Year's Best Scifi 8 Part 14

Hank turned to look at her again. "What? Birds?"

"You said it. Safe, cheap, airborne, magnetic field detectors."

Hank started to laugh himself, but quickly grew serious again. What was it that Fernando had said the other night? Something about...

He shot to his feet, grabbed his surprised wife by the shoulders and planted a kiss directly onto her lips. "Julia, my dear. You are a genius."

"If you think I'm going to kiss you back before you tell me what you're thinking..." Hank smiled. "I think this idea's worth more than a kiss."

"Well, then..." She gazed at him mischievously for a moment, and then grabbed his hands and led Hank toward the bedroom. "It had better be good," she said.

It was.

The high-rises of Puerto Villamil shimmered beyond the scorched tarmac. Hank felt Julia clasp his hand tightly as the pa.s.senger jet slowed to a halt and they waited for the pa.s.sengers to disembark.

Hank recognized Abby first, followed by Jackson and Nigel. The three of them had agreed to come down to Isabela to see the demonstration for themselves.

They had already cleared customs in Guayaquil, and the once-enforced agricultural inspection had been abandoned years ago, so there was almost no delay. Hank and Julia met them on the tarmac.

The greetings had just begun when another familiar face appeared in the crowd of arrivals. Hank forced himself to keep smiling when the recognition flooded through him. It was Luis Vargas.

Luis wasn't smiling himself. He nodded briskly to Hank and Julia, then turned to introduce the two men who flanked him.

"Robert, Ali," said Luis. "Please meet Hank Sadler. And this is his wife, Julia." Luis nodded to them again. "Nice to see you both together. Robert and Ali here work for Tethercorp."

"Nice to meet you," said Hank, shaking hands. He turned to Luis, trying not to show his nervousness.

"It's good to see you again. I'm glad you came."

Luis nodded a third time, then walked past him to join the others. Julia and Hank raised eyebrows at each other before turning to follow.

Puerto Villamil sat on the southern edge of Isabela, sixty-some miles below the equator. Sporting the only airport on the island, it hosted the largest population in the Galapagos, even beating out Base City up at the northern port.

The chartered van was waiting in its a.s.signed spot, and the eight of them piled in with minimal conversation. Hank found himself sitting in the front row, directly in front of Luis, which he found somewhat disconcerting.

"How's traffic today?" Julia asked the driver. He responded in Spanish, and the two of them commenced to hold an unintelligible conversation. The interaction didn't seem to slow his driving, though; within minutes they were on the tollway, zooming up the eastern side of the island.

After an uneventful half-hour, the tollway cut west across the Perry Isthmus, just south of Mt.

Darwin. Hank wondered what the mountain's namesake would think of the island if he could see it now.

Only five weeks of the Beagle's five-year journey had been spent in the Galapagos, but Isabela had been one of the islands visited. Today, few endemic species remained. Mt. Darwin was covered with invasive California sage scrub, and the foothills beyond the tollway fence were littered with the detritus of civilization: bars, fuel cell stations, minimalls, strip clubs, and miles upon miles of warehouses and storage s.p.a.ce.

Hank removed his gaze from the window as he became aware of an uncomfortable lull in the small talk. Up until now, Julia had carried the conversation with the other pa.s.sengers, restricting her questions to general pleasantries and gently touching on the outlines of everyone's life for the last three years. But she hadn't really spoken with Luis Vargas. Now she swiveled around in her seat to face him, and Hank held his breath, hoping she would keep things civil.

"And how have you been, Luis? How's Paula?"

Hank's eyes bulged, but he didn't move a muscle, didn't turn to look at either of them. Why would she say something like that? Was she just trying to prove that she had moved beyond the affair? Or was she trying to evoke an outburst from Luis? Either way, she should have known better than to bring up Paula.

"We're divorced, actually," came Luis' reply.

An ominous silence pa.s.sed before Julia spoke. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Ah," said Luis, "it was probably all for the best."

Hank's mind spun, but his body remained planted. The affair had triggered a divorce? He suddenlyneeded to know more. How soon had it ended? Where had Paula gone? What feelings must Luis have for him after Hank had so thoroughly ruined his life?

Finally Hank turned and locked eyes with his old friend. Luis looked almost relaxed. Almost.

"I'm really sorry to hear that, too," Hank heard himself say.

Luis didn't break eye contact. "It was all for the best," he said again.

Hank turned back to the front and gratefully heard Julia bring up a new topic: the now-extirpated giant tortoise population of Isabela.

All for the best? Luis had been devastated by the news, by the betrayal. Was this just a show of bravado in front of everyone else? Or had Luis really managed to convince himself that he didn't love Paula after all?

Lost in his thoughts, Hank didn't speak for the remainder of the journey.

The Line scarred the sky like a rent in the s.p.a.ce-time fabric. Hank stared upward through the gla.s.s ceiling of the observation deck, but no cars were visible. The Line just hung above them, motionless.

The two Tethercorp employees were busy introducing themselves to the Base Station staff. Hank got the distinct impression that these two-what were their names again?-were not exactly upper-level managers at Tethercorp. It appeared that neither of them had ever been Up.

"Um...I don't know," said the Tethercorp employee who might have been named Ali. He then turned to Hank. "Dr. Sadler? What exactly are we doing here?"

Hank checked his watch. Just one more minute. Julia had already made the call on her handheld; everything was set.

"I'm sure that Luis," Hank said, nodding at his old colleague, "has already given you the outline. If the Line were generating a magnetic field-"

"I a.s.sure you, that is quite impossible," interrupted Ali.

Hank forged onward. "Impossible or not, if it were generating a field, that would imply currents.

Which would in turn imply-"

"That you boys could be in trouble," finished Julia.

The second Tethercorp employee turned to Luis, looking bored. "You a.s.sured us, Luis-"

Vargas held up his hand. "Yes, I was told that this would not be a purely theoretical argument, that some sort of experimental demonstration would make this worth your time. And I imagine..."He c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at Hank. "I imagine that now would be a good time to show us what you've got."

"As a matter of fact," said Hank, "it is exactly time." He took a deep breath. "About five seconds ago-"

He was cut off by several loud beeps throughout the room. It took him a moment to realize they were sounding from the belts of the Base Station staff. The shortest man grabbed his handheld, jabbed at it, and a voice came out of the speaker.

"We have some activity out at warehouse 194. Sounded like some sort of explosion, and now we're getting reports of all these..." The voice broke into digital static.

"How far is that from the Line?" Ali snapped. The staff ignored him.

The short man spoke to his handheld. "Repeat that. Do we need fire containment?"

"Negative, no fire reported. Just a whole s.h.i.tload of birds."

At that moment, through the gla.s.s of the observation deck, Hank saw the fluttering of the homing pigeons. Hundreds, no, thousands of birds. They glittered in the Sun; each pigeon carried a Mylar streamer for visibility.

Julia's grant money had paid for the older generations of Tuttle's pigeon-breeding experiment to be sent down to Isabela. These birds apparently didn't follow field lines quite as well as the newest generation, but they would hopefully be sufficient.

Hopefully. But Hank could already tell the plan was failing. Instead of moving as a group, the pigeons were spreading out, some flying toward the Line but some away from it. He felt his heart drop. Pigeons trained to follow magnetic fields? What had he been thinking?

"I'm worried," said Julia beside him. But she wasn't even looking out the gla.s.s. "Are we sure they'reall sterilized? I know it's a little late to be worried about introducing species, but..."

"Sadler?" barked Ali's voice from behind. "Is this your doing? What are all those things?"

Julia beat him to an answer, and Hank wandered away to the opposite side of the observation deck as his wife started to explain about the pigeon's specialized navigation behavior. Hank didn't want to hear it, didn't want to stand there and be stood up by a bunch of d.a.m.n birds. Right now he just wanted to be alone.

"Interesting stunt," said a voice behind him, and Hank looked up to see that Luis had followed him across the deck. "Can't imagine you thought it would work, but...interesting. You should have called me.

We could have set up some microgliders, maybe, taken some real measurements-"

"Why are you trying to help me?" Hank broke in. "Why come down here with these two? I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate it. I just don't understand why..."

Hank trailed off and Luis watched him for a moment before he spoke. "It's been three years, Hank.

Two and a half without Paula. And I'm happy. Happier than ever. You were just a symptom, not the cause."

"But if I hadn't-"

"Then it would have been somebody else, down the line. Maybe when we had kids of our own, G.o.d forbid. I can't say that all the anger's gone. I can't even say I forgive you. But you didn't ruin my life."

"I'm glad, but still..." Hank turned away, looked out the window at the clear Pacific ocean. "I think I ruined mine."

Luis sighed. "You ever imagine coming back?"

"That's not an option."

"What about an adjunct position...?" Luis started, but broke off when the murmurs reached them from the other side of the deck.

Hank glanced over and saw that most of the pigeons had landed or dispersed. Only a few hundred were still circling. He started to turn away again before he did a double-take. Circling?

With ten long strides he rejoined his wife and the others, wrapped his arm around Julia as he watched the beautiful fluttering Mylar.

"It only worked for the highest birds," Julia whispered to him, as if a louder voice would break the spell.

About 50 meters off the ground, a group of pigeons was...o...b..ting the Line in a formation shaped like a diamond ring. They had found a closed-loop magnetic field. There was no other explanation; the current had to be running right through the center.

"I'm telling you, that's impossible," Ali was saying.

The second Tethercorp employee stepped between Hank and the gla.s.s, a serious expression on his face. "This is bad," he said simply.

"Yes, it is..." Hank searched the man's badge for the name. "Robert."

"You think it's in the secondaries?" Robert asked.

"Where else? It'll be an extraordinary effort to fix the thing, but I've been sketching out some ideas."

Robert looked him up and down. "How long have you been working on this?"

"Two months."

Suddenly Ali was forcing himself between the two of them. "Bob. Maybe they trained the pigeons to fly in circles?"

Robert ignored him, gently pushed Ali aside. He looked Hank in the eye. "Would you be interested in a position with Tethercorp? I can arrange to waive the usual interview..."

Julia gazed up at Hank, keeping her face impa.s.sive but letting her eyes do the smiling. He returned the look for a long moment before responding.

"No, thanks," he said, still watching his wife.

Now Julia's eyes squinted. "Hank, dear-" she began.

"But I do consulting work." He looked up at Robert. "Based right here in the Galapagos."

"Excellent," said Robert, whipping out his handheld. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make quite a few calls..." Hank took Julia's hand in his own and looked out to see the pigeons again. Only about ten birds were remaining-this time orbiting in the opposite direction for some reason. He filed the fact away to think about later, pulled his wife toward him, and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I'll have to spend a lot of time here on Isabela."

"It's not so far," she said, squeezing him back. "I'm happy for you."

"Hmm. I'm still nervous as h.e.l.l."

"What for? You did it!"

"We did it. But...I really don't know if I'm ready for this life."

Julia commanded his full attention. "You'll never know until you try. And the alternative is-"

"Don't worry, love," Hank said, gazing out over the ocean. Three magnificent frigate birds were soaring far above the pigeons, far beyond the Line. "I don't really know where I was all these years," he said. "But I do know I'm not going back."

Shoes

ROBERT SHECKLEY.