Greenberg, Martin H - The Diplomacy Guild vol. 1, page 22
"None. They may well fail to. The background is high because of emissions from the search objects, and the Naxians have no reason to watch for new arrivals.--
6 'Uh-huh. Hard to see how they can think about anything but ... that. " Laurice allowed herself a magnified view. The optics must adjust brightness pixel by pixel before she could see any detail against the glare at either forefront. The comet tails were gone. Instead, changeable light seethed in a ring around each flattened fire globe. She thought she could make out fountains and geysers within it, brief saw teeth on the rim. Dopplering shaded it clearly toward violet on the one edge, red on the other, a whirling rainbow.
"Emissions indeed!" Yoran shouted. "God, these readings! "
Nothing dangerous to ship or crew. This puny radius, which would not have touched the Oort cloud of a typical planetary system, was still beyond mortal comprehension. You could give it a name and hang numbers on it; that was all.
"Yes, event horizons distinctly deformed," Yoran wellnigh crooned.
Laurice knew that his instruments saw what she could not. The sight before her, like every such earlier, must in at least some part be illusion. Gravity sucked matter in from every direction, while its colliding atoms gave off radiation that grew the more furious the deeper it fell; but as it neared the static limit, bent space-time compelled it into the maelstrom. Yonder coma was no more than its last clotting and sparking before it entered the accretion disk; the ring was no more than the verge of an inward-rushing cataract. Yoran's devices looked past them, through the ergosphere, to the ultimate blindness itself. And they had not the eyes of gods wherewith to do this. They took spectra, traced particles, measured mutable fields; from what they gathered, computers drew long mathematical chains of inference.
That process would not end for years, perhaps not for generations. The readouts and graphics that Yoran saw flash before him were the barest preliminary theorizing. They might be dead wrong. It was a wonderful mind that could, regardless, immediately grasp something of what went on.
Time went timelessly past, but in retrospect astonishingly short, until he said, "We're clear to move on, Captain. "
Praise him, Laurice thought. He needs it. He's earned it. "Fast work," she chimed in.
His laugh rattled. "Oh, we could spend weeks here and not exhaust the material. But we haven't got them."
No, she thought, we now have days to reap a share of the harvest for which the Naxians spent decades or centuries preparing.
"Right," Vargen agreed. "I take it you want to go on to your next planned point?" Same distance, but directly confronting the impact to be.
"No. I've changed my mind, on the basis of what I've learned in the last few stops. The latest input seems to confirm my ideas. We're going straight in."
"What? Immediately? You know we're close to the boundary for hypedump, given masses like those."
Once inside it, we run strictly on normal drive, till we've gotten remote enough again. We're committed.
"Yes, yes,. yes. " Laurice heard how Yoran barely controlled his temper. "But you know, or should, contact will take place in a hundred and seventy-six hours. I want to be at the two hundred million kilometer radius I calculated was safe, before that happens, in time to set up experiments I've devised. How fast can you get us there, ship?"
"At one gravity acceleration, with turnover, considering our present velocity, that will require eighty-eight hours, plus maneuvering time," Darya told him.
Laurice visualized him shaking fists in air. "You can boost higher than that. A lot higher! We've got medications against excess weight. We could even go into the flotation tank. "
"Such a delta vee would dangerously deplete our reserve. Does the captain order it?"
"No," Vargen decided at once. "One gee it is. You can still observe as we go, Yoran."
"But-" 'Me physicist gasped in a breath. "Can't you understand? We've got to be close in, and prepared, for the main event. I expect fluctuations in the metric, shortlived superparticles, polarized gravitons, superstrings-Aargh! Time's grown so scant as is. If you hadn't farted it away, everywhere else in space---
"Most of what we lost was because the people you chose turned out to require training," Vargen interrupted stiffly. "Prudence demands we don't squander so much convertible mass that we can't get onto emergency trajectories. "
"Yes, you'll keep your hide safe, won't you, whatever else may be sacrificed?"
"That will do. If your considered judgment as a scientist is that we should head directly inward, I assume you don't want to dawdle here arguing. Give the ship the coordinates you have in mind. Crew, stand by for boost at one gravity."
Laurice and Vargen were in his cabin when the message came.
"To the captain," Darya said. "Incoming audio signal on the fifth standard band. Radar touched us sixty seconds ago and is now locked on. Code: 'Acknowledge and respond.' Shall IT'
Vargen disentangled himself and rose from the bunk. "Do, and relay to me, with translation. Surely a Naxian. " To Laurice, wryly: "I knew this couldn't last. We're picking up more power plant emissions every hour. Somebody was bound to notice ours, and wonder."
She needed a moment more to swim up from the sweet aftermath of lovemaking. The warmth and odor of him still lingered as she heard "Ship Green Pyramid, Dominator Helix commanding and speaking, to vessel accelerating through sector eighty-seven dash eighteen dash zero-one. " That must be Darya's best attempt to render the coordinate system established for this locality, she thought. "You do not conform to the plan. Identify yourself. " "Captain Harul Vargen, from Ather, Florasol III, with crew on a scientific mission," the man stated. "We intend no interference or other harm, and will be glad to cooperate in any reasonable way."
The last drowsiness fled from Laurice. She glanced at her watch. Silence murmured. She got up too. The deck felt sensuously resilient beneath her bare feet, but remote, no longer quite real.
Twenty-eight seconds before response. If Helix hadn't hesitated, its-his (?) craft was four million-plus kilometers away. "Your presence is inadmissable. This region is closed. Remove yourselves."
Laurice bent over the intercom control and pushed for Copperhue's cubicle. "We are not aware of any such interdiction," Vargen was saying. "By what night do you declare it? It seems to be in violation both of treaty agreements and general custom."
"Copperhue," Laurice whispered. "They're on to us. At least one ship. They command we turn back. Listen in, and tell us what you think."
"S-s-s," the fugitive breathed.
"The Dominance of the Python Confederacy has taken sovereignty," Helix said. "Under its policy and in its name, I order you to return to clear space immediately and hypeiJump hence. Else you are subject to detention and penalties. I warn you, we have weapons. If necessary, we will use them, with regret but without hesitation."
"I should hope no civilized being would make a threat like that, without even having discussed the matter first," Vargen answered. "Certainly we require more authority than yours. What are your reasons for this demand?" "It-he bluffs, I believe," Copperhue murmured. Vargen also leaned close to hear, flank to flank with Laurice. She laid an 4rm about his waist. "Tell it-him that the Houses of Ather would have known if any such claim were regisiered with the Diplomacy Guild."
She noticed the time lag had grown. Darya was outrunning Green Pyramid, if "run" made sense when you spoke of coordinates, vectors, fields, and their derivatives in three-space. Evidently Helix thought that switching over
to hypertransmission would be more trouble than it was worth. Or did it-he welcome these moments, to consider what to say? "The Dominance is concerned about safety." Was it-he trying to wheedle? "A cosmic cataclysm will soon take place. You are not prepared for it."
Vargen straightened and grinned. "Oh. but we are. That's why we're here."
He went on as Copperhue had advised, finishing with: "Since no claim has been assented to, we have as much right as anybody. They know on Ather where we are, and that you are here. I don't imagine your superiors want an interstellar incident. "
Dismay and rage hissed under the incongruous mellowness of Darya's translating voice. "How do you know? What spies have you set on our sacred Nestmother?"
"To the best of my knowledge, none. And I wouldn't call the concealment of a scientific treasure trove a friendly act. Nor do I suppose the Six Races, including the other Naxian nations, will so regard it. I repeat, we mean no harm or interference. We hope your chief of operations will contact us when your officers have conferred and decided on a proposal intended to be mutually satisfactory. I respectfully suggest, and ask you to convey the suggestion, that they start thinking at once. "
"Good," oozed from Copperhue's cubicle. "Firmness and correctness, after Helix faltered in both. The grand commander should well evaluate the playback of this conversation. "
"Signing off, then," the Naxian captain said grimly. "You shall receive more soon." Laurice heard an abrupt absence of background sounds she had not noticed before.
"You did it! Whee, you did!" She leaped at Vargen, threw her arms about his neck, kicked heels in air. "I love you!"
I 'We've just begun," he cautioned, "and God knows what'll happen next. " She let go and he activated the general intercom. "Attention. Urgent news." "We're busy, for Founder's sake! " Yoran exclaimed, obviously from the main lab.
"Too busy for the Naxians?"
"Hub? Oh. Carry on, you," to the assistants. ','A minute . . . All right.
Tell me."
. Vargen did. "We're leaving them behind, you say," the physicist answered. "They're doubtless unarmed anyway.
"Unless that fellow was lying, they do have some combatworthy units. And hyperbeams must be flying from end to end of their fleet."
"The farther in we go,'-' Darya reminded, "the smaller the volume of ambient space and therefore the more difficult evasion becomes. It is certainly incompatible with keeping station. "
"I'll bet you're better armed than anything they've got here," Yoran said.
"Stand up to the stinking snakes. Make them crawl. "
"Copperhue, " Vargen sighed, "may we have your opinion, and your pardon for that language?"
"My guess is that naval strength is small and incidental, confined to two or three craft whose real task is to help out in emergencies," replied calmness--or steely self-control? "Granted, the command will consider our
advent an emergency. If they do possess superior force, they will probably
threaten us with it."
"They don't," Yoran said. "I swear they don't. Fight. Blow 'em out of the universe. "
Laurice remembered violent deaths she had witnessed. It was like a benediction when Vargen responded, "Only in self-defense, and only as an absolute last resort. I don't want to hear any more such talk. Go back to your studies. Let me know if a worthwhile thought occurs to you." He switched off.
Turning to Laurice, he took her hands in his. "I'm afraid that henceforward we're on twenty-four-hour duty. " He smiled the smile that was like Davith's. "Well, we did luck out on this watch." He drew her close. The kiss was brief and wistful.
"Memories to look at, whenever we get a moment to pull them out of our pockets," Laurice agreed. "We'll enlarge the collection in future."
Abruptly she giggled. "Speaking of pockets, we'd better grab a quick shower and get dressed. It doesn't make any difference to the
Naxians, but we'd scarcely overawe our human shipmates as we are, would we?"
Ahead, the envelopes of the black holes burned hell bright, drowning naked-eye vision of everything else in the dark around them. Without magnification, they were still little more than star points. Incredible, that the masses of whole suns and the energies to annihilate them were rammed down into volumes so tiny. But from the outer edges of the disks, beyond the ergospheres, gas had begun reaching, like two candle flames pointed at each other. Sparks drifted off them and guttered out.
Elsewhere in heaven, from her control globe, Laurice saw the Naxian ships. They and Darya had matched velocities and now orbited unpowered, those three in linear formation,' she some thousand kilometers from them, a separation that would increase only slowly for the next hour or two. Much enlarged, their images remained minuscule, spindle shapes lost in the star-swarm beyond.
Just the same, she felt very alone. Vargen was in his own globe. He had linked his communicator to hers, but no other human was in the circuit, nor was Copperhue. This connection would be audiovisual, and it-he had counseled against letting the Naxians know of one whom they must regard as a traitor. Yonder midges could spit lightnings and missiles. Her heart beat thickly.
The screen before her flickered. Its projection split into a pair. Vargen's head confronted that of a Naxian, whose skin was yellow with black zigzags down the sides. Was the same strain upon both faces? She couldn't read the alien's. Nor could she know what feelings were in the tones that went underneath Darya's methodical running translation.
"Hail, Captain Hand Vargen," she heard. "I am Crystal That Sparkles, Dominator, in ultimate command of the Python Confederacy's astrophysical quest."
"Your presence honors us, madam." How does he know that creature's quasisex? she wondered. Well, in the past he dealt with members of all Six Races, and he's intelligent, observing--he cares-"Ts-s-s." A laugh? "You show us curious courtesy, sir. In total contempt of authority, you have continued on your way, forcing us to divert these craft from important duties. That makes hypocrisy of your assertion that you mean to create no disturbance."
"No, madam." Vargen spoke levelly, patiently. "As soon as your representative called for rendezvous at a point we agreed was reasonable, we commenced maneuvers toward it. I cannot see any need for you to send three vessels. One would have served, surely; or we could have talked by hyperbeam. Are you trying to intimidate us? Quite unnecessary. We're the same peaceful scientists we took you to be."
Now there's hypocrisy for you! whooped Laurice. A fraction of the sweat-cold tension slacked off within her.
Hairless head lifted on sinuous neck. "Police need weapons against contumacious lawbreakers. Indications were that your ship is of a heavily armed type."
"Tbat is true, madam, but it doesn't mean we want to menace anybody or throw our weight around." No more than we've got to. "You have had a good look at us. If your databanks are complete, you've recognized the model and know more or less what firepower we carry. You should also know why. This vessel is for exploration, where unpredictable demands on her can always come out of nowhere."
"You do not need nucleonics against primitive natives, sir, and when have starfarers attacked you?"
"Never, madam." Tbank whatever god- "And we devoutly hope none ever will." -made those terrible devourers up ahead. "Certainly the owners, the House of Windfell, have no such intention. But an expedition just might run into, ah, parties willing to violate civilized canons. Far more likely, of course, nature may suddenly turn hostile. Antimissile magnetohydronamics deflect solar flare particles. A warhead excavates where a shelter is to be built. An energy beam drills a hole through ice, for geologists and prospectors to reach the minerals beneath. Besides work like that, this ship took a large investment. People protect their investments."
"Your best protection is to depart, sir. This vicinity will soon be unpredictably dangerous. " Does it-she have a dry sense of humor? wondered Laurice. Well, Copperhue does.
"We're prepared for that as ftdly as I'd guess you are, madam. This situation is unique. We can't abandon our mission without betraying our race." Vargen raised his brows and smiled-for Laurice. "Unless the Dominance plans to share everything you discover with the rrst of the civilizations. "
Crystal's head struck back and forth, at emptiness. "How did you learn of us?"
"I'm not at liberty to tell you, madam, assuming for argument's sake that I know. But we've transmitted home the data we acquired along the way.
You'd expect us to, wouldn't you? The basic secret is out. Why not let us carry on our observations in peace-or, better yet, join you in making them? Think of the goodwill the Confederacy will earn throughout the galaxy. " Silence seethed. Had the black holes moved perceptibly closer? Less than two days remained before the crash.
"No," fell from Crystal. "I ... have no right . . . to grant such permission. This was our discovery. We staked our efforts, our lives, for cycle after cycle. Yes, you have stolen something from us, but the great revelations you shall not have. Turn about, sir, or we must destroy you." "Can you?" Vargen challenged. "And firing on us would be an act of war, madam."
"Sir, it would not. Ather would feel aggrieved, but be a single planet against the Confederacy. No other nation would be so lunatic as to fight about an incident so remote in every sense of the concept. The Diplomacy Guild would arbitrate, an indemnity might be paid, and that would be that.
It-she understands politics, Laurice thought. And ... I wouldn't spend lives and treasure myself, over something like this. Maybe, in a hundred years, when the Pythons have powers nobody else does, maybe then I'd be sorry. But today I'd just hope that things will work out somehow. "Therefore," Crystal continued, "I urge you, sir. I implore you, not to compel us. Be satisfied with what you have. Go home."
Vargen made it-her wait for an entire minute before he replied, "Madam, with due respect, with sympathy for you in your dilemma, your demand is unlawful, unreasonable, and unacceptable. The right of innocent passage and access to unclaimed celestial bodies is recognized by every nation of the Six Races. I have no intention of heeding your demand, and do not believe you have the power to enforce it."
"They are small units," Darya had said. "Their combined firepower barely approximates mine; and I am a single vessel, self-integrated, with stronger defenses and more acceleration capability. They could perhaps take me in a well coordinated attack, but I estimate the probability of that as no more than forty percent."
"And supposing they did wipe us, you'd get one or two of them first, most likely, wouldn't you?" Laurice had pointed out. "That'd be a big setback to
