Chapter 32
Elena navigated the nearly empty road as the snow continued to swirl. Getting her car out of the garage had been an interesting feat as the snow melted around the door, reformed as ice and did it's best to glue the garage door shut.
"Maybe next time we could meet at a coffee shop downtown," she mumbled to herself as she slowed for the gate. The guard quick-stepped over and she rolled down her window.
"Elena Calabrese," she told him. The wind threatened to pull her words away. He caught them and went back to the guardhouse. She rolled her window up as the gate opened. "Here we go again."
At the building, Smith opened the door for her and led her back to the conference room. She shook her head. This scenario had gone from nerve shattering to nearly routine. 'As long as I watch my words anyway,' she thought as she unwrapped her scarf and unbuttoned her jacket. Inside the conference room she was unsurprised to find Jonathan already seated. He rose when she entered and pulled out a chair for her.
"Thank you," she told him as she sat. She placed the original set of schematics and her 'to write on' copy on the table and shrugged out of her coat. Elena looked around. "I expected more people."
"Really," Jonathan asked, giving her his toothy smile. "Why?"
"Well for Ian's lecture you packed an auditorium. Of course that could have been for creative camouflage. But then again you weren't being sneaky." She turned a smile towards Smith, who frowned.
"If anyone else is needed they will be brought in at the time."
"Of course." Elena watched as Smith seated himself. Both he and Jonathan brought notebooks with them and she wondered if they expected her to give them pop quizzes. She glanced over towards the glass and had the sneaking suspicion that these sessions were being recorded.
"Well, shall we begin?" Smith asked.
"Of course," Elena responded. "What would you like to start with?" For a moment Smith looked non-plussed. Elena's smile went from politely pleasant to amused. "I didn't exactly have a lesson plan."
"I see," Smith thought for a moment. "Why don't we start with Channel placement?" Elena was pleased to see that he had dropped the term world gates for the more prosaic channels. Elena unrolled the documents given to her and unrolled the map marking the locations of the four channels the military knew about. Her goal in this conversation would be to keep them from learning the fact that in reality there were twenty seven channels.
Elena tried to hold the document flat on the table, but it threatened to roll back up at any moment. She placed the other documents on two of the corners and hoped for the best. Taking a mechanical pencil from her pocketbook she pointed to each of the dots in turn. Showing true imagination, the military had named them one through four.
"Now each of the channels have names," she began. "This is the Marta, this the Evangeline, the Amalie and that is of course the Blood."
"How did they get their names?" Jonathan asked, as he wrote the names down in his notebook.
"Each is named for the first pilot known to have taken a ship through."
"There is someone out there named Blood?" He asked. "Not sure I'd like to meet him in a dark alley."
"Her," Elena corrected. "And the Blood is the only one not named for a pilot."
"How was the Blood channel named then?"
"Well, The Blood as you have already found out, has been blocked off. It leads to an area of space that is shall we say, hostile territory. Everyone who went through ended up dead." Privately she added the 'or worse'. None of the stories relating to the Blood channel were pretty. "So it was blocked off and re-named Blood."
"What was it before then?"
"I think it might have been the Mila, but I'm not really sure." The name was something she vaguely recalled from an old book.
"You said her before. All of the channels are named for female pilots?" Smith asked.
"All of the pilots are female," she said. Both men stared at her.
"All of them?"
"Yes."
"Why do you only train females to be pilots?" Jonathan asked. He sounded almost offended and she smiled.
"The gene for piloting can be carried by both males and females, but the ability only manifests itself in females," she explained.
"Are you sure that isn't just superstition?" Smith demanded.
"Quite sure. The boys are tested as well as the girls and so far none of the males have been able to see the channels or even sense them."
"But there is training?"
"Yes, it is quite lengthy."
"And this training is needed to be a pilot?" Jonathan asked.
"Yes."
"But you can have all the training and still not be a pilot if you aren't female?"
"Yes," Elena said. They sat quietly for a moment and Elena fought not to shake her head at them. It was if they couldn't wrap their heads around the concept that there could be a skill that was uniquely female, yet had nothing to do with giving birth.
"What do you mean see the channels?" Jonathan asked.
"I mean I can see the channels. It is as if there is a passageway or channel between two land formations. I guide the ship through them."
"You said they change depth. Do you use sonar to detect depth?"
"No," she said shaking her head. "I simply see the channel and sense how deep it is." They seemed almost as uncomfortable with the low-tech approach as they were with the female aspects.
"Okay, so tell us what will happen when you take us out in a channel, step-by-step." Jonathan said. Smith nodded. Elena got the impression that they would dissect her narrative to see where she might be leaving out her technology.
"The Wind Dancer has been chosen for this trip out. It is a seven berth Schooner style ship." Jonathan's pencil rapidly scrawled notes but Smith peered at her.
"Seven?" She had been expecting that question.
"Yes," she said nodding. "The Channels are not that deep. By keeping the crew small, more room is available for merchandise. These are merchant ships after all." Smith nodded slowly. Elena had the feeling he was translating merchandise weight into the weight of troops.
"Continue," he said, imperiously.
"As I said it is a seven berth ship. My grandfather is the captain. I am the pilot. It has been agreed that we will take up to two military personnel on this trip. This leaves space for three crewmen." Elena paused while Jonathan caught up. He finished and looked up at her. "Each person aboard is allowed up to 50 lbs of gear. No more. And trust me Grandfather is a stickler. He will weigh it at the dock." Smith pursed his lips and Elena got the feeling that only 50 lbs of gear came as a bit of a nasty surprise. She mentally shrugged. It really couldn't be helped.
"But you aren't picking up merchandise," Smith said. Elena laughed.
"It is a merchant vessel. There is no reason it can't pick up goods while taking you on a sight seeing tour. There isn't any profit in it otherwise." Personally she thought her grandfather would have an epileptic fit should anyone suggest he make a trip without securing a cargo. "Besides as we pointed out before, there is only a limited amount of time that the channels are open per year. No captain is going to make a trip and come back empty handed."
"Okay so we have our gear and we are aboard." Jonathan said as Smith continued to steam about the weight requirement. "Then what?"
"We sail to the Marta channel, enter the channel and sail to the Docking Facility. Peter has arranged for a tour of the facility. Beyond that I am not sure what the details include. I will ask for a clearer itinerary closer to the travel date so you can plan accordingly."
"Docking Facility?" Smith demanded. "You mean to tell me you people have a space station?"
"I suppose you could call it that." Elena said carefully. She wasn't so sure she liked the throbbing vein in Smith's forehead.
"How is it that this Docking Facility in no way appears on our satellites? How has it remained undetected for so long? Wou
ld you care to explain that?"
"Well it isn't exactly in orbit around the Earth," Elena pointed out.
"What is it in orbit around?"
"Well, the closest planet would be Luras. But it isn't actually in orbit." Elena thought a minute and realized getting into the alien technology the guild had adapted to create the Docking Facility was probably not the best idea. Besides, science was one of her weak points. "At least I don't think it is. I've never really messed with the tech stuff." Smith huffed for a few more minutes. He really didn't like the concept of a space station. Elena figured it was probably a military thing.
"So we leave through the Marta channel," Jonathan said while Smith digested the space station information. Elena got the feeling this was going to be a pattern. "Then we go to the Docking Facility."
"Yes."
"How long a trip is it?"
"Well it should take about three days to reach the Marta and once in the channels another four days."
"I see," Jonathan said tapping the map.
"Actually, that isn't where the Marta is," she told him. "At least not at the time of year we are going to be traveling." Elena sketched out a circle on the map. It was about an inch in diameter. "The Marta should be somewhere in that region at that time." The channel had shifted over four inches from where Ian had marked it. Elena glanced at her watch and realized the time earmarked for this meeting was almost up. She nearly sighed in relief as Smith's anger level seemed to have cranked up higher with each minute.
"Do you have somewhere else you need to be Ms. Calabrese?" Smith asked dryly.
"Not especially," she told him. "But the roads weren't that great coming in and are bound to be worse leaving. And we are nearly finished with our set time."
"But we haven't really covered anything," Jonathan said.
"Perhaps next time you could have a list of your questions ready rather than just going randomly into the information," she suggested, smiling sweetly at the man.
"Yes," Smith said. "Perhaps that would be better." He had a thoughtful look on his face. In some ways it was more alarming than his anger. It meant he was thinking. "Yes, a list we could go through?" His voice trailed off. Elena had a feeling she had better call Peter and figure out what exactly she could tell them about the Docking Facility before she got herself into trouble.
Somehow she thought the concept of alien technology would be something the military would be most interested in obtaining. She was even willing to bet it would be claimed under National Security. Elena shrugged and began putting her winter gear back on. It was Jonathan who walked her back out to the car. About an inch of snow had accumulated on her car while she had been inside. Luckily, it was light and powdery.
"Thanks for coming out on such a night," Jonathan said. Elena snorted before she could stop herself.
"Somehow I didn't think a rain check would be appreciated." She tugged open her car door and slid inside.
"You know we aren't the enemy," he said before she could close the door.
"I know you aren't," she said.
"Perhaps once you get to know us you won't think so badly of us."
"Maybe," she said keeping her voice even.
"Maybe you'd care to get a drink some night after work?" Elena wasn't certain if he was asking her out on behalf of the military or on his own.
"Perhaps," she said. "It is our busy season though."
"Of course."
"Good night," she told him with a smile. She closed the door after hearing him echo the sentiment. He walked back inside as she turned on the heater and let the windshield wipers clear away the snow. It wasn't until she was halfway home that she realized she left the schematics and other papers on the conference table.