Into the Unknowable Ch. 03

"That's ludicrous," said Sheila. "What possible advantage would that be? Have you ever spoken to Beatrice? I've never met a woman whose head is more full of fluff. She dresses in as few clothes as she can. She's a very poor advertisement for our sex."

"She's also astonishingly sharp," said Petal. "I know men and some woman are drawn to her sexual magnetism, but I've been astounded by her effortless grasp of quite difficult scientific concepts. There can't be too many sex workers who can grasp Minkowskian Geometry, Quantum Field Theory and Super-symmetry."

"I can't say I've noticed," said Sheila who preferred to avoid contact with the woman. "What are you getting at, Petal? Do you think Beatrice and Paul are spies or saboteurs? If they're spies what use would whatever they find be until after the mission is completed? If they're saboteurs then how does that concur with your observation that the Intrepid has had a lucky escape?"

"We're not arrived at the Anomaly yet," Petal pointed out. "Perhaps we'll find out more when we get there."

"Paul Morris must be the most incompetent spy in all human history. He doesn't even seem to be aware of his wife's habitual infidelity. Beatrice spends more time under the bedsheets than anywhere else. I think the real mystery must be whoever or whatever it was that tried to destroy the Intrepid with all those missiles. If it wasn't a government then it would have to be someone phenomenally wealthy. And if it was a government then which one has the capability to launch such an assault? Was it a nation in the Interplanetary Union? There can't be any rogue colonies with the wealth and wherewithal to attack a space ship like the Intrepid on that massive scale."

"Perhaps that's what's troubling me," said Petal. "I simply wondered whether you'd had any thoughts of your own or made any independent observations."

Sheila ran her fingers through her braided hair and dangled the strands in her tapering fingers. She studied them thoughtfully. "Thanks for confiding in me, Petal. I think it's right to ask questions like that, but I haven't noticed anything that unusual and the mission seems to be on course just as expected. The real work must surely begin when we reach the Anomaly. Have you any idea what we can expect then?"

"We expect to see rather more of these strange Apparitions," said Petal. "Other than that I think we'll be relying on the Intrepid's sophisticated instrumentation to make any discoveries."

"The only way of finding anything out for sure," suggested Sheila, "would be to actually enter the Anomaly."

"That would be peculiarly stupid," said Petal. "This mission is for scientific exploration not suicide."

"I agree," said Sheila. "And in any case, the Interplanetary Union would never authorise the loss of an expensive space ship like the Intrepid, not to mention the large number of scientists on board. That's something that could never happen."