Death Wave Read Online Free PDF Page B

technology?”
    â€œNot very much,” Jordan admitted.
    â€œNot much?”
    Feeling embarrassed, little short of dim-witted, Jordan said, “The question barely came up. Even your daughter didn’t delve into it very deeply. There was so much else to do, to discover…”
    Halleck looked at Aditi. “What can you tell us about your communications technology?”
    Aditi shrugged. “Very little, I’m afraid. I’m not trained in that area. But I can ask our leaders back on New Earth about it.”
    â€œAnd wait sixteen years to get their answer,” grumbled one of the councilmen from down the table.
    â€œOh no,” Aditi said. “It should only take an hour or so.”
    That sent a shock wave through the conference room.
    â€œThen you do have access to faster-than-light communications!” Halleck snapped.
    Her facial expression somewhere between surprised and wounded, Aditi replied, “Yes, of course.”
    â€œYou can communicate with Adri, back on New Earth?” Jordan asked.
    Nodding slowly, Aditi said, “When I have to.”
    The holographic image of George Ambrose ran a hand through his shaggy red mane. “That means I can attend these bloody meetings from Ceres, ’stead of riding clear to the Moon for ’em.”
    â€œWe could link the entire solar system into a single human community!” marveled one of the Council members.
    With a thin smile, Halleck mused, “We can turn this council into a truly effective government for the whole solar system.”
    â€œNow wait,” warned Stavenger’s hologram. “Selene is a free nation. We attend these Council meetings as an independent entity.”
    Jordan saw the dreams of power and control in the eyes of most of the men and women around the table, especially Halleck’s. And he realized that Aditi saw it, too. She looked shocked, crestfallen.
    â€œVirtually instantaneous communications,” Halleck purred. “This could open an entirely new era for the human race.”
    â€œWait,” Jordan said, raising his voice to silence the buzz going around the table. “We still have to decide what to do about the death wave.”
    â€œThat’s not going to be a problem for two thousand years, Jordan,” said Halleck. “We have more immediate priorities to deal with.”
    â€œDamming up the meltwater flow from Greenland is our first priority,” said one of the councilmen.
    â€œBut there are planets that will be engulfed in the death wave much sooner,” Jordan urged. “We’ve got to help them. If we don’t, whole civilizations will be annihilated.”
    â€œAll in good time,” Halleck said. “First things first.”

 
    FIRST THINGS FIRST
    Jordan felt terribly weary by the time he and Aditi returned to their hotel suite, across the public square from Barcelona’s fourteenth-century Gothic cathedral.
    â€œI hadn’t expected that,” he admitted as he dropped onto the handsomely striped sofa in their sitting room.
    Aditi stood uncertainly in the middle of the big, carpeted room. Late-afternoon sunshine was pouring through the windows, although the noise from the busy streets below was completely blocked by the acoustical oscillators mounted on every window in the hotel.
    â€œDid I do the wrong thing?” she asked. “Should I have kept silent about our communications capability?”
    Jordan smiled up at her and patted the cushion next to him. “No, you were perfectly correct,” he said as she sat down beside him. “Never lie or try to hide the truth. Rudaki had it figured out already. If you hadn’t been completely open and honest it would have raised a lot of suspicions among the Council.”
    â€œChairwoman Halleck seemed to pounce on the idea.”
    Jordan sighed. “She sees power in it.”
    â€œHow shortsighted,” said Aditi. “How sad.”
    Jordan