“I do not understand.”
“There’s someone you hoped would see the clouds, the explosions, and come to your assistance. Is that not correct?”
“Yes. It is correct.”
“Who? Others like you?”
“Yes. Like me.”
“Why have they not come?”
“They know they would be trapped here if they did. As I am.”
“Then why bother? If they will not come?”
“It is all I have.”
At that moment Jon would happily have killed the thing. “Have you any idea how many have died, how many civilizations have been destroyed by your goddam signal?”
“I did not know there were life forms like you.”
“Yeah. One more thing: If you attempt to strike us in any way, know that we are not without recourse.”
“I understand.”
“We will know in advance that a strike is coming, and we will immediately destroy both ships.”
“Yes. I understand that also.”
“I hope so.”
“And if I fulfill my part of the agreement you will not destroy the Preston?”
“No. You have my word.”
“OKAY, JIM,” MATT told the AI, “get us over there as quickly as you can.”
“No,” said Jon. “Don’t show it the Locarno. Just use the main engines.”
“Why?”
“Best to keep a surprise available. Charge the Locarno on the way. And keep it ready.”
“Okay, Jon. Now, how about telling me where that other ship came from? And why this thing wants the Preston at all? Especially after it crippled the thing. Even if it was operational, something as big as that son of a bitch is couldn’t fit inside.”
“It manufactured the other ship. To lure Hutch closer. And no, of course the creature couldn’t fit inside.”
“Then what’s going on?”
“We can assume it wants to get out of here. That means it needs thrust. What makes the Preston go?”
“But—”
“I suspect what it wants is to get a look at the Preston’s engines and thrusters.”
“So it can reproduce them?”
“On a much larger scale. Or maybe just make a zillion of them. I don’t know—”
“You think it can do that? Manufacture thrusters?”
“It makes omega clouds and their triggers, doesn’t it? We’ve seen it make a transmitter. We know it has nanotech capabilities. I’d say sure. It can manufacture the engines, the fuel, probably whatever it needs. It just doesn’t know how.”
“And we’re going to leave it a design? So it can get clear?”
“One problem at a time, Matt.”
“I don’t think we should let this happen.”
“I know you don’t. At the moment, all I really care about is picking up Hutch and Antonio and getting out of here.”
It was a betrayal. “If the idiot woman had listened to me, none of this would be happening.”
“You can complain to her when we have them back on board.”
“Jon, you know, after we get them back, it might be possible to destroy the Preston anyhow.”
“Matt, I promised the thing it could have the ship.”
“I know. But we have a defense system. We have particle beams.”
“Matt, the Preston is armored. The particle beams might do some damage, but I suspect it would be minimal. The thing would probably still be able to figure out how the engines work.”
“Probably.”
“You’d have to pretty much melt the engines to hide the design.”
“If we fired a few shots right up the tubes, we’d bypass the shielding. There’d be a decent chance of blowing the ship apart. We could pick them up, then at least make the effort.”
Jon looked unhappy. “Wouldn’t you have to maneuver into position to do that?”
“Yeah.”
“And if you succeeded, we’d have to make a run for it. Against lightning bolts.”
“We already know the thing’s a scattershot.”
“I don’t think it would have to have a very good aim to take us out.”
“I don’t know. If that’s the case, why didn’t it disable the Preston when it got so close right at the beginning? Why did it have to arrange that elaborate ploy with the alternate ship to get her even closer?”
“I’d say because it wasn’t a matter of taking down the Preston; it was a question of securing the ship afterward.”
“So what do you think?”
“I think we do what we said we were going to do. Let it have the Preston and count ourselves lucky if we get clear with Antonio and Hutch.”
THEY WERE TOO far away to get a good look, but as Matt accelerated toward the Preston, they could see that tendrils still clung to it. The forward motion of the ship had not yet stopped, but it was barely moving.
“It’s not letting go,” said Matt.
Jon nodded. “It won’t.”
Matt got back on the circuit. “Hutch,” he said. “We know you can’t transmit. But we’re on the way. Be there in a couple of hours. Hang on. We’re going to—”
Jon held up his hands. Stop. He scribbled a note. Careful what you say. Enemy listening.
“See you then,” he finished.
Jon took over, explained how they intended to make the transfer, and signed off. When he’d finished, Matt wondered what the enemy remark was about.
“If we sound anxious to get them off, Frank might conclude the story’s a fabrication.”
“So what if it does? I mean, really, as long as it gets to keep the ship, why would it care?”
“If I were Frank,” said Jon, “I’d prefer two ships to one. In case something went wrong. In case the engine in one was damaged to the extent I couldn’t figure out how it worked. Maybe just because I’m a mean son of a bitch who wants to kill everybody in sight. Look, what would your mood be like if you’d been stuck out here a million years?”
“Okay.”
“We need it to be convinced we’re suicidal.”
Jim broke in: “Forward motion by the Preston has stopped.”
“Okay,” Matt said. “Maybe it’s best we stay off the link.”
“Until we get there, anyhow.”
“It is beginning to retract. The ship is being drawn back toward the cloud wall.”
They reached cruise velocity, and Matt released the harnesses. “Time to get to work,” he said.
They climbed into e-suits and went below to cargo. There, they collected two lasers and began cutting into the ship’s outer bulkhead.
WHEN THEY GOT within a hundred kilometers, they picked up a transmission from the Preston. “Glad you guys are coming. We’ll be waiting.”
“Very good, Hutch,” said Matt. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Jon leaned forward. “Hutch, in the various communication media, as in all things, caution is the watchword.”
“Understood, Jon. Nobody ever got in trouble for something she didn’t say.”
The Preston was being dragged relentlessly toward the cloud wall.
“Jim,” said Matt, “you get any indication of increasing activity inside the cloud, let me know right away.”
“Yes, Matt.”
Jon got on the link. “Being in the cloud, we do not have a name for you. How do we address you?”
He got only static back.
“Okay. It doesn’t matter. We’re approaching the Preston. In a few minutes we will be taking our people off. When we have accomplished that, I’ll signal you, and at that point you may do as you will with the ship.”
“Yes,” it said. Still using Matt’s voice. “Agreed.”
“Okay.”
Matt brought them in carefully. He tried to angle the ship so he could get clear quickly if attacked. But he knew, they both knew, that if things went wrong, there’d be no evading the lightning. Not at this range.