“I understand,” Conway said quietly.
The Fleet Commander nodded. “Thank you, Doctor. From now on this is purely a
transport problem and my responsibility.”
Sooner yours than mine, Conway thought grimly as Dermod broke contact.
He was thinking about the Fleet Commander’s problem while they were wishing
Colonel Okaussie and the Descartes’s tractor beam crew good-by and good luck,
and it remained in his mind after the medical team boarded Rhabwar and the
ambulance ship was heading out to Jump distance from the combined CRLT and
Federation vessels.
Conway understood Dermod’s problem all too well and the strong but unspoken
reason why the Fleet Commander wanted the ambulance ship positioned in the
target system. They both knew that the majority of single-ship accidents
occurred because of a premature emergence into normal space when one of the
unfortunate vessel’s matched set of hyperdrive generators was out of
synchronization. A single generator pod emerging into normal space while the
rest of the vessel was in the hy-perdimension could tear the ship apart and
leave wreckage strewn across millions of kilometers. Timing, therefore, was
:ritical even on a single ship where only two or perhaps four generators had to
be matched. The Fleet Commander’s problem was that Vespasian, Claudius, and
Descartes together with the jnormous coilship of the CRLTs were linked together
by tractor and pressor beams into a single rigid structure.
The Emperor-class cruisers were the largest ships operated by the Monitor Corps,
and each required six generators to move its tremendous mass into and out of
hyperspace, while the survey and cultural contact vessel Descartes needed only
four. I”his meant that sixteen generators in all would be required to perform a
simultaneous Jump and subsequent emergence into normal space. And the problem
was further complicated by the Fact that all of the generators would be
operating under controlled overload conditions because their coombined
hyperspace envelope had to be extended to enclose the : coilship.
As Rhabwar made its Jump into hyperspace Conway was overcome by such an intense,
gnawing anxietty that even Prilicla could not reassure him out of it. He had the
awful feeling that they were about to witness the worst spactdisasaster in
Federation history.
The new home chosen for the CRLIs had been known to the Federation for nearly
two centurie and was listed as a possible colony world for the Chalders.however,
the denizens of Chalderescol Three—a water-breathing life-form resembling an
outsize, tentacled crocodile which combined physical inaction with mental
agility—were not very enthusiastic about it since they already possessed two
colony worlds and their home planet was far from overcrowded So when they
learned of the plight of the CRLT colonists they willlingly relinquished their
claim to a planet which was of marginal interest to them anyway.
It was a warm, pleasant world with a continent, largely desert, encircling its
equator like a wide, ragged belt and two relatively small bands of ocean
separating the equatorial land-mass from the two large continents centred 3 at
each pole; these were green, temperate, and free of icecaps. .
Following exhaustive investigations of tthe cadavers available to them at
Sector General both Murchison and Thornnastor were firmly of the opinion that
this would be an ideal home for the CRLT life-form—moreover it was an
environment which would not force them into periodic hibernation..
The landing area, a large clearing on the shore of a vast, inland sea, had
already been marked with beacons. It awaited only the arrival of the CRLTs—as,
vith mounting anxiety, did the personnel on board Rhabwar. On t the Casualty
Deck Conway and the other members of the medical team each picked a direct
visionport, hoping in some obscure fashion that by watching and worrying hard
they might ensre the safe arrival of the coilship.
It was no surprise, considering the distances involved, that they learned of its
emergence from the Control Room repeaters.
“Trace, sir!” Haslam’s voice sounded excitedly. “The bearing is — ”
“Are you sure it’s them?”
“A single trace that size couldn’t be anything else, sir. And yes, the sensors
confirm.”
“Very well,” the Captain’s voice replied, trying unsuccessfully to hide its
relief. “Lock the scope on your radar bearing and give me full magnification.