She spoke to the officer, who went to a bank of switches. Presently a great screen broke into light and life, with the bewildering complexity of star, planet, and drift markers showing in their various colors.
Gordon shrugged. "It makes no sense to me, but you can tell me, Hull. How far did we go from Aar to that point where we became aware of the H'Harn presence, and changed course?"
"Oh, look, Gordon!" Hull said. "We've got enough troubles ahead of us without rehashing the ones we've left behind."
"Answer him," said Shorr Kan, and it was the hard, cold voice of the one-time master of the Dark Worlds who spoke. His face was grim with foreboding, and Gordon thought again that he had never met anyone with the lightning awareness and comprehension of this man. Shorr Kan had already guessed what he was driving at.
Hull sweated over the chart like a sulky schoolboy, grumbling. Finally he named a distance. "It's only a rough figure..." he began, but Gordon cut him off.
"Using that as an average, and with that approximate velocity, how long would it have taken us to reach the Lesser Magellanic?"
Hull looked a bit startled. "So that's it. Why didn't you tell me?" He went over to the computer and started punching keys. Presently he came back with the answer.
"Between four and five months," he said. "That's Galactic Standard, of course."
Gordon and Shorr Kan looked at each other, and Lianna said with regal impatience, "Could we perhaps be told the object of this discussion?"
"Four or five months to reach the Magellanic, and as much again to return," said Gordon slowly. "Eight to ten months before the H'Harn fleet could reach this galaxy, utilizing the information they hoped to get from us... It's too long. We know the H'Harn are behind the counts in this move against Fomalhaut... they must have had a hand in timing it. Whatever their plans are for their own strike against the galaxy, I don't believe they would include that much of a delay. Especially..."
"Especially," said Shorr Kan bluntly, "when their logical time to strike would be at that exact moment when the galaxy is already engaged in a massive civil war." He looked around the circle of faces. "The H'Harn have gone to a deal of trouble to foment that war. I doubt if they plan to throw away the fruits thereof."
There was a dead silence. When Gordon spoke again, he could hear his worlds dropping into it as stones drop into a cold still lake.
"I don't think the H'Harn was taking us to the Magellanic at all. I think it was taking us to somewhere a whole lot nearer. I think it was taking us to the H'Harn fleet, lying close outside our galaxy."
The silence became even deeper, as though even breathing and heartbeat had been suspended. Then Hull said almost angrily, "How could they be out there without the radar-sweeps of the Empire's warning system detecting them? Don't you realize how thoroughly we have monitored outer space ever since the time of Brenn Bir?"
"Yes," said Gordon, "but..."
Shorr Kan finished for him. "You've met the H'Harn, you have some idea of their powers. And you know they must realize how thoroughly outer space is monitored. So the first prerequisite of any large-scale invasion plan would be some means of evading radar search."
Hull Burrel thought about that, and he began to get a haunted look.
"Yes, I see that. But... but if they can evade radar, then the H'Harn fleet could be out there off the galaxy right now, waiting..."
"Waiting for the counts of the Marches to launch their attack," said Gordon.
"Good God," said Hull, and turned fiercely to the communications officer. "Call Throon. The Empire must be warned."
The officer looked at Lianna, who said quietly, "Do as he asks."
"Your pardon, Highness," said Hull, and the stark look of horror on his face was apology enough. "But when I think of those..."
"Yes," said Lianna. "Remember, I have had experience of them myself." She waved Hull on, to where the communications officer was busy at one of the screens.
Presently it sprang to life, and an officer in Empire uniform spoke to Hull Burrel.
His name, rank, and reputation got him switched through to the palace in record time. The aquiline face of Zarth Arn, brother to the Emperor, looked out of the screen at them.
"Captain Burrel... Gordon... you're safe, then. We were concerned..."
He broke off sharply, looking beyond Gordon, with eyes that had suddenly become points of fire. He was looking at Shorr Kan.
"What kind of a masquerade is this?"
"No masquerade," said Shorr Kan. "Happily for me, the reports of my death were sheer fraud." He met Zarth Arn's bitter glare with calm amusement. "The bad penny has turned up, only this time I'm on your side. Doesn't that please you?"
Zarth Arn appeared to be too stunned to speak for the moment. Gordon seized the opportunity to make a swift explanation.
"Our lives, and quite possibly the life of the whole galaxy, may be saved because Shorr Kan got us free to bring a warning," he said. "Try and remember that, Highness."
Zarth Arn's face was perfectly white, his mouth set like a vise. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, mastering himself. Then he looked at Lianna and said, "Highness, my advice is to hang that man at once."
"Ah, but you must hang Gordon first," said Shorr Kan smoothly. "He gave his word to protect me."
Hull stepped closer to the screen. "Highness, with all due respect, the hell with Shorr Kan and what happens to him! The H'Harn... the Magellanians... may be at the throat of the galaxy!"
Zarth Arn's anger faded into something else. "You learned something in the Marches?"
Hull told him. Gordon watched Zarth Arn's face, saw the shadow that came there grow and deepen, and when Hull was through it seemed to Gordon that Zarth Arn had aged ten years in those few moments.
"Theory," he said. "Only theory, and yet... The H'Harn. Strange that we never had a name for them before." He looked at Gordon. "This is your considered opinion?"
"Yes," said Gordon, and Shorr Kan spoke up unbidden.
"Mine too. And whatever else I may be, Zarth Arn, you know that I am neither a fool nor a coward. I believe that this strike against Fomalhaut is nothing less than the spearhead of an attack by the H'Harn on the whole galaxy."
After a moment Zarth Arn said, "This must go to my brother at once, for his decision. And since this is a chance we dare not take, I think there can be only one answer. The Empire fleet must go outside the galaxy and use every possible means, either to locate the H'Harn fleet or make absolutely certain that it is not there. And I must be with it. For if we do find the H'Harn..."
A coldness came into Gordon's spine. "You'll take the Disruptor?" Gordon remembered how he himself had once unloosed the awful power of that weapon. He remembered how space had quaked, and how stars had trembled in their orbits; how the whole fabric of the universe had seemed to twist and tear.
Zarth Arn said, "I must." He turned his somber gaze to Lianna. "You know, of course, what this will mean to you?"
She nodded calmly. "You will need every ship to sweep the Rim... including those you were sending here. I understand that. But surely the H'Harn are the ultimate enemy. We'll fight our battle here alone." She even smiled. "It's no matter. Captain Burrel assures me your ships could not get here in any case until after our fate has been thoroughly settled."
The screen blanked out. They were turning to leave, Lianna silent and preoccupied, when another screen came to life. In it was a burly-browed, thickset man with scarred hands, whom Gordon had met before, Abro, Defense Minister of Fomalhaut. Abro wasted no time on protocol. "Highness, they've come out of the Marches. The counts' fleet. They're more than twice as strong as we expected... and they're coming full speed toward Fomalhaut!"
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