Страница 96 из 114
"This facility is correct in its findings and conclusions in this matter, as well, Lord Jaxom."
"Don't try that tact on me, friend. It doesn't work! The dragonriders are not going to go along with this. Timing it has always been extremely tricky. You know that Lessa nearly died going back four hundred Turns. You want us to go back eighteen hundred?"
"You will be carrying your own oxygen supplies, so you will not suffer from asphyxia as she did. You are aware of the sensory deprivation syndrome and will not be disturbed by the disorientation..."
Jaxom kept shaking his head. "You can't ask bronzes to do that, even if they are able to. I don't think F'lar times it. In fact, the only one I do know who has is Lessa."
"And your Ruth. Furthermore, you have been proud of the fact that the white dragon always knows where and when he is going."
"You have said that Ruth always knows where and when he is going."
"I have, but-"
"If Ruth knows where and when he is going-and specific guides are available-he can supply the necessary visual coordinates."
"But I know that the other riders won't stand for this..."
"They will not know!"
Jaxom stared straight at the screen for another long moment.
"How;" he asked at last in a very patient, saccharine tone, 'will they not know'?"
"Because you will not tell them. And since you now have been to the Red Star on several occasions, and since the distance in terms of travel between will not be appreciably longer than what they would expect, they will not know that they have been transported back in time and to the Red Star in the position required by the equations that cover the two disparate explosions."
Jaxom mulled that over and, inhaling deeply, realized that in his state of shock he had not been breathing regularly.
I think we can do it, Ruth remarked with more confidence than Jaxom was feeling at that moment.
Jaxom turned toward his beloved friend. "You may think we can, but I'm going to be bloody sure we can. Now, Aivas, let's go through this again... The other riders are not to know the time of our destination. But there are to be three teams of us, taking the three engines..."
"Hamian will not have sufficient space suits for the three hundred beasts required to shift all three engines at the same time. You will lead two of the three groups. F'lar will, as pla
"The timing's wrong, Aivas. I ca
"You missed the point about insufficient space suits. Your team will have to get out of their suits and turn them over to the members of the second unit. That should allow Ruth sufficient time to regain energy. You will, of course, be certain that he eats well beforehand and can feed immediately afterward to restore himself."
I could do it the way Aivas suggests, Ruth said amiably.
"I haven't said I'll risk us!" Jaxom roared, bringing both fists down on the console with such force that he hurt his hands. Rubbing them, he grumbled to himself.
"You already have, or there would not be two craters on the Rift, and there would not have been records of bright flashes."
"You're inveigling me, Aivas. And I'm not going to let you."
"You already have, Lord Jaxom. You are the only one who can, could, would, has. Think this proposal over carefully and you will see that the project is not only within the capabilities of yourself and Ruth, but feasible. And essential! Three explosions at this point in time will not have the desired effect on the future path of the Red Star."
Jaxom sighed deeply, almost as if he already felt it needful to fill his lungs for a jump timed eighteen hundred Turns away. His mind refused to settle into a logical examination of the affair.
"Since this is a confessional moment, tell me why you are so obsessed with this project you've involved Sharra in? Especially," he added with an ironic laugh, "if you say you know I've already succeeded even before I've begun."
"You do succeed, and there is an easy way to prove it," Aivas said, his tone not quite ingratiating but as close to that as Jaxom had ever heard.
"No, first explain to me about these zebedee things."
"It is extrapolated by the closer examination of the Thread ovoids that there is life, not as you know it, and not even as we see it brought here by the Red Star, but a whole ecology of life forms throughout the Oort Cloud. Some of them are probably quite intelligent, judging by the complexity of their nervous systems; but when they arrive here, they have lost most of their liquid helium and so can be termed only 'rude mechanicals.' It is these degenerate, warmth-tolerating forms that make it to the surface of Pern; they don't live long enough to replicate themselves there, of course, or on the Red Planet. It is only these 'mechanicals' that can reproduce without helium in Pern's orbit. But if these mechanicals could be contaminated, infected with our disimproved parasite, they would carry it with them to destroy all similar life-forms in the Oort Cloud itself, probably including the more intelligent ones, too. Then, no matter what happens, Pern will forever be freed of this menace. That is why there were Long Intervals: The disimproved zebedees that you will establish-have established long ago-on the surface of the Red Planet, twice in the past and once in the future will infect the Cloud when the Red Star cuts through it twice in every orbit."
"I'm also to be a disease carrier?" Jaxom was not sure which he felt more keenly: indignation, fury, or incredulity at the audacity of Aivas's scheme.
"You will seed the Red Star three times. That is why it is so important to breed up the disimproved zebedees. A triple thrust in two different areas."
"But if I'm to blow the planet out of orbit..."
"The perturbation will be slight, and you can seed the zebedees at a sufficient distance from the Rift to insure their safety. There will be plenty of host ovoids on the planet's surface as well as in orbit around it."
"We saw them on the surface, not in orbit."
"Were you looking for them?"
"Not in space. Now, tell me how you can prove to me that all these incredible designs of yours will work-have worked!"
"It is very simple. Access the file that gives you a graph of the Red Star's current orbit."
Jaxom had no trouble doing that. The all-too-familiar diagram filled the screen.
"Hold that on the monitor," Aivas instructed.
Jaxom pressed out that command.
"Now, if you will mount Ruth, you can go forward in time fifty years-Turns-using the digital timepiece as your reference."
"No one goes forward in time, that's the most dangerous..."
"Only if alterations will have taken place," Aivas replied. "There will be no changes on the bridge of Yokohama. That will be your responsibility. Today you will go forward in time, call up the orbit. Print it out. Then, with that hard copy, return here after a safe interval and compare the two graphs. The doors have been locked. No one is likely to come to this bridge at this moment, or until you have returned."
Every ounce of common sense Jaxom possessed shouted resistance to a timing forward. And yet... to have done so would be a feat no one else could possibly manage successfully. For he had Ruth.
"Did you hear what Aivas said, Ruth?"
I did. Given his assurances, and I know that he would not risk you, Jaxom
"Or you," Jaxom put in.
I would like to see what Pern looks like in the future. I would like to know that the future is going to be a good one.