“This was received about an hour ago,” Matt said.

Tripley was seated on the edge of his desk. He looked unhappy. “Phil,” he said, apparently speaking to Philip Agostino, the director, “I asked you to request Dr. Brandywine to stop involving herself in my affairs. She has now caused a police interrogation, and has unfairly called the character of my father into question.” Over Tripley’s shoulder, Kim could see the forward section of the Valiant. “I have to inform you that I am reevaluating my support for the Institute, as your organization seems to have too much free time on its hands, and a propensity for chasing down discredited rumors. Be advised that if any damage comes to either my property or my reputation as a result of this incident, I will regrettably have no choice but to seek legal redress.”

It blinked off.

“Want to see it again?” Matt asked.

“Yes,” she said. “But kill the sound.”

He stared at her, taken off guard, waiting for her to cancel the request. When she didn’t he reran it. She went over to the desk where she could stop it at the point she wanted.

“The director has instructed me,” Matt said angrily, “to ask for your resignation.”

“Tripley’s a crank,” she said.

“He’s an important crank, Kim.”

She froze the image, Tripley leaning forward, mouth open, index finger jabbed in their general direction. “Matt,” she said, “look at this.” She tried to adjust the image so they’d get more of the Valiant, but it was already full frame.

“Yeah. Looks like a bookend. So what?”

“It’s a model starship.”

He shrugged. “And—?”

“Matt, I’m pretty sure the Hunterdid have an encounter with a celestial.”

“Kim—”

“I can’t prove it, but I’d bet on it.” She pointed at the Valiant. “And this is what it looked like.”

“The model.”

“Yes. Look, I know it sounds goofy but I’m almost positive it’s so.”

“If it’s so, why is Tripley keeping it quiet?”

“I don’t think he knows anything about it. Not about the mission. Not about the model. I think his father had it made in one of the local tech shops immediately after he got back. After the explosion, Ben’s grandmother found it at the villa, thought it was only a toy and gave it to him.”

Matt looked as if his shoes were too tight. “What evidence do you have?”

She told him about the fraudulent log and showed him the pictures of Kane’s submerged wall. She said nothing about the vision in the passageway.

“How do you know the log is fraudulent?”

“We had it analyzed.”

“By whom?”

“By experts.”

“You don’t want to tell me.”

“Not really.”

He stopped to catch his breath. “Kim, I’m sorry. You’re a valuable member of the organization and I’d have preferred not to lose you, but you don’t really give me any choice. I want you to go back to your office and write out your resignation. Make it effective thirty days from now. That way I can give you a month’s pay. But don’t come back.” He stared at her across the top of his desk. “You know I’d change this if I could, but I warned you, damn it. I did warn you this was going to happen.”

He scowled and waved her out of the room. But when she started for the door he stopped her. “Kim,” he said, “if you need a reference, make sure it’s addressed to me personally and not to the organization.”

The words didn’t register. “Matt, this isn’t fair. I haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve violated no procedure—”

“You disobeyed a directive. I told you to stay away from this—” He stuttered a couple of times and waved one hand in a frustrated circle.

She glared at him. “Don’t you care what the truth is?”

“Okay, what is the truth? We’ve got one woman dead and one missing. If Kile Tripley did it, it doesn’t much matter because he’s also gone to a better world. So it’s not as if we’re looking for justice.

“You find a bookshelf model and a sketch on a wall and on the basis of that you think somebody met a celestial. If they did, why the goddamn hell didn’t they tell somebody? Anybody?”

“I don’t know, Matt. But if there’s nothing to the story, why’d they gundeck the logs?”

“I don’t know that they did.”

“You can check them if you want. When you do, and when you find out that what I’ve told you is true, I’d like very much to borrow the McCollum.”

His eyes widened. “You’re a remarkable woman, Kim, I’ll say that for you. But maybe you didn’t hear me earlier: You’re not working for us anymore.”

“How’d it go?” asked Solly.

“They fired me.” She had a blowup of Tripley’s Valiant taped to her wall.

“Goddammit, Kim, I told you that would happen.”

She was trembling, with anger, frustration, with a sense of the sheer injustice of it all.

“Maybe it’ll blow over,” he said. “Just sit tight for a bit.

Give them a chance to calm down until they discover they need you.”

“No,” she said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.” They embraced and neither spoke. “Look,” he said at last, “I have some friends at Albestaadt.” Albestaadt was a major research facility on Pacifica. “I can’t promise anything, but I could put in a word. I think there’d be a decent chance. And you could go back to being a researcher.”

“Thanks, Solly. Maybe later. I’ve got a point to make first.”

“You’re going to continue to push this thing?”

“Might as well. I’ve nothing to lose now.”

“You could get sued. Anyhow, what more can you do? Where can you go from here?”

“I’m going to prove the encounter happened.”

“How will you do that?”

“The Hunter’s radio, Solly. It was omnidirectional, remember? With a booster.”

She saw his features brighten. “You really think it would work?”

“Why not? All we need is the right equipment.”

Solly’s eyes met hers. “You’ll need a starship. I don’t guess Matt agreed to let you have the Mac?”

“No. Not exactly.”

“So—How do you plan to manage it?”

“I was thinking about stealing it.”

“Kim—”

“I mean it, Solly. I’ll do what I have to.”

“I believe you would.”

“Solly, I can’t just walk away from this. If we’re right, it’ll be the prime scientific discovery of all time. We’ll be famous, immortal, whatever you like.”

“Rich?” said Solly.

“I’d guess rich beyond imagination.”

“Yeah. Well, rich is good. But the risk is a little high. You’re going to have to count me out, Kim. I’m sorry, but I draw the line at grand theft. Which is what this would be.” His features were flushed, his lips pressed tight together, his eyes hard. “I’m sorry. But this is way out of line.”

Yeah. How could she have expected anything else? “I understand, Solly.”

“How about chartering a ship? Better yet, rent one. I’ll pilot.”

She’d considered it. But she needed the specialized communication equipment of the Institute vessels.

“I’ll help you pay for it,” he said.

“Won’t work. We need FAULS.” That was the Flexible Array, Unified Long-range Sensing System. If somebody did a radio broadcast a hundred light-years out, FAULS would pick it up.

“Kim,” he said. “Let it go.”

Hyperyacht, Inc., had an assortment of interstellars ranging from sleek executive models to economy-class buses. But the cheapest were not licensed for voyages outside the Nine World bubble, and the better ones were impossibly expensive. Worse, even if she could somehow meet the cost and persuade the Institute to let her have the communication gear, it couldn’t be installed.

She put it aside and went home to stare at the ocean.

And to send out resumes. They went to a dozen research institutions around the globe, but she had little hope any would respond favorably. There wasn’t much to put in the Current Projects and Recent Accomplishments blocks.