WHAT IS THE TROUBLE? ThN DEMANDS KNOWLEDGE.
Together Dip and Mur sighed and leaned into him.
MUST GO SOON.
WHY MUST THN GO SOON?
MRG AND DPL MUST GO SOON SO THN MUST GO SOON, TOO.
The coin dropped and Thian hugged his friends.
IT IS NECESSARY FOR MRG AND DPL TO HIBERNATE, IS THAT NOT IT?
When their pliant bodies gave assent, he hugged them firmly again.
MRG AND DPL MUST GO WHEN THIS IS NECESSARY.
BUT THN WILL BE ALONE AMONG STRANGERS AND THIS HAS NOT BEEN GOOD.
ON THE CONTRARY, DPL, THIS HAS BEEN VERY GOOD FOR THN. MRG AND DPL MUST GO TO RETURN REFRESHED. TIME WILL GO FAST FOR YOU AND FAST ENOUGH FOR THN. THN HAD NO PROBLEMS WHEN THIS WAS NECESSARY ON AURIGAE. NO DIFFERENCE NOW ON SHIP.
IF MATTERS WERE PROPERLY ADJUSTED KLTL COULD HAVE BEEN USED BUT IT IS OVER AND THE KLTS WILL BE TOO LATE.
HOW SOON MUST MRG AND DPL LEAVE?
WITHIN MONTH.
SOONER IF REQUIRED? Thian could sense a reluctance in them to leave him, which was gratifying, but he was also well aware of how much they would suffer by prolonging the essential hibernation. MRG AND DPL return TO AURIGAE WITHIN WEEK!
HOMEWORLD WILL DO AS WELL. There was something about Dip’s manner that made Thian laugh.
`You are irrepressible!’ he said, crowing at Dip’s cunning. The pair could have been accommodated at the Aurigaean installation but there was a certain cachet to going through the process on the homeworld which the two had not yet enjoyed.
Even the Mrdini understood the subtleties of status.
AND MRG AND DPL WOULD FORFEIT THE COMPANY OF FRIENDS AND RELATIVES AT THIS TIME TO BE ALONE ON ThEIR HOMEWORLD?
THN WOULD BE ALONE HERE. IT IS ONLY FAIR THAT MRG AND DPL BE DEPRIVED IN SOME WAY AT ThE SAME TIME.
Thian rocked with laughter, falling backwards on his bunk and cracking his head on the wall. As if they had caused his bump, the `Dinis were all over him with tender digits and soothing caresses.
ThN WILL MISS HIS FRIENDS. THN ALWAYS DOES, he told them when they quieted and he could hold them against him.
The next day when he appeared for his morning classes, there was an excited buzz in the air and many smiles for him. Except, of course, from Malice. Thian could feel dark brooding discontent from that source, as if Malice resented him doing this service to his shipmates.
Or perhaps had small hope of being one of those on a shore leave roster.
what amused him was the fact that there had been no official announcement of shore leave by means of Talent-assisted personnel capsule. In fact Captain Ashiant’s bulletin was anticlimactic: everyone on all four human ships knew about it.
Three days later Thian sent the first three drones back: two to Earth as requested by the personnel and one to Betelgeuse.
You’ve made more work for yourself, the Rowan told her grandson as she `caught’ the first of the three. But he sensed that she approved.
There’s been a significant improvement in morale, he said diffidently.
That is very important on a search mission such as this. Your grandfather says you ought to have warned Fleet so Earth could be warned.
That’s not my responsibility, he began and then realized that he was being teased. Think of the money they’ll be spending!
Ten days after the first shore leaves were `ported, the long-range sensors discovered an object moving at a very slow speed in the general direction of the squadron: a very large object to have been picked up at such a distance. Too far as yet to be identified, its presence livened all discussions on the Vadim and the other ships of the squadron.
Thian `ported all captains aboard the flagship and attended the meeting as recording interpreter. He was proud of his `students’: even after only four months intensive study they were able to discuss much in `Dini, a fact which certainly pleased the `Dini captains. Nothing could be done until identification was made, of course, but several courses of action were discussed.
The `Dini reluctantly allowed the possibility that the object might be a wandering planet, blown out of its native solar system by a nova – several had been noted in this quadrant. Such phenomena had been noted by both human and `Dini in the course of space explorations: the planets or asteroid fragments sterile and lifeless but occasionally worth prospecting. Thian knew by their language that the `Dini captains were convinced beyond doubt that this was more likely another Hive ship. It was travelling from the general spatial direction of the ion trail they had been following, hoping it would lead them, at last, to the Hive Home System. The ion trail had been getting weaker as its traces dissipated during the months of the search but was still discernible on the highly sensitive equipment the `Dinis had developed.