20

“They missed a jump!” Hindmost said in alarm.

Louis yawned. He hadn’t slept since emerging from the ’doc more than a day earlier. “Who? The ship you believe has Nessus aboard? That its maneuvers remind you of a ballet could be a coincidence.” Or, more likely, wishful thinking.

“I do not believe that,” Hindmost’s Voice offered. “Too many jumps have matched the cadence Hindmost remembers.”

“But you still see the ship?” Louis asked.

“Yes,” Hindmost said.

Louis yawned again. “If Nessus is aboard, he can’t pilot nonstop. Maybe he’s getting some sleep.”

“Perhaps.” Hindmost plucked at his mane. “That his shipmates do not follow the rhythm suggests they are not a party to his signaling.”

“Or maybe Nessus is alone on that ship,” Louis countered.

“The ship just took a short jump,” Hindmost’s Voice announced. “It emerged as near as I have seen it to the star.”

Scanning the tactical display, Louis saw nothing close to what might be Nessus’ ship. Louis said, “Hindmost’s Voice, how long will it take to gather data for a spectral analysis?”

“No more than five seconds.”

“What are you…?” The question trailed off into an anxious, two-throated bleat as the view port flashed to static.

Seconds later, Louis dropped Long Shot back to normal space. “Start recording. Tell me when you’re—”

“I have the data,” Hindmost’s Voice said.

Louis jumped Long Shot to hyperspace, emerging four light-hours from where they had been. He turned to Hindmost. “Weren’t you tired of waiting?”

“Very well.” With a shudder, Hindmost straightened. “Voice, did you identify the hull material?”

“It is twing.”

“What’s twing?” Louis asked.

“It is—”

With a short, sharp trill, Hindmost silenced the AI. “Louis, it is almost certain that ship was built on the world where I last saw Nessus.”

What about a hull material is so secret? Louis wondered. “That’s good, I assume.”

“It is encouraging.” Hindmost stared into the tactical display, crooning to himself.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Why aren’t you hailing that ship?

Hindmost said, “That world is called New Terra. Most who live there are humans.”

“Why haven’t I heard of it?” Louis asked.

“It lies far outside Known Space.” Hindmost turned one head toward Louis. “But you are correct. The time has come to contact that ship. Will you make the call? Lest I am mistaken about Nessus being aboard, I prefer not to reveal myself just yet.”

“Easier said than done. I don’t expect Kzinti comm software to know New Terran protocols.” Because if the Kzinti knew of an isolated human colony, that would not be the sort of place Hindmost would have stashed his family.

“I know New Terran protocols,” Hindmost’s Voice said. “Shall I make the call?”

“Louis,” Hindmost said, “do not disclose your true name.”

Louis shook his head. “I’ve never heard of this world, and I’m supposed to use an alias? Explain.”

“It is complicated. Please, Louis, we cannot know how long that ship will remain in the area. That it no longer signals in the form of the ballet may denote its imminent departure.”

“But you will explain,” Louis said.

“If need be, but it is more Nessus’ place to explain. Let us both hope he is aboard.”

Louis rubbed his nose, intrigued. “Do New Terrans speak Interworld?”

“They speak a dialect of a precursor language called English. Voice can translate.”

“All right,” Louis decided. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Hindmost retreated to the adjacent tiny rec room, abandoning the equally tiny bridge to Louis. “Voice, hail the New Terran ship.”

“Done, Hindmost.”

They waited. After a minute a light began flashing on the comm console. Louis accepted, and a holo opened. He didn’t recognize the person who answered, a young woman, but he hadn’t expected to.

“Endurance,” she said. “Who is this?”

“Nathan Graynor,” Louis improvised. The name had just popped into his head. “May I speak with—”

“Hold on. You’re not … at home. There’s no comm delay. Where are you?”

“On a ship, of course. Look, I don’t have all day. May I speak with Nessus?”

“He’s in his cabin, asleep. I’ll take a message.”

Nessus was there. Why didn’t Hindmost stick a head through the door with some guidance? Louis kept improvising. “Actually, Miss, I’d—”

“Captain.”

“Sorry. Captain, I need to deliver this message in person.”

“I’ll get him up.” She reached toward her console.

“There is no need.” With a clatter of hooves, a Puppeteer cantered onto the bridge. His hide was off-white with scattered tan spots, and his dark brown mane was unkempt. His eyes didn’t match: one was red and the other yellow. “Louis!”

“Nessus!” Louis greeted back. “You look well.”

“Two heads are better than one.” Nessus trembled. “I should have guessed I would find you here. And is … is…”

The captain had stiffened at the mention of Louis’s true name. She interrupted Nessus’ nervous stammer. “You introduced yourself as Nathan Graynor.”

“One and the same,” Nessus assured her. “I am surprised you remember, Louis.”

Remember what? Louis wondered. And we met at my two hundredth futzy birthday, and now I look maybe twenty. How did he recognize me so quickly? And why doesn’t Hindmost come in and show himself?

For the last question, at least, Louis had a guess: Hindmost chose to reunite in person. “You’re right, Nessus. I have company aboard.”

“We should rendezvous, Julia,” Nessus said. “These are old friends.”

The New Terran vessel, like most ships in the area, had no normal-space velocity worth mentioning. “We’ll need time to match velocities,” Louis said. “We’re doing about point eight light speed.”

Julia took a while making up her mind. “What’s your location, Louis?”

Hindmost didn’t object so Louis transmitted Long Shot’s coordinates. The AI knew the New Terran navigational conventions, too. “What about matching our velocities, Captain?”

“Be right back,” Julia said. The holo froze.

Hindmost’s Voice reported, “They’ve gone to hyperspace. We’ve lost comm.”

“How far are, were, they from us?” Louis asked.

“A few seconds by standard hyperdrive.” Pause. “They are here.”

The holo unfroze and Julia said, “Matching course and speed … now.”

A small ship hung, immobile, in Long Shot’s main view port.

Outsider ships could start and stop in an instant, and Louis had seen a Puppeteer ship match speeds with the Fleet in about an hour. Before Hindmost had shanghaied Louis, he had never heard of a human world with similar technology.

The New Terrans—whoever they were—looked more and more interesting.