A Deepness in the Sky

Sherkaner steadied himself on his perch, and his words came low and fast. "Like aliens from outer space. They've been here since before the New Sun. You and I saw them in the Dark, Hrunkner. The lights in the sky, remember?"

He rattled on, his tone so unlike the Sherkaner Underhill of years past. The Underhill of old revealed his weird speculations with an arch look or a challenging laugh. But now Underhill spoke in a rush, almost as if someone would stop him...or contradict him? This Underhill spoke like...a desperate man, grasping at fantasy.

The old fellow seemed to realize that he had lost his audience. "You don't believe me, do you, Hrunk."

Hrunkner shrank back on his perch. What resources had already been sunk into this horrifying nonsense? Other worlds—life on other worlds—that was one of Underhill's oldest, craziest ideas. And now it was surfacing after years of justified obscurity. He knew the General; she'd be no more impressed by this than he was. The world was teetering on the edge of an abyss. There was no room to humor poor Sherkaner. Surely the General did not let this distract her. "It's like the videomancy, isn't it, Sherk?"All yourlife, you've made miracles. But now you need them faster and more desperately than ever before. And all you have left is superstition.

"No, no, Hrunk. The videomancy was just a means, a cover so the aliens wouldn't see. Here, I'll show you!" Sherkaner's hands tapped at control holes. The pictures flickered, the color values changing. One landscape morphed from summer to winter. "It'll be a moment. The bit rate is low, but channel setup is a very big computation." Underhill's head tilted toward tiny displays that Hrunkner could not see. His hands tapped impatiently on the console. "More than anyone, you deserved to know about this, Hrunk. You have done so much for us; you could have done so much more if only we'd brought you into it. But the General—"

On the display, the colors were shifting, the landscapes melting into low-resolution chaos. Several seconds passed.

And Sherkaner gave a little cry of surprise and unhappiness.

What was left of the picture was recognizable, if much lower bandwidth than the original video. This appeared to be a standard eight-color video stream. They were looking out a camera in Victory Smith's office at Lands Command. It was a good picture, but crude compared to true vision, or even Sherk's videomancy displays.

But this picture showed something real: General Smith stared back at them from her desk. The work was piled high around her. She waved an aide out of the office, and stared out at Underhill and Unnerby.

"Sherkaner...you brought Hrunkner Unnerby to your office." Her tone was tight and angry.

"Yes, I—"

"I thought we discussed this, Sherkaner. You can play with your toys as much as you please, but you are not to bother people who have real work to do."

Hrunkner had never heard the General use such tones and such sarcasm with Underhill. However necessary it might be, he would have given anything not to witness it.

Underhill seemed about to protest. He twisted on his perch, and his arms flailed, begging. Then: "Yes, dear."

General Smith nodded and waved at Hrunkner. "I'm sorry for this inconvenience, Sergeant. If you need help getting back on schedule..."

"Thank you, ma'am. That may be. I'll check with the airport and get back to you."

"Fine." The image from Lands Command vanished.

Sherkaner lowered his head until it rested on the console. His arms and legs were inward-drawn and still. The guide-bug moved closer, pushed at him questioningly.

Underhill moved toward him. "Sherk?" he said softly. "Are you all right?"

The other was silent for a moment. Then he raised his head. "I'll be okay. I'm sorry, Hrunk."

"I—um, Sherkaner, I've got to go. I have another meeting—" That wasn't quite true. He had already missed both the meeting and the inspection. What was true was that there were so many other things to attend to. With Smith's help he might be able to get out of Princeton fast enough to catch up.

Underhill climbed awkwardly down from his perch and let Mobiy guide him after the sergeant. As the heavy doors slid open, Sherkaner reached out a single forehand, gently tugging on one of his sleeves.More insanity?

"Don't ever give up, Hrunk. There's always a way, just like before; you'll see."

Unnerby nodded, mumbled something apologetic, and eased out of the room. As he walked down the glass-walled hallway toward the elevator, Sherkaner stood with Mobiy at the entrance to the office. Once upon a time, Underhill would have followed all the way down to the main foyer. But he seemed to realize that something had changed between them. As the elevator doors shut behind Unnerby, he saw his old friend give a shy little wave.