to watch the execution of Ivan Karposky, along with a number of generals from the rocket forces who had been inclined toward war after Karposky failed to accomplish his goals. Nuclear war would solve nothing. Cherkov knew other opportunities would come in the future. There was very little Americans wouldn't do for money or illicit sex. He could wait until they returned.

  * * * *

  How did he do it? How did the cursed American Captain find out? General Chou En Song wondered. Sweat rolled off his face as the Chinese Policemen, clad in immaculate uniforms with the traditional white gloves, forced him to his knees. General Chou would never know, for a few seconds later the command was given and a pistol b
ullet crashed into the back of his head, ending his speculations forever.

  * * * *

  Gene Flanders, the president's new White House Chief of Staff, was meeting with Bernardo Chavez, the Homeland Security Director, Constantine Moralini, Secretary of Defense, and Octavia Jenson, the Secretary of State.

  “The president doesn't want the military to go on alert,” Flanders told Moralini. “He's been assured by the Russian and Chinese Premiers personally that there will be no threats or war-like moves as the Pioneer leaves Earth."

  “Thank Goodness,” Jenson said. “It's bad enough that he allowed a whole battalion of army troops to go along. A heightened alert would be the worst thing to do now. It would send the wrong signal."

  Flanders hated that term. “What signal, Octavia?"

  “Why, threats, of course. Goodness knows we've worked hard enough to get the ship off without provoking a war."

  “I believe it was Russia and China doing the provoking,” Bernardo Chavez contradicted. “The CIA informed me that a number of executions took place in both countries after we routed out their spies."

  “Spies! They were simply nationalistic-minded individuals. Our whole crew is made of the same type individuals except for the State Department and U.N. delegations."

  Flanders couldn't say what he really thought but neither could he resist a small dig. “I would hope your people have our own interests in mind, Octavia. It's a certainty the U.N. delegation won't."

  “Of course they won't. They have the interests of the whole planet to consider. And as for as my people, I've tried to pick globalists—so far as I was able.” Her implied sarcasm was almost heavy enough to tilt the conference table.

  “I would have downchecked the whole bunch had I been asked,” Chavez said bluntly.

  “Fortunately, the president left it in more capable hands, Bernardo. You have nothing but a military mind."

  “I should hope so, considering my position."

  “Let's calm down, folks. We've been meeting to see if anything's been left undone. Has it, that you know of?"

  “I'm still not satisfied with the goddamned ragheads aboard, but I guess it's too late to do anything about them now,” Moralini said.

  “I tried to limit it to as few as possible,” Chavez said. “And by God, look how many of them turned out to be terrorists."

  “They weren't terrorists, they were simply patriotic,” Jenson insisted.

  “Table that subject,” Flanders ordered. “The crew is all aboard and there won't be any more changes now. Anything else?"

  “Well, I still say we should have tried rigging some offensive weaponry heavier than what the troops are carrying, but let it be,” Maralini said. “Let's just hope they don't run into a situation where they need weapons and don't have ‘em."

  “Oh for Goodness sake! A race of beings far more intelligent and advanced than us built that spaceship. They're bound to have passed beyond the nonsense of war,” Jenson said.

  “If they're so intelligent, how come they sent an empty ship?"

  There was no answer to that question and never had been. A few minutes later the meeting broke up.

  Most of the world was watching the next morning when the U.S.S.F Pioneer launched itself toward the stars, with 5,321 persons aboard. It lifted slowly from the Earth, disturbing nothing but air, then gained speed as it reached for space. Once it was beyond the Van Allen radiation belt, it sped up still more, as if the ship had recognized that excessive acceleration before then might roil the belts and lessen their protective barrier around Earth for a time.

  Once it reached its maximum speed, there was nothing to do but watch it through telescopes, for no communication was possible. It had taken three months to arrive from the warp point and judging from its acceleration once it stabilized, it was going to take that much time to return to it.

  * * *

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dan didn't know exactly what he had been expecting when he gave the command for Pioneer to launch, but the gentle liftoff wasn't one of them. He knew that subconsciously, he had been expecting the roaring blast of the huge rockets that powered their own tiny space vehicles into orbit. The quiet was anti-climactic, bringing an unfulfilled sensation.

  He sat in the captain's chair in the control center with Stacey beside him. Matt was there as chief astronomer and Hawkins sat off to the side by invitation. Others in the control room were Susan Cadler and Terrell Blanco, along with Berlin Soundman as chief engineer, although according to Berlin, he could just as well have stayed home for all he understood about the ship so far. Dan hoped that Susan and Terrell's knowledge of physics, computer and quantum theory, combined with Matt's exceptional mental abilities and training in astrophysics and Berlin's experience in fusion engineering, might all together begin to make some sense of how the ship functioned. So far it hadn't. It used a gravity drive that was incomprehensible to the experts.

  There was room for a half dozen more besides the persons present, but Dan saw no reason to have anyone else cluttering up the control room during this critical period. However, more specialists were standing by their instruments in other parts of the ship in case they managed to measure significant data. He doubted that they would, since the ship could not communicate during acceleration or deceleration, at least not yet. Matt's thinking was that, once released from the first destination that might no longer hold true, but he had nothing to base that opinion on.

  “Hey, the screen's changing,” Matt exclaimed.

  Dan, who had turned sideways to talk to Stacey, quickly looked back. Instead of the endless depth of nothingness he had been looking at, the screen was now revealing a perfect simulation of what he thought they might be seeing were they outside the ship. In this case, it was all stars, vivid and pinpoint bright with no sparkle to them, just as astronauts saw them from above Earth's atmosphere.

  “It's beautiful,” Stacey said, then after a second's silence, “but how do we know where we are, with no landmarks?"

  As if listening to her, a part of the screen above eye level began displaying icons and figures, with English subtitles. Vectors blinked, designating direction and destination, then disappeared, only to return seconds later.

  “Talk about service,” she murmured.

  Dan overheard. “I guess the ship thought you wanted to see a visual representation of where we're going and how long it'll take. Right now, it's saying 87 days, 4 hours, three minutes and some-odd seconds until we hit the warp point."

  “That ought to be plenty of time for it to teach us something."

  “We've already learned something,” Matt said. “We may not be able to send signals during acceleration but obviously, we can receive them. Now why would that be, I wonder?"

  No one ventured an opinion. Dan leaned back, luxuriating in the comfortable seating. He glanced around, making sure no one else had come into the control room, then declared “I guess it's time to tell you others. We're traveling in a ship that's armed. Very well armed, I might add. We didn't want to mention it before leaving Earth for fear of complicating or delaying the voyage; or worse, riling some of our adversaries into military action, but I think it's better that you know now."

  “Why? I mean why now?” Susan Cadler asked, brushing back a perennially loose strand of silvery blond hair.

  Dan shrugged. It was a decision he had debated within himself and with Hawkins and Stacey. “Just seems like the right time. And Chet needs to get some gunners on the simulators and start them practicing. The ship has stations ready but I haven't revealed them until now. People, we don't have clue one about what we're getting ourselves into, so I doubt it'll hurt to know how to use our weaponry. Besides, I have the feeling the ship was armed for a purpose, even if I don't know and can't tell you what it is."

  “Because it's afraid of something,” Matt said. His stark statement alerted everyone, especially Dan.

  “Why do you say that?"

  “Because it's staying in a passive mode, so fa
r as outside data is concerned. We can receive, but not send. Doesn't it make sense that the ship is trying not to alert someone or something?"

  “There's nothing in the solar system to bother us. Why now?” Susan asked.

  Again, Matt gave the answer. “The ship came through the warp point we're heading for. Doesn't it make sense that something else could come through it also?"

  “You're just full of good news, Matt,” Dan said, trying to put a cheerful note in his voice. “However, what you've said sounds logical. Chet, whenever you want to start selecting your weaponeers, go ahead. I'll open up the gun stations and simulators. Damn, I wish I could bring some others of you into the ship's operation so Stacey and I wouldn't have to do it all."

  As if listening (and Dan was sure the ship was), he suddenly became aware of information he had been carrying in his mind ever since first contacting the ship and receiving the download from it. There was no longer a barrier against others helping with the ship's operation. “Stacey?"

  She nodded, signaling that she had also been made aware of the heretofore hidden data.

  Dan twisted around in his chair so that he could see everyone. “Folks, the ship has suddenly turned Stacey and me loose from exclusive control of the ship. It will still obey command functions only from us, but we can put everyday operations in some other hands now, namely yours.” He grinned. “No more loafing."

  * * * *

  Over the next several weeks, Dan and Stacey gradually integrated others into the primary operations of Pioneer. Even before leaving Earth, they had been able to turn over such mundane jobs as meal service and housekeeping to the designated department heads, but now vital functions like weapons, astrogation, chemical, biological and physical laboratory operation as well as access to the voluminous ship's library and data center were available. Dan appointed a training supervisor to coordinate all the learning activities while wishing the ship had released the hidden data in his and Stacey's mind much sooner. Having everyone training for their jobs while the ship was already underway to an unknown destination didn't strike him as a very efficient method of space exploration. On the other hand, several times a day he had to stop and make himself realize that they actually were in a spaceship on a voyage of exploration, something he had dreamed of as a teenager and young man. The dream had gradually slipped into an area of his mind along with other goals of his younger self he knew would never happen—and then it had happened. Not only was he in the spaceship, he was the Captain, an absolute monarch and responsible for every soul aboard, over five thousand of them. It was a humbling thought.