Part 46 (2/2)

Maybe that would disappear as the memory of the trip faded away. Forsythe hoped so. There are still some things we need to do here.

You mean like with Hanan and Ornina and Chandris? Ronyon asked. Is Hanan all right?To his embarra.s.sment, Forsythe realized suddenly that he hadn't even checked on Hanan Daviee since hearing that the pilot's condition had been stabilized. I think so, he signed. If you'd like, we can check on him before we leave.

Some of the new lines in Ronyon's face seemed to smooth out. Can we? he signed eagerly.Forsythe smiled. Of course, he said. I'm sure Hanan will be happy to see you-”High Senator?”Forsythe looked up. Pirbazari was hurrying down the corridor toward him, his phone clutched in his hand.

Come on, Forsythe signed to Ronyon, picking up his own pace, his heart abruptly pounding in his ears. News from Lorelei at last?They met in the middle. ”I just got a call from EmDef,” Pirbazari said, taking Forsythe's arm and pulling him off to the side of the corridor. ”You're not going to believe this.”

Forsythe braced himself. Here it came. ”Lorelei's been taken?”

Pirbazari shook his head. ”No. I mean, I don't know-there's still no word from there.”

He waved his phone again. ”It's Angelma.s.s. The thing's moving.”

Forsythe glanced at Ronyon. ”What do you mean, moving? Moving where?”

”Into a lower orbit,” Pirbazari said. ”Dropping in toward the sun. Just a little so far, but the change is definitely there.”

”What's causing it?”

”You got me,” Pirbazari said. ”In fact, you got all of us. No one at EmDef or the Inst.i.tute has the faintest idea.”

Forsythe frowned. ”Zar, there aren't a lot of possibilities here,” he said. ”In order to change something's...o...b..t, you have to apply force to it. Where's the force coming from?”

Pirbazari shrugged helplessly. ”They've checked solar wind, magnetic anomalies, dust concentrations, even looked for stray dark ma.s.ses that could be affecting it. So far, nothing.”

Forsythe rubbed his chin, trying to visualize the configuration out there. An inward change in orbit, he remembered from college physics, meant an increase in orbital speed. And with Angelma.s.s Central running in the same orbit ahead of it... ”It's moving closer to the station,” he murmured.

”Yes, but not very fast,” Pirbazari said. ”And Central is pretty heavily s.h.i.+elded. At the rate Angelma.s.s is gaining, it'll be at least a couple of weeks before it even starts to pose a radiation hazard. And of course, if the orbit continues to sink, it may end up too low to bother the station by the time it pa.s.ses anyway.”

”I wouldn't want to bet on that,” Forsythe said. ”Especially since we don't know how or why it's sinking in the first place. Better have the station personnel prepare for evacuation, just in case. Do they have any s.h.i.+ps there?”

”EmDef can have a transport to them in twenty minutes,” Pirbazari said. ”There's also a double ring of emergency escape pods set around the tube connecting the catapult and net sections of the station. They've got steerable drive nozzles with enough fuel for half an hour of steady burn time, plus two weeks' worth of life-support.”

”s.h.i.+elding?”

”Hunters.h.i.+p-grade sandwich metal,” Pirbazari a.s.sured him. ”Actually, the pods are the main s.h.i.+elding for the connection tube.”

”All right,” Forsythe said. ”Speaking of hunters.h.i.+ps, what's being done with the ones that are out there?”

”They've been alerted,” Pirbazari said.

”That's all?”

”Well...” Pirbazari floundered a moment. ”The orbit's only changed a little. They can surely

compensate for that.”

”Only if the change stays small,” Forsythe said tartly. ”And since we don't know what's causing it, it's going to be a little hard to make any guarantees. Have them recalled to Seraph.”

Pirbazari seemed taken aback. ”You really think that's necessary?” he asked.

”Unexplained radiation surges and now impossible orbital s.h.i.+fts?” Forsythe countered. ”I think

we've gone slightly past necessary.”

Pirbazari's lip twitched. ”All right,” he said reluctantly. ”I'll talk to EmDef.”

”Talk loud and firm,” Forsythe said. ”And while you're at it, see if they have any mechanism for

moving Central into a higher orbit. Whatever's affecting Angelma.s.s may hit the station next, and I

don't want its...o...b..t dropping just in time for Angelma.s.s to plow into it.”

”I'll check,” Pirbazari said. ”I know they stock some supplies for asteroid miners who sometimes stop by. Maybe they've got a few strap-on boosters aboard.”

Forsythe grimaced. It would take a lot more than a few boosters to get something the size of Angelma.s.s Central moving. But it would be better than nothing. ”Just have that evacuation transport standing by.”

”It is,” Pirbazari said. ”EmDef tells me-”

He broke off as Ronyon suddenly grabbed Forsythe's shoulder. Forsythe looked up, to find the big

man staring wide-eyed down the corridor behind Pirbazari. It's Ornina! Ronyon signed excitedly, bobbing his head that direction. And Chandris!Forsythe s.h.i.+fted his eyes down again, expecting to see the women walking through the front door on their way to see Hanan.

What he saw instead was the two of them hovering in the background as two emergency room techs wheeled in a gurney with a blood-soaked figure on it.

”Looks like Kosta,” Pirbazari said, peering down the corridor. ”What the h.e.l.l happened to him?”

”An accident, maybe,” Forsythe said, an odd feeling stirring in his gut. ”Let's find out.”

They arrived just as the group reached the elevator. It was Kosta, all right, his face puckered

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