it makes logistical sense to bring in provisions for them across seventeen light-years from Ziranhku, rather than from Earth, sixty-three light-years away.”
“Besides which,” Chantal added, “on Earth they’d have to do all the transshipment under the eyes of law enforcement agencies that are alert for any sign of their activities.”
“Very valid points,” said Jason. “Which leave us with the basic question of what they’re doing in this system in the first place. “He sighed resignedly. “Well, we’ll find out soon enough.”
Nevertheless, they were no more able to refrain from fruitless speculation than a dog can resist chewing a bone. They had little else to do as the days went by and the sun of Zirankhu fell behind, merging into the star-fields, and the tiny glow of SS+28 9357 appeared and grew in the view-forward. Six days of this left them irritable and on edge by the time that orange-tinted glow waxed from a star to something resembling a sun.
Before they approached the Secondary Limit and disengaged their drive-field, Tomori’s instrumentation, though certainly not in the same class as that of a survey ship, had told them most of what they needed to know about the local planets. Aside from a few iceballs orbiting in outer darkness, there were only two: a tiny, charred cinder close to the sun, and a small rocky globe just outside this sun’s narrow “Goldilocks zone.” It was for the latter that the transport shaped its course.
As they followed their quarry through the maneuvering necessary for a ship under negative mass drive to approach a planet—decelerating to zero pseudovelocity and disengaging the drive before entering the Primary Limit, then killing the retained intrinsic velocity that had been built up departing from Zirankhu—they studied the planet. It was within the normal size and density parameters for terrestrial planets of its mass range, with a surface gravity of 0.55 G. It had no moons. There were polar ice-caps, partly carbon dioxide snow but holding an impressive amount of water, indicating that there was a lot more in the underground cryosphere. But there was no apparent liquid water, even though the topography, with its dry channels, made clear that the planet had possessed it in the past. In fact the atmosphere, mostly carbon dioxide with a little nitrogen and argon, was just barely dense enough for water to exist in a liquid state. These were not vacuum conditions, which would simplify the problems of constructing a base there. And it didn’t take Tomori long to detect such a base.
As Van Horn put them into a high orbit, they all waited, tensely wondering if that base had anything that could crack their stealth suite. But they watched without incident as the transport settled down into the atmosphere—no need for orbital transfer here—and landed.
“Can you give us visuals of that base?” Rojas asked Tomori.
“Yes. We’re on the right side of the planet. I’ll increase the magnification.” On a small screen, the desert surface of the planet seemed to rush toward them, and the base grew into recognizability. It was located on the desert floor at the base of a low plateau. There was a landing field on which the cargo carrier now rested, a very large powerplant, a cluster of domes, and . . .
Jason drew a sharp breath. Rojas turned and gave him a curious glance. “What is it, Commander?”
Jason couldn’t keep his hand altogether steady as he pointed to a large circular expanse surrounded by machinery of, at least to his eyes, unmistakable purpose.
“That, Major, is a temporal displacer. If you don’t immediately recognize it for what it is, that’s understandable. It’s a bigger one than I’ve ever imagined.”
CHAPTER TEN
They all stared, speechless, as Tomori produced the figures for the size of what they were looking at.
“That would be enormous even for us,” Jason finally said. “Not that we could afford to build it. Using the
“Besides which,” Chantal added, “on Earth they’d have to do all the transshipment under the eyes of law enforcement agencies that are alert for any sign of their activities.”
“Very valid points,” said Jason. “Which leave us with the basic question of what they’re doing in this system in the first place. “He sighed resignedly. “Well, we’ll find out soon enough.”
Nevertheless, they were no more able to refrain from fruitless speculation than a dog can resist chewing a bone. They had little else to do as the days went by and the sun of Zirankhu fell behind, merging into the star-fields, and the tiny glow of SS+28 9357 appeared and grew in the view-forward. Six days of this left them irritable and on edge by the time that orange-tinted glow waxed from a star to something resembling a sun.
Before they approached the Secondary Limit and disengaged their drive-field, Tomori’s instrumentation, though certainly not in the same class as that of a survey ship, had told them most of what they needed to know about the local planets. Aside from a few iceballs orbiting in outer darkness, there were only two: a tiny, charred cinder close to the sun, and a small rocky globe just outside this sun’s narrow “Goldilocks zone.” It was for the latter that the transport shaped its course.
As they followed their quarry through the maneuvering necessary for a ship under negative mass drive to approach a planet—decelerating to zero pseudovelocity and disengaging the drive before entering the Primary Limit, then killing the retained intrinsic velocity that had been built up departing from Zirankhu—they studied the planet. It was within the normal size and density parameters for terrestrial planets of its mass range, with a surface gravity of 0.55 G. It had no moons. There were polar ice-caps, partly carbon dioxide snow but holding an impressive amount of water, indicating that there was a lot more in the underground cryosphere. But there was no apparent liquid water, even though the topography, with its dry channels, made clear that the planet had possessed it in the past. In fact the atmosphere, mostly carbon dioxide with a little nitrogen and argon, was just barely dense enough for water to exist in a liquid state. These were not vacuum conditions, which would simplify the problems of constructing a base there. And it didn’t take Tomori long to detect such a base.
As Van Horn put them into a high orbit, they all waited, tensely wondering if that base had anything that could crack their stealth suite. But they watched without incident as the transport settled down into the atmosphere—no need for orbital transfer here—and landed.
“Can you give us visuals of that base?” Rojas asked Tomori.
“Yes. We’re on the right side of the planet. I’ll increase the magnification.” On a small screen, the desert surface of the planet seemed to rush toward them, and the base grew into recognizability. It was located on the desert floor at the base of a low plateau. There was a landing field on which the cargo carrier now rested, a very large powerplant, a cluster of domes, and . . .
Jason drew a sharp breath. Rojas turned and gave him a curious glance. “What is it, Commander?”
Jason couldn’t keep his hand altogether steady as he pointed to a large circular expanse surrounded by machinery of, at least to his eyes, unmistakable purpose.
“That, Major, is a temporal displacer. If you don’t immediately recognize it for what it is, that’s understandable. It’s a bigger one than I’ve ever imagined.”
CHAPTER TEN
They all stared, speechless, as Tomori produced the figures for the size of what they were looking at.
“That would be enormous even for us,” Jason finally said. “Not that we could afford to build it. Using the
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