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brought the taps on line, using the electric drivers in the wheels to propel
us out to the end of the buried guideway.
While Lieza would handle the piloting, much as I would have enjoyed it, I did
follow the linkcomm, the pulsed bursts so quick that even the best of the
cybs' equipment couldn't have detected the communications, even had they known
the method and the standing wave modulations.
"Deseret Control, this is MagPrime, ready to lift for Ell Control this time."
"Cleared to lift, maintain one eight zero until clear of the zone."
"Stet."
The modified mag-induction system that was far smoother than any of the
alternatives had the shuttle's lifting body airborne within a few hundred
meters, but Lieza held the shuttle down as the speed built, until we reached
the end of the guideway. Then we angled up so fast that I couldn't have seen
Kohl Creek even if I'd had one of the exterior scanners focused there.
The hint of ozone inevitably rose with the continued operation of the magfield
shuttle, one of the few drawbacks for some, though I didn't find the odor
objectionable.
"Clearing zone this time. Turning to ell intercept radial."
"Stet, MagPrime."
The magfield shuttle swept eastward, pressing me back into the copilot's
couch. The hull insulation didn't totally damp the roaring whistle that
continued to build, and static crackled through the net as we climbed, not
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with the sudden acceleration of an old-style rocket but with a continuous
two-plus gee force that lasted far longer than the chemical rocket jolt.
"MagPrime, on Ell Prime radial. Ell Prime, do you copy?"
"We have you, MagPrime," answered Elanstan, sounding husky and full-voiced
even on direct netlink despite the link static, a shield to accompany Rhetoral
the ancient longblade.
"Stet."
"Take care of your passenger," linked Elanstan, thinking protection even to
others, the dark-shield always, the shield to come.
"I'll take as good a care of this one as the last."
I had to grin, since Lieza's last passenger to Ell Prime had to have been
Rhetoral.
"You can take better care of this one."
I grinned at that. Elanstan was somewhat possessive, near the end of the
permissible range, since possessive tends to slide into control.
The net interference faded, and once we cleared the upper atmosphere, Lieza
dropped the acceleration and switched the screens.
The main screen showed a dark blob that would have been hard to pick out had
the shape not been enhanced by a soft yellow screen-highlighting. As the image
grew, I had to admit, again, that Ell Prime didn't look impressive just a
three-klick chunk of nickel-iron filled with linked fusactors, shielded enough
that the Vereal fleet's EDIs wouldn't show more than a satellite power system
in operation.
"Just a chunk of iron. Right, Coordinator?"
"Absolutely. An observational station of no interest whatsoever." I tried to
keep my tone light, since we certainly hoped the power of those shielded
fusactors wouldn't be needed.
The far left screen, a representational screen, showed Ell Prime and the rest
of the orbital asteroid stations in luminous blue, and the twelve orbiting
adiamante hulls of the Vereal fleet in brighter green.
"There they are, our friends the cybs." Lieza's hands flicked, although she
could have used the net, and the Vereal EDI readings appeared on the far right
screen each ship generating and using more power in hours than a locial used
in weeks.
"Do they track you?" "Every time."
That figured. The cybs were doubtless paranoid and then some, but they'd find
little threat in one apparently low-powered asteroid station, or in the
apparent navigation beacons on the other asteroid stations. When one sees
limited technology in use by a rising power, one assumes greater technology is
either reserved for warfare or still being developed, but when one beholds
such limited technology in use by a once-great empire, one assumes that
greater technology has been lost or abandoned. And that's usually the case.
Usually, but not always.
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The ell station image grew until it filled the screen. "Ell Prime, MagPrime
beginning decel and approach."
"We're standing by. Commence approach when ready."
Then I was pressed into the couch for what seemed a short eternity, followed
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