Chan decided that it was nothing personal. Elke Siry wasn’t angry with him, she was angry with a universe that didn’t behave as it was supposed to.

He asked, “Is that what happened to the other expeditions? They tried to go to a Link network point that wasn’t there?”

“No. If a Link exit point isn’t available, the jump won’t take place. The same will be true of us. If the Link isn’t there, our ship won’t be able to make the transition.”

“Then what does it mean, so far as we are concerned?”

Again a rapid flush of color came to her cheeks. “I’m not sure. But I think we may pass through when the Link is open, and then find ourselves unable to get back. We could become stranded, somewhere in the Geyser Swirl. Maybe that’s what happened to the other expeditions. One thing’s very clear. This Link is nothing like the ones that we are used to. Whoever made it isn’t a member of the Stellar Group.”

“Which means what we’ll be doing is even more dangerous than it sounds,” Dag Korin said quietly. “All right, Elke. That gives me my cue. I had my own conversation today with a consortium of Stellar Group members. Seems they’re still worried that when we’re where they can’t keep an eye on us, in spite of what they’ve told us we’ll behave like naughty boys and girls. They gave me another severe warning: no matter what happens, we must not kill any beings who may be intelligent. When in doubt, we are to err on the side of nonviolence. I said, suppose that the aliens try to kill us? I was told, do whatever you can to save yourselves, but your actions may not include the use of lethal force. If this command is not obeyed, you, Dag Korin, will be held personally responsible.”

Chan said, “In other words, if we’re attacked we’re supposed to lie down and die?”

“Exactly.” The General winked, so quickly it might have been no more than an accidental blink of one blue eye. “Now I’m just going to talk a little at the pair of you. Dalton, you’ve probably been wondering why an old fogy like me, long past retirement, was put in charge of such an important expedition. Oh, don’t bother to deny it, I’ve seen the look on your face. Ancient, asleep half the time, doesn’t know what’s going on. Isn’t that about it? And maybe you’re right, and I’m past it. But I do know one or two things.

“One of them I learned a long time ago, at Capella’s Drift. It’s as true now as it was then: a military genius who’s a lightyear away from the action is likely to make worse mistakes than the average joe or jill on the spot. Just to make it quite clear what I’m getting at, we’re going to be on the spot when we get to the Geyser Swirl. Not the Pipe-Rillas. Not the Tinkers. Not those damned brainy cabbages that people call the Angels. Us .

“But don’t let me get carried away on the subject of aliens, because there’s one other thing I have to say that’s even more important to me than cussing out the members of the Stellar Group. It’s this: I hate to lose people. If there’s any way on earth or heaven that it can be avoided, the members of my crew aren’t going to die, no matter what alien garbage has to get killed along the way to prevent it.

“No Stellar Group members are going to be in the Geyser Swirl to keep an eye on what we get up to there. If anything is ever discovered, by some method I can’t imagine, I propose to assume full personal responsibility for violence. I don’t give a damn what aliens — or humans — do to me. You know what they say about old soldiers. Well, if I have to I won’t fade away. I’d rather go down in flames and in disgrace than see our people killed.”

Korin stood up. “Right. I’ve said my bit, and I don’t propose to repeat it. We’re going, and we’re coming back, as many as possible, and damn all aliens. Now let’s get the show on the road and prepare this rustbucket for Link transit.”

Elke stood up, but Chan did not move. The General glared at him. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Yes, sir, I did.” Chan wondered about Korin’s short-term memory. “I thought we were going to discuss my problem.”

“Your problem?”

Hadn’t the General understood anything of what Chan had said earlier? “Yes. You know. The problem with Deb Bisson.”

“Didn’t she tell you that she would arrive on board before the deadline?”

“Yes. She may be here already.”

“Then you don’t have a problem. You tell her the arrangement with the rest of your team members went just the way that you planned it. When we have left Earth orbit and are on our way to the Link entry point, you can tell her the truth. By then it will be too late for her to leave.” Korin saw the look on Chan’s face, and smiled. “Come on, man. I thought you said she hated your guts?”

“Not just my guts. All of me.”

“So she finds out you didn’t exactly tell her the truth.” Korin ushered them toward the door. “So what? She’s on the way to the Swirl. Do you think Deb Bisson can hate you any more than she already does?”

The door closed, leaving the general inside and Chan and Elke Siry once more in the corridor. She seemed in no hurry to leave. She lounged against the wall, in the same pose as when Chan and Dag Korin had arrived, and stared at him speculatively. She said, “Why does this woman, Deb Bisson, hate you?”

An odd question, from someone billed as the project scientist. But they were all going to be working together on a dangerous mission, and the more they understood each other, the better. Chan, for the second time in as many hours, summarized the deal that he had made with Deb when he was on Europa. If she would come along, he had guaranteed the whole rest of the team.

When he was finished Elke Siry leaned on the wall and stared at nothing, until Chan wondered if he had become inaudible and invisible.

At last she said, “Your explanation is nonsense. You are omitting essential data. Why does she really hate you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then tell me of the previous times that the pair of you met, before your recent encounter on Europa.”

She had no right in the world to ask for such information, and Chan had no reason to provide it to her. But he found the words spilling out, recalling things that had happened many years before. When he finished, Elke Siry nodded slowly.

“I have never met your friend Deb Bisson. I have hardly met you. However.” Elke’s red lips parted, to reveal sharp white incisors and slightly pronounced canines. “However, if you had done to me what you did to her, I would tear out your throat the next time that we met.

“Deb Bisson is a kind, forgiving woman, ever to speak to you again.”

15: A HELPING HAND FOR

It was difficult to keep the Mood Indigo exactly balanced on its thrustors, and the ship was almost imperceptibly descending. It was also drifting slowly closer to the Pipe-Rilla vessel sitting on the seabed.

The crew of that other ship had been less lucky than Bony and his companions. Their vessel was longer than the Mood Indigo , and less of its mass was at the rear end. Instead of settling down stern-first and remaining upright, it had toppled onto its side. Any occupants now had to deal with a ship where floors and walls had switched roles.

There was no doubt in Bony’s mind that this was a vessel built by Pipe-Rillas. They followed the “decorated” school of ship design, their thought processes apparently dominated by “Hey, look, here’s another place on the hull where we can attach a gadget.” Close up, the ship’s exterior was bumped and lumped and pocked and knotted, draped with grapplers and thrustors and sensors.

And clearly there were beings inside. Bony was now close enough to see the tableau on the sea floor. The fourteen bubble-creatures had formed a semicircle around one side of the Pipe-Rilla ship. Two suited human figures, who must be Liddy Morse and Friday Indigo, stood close to the center of the half-circle, right next to the ship. They were facing what was presumably a port, and one of them was gesturing toward the rounded upper part of the hull.