As Quath spoke, the missile burst silently into a crimson ball.
“Shibo?”
—Our shields are stopping the UV pulses.—
“Good.”
But those were trivial threats. The main purpose of the missiles was simple: to crack Argo’s hull.
The two remaining missiles had swollen to red disks in Shibo’s grid.
We are tumbling the second.
One of the disks bobbed randomly. Killeen watched it explode into another soundless crimson globe.
We attempt the third.
“Are there others behind these?”
Not yet.
Then there was still a chance.
We are… difficulty… difficulty…
For the first time Quath’s tone was streaked with warring impressions. Killeen had the sensation of watching multiple minds clamor and struggle to a single purpose. Before he could comprehend this he felt a heavy, drumroll urgency.
We… fail.
Death grew behind them. Killeen could see the sleek form now.
“Quath! Isn’t there—”
No. It resists my deceptions.
Killeen stared at the rapidly growing dot. In the sharp clarity of vacuum he felt as though he could almost reach out and slap it away. Or throw something at it. In space even insubstantial things could—
The idea was so simple it startled him.
“Jocelyn! Cermo!”
—Yeasay!—
“Release! Open the locks!”
—Yessir!—they answered together.
Clouds spurted from three openings in Argo’s hull. On signal the maintenance locks had popped open in the polluted zone of the ship. Now the air rushed out, carrying foul fluids with it. Anything left within quickly boiled away into hard vacuum.
Sunlight caught the expanding clouds. Suddenly they became huge, spreading foils. Billowing yellow wings seemed to twist and fan, as though Argo glided forward by beating against utter vacuum. Expanding gossamer veils trailed behind as the ship steadily accelerated away.
Killeen stood uphull from the locks and so was spared the spray. For long moments the fluids burst into sunlight. Gusts came forth. Each added more radiance to the fluttering wake.
“Shibo! Side vector!”
Argo lurched. Shibo had fired the jets on one side. The ship coasted sidewise.
Now Killeen could not see the approaching enemy. The luminous fog obscured everything. He hoped that the missile saw the same wreathed confusion.
“Quath?”
Approaching hard. Accelerating.
“Fire main engine!”
To stay on the hull Killeen had to catch himself against a pipe. Argo accelerated strongly.
Glory burst behind them. The plasma drive struck the wake cloud. The agitated ions immediately provoked answering radiation from the gas. Like a searchlight playing through clotted fog, the exhaust brilliantly lit a huge irregular blob of mist.
Killeen held on against the rising thrust. He had done all he could. Now—
A fireball flared nearby. It lit the billowing fog further, casting shock waves of luminescence.
“Missed!” he cried.
—Hot damn!—Cermo shouted.
Shibo laughed. Her tinkling voice rang in his ears.
