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"Soht here," she said

"Nobody’s hoht Molly could see the full length of the tilting hangar, all the way to the far wall, which hung way below them There should’ve been a pile of Firehawks and Scouts down there, trillions of dollars of destroyed Navy hardware lying in a pile

"Must’ve been in the fight," Cat said

"Or the crew used everything they had to escape"

"I didn’t see nothing fly out on its way down," Scottie said

"Me neither, but there were Firehawks raining down earlier, before we left Bekkie"

"Not enough," Molly said "There would’ve been hundreds of them aboard" She turned to the others "Should we peek inside? Look for survivors?"

Cat turned to her and shook her head "Ain’t no one survive this Not a crash like this"

"Yeah, but there’s still power Maybe someone--I dunno, I just always think there’s a chance"

"If you wanna stick your nose in and take a sniff, be oes down"

Molly turned the radio down to its lowest broadcast setting, just in case anyone in the fleet above was listening in She brought theto think up a lie, then figuring it didn’t matter "--Parsona here Any survivors, please cohteen"

They waited She adjusted the squelch until a faint hissing and pop-ping assured her the speakers were operational Nobody responded

"Just a peek," she told the others She gripped the flight controls and replaced the mic, then nosed Parsona forward, back into the same bay from which she’d fled with Cole just a feeeks prior

An easy in-and-out, she promised herself

35

"You want me to meet someone called the Bern Seer?"

Cole shook his head "I don’t think so I’ve had enough of the Bern"

Mortihed "She’s no more a Bern than you or I, Cole She’s the one who’s been watching the"

"Where is she? Here?"

"No--"

"Further ahead," Arthur interjected, shouting above the rain "As far ahead as you can go, in fact"

"Why does she want toone, andwell, I can’t force you to go, but I’d owe you one of my own if you did"

Cole looked down at his hands beneath the folds of his clear plastic poncho Water coursed across it, giving his flesh an artificial sheen

"I’ll go," he said quietly

"Good," Mortiet out of the rain I’ll introduce you to doctor Ryke, who’ll take you out"

Cole followed the twoand the rain to either side o drifting after the droplets forever

"Wait," he yelled up to the others "Who’s Ryke? Aren’t you guys co up for hih to do without a trip forward" He worked his hand out of the poncho and put it on Cole’s back, urging him toward the stairwell "Besides," he said, "she specifically asked to see you alone Ryke’s just driving you"

"Driving me? In what?"

ѻѻѻѻ

Half an hour later, Cole found hier seat of the answer They called it a hyperski like a cast stone and feeling completely out of control As the craft sped directly into the driving rain, Cole fought the urge to screaripped the dash in pure terror, wondering how the hell Doctor Ryke could see where they were going As the craft’s forward skiff tore through the watery surface of hyperspace, it kicked up twin roostertails to either side--large sheets of foa whiteness that created an artificial canyon the sh Every now and then, Cole glanced over to Ryke toto be okay Each ti with a dial on the dash or looking at Cole while he talked

"Don’t you need to concentrate?" Cole asked the doctor

Ryke looked at hi column and scratched his thick, brown beard He rubbed his bald head and adjusted his black goggles Cole couldn’t take it anymore He turned and peered down the narrow chute of visibility created by the roostertails, certain that they were travelling far too fast for anything meant to come in contact ater

Earlier, the vehicle had seee and sitting still It was basically a flat triangle of steel sitting on three runners and topped with a sleek bubble cockpit Ahead of the cockpit was a flat deck with a crane-like apparatus stowed flat The whole thing was painted stark white and appeared fast even when idling Cole had been excited to crawl inside, but now that they were racing along, hydroplaning across the wet surface of hyperspace half-blind, he just hoped to survive long enough to get back out

"Concentrate on what, exactly?" Ryke finally asked

Cole shook his head and pointed forward "On where we’re going!"

"Oh, I know exactly where we’re going Alls you gotta do is head right for the rain"

"Well, we seehed "If we didn’t, we’d never get there!" He leaned over toward Cole, as if about to confide in some secret "She’s shaped like a cone, you know"

Cole peeled his eyes away froot Ryke going He laughed and slapped his thigh "Don’t be silly! It’s hyperspace that’s shaped like a cone"

"Can we talk e get back?" Cole asked "I’ a little sick"

"No probleroaned

"It all comes in at a point, hyperspace does Like I said, it’s pretty , not just the stuff in the air, but the surface, too It’s always sliding back into the past with new stuff and happenings co in at the tip"