“Confirming.” Displays repeated the instructions. They gathered detail as computation sped by. “I warn you, this is dangerous. I’m streamlined for getting around on the likes of Mars or Titan, not Earth. Maybe the laws of astronautics changed while I was asleep, but, hombre, the laws of physics can’t have.”
If only she didn’t sound so human, so alive.
Aleka stroked the console. “You’ll swing it, kestrel,” she said. “You did a lot more for Kyra.”
“Gracias,” replied the voice, as warm as hers. Briskly: “Liftoff in sixty seconds.”
Kenmuir and Aleka spent them looking into one another’s eyes.
Thunder boomed through their bones. Weight crammed them back. Darkness swooped in.
It retreated. Kenmuir drew a gasp. Acceleration had dropped to twice normal. His gaze roved the view-screens. Aft, beneath, fire crowned the trees around the blackened clearing. Well, the ecological service would soon quench it. Forward, heaven was purpling toward night.
The hull pierced most of Earth’s atmosphere while he sat half-conscious. The last vibrations ebbed away, the sky went black, stars came forth. The only noises he heard were his breath and thudding blood. No sound rose from the engine. A plasma drive was too efficient, out here where it belonged.
Aleka stared ahead, hugged herself, and whispered, “We’re on the loose. We really are.”
“For the moment,” Kenmuir mumbled.
She nodded. “Traffic Control around the world must be like a hornets’ nest kicked over. Why aren’t they calling us?”
“This ship isn’t integrated with the system,” hereminded her. Too many facts to learn in too short a time. Some would not come at once when summoned. Which was he forgetting? “They’ll have to find the appropriate band, and then I suppose they’ll assign a sentience to their end.”
In the after screens Earth’s horizon was a huge sapphire arc. It contracted ever faster. Soon the planet would lie whole within the frames. Slowing at an equal rate after turnover, Kestrel would reach Luna inside three hours. Their bodies in good condition and nanochemically reinforced, her riders could well endure doubled weight that long and arrive fit for action.
If they did.
“Direct a laser communication to Luna,” Kenmuir said, and specified the coordinates.
“Zamok Vysoki,” responded the ship. “I remember … Ready.”
“lan Kenmuir to the lady Lilisaire,” he intoned. A part of him wanted to say, “Well done” to Kestrel which kept the beam aimed and Doppler-compen-sated throughout her furiously mounting velocity. “I am bound for deep space on your service. TrafCon objects. Get the data on their movements before they clamp down secrecy. If you can, obstruct pursuit and intervention, but please don’t endanger anyone. Out.”
He didn’t know whether the message was received. Perhaps the facilities at the castle were jammed or otherwise disabled by the opposition. Certainly surveillance heard everything; and he had no encrypting capabilities. Mention of Proserpina would likely have provoked immediate, radical counteraction. Besides, it was a bargaining counter to hold in reserve—an ace in the hole, Aleka had said, thinking of some obscure game. The purpose of Kenmuir’s call was mainly to further his deception. Make the hunters concentrate their strength and build up their velocities on a trail that he would suddenly leave. Then he might for a brief spell be free to enter Dagny’s tomb. A light blinked red. “Communication from Earth,” the ship told them. “It claims absolute priority.”
“Make contact,” Kenmuir ordered.
No image appeared. The videos weren’t compatible. He knew the voice, however. Once Matthias realized what kind of agent was visiting him, he had surreptitiously had a man of his record whatever was feasible. He played the recording for these two as part of their briefing.
“Spaceship Kestrel, null registry,, respond at once.”
“Hello, Venator,” the spaceman said, and heard his companion catch her breath. Himself, he was not very surprised.
“Kenmuir?” The tone was equally cool. “I rather thought so. And greeting, Alice Tarn. It’s doubtless you who boarded with him.”
Kenmuir signed her not to speak. Why give anything away? “I daresay you’d like an explanation.”
“More than that, my friend. Considerably more. Do you two have any conception of what you have brought on yourselves?”
“A public inquiry will determine whether we are justified.”