were all supposed to have failed soon after they reached the surface—that story
has always sounded strange to me too.”
Abaquaan looked up and turned his head from side to side. “So what are we
saying, then—it has to be Titan? We’re agreed?”
“It appears extremely probable at least,” Zambendorf said. “But the more
interesting question, by far, is why.”
Why would the Western powers equip an elaborate mission, heavy with scientists
from every discipline and experts from many fields, to such a destination,
provide it with military protection, and go to great pains to conceal its true
purpose from—as in all probability it had to be —the Soviets? Why would they
place such a mission in the charge of senior political figures experienced in
international negotiation and diplomacy? And why—perhaps most significant of
all—were there linguists and so many psychologists among the professionals being
taken along, specialists at understanding and communicating with thinking
intelligences? In short, just what had the landers from the European probe found
under the murky, impenetrable cloud canopy of Titan, Saturn’s mysterious moon,
equal in size to the planet Mercury?
And, of particular interest to the people gathered in Zambendorf’s cabin, why
was it considered highly desirable for someone like Zambendorf to be there?
10
IN THE HEART OF THE ORION’S COMMAND GLOBE OVERLOOKING the Central Control
Deck—the ship’s control and operational nerve center—Don Connel, the senior
reporter on the GCN news team assigned to accompany the mission, watched on his
monitor the view being transmitted live into Earth’s communications net from
camera 1. The camera panned slowly across the activity at the crew stations, the
colors and formats of the data displays changing and flashing to report
condition changes and status updates, and the computers silently marching
regiments of bits through their registers, and then came to rest on the image of
Earth being presented on the main display screen above the floor. Connel nodded
to acknowledge his “ready” cue from the director on the far side of the raised
tier of consoles from which General Vantz and a trio of senior officers were
monitoring the final-phase countdown operations, and turned to face camera 2. A
moment later its light came on to indicate that he was on the air again.
“Well, you’ve just been looking at the view of Earth that we’re getting here on
the Orion, and seeing what you look like from ten thousand miles up, right at
this moment,” he resumed. “You know, even I have to admit it’s a real problem
finding the right words to tell you folks just what it feels like to be up here
at a moment like this. Personally I’m still having trouble convincing myself
that the image you just saw is real this time—really out there. I’m not looking
at something being relayed from a remote space operation that involves other
people thousands of miles away, or a recording slipped into a space-fiction
movie. If the walls and structures around me here were made of glass and I could
look out right through them, I’d be able to see, first-hand with my own eyes,
exactly what’s on the screen here. You know, it makes those walls and structures
seem very flimsy all of a sudden, and the Orion very tiny compared to everything
else around, which from where I’m seeing it is enough to swallow up even the
whole of Earth itself. Well, you can take it from me—I sure hope those NASO
engineers and all the other people who designed and built this ship are as good
as everyone tells me they are.”
From a position just below Vantz’s console, a flight engineer motioned to
attract Connel’s attention and raised five fingers and a thumb, signaling that
the countdown was entering its final sixty seconds. Connel’s face became
serious, and he injected a note of rising tension into his voice. “The countdown
is into the last minute now. Back in the tail of this huge ship, the field
generators that Captain Matthews talked about are up to power, and those immense
accelerators are ready to fire. Here are the final moments now on the Control
Deck of the Orion as this historic voyage to Mars begins.” Connel waited for