“That, and to keep us from doing it first, presumably.”
“Right. So, does it make sense, them dropping A-M bombs on Europa? If I was them, I’d be afraid the ETs would get mad, that they’d maybe think I was slinging bombs at them. I mean…how do these guys at the bottom of the ocean know that antimatter warheads striking the surface ice, or even just mass driver projectiles, aren’t an attack on them? If I was in that Chinese ship right now, I’d be very, very worried about what was going through the Singer’s mind right now.”
“Good question. The Chinese may have it figured that whoever is down there isn’t paying attention to what’s going on above their ice ceiling. Dr. Vasaliev was in here an hour ago telling me that there’s been no indication that the Singer is even aware of us. He says they’re sure it’s an automated probe of some kind. A beacon, maybe.”
“That’s not the way I’ve been hearing it, sir.”
“Oh? You’ve been discussing things with the Base Administrator, have you?”
“No, sir. But some of the men have been talking with some of the people here. That Dr. Ishiwara, the guy who led us in from the landing field? He’s head of the xenoarcheology team here, and according to him, they’ve picked up indications that the Singer is reacting to us. But, well, the evidence is kind of slim, I guess. It depends on some pretty heavy-duty computer analyses to reveal it, and, well, a kind of sensitivity, I guess, to certain tonal patterns. Not everyone here agrees with him.”
“So, not only are we in the middle of a war between China and the CWS, we’re in the middle of a scientific war as well. I’m not sure which one scares me worse!”
“Roger that.”
“Well, maybe the Chinese have heard the same thing that Dr. Ishiwara heard, and that’s why they’re trying to cut us out of the picture. They must have decided it’s worth the gamble, though, of making the Singer mad. They probably figure that the Singer is different enough that it won’t understand any dispute between humans. If they can brush us out of the way fast enough, they could slip in here and start a dialogue with our guests down there in the deep, and they would never even know the difference.”
“I think you’re right, sir. I guess it’s up to us not to brush easy, huh?”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the Corps so far, Ski, it’s that Marines don’t get brushed. Not easily, at any rate.” He nodded at the map on the bulkhead. “We need to see what we can do to let our Chinese friends know that.”
“I think we can promise you a trick or two, sir.” He frowned. “It’s the space superiority that has me bugged the most. They can see us, we can’t see them…and they can drop nasty things on us whenever they like. Not good.”
“Not good at all, Sergeant Major. I want you to get together with your senior NCOs. Put together a working tactical group, and see if you can come up with some ideas. I’ll talk to the company’s officers. Lieutenants Walthers and Quinlan might have some thoughts about knocking out a ship in orbit.”
“Maybe,” Kaminski said with a grin. “Though in my experience, Navy officers tend to talk about how invincible ships are, not about how you can kill them!”
“We’ve just had a rather dramatic proof that they are not. I should think our two bug pilots would be eager to even the score a bit.”
“Roger that, sir. And it would be about fucking time.”
At the Europan Surface
1615 hours Zulu
“Hey, Lucky!” Tonelli called. “Get a load of this! Looks like a giant hot tub!”
“Yeah,” Corporal Gerald Kane said. “Howzabout we all have ourselves a dip and a steam in the sauna?”
There were four of them climbing the walkway up the side of the ice cliff—Lucky Leckie, Tonelli, Kane, and DePaul—space-suited Marines standing on a steel-decked platform twenty meters above the surface of the Pit. The stern of the E-DARES complex descended the side of the cliff at their backs into a patch of seething black water, edged by skim ice. Most of the Pit’s surface looked solidly frozen, except for the few meters around the vertical descent of the E-DARE’s connector tubes and elevator shaft.
“Screw that,” Lucky replied. “Didn’t you guys sim the H-and-T specs?”
“What, the hints and tips guide?” Tonelli said. “Fuck, I think I managed to sleep through most of it.”
“That water might look like it’s boilin’ hot, but its temperature is just below freezing. The salt and sulfur and stuff mixed with it lets it get a couple degrees below zero without freezing solid.”