Blegg said, 'One hour. You can wait that long.'
Cormac looked about to argue, then said, 'Yes, I'll take a shower, I think.'
It was the heavy-lifter they boarded after that tense one hour. Cormac had been unable to relax. He toyed with his food and drank lots of coffee. He even wished he had picked up the smoking habit from Gant. Now would have been a good time to use it. Halfway through that same hour, Mika came with some instruments to run tests on the dracoman.
'I would like to find out what—'
'No,' said Cormac.
Mika looked at him in surprise.
'No tests, none at all.'
He stared at her levelly. She met his gaze, then packed away her instruments. They continued waiting.
The lifter was empty of cargo, and on its last trip before being re-stored. It had been used to bring down the old engine casings for transmission to Minostra; even damaged, they were too valuable to scrap. This had now been done, and the lifter was ready to return.
As Cormac settled in his seat, he said, 'When we board I want all communication channels to Dragon closed down. Should it try to contact us, we ignore it.'
'Why?' asked Thorn. 'Surely you can—'
'I'm giving orders, not making suggestions. Just listen - and shut up,' said Cormac.
Thorn went suddenly still, icy. Blegg leant across and caught hold of his arm. Thorn turned in cold irritation to look straight into those flecked eyes. No words were spoken out loud, but Thorn jerked away as if he had been snarled at. He stared at Blegg in amazement, then relaxed back in his seat with a nod. Blegg released his arm.
Mika stared at Blegg in perplexity for a moment, then turned her attention to Cormac. 'There's something else as well,' she said.
'Yes, the dracoman goes straight into Isolation. Total isolation. That means no probes, no testing, no scanning.'
Mika nodded.
Cormac checked the viewing screens nervously. One of them revealed the distant mote of Dragon on a far horizon. When he spotted it, Cormac's face hardened and he then watched it constantly.
Hubris opened for the lifter and accepted it back into its bright-lit guts. Before they stepped out into the bay, there was a delay as clamps took hold of the vehicle and pulled it into place against banks of shock absorbers. They exited across a long ramp that crossed the chasm in which the lifter nestled. As they stepped from this ramp, huge floors and walls began to turn and shift like the wheels in some giant clock as Hubris locked the huge vehicle away.
'Hubris,' said Cormac, as he stepped from the drop-shaft that had wafted him up to the living quarters, 'I want you to secure for impact, and clear the area around Isolation once Mika has delivered the dracoman. All communication channels with Dragon are to be closed.
The dracoman is to be sealed in; weld the unit shut if you have to.'
'Proceeding as directed.' Lights began to flash in the corridors as Cormac headed for Downlink Com.
Hubris announced, 'Proton guns charging.'
Cormac came to an abrupt halt, his hands clenched into fists. He looked at Blegg and then Thorn. After a moment he said, 'There will be no need for those. Charge them down.'
'Ship's safety is my first priority. Dragon is trying all channels. The indications are that there will be another attack. I cannot charge down proton guns without a direct order from agent Prime.'
Cormac looked at Blegg. 'You have the authority now. I want you to order Hubris to charge down the proton guns. They were damaged in the previous attack so are unsafe to use,' he said carefully.
'Y'heard that. Close 'em down,' said Blegg.
'Proton guns charging down.'
Cormac continued walking. 'I also want all information systems closed off. All access is to be denied. If it looks like unauthorized access can get through at any time, I want those information banks dumped or destroyed.'
'I cannot initiate this without a direct order from agent Prime,' said Hubris stubbornly.
'Y'got my order,' said Blegg.
'Initiated.'
'You want Dragon to—' began Thorn.
'Yes, yes,' said Cormac irritably. 'But everything we say or do is recorded somewhere, and therefore possible to access. So keep it to yourself.'
This time there was no one in Downlink Com. Cormac dropped in a chair before the communications console, and called up a view of Dragon.
'At least this time we won't be shutting down Chal-ine's operation. Samarkand II will be operating everything down there. I think she's had about as much as she can take of my interference.'
'Nothing is more important than runcibles to her,' Thorn observed, as he pulled up a chair.
'Very shortsighted of her,' replied Cormac. Then he said, 'Hubris, prepare for a major breach. Get everyone out of the areas on the route of Dragon's previous attack, then close all blast and security doors. Stand by with seals and foam.'
'Initiated.'
Cormac looked at Blegg and Thorn. 'Patience,' he said.
'Oh, I've always had that,' said Blegg. Thorn just appeared uncomfortable.
'Attempts to open a communication channel have ceased,' said Hubris. 'Dragon accelerating.'
'Pull away in close orbit. That should slow it,' said Cormac.
'Secure for impact. Secure for impact. All personnel to emergency modules.'
Cormac closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply and evenly, his brow beaded with sweat. The three of them could feel the vibration through Hubris as it accelerated away, and the slight pull to one side as the ship's gravity did not quite compensate for the vector of its course.
'Impact in three minutes twenty seconds. Mark… Impact in three minutes ten seconds. Mark.'
At that moment Mika entered Downlink Com. Cormac watched her frantically trying to read the situation, and lick her lips as she prepared herself for a question. He glanced past her to the door which had a flashing yellow-and-black-striped light above it.
'I see you got through just before the main doors closed,' he observed.
She nodded, staring at him.
'We'd best get ready then,' he said.
They locked down all the chairs in Com and any instruments that were loose. Then they went through to the emergency module; a circular room with twenty acceleration couches secured all round. This module, like many others scattered throughout the ship, contained its own separate life-support, and theoretically could withstand the break-up of the entire ship. The four of them lay down on couches and strapped themselves in.
'Impact in one minute ten seconds. Mark… Impact in one minute. Mark.'
It was not particularly reassuring to see the piped-in image of Dragon's all-too-rapid approach. It grew on the screen until they could see the pseudopods breaking from its surface.
'Impact imminent! Impact imminent!'
It was not as bad as the first time. The ship boomed, but did not seem to be breaking. Cormac still wondered how many people he might have killed. As the shuddering stilled, he unstrapped himself and exited the emergency module.
'Unauthorised information access at external port. I am isolating all systems… Shuttle-bay doors opening.'
'It knows the ship better this time,' said Mika.
Cormac glanced at her, then turned back to watch the pseudopods flooding into the shuttle bay, and squirming across the floor to the drop-shaft.
'Intruder-defence systems online.'
'Take them offline until my order,' said Cormac.
'Unauthorized access… all consoles and ports closed down in shutde-bay area. Stress readings at drop-shaft doors.'
They watched, as for the second time, the safety doors buckled and crashed into the drop-shaft, and the pseudopods flooded down it.