Free Second Chance by David D. Levine Page B

Alpha carried one other thing of interest.
    A full set of data from boost and coast phase. And possibly the answer to the missing signal from Earth.

    -o0o-

    Nuru’s eyes flicked back and forth between two monitors filled with figures. “Yes?” she said without looking up.
    “You’ve locked me out of the big dish.”
    She glanced up at me, then returned her gaze to the monitors. “I have.”
    I waited for an explanation. When I didn’t get one, I said “I need it to retrieve Alpha’s coast-phase data.”
    Nuru paused, then closed her eyes and steepled her long brown fingers in front of her nose. “That’s exactly why I placed that hold.”
    “Oh?”
    Now she did look at me. Her dark, liquid eyes held mine with firm intensity. “Chaz, you’ve been spending far too much time on this side project. We are here for science, not engineering.”
    “What good is science if we can’t send our results back?”
    “Transmission’s working fine. You’ve said so yourself. And as far as our basic scientific mission goes”—she emphasized the words with an index finger driven hard into the palm of her other hand—“we won’t need to receive anything from Earth for almost twenty-four years. Plenty of time to fix the receiver. Assuming we live that long.”
    I was momentarily taken aback, but then I recovered: “If there have been any relevant advances in basic science since we launched, they’ll be beaming them in our direction right now. We don’t want to be spending our precious time out here reinventing the wheel.”
    She didn’t blink. “Zac zac. This environment is dangerous—we have no idea how much time we have. So I want you to focus your attention on the mission . Do I make myself clear?”
    I felt my heart beating in my throat as Nuru and I stared at each other for a long moment. “Perfectly clear,” I said.
    She returned her gaze to her screens, dismissing me.

    -o0o-

    I swallowed and licked my lips before speaking. Bobb and I were alone in his quarters, which made me nervous for many reasons. But what I had to say could not be overheard. “Something very peculiar is going on.”
    Bobb just looked at me, questioning.
    I swallowed again. “Look... I know you guys voted not to vive me.”
    He dropped his eyes from mine. “Yeah. I... I thought you might find out eventually. I’m sorry.” He looked up. “They did it for my sake. And Mari’s. I... I wasn’t happy about it, but it would have seemed... ungrateful not to go along.”
    “I’m sorry, too. For the way I treated you. The first me.”
    Bobb’s lips pursed. Contemplative or angry, maybe a little of both. Then he sighed and shook his head. “Water under the bridge, Chaz. You would have gotten over it eventually, if... if you hadn’t died.”
    “Well, I’m back now. And I’m trying. To get over it.”
    “I can tell.”
    We floated there for a while, each with our own thoughts. “But that’s not the only thing,” I said eventually. “Nuru’s put a lock on my access to the big dish. She says I’m spending too much time trying to re-establish communication with Earth, and she wants me working on science.”
    “Well, it’s our main mission.”
    “But there’s an... undercurrent. I think she wants to keep me from getting ahold of Alpha’s data.”
    “Why?” His expression reflected my own bafflement. We were all scientists, and free access to information was fundamental to scientific progress.
    “I don’t know. But that only makes me more determined to get it.”
    “So you want me to get it for you.”
    “Yes. But be subtle about it.”
    He looked to one side, considering. “I could relay the communication through several satellites. Bury it in other data streams.”
    “Exactly. I mean, zac zac.”
    Bobb grinned. “Now you’re getting it.”

    -o0o-

    I focused my visible attentions on science, specifically the composition of Bianchon’s atmosphere. I swapped my primary work station with Kyra so that Mari and I