She shook her head. “No.”
The bridge was off-limits except to a few specified persons, or by invitation. It was supposed to be the one place in the ship to which the captain could retreat from social obligations. When Collingdale and Judy got there, all eleven of their linguists were either crowded inside or standing around the open door.
Harry Chin tried to take Judy aside.
“After we clear the bridge,” she snapped.
But Harry showed no inclination to be put off. “Listen, we’ve got too much invested in this to just sit here.”
Collingdale had never been a good disciplinarian. In fact he had relatively little experience with difficult cases. The people he’d led on past missions had always been mature professionals. Tell them what you needed and they produced. They might question authority on occasion, but the tone was subtle. This felt like mutiny.
But Judy never hesitated. “Listen,” she said, raising her voice so they could all hear. “The decision’s been made. Everyone go back to the workroom. We’ll talk there.”
Mike Metzger had been standing beside Harry, lending support. He was tall and reedy, usually the epitome of courtesy. A muscle in his neck was twitching, and his expression was a mixture of anger, regret, nervousness. He turned and looked at David. “Can’t you do something?” he asked.
It wasn’t clear whether he was talking about remaining stalled in the middle of nowhere, or returning to the workroom. But he was close to tears.
Terry MacAndrew put an arm around his shoulders to calm him. “Judy,” Terry said, lapsing into the Scottish burr that David had only heard previously when Terry drank too much, “we’ve talked it over. We’re all willing to take the chance. And we know you are.”
“You’ve all agreed to this.”
“Right. We say we should move ahead. Take our chances.”
“Really.”
“The stakes are too high just to sit here.”
“ ‘The stakes are too high’? You’ve been reading too many novels.”
Terry glanced back at Alex, who was out of her seat, standing by one of the navigation panels, looking bored and annoyed. “We’re too close to quit now. Bill thinks we’d be okay if we tried it.” He turned toward Alex. “Isn’t that right, Captain?”
She dismissed him and spoke to Collingdale. “As I told you earlier, David, if we go back in and the system breaks down, which it is threatening to do, we’ll stay in there.” She looked around at the others. “Permanently. That’s not going to happen to my ship. Or to my passengers. Bill has nothing to say about it.” Her eyes came back to Collingdale. “Please get your people off my bridge.”
THE REPLY FROM the Hawksbill arrived shortly after midnight. Julie’s message was simple and direct: “On our way. We can make room for one more.”
ARCHIVE
Alex, sorry to hear about the problem. I’m sending the Vignon. They’ll do a temporary fix to get you running again. But everybody, including you, will be evacuated to the Vignon before attempting transit. Let Bill bring it in.
Good luck. Frank.
— Broadside transmission
September 18