maximum thrust.
Blink … blink … blink … The blood-colored beacon glowed ever
brighter. Yet Djana could look directly into it, and she did not find
any disc. Stars frosted the night around. Which way was the Empire?
Flandry had given himself back to the machines. Twice he made a manual
adjustment.
After minutes wherein Djana begged God to restore Merseian courage to
her, the noise and vibration stopped. Head full of it, she didn’t
instantly recognize its departure. Then she bit her tongue to keep from
imploring a word.
When Flandry gave her one, she started shivering.
He spoke calmly, as if these were the lost days when they two had fared
after treasure. “We’re in the slot, near’s I can determine. Let’s relax
and give the universe our job for a bit.”
“Wh-wh-what are we doing?”
“We’re falling free, in a hyperbolic orbit around the pulsar. The
Merseians aren’t. They’re distributing themselves to cover the region.
They can’t venture as close as us. The potential of so monstrous a mass
in so small a volume, you see; differential forces would wreck their
ships. The boat’s less affected, being of smaller dimensions. With the
help of the interior field–the same that gives us artificial gravity
and counteracts acceleration pressure–she ought to stay in one piece.
The Merseians doubtless figure to wait till we kick in our hyperdrive
again, and resume the chivvy.”
“But what’re we getting?” Blink … blink … blink … Had his winter
exile driven him crazy?
“We’ll pass through the fringes of a heavily warped chunk of space. The
mass concentration deforms it. If the core got much denser, light itself
couldn’t break loose. We won’t be under any such extreme condition, but
I don’t expect they can track us around periastron. Our emission will be
too scattered; radar beams will curve off at silly angles. The Merseians
can compute roughly where and when we’ll return to flatter space, but
until we do–” Flandry had unharnessed himself while he talked. Rising,
he stretched prodigiously, muscle by muscle. “A propos Merseians, let’s
go check on old Ydwyr.”
Djana fumbled with her own buckles. “I, I, I don’t track you, Nicky,”
she stammered. “What do we … you gain more than time? Why did you take
us aboard?”
“As to your first question, the answer’s a smidge technical. As to the
second, well, Ydwyr’s the reason we’ve come this far. Without him,
we’d’ve been in a missile barrage.” Flandry walked around behind her
chair. “Here, let me assist.”
“You! You’re not unfastening me!”
“No, I’m not, am I?” he said dreamily. Leaning over, he nuzzled her
where throat met shoulder. The kiss that followed brought a breathless
giddiness which had not quite faded when he led the way aft.
Ydwyr sat patient on a bunk. Prior to sleeping, Flandry had welded a
short length of light cable to the frame, the other end around an ankle,
and untied the rope. It wasn’t a harsh confinement. In fact, the man
would have to keep wits and gun ready when negotiating this passage.
“Have you been listening to our conversation?” he asked. “I left the
intercom on.”
“You are thanked for your courtesy,” Ydwyr replied, “but I could not
follow the Anglic.”
“Oh!” Djana’s hand went to her mouth. “I forgot–”
“And I,” Flandry admitted. “We Terrans tend to assume every educated
being will know our official language–by definition–and of course it
isn’t so. Well, I can tell you.”
“I believe I have deduced it,” Ydwyr said. “You are swinging free,
dangerously but concealingly near the pulsar. From the relativistic
region you will launch your courier torpedoes, strapped together and
hyperdrives operating simultaneously. What with distortion effects, you
hope my folk will mistake the impulses for this boat’s and give chase.
If your decoy lures them as far as a light-year off, you will be outside
their hyperwave detection range and can embark on a roundabout homeward
voyage. The sheer size of space will make it unlikely that they,
backtracking, will pick up your vibrations.”
“Right,” Flandry said admiringly. “You’re a sharp rascal. I look forward
to some amusing chit-chat.”
“If your scheme succeeds,” Ydwyr made a salute of respect. “If not, and