“Second, we might be able to get through to somebody else, like in a ship or on an asteroid or a Mars base or something. I say `might,’ because most such have very limited receiver facilities- we’d have to get fairly close-and only ships are certain to be listening constantly for input. Well, we might, regardless. But if that somebody heard us, would he believe? And if he did, would others believe him? Never forget, we’re not up against a maverick like me, we’re bucking some of the biggest and most respected political figures alive. .
– who got to be that way, most of them, because they’re masters of propaganda and public relations.
“All in all, I figure the direct attack has a very poor chance of succeeding. Odds are that we’d be killed before we could accomplish anything.
“What else have we considered? Well, when we’re near the T machine, we’re bound to be in communication with its watchship. Actually, under present circumstances, more than one watchship will likely be near. We presume the officers and crews for the most part are not villains, are simply following orders which may well be puzzling them a bit. If we tell them our story-show them Fidelio -do you see?
“The trouble here is that the cabal must also have thought of this and battened down hatches. Else they wouldn’t have told us to go there, huh? They may not know we have Fidelio aboard, but they do know we’ve seen and photographed Emissary. That’s dangerous enough for them. My guess is, one ship will have a couple of key officers who are in on the conspiracy. The moment we start to tell tales, she’ll throw a barrage at us. Explanations afterward are cheap. We are visibly armed, and I’m sure there is indeed a warrant out for us on Demeter. It wouldn’t be hard to claim that in the best judgment of those officers, we were about to open fire ourselves.
“The third possibility is, we go through the gate to Phoebus and see what’s at yon end. Maybe they’re less well prepared, less equipped, and we can break free or do something else worthwhile. I’ve actually considered-since we’ve got you here, your knowledge-I’ve considered trying to run the pattern that’ll bring us to Centrum from Phoebus, and asking for help at Beta. But it’s a pretty wild notion, because the guardians aren’t likely to grant us much leeway.
“In fact, what worries me about making the transit we’re supposed to, is
. . . well, Demeter being thinly populated and relatively isolated, news isn’t hard to control. It’d be simple to scrag us. For instance, as soon as we’re well away from the T machine and the regular watch crew, the ship escorting us could fire a missile. Afterward the world would hear about the tragic accident which Side 85
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destroyed Chinook. I’d hate to believe this of Aurie Hancock, but it is possible. Otherwise we’ll be interned indefinitely.
The Phoebean System has plenty of sites for a secret prison camp. I daresay we’d be joined by the rest of your crew.
“And that’s the extent of our thinking to date. My own instinct says we should tentatively plan on returning to Phoebus and doing whatever seems best when we get there, though keeping our eyes and our options open until then. I may well be wrong. I’d sure be glad of any suggestions.
“Whew!” Brodersen finished. “What a lecture! I could use another beer.
Anybody else?” He rose to go to the fridge.
“Hold,” Joelle said.
“What?” He checked his stride.
Seldom-when a problem was unusually arousing, or when things got really good in bed-had he seen a light such as kindled her countenance. “Dan,” she told him, her voice ashiver, “we can go straight from Sol to Centrum.”
“What?” he yelped.
“Yes.” She sat forward. “The Betans, they’ve been exploring the gates for a thousand years. They’ve gone beyond trial and error. They don’t have a complete theory; nothing compared to what the Others know-”
“The Others,” Rueda murmured.
“-but they have achieved some comprehension,” belle went on. “Take three places, three stars if you want, A, B, C, with known gates-T machine guidepaths-from A to B and from B to C. Then the Betans can compute a direct route between A and C.”