All The Weyrs of Pern

14

On the bridge of the Yokohama the next afternoon, Jaxom and Piemur leaned over the engineering console.

"I know we emptied all those sacks in," Piemur said in an aggrieved tone, "but you wouldn't know it from the gauge."

"Big tank," Jaxom said, giving the dial a tap. "Drop in the bloody bucket."

"All that work for nothing," Piemur added, disgusted. They had had to suit up, because the fuel auxiliary intake pipe had been in a low-pressure section. The harper did not like the restrictions of a suit and the smell of tanked air. Despite weightlessness, the sacks had been awkward to manage: they could only take two at a time to the engineering level from the cargo bay where the dragons had transported them. And they were even more awkward to empty into the intake, following Aivas's instructions on the procedure for handling fluids in free-fall.

"Not for nothing," Aivas replied. "It is now safe from any tampering."

"Then it was dangerous?" Piemur asked, shooting Jaxom an I-told-you-so look.

"The fuel was not flammable, but if it were spilled, there would be toxic effects. Also, soil impregnated with the fuel becomes sterile. It is wise to avoid any unnecessary problems."

Jaxom rotated his shoulders, easing tense muscles. Sometimes working in these free-fall conditions was harder than performing a similar task on Pern.

"We have quite enough trouble as it is," Piemur said, and then turned to Jaxom. "Klah?" He lifted the hot bottle, one of Hamian's new contraptions: a large, thick, glass bottle, insulated by teased fibers of the same plant Bendarek was using to make paper and set inside a casing of Hamian's new hard plastic. It kept liquid warm or cold, though some people could not understand how the bottle knew the difference. "Meatroll?" He held out several wrapped rounds.

Jaxom grinned as he sipped from the bottle, taking care not to let any droplets escape into the air. "How is it that you always seem to have the very latest thingummies?"

Piemur rolled his eyes expressively. "Aivas said it was a thermos, and harpers traditionally try new things out! And besides, I'm resident at Landing, where Hamian has his manufactory, and you're just a runner-in, always missing the fun."

Jaxom refused to rise to the jibe. "Thanks for the food, Piemur. I'd worked up quite an appetite."

They had taken off their helmets and gloves upon entering the bridge and now made themselves comfortable in the console chairs. After the first edge of their hunger was allayed, Piemur gestured to Ruth, Farli, and Meer, who were plastered across the window, staring out.

"Do they see something we don't?" he asked.

"I asked Ruth," Jaxom said. "He says he just likes to look at Pern, all pretty laid out like that. With the clouds and the differences in light, it never looks the same twice."

"While you are eating," Aivas said, "this is an opportunity to explain another very important step in the training process."

"Is that why we got the sack duty?" Piemur asked with a wink and a grin at Jaxom.

"You are as perceptive as ever, Piemur. We have a secure channel here."

"We're all ears," Piemur said, then added hastily, "figuratively speaking, naturally."

"Accurate. It is essential to team how much time dragons can spend in space unprotected by such suits as you are now wearing."

"I thought you'd figured that out, Aivas," Jaxom said. "Ruth and Farli suffered no harm at all during the time they were on this bridge. They didn't seem to notice the cold and certainly weren't in oxygen debt."

"They were on the bridge for precisely three and a half minutes. It is required that dragons function normally for a minimum of twelve minutes. Fifteen would be the upper time required."

"For what?" Jaxom asked, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. Piemur's eyes were bright with excitement.

"The exercise is to accustom them to being in space-"

"Having already become accustomed to weightlessness?" Jaxom asked.

"Exactly."

"So we're at the walking stage?" Piemur asked.

"So to speak. The level of adaptability of your dragons is commendable. There have been no unfavorable reactions to the experience of free-fall."

"Why would there be?" Jaxom asked. "It's on a level with hovering, or being between, and dragons have no problem with that. So now, they're to go extravehicular."

"Wouldn't they float away?" Piemur asked, casting an anxious look at Jaxom. "I mean, like the Thread eggs do?"

"Unless a violent movement was made, they would remain stationary," Aivas said. "As they will exit from the Yokohama, they are moving at the same speed, not at a different velocity as the incoming Thread spheres are. However, to prevent any panic-"

"Dragons don't panic," Jaxom said in flat contradiction, speaking before Piemur could utter a similar rebuke.

"Their riders might," Aivas replied.

"I doubt it," Jaxom said.

"Perhaps dragonriders are a breed apart, Lord Jaxom," Aivas said at his most formal, "but records of many generations indicate that some humans, despite training and reassurance, can find themselves overwhelmed by agoraphobia. Therefore, to prevent panic, the dragon should anchor itself-"

"Himself," Jaxom automatically corrected.

"Or herself," Piemur added, waggling a finger at the white rider.

"For the dragon to be anchored securely to the Yokohama," Aivas finished.

"Lines? We can get rope or some of that strong fine cable Fandarel's been extruding," Piemur suggested.

"That will not be necessary, as something suitable is already available."

"What?" Jaxom asked contritely, realizing that their banter was delaying details that they had wanted to hear for Turns.

The screen in front of them lit up, showing a graphic of the Yokohama profile. The display altered to a close-up of the long shaft on which the engines were fitted-and the framework of spars that had once held the extra fuel tanks in place.

"Dragons can hang on the frames!" Jaxom cried. "That would definitely offer a secure grip. And, unless I've misread the dimensions, those rails are as long as a Weyr Rim. Imagine, all the Weyrs of Pern, Piemur, out in space, along those girders! What a sight!"

"The only drawback to that," Piemur said pragmatically, "is that there aren't enough space suits for all the riders of Pern."

"There will be sufficient space suits available when required," Aivas informed them calmly, "though not quite all the dragons in the Weyrs of Pern will be needed. Since you are still suited, Lord Jaxom, and have taken nourishment, perhaps you and Ruth would attempt an extravehicular activity today?"

Piemur's eyes grew wide and round as he assimilated Aivas's astounding suggestion. "By the first Egg, it's not the humans you've got to be wary of, Jaxom. It's Aivas who's trying to kill you!"

"Nonsense!" Jaxom replied hotly. But he had felt his stomach leap almost in time to the accelerated beat of his heart at the notion of an EVA. "Ruth?"

I'll see a lot more from there than I can from the window was the white dragon's thoughtful response.

With a laugh that was only a trifle shaky, Jaxom told Piemur what Ruth had said.

The harper gave him a long incredulous look and sighed. "I don't know which of you two is more outrageous. You'd dare anything, the pair of you would." Then in a wry tone, he added, "And I'm supposed to be the reckless one."

"But you aren't a dragonrider," Jaxom said gently.

"The dragon makes the man?" Piemur shot back.

Jaxom smiled, sending a loving look at Ruth, who was watching the two humans. "With a dragon to guide and guard you, you tend to feel secure."

"So long as your riding straps hold" was Piemur's quick retort. Then he shook his head. "Come to think on it, with Aivas as your mentor, you don't need to worry about what mere men could do to you."

"Lord Jaxom will not be in any jeopardy, Harper Piemur," Aivas said with customary composure.

"So you say!" Then Piemur fixed Jaxom with a fierce stare. "So you're going to do it? Without checking with anyone?"

Jaxom glared right back, anger rising. "I don't need to check with anyone, Piemur. I've been making my own decisions for a long time, This time I get to make it without anyone else's interference. Not yours, or F'lar's, or Lessa's, or Robinton's."

"Sharra's?" Piemur cocked his head, his eye contact unswerving.

It doesn't seem to be a hard thing Aivas asks us to do, Jaxom, Ruth said. It is no more dangerous than going between, where we have nothing to hold on to. My talons are strong. My grip will be secure for both of us.

"Ruth sees no problems. If he did, I would certainly listen to him," Jaxom said, very much aware that Sharra would undoubtedly share Piemur's reservations. "I don't know why you're upset about an EVA. I thought you'd want to be first."

Piemur managed a flicker of a smile. "One, I don't have a dragon to reassure me. Two, I dislike being trussed up in this thing." He flicked his hand at the space suit. Then his expression changed to a cocky grin. "And three, it's just likely I'm one of those humans who'd panic out there with solid earth a million dragon-lengths away from my feet. So," he finished, rising to his feet and reaching for Jaxom's helmet, "since I can't talk you out of it, go and do it. Now! Before I get myself in a knot!"

Jaxom gripped his shoulder. "Don't forget that Aivas cannot endanger human life. And we've seen tapes of spacemen doing EVA drills."

So let us go. Ruth pushed himself away from the window with just enough force to arrive by Jaxom. He peered down at Piemur's scowling face. Tell Piemur that I won't let anything happen to you.

"Ruth says he won't let anything happen to me," Jaxom said.

With a roughness born of anxiety, Piemur adjusted Jaxom's helmet, securing the fastenings, checking the oxytank unit, and gesturing for him to turn on the helmet's audio.

"Keep up a running commentary, will you, Jaxom?" he asked.

"Nod if you can hear me all right." The sound of his own voice echoing in the confines of the helmet still sounded unnatural to Jaxom.

Piemur nodded, his expression carefully blank.

"Aivas, show us where we're going so Piemur can watch." Jaxom gave his friend one more buffet and then, pulling first one foot and then the other free of the deck, he floated up to Ruth. Hauling himself into position, he attached his riding straps to the toggles that had been designed to hold snap-on equipment for EVA.

"You wearing the right riding harness?" Piemur asked acidly.

"That's the second time you've asked me that today."

"Bears repeating. Can you see the screen perched up there?" Piemur's tone was even more acerbic. Jaxom wished the harper wouldn't worry so much. But that was yet one more difference that only another rider would understand: the supreme confidence one could have in one's dragon's abilities. And Ruth had more than most.

"I can see it," he said, his voice high and tinny to his ears.

Do you know where we're going, Ruth?

Certainly. Shall we go?

Jaxom was accustomed to very short passages between, but this must have been the shortest they had ever taken. One moment they were on the bridge; the next, they were surrounded by a different sort of darkness. For one heartbeat, Jaxom tasted as deep a fear as he had ever known. But Ruth's head, erect and swinging around as he surveyed the scene. was all the token of reassurance Jaxom needed. Then he became aware-unlike the total lack of sensation in between-of his legs pressing against Ruth's neck and even the tug of the straps against his belt.

I won't let go, Ruth said as calmly as ever. I could hang by my claws. The metal is .so cold it feels hot.

Jaxom peered down over the lower edge of his helmet and saw that Ruth had, indeed, curled his talons about the spars-two different spars. Carefully the white dragon had extended his forepaw talons to grip the upper bar and had arranged his hind feet on tiptoe, one in front of the other, for a purchase on the lower one, stretching comfortably between the two levels.

I'm holding my breath, but I am in no discomfort, Ruth continned as he gazed alertly around. His left eye was whirling ever so gently in the blue of interest. Above, Jaxom could see more horizontal spars, a longitudinal framework that circled the engines. Their mass was behind the grid, an immense rectangular boxlike structure in which the matter/antimatter drive provided propulsion for interstellar travel.

"Are you all right, Jaxom?" Aivas asked.

"Perfectly," Jaxom replied. He would have been unwilling to give any other response, but in truth, he felt his muscles relax just a trifle even as he spoke. After all, nothing had happened.

"Ruth suffers no discomfort?"

"He says not. He's holding his breath."

I wish to climb higher, for a better view. There is nothing to be seen here but the engines. They are uninteresting. Before Jaxom could forbid him, Ruth had reached for the spar above his head.

Whatever you do, Ruth, don't let go entirely, Jaxom said urgently.

I'd only float.

Jaxom wondered at his dragon's nonchalance in this new and dangerous environment. But then, didn't dragons meet danger head on every time they flew Thread? At least there was none of that here to score the white hide or pierce a fragile wing-or his space suit.

See? And Ruth did begin to float, rather than climb, upward. Jaxom was so surprised by his dragon's initiative that he could think of nothing to say. And it doesn't matter if I float, Ruth went on, because all I have to do is jump between wherever I need to go. Is it not beautiful up here?

Jaxom had to agree. Ruth had them perched on the topmost rail, and before them, the globe of Pern glowed in brilliant greens and blues: He thought he recognized the Paradise River Hold estuary and, just at the curve of the horizon, the purple hills of Rubicon and Xanadu. Above were the stairs; behind him, shining far too brightly, was Rukbat's blaze. He thought he caught sunlight glinting off one of the other ships-the Bahrain, no doubt. And far, far above him, at an impossible distance, was the Red Star and the Oort Cloud that the erratic planet would penetrate yet again in another hundred or so Turns.

Abruptly Meer and Farli appeared floating beside Ruth, blinking out a moment later only to reappear, hanging on to the spar with their claws, daintily keeping their flesh from contact with the absolute chill of the metal. Their eyes began to whirl into excited reds.

We're not staying much longer. You d better go in. You can't hold your breaths as long as I can, Ruth told the two fire-lizards. They say space is much too big, he said to Jaxom. It is also colder than between. I think we will go in now. I feel the need to breathe.

Once again, before Jaxom could direct the proceeding, Ruth had executed his intention. Almost without ally sensation of transfer, they were back on the bridge of the Yokohama.

That was splendid! Ruth exclaimed, chirping happily.

Piemur's complexion, Jaxom noted, was noticeably pale under his southern tan, and his expression was unusually grim for a man who traversed the Southern coasts for months with only a gold fire-lizard and a runt runnerbeast for company and never lost his sense of humor.

"Did you have to make Farli and Meer come?"

"They came of their own accord. Ruth says they think space is too big." Jaxom laughed at their understatement. "Ruth thoroughly enjoyed it," he went on, realizing even as he said it how inadequate the comment was. "And so did I," he added staunchly, picturing again that vision of grandeur and immensity, "once I got used to it." He undid his helmet and grinned down at Piemur. "No difference really, from between, and not really as dangerous. As Ruth pointed out, all he has to do is go between wherever he wants, so we'd never really be in any danger in space."

"You sound to me a bit like a man convincing himself against the evidence of his own senses," Piemur said, regarding his friend through narrowed eyes.

"Well, it does take getting used to," Jaxom repeated, running his fingers through sweat-damp hair and grinning in what he hoped was a more convincing fashion. He wouldn't admit to Piemur that he had been apprehensive, though he could now appreciate the sour smell of sweat rising from his suit.

"I wonder," Piemur went on, "just how Sharra, and Lytol, and Lessa, and F'lar, and Robinton will view your latest escapade."

"Once they've tried it, they'll see that it's not really dangerous. It's just... a different aspect of travel on a dragon!"

Piemur let out an exaggerated sigh. "And if you and Ruth can do it, every other dragon and rider on Pern will feel required to follow your example. Is that what you wanted, Aivas?"

"The result is inevitable, given the friendly competitiveness of dragonriders."

Piemur raised both hands in a gesture of resignation. "As I said, with a friend like Aivas, you don't need enemies!"

Jaxom had let himself in for a series of harangues once they got back to Landing.

"True harper instincts!" he remarked acidly to Piemur, when the journeyman bellowed the news to Lytol on the duty desk. His old guardian turned pale and stern, and Jaxom had the satisfaction of seeing Piemur blanch. "Just let's keep this all in perspective, shall we?" he added, striding to Lytol. "I'm all right, really I am. Ruth wouldn't put me in danger any more than Aivas would. Someone!" He raised his voice. "I need some help here!"

Jancis came running down the hall, halted as she took in the scene, and darted into a side room. She was back in a moment with a hot bottle and poured Lytol a cup of klah.

"Just don't stand there, Piemur, get some wine. Some of that fortified wine would be best," she called after him as he scurried for the kitchen. "And just what have you been up to?" she demanded of Jaxom.

"Nothing as dangerous as springing news on-" Jaxom caught himself before saying "old man." "-someone with no advance warning or preparation. I gather Aivas did not mention what he had planned for us today."

"How could emptying fuel sacks be dangerous?" Jancis asked, her pretty eyes wide with astonishment.

"I'm perfectly all right," Lytol insisted. After he had obediently taken several sips of the hot klah his color had improved.

Piemur burst back into the hall, a wineskin in one hand and several glasses in the fingers of the other. He set these down on the table with more force than needed, but he could see that Lytol was recovering. "I need a drink as much as anyone else," the harper said, splashing wine into the first glass so sloppily that Jancis, uttering a protest, took the skin from his hand.

"Thanks. I needed that!" And Piemur downed the glass he had filled and held it out for a refill.

"You wait your turn," she scolded.

Jaxom gestured for her to pour wine into Lytol's cup and for the older man to drink again.

"Now, whatever made you attempt such a dangerous maneuver?" Lytol demanded.

Jaxom sighed. "It wasn't dangerous. Aivas asked Ruth and me to do an EVA, and we did. Ruth and I were quite safe. He had his claws hooked on that framework around the engine section and I-I was hanging on to him." Jaxom grinned at the consternation on Jancis's face.

"Dragonriders!" In that tone, Jancis's single word was a profound condemnation.

"Wouldn't you agree, Lytol, that a dragon won't endanger his rider? That a dragon can take himself and his rider anywhere between to safety?" Suddenly Jaxom realized that this was the first time in many Turns that he had asked Lytol to verify draconic abilities. He could see the muscles along his guardian's jaw clench, and wondered if he had overstepped the bounds of tact.

Lytol exhaled. "On occasion I have thought that Ruth acted too much on impulse, but you, Jaxom, have always been cautious; thus the two of you balanced each other. He would no more endanger you than you would put his life in jeopardy. But your extravehicular activity should have been discussed beforehand."

Piemur shot Jaxom a righteous glare, and Jaxom shrugged.

"We did it, and we have proved that it can be done with no harm."

I am going to sleep in the sun, Ruth told him. You're going to be talking for hours. I'm glad we didn't talk about doing it first. It could have taken days to arrive at permission. We might never have gotten to do it.

Jaxom did not repeat Ruth's less than diplomatic remarks or his appraisal of talk to come-talk that grew into harangue as Lessa, F'lar, Robinton, and D'ram were informed of the EVA.

"One more incidence of Aivas's obsession," Lessa said, not at all pleased to be summoned to the hastily convened meeting.

"I wish you would all address the meat of the exercise,"

Jaxom said with more irritation than he had ever before betrayed in the Benden Weyrleaders' presence. "The important fact is that it can be done, has been done, and that Aivas says that EVA by dragons and riders is crucial to his plan."

They were not in the Aivas chamber, but in the conference room.

"Why on earth would he want dragons clinging to that bloody framework, thousands of miles above Pern?" F'lar demanded.

"To accustom dragons to being in space," Jaxom replied.

"That's not all," Robinton said in a slow, thoughtful tone.

"No." D'ram sat erect and alert. "The dragons must move the Yokohama."

"Why?" Lessa asked. "What good would that do?"

"To ram it at the Red Star," D'ram said.

Jaxom, Piemur, and F'lar shook their heads.

"Why not?" Lessa demanded. "That must be why he wanted the fuel in the tanks."

Jaxom smiled wryly at her ignorance. "That drop of fuel would not explode on impact, and ramming the Red Star with the Yokohama, ponderous as it is, would not alter its orbit one bit. But I grant you, he needs the dragons to move something."

"Let's ask him!" Robinton suggested, standing and starting for the door. When the others did not move, he turned back at them. "Well, don't we want to know?"

"I'm not so sure I do," Lessa murmured, but she rose and followed the others as they trooped down the hallway to Aivas's room.

Jaxom, Jancis, and Piemur closed the doors into the various rooms occupied by students and, when all were inside Aivas's chamber, that door was closed. Piemur leaned back against it.

"What do the dragons have to move and where?" F'lar asked with no preamble.

"So you have perceived part of the plan, Weyrleader."

"You mean to use the Yokohama to ram the planet?" Lessa asked, still sure that she had the answer.

"That would be totally ineffectual, and the Yokohama is needed as a vantage point."

"Then what?" F'lar insisted.

A picture came up of the Red Star, with details gleaned from Wansor's patient study of the face the planet presented its viewers. A deep chasm could be seen running diagonally across one hemisphere-an unusual feature caused, Aivas had said, by an earthquake of incredible force.

"You all see this fracture. It is entirely possible that the chasm goes deep into the planet. It is probable that an explosion of sufficient magnitude at this point would have the desired effect of altering the planet's orbit. Especially when the planet is already perturbed by its proximity to the fifth satellite of this system." The visual altered to the familiar diagram of the Rukbat system. "Ordinarily an explosion of this magnitude would be impossible to effect. Not only because of the difficulty of amassing the elements required to make such a blast, but because it is nearly impossible to prevent chaotic elements from entering the equations of motion of the Red Star and even of the other planets.

"It is apparent from Master Wansor's investigations that the fifth planet is devoid of atmosphere and life. It is also at its farthest distance from Pern. There will be some perturbations throughout the system, but these have been calculated as negligible in the face of the desired result, the relief from any further incursions of Thread on this planet."

For a very long moment, no one spoke.

"We have no such exploding capability," Jaxom said.

"You do not. The Yokohama, the Bahrain, and the Buenos Aires do."

"What?" F'lar demanded angrily.

"The engines," Jaxom said. "The bloody engines. Oh, you are devious, Aivas!"

"But the engines are dead!" "There's not enough fuel!" "How would we get them there?" Everyone tried to be heard.

"The engines are dormant," Aivas said over the uproar. "But it is the material in the engines that will provide the explosive power. If antimatter is allowed to contact matter without controls, the result will suit your needs."

"Now wait a moment-" Jaxom called for order over the babel of questions. "You specifically stated in those engineering lectures to Fandarel that the antimatter is held out of contact with matter in the densest metals Mankind has ever forged. We don't have the equipment to penetrate those casings. Or is Fandarel working on something we don't know about'?"

There was a little pause, and Jaxom found himself agreeing with master Robinton that Aivas seemed to laugh to himself sometimes.

"It is true that the safety factors built into the great interstellar engines were immensely sophisticated, and that schematics for their design are not available in the engineering data," Aivas said at last. "But it has long been the case that complex things can be attacked best by simple methods. This facility must also obey the stipulation that you are not to be instructed in levels of technology beyond that of your ancestors. Fortunately you already have an agent that will provide the penetration. You have used it in every Fall for many centuries."

"HN03!" Piemur said in a gasp.

"Correct. The metal casings of the matter/antimatter drives are not impervious to its erosive effect." The visual of the Yokohama's engine shaft reappeared, but now there were large extraneous tanks placed on the drive cube. "It will take time, which is why there is a wide window of two weeks for this part of the activity, but the acid will penetrate the casings, and once the magnetic chamber is broached, matter and antimatter will self-destruct, causing the cataclysmic explosion necessary to shift the Red Star's orbit. Any further questions?"

Jaxom broke the silence that time. "So all the Weyrs of Pern will be needed to take the engines, not the ships, between to the Red Star. To drop them into the chasm?"

"To drop them might displace the HN03 tanks."

"How heavy are those engines?" F'lar asked.

"Their mass is the one weak point of the plan. However, you have constantly stated that the dragons can carry that which they think they can carry."

"Correct, but no one has ever asked them to carry engines!" F'lar replied, awed by the scale of the loads.

Jaxom began to chuckle and received offended stares. "That's why the bronzes have been exercising in free-fall-to get them used to things being so much lighter in space. Right, Aivas?"

"That is correct."

"So if we don't tell them how much those bloody things weigh..."

"Now, really, Jaxom," F'lar began.

"No, really, F'lar," Jaxom replied. "Aivas is applying a valid psychological tactic. I think it'll work. Especially if we think it can work. Right?" He gave F'lar a challenging look.

"Jaxom makes a good point," Lytol said. Beside him, D'ram nodded accord. "With many dragons, all working together... it could be done. No one dragon bearing more than his fair share of the burden, everyone believing that he can succeed. That framework is convenient. Each dragon will be able to grip the load."

"With padding on their feet to reduce the effects of spacecold metal," Aivas added.

"And take that much weight between?" Lessa asked, still skeptical.

"You know," F'lar said, rubbing his jaw speculatively. "I think they could do it-if we think they can. Tell me how Ruth reacted to being in space, Jaxom."

"Wait a minute," Lessa said, holding up her hand, her brow wrinkled in concentration. "How long would such a maneuver take? We could get an engine between, but to go that distance between..."

"You and your queen Ramoth traveled backward in time..."

"And nearly died," F'lar said, his tone as bitter as the look he gave his weyrmate for the anguish he had suffered then.

"The riders will all have oxygen-which is doubtless what you lacked, Weyrwoman-to breathe, and protective suits."

"There aren't that many!" D'ram protested.

"Not yet," Piemur said, his eyes glinting, "but Hamian's turning out the plastic-coated fabric faster than Master Nicat's men can glue the pieces together."

"From what has been said by every rider interviewed, only eight seconds elapse to reach most destinations here on Pern," Aivas went on. "Of those eight seconds, the dragons seem to use a basic five or so to assimilate their coordinates, and the rest of the time for the actual transfer. Using this premise and adapting it to a logarithmic computation, assume that travel takes I second for 1,600 kilometers, 2 seconds for 10,000, 3.6 seconds for 100,000, and 4.8 for I million and 7 to 10 seconds for 10 million. While this method of transference is still incomprehensible to this facility, it does appear to work. Therefore, knowing the approximate distance from Pern to the Red Star, it is easy to compute an interplanetary jump. It has also been established that dragons are able to function for fifteen minutes before their systems are in oxygen debt-more than enough time to make the journey, position the engines in the chasm, and return. The dragons are accurate fliers."

"I'd want to try that journey," F'lar said. Lessa turned on him, but before she could speak, he went on. "Love, if we believe in our dragons, we can believe in our own abilities, as well. Before I ask the Weyrs to undertake such a trip, I must be sure it is feasible, and I won't risk anyone. Not this time!" Everyone knew he was alluding to F'nor's nearly fatal attempt to reach the Red Star so many Turns before. "Is there any air to breathe on the Red Star?"

"No," Aivas replied. "Certainly not breathable atmosphere, but there is some, mostly noble gases and nitrogen. Whatever denser atmosphere it once had would have been lost when it escaped from its original system. There is no water, as repeated circuits past Rukbat have boiled off much of its volatiles, too. F'nor has seen this in process. Gravity on the surface would be not much more than one-tenth of Pern's, so the atmosphere is much less dense than what you are accustomed to."

"You will not take such a perilous expedition by yourself, F'lar," D'ram said, rising to his feet, his expression resolute.

"D'ram..." Robinton reached for the old dragonrider's arm, while Lytol's expression was both pitying and approving.

"D'ram, this is a young man's duty," the ex-warder said, shaking his head sadly. "You have long since done yours."

"F'lar?" Lessa's face was screwed up in an anxious grimace, as if she couldn't deny him but wanted desperately to do so. She shook her head, her gray eyes wide with fright, as she realized that nothing she could say would dissuade him.

"I will go," the Weyrleader repeated.

"Not by yourself," Jaxom said, shaking his head. "I'll go with you." He held his hands up to silence the others, but had little effect. He raised his voice over the uproar. "Ruth. always knows where he is and when he is. No other dragon has that ability, and you all know it. I'll go without permission if you keep on at me like this!" He allowed his anger to be seen as he glared at Lytol, Robinton, and D'ram. Lessa glared back, but she didn't join in the arguments.

"Jaxom, you may not come with me," F'Iar stated. "You've responsibilities-"

"I'm going, and that's that. I trust Ruth as you trust Mnementh. Let's keep this expedition down to as few as possible. Right?"

"What happens, though," Robinton said, his composure recovered, "if the one man"-and he gestured to F'lar-"who can keep this planet united and the young Lord Holder who has earned the respect of Hall, Hold, and Weyr should be lost to Pern at this very critical stage?"

F'lar gave a rueful laugh. "I don't intend to be lost, and if I will not go where I expect the Weyrs to follow, how can I ask them to go?" He took Lessa by the arms, appealing to her. "I must go, Lessa. Surely you see that."

"I do," she snapped. "But I don't have to like it. Furthermore, I'll go with you two fools!" She laughed at the startled reactions. "Why not? There're plenty of queens now to continue dragonkind. Ramoth's still the largest dragon on the planet and the bravest, going where no one dared go before. I think we three deserve the right!" She lifted her chin, haughtily oblivious to persuasions. "When do we go?"

Piemur let go a bark of laughter. "Just like that?"

"Why not? We don't have Threadfall for another two days. Jaxom?"

Three dragons bugled from the mounds beyond the building. Lessa, F'lar, and Jaxom smiled.

"I won't tell Sharra." He paused while Jancis savagely muttered something to the effect that Sharra wouldn't let him go. "I wouldn't be so sure of that, Jancis," he said, giving her a quelling look. "But there are a few things I must put in order. And to be perfectly candid, I'd like a good night's sleep. It's been a busy day!"

"Tomorrow then?" Lessa said, pinning him with a fierce stare.

"Certainly! I'll send Meer to Ruatha with a message that I'm staying over at Cove Hold."

"A good idea," F'lar said, quirking one eyebrow in amusement. "Mnementh is pretty excited... '

"Ramoth, too," Lessa said, and frowned. "We can't risk some other dragon sensing what we plan. There are fortunately no other dragons at Landing right now."

The three riders discussed with Aivas and the others every aspect of their unprecedented leap between. As the riders became more and more confident of success, the others began to cease their opposition, lapsing into nearly morose silence.

"If we do not leave soon," Robinton said into a pause as the three dragonriders were studying their landing site at the highest magnification Aivas could produce, "some of our more perceptive students will start speculating about the length of this meeting."

"A good point," F'lar said cheerfully. "Aivas, can you print out a copy of what's on the screen right now? We can study it further at Cove Hold."

"I'd've thought it was burned in your brains already," Lytol remarked caustically.

"Nearly," Jaxom replied gaily. He was buoyed by the confidence that F'lar and Lessa exuded, not realizing that each was infecting the other. Jaxom had not missed Lytol's frequent brooding looks, but after those first protests, his old guardian had only been silently reproachful.

Aivas printed three copies.

"This facility would not recommend such an exploration if any foreseeable danger was involved," Aivas said to reassure the skeptics.

"Foreseeable is the important word," Lytol said, and walked out.