All The Weyrs of Pern

For a very long moment, no one spoke.

"We have no such exploding capability," Jaxom said.

"You do not. The Yokohama, the Bahrain, and the Buenos Aires do."

"What?" F'lar demanded angrily.

"The engines," Jaxom said. "The bloody engines. Oh, you are devious, Aivas!"

"But the engines are dead!" "There's not enough fuel!" "How would we get them there?" Everyone tried to be heard.

"The engines are dormant," Aivas said over the uproar. "But it is the material in the engines that will provide the explosive power. If antimatter is allowed to contact matter without controls, the result will suit your needs."

"Now wait a moment-" Jaxom called for order over the babel of questions. "You specifically stated in those engineering lectures to Fandarel that the antimatter is held out of contact with matter in the densest metals Mankind has ever forged. We don't have the equipment to penetrate those casings. Or is Fandarel working on something we don't know about'?"

There was a little pause, and Jaxom found himself agreeing with master Robinton that Aivas seemed to laugh to himself sometimes.

"It is true that the safety factors built into the great interstellar engines were immensely sophisticated, and that schematics for their design are not available in the engineering data," Aivas said at last. "But it has long been the case that complex things can be attacked best by simple methods. This facility must also obey the stipulation that you are not to be instructed in levels of technology beyond that of your ancestors. Fortunately you already have an agent that will provide the penetration. You have used it in every Fall for many centuries."

"HN03!" Piemur said in a gasp.

"Correct. The metal casings of the matter/antimatter drives are not impervious to its erosive effect." The visual of the Yokohama's engine shaft reappeared, but now there were large extraneous tanks placed on the drive cube. "It will take time, which is why there is a wide window of two weeks for this part of the activity, but the acid will penetrate the casings, and once the magnetic chamber is broached, matter and antimatter will self-destruct, causing the cataclysmic explosion necessary to shift the Red Star's orbit. Any further questions?"

Jaxom broke the silence that time. "So all the Weyrs of Pern will be needed to take the engines, not the ships, between to the Red Star. To drop them into the chasm?"

"To drop them might displace the HN03 tanks."

"How heavy are those engines?" F'lar asked.

"Their mass is the one weak point of the plan. However, you have constantly stated that the dragons can carry that which they think they can carry."

"Correct, but no one has ever asked them to carry engines!" F'lar replied, awed by the scale of the loads.

Jaxom began to chuckle and received offended stares. "That's why the bronzes have been exercising in free-fall-to get them used to things being so much lighter in space. Right, Aivas?"

"That is correct."

"So if we don't tell them how much those bloody things weigh..."

"Now, really, Jaxom," F'lar began.

"No, really, F'lar," Jaxom replied. "Aivas is applying a valid psychological tactic. I think it'll work. Especially if we think it can work. Right?" He gave F'lar a challenging look.

"Jaxom makes a good point," Lytol said. Beside him, D'ram nodded accord. "With many dragons, all working together... it could be done. No one dragon bearing more than his fair share of the burden, everyone believing that he can succeed. That framework is convenient. Each dragon will be able to grip the load."

"With padding on their feet to reduce the effects of spacecold metal," Aivas added.

"And take that much weight between?" Lessa asked, still skeptical.

"You know," F'lar said, rubbing his jaw speculatively. "I think they could do it-if we think they can. Tell me how Ruth reacted to being in space, Jaxom."

"Wait a minute," Lessa said, holding up her hand, her brow wrinkled in concentration. "How long would such a maneuver take? We could get an engine between, but to go that distance between..."

"You and your queen Ramoth traveled backward in time..."

"And nearly died," F'lar said, his tone as bitter as the look he gave his weyrmate for the anguish he had suffered then.

"The riders will all have oxygen-which is doubtless what you lacked, Weyrwoman-to breathe, and protective suits."

"There aren't that many!" D'ram protested.

"Not yet," Piemur said, his eyes glinting, "but Hamian's turning out the plastic-coated fabric faster than Master Nicat's men can glue the pieces together."

"From what has been said by every rider interviewed, only eight seconds elapse to reach most destinations here on Pern," Aivas went on. "Of those eight seconds, the dragons seem to use a basic five or so to assimilate their coordinates, and the rest of the time for the actual transfer. Using this premise and adapting it to a logarithmic computation, assume that travel takes I second for 1,600 kilometers, 2 seconds for 10,000, 3.6 seconds for 100,000, and 4.8 for I million and 7 to 10 seconds for 10 million. While this method of transference is still incomprehensible to this facility, it does appear to work. Therefore, knowing the approximate distance from Pern to the Red Star, it is easy to compute an interplanetary jump. It has also been established that dragons are able to function for fifteen minutes before their systems are in oxygen debt-more than enough time to make the journey, position the engines in the chasm, and return. The dragons are accurate fliers."

"I'd want to try that journey," F'lar said. Lessa turned on him, but before she could speak, he went on. "Love, if we believe in our dragons, we can believe in our own abilities, as well. Before I ask the Weyrs to undertake such a trip, I must be sure it is feasible, and I won't risk anyone. Not this time!" Everyone knew he was alluding to F'nor's nearly fatal attempt to reach the Red Star so many Turns before. "Is there any air to breathe on the Red Star?"

"No," Aivas replied. "Certainly not breathable atmosphere, but there is some, mostly noble gases and nitrogen. Whatever denser atmosphere it once had would have been lost when it escaped from its original system. There is no water, as repeated circuits past Rukbat have boiled off much of its volatiles, too. F'nor has seen this in process. Gravity on the surface would be not much more than one-tenth of Pern's, so the atmosphere is much less dense than what you are accustomed to."

"You will not take such a perilous expedition by yourself, F'lar," D'ram said, rising to his feet, his expression resolute.

"D'ram..." Robinton reached for the old dragonrider's arm, while Lytol's expression was both pitying and approving.

"D'ram, this is a young man's duty," the ex-warder said, shaking his head sadly. "You have long since done yours."

"F'lar?" Lessa's face was screwed up in an anxious grimace, as if she couldn't deny him but wanted desperately to do so. She shook her head, her gray eyes wide with fright, as she realized that nothing she could say would dissuade him.

"I will go," the Weyrleader repeated.

"Not by yourself," Jaxom said, shaking his head. "I'll go with you." He held his hands up to silence the others, but had little effect. He raised his voice over the uproar. "Ruth. always knows where he is and when he is. No other dragon has that ability, and you all know it. I'll go without permission if you keep on at me like this!" He allowed his anger to be seen as he glared at Lytol, Robinton, and D'ram. Lessa glared back, but she didn't join in the arguments.

"Jaxom, you may not come with me," F'Iar stated. "You've responsibilities-"

"I'm going, and that's that. I trust Ruth as you trust Mnementh. Let's keep this expedition down to as few as possible. Right?"