The Preacher's Daughter

"Uh huh. Let me tell you the details..." Eliana's description lasted several minutes, and she finished with the comment, "It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?"

"I don't know. It's hard to form an opinion without looking at some data."

"Oh, I have a whole bunch of visuals stored on my laptop."

"Of the re-entry?"

"Yep."

"Processed images or original telemetry?"

"Both."

Basel's eyebrows went up. "Indeed? Let's take a look!"

Two hours later...

"Eli, this is one weird meteor."

"Basel, if you're about to tell me one of your spooky howl-of-the-wolf Ranger stories, I am definitely not interested."

"Right. I promise, I'm being completely honest. And no, we don't have to worry about alien invaders..."

"Good."

He smiled. "...unless perhaps the aliens are two-dimensional pancakes."

"Uh... what?"

"Take a look at this trajectory. I can see why this meteor was driving your Governor nuts. The telemetry starts when the rock is about 130 km above the Earth's surface."

Eliana interrupted. "It's a rock, right, not a spacecraft?"

"Oh yeah, definitely non-metallic... unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Well, this meteor was so light, I'm thinking it must have been partially hollow."

"Hollow?"

"It's a rock, but it's also extremely light. Look how quickly the atmosphere braked it. At the start of the imagery, it's more than a thousand kilometers from the impact zone, coming in at a very shallow angle of about seven degrees and traveling about 90,000 kph. That's a little slow to be falling in from the Ort cloud but still very fast. If it were a solid iron-nickel meteor, it would have hit in less than a minute and formed a tremendous impact crater."

"But it slowed down, I know."

"Yes. Look how long it rides! It must have been surfing the air, getting pushed back and away as it braked in the air. By the time it enters the top of the snowstorm, it's barely supersonic."

"But it's not an alien spacecraft, right?"

Basel studied the data. "Roughly egg shaped... I'm guessing about four meters on the long axis. Way too small for an interstellar spacecraft, don't you think? And the braking! The entire re-entry track is less than two minutes. Average acceleration is over twenty gravities, and peak acceleration, right here," he said, pointing to a graph, "must be over a hundred gravities."

Eliana was a military pilot. She knew very well what a hundred gravities would do to a human body, a kilogram heart weighing a hundred kilograms and rupturing the connecting arteries from its weight. Asking any animal-like life-form to survive that would be like asking it to survive passing through steel rollers. "Maybe a sponge could do it," thought Eliana, "but nothing capable of flying a spacecraft."

She frowned and felt a bit cold. A small, annoying voice was whispering in the back of her mind, "Is that argument air-tight?" She turned to Basel and said, "It must have left some mark when it hit. Any thoughts if we can find it?"

Basel was quiet for a long moment as he studied the raw visual and infrared telemetry. "The rock would definitely be worth finding, and Zaafir was right, it landed in this area."

"How close?"

"It's hard to pinpoint the location. Look how much the rock is wobbling near the end, wobbling and surfing the air. Look how the wind is bending its path, first to the west, then to the east. Best guess is it landed right on top of our station, but the uncertainly of how much it surfed the air once it hit the snowstorm..."

Basel was quiet for a long moment and finally concluded, "Draw a circle with a 10 km radius from here. That's about the horizon line as we see it from the observation dome. I think the chances are good the strike point is inside that circle."

"A good chance? What does that mean? Give me a number Basel!"

Basel hesitated. "I'm guessing... seventy percent?"

Eliana sighed. "So we have more than 300 square kilometers of ground to search, and still no guarantees. And you don't think a metal detector would be useful?"

"The rock is so light, it can't be metallic; maybe of some sort of silica. Look how it managed to dump all the re-entry heat into the atmosphere. Very little appears to have been conducted into the rock. There's no sign of heat ablation on the infrared telemetry." He paused for a moment and then added, "Yep. This definitely would be worth finding."

"So how do we do it?"

"Yeah... I don't know. Let me give it some thought."

Chapter 9. First Sighting

Time: January 19, 9570 3:52 PM UCT

"Excellent game Basel," Eliana said as she extended her hand. The final score on the Jamgo display was 224 points for her and 221 points for her opponent.

Basel nodded as his eyes left the holographic game board and he accepted the handshake. He then stretched his arms wide. "The closest I've come since our first day. That was fun! Except perhaps for the very end."

Eliana smiled back and said in a deadpan voice, "Not fun at the end? I hadn't noticed." She then laughed. "I need to savor these victories while I can! You play is getting better with each game." She saw Basel yawn and asked, "Like to listen to some music before we turn in?"

"Sure, that'd be great!" Basel got up and went to the entertainment console. "How about something pre Bel'dar?"

"Okay."

"Jazz from the old Karbalan crystal data?"

"Sounds perfect."

Basel turned and was delighted to find Eliana waiting for him on the two-person sofa. He sat by her side and she sighed happily, resting her head against his shoulder. "Ah, nice choice. I love the sound of the clarinet. What's this called?"

Basel was busy burying his nose into her hair and enjoying the clean fragrance. They were already dressed in their sleep clothing, and her body felt delightful in his arms. He sighed. "Ah, the title... I forget. The musician's name is Jimmy Dorsey I think. I can go look up the song."

"No, don't bother." Eliana slowly returned the embrace put her arms around Basel as the music played. They petted each other playfully, and when there was a short break between songs, Basel popped the sofa to an almost full-reclining position. Eliana was soon lying down using his left arm as a pillow, while his right arm lay across her body. Basel started caressing her ribcage as he smiled at her.

"How are you doing Eli?"

"Me? Oh, I'm fine. I'm not nervous at all." She kicked out her legs and wiggled the toes of her bare feet. She purred, "I love how I'm feeling now... Basel, may I ask you a really personal question?"

"Sure."

"If I asked you to bed me, right now, would you want to?"

Basel gulped and then sighed heavily, leaning the side of his head against hers and just holding her for a while. Then he kissed her ear and nodded. "I would."

"That's what I thought. You are so sweet. Before, when we both agreed we should slow down... I think I was the one who was nervous, and you have such great empathy for me, you accepted my desire as your own."

Basel kissed her temple. "I don't want to hurt you Eli, and I don't think you're the type of woman who would like sex without commitment."

"That's true, and commitment takes a long time, I know. And it should take a long time. Commitment should come before sex. And yet..." They lost themselves in a long kiss. Eliana came up for air and continued her thought. "And yet, I feel your desire for me Basel, and I want to respond to it, to accept it and return it. Look at you! You're almost fully erect for me! I want to respond to your desire, to accept my dream of commitment for commitment..."

Basel gasped and held Eliana closely. His hand came up from her ribs and cupped a soft breast, and he cried softly from the pleasure.

Eliana whispered back, "This is your first time, isn't it Basel, to hold a woman like this?"

He nodded and breathed heavily as he lay by her side, stroking the soft breast with his fingers, tracing the outline of Eliana's erect nipple through her thin pajamas, and then caressing the soft underside with his palm. He whispered, "Does it show?"

"Yes. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining! I am your first girlfriend. It shows wonderfully! And you are my first boyfriend." Eliana's hand came up, unfastening his pajama-top and then slipped her hand inside to caress his chest and nipples. And they lay there and caressed each other as the music played. It was all softness and pleasure, excitement and uncertainly and joy and playfulness and sexual arousal, all swirling around the core themes of love and acceptance.

They began to pant as they kissed. Eliana offered Basel her tongue, extending its tip to slide into his mouth. Basel began to moan in his pleasure, and he began caressing Eliana's lower legs with the arch of his right foot. He rolled his body partway onto Eliana to caress her better, and he felt a sharp flash of nervous tension within her.

Eliana grimaced and whispered, "Oh, I'm so sorry Basel!"

He rolled off and gently stroked her head. "It's okay."

"It's not okay. I don't want to frustrate you, especially with this..."

A quick peck on her cheek. "We have a big day tomorrow."

Eliana returned the kiss. "Are you sure? I don't want to be cruel, arouse you and then..."

Another kiss, and then a playful smile. "Look at the time."

"Yes, it's late," she said at last, accepting his kindness, "and we do have a big day tomorrow. We should turn in."

Basel nodded, giving her one last hug. "Goodnight Eli, pleasant dreams."

"Goodnight Basel. I love you." They were in their separate bedrooms moments later.

Five hours later...

"Oh, fabulous omelet Eliana, bravo!" He took another bite. "What'd you put in it?"

"Oh, nothing unusual." She swallowed a bite of her hot bagel. "Four egg equivalents, sharp cheddar on the inside and sprinkled Parmesan on top, light amounts of garlic salt, paprika, and black pepper, chopped parsley and mint, a little milk and butter..." She took a bite of her creation. "Oh, this is good. You're probably noticing the taste of the gourmet mushrooms... Want to know something Basel?"

"Yeah?"

"Guild Rangers are pampered! The food storage systems here are state-of-the-art. We never eat like this during military survival training."

Basel laughed. "Well, we normally do eat very well on assignment. But this is a little unusual. The extra food rations dropped off with us were gourmet quality. I think the Guild is trying to send you a message."

"Me? Really?"

"Sure. With your achievement record, they must be thrilled to have you registered as a life member. Seriously Eli, you're a great catch for them, especially two hundred years from now. The Guild is probably expecting you to make Stateswoman."

"Well..." She grinned and continued her meal. "So, what's the weather forecast? Are we go for the CAT run?"

"The CAT is in flawless shape, and local diagnostics are predicting a perfect day. We couldn't ask for better."

Eliana nodded. "I miss getting the big picture from the weather satellites."

"Yeah, well, part of the test."

"So, how far do you want to go?"

Basel leaned back in his chair and considered. "Well, if there are no problems, want to test what the distance-governor is on the CAT?"

"That far?" Eliana thought for a moment. She felt vaguely uneasy about the proposal, but couldn't figure out why.

"We'll have more than two hours of sunlight today, 5:00 AM to 7:12 AM."

"I know, but the sun will be on the horizon the whole time." She paused for a moment. "Still, I agree, an amazing change for just a few days."

"The CAT is an incredibly rugged piece of equipment Eli, a reliable as this station. And we'll have more than two hours of twilight on either side of the day. Plus we have a 24-hour waxing gibbous moon tracing a big oval in the sky, and finally, the CAT could find its way back here in a blizzard. Just run the homing program." He paused and shrugged. "Are you worried about a breakdown?"

Eliana sighed. "No, I guess not. What direction do you want to head?"

"Well, how about south?"

For some reason Eliana could not understand, she felt relieved by the choice of directions, and by the end of breakfast they finalized their plans for a 2:00 AM departure.

Six hours later...

Time: January 20, 9570 3:30 AM UCT

"Well, halfway mark right now," Basel called out. He was driving the CAT south-east across a small frozen pond at an easy pace of 60 kph. Since leaving their station ninety minutes ago, they had been following a natural contour of the land, closely hugging the ancient border between Sweden and Finland.

Eliana turned from gazing out her window. "So, fifty-five straight-line kilometers from the station. There was a 50% chance we'd get this far?"

"Yeah, we're guaranteed ten, and guaranteed not to get a hundred. I'm happy we're in the upper half though. This will really help my studies in April. We lucked out."

Eliana nodded and turned to look out the window again, surveying the landscape in the dim light. The horizon in front of them was showing definite predawn promise, but most of their light was still coming from the moon. But with the bright moon and the CAT's running lights, their visibility was excellent. Eliana felt just the slightest bit uncomfortable that they were advertising their presence with their running lights. She turned to Basel and commented, "I thought you said we'd be heading south. Our course so far has been southeast."

"Hmm? Yeah, sorry for not being more explicit, but this is the natural contour to follow and get some quick distance from the station. Another hundred kilometers or so, we could turn more southward, and 300 km after that hit the top of the Baltic Sea where old Sweden and Finland used to part company. Won't get there today of course, but maybe in July, if you want to go skinny-dipping in freezing water, you could talk me into it."

"Ah, you first Basel!"

He laughed back. "Well, to see you in your birthday suit, it'd be worth it!" He smiled playfully and added, "you know, I'll never understand why they call these things CATs. It's more in the shape of a crab."

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"It's an ancient military label, pre Abdul Hadi. The name for the vehicle was Combat All Terrain Transport, CAT for short."

"Ah..."

An hour later...

"Mark! Ninety-six straight-line kilometers," Basel called out.

Eliana smiled at him. "Think they might have forgotten to put in the governor?"

"Wow. That would be a first. Much more likely we'll lose forward power any minute now." His comment proved prophetic. Less than a minute later their forward drive unit lost all power.

"Can I drive?" asked Eliana.

"Sure. I'll make the measurements." While Eliana drove back and forth in small hops across the deep snow, Basel made accurate measurements of their distance from the station. After a few minutes, he said, "We have full power anywhere within 96.56 kilometers of the station, and then lose all forward drive by 96.6 kilometers."

"What if we tried to drive away in reverse?"

Basel just looked at her and smiled.

She gave it a try anyway and quickly learned the CAT would stray no farther from the station, no matter what gear it was in. Eliana suddenly felt a tinge of nervousness, a vague feeling of dread about the unattended station. "Basel," she said, "Let's head back. I'll drive."

Her companion looked at her thoughtfully. "Acknowledged Commander."

She turned to him and blinked. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! We're supposed to be peers. I don't know why I'm treating you like a military subordinate. Basel, what would you like to do?"

"Oh, heading back is fine Eli. But I'd also like to make five or six stops along the way once the sun comes up, when the landscapes are different, maybe five-minutes each."

"Different landscapes? You do, huh?" She smiled. "Want to be a tourist, take a few pictures of the scenery?

He laughed. "Wow, you are good! As a matter of fact, yes!" He pulled out a small device from the storage area in back of their seats. "And here's my camera!"

Eliana stared at the awkward looking contraption. "Basel, what is that thing?"

"Not very pretty, is it? With your agreement, I'd like to do a proof-of-principle experiment. I want to test out an idea for finding where the meteor hit."

"Oh..." commented Eliana, staring at the device. "How does it work?"

"It would take a while to explain, and I'm very uncertain if this will work or not. It's just an idea I want to try out."

"Okay. How about I drive, and you look at the scenery and tell me when to stop?"

"Sounds perfect! Thank you."

They drove for a short while in the ample predawn twilight, the sun just a small fraction of a degree below the horizon. And then their world was touched by the pale yellow light of the sun cresting the horizon behind them. Basel asked Eliana to stop the CAT.

She joined him outside for the five-minute stay, looking around and feeling no immediate alarm. The temperature was cold but nothing unexpected, -32C, a bit warmer than average for this time of year. There was almost no wind, and in their arctic suites and with the daylight around them they felt fine. And then they were off.

"Where did you get that?" Eliana asked, gesturing with her hand at the camera-like device.

"Ah, I made it. The photonics lab on Level-3 might be compact, but it's very well equipped."

"Uh huh..." Eliana concentrated on her driving, moving considerably faster than Basel had on their way out. They drove mostly in silence before stopping again at 5:30 AM, at the southern end of a narrow frozen lake. Eliana stayed inside as Basel took his holographic pictures at the shoreline. She computed they were 80.44 straight-line kilometers from the station, and spent the rest of the time idly scanning their surroundings with the CAT's scanners. As Basel returned and sealed the door, she commented, "Make sure you're strapped in. I want to try a speed test."

"Sure." Basel pulled his harness taut and saluted playfully and said, "You are clear for take-off."

He wondered if she had taken him literally. He was pressed into his seat with a deep acceleration, and moments later glanced down at the dashboard and saw Eliana had pushed them well above 200 kph. He was a little nervous, but as he looked at how calm Eliana was, he realized she was in her element, a military aviator with extensive low-level jump-jet experience. Driving a CAT like this was no particular challenge to her at all. Basel settled back in his chair and tried to enjoy the ride. Four minutes later they were at the other end of the lake and Basel asked Eliana for a third stop. Before he hopped out of the CAT, he noticed they were now 65.66 straight-line kilometers from the station.

The third stop by the northern shoreline was uneventful, and afterwards the way became a bit rocky. Eliana slowed the CAT down to about 30 kph. After driving for about ten minutes, she suddenly felt as if Basel were staring at her. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. He appeared to be ignoring her completely and looking at the scenery outside, trying to select another site for a photo stop. Eliana shrugged and continued driving.

The next fifteen minutes were very awkward. The sense of being watched intensified, and Eliana had an overwhelming feeling that Basel was giving her cold stares every time she wasn't looking. When he finally asked her to stop for another photo shoot, she just nodded stiffly and braked the CAT without a word.

She walked around the CAT nervously as Basel took his pictures. The feeling that he was drilling her with his eyes when she wasn't looking was both strong and very unpleasant. She turned her back on him and felt the drill almost immediately. She whirled around to complain.

Basel had his back to her, clearly focusing on his device and calmly finishing the last of his holographic scans. Eliana let out a small gasp and felt totally bewildered. "My gosh," she thought, "it's not him." Her eyes drifted towards the right. "The Holy! WHAT IS THAT?!"