Trehearne said, "You will allow us to take off and we'll guarantee to
land Shairn safely on the other side of this planet. You will keep your
ship here until you receive our message that that has been done. We
will both be able to check each other's actions by radar and if your
generators are started before our second take-off we'll know it."
Kerrel thought, and then asked sullenly, "What assurance have I that
you will actually release her?"
"You can take my word for that," Trehearne told him. "Either that or
blow her to bits with the rest of us."
There was another long tense moment of silence. And then Kerrel said,
"All right." He spoke the words as though they had a taste of vitriol
on his tongue.
Joris was out of Communications in one long stride. Kerrel looked at
Shairn and cried, "Wait! You must radio your position when you set her
down."
"We will."
Trehearne flipped the switch. The screen went blank. The throbbing
generators took the ship and lifted it and whirled it away and no gun
spoke from the cruiser. Trehearne released his grip on Shairn. Reaction
and relief had turned his knees to water, so that it was difficult to
stand against the lurching of the ship.
Shairn turned and looked at him. "You're a fool, Michael," she said,
"but I'll give you this. You're not a coward."
He had her locked in her cabin again and went back to the bridge. Joris
was scowling at the projection of the microfilm chart of the planet.
"There," he said, and pointed to a huge emptiness. "She'll be safe
there until they pick her up--there's no predatory life in these
deserts." He glanced up at Trehearne. "Good man," he said. "Me, I was
beaten."
Trehearne gave him a wry smile. "Me, I bluffed. From here on, Joris,
it's all yours. Where's Edri?"
"Shut in his cabin with Arrin. They know the general sector, clear out
at the Galaxy's edge. Now they're trying to figure out the true course
together." And Joris snorted. "Course! If I can keep one jump ahead of
that cruiser I'll be satisfied."
The _Mirzim_ skimmed over the darkling world of Thuvis into the
starless night. Trehearne sat and brooded, thinking of Shairn, thinking
of the two men who were bent over the final calculations of a dream
that had balked men for a thousand years. He thought of what a dream
can do to a man, of how far it can lead him away from the good safe
life of common sense to the ultimate voids of creation. He hoped that
Edri and Arrin would find what they wanted. He hoped they would live
to find it.
"Coming down," said Joris. "Better get Shairn a coverall. It's cold
down there."
Trehearne found a warm coverall in the equipment locker and took it to
Shairn's cabin. She put it on, and he saw how her face was shadowed
with weariness and strain.