He glanced at Willow, who appeared pensive - not used to being ignored, evidently.
She moved nervously on her seat, looking about her disinterestedly. Normally there seemed to be nothing that could break her usual self-contained attitude - an attitude that had been necessary in a town like Migaa. But here, for the first time, she was in the company of men even more self-contained than she was. And it obviously disquieted her.
At last Asquiol saw her discomfort and said half apologetically: 'Anything troubling you?'
She smiled without amusement, obviously piqued: 'A woman's place is in the galley,' she said. 'Where is it?'
If she had intended to throw Asquiol off balance she had not succeeded.
'You might as well,' he said. 'I guess I'll be quite busy from now on. I expect we'll want something to eat soon.' He pointed to a door, then bent again over the charts.
Shrugging, she left the control room.
'Willow had always been curious about the Ghost System, living as she had in its shadow all her life. But she had never seen it. For some reason it had allowed her to dominate all the many men in her life, for they had seemed to have a hunger which she could not satisfy - though they had sought in her that satisfaction and had, therefore, put themselves in her power, thinking she had a secret she did not, in fact, possess.
Now she was going to the Shifter… on Asquiol's instigation. She was glad. These men, all three, offered her something she was unused to. A strength of character, perhaps, that she had never found in all the others who had come to Migaa.
Renark, Talfryn and particularly Asquiol offered her calm, controlled strength - a peculiar mixture of detachment and passion. She busied herself preparing the food, finding a well-stocked larder - for Renark enjoyed food.
Talfryn looked up from the charts, glanced at the scanner screen. He swore and moved towards the controls.
'Something's gone wrong with the laser. I'll try and…'
'Don't touch those controls!'
Renark's brain seemed to swell within his skull, excitement pulsing through him, his body pounding. He paused for a second, frowned, controlled himself and then said calmly:
'It's coming, Talfryn.'
He sent his mind out, probing. He felt the sudden presence of the alien system grow as it merged into his own space-time - a whole system plunging towards them out of the hazy twilight of the universe, rupturing time and space on its rogue orbit. Elation flooded through him as he ran towards the laser screen.
The other two stood close behind him.
He watched as visible lines of energy swept across the area of space where his calculations indicated the Shifter would appear.
Space seemed to peel back on itself as great, blossoming splashes of colour poured through as if from the broken sides of a vat, merging with the darkness of space and making it iridescent so that sections shone like brass and others like silver, gold or rubies, the whole thing changing, changing constantly, erupting, flickering, vanishing, reappearing.
Then, faintly at first, as if through rolling, multi-coloured clouds, the Shifter itself began to materialise, growing clearer and clearer, coming into sharper focus.
And then it was hanging there, as solid as anything else in the universe, the clouds which had heralded its approach fading away. A new system had joined the galaxy.
But for how long, Renark wondered, would the eleven planets hang, equidistant, around the blazing blue binary star?'
He rushed back to the control panel, pressed a single stud activating the ship's automatic circuits.
The ship lifted. It shrieked away from the spaceport, away from the Geepee vessels, and within minutes was in deep space straining towards the shifter.
Moving to a single-minded, prearranged pattern, Renark acted like a zombie, his eyes fixed on the weird system ahead, his body one with the streaking ship which leapt the space between the edge of the galaxy and the mystery worlds.
Willow came out, startled, saw the screen and began to tremble.
Asquiol looked at her, but she glanced away and hurried back to the galley.
Renark seated himself in the control chair, his arms outstretched over the complicated control board, checking every slight tendency for the ship to veer away from the Shifter.
At this distance the planets seemed, apart from their ordered positions around the suns, to be no different from any other system in the galaxy.
Yet they glowed like carefully set diamonds around the sapphire suns. The ship sped closer and Renark could observe the rotation of the planets around the twin star. They seemed to be moving very slowly. Yet the closer they came the faster the planets seemed to move.
The other two had taken their places. The ship's drive, buried in the core of the ship, could be heard now, humming with the strain.
Renark shouted: 'Talfryn, keep all communication equipment on Receive. Asquiol, don't use those guns at random - wait until I order you to, if it's necessary.'
He turned in his seat for a moment, stared at Asquiol. 'And don't, on any account, use the anti-neutron cannon.'
Asquiol grimaced.
Talfryn flipped switches.
Willow reappeared, bewildered by the suddenness of events. She was frustrated, wanting something to do. The men worked, with concentration and efficiency, to their prearranged plan. Again Asquiol was oblivious of her presence.
The planets came closer. There was something peculiar about several of them, particularly one at nadir-south-east of the binary.
As the Shifter got larger on the screen, the communications panel began to squeal and moan.
'We're picking up its static, anyway,' Talfryn commented.
'They must be panicking on Migaa,' Asquiol grinned. 'The quicker we move the less chance we've got of getting caught up with the mob when they come out.'
'They'll be fighting the Geepees right now,' Renark said. 'They won't even let a fleet of battle-wagons stop them reaching the Shifter after waiting so long.'
'That'll delay both sides for a while,' Asquiol said.
'Let's hope the delay will be a long one.' Renark stared at his screen. 'What's ahead of us to starboard, Talfryn? Looks like a small fleet of some sort.'
Talfryn moved dials. 'You're right - spaceships of a kind I don't recognise. We'd better head for the nearest planet and try to escape them. The way they're coming up, they don't look friendly.'
The twin star was very close and bright now, blacking out the planets on Renark's laser screen.
Asquiol broke the energy seals on the guns with the key Renark handed him.
About ten of the weird ships came jolting closer, the metal of their hulls giving off a peculiar, yellowish glint. They pulsed through space and there was something menacing in their approach. Then they veered away, describing a long curve, and began to circle the area through which Renark's cruiser would have to pass.
Then, with a jerk which seemed to tug at their nerves and muscles and threaten to turn their bodies inside out, they entered alien space. They were in the Shifter's territory now - that was why the other ships had come no further, but awaited them. Their senses blanked momentarily, they felt dizzy, sick. Renark, feeling his senses going, sent out a desperate tendril of mental energy, anchoring himself to the Shifter ahead. Also he felt the presence of the darting alien ships. The metal of their construction was unfamiliar to him.
Then, suddenly, his whole mind seemed to explode, as the fabric of space was ripped apart.
He gasped with the agony, forced his eyes open. He looked at the screen, and the planets, no longer whirling so rapidly around the binary, were moving at a more leisurely pace.
An inhuman growl rumbled through the control room. Talfryn worked the receiver, trying to pick up a picture, but couldn't. The growl came again but the language was unrecognisable. The leading vessel of the yellow fleet moved.