“So they’ll do it then?” Elaine Doi said; she seemed to be urging him to say yes. “I mean, they know they’ll be re-lifed within the Commonwealth. They’ll only lose a day at the most, surely? And it could be a very unpleasant day, at that.”
“I am reasonably convinced Emmanuelle Verbeke will do the right thing,” Wilson said. “But—and I hope to Christ I’m wrong—we may have a problem with Bose.”
“What do you mean, a problem?” Thompson Burnelli demanded.
Wilson stared at the Senator. “His training and assessment weren’t as thorough as everyone else on board. After selection, he spent some time in a rejuve tank reducing his body age. The remaining time was limited before we launched.”
“Then why the fuck did you let him on board?”
“Political expediency,” Nigel interjected smoothly. “Same reason your man Tunde Sutton was on board.”
Thompson leveled a rigid forefinger at Nigel. “Tunde passed every test you threw at him.”
“He certainly did. And if he’d been rejected at the final selection process, along with everyone else who had connections to Earth’s Grand Families, you would have been the first to cause a stink.”
“Maybe. But at least Tunde was properly trained, not like this Bose character. What kind of half-assed operation are you running here?”
“The only one in town.”
“Jesus H. Christ.” Thompson sat back, and gave both Nigel and Wilson a disgusted look.
“Very well,” Elaine Doi said. “In the worst-possible case, the Dyson aliens know a lot about us, they can build an FTL starship, and they know where we are. What do we do about that?”
“Same as the last time,” Wilson said. “Send a mission to find out what’s going on.”
“One that has a greater success than last time, one sincerely hopes,” Crispin Goldreich said.
“It will be,” Nigel said. “The Second Chance was a shot completely into the unknown. We had to build something that could tackle just about any contingency, a true exploratory vessel. This time the mission will be very tightly defined. These ships will be smaller, and possibly even a little cheaper.”
“Why do you need more than one?” Elaine Doi asked.
“So the others can monitor what happens to the one that attempts to make contact, and report back if it’s lost,” Wilson said. “By now the Dyson aliens know who we are, and possibly that we didn’t put up the barrier. They certainly know we are no threat to them. How they react to us this time around will be crucial.”
“I wouldn’t like that job,” Rafael Columbia muttered.
“I’m not looking forward to it myself,” Wilson said. “But it has to be done, and done properly.”
“You got something to prove?” Thompson Burnelli asked quietly.
Wilson didn’t rise to it.
“I take it these ships are on the drawing board?” Elaine Doi asked.
“Oh, yes,” Nigel said. “As soon as we completed the Second Chance design, I authorized preliminary assessment on a possible smaller exploration starship. Adapting that to a fast scout vehicle is relatively simple. From what we learned about building the hyperdrive for Second Chance we can modify future versions for a much greater speed. That whole life-support wheel structure has been dumped, the crew can slum it in freefall. We’ve also minimized the reaction drive along with its ancillary garbage; there was no need for it apart from short-range maneuvering. But we have bumped up the armament quotient. They’ll be able to fight as well as run.”
“And what will their mission be, exactly?” Brewster Kumar asked.
“They must discover more about the nature of the Dyson aliens. If they are truly warlike. If they are developing FTL starships or opening wormholes to nearby star systems. FTL in particular would be hard to hide, given a wormhole signature is so readily detectable. Of course, if they have any knowledge in that field, that will mean they can probably spot us coming as well.”
“Very well,” Elaine Doi said. “I don’t think any of us disagree that this new mission must be undertaken, and with some urgency. What I’d like from this Council is a formal proposal to the Commonwealth Executive Office to form a new agency which will oversee the whole Dyson exploration and contact operation from planning to execution, put it all under government jurisdiction.”
“And financing,” Thompson Burnelli said gruffly.
“Are you saying you want the government to establish a civil starflight agency?” Rafael Columbia asked.
“Exactly that, yes. This is a possible threat to the entire Commonwealth. It cannot be the preserve of an ad hoc response with uncertain multisource funding. The problem needs to be addressed with stability and clear policy management.”
“Ah.” Rafael glanced at Nigel. “And how do you feel about that, Nigel? These are mostly your personnel we are talking about.”
