Freedom's Challenge

Chapter Three.

MARGE BECAME MORE VOCAL BUT struggled painfully for sentences or words and would often burst into tears. Peggy would watch her, lean over, and pat her shoulder or her hand, then immediately go into what Kris called her "meditative" state.

When discussing her charges with Dorothy, the psychologist advised her to suggest words, if she could, to Marge or show pictures. Peggy was obviously aware of what was happening about her, and that was a very good sign.

"Miss Barrow," and Dorothy gave the mischievous smile that made her seem much younger, "wants to take charge of our laboratory.

She is naturally appalled at its primitive facilities and amazed that we aren't all down with something fatal. Leon, Thor, and the others need her skills so much that they're willing to put up with her… disorientation:' Dorothy sighed.

"Miss Barrow will not be pleased when she accepts that she's on another planet entirely and will never get more than the equipment we have."

"I wouldn't bet on that, Dorothy," Kris said with a grin.

"What do you know that they haven't told me?" Dorothy asked, eyeing Kris with mock annoyance.

"I'm not sure they've told me any more than you will have heard, too. Like they are going to try to get back to Earth.

"They couldn't bring my shopping list with them, could they?"

the psychologist asked in a wistful tone, then added more briskly, "I am encouraged, though. We're getting almost daily breakthroughs now. Though how we'll fit some of these people into Botany I haven't a clue. I mean, an as-trophysicist who was on the Hubble team and a meteorologist when the weather here is already controlled-Do we even have a clue how that's done?"

"Zainal thinks that huge square block we discovered on the seashore has something to do with it. There are four others in sort of a pattern."

"Any idea of when the Earth trip will take place?"

"We've a lot of studying to do first," Kris said and rose, not wanting to spread more gossip, even to someone as discreet as Dorothy was, professionally or personally.

KRIS FOUND HER NAME up on the roster board for a late afternoon meeting with the Central Council. She checked in with the day care to be sure that the day's manager knew that she wouldn't be in to collect Zane at the usual hour. Sarah McDouall had already been informed. Zane did not notice his mother, since he was involved in some complicated game with Fek's child and two Rugarians whom Kris didn't know. The Rugarian babies were born with as much body fur as their parents, and it really was difficult for humans to tell them apart without going through the list of names until the yaya (which was Rugarian for the unadult) answered to the right one. A Deski young one was called a slib. Some of them were easier to identify since their skin had different tones.

Zainal caught up with her in the dining hall where they were both eating a quick meal.

"What's this all about then?" she asked him.

"Plans have been made. Discussion now."

She knew him well enough to know that she would get no more out of him. Then she noticed Miss Barrow threading her way to an empty table. She wore a look of disdain, as if wrapping herself carefully away from the reality of an ambience she could not escape. Unlike everyone else garbed in the ubiquitous ship suit, she wore a dress, severely cut, in one of the dark greens, which Kris had brought back from her excursion to the markets of Barevi. The dress was long-sleeved and buttoned up to a high collar, with a hemline at calf-length. To Kris' astonishment, Miss Barrow did incline her head graciously as she registered Kris' presence, but she straightened into consummate distaste as she recognized that Kris was seated with a Catteni. She turned her face haughtily away.

"Poor woman," Kris said, shaking her head.

"Why?

She was saved the mines."

"One day, she'll find out. I hope," Kris added as an afterthought, "the notion that she is beholden to you doesn't throw her."

"She is good in lab, they say," Zainal remarked. "So she is. We'd better go."

Kris saw the biggest of the flatbed vehicles draw up to the dining hall and heard it toot its horn. Half the diners immediately made their way to the door and climbed on the transport.

THEY WERE DELIVERED tO the immense main hangar where the scout ship and the two transports lurked in the shadows cast by the one work light left on in their area. Not for the first time, Kris wondered what the Farmers had used this vast area for, so neatly carved from the mountainside.

In the center of some of the unused space, chairs and benches had been set up, facing five large mounted slates that were still the best Botany solution for large displays. She could see that one held the diagram of this system and another of Earth. The other two were probably the systems in which the Barevi planet and the home planet of the Catteni were situated.

The fifth held lists and names.

So, thought Kris with a surge of anticipation, we are moving outside again.

There was a table to one side of the slates with chairs crowding around it. Judge Iri Bempechat was seated in the center and was obviously the moderator for the meeting. Kris liked the old man enormously for his wit, his humor, and his vast store of judicial wisdom. So far no one had contested any of his decisions and she hoped the situation would remain that way. On his right was Ray Scott, on his left two men who were vaguely familiar to her: they also had the gaunt look of Victims despite two weeks of restorative treatment and therapy. Even those who had played "doggo" showed the effects of their incarceration in the brutal open pens where the Eosi had contained them. Dorothy Dwardie sat beyond those two men. The rest of the Council, from Chuck Mitford to Leon Dane, occupied the other spaces. Raisha and Gino sat together, trying to look unconcerned and anonymous at the end of the right side.

Two seats were still unoccupied and, as Kris and Zainal entered, he gave his head a slight tilt toward the table, indicating those chairs were for them.

Kris was quite glad to join him there. That gave her a chance to see who else had been invited. Mostly those who were technically skilled in one way or another, including Dick Aarens, and a great many of those who had been in the Fifth and Sixth Drops.

Well, she thought, we won't have to contend with Anna Bollinger and Janet.

Ray stood up and whatever private conversations had been going ceased.

"Zainal has proposed several plans of action since we cannot be sure that the Farmers will answer our latest message to them, nor when. We've been fortunate enough to have the latest information of Earth from those we rescued from the Barevi slave pens. Zainal?" Ray sat down and Zainal stood, going to the slates.

"First, we need to know who or what is watching Botany outside the Bubble," he said. "This is the point where the Eosi tried to ram their way in:' Someone had drawn in cartoons of the debris. "They left enough behind so that I believe the scout ship can poke her nose outside the Bubble and have a look."

"What about the geo-synchronous satellite up there?" Aarens asked, jumping to his feet to forestall the others who more politely raised their hands to signify that they had a query.

"It may or may not be able to see the scout's nose among the rubble," Zainal said, "but by the time the report is sent back, Baby will no longer be there. The records will show only what has been seen before. Unless the film is sent to a very high-ranking Eosi, it will be considered what you call a glitch. In order to get out of the Bubble, we need to calculate the speed and direction of the new satellite that the Eosi have put in place. We can then figure out where to leave the Bubble without being detected."

"Yeah," Aarens said in a dubious tone of voice, "but that sat would see the scout's ion trail, wouldn't it?"

"Not if the speed of the scout is sufficient to get it behind one of the moons. Its direction would be unknown."

"What about if there's a fast ship just waiting for us to try something like that?"

"There are ways," Zainal said with a grin. "That scout is much faster than anything but another scout. Such ships are never used as watchers."

Aarens shrugged and sat down.

"That is the first step," Zainal said.

"If you're going back to Barevi, I've a long shopping list," someone said and received a chuckle.

"No, Barevi would be too hot for us right now," Zainal said. "We go to Earth and we use two ships; the scout and the KDM which will renamed and altered to look as if it had been hit by space… stuff."

"That metal'll be hard to dent," Gino said, shaking his head. "You Cat-teni make a good hull."

"It'll be camouflaged;' Hassan Moussa said and grinned. "I'm a past master at that."

"But going back to Earth?" Aarens asked, stunned.

"Last place they will expect us." And Zainal turned to one of the Victims who nodded agreement. "Ricky Farmer here was senior air controller for O'Hare airport while there was still Human air traffic. When all your planes were grounded and he was victimized, he took notes on Catteni routes and procedures. He has code words-though his Catteni is about what my English once was;' and that rated some chuckles from the audience, "and these will help us get into some of the landing places now used by Catteni transport ships. I understand from Jeff Fawcett," and he gestured to the other Victim, "that large amusement areas have been built around the landing sites for the crews. These would be useful places for us to find out more information."

"You mean, that cool as a cucumber, we're going to reinvade Earth?"

Lenny Doyle said.

"We also intend to…" and Zainal had the merest smile on his lips, "invade Catten."

That provoked a widespread eruption from the audience, more an elated one than fearful, although quite a few faces bore skeptical expressions.

"Hey, ain't that pushing our luck?" Lenny Doyle asked, raising his voice to be heard above the babel.

"Only volunteers," Zainal said with a sly grin. "And mostly to learn what would be impossible to learn on your planet. More codes are needed and Catten is the only place to go for that;'

Kris waited for someone to ask what was so obvious to her: if Zainal was going to contact Catteni dissidents. She didn't know how many people on Botany-besides Chuck Mitford-knew anything about that facet of his grand scheme. Surely Zainal would have confided in Ray his hopes that he could muster assistance on his home planet to help overthrow the Eosi.

"We got to have information we can't get any other way," Ray Scott put in. Kris heaved a small sigh of relief. Ray did know and seemingly ap"We're also going to ask for volunteers to remain on Earth and con-the resistance groups."

"I don't know all of them;' Jeff Fawcett said in a voice still hoarse from. recent ordeal. "But enough for us to get the word spread.

"Jeff's also going to need a volunteer to go with him;' Scott said, ' from the First or Second Drops…;'

The number of hands that shot into the air gave Kris a thrill of pride.

most eager had jumped t°their feet, to establish their willingness: Joe Latore, both the Doyle brothers, Mack Dargle, Bart Lincoln, Matt Su, and / Areson were those she recognized first in the show of hands.

"Thank you very much;' Zainal said.

Granfyng, most graufymg, Ray satd, holding up his hand, too, as did all the other military men seated at the table. "More than the ships can?hold."

"Some must speak and understand Catten," Zainal said.

"We're learning;' quipped someone.

"You will learn harder;' Zainal said with a wry expression.

"What about the Farmers?" Jay Greene asked when the laughter at (that threat died. "Shouldn't we wait for their response? And their advice?"

"No, the time to move is now;' Scott said.

Zainal stood. "The Eosi will try very hard to break through the Bubble. That is their way. Run shod roughly over any opposition with the force ii of their weapons. We must leave before they reinforce their warships. They have many:'

"But they haven't been able to penetrate the Bubble, and we know they've tried;' Jay said.

"They will keep trying until they have;' Zainal said. "That is why they tried to discover new information in the minds of your specialists)'

Dick Aarens jumped to his feet, his expression angry and obstinate.

"And what happens to those of us left here when they do break through the Bubble? Have you contingency plans for that-if you're taking all three ships away with you?"

"We move quickly and not where they expect us to go and learn what they plan and how to…" Zainal looked down at Kris for the word he needed.

"Counteract;' she murmured.

"Counteract their plans."

"We're still fleas on a dog's back/' Jay said, "with all the ships you said they have. I was talking to Rick Farmer, and he says they've got hundreds in their navy. What if they use all of them against the Bubble?"

Judge Iri Bempechat raised his hand and was given precedence over others who wanted to add their comments.

"Zainal, such a fleet is widely dispersed, is it not?" And when Zainal nodded, the Judge went on, still looking at Zainal, "and it would take weeks, even months, to direct them all here. So we have some leeway if we make our moves quickly. Admiral Scott believes that they would try to install a battery on the moons that are outside the Bubble. To do so, they must bring in machinery, material-and life support systems for whichever unfortunate species is drafted for such an undertaking. I am also of the opinion, with which our military and naval representatives concur/' and, with one hand on his chest, he bowed his head to the right and left, "that the Farmers must have placed some sort of sentinel to monitor our protective Bubble. They made it clear, in that one regrettably short interview with various groups of us, that they intend to preserve us. I believed in their sincerity as well as their interest in us… even if it should be the interest of a scientist watching ants to see how they contrive-"

"Now, wait a bloody minute…" and Geoffrey Ainger jumped to his feet. Kris had not noticed him, seated at the back, and wasn't happy at his presence. "What is all this going to do for us? Except put the colony in more danger? Simply because one…;' and his pause was pregnant with his distrust and animosity toward Zainal, "… person wants to pursue a private revenge?"

"First duty of a captured soldier… sir…;' and it was a stern Mitford whose parade ground voice dominated the shouted reactions from an angry audience, "is to do his best to escape and return to his unit. Mine is on Earth. And if Zainal wants to see his people freed of the Eosian domination, we sure as hell do, too, cause it means we'll get out from under 'era.

Militarily, a combined assault has many advantages;'

That speech set the cat among the pigeons, Kris thought, struggling to keep from cheering. Or maybe the night crawlers after live meat.

Ray Scott, with help from Peter Easley and udge Bempechat, finally restored enough order to continue the meeting. Easley had been discreetly seated to one side where Kris had not noticed him. Not too far, as it turned out, from Ainger. Not far either from Beggs, whom she saw sitting by the British ex-naval officer. Had Pete sat there to keep an eye on those dissidents?

Quite likely, she thought.

"You gave me the impression, sergeant, that you had no wish to leave Botany now;' Ainger could put a wealth of venom in a seemingly casual comment.

"I don't, but I'll do a great deal to preserve what we all have made here.

So I can enjoy what I've-we've-worked so hard to achieve." Satisfied with the applause to his answer, Chuck sat down again.

"There are risks," Ray said, once more taking charge of the proceedings.

"Most of you can figure them out without much help but, if our people on Earth knew that there was an organized space resistance to the Cat I mean, the Eosian overlords-it would give them heart and purpose against the tremendous odds they've had to deal with. Especially if we can also prove that we've rescued the ones the Eosi were brain-wiping."

"Speaking of tremendous odds, admiralre" And Ainger was again on his feet. "Just how large a fleet exists? That's pertinent even if getting the entire naval arm of the Catteni here would take time:' He looked directly at Zainal for the answer.

"Some of the oldest ships in service are slow and their equipment obsolete;' Zainal replied. "There are only four of heavy-new in service dreadnoughts, did you call them, Ray-" And when Scott nodded, he went on, "that much information Admiral Scott and I learned on Barevi. Until just recently spaceship builders have been concentrating on producing ships like the KDL and KDM, to replace those no longer space-worthy, like the first ship we attacked."

"So what sort of ships and weaponry do they have to bombard those of us left behind on Botany?" Ainger asked.

Boy, thought Kris, that Ainger has a bad negative attitude.

"Only the four of the dreadnoughts but there are… ships of the line… which are able to destroy satellites, small moons, and large asteroids.

To my knowledge, which is now not up to date, there are thirty of them. They are assault vessels, which supported the kind of large transport that landed on your planet. They are larger than the two K-class we have here;'

Ray Scott leaned over the table toward Ainger. "Zainal has given us a list of the types of spacecraft used by the… urn… navy. We've also been able to get a fair translation of the data from the scout ship, so we have useful details about range, crew complement, firepower, and maneuverability of all types, except the dreadnoughts, which are so new. You are certainly welcome to peruse the data at your leisure:'

Ainger waved away that offer with a flick of his fingers. "Those of us remaining on Botany are going to be vulnerable…"

"Only if the Bubble fails," Ray Scott said in a testy tone, "which seems unlikely, given the advanced technology of the Farmers which is so upsetting the Eosi." Then he deliberately looked away from Ainger. "So we have three expeditions to mount: first, a reconnaissance at the Bubble edge; second, sending off both the scout and one transport to Earth to see what-" he grinned "-trouble we can cause there and how we can help the resistance movements; and third, an information-gathering jaunt to Catten. I think that has to be under your command, Zainal," and he nodded in his direction, "with your choice of crew but we'll accept volunteers for both expeditions."

"Who gets to peek out of the Bubble?"

Zainal stood. "A full crew." Then he pointed at individuals. "Gino, Raisha, Bert, Laughrey, Boris, and Hassan. Those only who speak good Cat-teni and are the right size will come with me;' and his eyes flickered briefly at Kris.

"We feel we should pack the Earth expedition with as many infiltra tots as possible;' Ray said and had to raise his hand to finish his sentence when most of his listeners rose and shouted out their names, "to spread the good word."

"What if there're some traitors among us?" Dick Aarens asked.

Ray Scott gave the mechanic a long incredulous look. "How many do you think there could be?"

There were smothered giggles, and Dick Aarens swung about, trying to find the sources.

"Well, there might be," he muttered with sullen aggressiveness. "Particularly on the last drop-and even among the Victims. One of them might have been lying 'doggo' for very good reasons. He kept his brairgtwhile others got them wiped:'

"Now, just a cotton-pickin' minute." Will Seissmann was on his feet, shaking a fist at Aarens across the audience.

"Young man…:' began Miss Barrow who was red-faced with indignation.

Dr. Ansible was so apoplectic at the mere suggestion that he had to be restrained from diving across two rows of seats to Aarens.

"I'd retract that, were I you," Peter Easley said.

"I won't because it damned well is a possibility;' Aarens said, jutting his jaw out as if asking for a punch which would have many willing to oblige him.

Dorothy Dwardie jumped up. "In my professional opinion, Mr. aarens, there is little possibility of treachery among those who suffered, or even avoided, the Eosi mind-wipe. We have had trauma counseling sessions which would have exposed a quisling."

Which, Kris devoutly hoped, was accurate. But the suspicion had been raised and would hang there, a dark doubt in everyone's mind: even among those who had learned a great deal about each other in the years they had worked together on Botany.

Another of the psychology team, Ben Boyalan, rose. "We may have neither a lie detector nor any sodium pentathol but there are ways of testing responses. That is, if anyone feels such a procedure is at all necessary above and beyond our trauma counseling." He gave Aarens a dire look before he sat down.

"I won't close what has been a very constructive meeting on that kind of sour note," Ray Scott said. He was not the only one scowling in Aarens' direction. "I will summarize what we," and he indicated the others at the table, "have been planning, and why there is some urgency in the scout making a reconnaissance run. We do take Zainal's advice that Earth would be the last place the Eosi would look for us to appear," and he grinned, "and the best place for us to set in motion a coup d%tat. If Zainal is willing to risk his life returning to Catten for the information he considers vital to our ultimate goal of freedom from the Eosian domination, then I wish him all the luck he'll need and the support of everyone on this planet. We all have many reasons to be grateful he was on that first drop. Don't we?"

The spontaneous cheering, and the warmth of it, brought tears to Kris' eyes. She never would have expected that sort of public gratitude…

especially from Ray Scott who had not always agreed with Zainal. The applause and stamping continued for so long that she gave him a nudge to stand and acknowledge it. He did so, with typical diffidence, but his wave of acceptance took in the entire audience and became a formal salute to Ray Scott.

That was when Kris noticed the very satisfied grin on Iri Bempechat's face. Chuck looked suspiciously bland, one eyebrow twitching while he played with his pencil, slipping it up and down through the fingers of his right hand, a sure sign of complicity. And suddenly Aarens' niggling little suggestion was only Aarens tossing a spanner in works that didn't happen to include his participation.

THE VEry? NEXT DAY, the designated pilots climbed into Baby, the scout ship, and took off for the peek out of the Bubble's remarkable material.

They drew straws for takeoff and landing and the other in-flight duties since this was also a training mission.

The official mission directors took places in Ray Scott's office, grouping around the bridge console, which had been taken from the crash-landed transport that had made the Fifth Drop. So those in Scott's office would have a chance to see what Baby did and saw. Someone had thought to rig speakers outside the hangar so that the many that wouldn't find places in the office could at least hear what was going on.

"On site," Raisha said, her voice ringing with suppressed excitement.

"Still the same space flot. Can't see that any of it has moved a centimeter.

Gino's easing Baby's nose in between two of the largest of the disks the Eosi vessel left behind." She chuckled.

"Good choice," Ray said, grinning. "The geo-synchronous satellite might not even notice we're looking out."

"Hold it right here;' and there was such a change in Raisha's tone that everyone tensed. "How big did Zainal say the Catteni fleet arm is?"

Apprehensively, Ray looked toward Zainal. The Catten/immediately leaned over the speaker grill.

"How many do you see?" he asked as calmly as if he was asking how many rock squats were visible.

"Two of those dreadnoughts, I think. We're not entirely outside the Bubble yet but the skin is transparent and we can see out." What she didn't add, "and I hope they can't see in," hovered unsaid but understood.

Kris felt goosebumps rising on her arms and rubbed them away.

"There are also three flotillas of other smaller craft," and Hassan Moussa took over the reporting, "five in each group, beside and above the two big guys you can probably see on the bridge monitor;'

"Yes, we see them. Are they the dreadnoughts, Zainal?" Ray asked, beckoning for Zainal to stand beside him.

Zainal nodded. "What else?"

"Wouldn't they be enough?" Jim Rastancil asked facetiously.

Zainal shrugged.

"Hey, we've got other junk in the sky," Hassan continued. "Shall I widen the screen?"

"Yes, please," Zainal said, crossing his arms on his chest, the picture of objective observer.

"It's the dreadnoughts I worry about," Ray said, rubbing his chin nervously.

"What other ships are there, Hassan?" Zainal asked blandly.

"Bulky cargo type carriers and one transport larger than the KDL or KDM. Heading toward the nearer moon."

Ray looked at Zainal. "You were right about the moon base. What sort of air-to-ground missiles would they have? Something heavy enough to penetrate the Bubble?"

"Stay where you are, Gino//' Zainal cautioned. "I do not know, Ray.

Eosian weapons are powerful but the Bubble is an unknown quantity."

"Baby has not fully penetrated the Bubble/' Gino said. "Hassans just telling you what we can see through it."

There was a sudden flash of blinding whiteness, which stunned everyone watching, causing them to have retinal flashbacks. It took several seconds before clear vision was restored to those in the office.

"I do believe they're trying to breach the Bubble/' said Hassan after a moment, and he sounded highly amused.

"What was that flash?"

"Them/' Hassan replied. "Quite likely with every weapon on board."

"I'd say they fired all forward weapons/' Laughrey said, "although that flash was so strong, I don't think any of us are seeing more than the damned flash. Baby evidently saved us the worst of it with some sort of instant screen:' Zainal nodded.

"Any pain in your eyes? Headache?" Leon Dane asked, present in his capacity as a physician.

"Do you have a clearer idea of what happened down there?" Zainal asked.

"We got the flash right on//' Ray said, blinking furiously, "but I'm seeing all right…" He looked around for confirmation from the others and everyone nodded.

"Us, too/' Laughrey said, "even with lots of retinal echoes, all shaped like Baby's forward screen. Yeah, and hey, nothing got through the Bubble to us."

"All systems functioning perfectly," Raisha said, calm again.

"And whaddaya know?" Gino's tone was jubilant. "There isn't a ship out there-'cept the one heading toward the Moon, which is in the same place they were before they fired."

"Some of the smaller ones are tumbling end over end//' said Bert Put.

"That was some backlash! Shake 'em up good."

"I don't think they'll try that kind of a broadside again real soon//' Boris said in his deep bass voice, rippling with laughter.

"They've lost a whole mess of gear again, too//' G/no said. "I doubt they've even reception from the nearer ships."

"Could they have fired because they saw Baby?" Ray asked anxiously."

"No. We put the brakes on the moment Raisha spoke. The fo'ard screen was right against the Bubble film but we hadn't penetrated it//' Gino said.

"You might say our timing was serendipitous//' Laughrey said, chuckling.

"Can you pick up the newest Eosi orbital satellite?" Ray said, reminding them of the second purpose of their flight.

"On screen//' Boris said. "Tracking and recording. It is not as fast as the Farmers' orbital. In fact, it is as slow as a horse-drawn vehicle compared to a Formula One racer."

"Really?" Jim Rastancil said.

Kris made a note to herself to tell Boris what a lovely comparison that was. And very reassuring. She turned to Zainal and saw that he was grinning, even if he couldn't possibly know anything about Formula One racers.

She'd told him about horses. But Formula racing had not yet come up in any of their conversations.

Now Zainal was nodding. "As soon as we know its trajectory and timing, the scout and the KDM must leave. They will take a while to get ship-to-ship communications back on-line, and then it will take the Eosi time to calm down at this defeat of their weapons. They will be so angry, they could argue for days before they come to a decision about what to do next:'

"What about the moon base?" Ray asked.

Zainal shrugged. "That will take many weeks, months even, before it is finished. They may not even know we can get out when we want to."

"But we landed on Barevi and stole a ship." Ray said by way of reminder.

"They do not know that those ships are in here now."

"How stupid are these Eosi?" Bull Fetterman asked, his eyebrows raised high in surprise.

"You might be surprised," Zainal said.

"Then how long will it take to provision and crew the scout and the KDM?" John Beverly asked, speaking for the first time.

"How long is the trip to Earth?" Chuck asked Zainal.

"At top speed, about ten of your days," Zainal said.

"Didn't think it was that close/' remarked Beverly.

"From here it is. From Barevi it is longer."

"I'd say we can provision, water, do a quick service in about three days;' Chuck said.

"Do it in one and a half," Zainal said. "Sooner is better than later."

"Okay, gang, let's do it/' Chuck said, clapping his hands as a signal to move out. He got to the door of Ray's office, stopped, turned, and asked, "So who's going?"

Ray Scott was pulling a file to the center of his desk. 'I'll tell you by the end of dinner. All right, now, where's that provisional list we made up?"

DINNER THAT NIGHT was more of a feast than a normal repast and there were loud calls for the evening's cooks to come out and take a bow.

Dowdall stood on his table and announced a call for volunteers to hunt enough rocksquat and catch enough fish to provision the ships with "edible" food, not that Catteni issue.

"Dorothy warned me that there're a lot of scarce items on Earth. The Catteni take almost everything that's produced," he said with a very sober expression.

"Hey, Dow, we still got crates of the Catteni bars," Joe Latore said.

"They don't taste like much… unless you're real hungry."

"There are so many hungry people;' Dr. Ansible said in a sad tone, but loud enough for many to hear.

Sandy Areson leaped atop her chair. "We got lots here we can send along. Botanical care packages. Any volunteers?"

"We can let all the kids sleep in the center tonight," Patti Sue Greene shouted. "They'd love that and I'll volunteer me…"

"You'll need more than yourself/' Mavis Belton said.

"I will be glad to assist Patti Sue/' Anna Bollinger said and prodded Janet beside her who nodded quickly but without much enthusiasm.

Zane! Kris had to cover her mouth with one hand. What if she never came back from Catten? Never saw Zane again… Then she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder and looked up into Peter Easley's eyes. He nodded his head once and smiled reassuringly. Kris sniffed, patted his hand, and sniffed again. No, Zane would be fine.

She was going on the Catten mission with Zainal and he had not yet set an established dep.rture time. There had to be dings painted into the KDM: he had to do a little fixing with the recognition beacon, so that it gave only so much of the normal patterning before jamming. That would also verify the damage it had suffered. There were uniforms to be fixed: hair to be dyed gray, and the yellow contact lenses to be fitted so that this group would look more Catteni than what was called the first Botany expedition to Barevi had. Sandy Areson had fixed up cheek pads for Zainal and several rather nasty-looking scars that could be glued on his face-she instructed Kris on the process. These would sufficiently alter his appearance and would also explain the persona he was adopting for the expedition.

Sandy gave Kris small cheek pads that gave her more of a rounder, Catteni-shaped face. For Chuck she had yet another wad, in between his gums and teeth. Subtle enough but effective in altering appearances.

They'd spend the longish journey to Catten learning as much of the language as they could cram into their skulls… as well as the drills that would mark them as Drassi. Coo and Pess would also be in the crew: Ru-garians often accompanied transport crews because of their strength. There were always Rugarians on Catten as well. Coo and Pess might even be able to discover as much information from their species as Zainal could.

When dinner-and the accolades to the cooks-was completed, Ray Scott climbed to the top of a cleared table and read out the names of the crews for each ship. At the end there were more cheers than long faces.

"If this first run works;' Ray said, "we'll make as many as we can and save as many who may be at risk as possible;'

That met with a rousing cheer, foot stamping, and hand clapping.

"Can we handle more?" someone shouted.

"Don't be silly," a woman replied contemptuously. "We've got plenty of space."

"Yeah, but who's to say who's in a real risk situation?"

"We'll find out," Ray said, waving down others who wanted to discuss that issue. "We've got people from quite a few nationalities so we can make good contacts everywhere."

"Any specialist is at risk," NormaBarrow surprised everyone by saying in a firm and unusually loud voice which defied contradiction.

"And no quisling accepted," a man said from somewhere in the dining hall.

Aarens whirled about trying to find who had spoken.

"Cool it, Aarens;' Ray Scott said. "It's not as if the Eosi have coerced many humans. At least I hope not:'

"I'll find me a lie detector and some sodium pent," Leon Dane said.

"We'll process anyone we think might be suspicious. And long before they find out we've got our own transport/' he added with a grin. He was going along as mission medic and to see what medical supplies he could acquire.

He was hoping that not every one of his dissident friends in Sydney had been rounded up when he was. Joe Marley hoped to find help in Perth.

Ricky Farmer had said that Catteni ships flitted from one continent to another, seemingly without orders or on special missions.

"It's got so even the sight of a Catteni transport sends everyone into hiding," Ricky said. He had volunteered to go to Chicago where many were now living in the old underground sewer and transport system, which had been constructed in the 1800s and had been virtually forgotten.

Leila Massuri and Basil Whitby had volunteered to go to London and Paris. The Chunnel had not been finished or opened up but it was completely dug from shore to shore and had provided a means of getting to and from the continent. Boris and Raisha would pilot the scout and see what they could find in their homeland, Russia. Bull Fetterman, Mic Rowland, Lenny Doyle, and Nat Baxter completed the Baby's crew. Bert Put and Laughrey would pilot the KDM, with Lex Kariatin, Will Seissmann, Joe La-tore, Vic Yowell, Ole, Sandy Areson, and Matt Su as crew while John Beverly was de facto captain. They hoped to have all four decks full of refugees on the way back. And at least some of the machinery, tools, and equipment on the wish lists.

Zainal, Gino Marrucci as backup pilot, Kris, Chuck Mitford, Coo, Pess, Mack Dargle, Ninety Doyle, and Jim Rastancil were those going on the KDL to Catten.