Apprehensively, Ray looked toward Zainal. The Catten/immediately leaned over the speaker grill.
"How many do you see?" he asked as calmly as if he was asking how many rock squats were visible.
"Two of those dreadnoughts, I think. We're not entirely outside the Bubble yet but the skin is transparent and we can see out." What she didn't add, "and I hope they can't see in," hovered unsaid but understood.
Kris felt goosebumps rising on her arms and rubbed them away.
"There are also three flotillas of other smaller craft," and Hassan Moussa took over the reporting, "five in each group, beside and above the two big guys you can probably see on the bridge monitor;'
"Yes, we see them. Are they the dreadnoughts, Zainal?" Ray asked, beckoning for Zainal to stand beside him.
Zainal nodded. "What else?"
"Wouldn't they be enough?" Jim Rastancil asked facetiously.
Zainal shrugged.
"Hey, we've got other junk in the sky," Hassan continued. "Shall I widen the screen?"
"Yes, please," Zainal said, crossing his arms on his chest, the picture of objective observer.
"It's the dreadnoughts I worry about," Ray said, rubbing his chin nervously.
"What other ships are there, Hassan?" Zainal asked blandly.
"Bulky cargo type carriers and one transport larger than the KDL or KDM. Heading toward the nearer moon."
Ray looked at Zainal. "You were right about the moon base. What sort of air-to-ground missiles would they have? Something heavy enough to penetrate the Bubble?"
"Stay where you are, Gino//' Zainal cautioned. "I do not know, Ray.
Eosian weapons are powerful but the Bubble is an unknown quantity."
"Baby has not fully penetrated the Bubble/' Gino said. "Hassans just telling you what we can see through it."
There was a sudden flash of blinding whiteness, which stunned everyone watching, causing them to have retinal flashbacks. It took several seconds before clear vision was restored to those in the office.
"I do believe they're trying to breach the Bubble/' said Hassan after a moment, and he sounded highly amused.
"What was that flash?"
"Them/' Hassan replied. "Quite likely with every weapon on board."
"I'd say they fired all forward weapons/' Laughrey said, "although that flash was so strong, I don't think any of us are seeing more than the damned flash. Baby evidently saved us the worst of it with some sort of instant screen:' Zainal nodded.
"Any pain in your eyes? Headache?" Leon Dane asked, present in his capacity as a physician.
"Do you have a clearer idea of what happened down there?" Zainal asked.
"We got the flash right on//' Ray said, blinking furiously, "but I'm seeing all right…" He looked around for confirmation from the others and everyone nodded.
"Us, too/' Laughrey said, "even with lots of retinal echoes, all shaped like Baby's forward screen. Yeah, and hey, nothing got through the Bubble to us."
"All systems functioning perfectly," Raisha said, calm again.
"And whaddaya know?" Gino's tone was jubilant. "There isn't a ship out there-'cept the one heading toward the Moon, which is in the same place they were before they fired."
"Some of the smaller ones are tumbling end over end//' said Bert Put.
"That was some backlash! Shake 'em up good."
"I don't think they'll try that kind of a broadside again real soon//' Boris said in his deep bass voice, rippling with laughter.
"They've lost a whole mess of gear again, too//' G/no said. "I doubt they've even reception from the nearer ships."
"Could they have fired because they saw Baby?" Ray asked anxiously."
"No. We put the brakes on the moment Raisha spoke. The fo'ard screen was right against the Bubble film but we hadn't penetrated it//' Gino said.
"You might say our timing was serendipitous//' Laughrey said, chuckling.
"Can you pick up the newest Eosi orbital satellite?" Ray said, reminding them of the second purpose of their flight.
"On screen//' Boris said. "Tracking and recording. It is not as fast as the Farmers' orbital. In fact, it is as slow as a horse-drawn vehicle compared to a Formula One racer."
"Really?" Jim Rastancil said.
Kris made a note to herself to tell Boris what a lovely comparison that was. And very reassuring. She turned to Zainal and saw that he was grinning, even if he couldn't possibly know anything about Formula One racers.
She'd told him about horses. But Formula racing had not yet come up in any of their conversations.
Now Zainal was nodding. "As soon as we know its trajectory and timing, the scout and the KDM must leave. They will take a while to get ship-to-ship communications back on-line, and then it will take the Eosi time to calm down at this defeat of their weapons. They will be so angry, they could argue for days before they come to a decision about what to do next:'
"What about the moon base?" Ray asked.
Zainal shrugged. "That will take many weeks, months even, before it is finished. They may not even know we can get out when we want to."
"But we landed on Barevi and stole a ship." Ray said by way of reminder.
"They do not know that those ships are in here now."
"How stupid are these Eosi?" Bull Fetterman asked, his eyebrows raised high in surprise.
"You might be surprised," Zainal said.
"Then how long will it take to provision and crew the scout and the KDM?" John Beverly asked, speaking for the first time.
"How long is the trip to Earth?" Chuck asked Zainal.
"At top speed, about ten of your days," Zainal said.
"Didn't think it was that close/' remarked Beverly.
"From here it is. From Barevi it is longer."
"I'd say we can provision, water, do a quick service in about three days;' Chuck said.
"Do it in one and a half," Zainal said. "Sooner is better than later."
"Okay, gang, let's do it/' Chuck said, clapping his hands as a signal to move out. He got to the door of Ray's office, stopped, turned, and asked, "So who's going?"
Ray Scott was pulling a file to the center of his desk. 'I'll tell you by the end of dinner. All right, now, where's that provisional list we made up?"
DINNER THAT NIGHT was more of a feast than a normal repast and there were loud calls for the evening's cooks to come out and take a bow.
Dowdall stood on his table and announced a call for volunteers to hunt enough rocksquat and catch enough fish to provision the ships with "edible" food, not that Catteni issue.
"Dorothy warned me that there're a lot of scarce items on Earth. The Catteni take almost everything that's produced," he said with a very sober expression.
"Hey, Dow, we still got crates of the Catteni bars," Joe Latore said.
"They don't taste like much… unless you're real hungry."
"There are so many hungry people;' Dr. Ansible said in a sad tone, but loud enough for many to hear.
Sandy Areson leaped atop her chair. "We got lots here we can send along. Botanical care packages. Any volunteers?"
"We can let all the kids sleep in the center tonight," Patti Sue Greene shouted. "They'd love that and I'll volunteer me…"
"You'll need more than yourself/' Mavis Belton said.
"I will be glad to assist Patti Sue/' Anna Bollinger said and prodded Janet beside her who nodded quickly but without much enthusiasm.
Zane! Kris had to cover her mouth with one hand. What if she never came back from Catten? Never saw Zane again… Then she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder and looked up into Peter Easley's eyes. He nodded his head once and smiled reassuringly. Kris sniffed, patted his hand, and sniffed again. No, Zane would be fine.
She was going on the Catten mission with Zainal and he had not yet set an established dep.rture time. There had to be dings painted into the KDM: he had to do a little fixing with the recognition beacon, so that it gave only so much of the normal patterning before jamming. That would also verify the damage it had suffered. There were uniforms to be fixed: hair to be dyed gray, and the yellow contact lenses to be fitted so that this group would look more Catteni than what was called the first Botany expedition to Barevi had. Sandy Areson had fixed up cheek pads for Zainal and several rather nasty-looking scars that could be glued on his face-she instructed Kris on the process. These would sufficiently alter his appearance and would also explain the persona he was adopting for the expedition.