Freedom's Challenge by Anne McCaffrey Page B

amused.
    â€œWhat was that flash?”
    â€œThem,” Hassan replied. “Quite likely with every weapon on board.”
    â€œI’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.
    â€œAny pain in your eyes? Headache?” Leon Dane asked, present in his capacity as a physician.
    â€œDo you have a clearer idea of what happened down there?” Zainal asked.
    â€œWe 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.
    â€œUs, 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.”
    â€œAll systems functioning perfectly,” Raisha said, calm again.
    â€œAnd whaddaya know?” Gino’s tone was jubilant. “There isn’t a ship out there—’cept the one heading towardthe Moon, which is in the same place they were before they fired.”
    â€œSome of the smaller ones are tumbling end over end,” said Bert Put. “That was some backlash! Shake ’em up good.”
    â€œI don’t think they’ll try that kind of a broadside again real soon,” Boris said in his deep bass voice, rippling with laughter.
    â€œThey’ve lost a whole mess of gear again, too,” Gino said. “I doubt they’ve even reception from the nearer ships.”
    â€œCould they have fired because they saw Baby?” Ray asked anxiously.
    â€œNo. 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.
    â€œYou might say our timing was serendipitous,” Laughrey said, chuckling.
    â€œCan you pick up the newest Eosi orbital satellite?” Ray said, reminding them of the second purpose of their flight.
    â€œOn 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.”
    â€œReally?” 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 beso angry, they could argue for days before they come to a decision about what to do next.”
    â€œWhat 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.”
    â€œBut we landed on Barevi and stole a ship,” Ray said by way of reminder.
    â€œThey do not know that those ships are in here now.”
    â€œHow stupid are these Eosi?” Bull Fetterman asked, his eyebrows raised high in surprise.
    â€œYou might be surprised,” Zainal said.
    â€œThen how long will it take to provision and crew the scout and the KDM?” John Beverly asked, speaking for the first time.
    â€œHow long is the trip to Earth?” Chuck asked Zainal.
    â€œAt top speed, about ten of your days,” Zainal said.
    â€œDidn’t think it was that close,” remarked Beverly.
    â€œFrom here it is. From Barevi it is longer.”
    â€œI’d say we can