Free Coyote Destiny by Allen Steele Page B

is The Heroism of Che Guevara ,” Edgar said, “a Jovian freighter registered to the Union Astronautica . . . and yes, it is an antique, isn’t it?” As the miniature rotated on its axis, Jorge saw a Federation skiff attached to its port docking collar. “Two days ago, it made an unscheduled arrival through the starbridge . . . the reason being that it came from Earth.”
    The president had a politician’s flair for the dramatic. Edgar allowed a moment for what he’d just said to sink in, savoring the shocked expressions of everyone in the room. Everyone except Sawyer, that is; from the corner of his eye, Jorge noticed that he was the only one who wasn’t taken by surprise. Of course, the general would already have known about this; nevertheless, Jorge was amazed that Sawyer had managed to keep the news to himself.
    But that was a minor distraction, compared to the bombshell Edgar had just dropped. It had been a little over six years—nineteen by the Gregorian calendar—since the last time a ship from Earth had come through Starbridge Coyote. Although the starbridge was reopened three years ago, no vessels from the Coyote Federation had been permitted to visit the birthplace of humankind. That was the stipulation that the hjadd had made for their assistance, a prohibition that the Talus had seconded. The aliens had no quarrel with Coyote, but they had come to believe that Earth was not mature enough to be allowed hyperspace access to Coyote or, by extension, the rest of the galaxy. The fact that the Lee had been destroyed by a member of a religious sect opposed to extraterrestrial contact was all the proof the hjadd needed to assert their claim that Earth was a danger to the Talus, and arguably even to Coyote itself.
    So when Starbridge Coyote was rebuilt, the hjadd had been careful to reprogram its AI so that the starbridge wouldn’t accept the hyperspace coordinates for Starbridge Earth installed in navigation keys used by human spacecraft. No ship could open a starbridge, regardless of where it was located, unless coded hyperlink signals were accepted by bridges at both ends; in this way, the Talus assured that its starbridges could only be used for peaceful purposes, not invasion or war.
    Thus, while vessels from Coyote were permitted to journey first to Rho Coronae Borealis, the hjadd home system, and later the other worlds of the Talus, travel to Earth was prohibited. And although Starbridge Earth probably hadn’t been damaged by the destruction of Starbridge Coyote and subsequent collapse of the wormhole, there was also no way a vessel from Earth could reach 47 Ursae Majoris. Or at least not through hyperspace; a slower-than-light vessel might eventually get there, but it would be many years before it arrived.
    “That’s”—Jorge stopped himself before he said impossible —“incredible. The key system . . .”
    “Would have prevented Starbridge Earth from opening a wormhole to 47 Uma.” The president lifted a finger. “But that’s not Earth’s only means of hyperspace access, is it?”
    “There’s another?” Jorge glanced at the others. Inez and Melissa were just as bewildered as he was. Only Sawyer seemed to know what Edgar was talking about. “Sorry, Mr. President, but I never heard about...”
    “KX-1.” Sawyer’s voice was vaguely amused. “Have you forgotten your history, Lieutenant?” Before Jorge could reply, Sawyer clasped his hands together upon the table. “Back in 2288, when the European Alliance was first experimenting with hyperspace travel, they built a prototype starbridge in orbit around Eris, a Kuiper Belt plutoid.” Seeing the expression on Jorge’s face, he rolled his eyes. “The region of dwarf planets on the outer fringes of Earth’s solar system. Don’t they teach you kids anything these days?”
    Jorge let it go. Arguing with Sawyer was usually a no-win proposition. “I remember now,” Inez said, speaking up for the first time. “Wasn’t that the one used