English Version

To: Captain Tatiana (Tanya) Orlova, Commander. Spacecraft Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (UNCOS Registration 081342).

From: National Council on Astronautics, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington

Commission on Outer Space, USSR Academy of Science, Korolyev Prospect, Moscow

Mission Objectives

The objectives of your mission are, in order of priority:

1. To proceed to the Jovian system and rendezvous with US Spacecraft Discovery (UNCOS 01/283).

2. To board this spacecraft, and obtain all possible information relating to its earlier mission.

3. To reactivate Spacecraft Discovery's onboard systems and, if propellant supplies are adequate, inject the ship into an Earth-returns trajectory.

4 To locate the alien artifact encountered by Discovery, and to investigate it to the maximum extent possible by remote sensors.

5. If it seems advisable, and Mission Control concurs, to rendezvous with this object for closer inspection.

6. To carry out a survey of Jupiter and its satellites, as far as this is compatible with the above objectives.

It is realized that unforeseen circumstances may require a change of priorities, or even make it impossible to achieve some of these objectives. It must be clearly understood that the rendezvous with Spacecraft Discovery is for the express purpose of obtaining information about the artifact; this must take precedence over all other objectives, including attempts at salvage.

Crew

The crew of Spacecraft Alexei Leonov will consist of:

Captain Tatiana Orlova (Engineering-Propulsion)

Dr Vasili Orlov (Navigation-Astronomy)

Dr Maxim Brailovsky (Engineering-Structures)

Dr Alexander Kovalev (Engineering-Communications)

Dr Nikolai Ternovsky (Engineering-Control Systems)

Surgeon-Commander Katerina Rudenko (Medical-Life-Support)

Dr Irma Yakunina (Medical-Nutrition)

In addition, the US National Council on Astronautics will provide the following three experts:

Dr Heywood Floyd dropped the memorandum, and leaned back in his chair. It was all settled; the point of no return had been passed. Even if he wished to do so, there was no way to put back the clock.

He glanced across at Caroline, sitting with two-year-old Chris on the edge of the pool. The boy was more at home in the water than on land, and could stay submerged for periods that often terrified visitors. And though he could not yet speak much Human, he already seemed fluent in Dolphin.

One of Christopher's friends had just swum in from the Pacific and was presenting his back to be patted. You too are a wanderer, thought Floyd, in a vast and trackless ocean; but how small your tiny Pacific seems, against the immensity I am facing now!

Caroline became aware of his gaze, and rose to her feet. She looked at him sombrely, but without anger; all that had been burned out in the last few days. As she approached, she even managed a wistful smile.

'I've found that poem I was looking for,' she said. 'It starts like this:

What is a woman that you forsake her,

And the hearth-fire and the home acre,

To go with the old grey Widow-maker?'

'Sorry – I don't quite understand. Who is the Widow-maker?'

'Not who, what. The sea. The poem's a lament by a Viking woman. It was written by Rudyard Kipling, a hundred years ago.'

Floyd took his wife's hand; she did not respond, but neither did she resist.

'Well, I don't feel at all like a Viking. I'm not after loot, and adventure is the very last thing I want.'

'Then why – no, I don't intend to start another fight. But it would help us both, if you know exactly what your motives are.'

'I wish I could give you one single good reason. Instead, I've a whole host of little ones. But they add up to a final answer I can't argue with – believe me.'

'I believe you. But are you sure you're not fooling yourself?'

'If I am, then so are a lot of other people. Including, may I remind you, the President of the United States.'

'I'm not likely to forget. But suppose – just suppose – that he hadn't asked you. Would you have volunteered?'

'I can answer that truthfully: No. It would never have occurred to me. President Mordecai's call was the biggest shock of my life. But when I thought it over, I realized he was perfectly right. You know I don't go in for false modesty. I am the best-qualified man for the job – when the space docs give their final okay. And you should know that I'm still in pretty good shape.'

That brought the smile he had intended.

'Sometimes I wonder if you'd suggested it yourself.'

The thought had indeed occurred to him; but he could answer honestly.

'I would never have done so without consulting you.'

'I'm glad you didn't. I don't know what I'd have said.'

'I could still turn it down.'

'Now you're talking nonsense, and you know it. Even if you did, you'd hate me for the rest of your life – and you'd never forgive yourself. You have too strong a sense of duty. Maybe that's one of the reasons I married you.'

Duty! Yes, that was the key word, and what multitudes it contained. He had a duty to himself, to his family, to the University, to his past job (even though he had left it under a cloud), to his country – and to the human race. It was not easy to establish the priorities; and sometimes they conflicted with one another.

There were perfectly logical reasons why he should go on the mission – and equally logical reasons, as many of his colleagues had already pointed out, why he should not. But perhaps in the final analysis, the choice had been made by his heart, not his brain. And even here, emotion urged him in two opposite directions.

Curiosity, guilt, the determination to finish a job that had been badly botched – they all combined to drive him toward Jupiter and whatever might be waiting there. On the other hand, fear – he was honest enough to admit that – united with love of his family to keep him on Earth. Yet he had never had any real doubts; he had made his decision almost instantly, and had deflected all of Caroline's arguments as gently as he could.

And there was one other consoling thought that he had not yet risked sharing with his wife. Though he would be gone two and a half years, all but the fifty days at Jupiter would be spent in timeless hibernation. When he returned, the gap between their ages would have narrowed by more than two years.

He would have sacrificed the present so that they could share a longer future together.

The months contracted to weeks, the weeks dwindled to days, the days shrivelled to hours; and suddenly Heywood Floyd was once more at the Cape – spaceward-bound for the first time since that trip to Clavius Base and the Tycho monolith, so many years ago.

But this time he was not alone, and there was no secrecy about the mission. A few seats ahead of him rode Dr Chandra, already engaged in a dialogue with his briefcase computer, and quite oblivious to his surroundings.

One of Floyd's secret amusements, which he had never confided to anyone, was spotting similarities between human beings and animals. The resemblances were more often flattering than insulting, and his little hobby was also a very useful aid to memory.

Dr Chandra was easy – the adjective birdlike sprang instantly to mind. He was tiny, delicate, and all his movements were swift and precise. But which bird? Obviously a very intelligent one. Magpie? Too perky and acquisitive. Owl? No – too slow-moving. Perhaps sparrow would do nicely.

Walter Curnow, the systems specialist who would have the formidable job of getting Discovery operational again, was a more difficult matter. He was a large, husky man, certainly not at all birdlike. One could usually find a match somewhere in the vast spectrum of dogs, but no canine seemed to fit. Of course – Curnow was a bear. Not the sulky, dangerous kind, but the friendly good-natured type. And perhaps this was appropriate; it reminded Floyd of the Russian colleagues he would soon be joining. They had been up in orbit for days, engaged in their final checks.