It is not a problem, Jaxom. For it has been solved. Aivas has told you so. He has shown you so.
And you agree with him? You'll risk it?
We went forward to see if it worked. It had. Therefore we will do it because we have done it. It will be quite a feat. Ruth sounded eager and elated. Surprised, Jaxom pushed himself up to his elbows. It will be even more challenging than saving Ramoth's egg, Ruth went on. And even more important for the future of this world. That is what you must think of, not these sad and useless pasts. What has been done, has been done and cannot be undone.
Did Sharra have a word with you before she left? Jaxom wouldn't have put it past his wife to enlist the aid of his dragon.
She did not need to. Am I not always close to your heart and your mind?
Always, dear heart. Always! And Jaxom swung his legs over the edge of the bed. There was still a lot to be done at Ruatha before he could return with a clear conscience to Aivas and Landing.
19
Aivas had explained to Fandarel and Bendarek exactly how to alter and reinforce the HN03 tanks that were to corrode the metal casing of the antimatter engines. Fandarel followed his instructions, though he thought that the tolerance needed on the alloy of the tanks as well as the padding seemed redundant. He did enjoy constructing the gauges and the nozzles that would let the agenothree drop on the engine casing.
"A slow process, to be sure, but the rate of penetration can be measured and monitored," Aivas told the Smithcraftmaster. "The safety factors built into the great star-crossing engines were immensely sophisticated. The construction data are not available to discover a more efficient way of broaching the antimatter suspension, so this crude method is the only option. Sometimes the simple solutions are best. Therefore, it is prudent to allow a wide window, which has been calculated as two weeks, give or take a few days. By the time the dragonriders transfer the engines to their positions, the corrosion should have penetrated almost to the antimatter capsule."
"Now, look here, Aivas," Fandarel began. "I know the rate at which agenothree corrodes metal-"
"Not metal such as the builders of this ship used, Master Fandarel."
"That's so." Fandarel scrubbed at his close-cropped scalp. "What puzzles me is the amount of agenothree required to reach the antimatter material."
"As has been explained"-a diagram appeared on the monitor in the engineering section: a massive block surrounding a ridiculously small cube in a slightly larger sphere-"the antimatter material is not a large mass, approximately two hundred grams. Even the suspension unit masses only about fifteen hundred kilograms."
"Frankly, Aivas, that's what perplexes me. How could two hundred grams of anything power a ship the size of the Yokohama through space?"
"Do you not appreciate efficiency, Master Fandarel?" Aivas asked in reply, in a tone that could have been interpreted as amused. Fandarel often had the feeling that the machine was amused. "The matter/antimatter engine is the quintessence of efficiency. Only a small amount is ever required."
"With two hundred grams of black powder or even nitro, one cannot explode very much," Fandarel replied.
"Do not equate black powder or nitro, or anything used in mining operations, with antimatter on any count. There is no comparison to the explosive energy released. Despite the distance involved, you will be able to see the flash of the explosion with an ordinary telescope when the antimatter explodes on the Red Star. You would see no trace of an explosion using two hundred grams of black powder, or even nitro. You must be assured that this facility does comprehend the power that is to be discharged."
Fandarel continued to scratch his pate in wonderment, nodding as he tried to accept what Aivas had said.
"You are an excellent craftsman, Master Fandarel, and have advanced at an astonishing pace in the past four years and nine months. Since antimatter, unlike the atom that you have recently been investigating, cannot be studied in laboratory situations, you must rely on explanations. It cannot be exposed to matter as you know it-ore, earth, gases, water. Antimatter can be contained, as it is in the ship's engine, and, with control, become the most efficient source of power Mankind has at its disposal. At this point in your study of physics, you cannot understand these concepts. But you can use them to your advantage-with proper guidance, techniques known to this facility, and the safeguards that have already been explained to you. As you pursue your studies, you will come to understand even the anomalies of antimatter. But not now. Time becomes a critical factor. The Red Planet must be jarred out of its current orbit just where it will later approach the fifth planet of your system.
"Do you have the couplings to attach the HN03 tanks to the engine blocks?"
"Yes," Fandarel said with a sigh, and indicated the metal braces and T-junction that he and his best smiths had built to hold the tanks tightly against the engines in a way that would allow the corrosive material to leak onto the metal in a regulated flow.
"Then you should proceed to install the tanks as indicated." The screen altered to show a new diagram.
"I could do it in my sleep," Bendarek muttered.
"It would be unwise to fall asleep in space, Journeyman Bendarek," Aivas replied immediately.
Bendarek grimaced and shot Fandarel an apologetic glance.
"You will remember to use tether lines while you are EVA," Aivas continued. "F'lessan and his bronze dragon are in the cargo bay in case of an emergency."
Gathering up their bundles, Fandarel and Bendarek made their way to Airlock E-7, nearest the engine shaft. The bulky agenothree tanks, the largest that Fandarel had ever manufactured, ringed the wall of the lock where the rest of the work detail awaited them, all suited up except for helmets. When Fandarel and Bendarek were ready, helmets were donned and secured, each member of the six-man team checking his mate's tank, fastening, and safety lines.
At Fandarel's nod, Bendarek cycled the airlock closed and then opened the outer door. Evan and Belterac took one tank, while Silton and Fosdak took the second. Bendarek handed out the couplers to the other journeyman, checking that each had the tools that would be required. Fandarel swung himself out onto the catwalk that led from the hatch to the great engine shaft.
Big as the Mastersmith was, he was dwarfed to insignificance by the immensity of the metal mass that contained the so-efficient two hundred grams of antimatter. For once in his life, Fandarel felt inadequate as he made his lumbering way: a grain of sand beside a dune. However, there was work to be done, for which he was quite capable, so he suppressed the comparison and, without looking back, gestured for Evan and Belterac to follow him. Pern was spread out below them, and with an accustomed glance, he located the odd pimples that were the Landing volcanoes. It comforted him in the grandeur of space to be able to identify something he knew. He proceeded, feeling the vibration in the walkway as others set foot upon it.
They all had EVA time, were accustomed to moving in freefall, and were all aware of yet fascinated by the inherent dangers of the new environment. To Fandarel's surprise, Terry, who had been his second hand for so long, could not handle the vastness of space, or even the lack of gravity, though he had never minded going a-dragonback. Still, Master Fandarel thought, space was a different medium altogether than between and just as hostile as Aivas told them. There had been those one or two-well, actually five-mishaps, Fandarel had to admit. Fortunately there had been dragons about, and the men who had inadvertently loosened their safety lines, had been hauled back to the Yokohama. Belterac was the only one who had overcome fear of a repetition and continued that exercise. But Belterac was phlegmatic by nature.