a question mark. That helps keep things simple.”
Hunt selected his first sheet. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s start at the
beginning.” He read aloud:
“Day One. As expected, today we received full (mobilization alert?)
orders. Probably means a posting somewhere. Koriel.
This is Charlie’s pal who turns up later, isn’t it?”
“Correct.”
thinks it could be to one of the (ice nests far-intercept?).
What’s that?”
“That’s an awkward one,” Maddson replied. “It’s a composite word;
that’s the literal translation. We think it could refer to a
missile battery forming part of an outer defense perimeter, located
out on the ice sheets.”
“Mmm-sounds reasonable. Anyhow, Hope so. It would be a change to
get away from the monotony of this place. Bigger food ration in
(ice-field combat zones?). Now . . .” Hunt looked up. “He says,
‘the monotony of this place.’ How sure are we that we know where
‘this place’ is?”
“Pretty sure,” Maddson replied with a firm nod. “The name of a town
is written above the date at the top of the entry. It checks with
the name of a coastal town on Cerios and also with the place given
in his pay book for his last posting but one.”
“So you’re sure he was on Minerva when he wrote this?”
“Sure, we’re sure.”
“Okay. I’ll skip the next bit that talks about personal thoughts.
“Day Two. Koriel’s hunches have proved wrong for once. We’re going
to Luna.”
Hunt looked up again, evidently considering this part important.
“How do you know he means Earth’s Moon there?”
“Well, one reason is that the word he uses there is the same as the
last place the pay book says he was posted to. We guess it means
Luna because that’s where we found him. Another reason is that
later on, as you’ll have read, he talks about being sent
specifically to a base called Seltar. Now, we’ve found a reference
among some of the things turned up on Farside to a list of bases on
place ‘X,’ and the name Seltar appears on the list. X is the same
word that is written in the pay book and in the entry you’ve just
read. Implication: X is a Lunarian name for Earth’s Moon.”
Hunt thought hard for a while.
“He arrived at Seltar, too, didn’t he?” he said at last. “So if he
knew where he was being sent as early as that, and you’re certain
he was being sent to the Moon, and he got where he was supposed to
go. . . that rules out the other possibifity that occurred to me.
There’s no way he could have been scheduled for Luna but rerouted
somewhere else at the last minute without the entry in the pay book
being changed, is there?”
Maddson shook his head. “No way. Why’d you want to make up things
like that anyhow?”
“Because I’m looking for ways to get around what comes later. It
gets crazy.”
Maddson looked at Hunt curiously but suppressed his question. Hunt
looked down at the papers again.
“Days Three and Four describe news reports of the fighting on
Minerva. Obviously a large-scale conflict had already broken out
there. It looks as if nuclear weapons were being used by then-that
bit near the end of Day Four, for instance: It looks like the
Lambians have succeeded in confusing the (sky nets?) over Paverol-
That’s a Cerian town, isn’t it? Over half the city vaporized
instantly. That doesn’t sound like a limited skirmish. What’s a sky
net-some kind of electronic defense screen?”
“Probably,” Maddson agreed.
“Day Five he spent helping to load the ships. From the descriptions
of the vehicles and equipment, it sounds as if they were embarking
a large military force of some kind.” Hunt scanned rapidly down the
next sheet. “Ah, yes-this is where he mentions Seltar. We’re going
with the Fourteenth Brigade to join the Annihilator emplacement at
Seltar. There’s something crazy about this Annihilator. But we’ll
come back to that in a minute.
“Day Seven. Embarked four hours ago as scheduled. Still sitting
here. Takeoff delayed, since whole area under heavy missile attack.
Hills inland all on fire. Launching pits intact but situation
overhead confused. Unneutralized Lambian satellites still covering