Foundation's Mistress

44. Renate Steenkamp and the Truth

'The road to success with Project Alkuon will be paved with many sacrifices.'

- Hugo Bareilles, Chief Executive Officer, Annual Report of Halcyon Enterprises, AD 2174

The Acquisitive soared many kilometres above the wasteland at a blistering speed. Now well accustomed to the vessel's specifications, Renate had become a thoroughly competent pilot. Thanks to Halcyon's stone cell technology, neatly comprised in Xadon, the craft did not miss a beat.

It was a good thing. The first leg of the mission, in which Renate was required to assemble all of the infrastructural components, had imposed a drain on the power reserves of the craft whilst it stood stationary and largely in the dark, providing substantial energy to jumpstart and maintain the various power-hungry components.

At the close of the construction phase, she switched those components over to another Xadon-based power supply. But even at the point where they were operating independently of The Acquisitive, Renate had felt some preliminary concern that the small vessel might need to return to The Spear for a recharge, an outcome she was afraid to contemplate. She could just see Hugo confining her up there, preventing her from getting on with her critical reconnaissance.

She decided to chance it. If the engine died, she reasoned, The Spear would send someone down to collect her.

Her first circumnavigation of the planet had taken the better part of 24 hours. The craft could have flown twice as fast, perhaps, but Renate was concerned that a top speed would drain the power or perhaps render the sensors inaccurate.

Thankfully, although the construction-phase drain on The Acquisitive had reached sinkhole proportions, the power levels had returned to near one hundred percent during the course of that initial flight. The vessel seemed to suck in energy from all kinds of sources - the friction of the craft through the atmosphere, the rays of Caros - Alkuon's sun, and, amazingly, her own carbon dioxide. Further, Xadon itself seemed to have a boundless capacity to unilaterally charge itself, continually emitting and channelling differing forms of energy. Hugo's boastful claim about the power regeneration capacity had turned out to be quite correct. The recharge rate was beyond impressive. Just as Hugo had stressed in the final trial, an external power supply would scarcely be needed for this vessel. It appeared she had an unlimited supply of fuel.

It turned out she had needed it.

For Renate was now in the course of completing her fifth parallel circumnavigation of the planet.

None of The Acquisitive's sensors had detected a thing. If they were malfunctioning, the whole thing was in very poor taste. Her mind was near despair.

There is nothing here!

If there was a civilisation on Alkuon, she was yet to find it.

She could not stop looking. To give up would be to return back empty-handed. Effective and constructive contact with the indigenous people of the planet was, in her mind at least, the key reason she had been selected for this mission.

During the initial takeoff, she had activated the viewpanels around the full circumference of the ship, rendering the walls of the vessel around her transparent and near invisible. Only the console remained in front of her - it was the sole component of the ship that she retained as a foreground view. She felt exposed, but she liked it. This way, she was less likely to miss an important detail.

But as time passed, the openness of the landscape below continued to taunt her - the sight of a settlement, a nomad, some animal life - anything. Anything at all would have been wonderful.