“You can be more specific than that. It’s not the station I’m worried about. It’s Philip. You know — the Bastard.”
“I know. But I’ve never heard you use his name before.” Milly was feeling a lot better, even as his discomfort seemed to grow. “But I don’t understand. I thought we were in an unbeatable position. We discovered the signal, and we announced the discovery. He doesn’t even know where to look.”
“We’ll have to tell him that, to get verification.”
“But the signal direction is just a tiny fraction of what we have learned. We’ll still be far ahead. What can he possibly do to change that?”
“If I knew, I’d be a lot less worried. Do you have an older sister?”
“No. Two younger ones, and a young brother.”
“You’re lucky. The oldest ones always believe they’re the boss. Philip is just a couple of years older than I am, but right from the time we were little kids, in everything we ever did, he always managed to work it so he came out ahead — even when the whole project was my idea. It’s the same now. He’s got me so psyched that I’m convinced he’ll do it this time, even though I can’t think of any way it can possibly happen.”
It was strange. Watching him across the table, Milly saw a different Jack Beston. He was the Ogre, the hard taskmaster who cracked the whip over everyone and everything on the Argus Project at Jovian L-4. But he was also a nervous little kid, scared of what his devious older brother might do to spoil his plans. Milly felt like putting her arms around him and telling him that everything would work out all right.
That would be, for a dozen different reasons, a mistake. It’s when you feel sympathy for the Devil that you’re in trouble. Milly believed everything that Jack had said to her, with the possible exception of his impotence. On that subject a man was not a reliable source. But she did go so far as to reach out across the table and pat his hand.
“You’ll win. I’m sure of it.” She bent over and began to lift covered dishes onto the table. “I’m sorry I was suspicious about the food, and to tell the truth I was starving before I came in here. I think it’s the effect of the higher gravity, our bodies are trying to double their muscle mass in a few days.”
Milly pushed Jack’s plate out of the way. “That’s all cold, you need to start over.” She took a clean plate for him, opened the covered dishes, and began to serve both of them liberal helpings of everything. “We’ll eat now, and since you want distraction I’m going to give it to you. You asked about my family. Well, they’re the least interesting group in the System. I’ll tell you about Uncle Godfrey and Aunt Mary, and Ginger and Sara and Lola and dopey Cousin Peter, and I’ll go on until you beg for mercy.”
20
…AND TIME WITH THE BASTARD
In little more than eight days, an acceleration of one Earth gravity had gone from feeling oddly wrong and perhaps unendurable to oddly right. You could live your whole life in the outer reaches of the solar system, but something deep inside you remembered where humans had begun, Milly gazed ahead at the nearing bulk of the Odin Station and felt half-regretful that she was once again in a micro-gee setting.
Jack was drifting around the cabin, pausing now and again to stare out at their destination. He seemed more relaxed than during their first dinner together. Maybe Milly had been able to persuade him that there was no way his brother Philip could achieve an advantage, or maybe he simply accepted that he was close to a confrontation. For whatever reason, the rest of the trip had been a lot easier than the first days.
Milly kept her eyes on the nearing station. It was remarkably similar in appearance to the station that they had left at Jovian L-4. There were the same distributed antenna arrays, the same skeletal lattices to detect the ghostly passage of high-energy neutrinos, and the same central bulk of the main habitat. Halfway across the System, and here she was facing a facsimile of the station that they had left. Who had copied from whom? If Jack were to be believed, the Bastard had stolen every idea from his younger brother.
Unlike Jack, Milly felt a huge desire to meet Philip. She had never seen a picture of Jack’s brother. She had one sister who was very like her, and one with no apparent resemblance at all — though other family members claimed to see one. What would Philip look like? More important, what would he be like inside? She felt that she was slowly beginning to understand Jack. He was an odd mixture of total self-confidence and total insecurity. The combination was intriguing and highly attractive. It was easy to see the reason for his supposedly-numerous affairs on Argus Station. Milly was no longer sure that Jack had always been the instigator.
“We are ready to begin docking. If you wouldn’t mind preparing for arrival…” The pilot Fax waited until Milly was seated and Jack, reluctantly, stopped his wandering and strapped in. The bulk of Odin Station hung enormous beyond the port, eclipsing half the star field. They eased their way in toward a set of gantries on the side.
The docking was performed with inhuman precision. Milly felt barely a tremor of contact, and then the illuminated signs to remain seated went out. Moments later, a green flashing light indicated that the umbilical had been connected and pressures equalized.
“Here we are.” Jack was already unstrapped, and he sounded breathless. “Let’s do it.”
He sounded jittery. Milly, on the other hand, felt enormously excited and filled with anticipation. Her hopes had been on hold for more than a week, but within the next few hours there was a chance that the signal she had discovered — the Wu-Beston anomaly — would be confirmed as extra-solar, a real signal from interstellar distances.
She followed close behind as he headed for the hatch. When it opened she found herself at the beginning of a long umbilical, exactly like the one through which she had left Argus Station. Thirty meters away, at the other end of the tube, a figure was moving their way which at first glance could easily be mistaken for Jack Beston.
Philip the Bastard.
Jack advanced, Milly close behind, until the two brothers faced each other no more than half a meter apart. Neither one reached out a hand.
“Jack.” Philip Beston nodded his head. Now that she was close, Milly could see differences. Philip was almost the same height, but more heavily-built. He had the same red hair, but in place of Jack’s lidded green glint, his eyes were blue and wide and innocent. And, unlike Jack, the smile on his face seemed easy and genuine.
“And this” — Philip stepped past his brother — “must be the famous Milly Wu, discover of the Wu-Beston anomaly.” He paused and frowned. “Are you really Milly Wu?”
“I am. Is something wrong?”
“Not at all.” He reached out, took her hand in his, and shook it firmly. “My apologies. I was merely surprised to find someone so young — and, if I may be a little gauche, so very attractive — making so important a discovery. I am delighted to welcome you to Odin Station, and I look forward to the opportunity of working with you.”
His brother’s air of bonhomie made Jack sound sour and nervous as he said, “On verification. Only on verification.”
“Jack, my dear young sibling, would I ever suggest anything else?” Philip turned again to Milly. “As you can see, my brother remains regrettably suspicious of me and my intentions.”
“Damn right I do,” Jack growled, and moved on along the umbilical toward the interior of Odin Station. “With plenty of reasons. How soon can we talk verification?”
Philip shrugged at Milly, as though to say “What can you do with him?” and ushered her forward. “As soon as you like, Jack,” he said. “My staff has been eagerly awaiting your arrival. As have I.”
“That, I do believe.” Jack, at the end of the tube, had to wait for his brother to come up to him and point out the way they should go. The outside of Odin Station resembled Argus Station, but within there would surely be big differences. Milly didn’t propose to find out what they were. It had taken weeks to learn the chambers and crisscrossing corridors of Argus Station, and she would not be here long enough to make the effort worthwhile.
Even assuming, that is, that she would be given the freedom to do so. Philip Beston took them only a few more meters, then led them into a suite of rooms.
“This is where you will be staying. As Jack will no doubt explain to you, we do not feel free to offer the full run of Odin Station. If you do leave these quarters, I request that you be accompanied by one of my staff members.”
“In other words, he doesn’t want us to see too much.” Jack stepped forward and moved across to sit at the
