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I have to agree, Captain, she said grimly. We started with an acceleration
of barely 0.1 gee; our deceleration at rendezvous was three-quarters that. The
way things are going, we ll be lucky to reach Shadrach in eighteen hours.
Eighteen hours to Shadrach, and then twenty-five back to the
Amity
& with the nova possibly going off as early as forty-six hours from now. Their
leeway was getting thinner by the minute. Marlowe? Radiation status?
Still too hot out there for a solo trip to Shadrach, the other shook his
head. The hull plates would last maybe an hour or two.
And they would need to keep some of that strength in reserve for the
twenty-five-
hour trip back to Pegasus. That s it, then, Roman said. We stay with the
space horse as long as possible and keep our fingers crossed. Kennedy, you d
better start updating the ETA every fifteen minutes and feeding the numbers to
Lowry s group I want them ready to make orbit as soon as we re in position to
pick them up.
Yes, sir.
MacKaig was right: the space horse was definitely losing strength. There were
periods when it simply drifted, allowing itself to be pulled by Shadrach s
gravity;
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and as the hours dragged by those periods began to stretch ever longer.
And finally, with Shadrach s disk filling the displays, the creature gave up.
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Timothy Zahn - Warhorse
I m sure it s dead, Captain, MacKaig said, her voice under tight control.
It hasn t done anything but fall planetward for the past twenty minutes. And
Rrin-
saa& he doesn t look right.
Roman frowned at the appropriate display. Rrin-saa s face beneath the
amplifier helmet was strangely blank. Rrin-saa? he called. Rrin-saa, what s
happening?
There was no response. Sievers, get that helmet off him, Roman ordered,
already keying his intercom for
Amity s
Tampy section. I ll find out from the Tampies how to break him out of this.
He leaned toward the intercom
There is no need.
Roman jerked his eyes back to the display, throat muscles tightening
reflexively.
Rrin-saa s whiny voice was very alien; dry and brittle and almost
animalistic a voice that Roman had never heard before. And yet, behind the
alienness there was at the same time a rich and very human sadness. It was an
unnerving combination, and it sent a chill up Roman s back. Are you all
right? he asked when he could get his tongue moving again.
Yes, Rro-maa, the Tampy assured him. Already his voice was returning to
normal. He is dead.
Roman took a careful breath. I m sorry, he said. MacKaig? That s it, then.
Pop your tether line and get back here. We ll stay in the shadow until you re
aboard, then probably have to make a run for it. Kennedy?
The space horse will enter Shadrach s shadow before it hits, Kennedy said
promptly, but if we stay with it the whole way we ll go too deep into the
planet s gravity well.
Plot us a compromise, Roman told her. Something that ll expose us to
minimum sunlight without using up large amounts of fuel.
Already plotted, sir. We ll leave the space horse s shadow in exactly
eighteen minutes.
Good. Stand by to execute as soon as the boat is aboard. And inform Dr. Lowry
that this is it.
Thirty-seven minutes later, securely planted in a stable orbit, Amity waited
as the dagger of blue flame that marked Lowry s lander rose to meet it.
The rendezvous was an anticlimax, but a distinctly welcome one. Roman had
worried that the smaller craft wouldn t be able to match
Amity s horizontal velocity and would crash violently into the forward hangar
at bulkhead-smashing speed. But
Lowry s pilot had planned correctly, spending the last of his fuel in a burst
of acceleration as
Amity swept down on him. The meeting was accompanied by a great deal of noise
and a considerable jolt, but nothing vital was broken.
Welcome aboard, Roman called via intercom to the hangar. You ll be shown to
acceleration couches; strap into them immediately. Acceleration in five
minutes.
He switched off and turned to Kennedy. You ready?
Yes, sir, she said, her course plot appearing on Roman s helm repeater
display.
We break orbit and drive straight away from Shadrach, staying in its umbra as
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Timothy Zahn - Warhorse long as we can. Then we blast laterally to get back to
Pegasus. That gives B more time to cool down and also puts us farther out
before the hull gets any direct sunlight.
Even then, Marlowe put in, we ll probably still have to shut down the drive
occasionally and rotate sternward to B to let the hull cool.
Kennedy nodded. I ve figured that in. We should reach Pegasus in
approximately twenty-seven hours.
Trimming their leeway time down to just about an hour. How s the radiation
look out there? Roman asked Marlowe.
Dropping off nicely, the other said. We shouldn t have any real problem
with that. He craned his neck to look at Roman. It should be safe enough now
for
Commander Ferrol to sneak a quick look now and then from around Pegasus
side.
Roman had already come to that conclusion. In fact, his own calculations
indicated that that safety level had been reached nearly an hour ago.
Without bringing any message from Ferrol.
He may decide to play it safe, though, Kennedy said into his quiet fears.
Or his laser may not be able to cut through the interference out there it
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