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the two of us together. That could put the wrong spin on everything. We have
to be very careful about appearances right now."
Now she had his interest. He met her eyes, then turned away. "I thought
you had changed your mind and were leaving me out of the picture. I've been
out of the public eye -- "
The waitress interrupted them as she took their order. She then went
off as the men in the corner burst out laughing. Someone must have gotten
stuck with the bill.
Celeste leaned across the table, clasping her hands together. She
looked petite, delicate, and very strong. Her black-lacquer eyes were
unreadable, but her voice was mellow and reasonable.
"We have more than just a mystery at the Daedalus crater, Simon. The
sheer fact of the construction and its alien origin has stunned the public.
We're not alone in the universe anymore, and we don't know a damned thing
about the new kids on the block. What is that construction? How fast is it
going to be finished, and what will happen when it is? What if they're not
friendly? Could this be an outside threat, an alien invasion?"
She stopped to look at his expression. "Don't look at me like that!
I've already heard it in the editorials, and it's bound to pick up speed. I'm
not sure it's so silly. The construction has already proven it can be
dangerous -- three people dead, two hoppers destroyed. What if this 'circle of
death' around Daedalus keeps growing? What if those alien machines decide to
disassemble the entire Moon? Turn it into a galactic parking lot or
something?"
He nodded, serious now. "I've considered that myself, and you could
very well be right -- but it doesn't make sense that you're trying to keep me
hidden in the closet. Shouldn't I be helping you make your case? With my rank
and my background -- "
Celeste held up her hand to silence him. She took a long sip of her
beer, placed it back on the tabletop, wiped foam off her lips, then studied
him again. "Simon, have you ever seen the old movie Dr. Strangelove?"
Pritchard smiled. "Yes. Just last year in fact."
It was one of his favorites; it had caused quite a stir when it had
been rereleased as the first of the old classics that had not only been
colorized but three-dimensionalized as well. Purists had boycotted the
exhibitions and generated enough publicity that the rerelease had done ten
times as well as it otherwise would have. Pritchard had gone by himself to see
what all the fuss was about; the movie had lampooned all those military
stereotypes.
"Then you must remember Colonel Jack D. Ripper, the man who wants to
destroy everything that does not fit with his philosophy? And that general --
Bloodworth? The gung-ho soldier who wants all the big military toys."
Pritchard snorted. "I still know some people like that. But the world
is better off forgetting absurd stereotypes."
Celeste grinned sharply. "But they won't! We think we're beyond that
now, and the military just needs to keep watch over Third World hot-spots. But
as soon as a two-star general like yourself starts warning about alien
invasions and campaigning to gear up the weapons complex, exactly what image
do you think is going to pop into the public's mind?"
Pritchard had encountered that sort of thinking all through his career.
On the one hand, he had risen remarkably fast, being in the right place at the
right time over and over again. As a colonel, he had led the Air Force into
co-sponsorship with the United Space Agency and had been surprised by the
storm of protests even among highly educated scientists about tainting pure
research with connections to "warmongers."
Pritchard had always felt that the military's new role should be
focused outward, leading the way in colonizing the solar system -- like the
military of old, who were the real pioneers of the American West, going out on
expeditions like Lewis and Clark, braving the dangers of a hostile environment
and paving the way for the second wave of civilians.
With extremely expensive and high-tech weapon systems dropped out of
the budget, the armed forces had contented themselves with advanced
conventional weapons, fine-tuning their accuracy and effectiveness. Treaties
watched over by the International Verification Initiative had dismantled most
of the nuclear weapons, leaving only a handful of warheads in secure
installations -- mostly as a deterrent against certain Third World countries
who were ignoring the non-proliferation sanctions to build up their own
stockpiles.
After the European Economic Community had effectively wiped out
political borders, leaving only cultural differences of more interest to
tourists than army commanders ... after the fragmented Communist powers became [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]