"We got those numbers," Tirun said, "I got 'em up. Gods send Jik's anywhere along his entry line and we'll track him.''
"Nasty place," Chur said. "Real nasty."
"Set systems," Haral said in calm, cold tones, and switch-flicking went on apace, systems-check, line-up. Pyanfar coordinated with her, shed the anxieties and called up the computer prompt program, comparing plan against tc'a-problems and Jik's intentions. Shifted a priority in the prompts. Re-ran it. Fed it in with the press of a key. Other stations were doing similar things. Haral was running master-check, making sure all jobs were sequenced.
There was most need of locating themselves on the passive-scan; getting absolute position to start with.
Then find Jik, find Harukk and Vigilance and ride down their trail to Kefk's heart.
"Sure one lunatic way to run a starsystem," Tirun said.
"We can try telling them that."
The numbers ticked away.
"There goes the tc'a," Geran said.
"Gods help us," Haral said.
"Tully?" Pyanfar asked.
"He's under," Chur said.
"Minus five," Haral said.
Gods, a tc'a loose in their pattern.
And Jik had been out of pocket before undock. Talking about methane-breathers and visiting spies—
Could Jik bribe a tc'a? Was that what he had been up to, in his furtive sortie onto Mkks station docks just before they left?
Navigation help? Precision?
Was that what Jik had been after—a way to cut it fine enough to keep Harukk on his tail—using tc'a computers and tc'a charts to get one critical spacetime calculation—
—on a kifish system?—against Harukk's wishes and beyond what Harukk wanted to provide them? My gods—
"Minus one."
They were gone.
—there again. —falling—
—material and solid. Lights were blinking, the dopplered instruments gathering input and reading it—
"Kefk," Haral said. "Spectrum-match."
"Mark, where's our mark?"
"Searching," Geran said. "It's—gods rot—That's—in tolerance."
"Unnnh." The mind wanted to wander off at tangents and seek its former nowhere. The lights danced, hypnotic, led the eye in patterns: there was the sunlight on the hills—
—home.
"Aunt Pyanfar," the little girl cried, running breakneck down the hill, ears laid back and small limbs pumping with all their might, "aunt Pyanfar! you're home!"
Wide eyes and all ears, was Hilfy Chanur, her father's darling daughter, her aunt's surrogate for her own faithless Tahy—
—Chanur's yard at night: "Aunt Pyanfar, name me that star—"
"—That's Kjohi; it's a white, much, much too far and too hot anyway. We don't go there.—See that little one below? That's a yellow. That's Tt'a'va'o."
"Have you been there?"
"No hani has, yet. That's a tc'a star. Tc'a have a whole hand of brains; they sing when they talk; they have seven voices all at once. I knew one once. Its name was So'o'ai'-na'a'o."
Hilfy laughed. "Say that again—"
—"Where's that gods-be tc'a? Geran! Chur! where's our own schema, we got any position on anybody?"
"Negative, negative, I got the other map integrated almost— got it, got it, got it—It's coming through. ..."
The image turned up on Pyanfar's board. Kefk-system schematic, adjusted to their entry-point. Sikkukkut's best current map—at least of things like major rocks that could be long-term mapped and tracked in their chaotic orbits through Kefk system.
A huge starstation—gods, she knew it must be big. The kif's only legitimate outlet to Compact trade, after all. Fifty ships in port and miner-craft scattered like red stars among the yellow ones of asteroids; and no one of those ships where a ship was indicated. It was only a for-instance of a map. Beware, hani: ships might exist. And they do.
It showed kif and tc'a and chi in port. Likely. Again a for-instance. Gods knew what else.
"Stand by dump. Haral, double-check me."
"Aye."
—Use the wits, remember, wake up. Aja Jin out front by now—gods, where? Harukk and half the kif and Vigilance, with more kif due in at any instant.
—Down again.
—"Aunt Pyanfar—teach me the stars—"
Her own daughter, Tahy Mahn: "You're never here. You always come back too late. It's all over now. Kara's gone. / sent him to Hermitage—" Son and daughter gone. Each in different ways—
"So. I've got things to do, Tahy. I'm sorry."
"You'll always have them. You don't live in this world. It's that ship! It's that ship! I don't know you, I never
will—"
—And up.
Back to realspace. Pyanfar's eyes rolled and centered on the lights, her fingers scantly aware of the controls; her elbow ached.
"Third dump. Come on, line us up, look alive back there—"
"Got it—we got Jik, he's out there!"
—"Pyanfar," Kohan said, his broad face, his golden eyes gone all gentle, unlike the scowl he wore for show. "Sister— for the gods' own sake—be careful this time."
—She was selfish. He was not. He omitted to mention the real reason for his worry. Khym. Her private madness. His own public embarrassment. They had talked about it once.
—"They'll go for you," Kohan said. "All our enemies. They'll be trying."
—"Law out there's different, brother of mine. Safer. Folk accept what's strange."
—"I hope so," Kohan said. "I do hope so."
—And he walked away.
—"We're on, we're all right. Got signal, got signal—He's got us a beacon-image, he got it!"
"Star-fix, get that star-fix, Haral."
"Affirmative. Tt'a'va'o. We've acquired."
"Uhhhnnn." She felt the drain of strength, the wobble in her hand. They were inertial. G pushed her decidedly down, not back. The arm ached in the brace. She freed it and pulled loose one of the concentrate packets from its clip, bit a hole in it and drank. The stuff hit bottom in her stomach and lay there like lead.
Gods, gods—Figures ripped past like lunacy. And coincided.
"We're on," Haral said. "By the gods, we did it twice, and blind; and Jik and all of 'em—"
"I'll believe it when we find that tc'a," Geran said. "Where is that lunatic? GOOD GODS!"
Scan broke up. Lights went red. The siren howled. ''Haaaa!'' from Khym; and for a moment there was a nausea like dumpdown; but not—
" V check," Pyanfar yelled into the mike. "Gods blast—"
—dump, this time, with a sluggish awful nausea.
The tc'a had come in close. Ripped past and dumped speed with two rapid flares of its field. And it was there, a large lump on scan matched with them in V.
"We just found the tc'a," Tirun said.
"Gods and thunders," said Pyanfar. Her blood ran hot and cold, her joints went weak; the concentrate fought to come up again. Someone was throwing up. On scan there were sane blips again, but one was far too close.
Human babble. Tully had come to.
"V plus point zero eight," Haral said. "That bastard gave us V!"
"Let it ride; we burn it off later." Pyanfar swallowed hard and blinked her eyes and tried not to listen to the retching off over at com. "We got—while yet before Jik's AOS on Kefk—gods-rotted tc'a: it saying anything?"