The Devil's Eye

not sure what's going on, but somebody up there vetoed it. They told Howie we weren't to touch any part of the story. The official line is that it's pointless, that nobody knows anything, and to just let it go away.'

'Rob- '

'Chase, if you can come up with something solid, I'll do something with it. But I can't hang everything out there when we don't even know what it's about.'

'Okay.'

'Also, I checked on Alex.'

'And- ?'

'The police claim they released him an hour after they picked him up. They're saying it was a case of mistaken identity.'

'Rob, he'd have called me.'

'And he hasn't?'

'Not a peep.'

'Well, maybe he-'

'What?' 'All right, look: I'll keep checking. If you hear from him, let me know.' He looked tired. 'Do you need a place to stay? We've got a spare room.'

'No. Thanks.'

'What are you going to do?'

'I don't know. Get your story, I guess.'

'What do you mean? How are you going to do that?'

'I'm going to the asteroid. And find out what this is about.'

'Yeah, good. How are you going to manage it? Grab a taxi?'

TWENTY-SIX

There are times when you must stand in the night with no place to put your feet.

- Love You to Death

Maybe Peifer had something. My father always said, if you're serious about getting somewhere, take a taxi. There was, of course, no way I could ride a taxi to a destination thirty-three light-years out. But I might be able to use one to get to the space station. Okay. Cabs will take you up to a couple of kilometers, but they aren't designed for high-altitude flights, let alone one that that would run out of the atmosphere altogether. But it was an option. I'd have to wait until the sun went down. Most people would think that, if you went up in the daytime, up to orbital altitudes, you'd freeze. But in fact, the sun would turn the taxi into an oven. So I waited until late afternoon. Then I went over to Central Mall and grabbed a sandwich and a fruit drink. And some dessert. Wasn't sure when I'd eat again. Afterward, I stopped by a general supply shop and got some tape. I went shopping for a plastene jacket and settled on one that looked almost airtight. It wasn't something I'd want to wear in public, particularly, garish green with a salacious dragon on the back. But it was exactly what I needed. Next stop was home furnishings. I browsed among the window curtains and bought a tieback, a soft strip of blue-green fabric that would have been perfect for my living room. I carried the jacket and the tape and the tieback to the roof and picked out my cab, a late-model Karaka that looked sturdy and well maintained. It waited patiently for me, and I climbed in. 'Taxi,' I said, 'let's go fill up. I'm going to ask you to take me to Quahalla. And bring me back.' Quahalla was halfway across the continent. 'I have adequate fuel, ma'am,' she said. 'I get nervous about long trips. Humor me. Let's fill up anyhow. I'll be much more comfortable.'

'As you wish, ma'am.'

It takes next to no fuel to keep the antigrav unit running. The jets, of course, were another matter. So the plan was to leave them off. What I needed was to get to the right altitude and stay there. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere once I'd arrived. But that was okay.

'Where in Quahalla do you want to go?'

'I'm still deciding. I have several errands to run.' 'Very good.' We pulled into a depot and filled the tank. The antigrav unit and the jets used the same fuel. I'd have liked to fill two or three extra tanks and put them in the cab, but I'd have no way of getting the fuel into the system. When we'd finished, we rode over to Kreitzel's Sea Sports and picked up an oxygen tank and a mask. Next I needed two blankets. When everything was on board, I asked the AI whether the taxi was safe at higher altitudes. 'Absolutely,' she answered. 'No leaks?'

'None.'

There are rules everywhere about how high skimmers can go. In most places the limit's about three klicks. Although they are by law restricted to low altitudes, they're nevertheless equipped with a life-support system. Any piece of equipment with an antigrav unit can go pretty high if something unforeseen happens, like a drunk, so an air supply was standard. It, plus the tank, would give me roughly six hours, but if I didn't get rescued long before that, I would be in deep trouble. I connected the mask to the oxygen tank and tied everything down so it wouldn't float around in the cabin when we lost gravity. I put one of the blankets on top of the tank and tucked it in so the tank wasn't visible. Then I put tape around doors and windows and anywhere else I could find where air might escape. When I'd finished, I told the AI to take us up. We lifted off, but the taxi immediately started asking questions. It was designed to refuse foolish instructions in any case, so I disconnected the AI and took over manual control. That's illegal, too, of course, barring an emergency. I suspected it had automatically sent out a signal to law enforcement, but I didn't see anybody in the area. We rose gradually out of the traffic streams and headed for the clouds. I took it easy, in order to conserve fuel. I was going up to thirty-one thousand kilometers, the altitude of the space station. Once I reached it, I would need as much as was left to keep me up there. The sun was beginning to sink below the horizon when a red light began blinking. The radio burped and came to life. 'You in the taxi: Please answer up. Push the black button to the right of the meter to reply.'

'Hello,' I said. I tried to sound panicky. 'It keeps going up.'

'This is Sky Traffic Fourteen. What's happening? You're too high.'

'Don't know. It won't talk to me. It just keeps going up.'

'All right. Keep calm, ma'am. Let me talk with the AI, please.'

'That's what I'm trying to tell you. The AI isn't saying anything.'

'All right. Apparently you must have done something to shut it off. You need to reactivate. In order to do that, you need first to get into the front right-hand seat. Are you alone in the vehicle?'

'Yes.'

'All right. Now let's start by opening the main function panel. It's to your left. Are you in the front right-hand seat yet?'

He gave me detailed instructions. I reported back, step by step, that I was following everything he told me to do. 'It still won't work.'

'Okay. Keep calm, ma'am. There's no reason to worry. We'll get you down. Do you know how to operate the vehicle?'

'No,' I said. 'All right.' The voice was male. It was calm. Reassuring. Everything would be okay. 'Please take control of the taxi in the following manner-' I could have shut the radio down, but that might have given the game away. So I listened while he gave instructions, warned me against the hazards of high altitudes, and assured me that Sky Traffic Operations knew of the problem and was doing everything necessary to return me safely to the ground. 'I can't hear you,' I said. 'The radio's shut off.'

'Taxi, can you hear me now?' I almost said Negative . Instead: 'Are you still there? I can't hear a thing.' I was passing through white cumulus clouds. Minutes later I got another call: 'You in the taxi, this is Traffic Control. Do you need assistance? What is happening?'