it looked more like a runway, stretching off into the distance, lined with blockhouses. On the horizon she saw gantries, some of them orange with rust, so remote they were misted with distance. To the northit had to be that way, judging from the wind blowing off the seashe saw something glimmering, a kind of line scratched onto the sky, tilted a little away from the vertical. Hard to see, elusive, perhaps it was some kind of contrail.
There couldnt be any doubt where she was. Cape Canaveral, right?
Myra grinned. Where else? Remember you brought me here on a tourist trip when I was six?
I expect its changed a bit since then. This is turning into quite a ride, Myra.
Then welcome back to Canaveral. A young man approached them; a smart suitcase trundled after him. Ident-tattooed, he was sweating inside a padded orange jumpsuit plastered with NASA logos.
What are you, a tourist guide?
Hi, Alexei, Myra said. Dont mind my mother. After nineteen years she got out of bed on the wrong side.
He stuck out his hand. Alexei Carel. Good to meet you, Ms. Dutt. I suppose I am your guide for the daysort of.
Twenty-five or twenty-six, he was a good-looking boy, Bisesa thought, with an open face under a scalp that was shaven close, though black hair sprouted thickly, like a five oclock shadow. He looked oddly uncomfortable, though, as if he wasnt used to being outdoors. Bisesa felt like an ambassador from the past, and wanted to make a good impression on this sunstorm boomer. She gripped his warm hand. Call me Bisesa.
We dont have much time. He snapped his fingers and the suitcase opened. It contained two more orange suits, neatly folded, and more gear: blankets, water bottles, packets of dried food, what might have been an assembly-kit chemical toilet, a water purifying kit, oxygen masks.
Bisesa looked at this junk with apprehension. Its like the gear we used to take on field hikes in Afghanistan. Were taking a ride, are we?
That we are. Alexei hauled the jumpsuits out of the suitcase. Put these on, please. This corner of the facility is low on surveillance, but the sooner were in camouflage the better.
Right here?
Come on, Mum. Myra was already unzipping her blouse.
The jumpsuit was easy to put on; it seemed to wriggle into place, and Bisesa wondered if it had some limited smartness of its own. Alexei handed her boots, and she found gloves and a kind of balaclava helmet in a pocket.
In the Florida sun, once she was zipped up she was hot. But evidently she was headed somewhere much colder.
Myra bundled their clothes into a smaller pack she took from the car, which also contained their spare underwear and toiletries. She threw the pack into the suitcase, which folded closed. Then she patted the car. Empty, it closed itself up and rolled away.
Alexei grinned. All set?
As well ever be, Myra said.
Alexei snapped his fingers again. The tarmac under Bisesas feet shuddered.
And a great slab of it dropped precipitately, taking the three of them and the suitcase down into darkness. A metal lid closed over them with a clang.
Shit, Bisesa said. Sorry, Alexei said. Meant for cargo, not people. Fluorescents lit up, revealing a concrete corridor.
PART 2 JOURNEYS 10: LAUNCH COMPLEX 39
Alexei led them to an open-topped vehicle a little like a golf cart.
They clambered aboard. Bisesa felt bulky and clumsy, moving in her jumpsuit. Even the suitcase was more graceful than she was.
The cart moved off smoothly down the tunnel. It was long and crudely cut, and it stretched off into a darkness dimly lit by widely spaced fluorescent tubes. There was a musty smell, but at least it was a little cooler down here.
This is kind of a cargo conduit, Alexei said. Not meant for passengers. But its away from prying eyes, Bisesa said.
You got it. Its a couple of klicks but well be there in no time.
His accent was basically American, Bisesa thought, but with an odd tang of French, long vowels and rolled rs. Where are we going?
Youve slept through the rebuilding, havent you? Were heading for LC-39.
Faint memories stirred in Bisesas head. Launch Complex 39. Where they launched the Apollos from.
And later the space shuttles, yeah.
Now its used for something else entirely, Myra said. Youll see.
Of course it had to be LC-39 they used, Alexei said. As indeed it had to be Canaveral. I mean, its not an unsuitable site, especially now they have the hurricanes licked. There are better locations, closer to the