Read Online Close to Critical by Hal Clement - Free Book Online Page B

moments' more talk from the elder one the child turned to Easy and shifted to English.
    "I'm sorry I hurt you, Miss Rich. I was afraid, and thought you'd made the noise, and were trying to make me come out of the corner. My father says you are older than I, and that I am to do whatever you say until I am with him again."
    The girl seemed to understand the situation. "It's all right, 'Mina," she said gently. "You didn't really hurt me. I'll take care of you, and we'll get back to your father - after a while." She glanced at the pickup as she added the last words, and Raeker grew tense again. A glance at Councillor Rich confirmed his suspicion; the girl was trying to get something across, presumably without alarming her companion. Gently but firmly Raeker took the Drommian's place in the pickup field. Easy r nodded in recognition; she had met him briefly on her own tour through the Vindemiatrix some time earlier.
    "Miss Rich," he began, "we're still a little in the dark f about just what happened down there. Can you tell us? Or is your guide there, to give a report?"
    She shook her head negatively at the latter question. "I don't know where Mr. Flanagan is. He stayed in the tender to have a smoke, I suppose; he told us to be sure not to touch any controls - he must think we're pretty stupid. We stayed away from the board, of course - in fact, after the first look, we stayed out of the control compartment altogether, and looked through the other rooms. They're all observation or bunkrooms, except for the galley, and we were just going to suit up to go back to the tender when a call came from Mr; Flanagan on the set he'd left tuned to suit radio frequence. He said he was at the outer lock, and would open it as soon as he closed the one on the tender - the two ships were so close together we could touch them both at once when we came across - and that we were to, stay absolutely still and not do a thing until he came. 'Mina had just opened his mouth to answer when the jolt came; we were flung against the wall, and I was held there by what felt like three or four G's of acceleration. 'Mina could move around all right, and tried to call Mr. Flanagan on the set, but there was no answer, and I wouldn't let him touch anything else. The acceleration lasted half a minute or ! so, I guess; you can tell better than we can. It stopped | just before you called us."
    By this time the communication room was packed with : men. Several of them began to work slide rules, and Raeker, turning from the set, watched one of these until [ he had finished; then he asked, "Any ideas, Saki?"
    "I think so," the engineer replied. "The kid's report isn't exact, of course, but judging from her estimate of acceleration and time, and the mass of the bathyscaphe, ' one full ring of the solid-fuel boosters was touched off somehow. That should give just over four G's for forty seconds - about a mile a second total velocity change. There's no way to tell where the ship is, though, until we get there and home on it; we can't compute, since we don't know the direction of acceleration. I wish the 'scaphe weren't so close to the planet, though."
    Raeker knew better than to ask the reason for this, but Aminadabarlee didn't.
    "Why?"
    The engineer glanced at him, then at the image of the other Drommian in the screen, and then apparently decided not to pull punches.
    "Because a one-mile-a-second change in any of a good many directions could put it in an orbit which would enter atmosphere," he said bluntly.
    "How long to entry?" cut in Rich.
    "Not my pigeon. We'll get it computed while we're under way. My guess would be hours at the outside, though."
    "Then why are we standing here talking?" shrilled Aminadabarlee. "Why aren't preparations for rescue being made?"
    "They are," returned the engineer calmly. "Only one shuttle was in regular use, but there are others here. One of them is being made ready, and will leave in less than ten minutes. Dr. Raeker, do you want to