It was not pomposity. They needed a touch of ritual to focus their attention. Until the last of them arrived, they had talked mainly about their roles on the planet - Yu and Zeyd planting the seeds of an industrial revolution, Dayan and Mokoena of a scientific revolution, Sundaram trying to guide the religious and philosophical transformations that were afoot after the revelations from the Holont. Now they must turn their minds back to the deeps.

Nansen sat down. For a span only the clear song of the water sounded forth.

"You know what the situation is," he said. "The question is, what shall we do about it?"

Mokoena responded promptly. "First, I think, we had better ask if we should."

They were not surprised.

"We have too much to lose." She held her baby closer. "Everything we've gained, homes, new lives; everything we're accomplishing."

"Yes," Sundaram concurred. They could hear his reluctance. "Why squander the years we have left, and Envoy, Envoy, to seek a derelict?" - to seek a derelict?" - Envoy, Envoy, the sole working starship in tens or scores of light-years. the sole working starship in tens or scores of light-years.

"Are we certain she is a derelict?" Nansen answered.

Yu's eyes brightened. "Do you mean this might be just a quantum gate malfunction?" The light faded. "If so, the energy shift probably destroyed the vessel, or at least the crew."

"Or maybe not. Hanny, will you explain?"

Looks went to the physicist. She spoke fast, impersonally, as if to keep emotion out from underfoot. "You remember what we learned at Tahir and the black hole, about the Bose-Einstein condensate having a small probability of going unstable. Not all the borrowed energy goes smoothly back to the substrate. It's reclaimed instead from the surrounding matter, violently. This is in the data we downloaded here, of course, but in that cataract of information, it seems to have gone almost unnoticed.

"Well, since we mastered the modern computer systems, I've used their power to work on the equations, off and on. I've only mentioned this to Rico. Damn it, there hasn't been time to prepare a paper! But I've found a solution that suggests how to eliminate the danger. A matter of devising quantum-wave guides." She could no longer wholly restrain herself. "Oh, when humans go back to the stars, they'll go with that, and field drive, and so much else!"

"If they go," Sundaram said.

"Yes," Nansen conceded. "Chandor Barak, whose judgment we'd better listen to, thinks that most likely we have a threshold to get across - here, now, on Harbor - and if we don't, star traffic will continue dying till it's as extinct for humans as for ... all others?"

"We expected a Kith ship would become our ally," Zeyd said. "But this disaster -"

"They may be alive aboard her," Dayan stated.

"What? In God's name -"

"That's something else that's come out of my solution. The manner of energy reclamation when a gate fails. It takes the form of deceleration of matter in the immediate vicinity. That would definitely ruin the engine part of any ship. But, depending on what the energy differential is, the front section might not be too badly damaged, and the deceleration might not be lethally high."

"I've studied plans of Kith ships," Yu breathed. "They show an emergency nuclear power plant forward in the hull. Given self-sealing, self-repair - an essentially intact life-support system, recycling everything - the crew could survive."

Mokoena spoke raggedly. The baby sensed her unease and wailed. She rocked it. "Recycling is never perfect, you know. A ship is not a planet. She can't hold a full ecology. She doesn't have plate tectonics, or any broad margin of tolerance. Wastes accumulate, toxins, unusables. Adrift in mid-space, with no proper means of flushout and replenishment - if a crew did live through the shock, I wouldn't give them more than twenty years."

"What a ghastly, slow death." Zeyd turned to Nansen. It blazed from him: "But Rico, you think you can save them!"

"If they are in fact alive, which we don't know, I think perhaps we can," the captain replied carefully. "And I think it's worth trying."

"Allah akbar!" Zeyd cried. "The old crew faring again -" cried. "The old crew faring again -"

Mokoena laid a hand on his arm. "No," she said, gentle and immovable. "I'm sorry, Selim, darling, but no."

"She's right," Nansen agreed. "It's more than your child, and other children we mean to have. It's everything we're building here. The whole future we've dreamed of, lived for. Your advice, example, and inspiration are absolutely essential. Your duty, all of you, is to stay."

"But not yours?" Yu challenged.

"I'm the most dispensable. The League can carry on without me - if people see that it is carrying on, that the industrial and social foundations for a starfleet are being laid - if they can keep a hope alive that the work will be rewarded in their lifetimes."

"What will you do for crew?" Zeyd growled.

Nansen smiled. "Oh, we have no dearth of adventurous young souls. They'll fight to go. Fifteen years' absence won't seem terribly consequential to them, and anyhow, they'll experience just a few days. But they'd better have a seasoned commander."

Sundaram shook his head. "Fifteen years for us without you, dear friend. Or perhaps forever."

"We've time to be together," Nansen said. "Envoy "Envoy can't leave tomorrow. Her gamma makes her safe enough from a quantum accident. But there are other kinds. And the Kith did make technological advances while we were gone. She needs a dozen sorts of retrofits. And the crew will need training, and - I don't suppose we can start for at least a year." can't leave tomorrow. Her gamma makes her safe enough from a quantum accident. But there are other kinds. And the Kith did make technological advances while we were gone. She needs a dozen sorts of retrofits. And the crew will need training, and - I don't suppose we can start for at least a year."

Mokoena's gaze rested dark upon him. "An added year for them in that ship. You're cutting it close, Rico."

"I have no choice. Nor, really, about going. But I want to consult and work with my former crew."

"You realize, don't you," Dayan broke in, "I'm going also."

"We'll argue about that later," Nansen said roughly.

"We will not." Dayan rose to her feet. "There is no argument." She came over to stand above him. "I'm experienced, too. How can you imagine I'd accept fifteen years without you, and being too old for children when you got back? Meshuggah!"

CHAPTER 50.

For thousands of years among the stars, for hundreds of her own years, the ship had been great and proud. She was akin to Envoy Envoy in her general plan - seen across fifty kilometers, the unlikenesses were few, the most obvious a proportionately larger hull - but of more than twice the linear dimensions, ten times the burden. Even the wreckage of her had kept majesty; Nansen remembered Machu Picchu, Kerak des Chevaliers, the Lion Gate at Mycenae. It still belonged in the reaches she had sailed; he remembered the Gokstad ship, the in her general plan - seen across fifty kilometers, the unlikenesses were few, the most obvious a proportionately larger hull - but of more than twice the linear dimensions, ten times the burden. Even the wreckage of her had kept majesty; Nansen remembered Machu Picchu, Kerak des Chevaliers, the Lion Gate at Mycenae. It still belonged in the reaches she had sailed; he remembered the Gokstad ship, the Mary Rose, Mary Rose, the the Constitution, Constitution, and thought that and thought that Fleetwing Fleetwing had found a better ending. had found a better ending.

But maybe the ancient crews had found better deaths.

He reduced viewscreen magnification, retaining light enhancement, to survey the entirety again. Lesser wounds dwindled out of sight and he saw the forward wheel turning as before, slower than his because it was bigger but creating interior weight as of old. That meant the frictionless magnetic bearings around its hollow axle were there, which meant that the superconductors generating the fields were operative, which meant that a fusion power plant was, which meant that life within the rim might yet be possible.

The force boom, though, projecting from the hub to make and shape the radiation screen fields, was warped, a fourth of its two-kilometer length snapped off. The outer hull was rotating, oppositely to the wheel, something that should never have happened. That it had not long since grated ruinously against the inner hull was a tribute to the remnants of the bearing system - to the engineers who designed it and the honest workers who built it, dust these many centuries. The eight boats that had docked on the exterior, two sets of four spaced equally around the circumference, were gone. The magnetics that held them fast had failed, doubtless in the moment of catastrophe, and they drifted off with the debris.

The huge cylinder terminated in ripped and ragged metal. A few interior members stuck out, torn across, like bones in a compound fracture. The inner hull was hidden from view, a stump. No after wheel spun athwart the Milky Way. Its fragments were also forever lost. They might not have receded fast, but in sixteen years they would have traveled into tracklessness.

Nansen consulted a display of data his instruments had obtained and interpretations his computers had calculated. The dry figures joined with the stark sight to tell him Fleetwing's Fleetwing's story. story.

Her normal-state velocity in the galactic frame of reference had been about seventy-five kilometers per second. When the substrate reclaimed the unpaid part of her debt, as much matter decelerated to zero as would carry that much energy at that speed. It occurred in a fractional second, thus with appalling force. In ship terms, the zero-zero engine immediately crashed aft, rending off its section of the inner hull. The pieces rammed into the solid hub at the end. They bore it and the plasma accelerator it supported away. Unsecured, seized by incidental forces - electrostatic, if nothing else - the after wheel withdrew as well. Whirling and wobbling, its axle sleeve struck the outer hull, smashed through decks, entangled structure. Its linear momentum left a hole agape in the stern of the cylinder, its angular momentum left a spin. Fleetwing Fleetwing pitched and yawed. That put more torque on the long, thin mast than it was meant to bear, and it gave way. pitched and yawed. That put more torque on the long, thin mast than it was meant to bear, and it gave way.

Not that it or its screen fields were needed by then, Nansen thought. Nansen thought. This ship will never again race with light. This ship will never again race with light.

Incredible, that the systems up forward could save anything of her, yes, actually restore a kind of stability.

No, perhaps not really unbelievable. She was made so well that she had already endured everything else the cosmos threw at her. And likewise her Kithfolk.

He stood in Envoy's Envoy's command center with Hanny Dayan and Alanndoch Egis. His second officer was youthful; all aboard from Harbor had seen less life span than he and his wife. She was fair-haired and gray-eyed, tall in her one-piece blue uniform; but starfaring ancestors had bequeathed her her face. command center with Hanny Dayan and Alanndoch Egis. His second officer was youthful; all aboard from Harbor had seen less life span than he and his wife. She was fair-haired and gray-eyed, tall in her one-piece blue uniform; but starfaring ancestors had bequeathed her her face.

Consoles, meters, displays, encompassed them. The air at present bore a tinge of pine smell. Retrofits had not changed old Envoy Envoy much. much.

Alanndoch stared at a radio monitor. The instrument searched from end to end of that spectrum and back again, lest a message come in that the audios were not tuned for. "No answer yet," she said, uselessly and desperately. "Are they dead, then? Their broadcast goes on." She was was young. young.

"It would," Dayan reminded her. "Automatic. Evidently the best transmitter they could rig was crude, but they built it rugged. The call will continue for decades more, till the power plant gives out."

Nansen ran a hand through his hair. It was going white at the temples. "They should have seen us," he muttered, just as pointlessly. "If nothing else, they could modulate or modify that signal. Interrupting it every few minutes would show that they're alive."

Dayan's voice Weakened. "Maybe nobody looks out any longer. Maybe they've turned off their viewscreens. Sixteen years of watching naked space -"

"That doesn't sound like what I've heard of Kithfolk," Alanndoch said.

"After all this time, under those conditions, what may they have become?"

"Dead." Alanndoch's head drooped. "We're too late."

Seven and a half years - half an Earth-day for them - to the approximate location. Zigzagging to and fro, zero-zero jumps that closed in on the goal. Laying to, straining outward with Opticals, neutrino detectors, every capability on hand. The radio signal, barely obtainable, a broadcast gone tenuous over these distances, and no more than a wave band not found in the interstellar medium; yet unmistakably a beacon, proof that somebody had survived the disaster. (Well, Fleetwing Fleetwing was massive, and no doubt bore a considerable tonnage of cargo. Evidently the shock had not jarred her fatally hard.) Homing in on the source. A final approach under normal-state boost. Matching velocities at a safe remove. Quest completed. was massive, and no doubt bore a considerable tonnage of cargo. Evidently the shock had not jarred her fatally hard.) Homing in on the source. A final approach under normal-state boost. Matching velocities at a safe remove. Quest completed.

Found: a wreck and a mindlessly radiating monotone, alone amidst the stars.

Nansen's fist banged on a console panel. "No, it's not for nothing," he said. "At the very least, we'll learn the details of what happened. The future needs to know."

Dayan flung off her despair. "Good for you, Rico!" She clapped his shoulder. "Let's start."

Alanndoch likewise brightened a little. "Oh, yes, we must board." She regarded the others. "But, Captain, Scientist," she well-nigh pleaded, "you shouldn't. Please reconsider. Don't risk yourselves. You've crew who're willing, anxious to go. Beginning with me."

"Thanks," Dayan said. "But Rico and I have earned the right."

For her, he thought, he thought, the right to be not yet used up. To defy time once more, time that has devoured everything on Earth which was hers. the right to be not yet used up. To defy time once more, time that has devoured everything on Earth which was hers.

For me - He spoke in his wonted sober fashion: "We have argued this already. I well know the doctrine. The commander should stay with the ship. However, Dr. Dayan and I have more than training" - brief, though intense. "We have experience" - since before Envoy Envoy departed Sol, and at worlds unknown until she fetched up at them, and at the black hole; for a moment it felt to him like the full eleven thousand years. "We have by far the best chance of coping with anything unexpected. Stand by." departed Sol, and at worlds unknown until she fetched up at them, and at the black hole; for a moment it felt to him like the full eleven thousand years. "We have by far the best chance of coping with anything unexpected. Stand by."

Dayan's demand rang heartening. "We'll certainly want you and the whole crew later. If we find survivors, you'll have tricky work to do."

"At worst," Nansen finished, "you shall take our ship home."

CHAPTER 51.

The Wreck swelled in the forward screen until it blocked sight of the stars. Spin brought an emblem into view, scarred and scoured, then took the blue-and-silver wing away, then swung it back. Nansen turned his space-boat and proceeded parallel to the hull at a distance of meters, seeking a place to make contact. Field drive gave marvelous responsiveness; this was almost like steering an aircraft.

Almost. Never quite. Robotics handled most of it, with more speed and precision than flesh could, but the basic judgments and decisions were his, and a mistake could kill.

He worked his way aft, turned again, matched velocities, and rested weightless in his harness. Before him yawned the hideous hole where the after wheel and plasma accelerator had been. He called a report to Envoy. Envoy. Dayan, at his side, probed the interior with radar, detectors, and instruments more subtle, still experimental, that employed her new knowledge of quantum physics. Dayan, at his side, probed the interior with radar, detectors, and instruments more subtle, still experimental, that employed her new knowledge of quantum physics.

"As we thought," she said after a few minutes. "The midships emergency bulkheads must have closed immediately and sealed the front end off The fusion reactor there is in regular operation, supplying ample current to all systems that are functional." She frowned. "The readings at the wheel aren't so good, but from here I can't make out just what the trouble is."

"That's what we want to discover," he said. "Ready? Hang on."

As slowly as might be, he maneuvered around the hull and forward. A hundred meters from the bow end of the cylinder, he went into a circular path around it - not an orbit; the gravity of even this enormous vessel was negligible. To stay on course required a constant, exact interplay of vectors. He fought clown a brief dizziness and concentrated on matching the rotation "below" him.

And now: approach. He had picked a smooth area, free alike of installations and of damage. However, it spun at nearly two hundred kilometers per hour. A slight miscalculation could mean that a housing slammed into him. The boat stooped. Contact shivered and tolled in the metal. At once he made fast. It would not have been possible to do so speedily enough with magnetics, but an electron manipulator inspired by the Holont gave him talons. Silence washed over him.

Weight tugged, as if he were hanging upside down. Stars streamed in the viewscreens. Envoy Envoy hove in sight, merely a glint among them unless he magnified. "We're docked," he told them aboard. hove in sight, merely a glint among them unless he magnified. "We're docked," he told them aboard.

"Elohim Adirim!" Dayan gasped. A lock of hair had come loose from her headband and wavered like a small flame. "That was Dayan gasped. A lock of hair had come loose from her headband and wavered like a small flame. "That was piloting!" piloting!"

Nansen realized he had been necessary. He also realized he had not by himself been sufficient. "Thank the boat," he said.

Her name was Herald It. Herald It.

Donning spacesuits and securing equipment to take along was a slow business. Weight amounted to about one-tenth terrestrial, in the wrong direction. They helped one another. Nansen saw Dayan's distress when he strapped a pistol to his waist. "The last thing I want is to fire this," he said, "but we simply don't know."

"That's the horror," she answered, "that you might have to." Her neck straightened. "Well, I won't believe you will until I have to."

They kissed quickly before they attached helmets. After that their appearance was unhuman, heads horned with sensors and antennae, blank visages, insectlike eyes that were optical amplifiers. They cycled through the personnel lock, planted gripsoled boots on Fleetwing, Fleetwing, and moved off cautiously, a boot always emplaced. Drive units rested on their backs, but a return to this whirling surface would be an acrobatic feat. "Yes," Nansen murmured, "we two definitely had to be the first. Already I'm finding things to warn everybody about." and moved off cautiously, a boot always emplaced. Drive units rested on their backs, but a return to this whirling surface would be an acrobatic feat. "Yes," Nansen murmured, "we two definitely had to be the first. Already I'm finding things to warn everybody about."

Dayan's breath was harsh in his audio receivers.

Step by step, they advanced. A coaming lay in their way. "That's a lock," Dayan said.

"I know," Nansen answered. They had studied the plans of the ship, taken from the Kith database, with equal intensity.

"Are you sure we shouldn't try to go inside here and proceed through the hull?"

"Yes, I am sure. Too many unknowns."

They crept around the portal. "I... I'm sorry," Dayan said. "That was a stupid question. I'm feeling a bit spinny."

Medication staved off nausea but couldn't do everything. They clung to a sharply curving world that wanted to hurl them from it, blood coursed too heavily in their heads, and a night sky whirled beneath them. "Don't look at the stars," Nansen advised.

Dayan swallowed. "Ironic," she said. "The stars are what this is all about, aren't they?"

They reached the end of the cylinder and crawled over the edge. She lost her footing. He grabbed an ankle barely in time and hauled her back. "Nombre de Dios!" "Nombre de Dios!" he groaned. "Don't he groaned. "Don't do do that!" Twenty meters from them, the spokes of the wheel scythed across heaven. that!" Twenty meters from them, the spokes of the wheel scythed across heaven.

"I'm sorry -"

"No, no, I am. I should have been more careful of... of my partner."

He heard a chuckle. "Enough with this modesty contest. But thank you, b'ahavah." b'ahavah."

Progress became easier, here where the centrifuge effect pulled sideways. It was somewhat like walking in a stiff wind, which lessened as they approached the center. Nevertheless they kept their caution. "I feel well again," Dayan said after a while.