Katmai Delarov nodded. "Yes. But let's record the message several more times, run all versions through the computer in parallel, for congruence, and see if it has more to tell us."
"Sure." Now why didn't I think of that?
What Lisele did think of, though, was to lay down a directional scan, and pinpoint on Sitdown's surface the source of the signal. Then, needing to tie it down so she could find it again, she put radar to looking for contour landmarks.
She got lucky. To the west, as defined by the planet's rotation, lay a deep canyon that when viewed as running north-south, had a slight easterly slant. And not too distant from the signal's origin, roughly at east-northeast and all by itself in relatively flat terrain, stood the biggest mountain within scanning range. Twice as high, at least, as Earth's Everest.
So when Captain Delarov asked some inevitable questions, Lisele enjoyed coming up with good answers.
Delarov nodded. "Good; we can find it when we need it. The question is, do we try to speak that ship now, let them know we're here? Or wait and make our visit unannounced?
"Visit? How?" Lisele's startled query showed her surprise.
"Of course, visit. In the scout, I'd think. After we've made orbit around Jumbo."
"But what good-?"
"You heard the man. That ship still has power. And-"
"Did have," said Darwin Pope. "Present condition, we can't know. I've been figuring out how long it's been there. Do either of you know what New Year it is now?"
Lisele thought. In the year 2005, when United Energy and Transport took roughshod control of North America, it began its own chronology with New Year One. "Depends. What real year is it now, groundside time?"
"Twenty-one-seventeen, I believe. Right, captain?"
"If our t/to calculations are, for our new Drive."
"New Year a hundred and twelve, then," Lisele said. "So if that man had his own numbers straight, the ship's been down for fifty-two years. But-" Another thought struck. "We know it has some power; the beacon's working. And for them to be still alive, so's their meat tank. Whatever that is."
Pope shook his head. "But are they alive? We don't
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know." Then he had to explain the meat tank: growth of animal tissue in a bath of synthetic nutrients, with highly efficient recycling. "First done nearly two centuries ago, using a bit of a chicken's heart. The earlier ships used that process, before they began transporting meat animals in frozen-zygote form."
Obviously impatient, the captain finally got a word in. "The point is, I see a way to get us out of this mess, and maybe that ship's survivors, too. If any."
"Them?" In Lisele's mind, alarms rang. "They're Uties, you know. You heard what Sprague said. We'd have to-" But rather then belabor the obvious, she said, "What's your plan?"
"Plans, is more like it." Katmai Delarov grinned. "If the marooned crew hasn't survived, we take the ship's Cube out to March Hare. Wrapped for thermal insulation and riding outside the scout, it won't warm up appreciably. With luck, its remaining charge plus what we can feed it from our own, possibly even the scoutship's, will be enough to activate our FTL Drive."
"Or," said Lisele, "what the Chief told me, earlier. Use the Patron's cube to keep Hare alive while he fixes ours. Still, though-supposing there are survivors?"
"Then we dicker. For their Cube, we offer to take as many directly to Earth, either in freeze or jarnpacked to the limit, as we can manage." Before Lisele could voice her next objection, Delarov answered it. "We'd have to land our ship here, anyway. So we'd leave the scout to power all their essentials, and promise rescue to the left-behinds. On an FTL schedule."
"And what," said Darwin Pope, "if they don't trust us, and won't cooperate?"
The captain shrugged. "To that one, I don't have an answer."
Lisele said, "There's one other way. It means going home at STL, but it could work." With the others waiting, she tried to think her idea together quickly. "The Drive nodes. Theirs are shot; ours aren't. And that's one thing that hasn't changed-circuits or fittings, any of it-since the first ship UET stole from the Shrakken, I know, because until Hagen Trent got one of Inconnu Deux's back to top performance, Tregare was talking about putting a Shrakken unit in." She added, realizing that the information wasn't important
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here, "The Tsa use a different physical design; same functions, though."
Delarov frowned. "All this assumes the grounded ship's Cube has enough charge to make its Drive function. What if-"
Darwin Pope beat Lisele to that answer. "Charge can be transferred. From Hare to the scout to the Patton, as many round trips as necessary. He turned to Lisele. "But what if the colony has grown-beyond the numbers that ship can transport? Even including freeze?"
Briefly she was stumped. Then, "It can't have, not that much. How many people can this meat tank thing support? And then there's what the captain said, before: leave our scout, with its Cube charged up all the way, to power their needs."
Delarov waved a hand. "Enough. I'm drowning in alternatives. Let me think them over, and perhaps by the time we reach orbit, they'll make sense to me. But for now, I can do without any further suggestions."
The captain's luck, apparently, was out. A channel-buzzer bleeped, and when Lisele automatically turned it on, a voice spoke. Live, this one; distorted a little, but not with the clicks or hash of deterioration.
"Hello the ship up there. Somebody finally paid attention to the detectors, and called me. Cray Maiden, in command of the General Patton. No picture, and I can't find your beacon if you have one, but I have your course and position."
All three sat, saying nothing, as the man continued. "Well, come in please, damn you! Talk, at least. You can't just go on by and leave us here!"
Delarov reached for the Talk switch, but Lisele's hand was there first. "No. Let me?"
Looking mildly irritated, the captain said, "Whatever for?"
"Because they're still UET down there." That wasn't good enough, so Lisele added, "Do either of you play poker?" Two headshakes. "Well, I do. I've played in games with my father, Bran Tregare. And sometimes I even win."
The captain looked puzzled, but Darwin Pope said, "I think I see what she means. This is a job for someone who doesn't necessarily tell everything she knows."
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With a grateful look to the Chief Engineer, quickly Lisele explained, "They mustn't know we're not UET. Peace be thanked, they can't read our beacon." Belatedly, just in case, she shut down that circuit. "March Hare isn't a UET ship's name, so we'll be-oh, anything built later than when they left Earth. I know-the Tamurlaine, the ship Tregare took and renamed Inconnu.
"Let's see-I can be who I am, because Tregare came along after their time, too, and it'll make it simpler when we return here. I'm a Third rating, in Comm and Nav."
Something else, though. Oh, yes. "They can't know about FTL, the Hoyfarul Drive. So until we make sure the telling would help our edge, let's keep that just to ourselves."
Deciding she had most of it straight now, Lisele opened transmission to groundside. After identifying the ship and herself, she felt comfortable enough with the time-delays between responses to get down to the grits.
"Yes, the Tamurlaine." Rapidly thinking in Long View terms, she picked a number. "Left Earth in New Year Ninety-one. Stops enroute were Far Corner and Franklin's Jump." Seeing disapproval on the captain's face, Lisele briefly cut the Talk switch and said, "I don't have time to figure a route that works. But they won't know the difference!"
Transmitting again, she said, "Captain Delarov's not available just now." Oh, peace! Her first real mistake-for UET had never allowed command to women. So she said, frowning toward the others to ensure their attention, "He's sleeping now. He hasn't been feeling too well. But he's improving; I'm sure he'll be all right in another day or two." Delarov nodded, so Lisele knew she'd got the point, and went on, "Our present mission has Security aspects, so you'll understand why I can't discuss it. But," overriding groundside's attempts to interrupt, "I can say that it involves the gas giant, ahead on our present course."
She hadn't paid much heed to Cray Maiden's queries and comments; maybe it was time to give him a little jelly for his bread. He was saying, "-coining here, aren't you? We're short of so many things, or out of them entirely, Medical supplies, for instance. How soon-?"
Katmai Delarov shook her head, so Lisele answered, "That information isn't available yet. It will be the captain's decision, of course. And the captain's look told Lisele that it
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