Echo. Part 17

I explained that I was trying to get a handle on the day-to-day operations of the tour companies. "We're talking to the administrative staff, the pilots, the people at the launch points. I was hoping you might be able to answer a few questions."

"I hate to say this, but a history of the touring companies sounds pretty dull." He looked up at an antique wall clock. The implication was clear enough. He had amiable features, but the edge in his voice clashed with them. He was tall, with eyes the color of frozen seawater. The years had taken their toll on him. He looked tired. Weary.

A picture of a young man and a teenage girl was mounted on his desk. "Sandra and Tom," he said. "My kids."

And another picture atop one of the bookcases of a much younger Cavallero and an attractive young woman. It was Tyra, his wife.

"Mr. Cavallero," I asked, "have you gotten completely away from starflight? Or do you still go out occasionally? Maybe take the kids for a ride?"

"I keep my license current. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Just idle curiosity. I'm a pilot myself, and I can't imagine that I'll ever really get away from it." It was the reason I'd made the trip, and Alex had stayed home. You'll have better rapport with him, he'd insisted.

"You're probably right, Chase. But I haven't been on the bridge or in a c.o.c.kpit for a long time. Have no inclination to anymore."

"But you still maintain your license?"

"I don't think I'll ever really let go." He managed a smile. "You look cold. Can I get you some coffee?"

"Yes, please. That would be nice."

He went into the kitchen, returned with two cups, and set them on the table. "Careful," he said. "It's hot."

"Thanks." He looked, somehow, afraid. "When you were piloting, Mr. Cavallero-"

"Call me Hal-"

Okay. First name at last. "When you were piloting, Hal, you had the kind of job most of us dream about."

"What? Delivering construction materials to someplace where they are trying to build a settlement? And making the same run time after time, for years? I don't think so, Chase."

"I meant when you were with World's End. When you ran the scouting missions."

"Oh," he said. "That."

"You don't sound-"

"It was okay. I can't complain about it. They treated me well."

"You were going into areas where no one had ever been before."

"That's true."

"That's why most of us become become pilots. To do something like that. But those jobs barely exist." pilots. To do something like that. But those jobs barely exist."

"I guess."

"You don't sound as if you cared very much."

"Sure I did."

"But you quit."

"I got tired of it. I got married while I was working for World's End. They didn't pay all that well, so I left."

"You were born here, right? In Carnaiva?"

"Yes. This is where my family is. My kids and grandkids are all here. Well, almost all. Tom's gone. He works for the governor."

He described life at World's End. How you had to be a member of the Korminov family to move up in the organization. "Walter was okay, but his wife was tough to live with. And Abe."

"His son?"

"Yeah. He did supply and maintenance. I don't think he liked the work very much. And he had a high opinion of himself."

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know. He and his father had a falling-out, and he left for parts unknown. I don't think Walter's heard from him in years."

"What about the wife?"

"Ran off with a preacher."

"You're kidding."

Cavallero cheered up. This was the part of the story he liked. "Nope. They went out to the islands somewhere."

The coffee was good. He tossed another log into the fire and explained with a smile that his wife was helping out down at the church while he refereed the hockey games.

"All right," I said. "Let me ask a couple more questions, then I'll get out of your way, Hal."

"I'm at your service."

"The scouting missions, as I understand it, determined where the tours went. Right?"

"Yes. Just to be clear, we went back to the same places regularly. But we had a company policy of changing the destinations after a given number of visits. Walter thought clients were more likely to come back if we did something different periodically. And sometimes we needed to customize a trip. Somebody wanted to go see a neutron star. Or a world with crooked rings. Or dinosaurs. That sort of thing. If they were willing to pay, we were prepared to make them happy."

"How about telling me what a good scouting mission would look like? What would make a good place for a tour?"

"Spectacle. That was what we liked. Big colorful rings. There's nothing like a big set of rings to knock people on their rear ends. One of the tricks we used was to approach ringed worlds on a ninety-degree angle. So that the rings were vertical instead of horizontal. I'll tell you, it just took their breath away."

"Good," I said. "That's the kind of thing our readers will be interested in."

"Aren't you going to write it down?"

Alex had told me not to take notes during an interview unless I wanted to achieve a special effect of some kind. You take notes, he told me, people are inclined to shut up. Ask any cop. "No," I said. "Stuff like the rings, I can remember. Easily. So what else did you look for?"

"Comets," he said. "Comets are good."

"Big ones?"

"The bigger the better. Also, the clients liked double planets, and getting in close to cool stars, so that the star fills the entire sky. We'd transit the thing upside down. That created the illusion that it was overhead. That the entire sky was on fire. They loved loved that. And black holes. Black holes were always good. There's one at Werewolf." that. And black holes. Black holes were always good. There's one at Werewolf."

"Where?"

"Werewolf." He grinned. "You won't find it in the catalog."

"I didn't think so."

"We had our own names for everything."

"Do you know where it is? Could you find it now?"

"As I say, Chase, it's been a long time. I don't-" He closed his eyes, shook his head. "No. I've no idea. I'd have to go back to the records."

"The records don't exist anymore."

"Oh. Yeah. That's right. They delete them after, what, ten years or so? That's dumb, because some of that stuff they could still use."

"So why do you think they deleted them?"

"Because the people running the company are morons. They think sites can be exhausted. Like fuel." He checked the time. "Listen, Chase, I'd love to continue this, but my daughter will be home soon, and we have some work to do."

"One more minute?"

"Okay."

"Tell me about Bannister."

"Who?"

"Rachel Bannister. You must have known her. She was a pilot for World's End at the same time you were."

"Oh, yes. Rachel." The color was draining from his cheeks. "Wow. That's a long time ago."

I waited.

"I don't know. She was a competent pilot. Looked pretty good. That's mostly all I can remember. As best I can tell, she got the job done okay."

"She quit about the same time you did."

"Did she? I don't remember." He shrugged. Got up. "Have to go."

"Was anything going on at the time? Any reason the two of you would have left?"

"No. Not that I know of."

"The flights she made, they'd have been to places you you scouted, wouldn't they?" scouted, wouldn't they?"

"Yes," he said. "Probably. Chase, do you mind if I ask what this is about?"

"I'm just trying to get it clear in my head how the system worked."

"But how does that have anything to do with Rachel Bannister?"

"Probably nothing, Hal. Was anyone else running scouting missions at that time?"

"Lord, Chase, I really don't remember. I don't think so." He sat back in his chair. "You know, this is beginning to sound like a grilling. Is something going on here that I should know about?"

"Well, okay. Let me level with you."

"Please do." He swallowed.

"We're trying to track down the origin of what might be an artifact. A tablet with a strange inscription."

He shrugged. "Don't know anything about it."

"All right. One last question, Hal. Do you know where Rachel Bannister went on her last flight?"

He looked at me and somehow couldn't break away. There was fear in his eyes. "h.e.l.l, I have no idea." His voice shook. "I barely remember her her, Chase. Let alone a last flight."

"He's hiding something," I told Alex when I got home.

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know. But he knew Rachel better than he was willing to admit."

"I wouldn't be surprised." We were riding home from the train station. "While you were gone," he continued, "I was able to track down some of the families who went on the tours. During Rachel's time."

"And-?"

"Hugo Brockmaier was a corporate lawyer. In 1399, he and his wife Mira went out with World's End to celebrate their sixtieth anniversary. Rachel Bannister wasn't the captain. But they took time on the flight to record the highlights. It provides an interesting picture of what they actually did on some of these flights."

"And you've got the record?"

"Yes."

"You've seen it?"

"I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. Just at the description they sent with it. I think we should watch it tomorrow."

At home that evening, I received a call from Yolanda Till. Yolanda had been a close friend since we were little kids growing up in Neuberg. We'd been in the Explorers together, had both been on the swim team, had shared boyfriends, and roomed together in college. We'd kept in touch. Yolanda had become an engineer and eventually gone to work for New Dallas Historical, which specialized in archeological excavations. She was currently involved in a recovery project on Mars in the home system. "But that's not why I called you," "But that's not why I called you," she said. she said.

"Where are you now now?" I asked.

"On approach to Skydeck. Just pa.s.sing through. Won't get time to stop. I'm here to check some details on a cargo flight. Going back out with them in a few hours." She pushed her dark hair back. She pushed her dark hair back. "You look good, Chase." "You look good, Chase."

I loved Yolanda. I couldn't imagine those early years without her. "I suspect," I said, "we could still clear the tables at Wally's." The bar we used to hit when we were seniors.