A Larger Universe (35 page)

"We would be if you had refused to trade with
them," Tommy said.  "We could have made them dizzy with short
transits while we pounded them to pieces."

"We encounter other dangers besides those among The
People who have chosen to become raiders.  We cannot refuse to provide what
might keep a ship of The People alive, even if that means some inconvenience
for us."  She looked at a chronometer on the chair's arm.  "Leegh,
now that you have seen the accuracy of your first calculation, what of your
second?"

"Second?" Tommy asked.

"That should be even more accurate," Leegh
replied.  "We have the original mass of these ships when they were
constructed, before cargo was loaded aboard, including water.  The number
should be close, even after your scavenging for metal, since all of the water
was removed.  The ship entered transit after us and had lesser mass.  Unless my
calculations are in error, it should arrive soon."

"
My Flowing Streams
!" Tommy said. 
"You are talking about
My Flowing Streams
!  How is that
possible?"

Ull's tone was smug.  "You had plans for
My Flowing
Streams
but seemed unaware of what the raiders might do.  I talked with one
of your masters, Vent, and he mentioned your artisans had been expecting more
ships at the Gathering and had already prepared computers for them.  At my command,
he sent a team to install your computers on
My Flowing Streams
.  I sent
a bridge crew the day before we left."  She pointed at a radar return on
the monitor.  "And the result should be..."

"Very close to the calculated interval," Leegh
said, finishing Ulls statement.  "Now we can proceed with your
experiments."

Tommy laughed, and then laughed harder as Leegh jerked back
from the strange noise.  "You have already done the first experiments I
had in mind, Leegh, with amazing success.  You have shown how mass affects time
in transit.  I congratulate you."

Leegh drew herself more upright.  "I merely applied my
foremother’s mathematics to quantify the relationship.  It was not
streamforming."

Tommy blinked, then understood.  "Maybe not, but I hope
you can teach me how you did it."

Vent seemed subdued when he returned that night from
My
Flowing Streams
.  "Ull told me not to tell you what we were doing,
Master Tommy.  She said she wanted it to be a surprise."

"You did the right thing, Vent," Tommy said. 
"She's a lord.  You have no choice but to do as she tells you or die. 
Except for the secret.  You must protect the secret.  I hope you can."

"I will, Master Tommy."

The next morning Tommy woke with an idea for their next
experiment.  A call to Ull brought an invitation to meet in her quarters.  She
said she would take care of inviting Leegh.

With everyone settled in or beside the pool, Tommy began. 
"Ull, are we still in danger from the raiders?"

"Not as long as we remain here.  Only the council
members and Leegh knew of this destination and Neth commanded
My Flowing
Streams
.  When we leave here, the situation will be different.  We have a
customary path we follow which is common knowledge.  We might be intercepted at
our usual exit points."

"What does the ship do along the route?" Tommy
asked.

"We continue to fill our holds with trade goods at each
exit point until we reach the Toblepas system, where many species meet to
trade.  However, this is not an ordinary voyage.  Our holds are full."

"So why not go directly to Toblepas?"

"We are no longer carrying excess water, so the ship is
little faster than before," Ull said.  "The transit would take many
weeks, and our exit could be off by light months at such a great distance, even
with your new navigation aids.  We cannot estimate the risk that would entail. 
The shorter jumps are more accurate, and allow us to refine our exit for the
next transit."

"What if the ship were many times more massive?"
Tommy asked.

"As you and Leegh have proved, we could cut many days
off of our transit," Ull said.  "We could go to another water planet
and take on additional water, but that would not be as effective as before.  We
have already filled many holds with cargo less massive than water."

"What if the mass were on the outside of the
ship?" Tommy asked.  When no one answered, he continued, "I thought
of it last night.  There is another aspect of the drive that I do not
understand, even with Leegh's description.   How does the drive determine the
size of the bubble?  Is it always one size and the ship was built to fit that
size, or are there other factors?  Anyway, we have an extra ship, and its drive
is intact, even if the ship is no longer habitable.  We could risk
My
Flowing Streams
without endangering anyone."

He stopped to see if either Ull or Leegh wanted to comment,
but both stared at him with tails barely moving as if they had trouble
understanding his words.  "Anyway, what I am proposing is, we put
My
Flowing Streams
inside an asteroid or comet and find out if the drive will
blow Leegh's bubble to enclose the whole thing.  If it will, we should be able
to make the trip to Toblepas in record time."

#   #   #

Three small rocky planets orbited within 13 million kilometers
of the red dwarf’ surface.  Beyond the outermost planet, beginning at
approximately 20 million kilometers, asteroids, from the size of pebbles to
over a thousand kilometers in diameter, formed a sparse ring extending another
30 million kilometers.  They discovered an irregular asteroid on the second day
of their search, half again the diameter of
My Flowing Streams
and twice
as long.  In the past, another object had struck the long side, making a crater
that penetrated the asteroid like the eye of a sewing needle. 

After a little blasting,
My Flowing Streams
fit
snugly inside the eye.  To control the start of transit, Tommy, with the help
of the Communications Guild, added a remote control to the navigation
computer.  In case the automatic devices failed, a lander waited at the transit
target on the other side of the system to notify them of the ship's exit.  Four
days after arriving, everyone involved in the project except the lander pilot
was back in
The People's Hand
waiting for the test to begin. 

"You understand my estimates of the total mass of the
ship plus asteroid are completely theoretical," Leegh said.  "Of
course, I will be able to calibrate my calculations after the test, so that
later estimates of transit interval will be more accurate."

So you said five times.
  Aloud he said, "Of
course, Leegh.  You know we are just trying to prove the transit bubble will
enclose the asteroid in this first test.  If it does, we expect a faster
transit, but that can be worked out later."

Leegh twitched her tail back and forth, making Tommy jump to
the side. 

"Are you sure we are far enough away?" Leegh
said.  "What if the transit field forms as it always has, just outside the
hull of
My Flowing Streams
?   The mathematics doesn't predict what will
happen to the matter penetrated by the surface of the field."

"Are you changing your mind about what we should
expect?" Tommy asked.  "Your analysis indicated the field will
enclose anything in contact with the ship.  If you are correct, we are in no
danger."

"My analysis is hypothetical," Leegh said. 
"If the theory is wrong, being struck by debris from the asteroid will be
an unfortunate way to find out."

"Leegh, we are 50 thousand kilometers away," Ull
said.  "We will be able to escape any debris."  She turned to the
communications desk.  "Is the lander ready?"

"Yes, Director Ull."

Ull looked at Luns, who had the command podium, then at
Tommy and Leegh.  "If everyone is ready?"  At their nods, she pressed
the button mounted temporarily on the edge of the navigation console.  When she
looked at the radar screen, the return from the asteroid had disappeared.

Nine minutes later the report from the lander arrived
simultaneously with a transmission from
My Flowing Streams
.   The test
had succeeded.

For the trip to Toblepas, they chose a silicate asteroid,
roughly spherical and fifty kilometers in diameter.  A large crater on what
would be the front held
The People's Hand
like a pimple on the end of a
human's nose, with enough of the ship exposed to allow a view ahead when on
insystem drive.  They planned to move
My Flowing Streams
to the
asteroid's core at the end of a long bore, where that ship’s drive would be
used to make the transit bubble.

To make the bore, the artisans deployed a gigantic mirror,
made of an almost massless material, to focus the red dwarf's weak energy.

When Tommy saw the mirror spinning from a container the size
of one of the landers, he found Ull.

"Is it possible you manufactured that mirror
yourselves?" he asked.

Ull warbled.  ”You have seen the condition of our ships. 
Does the mirror appear to be anything we could make?  We traded for it at
Toblepas before I was born.  One of the other trading species obtained it from
a civilization farther out the galactic arm."

"I have been meaning to ask what you would be trading
for in return for what you have," Tommy said.

"We get most of our manufactured items on Toblepas.  We
bought the landers there.  The radar units we now have are replacements we
found there.  This trip, the things we need most are water pumps of various
sizes and the chemical fertilizers we use in the hydroponics tanks.  But
everyone has a list.  If you want anything, tell me."

"I will give you a list, but one thing I would like is
ten thousand kilograms of metal balls of various sizes," he answered. 
"I found none on the ship."

"Metal balls?  And those will be used for…?”

"Do you remember my telling you I would like to improve
the missiles?  I will show you how when I get the balls."

#   #   #

"Sisle, aren't you bored in here?"  Tommy called
from the surface of the pond.  He had decided to take a mid-morning swim rather
than wait until later in the evening.  Now, he dog paddled toward the door
where she stood at near attention.

"No, Lord Tommy.  I go out three times a day to eat. 
My place is here should you need me."

"Why are you standing by the door?  You're not one of
my guards.  Besides, I don't have those anymore."

"Where else should I be?"

"You could come in the pool and have a swim."

"If you order me to, Lord Tommy."

She has her own way of saying she doesn't want to do
something.
  "A simple, 'I would rather not' would do.  Have I ordered
you to do anything yet?"

"No, Lord Tommy."

He climbed out of the water.  "Turn your back, so I can
put on dry clothes."

After changing from cutoff pants, he went to the desk
against the wall opposite the waterfall.  There, he sat in front of a computer
identical to those installed in the quarters of Ull and Leegh.  So far, his
attempts to train the Nesu in their use had been largely unproductive.

Except for the coldness radiating from Sisle and the
occasional unbidden thought drifting through his mind about her, he preferred
working here.  Only Ull bothered him in this chamber.  When he worked in his
quarters below the Commons, knocks at his door continually interrupted his
thoughts. 

He had given all his data about the drive to Leegh.  After a
few days of study, Leegh requested some calculations based on his mathematics
and the arrays controlling the drive.  That was what Tommy was working on.  He
couldn't help much with the creation of their new starship, but he could
continue to help understand the drive.  Leegh and her foremothers had been a
stroke of luck.  Stream's scientists were on the right track.

He had been working for several hours when his stomach
protested that he had missed lunch. 

He turned his chair to find Sisle where he had last seen
her, except she had slumped to a seated position on the ground. 

“Are you as miserable as you look?” he called across the
pond.   

His words brought her quickly to her feet, her face back to
its usual rigidity.

"Have you been sitting here the whole time?" he
asked.

"Yes, Lord Tommy."

"Why?"

"You didn't tell me I could leave."

You know, Ull tells me these people are grateful because
I saved their lives.  I wonder if that's true, and Sisle is the problem, or Ull
doesn't understand what they really feel.

"I'm about to give you your first order, and I expect
complete obedience," he said.

He couldn't mistake the sudden fright on her face. 
"Yes, Lord Tommy."

"When did you eat last?"

"Early this morning, Lord Tommy."

"Good.  We're going to get something to eat.  Take me
to the warrior meal room.  I want to try their food."

He walked behind her on the way, watching as the sway of her
hips lifted her tunic to the back of her knees.   He knew he should be ashamed,
but no one else could see what drew his attention, and he decided to get at
least some enjoyment out of the situation.  For some reason, it hurt that she
seemed uncomfortable and unhappy being near him.  As he watched, the skin of
her neck flushed red as if she were embarrassed, too. 
Maybe I should talk
to Ull again about her.  This isn't much fun at all.

They entered the main warrior meal room at the height of the
evening meal service.  His entrance brought the response he had come to expect
when he walked into a new meal room:  stillness and total silence, then this
group asserted its military nature with a clatter of chairs as everyone jumped
to attention and turned toward him.