"We have no choice," said Dezhnev. "We lack the energy to try to make our way against the stream we're in."
Konev said, sounding a bit weary but reasonable, "Let Arkady do as he wishes, Natalya. We will not lose Albert."
"How can you know that, Yuri?"
"Because I can hear him. - Or, rather, sense him. - Or, rather, sense Shapirov's thoughts by way of his instrument, bare and uninsulated in the cell."
There was a momentary silence. Boranova, clearly astonished, said, "Are you getting something?"
"Of course. In that direction," said Konev, pointing.
"You can tell the direction?" said Boranova. "How?"
"I'm not sure how. I just feel. It's in that direction!"
Boranova said, "Arkady, do as you were planning."
"I am doing it regardless of what you say, Natasha. You may be captain, but I am navigator with death staring me in the face. What have I to lose? As my old father would say: 'If you are dangling from a rope over an abyss, don't bother snatching at a coin that falls out of your pocket.' - It would be better if I had a real steering mechanism than this system of trying to maneuver three off-center engines."
Boranova had stopped listening. She peered into the darkness uselessly and said, "What is it you hear, Yuri? Shapirov's thoughts tell us - what?"
"Nothing at the moment. It is just noise. Anguish."
Kaliinin muttered, as though to herself, "Do you suppose part of Shapirov's mind knows he's in a coma? Do you suppose part of his mind feels trapped and is clamoring to get out? Like Albert - trapped? Like we ourselves - trapped?"
Boranova said sharply, "We are not trapped, Sophia. We can move. We will find Albert. We will get out of this body. Do you understand, Sophia?" She reached for the other woman's shoulders, her fingers digging deeply.
Kaliinin winced. "Please. I understand."
Boranova turned to Konev. "Is that all you get? Anguish?"
"But strongly." Then, curiously, staring at Boranova, "Do you sense nothing?"
"Nothing at all."
"But it is so strong. Stronger than anything I felt when Albert was in the ship. It was right for him to move outside."
"But can't you make out any actual thoughts? Words?"
"Perhaps I am too far. Perhaps Albert hasn't got his machine properly focused. And you really sense nothing?"
Boranova shook her head decisively and glanced briefly at Kalimin, who said in a low voice (rubbing one shoulder), "I sense nothing, either."
And from Dezhnev came a discontented, "I never get any of these mysterious messages."
"You got 'Hawking.' Albert suggested there might be different brain types as there are different blood types and that he and I might be of the same type. He may be right," said Konev.
Boranova said, "From what direction does the sensation come now?"
"From there." This time Konev pointed much closer to the fore end of the ship. He said, "You are turning, arent you, Arkady?"
"I am," said Dezhnev, "and I'm now fairly close to the doldrums between the two streams. I am planning to edge only slightly into the counterstream so that we head back, but not too quickly."
"Good," said Boranova. "We don't want to miss him. - Yuri, can you judge the intensity? Is it getting stronger?"
"Yes, it is." Konev seemed a bit surprised, as though he had not noticed the rise in intensity until Boranova had mentioned it.
"Is it imagination, do you think?"
"It might be," said Konev. "We haven't really gotten any closer to him. We're just making a turn. It's almost as if he's approaching us."
"Perhaps he's washed off whatever he adhered to or forced himself loose. In that case, the current would carry him to us, if we're forcing a turn and staying essentially in the same place."
"Perhaps."
"Yuri," said Boranova vehemently, "you just concentrate on the sensation. Keep Arkady aware at all times of the direction from which it comes, which means you will have to be pointing toward Albert steadily. - Arkady, as you get closer to Albert, you will have to turn toward the original stream again and get into it as close to his position as possible. Then once we're moving together, it will be easy to drift closer by use of our motors."
"Easy for one who's not controlling the motors," growled Dezhnev.
"Easy or difficult," said Boranova, her formidable eyebrows hunching low, "do it. If not - No, there is no 'If not.' Do it."
Dezhnev's lips moved, but no sound came and silence fell upon the ship - except for the unheard flood of sensation that entered Konev's mind but left the other minds empty.
Konev remained standing, facing in the direction from which it seemed to him the sensation was coming. He muttered once, "Definitely stronger." Then, after several moments, "It seems to me I can almost sense words. Maybe, if he comes close enough -"
His expression grew even more strained, as though it were trying to force the sensation, to cram it into his mind, while taking the noise apart and separating it into words. His finger kept pointing rigidly and he said finally, "Arkady, begin curving back into the doldrums and be ready to plunge into the original stream. - Quickly. Don't let him pass us."
"As quickly as the motors will let me," said Dezhnev. Then, in a lower voice, "If I could maneuver this ship by the same magic with which the rest of you hear voices -"
"Head straight for the membrane," said Konev, ignoring the remark.
It was Kaliinin who saw the spark of light first. "There he is!" she cried out. "That's the light of his suit."
"I don't have to see it," said Konev to Boranova. "The noise is like a volcanic eruption in Kamchatka."
"Still noise, Yuri? No words?"
"Fright," said Konev, "incoherent fright."
Boranova said, "If I were aware in any way of being trapped in a comatose body, it would be precisely how I would feel. - But how has he come to realize it now? Earlier we did make out words and even quiet and peaceful images."
Dezhnev said, panting a little in the excitement of the chase, which had him unconsciously holding his breath, "It may be something we've done with this ship. We've stirred up his brain."
"We're too small," said Konev with contempt. "We can't even stir up this one cell noticeably."
"We're coming up to Albert," said Dezhnev.
"Sophia," said Boranova, "can you detect his electrical pattern?"
"Faintly, Natalya."
"Well, throw everything you've got into something complementary that will attract him tightly."
"He seems a little large. Natalva."
"He's oscillating, I'm sure," said Boranova grimly. "Once you attach him to the ship, he'll become part of our general miniaturization field and his size will adjust. Quickly, Sophia."
There was a slight bump as Morrison was electronically pulled against the side of the ship.
Chapter 16. Death
Once the sun sets, it grows dark; don't let that catch you by surprise.
Morrison could not later recall anything that took place - either just before or just after his return to the ship. Try as he might, he did not remember seeing the ship coming for him at any time, nor did he recall the moment of transfer, nor the removal of his plastic suit.
Going far enough back, he remembered the despair and loneliness of waiting to explode and die. Going far enough forward, he remembered looking up at the concerned face of Sophia Kaliinin bending over him. There was nothing in between.