"Very well. Barton. The modifications consumed much time, but after I have eaten, another hour-two, it might be-and the Shield will again be complete. Then only re- alignment remains-a brief task, as you know."

"Need any help?"

"Not immediately-Limila is doing all that is needed.

Later, perhaps. If so, I will ask."

"Fine; do that." Abdui left them. "Anything else hap- pening, Alene, in the way of progress?"

She shook her head. "Every now and then we tilt and take a look. Hishtoo's still on constant-decel for Sisshain.

We're catching up a little, but not enough to count"

"Yeh-that figures. What's the latest guess as to when he lands? And when we do?" Eeshta returned with her klieta. Barton rose and turned the comm back to her, and Eeshta made the lifted-tongue Demu smile.

"The latest," said Alene, "looks like just under three days, for Hishtoo. Us?-we'll be close enough to watch his landing on visual, I think-maybe just a matter of be-

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ing minutes behind. Oh, Barton-have you looked out- side yet, today?" :,

"No. What's to see?"

"Show him, Eeshta." The young Demu turned switches;

Barton watched the screen as Eeshta slowly panned the view through a full circle.

The change was that in the lower portion, no stars

showed.

"I get it," Barton said. "We're entering the dust cloud

-the pocket in it, I mean."

"Right," said Alene. "Pretty soon there won't be any- thing to see except a few stars directly behind us."

"And Sisshain ahead," said Eeshta. Her tone was hushed. Barton sympathized-he felt a little subdued

himself.

He stood. "I think I'm enough awake, now, to eat

breakfast." He waved a hand and left.

He found the galley empty, and set about scrambling eggs and making toast. He ate slowly, thinking ahead- to Sisshain. Guessing in a vacuum, he decided, was get- ting him nowhere fast-he went to check on Abdul's progress. /

In the drive room, Abdul and Limila were -working quietly, exchanging only a few words now and then. Bar- ton watched silently for a few minutes, then spoke.

"Things coming along all right? Need any help?"

Limila looked up. "Good morning, Barton. Yes, it is well. A short time now, Abdul says, until we may test and

realign."

Abdul finished the set of connections he was making, before he, too, looked up at Barton. "She is correct. Un- less further damage has escaped my notice, it is only a matter of tedious assembly until the Shield is again com- plete, prepared for testing."

-that's fine. Need another

"So we'll know pretty soon- set of hands?"

Abdul shook his head. "No, I think not. Unless you

are tired, Limila?"

"No, I am of good energy. I shall be hungry again, though, when the circuits are complete, before the test- ing."

"I, too," said Abdul. "At that point, we will pause."

"Okay, then-I'll get out of here and let you get on

with it."

Barton returned to the galley and brooded over a cup

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of klieta, alone. This damned waiting, he thought, was enough to stretch a man all out of shape.

The morning passed, and lunchtime, and the testing of the Shield. Abdul found and replaced another damaged component that might cause instability under stress. By midaftemoon the Shield was as good as new. The jury- ringed assembly from the torpedo looked to Barton like a plumber's nightmare-but if Abdul vouched for it, Bar- ton was satisfied.

Deeper into the mouth of the dust cloud. That day- and the next, and the next-dragged interminably. The '

seven spoke less and laughed seldom, each caught in his or her web of tension. There was no bad temper, no irritability-it wasn't that kind of tenseness. It was, thought Barton, like bleeding to death, one drop at a time.

And about two-thirds done with it. ...

Day-64: the day that would see Ship One landed on Sisshain, or-or what? A riddled hulk? A ship in dire re- treat from Demu force? Barton wished he knew. But at least now, by God, they were getting down to cases!

He didn't bother with breakfast, but took a pot of cof- fee along to Control. Soon he had a full crew; Cheng and Myra had been relieved from their "night" watch but made no move to leave. Alene was pilot, Limila on comm, and Abdul sat at the weapons position. Barton prowled, unable to sit for long.

"How close?" he said. "When does Hishtoo land?"

They were slowed to a fraction of light-speed; the ship's wake, streaming ahead, was only a tenuous obstacle to viewing or detection-

"Very close," said Limila. "Soon-less than an hour.

He has passed the star-Sisshain's primary that is off the left side of our present view. As soon, we will pass it. He is inside the orbit of Sisshain, thus approaches its daylit side."

"That's a help," Barton growled, "unless he swings wide and orbits when he gets close. How far behind him are we?"

"The prediction," said Abdul, "based on present courses, speeds, and decelerations, is that we land twenty-five minutes after Hishtoo. The margin of error is

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