killed in front of his eyes. I understand that he is quite shaken.”
“I’m sure he is,” Zhukov said. He ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat. “Send a message to the commander of the air station at Yelizovo. I want the pilot taken out in the snow and shot, within the hour.”
The lieutenant cocked his head “Sir?”
“We are facing the enemies who brought down the Soviet Empire,” Zhukov said. “We cannot defeat them with incompetence and cowardice. The fool should have pressed the attack, not run away like a frightened child.”
He glared into the lieutenant’s eyes. “Have the pilot shot. Do it
The young lieutenant swallowed and snapped out a salute. “Right away, Comrade President.” He made an abrupt about-face, and marched from the room.
CHAPTER 47
“More coffee, ma’am?” The wardroom mess attendant held out a silver pot and tipped it slightly forward, indicating that he was ready to pour. It was the young Sailor who had escorted Ann and Sheldon from the flight deck to the wardroom on their return to the ship.
Ann looked at her watch and shook her head. It was time, maybe a couple of minutes past time. The Navy guys would already be out there on the boat deck, standing around in the cold and the dark, wondering what was keeping that crazy civilian woman.
Ann knew the answer to that question, but she didn’t want to admit it. Not even to herself. She was afraid.
The ship had been sailing north at high speed since an hour before sundown. Now they were back up near the ice pack again, not far from the area where they’d been attacked at the end of Mouse’s last run. Those fighter jets — or others like them — were still out there somewhere, and now they were alerted to the presence of U.S. warships in the area. Last time, the planes had stumbled across the ship by blind chance. This time, they would know exactly what they were looking for. They would be waiting.
Ann discovered that she was waiting too. Her ears were waiting for the distant growl of jet engines and the shuddering roar of launching missiles. Her muscles were waiting — preparing themselves to re-experience the paralysis that had been her body’s fear response to the aircraft attack. Her stomach was waiting to void itself of the breakfast and coffee that she’d foolishly allowed herself to consume. And her soul was waiting for that liminal moment — the critical threshold at which her fellow voyagers would either kill, or be killed, or both.
She looked at her watch again. She was definitely late, now. It was time to go out there and do her job. She decided to stand up and get it over with, but was surprised to find herself still sitting in the wardroom chair. Her body seemed to be on strike.
She frowned, and grabbed the arms of her chair, ready to push herself to a standing position. And found herself still seated.
She was still puzzling over this when the young Sailor spoke.
He set the coffee pot on the table. “Ma’am, can I ask you a question?”
Ann nodded.
“Are you…” the Sailor halted in mid-question. He swallowed, and spoke again. “How did you end up working on robots?”
Ann had almost no skill for reading people, but she knew instantly that this was not what the kid really wanted to ask. He had changed his mind at the last second, shied away from his real question — whatever that was.
She decided to answer him anyway.
“When I was about ten years old, I saw this movie called ‘
“I don’t think so,” the Sailor said. “Is that one of those old submarine flicks? Like ‘
“No,” Ann said. “It’s science fiction. It’s about the future, when the Earth is so polluted that the atmosphere can’t support trees or plants any more.”
The mess attendant waited for her to continue.
“There are these giant spaceships in orbit,” Ann said. “They carry all that’s left of the world’s forests in these enormous geodesic domes. And on one of those ships is this guy named Freeman Lowell. He’s sort of a botanist and ecologist. He takes care of the forests.”
Ann stopped. Why was she doing this? She didn’t talk about her private life to
“Lowell doesn’t get along with the other people on his ship,” she said. “The others all care about different things than he does. He doesn’t think the same way they do, or value the same things. He doesn’t really understand other people, and he doesn’t like them very much.”
The Sailor was staring now, but Ann forged ahead.
“Lowell likes the trees, and the bushes,” she said. “Because he understands them. He also likes the robots that take care of the ship, for the same reason. He appreciates the clean logic of their thinking. They make sense to him. He doesn’t have to be witty, or charming, and he doesn’t have to try to fit in. The plants and the machines accept him for who he is. They don’t ask him to be anything else.”
“I’ve watched that movie about a thousand times,” Ann said. “The robots weren’t real; they were human actors in little robot costumes. But they
She shrugged. “I guess I’m cut from the same cloth as Freeman Lowell. Machines make sense to me. Robots make sense. It’s people I can’t figure out.”
The Sailor gave her a judicious nod. “Robotics is a big field,” he said. “What made you decide to specialize in the
Again, Ann felt certain that this wasn’t the question the kid really wanted to ask.
“Three-quarters of this planet is water,” she said. “If I’m going to do anything worth doing, the ocean seems like a good place to start.”
The mess attendant paused for several seconds, as if unsure about how to phrase whatever was on his mind. He cleared his throat. “Ma’am, are you … scared?”
Ann felt the heat rise to her face. “
“Scared,” the Sailor said. “You know …
Ann wanted to slap the little bastard. Was
His Sailor buddies must have been talking up a storm, all about the crazy civilian woman who had yakked all over Combat Information Center. They’d probably laughed their asses off about that.
But the kid wasn’t smiling, and there was nothing critical in his voice.
“
The kid paused, and Ann realized that he wasn’t jerking her around. He really was scared. Maybe even as frightened as she was.
“I told my Senior Chief,” he said. “I figured there’s no point in hiding it if I’m not tough enough for combat. You know what Senior Chief said?”
Ann shook her head. “What did he say?”
