Where has Billy Jeeling gone?
No one knows, but there are disturbing indications.
—Confidential security report, Skyship
In the second-floor parlor of the Imperial Palace, Renaldo Yhatt stood at a window, gazing into the night sky. It was the same window where he’d been a week ago, when the strange silver beam threatened him. Two palace guards stood just inside the doorway, and the entire AmEarth military force was on high alert. The recent events were most unsettling, and everyone worried about another attack from what was being called “the Silver Death.”
He peered into a telescope, located Skyship in the distance, a ball of bright illumination over AmEarth.
Behind him, he heard a guard announce the entrance of his wife Lorissa, along with Maureen Stuart and her husband Paddy.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minster Yhatt had sent a message to Billy Jeeling, telling him the AmEarth government now recognized his right to remain in control of Skyship. Yhatt also told him they should work together instead of being at each other’s throats, for the good of the people. He apologized for the behavior of General Moore, Jonathan Racker, and Paul Paulo, and for his own part in their aggression, and he expressed regrets on behalf of Maureen Stuart, as well.
She had recommended the act of contrition, and Yhatt had agreed to carry through with it, eating a very large portion of humble pie. He saw her peripherally now, standing beside him.
Withdrawing from the scope, the Prime Minister said to her, “I sent the message to Billy Jeeling today. There is no answer yet.”
“Let’s hope he’s not vindictive,” she said, “though I would not blame him if he were.”
“Nor would I.”
Looking deeply concerned, Maureen said, “All we can do is hope. We’ve gotten rid of our crazy general, so no one from AmEarth is going to attack Skyship. Any information on their strange weapon?”
“Not a thing. It’s very mysterious, and very troubling.”
~~~
On Skyship, Devv Jeeling didn’t know how to respond to Prime Minster Yhatt’s message. In any event, there would be a delay getting back to him, because Billy was still missing.
One of the security teams was searching a chamber on top of Skyship, where an escape capsule had ejected, and then detonated in space. Everyone was hoping Billy was not inside the capsule, but it seemed possible that he’d been there, even likely. His DNA had been found in the complex tunnel system leading to the chamber.
There had been an audiovisual system in the chamber that went on when the searchers reached that area—it had a screen showing the face of an elderly man with his mouth moving, saying something, but there was no volume, and the image flickered off after a few seconds. According to a mindcom report that Devv had just received, a robot technician was trying to reactivate the system.
Devv was inside Billy’s private apartment now, watching while his security officers performed a slow, careful search. They removed articles from the drawers of a small desk and piled them on top... two laptop computers, file folders, books. As the searchers took books off a bookcase, Devv noticed something hidden behind them... two dark blue, leather-bound volumes. He hurried forward, retrieved the thick volumes.
Thumbing through the pages, he saw that they were Billy’s personal journals, written in his own hand. Devv’s pulse quickened. They were as neat and organized, and quite different from Tobek’s. The emphasis of Tobek’s writings had been Skyship, while in Billy’s case, it was the remarkable robots he had designed and built—especially the Lazarus series.
He summoned Lainey, and they stood together for several minutes, talking about Billy, and crying. By the time they wiped their eyes they were certain he was gone forever, and missed him terribly. Then they sat side by side at a table, opened the first of the journals, and turned to page one....