"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.
And so would I, Jaxom thought.
Then, before he could come up with too many arguments against this rash, foolhardy, reckless endeavor, he signaled for Ruth to float over to him.
"You will, of course," Aivas said drolly, "be very sure to keep oxygen tanks full on the bridge for fifty Turns to come."
Jaxom gave a grim smile. "I'm not going to take any chances, Aivas. I'll just get into my suit." He was becoming quite adept at inserting himself into the space gear. He mounted Ruth and buckled on the riding straps, just to be very sure, in case they emerged in nothingness. He also knew that Ruth would have no trouble anywhere-or anywhen-finding his way back to Ruatha Hold.
He read the date exposed on the digital and added fifty to the year displayed: 2579. With that legend firmly in his mind, he told Ruth to transfer to that time.
I know when I'm going, Ruth said cheerfully, and they were abruptly between.
Jaxom counted the breaths he was taking and was rather pleased that they were slow and steady. At fifteen, they were back on the bridge-which had not, apparently, altered.
The view hasn't changed, Ruth said disconsolately.
"No, it hasn't," Jaxom said, surprised to see the diagram still up on the screen. The digital clock, however, definitely registered fifty full Turns past his last view of it. He unhooked his straps and floated down from Ruth's back to the screen.
"I suppose I could have put this back up in preparation for my coming," he told himself. "I'll remember. I hope. Is there sir up here, Ruth?"
Yes, but it's not very fresh.
Jaxom pulled off his gloves and put them down on the console. He didn't bother to unsuit, since he had no intention of remaining longer than this errand required. He tapped out the appropriate code and saw the cursor outline a second orbit, deviating by several degrees from the earlier one and with the return path intersecting the orbit of the fifth planet and spiraling in! With trembling fingers, he pressed the print command and a sheet obediently emerged-a sheet that felt subtly different from the paper he had become accustomed to. Much whiter, softer! Bendarek had really improved the quality of paper over the intervening Turns. Then he compared its diagram to the one on the screen.
"Shards! Aivas, the path of the Red Star has shifted. Aivas?" An iciness flowed across Jaxom's midsections. "Aivas?"
How can he hear you fifty Turns into the future, Jaxom? Ruth said in some amusement.
"Oh, right... I suppose. Except he'd know when we were going..." Jaxom was still uneasy about Aivas's silence. "I guess I have got so that I rely on him too much. But he was right. So we're stuck with this new madness of his, aren't we, Ruth?"
I do not think it is madness to be certain we never have Thread again.
"We're not out of this Pass yet, even if it is possibly the last one we'll have," Jaxom said, pushing himself off the deck to grab at Ruth's neck and swing his leg into the saddle. "The old bridge hasn't changed... and yet, it feels awful still and unused!"
I thought the view would have changed, Ruth said, clearly disappointed.
Jaxom thought vividly of the digital in his correct present, added thirty seconds to prevent an overlap, and Ruth took them between. Exactly fifteen breaths later he was looking straight at the digital advanced the thirty seconds. He did, however, feel very tired, and as he looked at Ruth's neck, he noticed a definite tinge of gray exhaustion in the usually lustrous hide.
"And?" Aivas queried him.
"I must have put the graph up, because it was there when I arrived."
"And?"
Jaxom undid his helmet, determined to spin the scene out for all it was worth. "Well, I must have remembered to keep the oxygen tanks topped up, for there was some, even if Ruth said it wasn't fresh-Shards!" He looked down at his bare hands. "I left my gloves there."
"Then. You will have left your gloves then." Aivas could play the same game.
Jaxom grinned. "I think I'll just wait and retrieve them... later. Here's what came up in the future. Is the variation sufficient for you, lord and master?" He placed the graph from fifty Turns in the future in front of the sensor so that Aivas could see and compare.
"Yes," Aivas said, unperturbed, "that will be sufficient. The explosions have accomplished exactly the desired dislocation. Jaxom, your vital signs show a depletion. You must eat carbohydrates."
"Ruth's a bit gray, too. He needs to eat more than I do."
You should have told me wed be doing this today, Jaxom. We have flown Fall, and I haven't eaten since those wherries last week.
"As soon as you're feeling able, dear heart, you shall have as many fat bucks and wherries as you can stuff down your maw."
Then let us go now. I really feel very hungry.
"Jaxom?" Aivas said as the white rider started peeling off his space suit.
"Yes?"
"Will you comply?"
"With your mad scheme? It appears I must because I have. Haven't I?"
Ruatha Hold was gay with banners in the bright autumnal air, and folk had been flowing down all the roads to the immense camping grounds near the racing course. One of the first tasks Jaxom had undertaken upon being confirmed as Lord Holder had been to revive Ruatha's breeding of runners. The animals he had produced since had won significant races from time to time at other Gathers, and he hoped that today, racing on home ground, they would perform even better.
He and Ruth had transferred from the Yokohama immediately to an upland meadow where the white dragon had replenished his energies on three bucks and two does. He had then glided home, emitting an occasional satisfied burp so that Jaxom could eat a more substantial meal than the handfuls of berries he had found in the bushes surrounding the field. Jaxom had seen his dragon comfortably curled up on the weyr couch, given orders to the first Steward he saw that he was not to be disturbed even if Thread fell out of phase, and grabbed some bread and cheese from the kitchen, which he consumed on his way to his quarters. There, somewhat sated, he removed his boots and riding belt and crawled under the sleeping furs to sleep.