Resurgence

She went on, “Maybe no one can live there for very long. But I’m picking up a distress signal, and it’s from one of our suits. It shows weak but definite vital signs. And unless the range and direction are wrong on my readout, it’s coming from the middle of that.” She pointed to the display of the glowing disk. “Ben Blesh is alive in there, in the place where nothing should be able to survive.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Revolution

It was still the ship’s “conference room,” even though in its gutted condition it could have passed as a bare cargo hold. And the room was still being used for a “conference,” if that word could include a bitter argument plus insubordination by junior staff that verged on mutiny.

“I was not placed in charge of this expedition for the purpose of making popular decisions.” Julian Graves had his back to the wall in both senses, leaning against a metal partition that had once held conference displays. “It was my responsibility to bring us safely to the Sag Arm; it is no less my responsibility to take us home again.”

The mutineers were Torran Veck, Sinara Bellstock, and Teri Dahl. They stood shoulder to shoulder against the opposite wall.

“We were told that Louis Nenda was in charge of this ship.” Torran Veck was for the moment the spokesman for the three, if for no better reason than that he was the only one tall enough to look Julian Graves straight in the eye. “Nenda should still be in charge. The Have-It-All is his ship and not yours.”

“Louis Nenda was permitted to bring his ship only with the explicit understanding that it would be part of the expedition’s available resources. I relinquished command to him while we attempted one difficult and specific act; namely, he had to get this ship off the surface of Marglot. He did that—brilliantly. But as soon as that was done, command decisions reverted to me.”

“Nenda didn’t,” Torran said, and the other two nodded agreement. “Didn’t get us off Marglot, I mean. We spoke to Louis Nenda. He says that if it hadn’t been for the centrifugal force assist, the ship would still be down there—or more likely, he thinks, it would be a white-hot blob floating somewhere in the middle of a mess of planetary debris. Ben Blesh got us away from Marglot.”

“I am not seeking to diminish his contribution. But if we fail to return to the Orion Arm, Blesh’s sacrifice will have been in vain.”

“His sacrifice? You talk as though he’s already dead. He’s not. Ben’s out there. Unconscious, and maybe close to death, but he’s alive.”

“I know. But we cannot risk this ship, and with it our only hope of returning to the Orion Arm, for any

member of this expedition. You, or me, or Ben Blesh.”

“He saved all of us. You won’t even try to save him.”

“Not at the cost of rendering pointless our whole journey to the Sag Arm, including the loss of Lara Quistner and our own close escape from death. Don’t you see that what we have learned exceeds any of us in importance?”

“What have we learned? You can’t even tell us.”

“Not yet. We have a group attempting such an analysis at this very moment. However, our success or failure to understand is not the issue. There are other minds in the Orion Arm, great minds who will take what we give them and go beyond any deductions we are able to make. I am truly sorry. I realize that Ben Blesh was your fellow group member.”

“He was more than that. He was our close friend.”

Julian Graves knew that to be an exaggeration—he had watched the survival specialists and sensed the strong rivalries within the group; but he was wise enough not to challenge the statement. He merely said, “I was not his close friend, but I am a member of the Ethical Council. The prospect of Ben Blesh’s death, while we are forced to stand by and watch, pains me no less than it does you. However, I must not—dare not—endanger this ship and all that we have done in a rash attempt to secure his survival.”

Torran glanced at Sinara. They had orchestrated this in advance, and carefully. He had made the accusations, now she would move it to the next stage.

Sinara took two steps toward Julian Graves. “Suppose we could find a way to save Ben that did not endanger this ship at all? Suppose that it merely meant a delay of a day or two in entering the Bose node?”

“I think I know what you have in mind. Professor Lang, Captain Rebka and I already explored that possibility. A day or two’s delay would be tolerable. Ben Blesh’s suit, like all the suits, has built-in thrustors. They can be used for in-space maneuvering. We thought, perhaps we can simply wait for him to fly out of the region where the planetary debris is located. Then he can rendezvous with the Have-It-All in a safe location. The problem is that Ben Blesh is unconscious, and the equipment needed to control his suit remotely, from this ship, was stripped out and left behind on Marglot. No one ever dreamed that we might need it.”