Vicki had proposed the names in recognition of Emil Farzhin's theories while the ship was still a collection of structural plans and design specifications in the computers of SOE's Engineering and Development Division. The main body of the vessel, which would remain in orbit above Earth, was called Varuna, after one of the ancient Sanskrit deities associated with Venus. The inertial-fusion drive section formed a detachable, independently-operable unit capable of descent to the surface, where it could function in low-power mode as an MHD generating plant in the way the Tesla Center team had originally envisaged. This part was named Agni, one of the manifestations of proto-Venus that had brought fire down upon the Earth. The entire vessel was a no-frills, utility undertaking put together in minimal time, with space and comfort sacrificed to hold the greatest number of occupants consistent with carrying the essentials of materials and equipment for establishing a bridgehead presence on Earth. Follow-up missions to expand and build upon the pilot program were being fitted out back at Saturn.
A year and a half had gone by since Keene joined SOE at Foundation to head the Agni part of the design program, working directly under Mylor Vorse. A year and a half of grueling analysis and drafting sessions often lasting round-the-clock; of working with the groups involved with structural configuration, propulsion-power integration, communications and computation systems, instrumentation and control systems, life support systems; of supervising benchmarks, test rigs, scaling trials, attending team meetings, management meetings . . . By the ways he had known back on Earth, it would never have been possible. Static firings and full-system testing in orbit around Titan had followed; then, finally, a shakedown trip out to Phoebe, the outermost sizable moon of Saturn and back. . . .
And now, three months after the shakedown trials to Phoebe, Keene was once again in orbit above Earth. He floated weightless in one of the outer-hull observation bubblesthe Varuna's construction had been too hasty an affair for elaborations involving gravity simulationlooking down at what until now he had seen only as images that robot reconnaissance orbiters had sent back to Saturn: the graveyard of everything he had once known.
The fires that had raged across huge areas had long ago been extinguished by massive precipitations from an atmosphere saturated with evaporated ocean water, but the pole-to-pole murk of cloud and airborne dust still concealed almost all of the surface detail. Descending air currents over northern Alaska and below Africa produced clearer patches that revealed occasional glimpses of the shifted, newly forming polar regions, but they meant little, even with the aid of radar-mapped coastal outlines superposed on the screen image showing on a console to one side. Images had also come back from probes sent down through the cloud cover and landed at a number of places. They showed mountains of storm-driven ocean crashing against the Appalachian chain, now a peninsula between the shrunken Atlantic and the new arm of sea inundating the American Midwest; the new upthrust mountain barrier named the Barbary range, following roughly the line of what had been western North Africa and walling in the lakes that remained of the Mediterranean basins; the confusion of continental fragments, islands, and waterways, where New Guinea, the eastern parts of Australia, adjacent former archipelagos, and uplifted crustal blocks seemed to be compressing together into a new land mass that had taken over the name Oceania; still smoldering carpets of ash that had been Siberian forests. . . . But contemplating it in solitude through his own eyes directly, without the intermediary of electronic representation, reawakened a sense of communion with the destroyed world that he had not known since the time, almost five years ago, when he looked down from a similar vantage point in orbit while awaiting rescue by the Osiris.
Charlie Hu, who had also been present then, had come back with the Varuna. As a former Terran planetary scientist, he was impatient to get down to the surface and begin finding out more about the stupendous processes unfolding below. Gallian was back again too, his prior experience in leading the Kronian delegation to Earth having gained him the appointment as overall director of the Varuna's mission. However, because of the difficulties and discomfort that the Kronian-born had experienced even in the comparatively tranquil environments that had existed before Athena, the personnel mix of the mission had been made disproportionately Terran.
Among the Kronians, Shayle, who had gone with Keene from the Tesla Center to SOE, was here as his fusion specialist. Vorse's deputy, Adreya Laelye, represented SOE. And Sariena was back too, with a mixed group of Kronian scientists aboard a relatively small, minimally configured conventional fusion-drive vessel called the Suryaa minor deity mentioned along with Varuna in Vedic mythologythat had accompanied the Varuna. As well as affording extra carrying capacity, the arrangement provided that in the event of an emergency either ship could act as lifeboat for the other.
They had been in orbit for six days now, along with a gaggle of unmanned freight haulerslittle more than containment frames fitted with enginessent on ahead at intervals before the Varuna and the Surya's departure. Teams had gone down to the surface several times to check candidate sites for the first base, but none had been selected so far. When a site was picked and preliminary constructions made ready, the Agni section of the ship would detach, leaving the Varuna with just an auxiliary power system for orbital corrections and essential services, and Keene would be shuttled down with his crew to integrate it into the base. Expansion of the base proper using materials delivered from orbit would then proceed.
Athena, after making another perihelion turn between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, was currently on the far side of the Sun and climbing outward again toward the Asteroid Belt. Since all of its potential interactions were highly nonlinear, meaning that tiny initial differences could result in hugely varying outcomes, there was no way of being sure of what the future might hold. Hence, reconnoitering and preparing evacuation centers on Earth in case Saturn had to be abandoned had taken on greater importance. Charlie had commented that he understood well now why so many cultures of old had watched Venus and Mars with such terror and built elaborate constructions to track their movements.
From Vicki's most recent messages from Dione, it seemed she would be coming out with the first follow-up mission from Saturn, aboard a new ship being fitted out there, called the Aztec. Emil Farzhin was sending a group to begin exploring Athena's biological consequences, and again native-born Terrans were the preferred choice. Keene was looking forward to seeing her again.
In any case, the change would be good for her, now that Robin had gone ahead and joined the Security Arm. He had completed basic training and space engineering school on Titan, and would be leaving shortly on an exploratory mission to survey the primary Jovian moons more thoroughly than had been attempted so far. The intention here was to prepare the ground for an alternative fallback location to be developedpossibly on Ganymedein the event of Saturn having to be evacuated. The proposal had come from Valcroix's Pragmatist movement, who still argued that putting major investments of resources into the unknowns of Earth was premature, whereas existing Kronian technologies would assure habitable environments at Jupiter. And if the emergency never happened, a foothold would have been made at Jupiter for future expansion.
This concession on the part of the Kronian Congress to consider Jupiter at a time when many priorities were in conflict reflected the progress that the Pragmatists had been making in becoming a recognized political force. Nevertheless, Keene hadn't altered his opinion that in the long run not a lot would come of it, since they had nothing to offer that the majority of Kronians desired, or even comprehended. In any case, he'd seen it all before, wasted enough of his life fighting it, and he was glad to be away. Like Charlie, he was restless to get down to the surface and begin the work they had come here to do.
He was still staring out at the view below, searching for a hint of a coastal outline among the veils blanketing the surface, when a female voice spoke from behind him. "It must be a terrible thing to come home to, Lan." He turned to find Shayle holding on to a handbar in the access hatchway. She was dressed in orange flight coveralls, her red hair cut short now.
Keene grunted. "There isn't much down there that I think I'd call home anymore."
"It must be strange, all the same."
"I've had time enough to get used to it."
"What were you so wrapped up in thought over?" Shayle asked. "I was here, watching you, for a while."
Keene looked down again at the patterns of jet streams and vortexes painted in off-white streaks on the curtain of grays, lusterless yellows, and browns. It brought to mind the storm front that had moved in on the West Coast from the Pacific in the early days of the encounter, when Athena's approach was first being felt. That had been before there was any wide grasp of what would follow, and the world had been hectically mobilizing evacuation plans and emergency services, believing it could pull through.
"I was thinking about a time in the last days before Athena closed in," he answered distantly. "It was in California. We were at one of the airports, trying to get to the Air Force's launch place at Vandenberg. Some people were trying to take it over and grab a shuttle to get out."
"Vandenberg . . . Wasn't that where Gallian and his group shuttled up from to rejoin the Osiris?"
"Yes. Most people didn't know how bad it was going to get. They thought that if they got everyone away from the coasts and up to the highlands, the world could make it. . . . Earth was moving into Athena's tail . . . ash and dust falling everywhere. Huge storms were heading in from the west, piling the sea up into black, heaving hills of water. I'd never seen anything like it. Everyone was going frantic, trying to get the last planes out while anything could still fly. I remember the buses and ambulances coming in from the hospitals, and nurses bringing in lines of little kids holding dolls and toys, some of them in wheelchairs. . . . All for what?" He broke off abruptly and turned his head back. "Anyway, you didn't come here to be cheered up like this."
Shayle laid a hand on his shoulder and let it rest for a moment. "I just came to check how you were doing. Anyway, there's eggs and pancakes going with coffee in the crew mess." Pre-made pancakes, heated up. You couldn't make them in zero-g. "I didn't think you'd want to be left out."
Keene managed a grin. "Sure. Okay, come on, then. Let's have at 'em." He set himself gyrating and pushed off with a foot to follow after her.
"Heard anymore about the Colombian station?" Shayle asked over her shoulder as she moved across the compartment opening inboard from the observation bubble. A descent party had gone down to check over a possible base site in South America.
"Not yet. We can stop by Comms for an update on the way to Mess Deck," Keene answered.
They took a shaft that passed by the Communications Room, which formed an extension on the nearside of the ship's Control Center. The Executive Officer was inside when they looked in, conferring with several of the operators. He looked up as Keene and Shayle hovered in the doorway. "We wondered if there's any news from Colombia yet," Keene said. "Maybe some idea of when we might be going down?"
"It doesn't look good. Earthquake activity across the whole region." The EO was a Terran, reporting directly to Gallian. He nodded toward a screen showing figures in heavy-duty surface fatigues and hard helmets, standing amid cases, scientific instruments, and other equipment in front of a couple of inflatable tents. Part of a lander was visible against dark mists behind. "The officer in charge down there doesn't see much point in staying further. So I'm afraid you'll have to remain patient for a while longer."
"Well, we're ready to detach Agni any time you say," Keene told him. He turned and resumed following Shayle.
The Executive Officer watched them for a few seconds and then looked back at the screen. Kelm, the officer leading the descent party, was Dione-born, qualified for the Varuna mission by previous space and surface engineering experience with the Kronian Security Arm. The two of them worked closely together. The EO himself had had some involvement with Terran space operations too, before the calamityor at least, with people who ran them. Some of those people were at Saturn now. In fact, they had worked quietly but effectively to bring about his appointment to the Varuna mission. But it was considered politic to keep that side of things in low profilefor now.
In the previous world he had come from Europe. His name was Zeigler. Kurt Zeigler.