Resurgence

“Somehow I don’t think that’s his top priority. Nobody should plan much sleep anywhere for the next day or two.” Torran glanced up at the sun. “Uh-oh. I had no idea it was so late. It will be sunset in another hour. We have to get back to work.”

“I can’t believe it’s so close to sundown.” Teri looked to the readout in her suit’s faceplate. “And my suit agrees with the way I feel. It says we have four hours and more before dark.”

“That’s strange.” Torran paused again in his work. “My suit is saying the same thing as yours. But our eyes aren’t lying, either.”

They stared at the sun, barely above the horizon, then turned to look at each other.

At last Teri said, “I have no idea what is going on.”

“Nor do I. But this is strange enough, whatever it is, we have to report it this minute.”

* * *

Teri Dahl was right. They did indeed have a long way to go. But she was wrong in thinking that Louis Nenda and Hans Rebka knew how far.

“We’re not down to the wire yet, nowhere near it. There’s loads more stuff can go.” Nenda was in the conference room with Hans Rebka, along with E.C. Tally, Julian Graves, Darya Lang, and Atvar H’sial. Nenda’s beloved conference table had long since vanished, torn apart by Archimedes and thrown outside. The chairs had suffered the same fate. The members of the group sat around on the floor.

Nenda went on, “One thing’s for sure, if we have a chance at all, it’s a slim one. I pulled us together because we need to make a couple of decisions. Tally, what we got up to now?”

“In our present situation, we have no chance whatsoever of achieving orbit.”

“That’s just lovely. What I had in mind was a bit more detail. Like, maybe, a few numbers, a few facts, some probabilities.”

“Those I will gladly provide.”

“But not too many of ’em.”

“Can there be too many facts? However, let us begin with fundamentals. In order to reach a Bose entry node in this system, the Have-It-All must achieve escape velocity from Marglot. We must somehow attain with our drive a final velocity of better than 9.43 kilometers a second. Based on the Have-It-All’s present mass, and assuming a drive efficiency of thirty-eight percent, which appears to be the best that we can hope for, our top final velocity would be 7.61 kilometers a second.”

“So we’re not even close. Not even close to close. You’re tellin’ us we somehow have to get rid of twenty percent of the ship’s original mass.”

“Nineteen point three percent, to be more precise. However, considerable mass reduction is still possible. We have scarcely begun to remove the second class of inessentials.” Tally glanced around the conference room. “For example, wall paneling such as that. It is not needed for flight. It must go.”

“That paneling is special hardwoods from Kleindienst. I’ll never be able to replace it. Go on.”

“All non-structural interior bulkheads are expendable. All food refrigeration systems, together with all food that would spoil. All but an absolute minimum of other foods. All water recycling equipment may be dispensed with, since present water supplies will suffice for a trip back to the Orion Arm. All drinks but water. All storage lockers, all furniture except for control chairs, all sleeping accommodations, all soft furnishings, all carpets and drapes. All clothing beyond what people are wearing at the time we leave. All spare suits. Most lighting fixtures. All exercise and recreational equipment. All toilet and bathroom fixtures, unless you feel it necessary to keep one working toilet.”

Nenda said, “That would be nice.” Hans Rebka added, “Keep going, E.C. This is beginning to sound familiar—just like it was where I grew up.”

“All air quality monitoring and air purification equipment. This introduces a slight risk, which the councilor believes to be tolerable.”

Julian Graves nodded. “Compared to the risk if we stay on Marglot, it’s negligible.”

“Most communication and navigation equipment, beyond a bare minimum. All cosmetics. All personal computing equipment. I volunteer to upload their contents into my own internal storage, and will download them again into new equipment if and when the opportunity arises. All interior temperature control and air circulation systems. Individuals must seek their own comfort zones. There are also many smaller potential savings. For example, Kallik assures me that a Hymenopt can go months without food or water, and she is quite willing to do so. My own body can be left behind, and only my brain retained. Should we survive, a new embodiment will present no problem. Though I cringe at the prospect of Sue Harbeson Ando’s indignation if I return to her yet again for a replacement.”

“I cringe at the prospect of somethin’ a lot worse than that. Suppose we do the list, every one?”

“We will achieve a further mass reduction of 7.44 percent. Making the same assumptions as before as to engine efficiency, that provides us a final velocity of 8.27 kilometers a second.”