The class didn't take nearly as long as I'd hoped it would. "That's it?" Iasked as the last page of data scrolled to the top of the computer display. "That'sall they found?"

"Be thankful we have even this much," she countered tartly. But there wereworrylines creasing her forehead, too. Perhaps, like me, she was starting torealize just how much of a long shot this whole scheme really was. "The idea wasn't tosit there on Meima until they had the whole thing figured out to fivedecimals, you know. The minute they realized what they had, they shot that message offto Dad. This isn't much more than the five weeks it took to get the Icarus partsshipped in and put together."

"I suppose," I conceded, scowling at the meter-square opening into the sphere, a

disguised access panel that Tera had luckily known how to open. "And theynever got more than a couple of meters inside?"

"No," she said. "They were afraid of crossing circuits or damaging somethingelse along the way. You can see for yourself what a maze of conduits and loosewires it is in there."

I stretched flat along the hull beside the hole and shined a light in. She wasright: It was a jungle in there. "Reminds me of the engine room," I said, playing the light around some more. It looked like there were panels ofglowinglights on what little I could see of the wall through the wiring. "I wonder ifit was planned that way or if all the cable ties just fell apart over theyears.

You said there was another access from the other side of the sphere?"

"Yes, behind the secondary breaker panel in the engine room," she said. "Theyput hinges on the breaker panel so that it swings right out."

"Has it got a better view than this one?"

"Not really." She gestured toward the access hole. "They tried sending inprobes, but the umbilicals kept getting caught on the wiring and Dr. Chou wasafraid they'd tear something trying to get them loose. They had one self- guidedprobe that got in a little farther, but something confused its sensors and itfroze up completely."

"Well, we're not going to get anywhere without a complete idea of what's inthere," I said.

"I hope you're not suggesting one of us go inside," she said darkly. "If theprobes couldn't make it through, you certainly won't."

"I like to think I'm a bit more competent at working my way through tangledwiring than someone tugging blindly on a probe control," I told her. "As ithappens, though, I was thinking of starting with someone slightly smaller."

She frowned. "Who?"

I nodded in the direction of the engine room. "Go get Ixil," I said, "and I'll show you."

Ixil wasn't any more enthusiastic about my idea than Tera was. "I don't know, Jordan," he said, stroking Pax's head uneasily as he crouched on his leftforearm and hand. "Every design of Stardrive I've ever heard of has had ahalf-dozen high-voltage sites and shock capacitors associated with it. If Paxtouches one of those, it'll kill him."

"He goes through power conduits all the time," I reminded him. "How does heavoid insulation breaks and short circuits there?"

"He knows what to look for with our stuff," Ixil said. "This is an unknownalien design, with an entirely different set of cues. For that matter, even thelower-voltage lines may have lost their insulation over the years. You and Iare big enough to survive a minor shock like that. Pax isn't."

"I know," I said. "And I wish there were another way. But there isn't. We haveto see what's in there; and Pix and Pax are the only eyes we've got."

"Except ours," Ixil said. "Why don't I go instead?"

"No," Tera said, a fraction of a second before I could get the word outmyself.

"Not a chance."

"But I could see what's there," he persisted. "There are cues I know how toread that Pax hasn't got the basic intelligence to pick up on. If I go just alittle way in, far enough to see past the initial tangle, I could brief him onwhatever I find and then let him go in. It would give him a better chance."

Tera shook her head. "I'm sorry, Ixil, but I can't let you do that. Dad wasabsolutely adamant that no one go inside until we got all the power sourcesand cables mapped out, for that very reason. It's Pix or Pax or no one at all."

Ixil lowered his eyes to the ferret, his mouth tight. "All right," he saidwith a resigned sigh. "What exactly do you want him to do?"

"We need to find a path through to the center of the sphere," I said. "Chortand Nicabar are a little fuzzy on the details of this exotic double-sphere designof theirs, but they both agree there should be a large resonance crystalsomewhere in the center, probably with a control panel either wrapped around it orsomewhere nearby. If they're right, and if we can either scope out thecontrols—or, better yet, connect it through to a control system out here—wemaybe able to activate it."

"If it's even still functional after all this time," Ixil muttered, puttingPax up on his shoulder.

"Well, something's drawing and using power in there," I reminded him. "Thoughwhere it's getting it from I haven't the foggiest idea. Warn him to watchwhere he puts his feet and nose, and to take his time. We're not in any specialhurryhere."

Ixil nodded, and for a moment he just stood there silently, communing with theoutriders. Then, taking a deep breath, he picked Pax up off his shoulder andset him down beside the opening. For a moment the ferret sniffed at the edge, hislittle nose wrinkling as if he didn't care for the smell of age in there.

Then, with what sounded almost like a reassuring squeak, he scrabbled over the edgeand disappeared.

Ixil was kneeling at the edge in an instant, plucking the light from my handand playing it inside. "Doesn't seem to be any gravity in there," he said, leaninghis face into the opening. "He's working his way along the wires the way hedoes in zero gee."

I looked at Tera. "I don't know," she said. "Though if the purpose of the gravfield out here is to make sure the center of the resonance cavity stays clear, there really wouldn't be any need for one in the smaller sphere."

Ixil grunted, and for another few minutes we stood or crouched there insilence.

Then, hunching his shoulders, Ixil straightened up again. "He's gone," hesaid, handing the light back to me. "Disappeared behind something that looked like amulticable coupler."

"He'll be fine," Tera said quietly, laying a hand soothingly on his arm. "Hedoes this sort of thing all the time, remember?"

Ixil grunted, clearly not in the mood to be soothed. "I'd better get back tothe engine room—there's still a lot of recalibration to be done, and Everettdoesn't know how to do most of the calculations on his own. You'll call me when he comes back?"

"Yes," I assured him. "Actually, Tera, you might want to go back there withhim and open the other access hole, the one you said was behind the breaker panel.

If Pax gets disoriented, it would be handy for him to have a second way out."

"Good idea," she said. "Come on, Ixil."

They climbed up the slight curve—it still made me vaguely dizzy to watchpeoplewalking around the hull in here—and disappeared through the open pressure doorinto the zero gee of the wraparound. With a sigh, I lay down on the hull againand shined my light into the opening. Pax was gone, all right, though IimaginedI could hear occasional scratching sounds as he maneuvered his way through themaze. Leaning partially over the hole, I stuck my head carefully in and playedthe light slowly around the inner surface.

I was halfway around in my sweep when I saw the gap.

I was still lying there studying it two minutes later when Tera returned.

"He's really not happy about this, is he?" she commented as she sat down cross- leggedbeside me. "He claims they're not pets, but I think he really—"

"Did Chou and his people take photos of what they could see from thisopening?"