"Right—four lifeboats full. We're all alone, Captain."
She smiled tightly. "Fun, isn't it? Okay. Chaser Twelve just checked in; the Intruder's still on course. Our ETA on his path is four hours?"
"Just under. Three fifty-seven thirty."
She did a quick calculation. "Gives us a whole six minutes to spare. Tight."
Goode shrugged. "I would've been perfectly happy to take the whole trip at two gees and get here a day earlier. But creating fuel isn't one of my talents."
"I'll suggest a tachship tanker fleet to Dad when we get home," Chandra said dryly. "Okay. Number 81 should be our last boat. Fifteen minutes before we arrive I want you to go down and prep it. We'll want to cut out the minute the Origami's in position."
"Roger."
Conversation lapsed. It felt strange, Chandra thought, to be deliberately running towards a collision: strange and frightening. It brought her back to her first driving lessons, to her father's warnings that she was never, never to race a monorail to a crossing. He'd hammered the point home by showing her pictures of cars that had lost such contests, and even now she shuddered at the memory of those horrible tangles.
And it was her father himself who had authorized this. She wondered how he was feeling right now. Worse than she was, probably.
Strange how, in the pictures, the monorail never seemed particularly damaged. Would it be that way this time too? She had no desire to kill any of the aliens aboard that ship if it could be avoided. This mess wasn't really their fault.
Six minutes.... She hoped like hell the Intruder hadn't changed course.
—
Captain Mahendra's hands rested lightly on the Situation Room's communications board, showing no sign whatsoever of tension. General Carey watched those hands in fascination, wondering at the man's self-control. But, then, Mahendra didn't have a daughter out there racing the ultimate monorail to its mathematical crossing.
Mahendra turned from the board, taking off his headphone, and Carey shifted his gaze to the captain's face. "Well?"
"Chaser Six reports both the Intruder and the Origami still on course. Chasers Eight through Thirteen are still picking up lifeboats. Almost all the passengers are back; about three-quarters of the crew are still out there."
Carey nodded. "How long will the Origami have before impact?"
"From now, three hours twenty minutes. Once in place, about six minutes."
Carey hissed softly between his teeth. "Pretty slim margin."
Mahendra frowned. "Should be enough, General. Those boats can handle two gees for ten minutes or so before running their tanks. Even if you allow them three minutes for launching, they can get—oh, three hundred kilometers out before impact. That should be a relatively safe distance."
"I suppose so."
"You seem doubtful," a new voice cut in from behind him. Carey turned to discover Du Bailey had come up, unnoticed, and was standing at his shoulder.
"I'm concerned about those still aboard that ship," the general growled. "They're civilians and shouldn't have to go through this."
"I agree." Du Bellay paused. "I, uh, looked up the Origami's registry data. The captain is listed as a Chandra Carey."
He stopped without asking the obvious question. Carey answered it anyway. "She's my daughter."
"Your daughter, sir?" Mahendra asked, eyes widening momentarily. "I'm sorry; I didn't know." His fingers danced over keys; numbers appeared on his screen. "Sir, we could pull a tachship off of the Intruder's path and have it waiting to pick up Captain Carey when the Origami reaches position."
"No. We've only got three tachships left on chaser duty and I'd rather leave them there. Chandra's good, and I know she thinks highly of her crew. The best thing we can do for them is to keep feeding them good data on the Intruder's course."
"What about sending one of the tachships that's on lifeboat-pickup duty?" Du Bellay suggested.
"Those boats don't carry all that much food and air," Carey said, shaking his head. "The Origami dropped a lot of boats, and some of them are getting close to the wire. Tachships can't carry more than a single lifeboat at a time, and with all civilian craft officially barred from the area we're going to have enough trouble picking up everyone as it is." Both men still looked disturbed, so Carey flashed what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Chandra can take care of herself. Captain, what's the status of our attempts at communication?"
Du Bellay drifted off as, almost reluctantly, Mahendra turned back to his board. His hands, Carey noted, didn't look nearly as relaxed as before.
—
The door opened, and Orofan paused on the threshold for a moment before stepping onto the bridge. Lassarr glanced up from the console where he and Pliij were working. "Yes, what is it?" the Voyagemaster growled.
"I'm asking you once more to reconsider," Orofan said. His voice was firm, devoid of all emotion.
Lassarr evidently missed the implications of that. "It's too late. Disassembly has begun; our new course is plotted."
"But not yet executed," Orofan pointed out. "And equipment can be reassembled. This path is not honorable, Voyagemaster."
Deliberately, Lassarr turned his back on the Shipmaster. "Prepare to execute the course change," he instructed Pliij.
"You leave me no alternative," Orofan sighed.
Lassarr spun around—and froze, holding very tightly to the console, his eyes goggling at the assault gun nestled in Orofan's tentacle. "Have you gone insane, Shipmaster?"
"Perhaps," Orofan said. "But I will not face the ancestors having stood by while war was made against a race which has offered no provocation."
"Indeed?" Lassarr's voice dripped with the sarcasm of fear and anger combined. "And destroying them outright, without warning, is more honorable? A few aarns ago you didn't think so. Or do you intend instead to condemn a million Sk'cee to death?"
"I don't know," Orofan said, gazing at the screen that showed the approaching star. "There is still time to decide which path to take."
Lassarr was aghast. "You're going to leave this decision to a last-aarmi impulse?"
"Orofan, there's barely a tenth of an aarn left," Pliij said, his voice strained.
"I know." Orofan focused on Lassarr. "But the Dawnsent is mine, and with that power goes responsibility for its actions. It is not honorable to relinquish that load."
Slowly, as if finally understanding, Lassarr signed agreement. "But the burden may be transferred to one who is willing," he said quietly.
"And what then of my honor?" Orofan asked, tentacles rippling with half-bitter amusement. "No. Your honor is safe, Voyagemaster—you were prevented only by force from following the path you deemed right. You may face the ancestors without fear." He hefted the assault gun. "The final choice is now mine. My honor, alone, stands in the dock."
And that was as it should be, Orofan knew. In the silence he stared at the screen and made his decision.
—
Ten minutes till cutoff. Alone on the bridge, Chandra tried to watch every read-out at once, looking for deviations from their calculated course. The Origami's navigational computer was as good as anything on the market, but for extremely fine positioning it usually had the aid of beacons and maser tracking. Out here in the middle of nowhere, six A.U. from the sun, the computer had to rely on inertial guidance and star positions, and Chandra wasn't sure it could handle the job alone.
She reached for the intercom, changed her mind and instead switched on the radio. The lifeboat bay intercoms were situated a good distance from the boats themselves, and Goode would have a better chance of hearing her over the boat's radio. "Goode? How's it going?" she called.
Her answer was a faint grunt of painful exertion. "Goode?" she asked sharply.