11 -zero. 11

  And the viewscreens that englobed Laurice showed a sky gone strange. Inexperienced, she lost a second or two before she saw the differences. Stars in space were so many, unwinking diamond-bright; constellations became hard tb trace. Moreover, the distances she had hitherto traveled, to suns near hers, changed them but little. Now she had skipped over-how many light-years had Copperhue said? Fifty-four thousand, seven hundred and some. To the other side of the galaxy's heart.

  Acceleration had terminated shortly before transit through hyperspace. The ship fell free, at whatever velocity her kinetic and potential energies determined. It couldn't be high, for an instrument revealed that she had not generated an exterior force field to screen off interstellar atoms. Nor did there seem to be any other radiation hazard. Weightless, Laurice revolved her chair three-dimensionally and studied her new heavens.

  Odd, she thought, how familiar the Milky Way looks. Some differences, this bend, that bay, yonder silhouette of the Sagittarian dust clouds; but I expected it to be quite altered. And Copperhue didn't mention red stars.

  How many? A score at least, strewn all around us- "Damn! I clean forgot. " Sweat prickled her skin. "Any trace of Naxians?"

  "None," replied the ship.

  Her muscles eased. "Well," she said redundantly, "our navigation data aren't what you'd call precise. We'll have to cast around a sizable region till we find what we're after, close enough to identify it."

  Vargen's command over the intercom was otherwise. "Captain to science team. Start your studies."

  "What?" responded Yoran. "We can't be anywhere near our goal. Cornmence your search pattern. "

  "I'll give the orders, if you please. We're not going to hypedump about at

  random till we have some idea of what this part of space is like. I want at

  least a preliminary report within an hour. Get busy."

  Captain Caution, Laurice thought. But it does make sense, I guess. She touched her own intercoin switchplate. "Fire control," she said. "I'm obviously no use here. May I be relieved? I could give a hand elsewhere." "Perhaps." Vargen sounded skeptical, as well he might. "Stay aft of the command sector."

  Why, what will you be doing that nobody else should interrupt? "Aye, aye." Laurice unsecured, shoved with a foot, and arrowed toward the exit. A dim circle of light marked it, for it was part of the simulacrurn system. When it retracted for her, she passed through the galactic band into a prosaic companionway.

  Motion in zero gravity was fun, but now she sped on to business-to find Copperhue and put certain questions to it-him. The Naxian occupied one of the crew cubicles. It was unlocked. Entering, she found it empty, save for the few curious objects that were personal possessions.

  Hmm. Would the wight crawl around idly under these

  conditions? No, it-he was a cosmonaut and knew better. Just the same,

  Laurice searched everywhere she was permitted to go. It took a while to establish that the Naxian must be forward with Vargen.

  Why? Well, it-he did go reticent after that private talk of theirs. What are they hatching? Let's try the physics lab. I barely glanced in earlier. There Laurice found confusion, Yoran's three assistants struggling with apparatus that wandered perversely from them. The chief was shouting at the intercom: "-weight! These people can't work in free-fall!"

  "Then they'd better learn," Vargen's voice snapped.

  "God curse it, do you want a quick report or don't you? Nobody else is here to detect us, unless you've brought along some phantoms of your own."

  After a moment during which the whirr of the ventilators seemed loud: "Very well. One gee in five minutes."

  Yoran switched off. "Treats us like offal. What's he think he is, a patron?" He noticed Laurice. "Oh. Milady."

  "I'll help you get your stuff together before the boost," she said. "Not to let it crash down helter-skelter." Skillfully, she moved about, plucking things from the air. "I didn't know you three lack this training," she told them angrily. "I took for granted you had it. What possessed you to choose them, Yoran?"

  The man's tone went sullen., "I made sure they aren't subject to spacesickness. That would have been adequate, if our dear captain showed some common sense. Why should we conduct these studies? Elementary, routine procedures. The ship can perfectly well do them. Bring up one or two robot bodies from the hold, if necessary. "

  "This tests how well you'll perform when we need procedures that are not routine," Laurice replied. "Well, I'll give you three some basic drill as soon as may be, and hope for the best. But Yoran, I'm very disappointed in you. "

  She wondered how much rage he must suppress in order to mumble, "I'm sorry, milady. " The wondering was brief. A thought came to the fore instead.

  Test~

  Countdown gave warning, power coursed silent through

  the engine, the deck was once more downward and feet pressed against it. Having nothing better to do, Laurice sat in a comer and watched the physicists work. She confessed to herself that Yoran got things organized fast and thereafter efficiency prevailed. Spectroscopes, radio receivers, mass detectors she recognized; others she did not, but they spoke to those who understood.

  Excitement waxed. "Yes, got to be masered- Three hundred twenty kilohertz-This'n's nearly twice thatAnd another-" Minute by minute, suspicion gathered in her.

  Vargen: "You've had your hour. What can you tell nieT I

  Yoran muttered an oath and raised his shock head from the instrument over which be had stood crouched. "We don't need interruptions!" he called.

  "I didn't say you must stop work. I only want to know what you've found out so far. You can keep on as long as needful. "

  Yoran straightened. "That may be some while. " His tone gentled, with a tinge of awe. "This is certainly a very peculiar region. Radio emissions frorn--a num ber of sources, we haven't established how many but they're in every direction. Mostly coherent waves. Fre quencies and intensities vary by several orders of magni tude. We've only checked two Doppler shifts as yet, but they show motions of kilometers per second, which I suspect are orbital. Many graviton sources are also pres ent. I can't state positively that they are invisible acceler ated masses. . . . Oh, we'll be busy here. Is this a natural phenomenon, or could there be artifacts of the Forerunners still operating after how many millions of years-T'

  "What do you propose to do?"

  "Keep studying, of course. Examine everything. We haven't even begun to search for matter particles, for instance. Neutrino spectra, perhaps? Captain, I don't want to make any hypotheses before we know a muckload more. "

  "Very well. Carry on." Vargen laughed. "Don't forget to fix yourselves a bite to eat now and then. " He switched Off.

  He wouldn't crack a joke here, would he? Unless-It shivered through Laurice. She rose. "Yoran," she said, "would you analyze one or two of those red stars?"

  The physicist blinked. "Hub? Why, they're just dim red dwarfs, late M types, milady. You'd need amplification to see any that are more than three or four light-years off."

  "Please. I have a notion about them."

  I 'But-' I

  Laurice put command in her voice. "I have a notion. You can do it quickly, can't you?"

  "Well, yes. Automated spectroscopy." With visible resentment, Yoran squinted into a finder and operated controls on a box.

  "Hasn't it struck you odd that we've got this many around us?" Laurice asked. "Not that I've seen any except the closest, as you said, but they imply plenty more. "

  "Red dwarfs are much the commonest kind of star, milady," Thura ventured. "They often occur together."

  "I know," Laurice answered. "These, though, aren't enough to be a proper cluster, are they?" Of the usual sort, that is.

  She saw how Yoran stiffened where he stood. Did he see what she was driving at? He stuck to his task regardless, until he could look up and announce: "This specimen is extremely metal poor. As much so as any I've ever seen described. Ancient-- His features congealed. "Shall we survey the rest?"

  "I don't think that will be necessary." 4aurice touched the intercom. "Captain Vargen, I can tell you what we . . . have found. "

  An astonished-sounding hiss bespoke Copperhue's presence at the other end. "Then do," Vargen said slowly.

  Victory responded. "This is the remains of a globular cluster. Old, old, formed almost at the beginning, firstgeneration stars, when hardly any atoms heavier than lithium existed. Probably drifted in here from the galactic halo. All the big suns in it went supernova ages ago. The lesser ones evolved into red giants, sank down to white dwarfs, radiated away that energy too. Only the smallest and feeblest are still on the main sequence. Everything else

  is clinkers, cold and black, or at most emitting so little it's well-nigh lost in the cosmic background. Maybe a few neutron stars give off pulsar beams yet, but weak, and none happen to be pointed at us. More likely, I'd guess, they're also dead. Cinders, embers, ashes; let's get out of here. '

  1

  Air whispered.

  "The radio waves?" Vargen asked. She heard the strain.

  "Beacons," she said. "What else? You'd need them to firid your way around in this gloom. The debris may not be closely packed by planetside standards, but the risk of collision would be appreciable, especially when you hypedump, if you didn't know where objects are. A higher risk would be coming out of a jump too deep in a gravity well, and blowing your engine. "Somebody finds it worthwhile to mine the cluster. The ancient supemovae must have plated certain smaller bodies with a rich layer of rare isotopes. I daresay it's a Samian enterprise. This sort of thing fits what I've read about them. "

  Laurice glanced around. The three assistants had retreated toward the bulkheads. They looked alarmed. Yoran stood his ground, legs wide apart, shoulders forward, hands flexing at his sides. Lips had drawn away from teeth. Word by word, he spat, "You knew about this. You did not take us to our goal."

  "I will, when your team is ready to cope," Vargen replied coldly. "Congratulations, Milady Windfell. I didn't expect my little puzzle would be solved this fast. Maybe I should arrange another practice session.

  Though it won't be as informative when you've been forewarned, will it?" "You swine-sucker," Yoran said. "You smug, whitebellied snot-fink. If you think you and your snake bedmate are fit to command men-"

  I 'Enough. Silence, or I'll order up the robots and put you in confinement. Go back to your duties."

  Her exultation had vanished from Laurice. It was as if the frozen darkness outboard reached in to touch her. "Captain," she said, "you and I had better hold a conference. "

  He hesitated. "Immediately," she said,.

  The response came flat. "Very well. The ship has things under control. " Aside from the people, she thought.

  She turned the intercom off. "That's right, milady," Yoran snarled. "Give him his bucketful right back in his mouth. You've got the rank to do it. " "Have a care," she said into the smoldering eyes. "Without discipline, we're done for."

  Striding the corridors, she worked off some tension and arranged some words. At the back of awareness, she was glad of the acceleration. Weightlessness made faces go puffy and unattractive.

  Given Darya's omnipresence, the captain need seldom occupy his own viewglobe. Laurice found him in his cabin. The ship must have announced her arrival to him, for the door retracted as she approached it, and he stood waiting. "Come in, please," he invited. She heard the tension in his voice, saw it in his visage and stance.

  Copperhue uncoiled on the deck. "Best I betake myself," it-he said.

  "No, I want to speak with you too," Laurice answered.

  The head shook, solemnly imitating a human negation. "Not at present, honored one. Later, if you still wish. I shall be in my quarters." Holding the 'trans in three extruded flipper-arms, the supple form slithered past her. The door closed behind it.

  Laurice stared after. "Why?" she asked. "If it-he meets Yoran along the way, there'll likely be an unpleasant scene. "

  "Naxians read emotions," Vargen reminded her. "Copperhue must deem we'll do better alone." His tone sharpened. "As for Yoran, I'm bloody sick of his insolence. Maybe you can warn him. If he pushes me further, I just might

  give him twenty-four hours of sensory deprivation, and hope to teach him

  some manners."

  Yes, she thought, his type is bound to grate on you. I should have

  foreseen. Well, it's up to me to -set matters right--or, at any rate, make

  them endurable.

  Returning to him, her glance traversed the cabin. It was

  larger than the sleeping cubicles, but mainly because it contained a desk, a four-screen terminal with associated keyboards, and access to a tiny bathroom. Otherwise it was monkishly austere, the bunk made up drumhead tight. His garb was a plain white coverall and slipshoes.

  "Be seated, milady." He gestured at the single chair. When she took it, he half settled on the desk. His smile was forced. "Seated because I suppose we'd better allow our groundlubbers another half hour or so of weight to get their stuff properly stowed."

  Nor did she sit at ease. She compelled herself to meet his gaze and say, "I know Yoran can be difficult, but he is able. On balance, I judged him the best person readily available for his tasks. I did not anticipate- Vargen,

  I must insist you show the understanding, the-the kind of leadership I thought you would."

  His reply was low, almost subdued, but stubborn. "What have I done wrong?" "This trick you played on us, with Copperhue's connivance. I mean to reprimand it-him as well. Frankly, I feel insulted. But it's the scientists whom you've wronged most. "

  "Milady, did you really think we'd be wise to plunge straight to an unknown destination without a single trial run? Now it's proven that we need a training period, if not a complete shakedown cruise."

  "You know perfectly well, doctrine is that the moment we spot something we're not sure we can handle, we hypexJump away."

  "We may not be able to, on half a second's notice."

  "Yes, and strolling through Riverview Park at home, we may be struck by lightning. One can't provide against every conceivable contingency, not even by huddling forever in a hole." Laurice drew breath. "This is getting beside the point. " It is getting closer to the basic truth than I want,

  God help me. "We will have no more such incidents. Is that clear?"

  Vargen frowned. "Milady, I am the captain. My duty is to follow my best judgment."

  Davith might have uttered those words, with the same

  gravity. Yes, and as Vargen said diem, he looked much like the Head. For an instant, Laurice's eyes stung, her heart stumbled. She pulled her body straight and replied, recognizing that she spoke too loud and fast, "You're in command of the spacecKaft while she's underway. She and her robots obey you. The rest of us must not obstruct, nor refuse a legitimate order. However, it is the House of Windfell that sponsors this expedition and its policies that you are to execute. I speak for it. I have authority to direct us to any lawful destination, including directly back home; and upon our

  return,. you are answerable to the House for all actions. "

  He folded his arms and leaned back a little. "Let's not fight," he said quietly. "Just what is your complaint?"

  - "I told you. Your distrust of us is bad enough. Don't you know how

  important morale is, 61an, on every exploratory mission? The way you showed your attitude was downright humiliating. I can swallow it for the sake of peace; but then, it didn't touch me in my honor. Yoran is a proud man. He has a right to be infuriated."

  "Proud? 'Overbearing' would be a better word; and he doesn't have the genuine worth that might excuse it. He's too small. He can't stand having his superiority called into question. Most of his tantrum was because you, the amateur, reached the truth before he did."

  You see cruelly well, Laurice thought, but your vision is narrow. "You don't understand. And you've got to. Yoran's had to fight for everything, all his life. His parents weren't only poor, they were lowly, despised-patronless. As a boy he needed unlumted brashness, first to keep hope alive, then to bring himself to the attention of those high and mightinesses, who could help him. In spite of his adoption, his scholarships, his accomplishments, he continued suffering scorn and discrimination. Professionally, too, he was always thwarted. He was born too late to become the great scientist he could have been centuries ago. Unless this voyage of ours- That's one reason I picked him, Harul. Don't ruin his dream!"

  "Must everybody indulge him forever?" Vargen retorted--"Is he the single being alive that's had troubles and frustrations? A real man puts such things behind him, acknowledges his mistakes, and goes on."

  "Like you?" escaped from her.

  "What do you mean?" he cried.

  He jerked to his feet and swayed above her. She must needs rise too. He had gone appallingly white. -D-don't be so self-righteous," she stammered. "You've made y-your mistakes. Everybody has. -"Mine?" It sounded as if he were being garroted.

  I've got to retrieve this, oh, God, I didn't realize how woundable he still is. "Your, well, your record shows you gave up an excellent position once. You must have ... had reasons. -

  His head sank. He turned from her. A hand dropped to the desktop and lay helpless. "You know them, then." The words fell empty.

  I could bite out my tongue, she thought. Or should I? May it not be better to bring this forth, between the two of us, and I try to gauge how trustworthy he is? If I can. If I can. Dad, be with me, lend me your wisdom and strength.

  "About Novaya, yes," she said.

  He stared at whatever rose before him. "And still you kept me on?"

  "We didn't find out till almost departure time, and Copperhue thinks the hour is late for us. Which is one reason this ... delay ... upset me. But 1, 1 was willing to have you anyway, Harul. We'd gotten to know each other, at least a little. I'd like to hear your side of the story. 11 "Nobody else ever did.... Ha-a-ah!" he cawed. "Now I'm sounding like Yoran. Self-pity. No. There was no excuse. I ran away because I was weak. Couldn't stand it. How many might I have saved?"