“You are impatient for answers,” went on Judith Niles. “As I would be. Very well, we will not disappoint you. Wolfgang, will you begin the explanations and tour? Please summon me at the appropriate time.”
She touched a setting at her belt, and vanished. A moment later Charlene Bloom was gone also. Wolfgang Gibbs stood looking quizzically at Sy, Elissa and Peron. “Well. That’s real nice.” He sniffed. “Yeah. JN says you can go free, then she and Charlene go back to work — so I have to handle you on my own when you go homicidal. All right, then, I’ll trust you. If you feel up to a little walk, we’ll take the old guided tour.”
Wolfgang Gibbs turned casually and ambled toward the door of the room. After a single look at each other, the other three followed.
“We could use the service robots to move us around,” Gibbs said over his shoulder. “I’d normally do that. But if we did, you’d get no feel for the Gulf City layout. Better to do it on your two feet, then you’ll know where everything is for future reference. We’ll begin with the outside.”
“Where are you taking us?” said Elissa, falling into step at his side, while Peron and Sy trailed along behind.
He looked at her appreciatively. To Peron’s annoyance he seemed to be making a close inspection of her face and figure. “Lookout Point. It’s the place where the galactic observations are done — the whole galaxy and beyond. We do a lot of listening and looking in Gulf City. That’s why we’re here, light-years from anywhere you’d ever choose to be. You’ll notice a lot fewer service robots here than usual, and fewer mechanical gadgets. We put up with the mess. When you’ve come all this way to find a quiet place to listen, you don’t want to clutter up the observational signals with your own electronic garbage.”
He led the way along a radial corridor that ran for more than a kilometer outward. The size of Gulf City began to make an impression on the other three. By the time they reached Lookout Point they were moving in total silence, making mental notes of everything they saw. The whole of Gulf City was girded with antennae, telescopes, interferometers, and signal devices. Dozens of exterior ports showed the same blank white of S-space, but screens on the interior walls performed frequency conversions for display. They could observe open interstellar space as it looked at every wavelength range, from hard X-ray to million-kilometer radio waves.
Wolfgang Gibbs paused for a long time in front of one screen. “See that?” he said at last. He tapped the display, where a faint, crablike shape showed dark against a lighter background. “That dark, spirally blob? That’s one of the main reasons we’re here at Gulf City. We’ve been watching them for fifteen thousand Earth years. I’ve been studying them myself for half that time — I came here four S-years ago, with Charlene Bloom.”
“What are they?” asked Sy. His taciturn manner was gone, and there was a febrile excitement in his voice. “That screen shows signals at ultra-long radio frequencies — I didn’t know anything radiated there, except the Gossameres and Pipistrelles that we saw on the way to Earth.”
Wolfgang lost his detached and casual manner. He looked hard at Sy. “Quite right, sport. We started with the same idea. But now we think half the Universe communicates on those long frequencies. Like our friend there. We call that a Kermel Object, but that’s only a name. It’s still a major mystery. We think it’s a sort of big brother to the Gossameres. They all send signals to each other, multi-kilometer wavelengths.”
The displays showed a full three-hundred-and-sixty degree field of view. Sy moved quickly from one to another, checking for the dark, spidery shapes. “The screens show Kermel Objects in all directions,” he said. “How far away are they?”
“Good question,” said Wolfgang. “A long way — a damned long way. We estimate the nearest one at two thousand light-years, and even that nearest one is out of the plane of our galaxy. They’re not galactic objects, generally speaking — they’re intergalactic objects. Unless you get to a quiet place like this, you can’t hope to detect them at all. Come on. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to find out more about the Kermels, but for now I want you to get the ten-cent tour. I’ll tell you one more thing, though: You’re looking at possible intelligence there — and it’s an intelligence that seems to be older than this galaxy.” He continued around the outside of Gulf City, making a circuit that was more than five kilometers long. Sy did not speak again. Elissa asked questions about everything, and Gibbs did his best to answer. Once inside Gulf City, any secrecy toward outside inquirers appeared to vanish.
They saw billions of cubic feet of power generation equipment, and massive drives sufficient to allow Gulf City to cruise where it chose in interstellar space. Near the center of the structure there were food production facilities enough to feed tens of thousands. Most of them stood idle. According to Wolfgang Gibbs, the current population of Gulf City approached seven hundred, though the capacity was more than ten times that.
Finally, after showing them corridor after corridor of living accommodation, Gibbs stopped and shrugged his shoulders. “It will take you a month to see everything, but you should have enough now for a first impression. Take a break, and make yourselves comfortable here. All these suites are fully equipped. The information system will tell you most things about the city that I haven’t covered. I’ll make sure the service robots will accept your voice commands — but don’t expect instant response, we’re always short of service. We have an appointment in JN’s office in three hours. I’ll see you there.”
“Where is that?” asked Elissa.
“Ask the info-system if you want to go there on foot. If you’re feeling lazy, just give the command. If you want me, use the call system.” Wolfgang Gibbs winked at Elissa, manipulated a control on his belt, and vanished. * * *
“So. What do you think?” asked Peron.
Elissa looked up at the ceiling. They were alone at last. Sy had left them a few minutes after Wolfgang Gibbs, saying he needed time to think. Peron and Elissa had wandered for a while along the endless corridors, poking their heads into kitchens, entertainment areas, and exercise rooms. All were deserted. Finally they found a set of living quarters that appealed to them, and decided they might as well move in. Now they were lying side by side on a huge, cloud-soft floor area.
“What do I think?” she said at last. “I think we’re being monitored.” “When in doubt, assume we are. But does it make any difference?”
“I guess not. But I think we’re going to see sparks fly here at the next meeting. Did you notice the way that Sy and the Director General looked at each other?”
“Judith Niles? It was hard to miss it. She’s probably used to a lot of respect. You know old Sy, he’d be rude to the devil.”
“I told him to go easy.” Elissa laughed. “He said she was arrogant.” “Coming from Sy, that’s a bit much. What does he think he is?”
“I told him that. He says that maybe he has ‘the natural suspicion of youth for age’ but that she has the ‘intolerable arrogance of unquestioned authority.’ According to Sy, she’s surrounded by yes-men and yes-women, and she thinks she knows all the answers.”
“When in fact, he does?” Peron was irritated. He was still slightly jealous of Sy — particularly when Elissa sounded admiring.
“No. He says he has a hundred unanswered questions, but he didn’t want to go into them with Gibbs. He’s waiting for a shot at Judith Niles.”
“So am I. But there’s really only one question to be asked. Why does Gulf City exist?”
“You heard what Wolfgang said: to study the Kermel Objects.”
“Sure — but that’s nonsense.” Peron rolled over to face Elissa. “Look, I can imagine a group of pure scientists arguing that it was worth the enormous effort of setting up a research station out here in the Gulf, to decide the nature of the Kermel Objects. But you’ve met Judith Niles. Can you see her swallowing that argument? She’d throw them out of her office in two minutes. I think Sy will ask her the main question — and rather him than me. But if he doesn’t, you and I must do it.”