Skyprobe Read Online Free PDF Page A

by the way. She’s also British by birth.” He passed the Danvers-Marshall address then abruptly rang off.
    * * *
    Skyprobe IV was over West Australia as, early next morning, Shaw let himself into his garage. The astronauts were looking down from the intense purple-blackness of the heavens at the vast expanse of the Southland, at the far-distant, twisting eddies and currents and tides of the sea off the Leeuwin and right along the coast to King Sound and beyond—indeed almost all Australia could be seen in a glance. Schuster and Morris felt almost like gods., all-powerful, all-seeing, as they cruised on through space. By the time Shaw was backing the NSU Wankel Spider two-seater convertible out of the garage the astronauts were already over the Brisbane River and Danvers-Marshall was snoring gently in a light sleep. As the capsule headed out across the Pacific and began to come within the calling area of the tracking station on Hawaii, Shaw was punishing the Wankel—she was a new acquisition, a gem of a car with a single rotor Wankel rotary piston engine, rear-mounted and with rear drive, capable of acceleration from zero to sixty in 14.5 seconds, and with a diaphragm clutch and four-speed, all-synchromesh gearbox. Shaw reached the straggling village of Long Melford soon after 0900 hours, finding the Danvers-Marshall home dose to The Bull inn. It was early for a call but there wasn’t time to worry too much about the conventions. A still-attractive woman of around fifty, with grey eyes and a mass of greying auburn hair—a woman with a shy, withdrawn manner that he found appealing—opened the door to him.
    He asked, “Mrs. Danvers-Marshall?”
    “Yes?” She looked back at him enquiringly.
    “May I come in?” Shaw produced his pass. As she examined it he noticed the sudden whiteness in her face, the lines of worry around eyes and mouth that seemed to have deepened already. She asked, “Is this to do with my husband?”
    “Why do you ask that, Mrs. Danvers-Marshall?”
    She flushed this time as she met his eyes. “Why, he seems the only likely link with you people, Commander Shaw.”
    He nodded. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. It does in fact concern your husband, and you may be able to help us.” He repeated, “May I come in?”
    “Oh yes—of course.” She moved back jerkily from the door. “I’m so sorry, I—” She broke off and Shaw followed her into a cool hall, dark with old oak, and from there into a long drawing-room furnished with expensive antiques. She told him to sit, but remained standing herself, with her back to a big fireplace. He thought: she’s badly on edge . .. the Ministry pass has done that . . . it’s natural enough. Maybe. She was going to have a worse shock in a few minutes; irritably Shaw wished Latymer would run out on bright ideas. He was unconvinced that this was a good one.
    Katherine Danvers-Marshall said, “Well, Commander?” The ‘a’ sound was short, flat; she had been too long in America for her British accent to survive entirely.
    Shaw looked into her eyes. “First, I have to ask you to treat all I say as secret information.” He hesitated. “Can we be overheard?”
    She shook her head. “There’s no-one in the house— except my mother-in-law, that is, and she’s in bed. The daily’s not here yet.”
    “Right. Now, what I have to say mustn’t be discussed with anyone at all—not even with your mother-in-law.” Again he hesitated. “I’m bound to add this: the Official Secrets Act could be invoked in the event of any breach of security.”
    “I understand all that,” she said with an underlying edginess in her voice. “I’ve lived with security a good many years now! Will you please get on with what you want to say, Commander?”
    He said, “Yes, of course. I'll start by telling you we’re asking for your help so as to prevent any possibility of anything going wrong with Skyprobe IV while your husband’s in the capsule.” He caught the sudden