"The Masters come before it was intended," Harlequin said. "Never mind. What waits beyond"-she indicated the outward target-"this?"
"Classified," Terry said.
"Oh, good! Terry, how are you feeling?"
"I might live. Won't like it at first. Thanks for staying."
"Oh, no! How could I leave you?"
"Don't tell them details. Sleep now," Terry said, and closed his eyes.
Jennifer nodded. She'd expected him to speak earlier.
Harlequin said, "What system lies beyond the bridge? There must be other bridges."
"I'm going to stop talking now," Jennifer said.
"Not a problem." Harlequin pointed at the cluster of large ships aft. "I will tell you. Twenty Master ships have come through. Our Warriors will prepare the way through to the Empire. There must be bridges to other stars. We seek the one that departs the Empire. So do you, Jennifer, for my life and yours, and to save the lives of any in our path."
"You shouldn't be running from the Crazy Eddie Worm," Jennifer said. "You can surrender. Don't you understand, you don't have to die!"
The Warrior made a sound, and Harlequin turned. On the screen other ships were popping through behind the Khanate Masters.
Something big was crawling across Renner's chest. A monkey or a big spider, injured, missing limbs. "Ali Baba is sick," it said. "His Excellency is sick. So is, am I. Sick in the head, concussion, scrambled brains and wobbly eyes. Kevin?"
"It'll be all right." Renner hugged the little Mediator. Craning his head around made him dizzy and sicker. "Just wait, it'll get better."
Bury was on his back, toes pointing slightly apart, hands apart and palms upward, Yoga corpse position: he was calming himself the only way he knew how.
The screens were blurred. A voice was shouting from the background, shouting for the Captain. I'm too damned old for this.
Renner popped his restraint belts. "Townsend?" His balance was still screwy. He pulled himself around to where he could see Bury's monitors. The medic array had turned itself off at the Jump. Now it was running a self-test loop. But here came Cynthia, moving quickly on hands and knees. She crouched above Bury and began a medical inspection, pulse, tongue, eyes...
"Townsend!"
"Here."
"What's-" Renner couldn't say it properly.
"Atropos on line. We can receive."
But no transmissions yet. Renner slapped at the keys. The screens were still dark, but a voice was saying, "Sinbad this is Atropos. Sinbad this is Atropos. Over."
Renner stretched experimentally. Integral e to the x dx is e to the x... He'd found that the computers recovered quicker than he did. Should be safe enough to test now. He woke the communications computers. A snarl of static.
"Atropos, this is Sinbad."
"Sinbad, stand by."
"Rawlins here."
"Status report?" Kevin croaked.
"Critical. We're under attack by half a dozen ships. One of them's a big mother. Sir."
Green lights showed on one corner of Renner's control board. "Freddy! She's waking up, see if you can see anything."
"Right."
"We're recovering," Renner said. "How bad is it?"
Rawlins: "We're peaking in green. I won't last forever, and I can't shoot back. No chance to send a message to Agamemnon."
Renner shook his head. Critical. Can't shoot back. Why can't he shoot back? Energy. Energy control. More green lights on his console.
Bury's machinery started suddenly: displays hunting, then drips to adjust his chemical balance.
The Mediators were thrashing feebly.
A screen came to light. Then another.
"Rawlins," Renner said. His voice was still thick. "Hang in there. We're going past."
"Here's a battle picture. I'll relay as long as I can."
The enemy fleet was a scattering of black dots across MGC-R31's orange-white glare, visibly receding with Sinbad's velocity. They'd positioned themselves well, Renner thought. Just sunward of the Sister, to foul an intruder's sensors; near enough to blast them at point-blank.
Atropos was glowing far brighter than the little sun. Nothing smaller than Atropos would have survived this long, without Atropos itself as shield. Too few Medina ships were adrift behind Atropos, firing around the shield, easing back. When Atropos went, they'd go, too.
It was going to be tricky. The Moties aboard were no use at all. Sinbad's computers were Navy quality, three independent systems, each working the same test problems until they all got the same answers-and they weren't getting them.
"Townsend!"
"Sir?"
"Get the Flinger going! Hit that Motie fleet. Especially the big ship."
"Will do. Launcher self-check. In order. Erecting." The Field blinked for a second as the loops of the linear accelerator eased up through the black energy shell. "Launcher outside Field. I'm getting direct camera information. Trajectory analysis-"
Sinbad was flashing past the battle. They had almost no time.
"Trajectory computers give divergent answers!" Freddy shouted. "Rape it. Launching. Stand by!"
Sinbad recoiled. Then again. "On the way. Automatic loaders are working," Freddy said.
A muted keening sound had to be coming from Glenda Ruth.
"Stand by," Freddy said. "On the way. Dispersion pattern. Continuous fire, stand by!"
There was a floodlight glare from every screen, then all screens went dark. "They hit us. That's it for the cameras," Freddy said. "Captain, the Flinger's dry. We'd have to bring it in to reload."
"Never mind."
Bury was trying to crawl up Kevin's ankle with just one hand. "Bring it in. Kevin, bring it in!"
"Okay, I'm doing it. Lie still, Horace." Unseen, the loops of the Flinger were sinking through the Field into the hull.
"Superconductor," Bury said.
"Ah." Sinbad's finger was a linear accelerator made with Motie superconductor. That was why it hadn't melted in the glare of Khanate lasers. If it wasn't withdrawn, it would conduct the energy of the laser attack into Sinbad.
"We're still getting relays from Atropos," Renner said. The relays would be progressively out of date as Sinbad moved away from the battle. "And I've got a camera on-line."
Someone, human or Motie, made a strangling sound. Glenda Ruth wailed again. The black beyond the windows began to glow dull red.
An image formed on Renner's screen, a composite of the relay and direct observation. It showed a cluster of Motie ships receding as Sinbad moved past the battle. Beams reached from three smaller Motie ships toward Sinbad. Six others held Atropos pinned like a bug. One of the Motie ships attacking the Imperial cruiser was nearly as large as Atropos.
"Blue field," Renner muttered. Give him another five minutes. Then he's gone and so are we.
"Five. Four," Freddy counted. "Three. Two. One. Zero. Maybe the timer's off. Or the trig-"
Something flashed intolerably bright beyond the larger Motie ship. The larger Motie ship went from green to bright blue, expanding. Another flash. Another. The blue shaded toward violet.
"Jesus, Horace," Renner muttered. "Fifty megatons? More? How long have we had those aboard?"
"You would not..." Bury's voice was weak but held a note of ironic triumph. "You would not have approved. At what those cost I nearly did not approve myself."
"It's working!" Joyce shouted. "They're not attacking Atropos anymore. They're-"
She fell silent. Two of the Motie ships flashed violet and beyond and were gone. The largest ship was now glowing blue-white, and Atropos was firing at it. "He can't last," Joyce said.