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Zach Hodgper, the astronomer in charge of the station, proved to be a vigorous man with bristly white hair and gray eyes that had a way of looking up suddenly from a chart or photograph to make a keen evaluation of a speaker and of what he had just said. He wasted little time over introductions, but quickly but V'gon Tacbian to work and suggested that Shaun act as his assistant.
"Just follow your friend, young man. He knows his way about here. Any assistance you can give him will be appreciated."
Shaun followed V'gon to a little office down the hall, where Chal Lockury established them with a small computer and a long tabulation of figures.
"Here," he said, "see if you can check these for us. We've got contact worked out for five hours from now. But where? That's the rub. If if falls in the wilds, okay. But if hits anything like the Olympiad complex, the results will be too horrible to contemplate."
The young astronomer hurried out, and Shaun dared ask a question.
"I don't understand. What is Crilia U5--this thing that's going to hit us?"
V'gon looked at him quizzically.
"I'm sure you've been told since you arrived on Pevoria that we're in the cloud belt of the cluster. You see it in the sunsets. All very beautiful, but it has its other side. Most of the clouds are gaseous, but there's a lot of meteoric material as well. The large meteors are classed as asteroids. We try to keep their orbits plotted, but most of them are very eccentric. They appear, then disappear. The chance of a big one hitting us is very remote. Of course, we get more hits of that nature than the average planet. Every few hundred years. Well, that chance seems to have come around again. And just when we've had a massive power failure, with communications out all over. Or maybe it's because of it. The clouds affect our weather and atmosphere, you know."
"But----but----!" cried Shaun, as his mind tried to grasp the situation. "Can't we do something about it?"
"Only possible thing is to plot where it's going to hit and then try to evacuate everyone there. It's around on the other side of the world right now, so we can't see it to check our calculations. Here, suppose you punch the machine while I read out the numbers."
In a kind of numbed, unbelieving daze, Shaun settled down to help with the work. The chance that the meteor might land in a populated area urged him to exert every effort. But he found that the figures tended to elude him. He had put in a grueling day in the stadium, followed by the emotional fallout of first winning and then losing the prize. He had run off in a turmoil of emotions, wandered about for an unknown length of time, and finally had climbed up here from the end of the lift cables. Physically and emotionally he was exhausted, although he did not want to admit it in this crisis.
At last V'gon picked up the sheaf of papers, studied the figures for a moment, and then hurried out, muttering, "I'll see how they like this." Shaun leaned back in his chair and almost immediately fell into a doze. When later the alien returned, he looked at his friend with a sad smile. Then he took the boy by the shoulder.
"Come along, Shaun," he said. "We have better places to sleep than in a chair."
The athlete staggered back to consciousness. "But the work.....the meteor...."
"Never mind. There's nothing more you can do. We think it's going to hit in the ocean."
"Oh, good," he muttered, as V'gon led him to another office that boasted a couch."
"I should have remembered all you've been through today," the alien apologized. "Enough for a lifetime, I guess."
But Shaun was already down on the couch, dead to the world. V'gon smiled and went out, quietly closing the door.308Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8N1yoCHO1
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When he awoke, it was a moment before he remembered where he was. The strange, bare officelike room; and outside the window, swirling clouds, with a few rocky peaks visible through the mist. Then yesterday's events came back to him: his victory and his loss, his coming here with V'gon. How far away the stadium now seemed and how utterly unimportant the contested prize, compared with the threatened annihilation of a whole planet. But no, it was not the whole planet that the astronomers feared for. It was the question of just where the asteroid would land.
Shaun threw off the red blanket with which someone had covered him while he slept, and went out into the hall. He followed the sound of voices to the bigger office, where he found V'gon and the 2 astronomers, looking much the same as when he'd left them the previous night. Evidence pointed to their having been up all night. There was a tray with coffee and rolls on a table, and the elder scientist motioned to Shaun to help himself.
"I am truly sorry for last night," he said. "I seriously underestimated your fatigue, I fear. So you're a champion, eh? We don't meet one of that kind up here very often."
Shaun started to protest, but the older man waved him into silence.
"Mr. Tacbian has told me all about it. Bureaucrats! You get them in all walks of life!"
"It's not important," Shaun said. "What happened to the asteroid?"
"It's landed. In the ocean, we think. We're just trying to be sure. If only those fools would get the power going!"
"The storm went on all night," said V'gon.
"Probably the celebrations as well," said Lockury. "You know how it is. We're short-handed up here, too."
"Bureaucrats! Bureaucrats!" grumbled the older man. It seemed to be his favorite complaint. "At a time like this! It's possibly that nobody knows of this but us."
"And our station in the west?" asked V'gon.
"That goes without saying. What are they doing, I wonder."
"It must have hit several hours ago, and we're still here," said Lockury, leaning back in his chair. "There's nothing we can do about it now. We might as well catch up on some lost sleep."
"If it did land in the ocean as we believe," V'gon began, "nobody knows about it or saw it. But won't it cause an effect---won't it stir up the ocean?"
Dr. Hodgper hit his forehead with his fist. "That's right! If I wasn't half-asleep, I would have followed through. Of course, it'll cause an effect. A tsunami!"
"Of mega proportions!" Lockury sat up in his chair.
"Depending on how far away. Get me those figures again, Chal. And the map, while you're at it!"
The three of them bent over the table. Shaun held his breath, not daring to add his head to the group hovering over the map. Then Dr. Hodgper called him over.
"Right here, my friend," he pointed to the ocean and the coast of the pleasure complex, the shores where Shaun had made his practice throws just a few days earlier. "We draw a small circle way out here. Somewhere in that area we believe the giant asteroid fell. Now then, the waves will go out in all directions from the impact zone. I draw concentric circles, thus. You will now see that some kind of a wave is going to hit our sports area down below. But when and how high? Depending on where in the first circle the object hit. Also depending on the object's size and mass. We've got that pretty well estimated. So now we'll take 3 possible distances and work out the possible hour of arrival and height of the wave."
V'gon and Lockury each accepted the page of figures that Dr. Hodgper handed them, and then there was silence except for the clicking of the big computer mainframe. Shaun tried to adjust his mind from a possible collision disaster to a more probable tsunami.
At last the trio put their figures together again and compared.
"As far as I can tell, gentlemen," said Dr. Hodgper, "we can expect a tsunami of---errr---enormous proportions, to reach our seacoast anywhere from 12 to 24 hour from now. The authorities must be alerted at once. Everyone must be evacuated."
"But there's no way for us to alert the authorities!" said Lockury.
"Give the codebox another try," said his superior.
Lockury struggled out of his chair and went to the nearby communications device. "It's still dead. I left the relays open so I'd hear it if it came on." He jiggled the keys in exasperation. "Obviously, we can't wait for this!"
V'gon Tacbian moved slightly to command attention.
"But my friends, nothing could be easier. Just write out a message and I will take it. All I need is your authority so that they will believe me."
"Not soon enough," said Lockury. "To get down this mountain on foot and across the plain. And we're all tuckered out. You slept no more than we did lat night."
"My friend, Shaun, was the sleeper," said the alien. "Let us not waste time arguing. If I could not run fast, I would not have tried to enter the Games. And Shaun is an athlete of the 1st order. We can deliver the message in an hour---2 at the most."
The 2 astronomers looked at each other, and then Dr. Hodgper went to the desk and began writing hastily on the station's letterhead.
"We're too civilized, Chal," he said. "You forget what can be done without the benefits of science and technology. Here you go, young man. Take this and show it to the first officer you can find in the town. Tell him that no time is to be wasted. He'll get you to the Governor or someone in authority."
Shaun stuck the message inside his shirt and followed V'gon out of the building. The morning was well advanced and he realized that he'd slept late. The sun was burning off the mountain mists, but below them in the valley there was fog and rain. The storm still held sway.
V'gon led the way to a mountain trail, down past the cable landing platform, now closed and deserted. He glanced at it as they passed.
"Let us hope that they have that running soon," he said. "It can be a way of escape for many."
Then he settled down to the serious business of descending the mountain. This was not as easy as he'd made it out at the observatory. The storm had washed out the footing and torn up and blown down trees of all descriptions. When they reached the forested slopes, they found their way badly blocked. Often it seemed simpler to go around than to fight through the tangle of fallen trees and vines. Then they lost no time finding their way back to the trail. The 2 hours that V'gon had promised stretched out into three and four. By the time they had stumbled and slid down the steeper slopes and were at last within reach of the plain, the sun was on its way down towards the west.
Eventually, they came to a road where it was possible to run steadily. Shaun set the fastest pace he felt he could keep for the remaining miles. But he noticed that V'gon was tiring. Little by little the alien fell behind. At last he stopped and leaned against a tree.
"Go on," he said. "You've got the message and the road is straight. It leads to the great bridge across the canyon. Keep going. I'll rest a bit and then catch up."
Shaun wondered how much longer he could keep it up himself. At least he had slept and reawakened refreshed, and had eaten breakfast, even if a small one. And he was in excellent condition. Although running was not his specialty, he had worked at it in his training. Remembering things he had heard Tris say about distance running, he forced himself to slow down to a trot. And as he thought of Tris, he remembered Skem and Vesh, and his other teammates. Merl and Jan-o, yes, and Worf. All down there by the ocean in terrible danger. If he let them down now, they would be overwhelmed and drowned and washed away by the tsunami. All Vesh's swimming ability could hardly save her from the mass-murderer coming in from the sea.
He had to keep a stern hold on himself not to start running wildly again. And then he came out of the forest onto the plain, and he saw how the road ran straight ahead and then to the right, and there far away arose what had to be the towers of the bridge.
He heard a shout behind, and saw in a fast glance that V'gon had come out of the forest. The alien had gotten his 2nd wind. Shaun ran, knowing that the native would catch up soon enough. They pounded on, across the plain, around the curve towards the bridge. They were late, but surely not too late! Then, almost neck and neck, they drew up to the bridge and stopped. And stared in numb silence at the dangling girders and the roadway that was no longer there.
"This should not surprise us," said V'gon at last. "We have seen the storm's' work on the mountain. Yet there have been great storms before, and always the bridge stood."
Shaun turned his head away. He sat down so his friend could not see. But the alien motioned him to his feet.
"No rest now," he declared. "Come. The path goes over here."
"Down there! But we'd never make it! By the time we got down there and all the way up again-----It's too late!"
"It's never too late. They said 12 hours, did they not? Perhaps 24 hours. We hope for 24."
Shaun dragged himself to his feet, but he felt drained of all energy. To go down into that canyon and up again would be like descending and climbing another mountain. In his heart he knew he couldn't do it, and while he tried, his friends would be dying. Worf, who'd comd so far with him.....
He turned to follow V'gon, and then, amazingly, he heard Worf barking. Was he already at that point of exhaustion where one experiences realistic hallucinations? He walked up to the chasm's rim and looked across. Sure enough, there, running up and down the other side was his dog, barking and yipping in the ecstasy of welcome.
He called to V'gon. "Hey, look! Wait! That's Worf over there. And Skem and Vesh! They must've been searching for me!"
The alien paused for a moment and stared.
"It does not matter," he said. "They can't hear you that far."
"Maybe we can tell them and they can alert the authorities. See, there's an officer of some kind with them."
"I tell you, it's too far and there's a wind. You can't explain at this distance. And besides, they need that letter. The authority.. No one will believe without the seal of the observatory."
Shaun looked at him in surprise. "I'd forgotten about the letter," he said. "That makes it easy. I'll just throw it to them."
"Throw it!? Over there? It's much too far." And then he hesitated as the idea started taking hold. "Well, maybe not for you. Have you ever thrown something that far?"
"Well, no," said Shaun. "But there's always a first time. Always a new record."
He was moving up and down the path, looking for a stone of just the right size and weight. But V'gon was still doubtful.
"Do not make the throw unless you're sure," he urged. "Should you miss and it falls into the rift.....It's bad enough to climb down and up, but to have to search for the letter, too! And we very much need that letter to get the authorities moving!"
Shaun picked up a possible stone and hefted it in his hand.
"I'm sure," he told V'gon, while at the same time wondering how he could be sure. Was he a crazy fool? "We'll need something to fasten them together."
V'gon searched his pockets and brought out some adhesive tape and together they made stone and letter into a compact missile. Then Shaun stood at the edge of the canyon and measured the distance with his eye. He was appalled at what he saw, but he put the thought out of his mind. At least, there was Worf waiting on the opposite run, and his 2 friends, miraculously come hunting for him at this exact time and place. Surely it was an omen, a sign that he could do the seemingly impossible now needed of him.
He stepped back 1 pace, shouted to Worf, and began his swing. Back and forth went his arm, and then the precious missile was flying across the chasm. On and on it went and fell onto a rocky outcropping, where for 1 moment it teetered on the edge. Then Worf had it in his jaws and was running with it to lay it at Vesh's feet.
He could see the people on the other side come up to Vesh, and her pass the letter to the officer, who tore it open. Twelve necks craned as he read, and then he was running around and barking out orders, and the whole group hurried away towards the town. Skem and Vesh paused long enough to wave and shout greetings. Then they, too, dashed away. Gone off to arouse their teammates and the Olympiad Village.
Shaun sat down. Now that he had played his part, he felt very, very tired. V'gon Tacbian regarded him with admiration and amazement.
"You did it! I wouldn't have believe it possible. If they all escape, they will have you to thank for it!"
Shaun stared at the canyon's far rim.
"I barely believe it myself," he admitted. "How far do you think it is over there? I must have set some kind of record."
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