Part 32 (1/2)

”More specialized still,” Sigmund said. ”We need truly creative people. Unique people. Baedeker needs all the physics talent he can get. Will you recruit experts from Human s.p.a.ce?”

”You have people in mind. Who?”

”Beowulf Shaeffer and Carlos Wu.” One an adventurer with an uncanny knack for survival, the other a certified genius.

Nessus twitched. He clearly remembered both men, too. (Sigmund wondered if the Puppeteer had ever heard the term loose cannon. loose cannon.) A head dipped lower and lower, finally dipping into a pocket of his sash. The visible head said, ”No-”

And Sigmund found himself in a public square half a continent away.

54.

”Three ... two... one... now.” Minerva scarcely paused. ”Experiment complete.”

”How long?” Baedeker asked.

Minerva, Baedeker's research a.s.sistant, craned a neck over his console. ”One point oh four two three seconds.”

Across Haven Haven's bridge, two human technicians cheered at finally breaking the one-second barrier. Baedeker scarcely spared them a disapproving glance. The Fleet would not escape the Pak in one-second spurts.

One of the Gw'oth sidled closer. Beneath the exoskeleton, its motors humming, and beneath the transparent pressure suit, peeked a name written in chromatophoric cells: Er'o. ”We do make progress, Baedeker.”

Baedeker straightened a bit of mane braid. He tired of hints about Er' o's contributions. Or about their their contributions, since Baedeker never knew when a Gw'o merely disclosed an insight of the group mind. Maybe if contributions, since Baedeker never knew when a Gw'o merely disclosed an insight of the group mind. Maybe if he he had been aboard had been aboard Don Quixote Don Quixote, and had had the same opportunity to closely observe the Outsider s.h.i.+p operating its drive ...

Baedeker tamped down his annoyance. For the sake of the Concordance, he needed help. Anyone's help. He bobbed heads, conceding Er' o's point.

Er'o needed no more encouragement. ”Perhaps an extended experiment would give us more insight into the instability.”

Minerva bleated disapproval. ”We extend the experiments as quickly as we learn.”

Er'o double-tapped the deck with a tubacle, the mannerism Baedeker had come to interpret as impatience. ”We terminate the drive experiments prematurely. We could learn more.”

That was insanity, and Baedeker yearned to flee. He settled for pawing the deck. ”It does not disturb you that s.p.a.ce-time contorts around the drive?”

”We are trying trying to warp s.p.a.ce-time.” Of necessity, everyone aboard communicated in English, but Er'o overlaid his with Citizen harmonics, rich with undertunes of smug superiority. ”Without inducing a slope, we obtain no motion.” to warp s.p.a.ce-time.” Of necessity, everyone aboard communicated in English, but Er'o overlaid his with Citizen harmonics, rich with undertunes of smug superiority. ”Without inducing a slope, we obtain no motion.”

”A slope.” Baedeker spread his hooves, made himself un unready to run, striving to exhibit as much confidence. ”I wish we were producing a clean slope. Look at the data. As the drive loses stability, the 'slope' begins to fluctuate chaotically, even over quantum distances.” Even chaos somehow failed to describe the rippling, writhing, b.u.mpy s.p.a.ce-time contour that reinvented itself by the femtosecond. ”We stop because we must.”

”Fluctuations superimposed on an emergent slope,” Er'o insisted. ”We see hints that the fluctuations are about to peak. There are patterns upon patterns of flux, and Kl'o expects we may soon observe interference patterns and thus cancellation.”

”If we keep observing,” one of the humans in the background muttered unnecessarily.

In theory, Baedeker was hindmost here. In practice, most of the team was New Terran. Even the Gw'oth present at the insistence of New Terra outnumbered the few Citizens. Baedeker had to keep their support. He had to show Nessus more progress.

And he had to do it, somehow, without getting anyone killed.

”How long would you run the experiment?” Baedeker asked.

”Until the drive stabilizes or self-destructs,” Er'o said.

On trembling legs Baedeker began a slow ambit of the bridge, studying instruments and computer displays. Crew scurried out of his way. He scrutinized the details of the hyperwave-buoy placement. He confirmed the s.h.i.+p's position at twenty million miles from the icy rock now home to the latest prototype drive. He examined the final visualization-necessarily grossly oversimplified-of s.p.a.ce-time flux at the instant safeguards had terminated the most recent trial. He surveyed Haven Haven's own diagnostic panel and a.s.sured himself that every sensor, every triplicated system, every failover mechanism exhibited unimpaired capacity.

Er' o's proposed experiment could could be done. be done.

Baedeker completed his circuit, stopping near Er'o. ”And would you agree to Haven Haven jumping to hypers.p.a.ce if the chaotic effects reach within ten million miles?” jumping to hypers.p.a.ce if the chaotic effects reach within ten million miles?”

Tap-tap. ”Agreed,” Er'o said.

Remotely deactivating the safety protocols on the prototype drive took only five minutes. Baedeker needed another five minutes, ostensibly spent reexamining sensor calibrations, to bring himself to give the order. All around, the humans whispered. ”Start the countdown,” he finally ordered.

Sixty-five seconds later, with half its bridge alarms screaming, Haven Haven flicked into hypers.p.a.ce. From a safer distance, Baedeker watched tier after tier of buoys drop from comm. flicked into hypers.p.a.ce. From a safer distance, Baedeker watched tier after tier of buoys drop from comm.

Nothing remained of the planetoid but a cloud of gas and dust, erupting at near light speed.

The disaster wasn't total. The drive had achieved thrust in the desired direction, although that nudge was nothing compared to the shattering effects-in every every direction-of the explosion. direction-of the explosion.

And Er'o, uncharacteristically, had no unsolicited advice to offer.

THE WORKSHOPS ABOARD Haven Haven hummed with activity. Someone was always refining circuitry for the next prototype drive or configuring additional sensors for the next test. Every new circuit and sensor required still more custom equipment for predeployment checkout. Custom items might be fabricated in one s.h.i.+pboard facility, tested in a second, integrated with other parts in a third, deployed in yet a fourth. Human, Citizen, and Gw'o alike: It made no difference. Anyone might be handling unfamiliar gear at any time, anywhere in the s.h.i.+p. hummed with activity. Someone was always refining circuitry for the next prototype drive or configuring additional sensors for the next test. Every new circuit and sensor required still more custom equipment for predeployment checkout. Custom items might be fabricated in one s.h.i.+pboard facility, tested in a second, integrated with other parts in a third, deployed in yet a fourth. Human, Citizen, and Gw'o alike: It made no difference. Anyone might be handling unfamiliar gear at any time, anywhere in the s.h.i.+p.

Hence few noticed, and no one gave a second thought to, the Gw'oth installing sensors about Haven Haven.

Sigmund would have noticed, Ol't'ro suspected, but Sigmund was not here. The paranoid human was far away, across a hyperwave link, reviewing project status. Neither Sigmund nor Baedeker knew the Gw'otesht could listen in.

”A second or two,” Sigmund repeated. ”And still only scale models. No one is going anywhere with drives like that.”

”No one,” Baedeker agreed. ”If we can maintain this rate of progress, though, then maybe. In time.”

”You don't sound optimistic,” Sigmund said.

The technical challenges were familiar. The grudging credit for Gw'oth contributions was not new. Taking in everything, Ol't'ro attended more to nuance and tones of voice than to content. Baedeker had something on his mind.

Baedeker finally came out with it. ”Sigmund, I a.s.sume Thssthfok can never be set free.”

”He's seen too much of our technology. And he's so tanj smart, I'm afraid to think how much more he's deduced.” Sigmund paused. ”I don't feel good about it. Possibly, if the Pak veer, after they have pa.s.sed us by. But realistically, no.”

”Then you'll understand my my concern,” Baedeker said. ”Ol't'ro cannot go home, either.” concern,” Baedeker said. ”Ol't'ro cannot go home, either.”

”It's not the same,” Sigmund snapped. ”The Gw'oth are our friends. Our allies. You wouldn't have made half the progress you have without them.”