In which John Tracy tries to process the scope of the project, with limited success
An hour later, the four men were seated out on the balcony overlooking the pool. John hadn't said anything since they emerged from the silo, and Scott kept glancing at him worriedly every so often. John was staring out over the ocean with the look of someone who was listening intently to something far away.
"Gordon doesn't know." John broke the silence. It wasn't a question.
"Gordon has been concentrating on his rehabilitation," Jeff said. "That's where I want him focusing at the moment. Also, I wanted to tell you before I brought Gordon and Alan in on it."
"Why?" John asked.
"I've included you boys as I need you. I could have used you a year ago, John, but you made the decision to take that position on Grissom Base and I didn't want to interfere. Scott and Virgil have been assisting me in this for the past three years. But I've been working on this, in one way or another, since before Scott started high school."
"We didn't know the scope of the whole operation," Virgil said. "Well, I didn't. Scott did. I thought I was just working on experimental aircraft. Really big experimental aircraft."
"So that's why you resigned your commission," John said to Scott, who nodded, and then smiled.
"Got a better offer."
John just nodded, and went back to staring out at the ocean.
"So there's no staff," he said abruptly. "It's just…"
"Just us," Scott said cheerfully.
"Are you trained for this?" John asked.
"What we don't already know we're learning."
John nodded again. Virgil thought that John was displaying all the symptoms of someone whose brain had recently melted. He didn't blame him, though. His father had explained the whole process to him a little better than he had to John. On the other hand, Virgil thought, he hadn't automatically assumed the whole operation had a malevolent side. Sometimes Virgil really wondered about his brother.
"Well, John," Jeff said. "What do you think?"
John took a breath. "I think…" he stopped. "I think…" He looked from his brothers to his father. "I think you are all out of your minds." He laughed unhappily. "I don't understand how you think you can do this. You can't do this."
Scott started to interrupt, but Jeff put a hand on his arm. "Go ahead, John."
"I don't know where to start." John said. "Barring the fact that monitoring or capturing communications is illegal in this country – god knows what international laws you'd be breaking – barring that. And barring the fact that the minute you launch a rocket from this island there are going to be a few people who are going to object to you personally owning such technology…"
"Like who?" Virgil asked.
John looked at his brother. "I don't know, Virg – NATO? The EU? Hell, Fiji's probably going to think you're going to take them down. One launch and suddenly Dad's the head of the smallest rogue state on the State Department's list."
His father's mouth twitched. "You can rest assured nobody will think they're being invaded."
John was stung by the idea that his father was laughing at him. "And you're going to have Scott and Virgil flying prototypes…"
"They're not prototypes anymore." Virgil said mildly. "I take your point, John, but we've been testing them for over a year now."
John turned to his brothers. "You don't think you're going to get shot down?"
"We're not invading countries," Virgil said.
"Which I'm sure they'll find out when they pick apart the smoking wreckage of that giant flying tick or whatever! Nobody is going to accept this. I am the world, and I say no."
"Why?" Virgil demanded.
"Because it doesn't exist here!" He turned to his father, who was watching him with an impassive expression on his face. "Father, even if it's for a good cause, how are they going to know that if you don't tell them who you are? You want to be anonymous and independent. But anonymous and independent scares the crap out of people."
Virgil jumped in. "You know, Margaret Meade said 'Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Because it's the only thing that ever has.'"
"I don't doubt that," John said. "I'm just saying they don't always change it for the better."
Virgil looked like he was ready to retort, but Scott put up a hand.
"John, I know this is a lot to process, but think for minute. Think about what it means. Real people, real problems, real solutions. It's concrete. And it is, for lack of a better word, good. You know when you were saying that ISA had all this technology and it was supposed to make the world better? Well, I'm not saying we're going to make the world better, but we can save some lives. There's no wrong in it."
"I just…I just don't get it. If you want to save people or whatever, there are like eight billion charities that provide relief. Medicine Sans Frontiers, the IRCRC, Oxfam…"
Jeff shook his head. "No. Those are relief organizations. They are after the fact. We are during. We are immediate. We are who you call while it's happening."
"How?" John asked. "What are we, nine one two?"
"Any radio signal," Jeff Tracy said. "Any phone call. Any transmission in any language that goes into the ether will be picked up by our satellite, run through filters and then analyzed by our space monitor to determine the authenticity, severity, and feasibility of the call."
"I don't see how that's possible."
"There are more things between my satellite and this island, John, than are dreamt of in your philosophies," Jeff said. "Brains designed the programs."
"Brains…" John muttered. "I haven't even gotten to him yet."
"There is one thing we haven't discussed yet." Jeff continued.
"What's that?"
"Where you come in."
"Where I come in?" John repeated. "I come in? I come in?"
"Of course," his father said. "You're an integral part of my plan. All of you boys have a part to play."
"I don't know how to…" John began, and then stopped. "What part?"
"I want you on the satellite."
"You said it was an unmanned satellite."
"It is. It's waiting for you."
John stared at his father in astonishment. Smiling, his father continued. "The telescope isn't as good as ISA's, but it's pretty good in its own right. Brains has designed a few systems with astronomy in mind; I think you'll be pleased. The bulk of the work, naturally, is keeping track of the communications information that the computer will be analyzing. You'll also be the group's first point of contact. Your computer ability and your facility with languages make you ideally suited for this job."
Since John wasn't saying anything, his father went on. "Naturally, we'll be using you for rescues as well. Everyone will be used for rescues as they are needed, so when you're not in the station, you'll be expected to fill your responsibility as a backup member of the team. You'll be swapping off rotations with Alan, but at first, I'd prefer to gradually ease Alan into satellite rotation, and let you do bulk of the satellite duty. You're used to the conditions, and I'm more comfortable having you troubleshoot the systems than I am Alan. Of course, the first thing we'll need to do is get you trained on the rocket – Rescue Three. After we're done here, I'll take you down to the lab to talk to Brains, and we can start you on a schedule."
"Wait." John put his hand up. "Just…wait a second." It was all too much. "I – I'm…this is the job you brought me down for? You took away my career at ISA for this completely insane proposition?"
"It's not insane," Virgil said calmly. "I know how you feel, but it's not."
"Virgil…" Jeff Tracy threw his son a quieting glance.
"I'm not even sure this entire thing exists and you want me to quit my job and live in the middle of nowhere…or the middle of space…" John put his hand on his forehead.
"John, you haven't been so far away that you can't see what's happening, can you? Governments are abandoning the people they're supposed to provide for. Walls are being built, not torn down. Everyone is hemmed in by politics and ambition. But we can do this; we can go over walls; we can be outside of politics." Jeff Tracy leaned forward, intent on his point. "We can be something the world has never seen before. It won't just be what we do. It will be what we represent, as well."
"Dad, I know what you're trying to do, but you can't just force the world to believe what you believe – or believe in you just because you say so. The world doesn't work that way."
Jeff Tracy sat back, and John saw a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
"Son, we're not going to be dropping in on people out of thin air. We're going to get the information out there that we exist before we start full-scale operations. This has been in planning for a very long time, and while I understand your objections, don't think you're the first one to think of them. I want you to take some time and think it over. There's a role in this for you, if you want it. If you don't, that's within your rights."
He rose. "All of the plans for the rocket and the satellite are in Brains' lab. You can talk to him about them if you have any questions about specifics. I suggest you take a look at them. I think you'll find that idealistic and realistic are not the opposites you think they are."
He rose from the balcony, and went into the house.