Later, at supper in the shed refectory, Brim and Romanoff had just taken their seats with Nik Ursis, Mark Valerian, and Praznik Krasni, when K-P's senior propulsion fellow, Alexyi Ivanovich Pogreb, strode into the dining room wearing scorched K-P coveralls and a deep Bearish frown.
Looking neither right nor left, he marched directly to the Senior Director. "Praznik Dvigat," he began in a concerned voice. "I believe ve have serious troubles. I thought it vould be best if I notified everyone at same time."
Dressed in a loose Sodeskayan tunic with brass buttons, baggy trousers, and soft boots, Krasni stood and matched Dvigat's frown. "The new Wizard, Alexyi Ivanovich?" he asked. "We have troubles with the Wizard Two?"
"Is true, Praznik Dvigat," Pogreb asserted, broodingly raising his eyes to the heavens. "I myself inspected plasma tubes on Commander Brim's M-6B."
"And you found?" Krasni prompted.
"Crystal particles, vould you believe?" the Bear reported. "Lining both tubes, Praznik Dvigat. Ve still have not overcome our heating problems, Devil take it." He turned to Brim. "No offense, Commander," he said, "but during last highspeed run, the crystals actually began to disintegrate, depositing—rather sublimating by reverse feedback—collections of atoms from the Drive crystals themselves. The process may well have been slowly going on for days."
Krasni remained silent for a moment, then sipped his meem and looked contemplatively into the goblet. "I assume, Alexyi Ivanovich," he said, "that Commander Brim's Drive is ruined."
Pogreb nodded. "Same for Commander Mouldink's. Both have sustained much crystal erosions at tube junction and will have to be changed out before either ship is safe to fly."
Valerian shut his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "That practically means taking both ships apart," he said flatly.
"Would that circumstances were that easy," Krasni groaned. "Unfortunately, those are the only Wizard Two crystals in existence. We can't change them out."
"What?" Ursis yelled. "You only grew two of them?"
"No, Nikolai Yanuarievich," Krasni explained. "We actually grew five of them when we started the program. Two were destroyed in system testing at the Gromcow labs, two were installed in the M-6B's, and..."
"And the spare?" Valerian interrupted tensely.
Krasni shook his head. "The spare, friend Valerian, was accidentally destroyed as it was moved in the shed yesterday. A force line parted on the portable lift, and before the driver could recover, it had been cracked in half."
Brim slumped in his seat. "Just thraggling wonderful," he groaned. "Now what?"
"Unless you have some other ideas." Krasni replied, "I'm afraid we're simply out of the race."
"Not necessarily, Praznik Dvigat," Pogreb said. "Perhaps there are more crystals for the M-6B's than we think."
"If there are, I know nothing about them," Krasni snapped with annoyance.
"Is true we have no Wizard Two crystals, sir," Pogreb said. "But is also a fact that three Wizard-C prototype crystals are in the propulsion laboratory on nearby Melia, the science planet—complete with control systems. They were delivered on the same ship that brought the M-6B's from Lys."
"Wizard-C's, Pogreb?" Krasni demanded. "Those are reflecting Drives, remember?"
"Aye, sir," Pogreb agreed, "—and almost a perfect fit for an M-6B, even with the reflector in place. A little machining here and there—most at the starboard mounting flange, and..."
"Pogreb!" Krasni interrupted, "those prototypes have only been run a few times. What makes you think that they'd stand up in a race?"
"Begging the General Manager's pardon." Pogreb replied, "but they have only been run a few times in reflecting mode. In standard mode, each has run full-out for nearly three metacycles—and with a power output within two percent of the Wizard Two." He grinned. "Not only that, Praznik Dvigat," Pogreb added, "—they should be somewhat easier to cool!"
Krasni turned to Brim. "Would you be willing to fly something like that?" he asked.
Brim glanced over at Romanoff. "I've got to do it," he whispered.
"I know that, Wilf," she replied.
"I'm game, Dr. Krasni," Brim said presently. "Do you think you can have the switch done in time?"
Krasni paused, looking off into some other dimension for a moment. Then he passed the question on to Pogreb. "Can we?" he asked.
"Is already starting the process, Praznik Dvigat," Pogreb said, nodding his head. "Crystals should arrive from Melia within a metacycle."
"I rather imagined that would be the case, Alexyi Ivanovich," Krasni said with a little smile.
"Ah, but is badly needink help from you, Mark Valerian," Pogreb added.
"You've got it," Valerian said, rising from the table and struggling into his tweed coat.
Brim pushed his chair back with intentions of following, but Valerian and Pogreb were already on their way. "Finish your supper, Wilf," Valerian called over his shoulder. "You've been at it all afternoon. I'll call as soon as there's something you can do."
Brim sank back in his chair. "I think it's going to be a long night," he mused, bleakly, dallying with the contents of his plate.
"Not for you, Wilf Ansor," Ursis asserted.
"How come?" Brim demanded with a raised eyebrow.
"Because, my furless friend," the Bear replied, "if they do fix the Wizard in time for the race, it is your job to fly—and be sufficiently rested to fly well. If, on the other hand, the Wizard is inoperable, then your help won't matter anyway." He winked at Romanoff. "Additionally," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "your fellow humans all appear to enjoy the sight of Miss Romanoff.
Perhaps the productivity of the Sherrington team will be higher without such a beautiful female to stare at, eh?"
Romanoff blushed, but it was clear she was delighted by the compliment. Generally, unless one was being pursued actively by an angry Bear (almost always a fatal situation) it was difficult to be provoked by one.
After supper, the three hurried down to the Imperial shed area where every available technician and engineer had been called out to work on the M-6B's. In the repair yard outside, an orderly contingent of Bears had so far unpacked two gleaming Drive crystals with strange silver housings from wooden crates marked "KPOCHbl-II3TY." They were now connecting banks of test equipment to one of them through what looked like a c'lenyt of glowing cables. Inside the shed itself, Sherrington engineers and technicians were at work on Brim's machine, busily removing sections of the racer's skin; others had already lifted the massive crystal cover from its Drive chamber.