"Copy the image through to Dorjon," Broghuilio told the operator.

Freskel-Gar's head turned as he took in the presentation from a different direction. "What is that vessel there? Are you telling me now that your ships were not alone?"

"It's too much to go into now," Broghuilio said. "There seems to be a complication that I was not prepared for. It may call for some quick action."

Freskel-Gar studied him penetratingly from his screen for several seconds, then nodded tightly. "Right now, you obviously know more of the facts than I do. Tell me what you want done." A fast thinker and a realist, at least, Broghuilio granted inwardly.

Broghuilio paced across the bridge, stopping to stare unseeingly at the unmanned flight engineers' stations of his grounded craft while he thought furiously. Then he turned, regarded Estordu and the others for a moment, and wheeled finally to face Freskel-Gar again.

"Another race inhabited Minerva long ago-a race of different beings."

"The ones we call the Giants?"

Broghuilio nodded. "That ship is one of theirs. My ships here are fitted with armaments that they are not aware of, so the advantage is with us."

"They know you are here, then?" Freskel-Gar said.

"Not necessarily."

"Are you saying they didn't follow you? Why else would they be here?"

"It's a complicated matter to go into now. They could be simply searching for our whereabouts. I expect them to try and make contact with you somehow. If we can entice them down to Minerva to negotiate, we will have the potential of surprise on our side. How are communications routed from your satellite ground stations?"

"Via the national telecom net."

"And messages intended for the ruling authority would find their way… where?"

"To the communications room at the Agracon in Melthis. It has direct links to the Military Command Headquarters also."

"It may be necessary to move parts of the plan forward," Broghuilio said. "We need to be in control there. Can your people take over inside the Agracon, now? It's especially important to secure the communications."

Freskel-Gar nodded. "I've got my men in most of the key places already. The important guard details are all ours. They are at mobilization alert."

"Order it at once. How long would it take you to get there from Dorjon to take charge?"

"My staff flyer is manned and standing by. Ten minutes at most."

Broghuilio nodded. "Go there. General WyIott can complete our arrangements at Dorjon." He thought for a moment longer, then added, "And get Hat Rack airborne, in case that needs to be brought forward too."

Freskel-Gar seemed to check through the items in his mind. "Very well," he said, and turned to begin reeling off a list of instructions to his adjutant. Broghuilio turned back to Estordu, who was consulting various data displays.

"What are those other two object that appeared first? The smaller ones. Have you established that?"

"Unfortunately not, Excellency."

"They aren't probes from the Shapieron again, like that one you said was right behind us?"

"No, they are something else. They appear to be of unfamiliar design and purpose."

Broghuilio scowled. The probe had provided the eyes and intelligence for the Shapieron when it was pursuing them. "I don't like it." He called to the ship's captain, who had been obtaining confirmatory readings from one of the other ships. "Bring your secondary laser batteries to firing readiness and keep them trained on those things. Also, have all ships brought up to flight standby." The captain passed on the orders.

"Can I ask our plan, Excellency?" Estordu inquired.

"We have no indication that they are aware of our presence down here. And there is no reason to alert them to it," Broghuilio answered. "We wait."

"It's too close." Eesyan shook his head. "We need to be a few more days further back."

"Call Thurien via the beacon for a correction," Shilohin, the Shapieron's female scientific chief said. "Can VISAR can pitch it finely enough if we're this near?"

"It should be able to," Eesyan answered.

"ZORAC," Garuth called. "Call-"

"No!"

Surprised heads turned toward Frenua Showm.

"No," she said again, and looked around imploringly. "Think what you are saying." She half turned toward the screen next to which Hunt, Danchekker, and Chien were still standing. They had just caught the end of Harzin and Perasmon's address. The two leaders had announced that Perasmon would be returning with Harzin in the Cerian presidential aircraft, and they were already disappearing back inside the doors at the rear of the balcony from where they had been speaking. Some of those who had been with them were following, while another in a uniform had stepped forward and was delivering some closing words. Showm went on, "There's a world full of people down there who have just been given the first hope they've known for years. Real, warm, alive, flesh-and-blood people, like us. They have homes, children, loves, dreams. But we know, you and I know, because we've been in their future, and we've seen the horrors that are in store for them… all the way through to the militarized nightmare that their world will turn into, and its final total destruction. And you're saying that we just call Thurien and go home, and let it happen! How could we, after the things we've seen? The rotting corpses; the lame, the blind, the crippled; the burning cities. How could any of us sleep easily again?"

"We're too close. There isn't enough time-" Eesyan started to say again.

"There is enough time! So Perasmon and Harzin are flying today. How long does a journey halfway around Minerva take with an aircraft of their period? Four hours? Five? We know the plane won't be destroyed until it's approaching the Cerian coast. A missile from something flying at high altitude. The plane's electronics officer even caught it coming in on radar just before it hit. Never mind the spectacular landing and public theatrics that the mission strategy talks about. All we've got to do is access somebody high enough in the chain to divert the flight. The explanations can come later."

"Would we be able to convince them in time?" Duncan Watt asked dubiously. "They have no idea who we are."

"We have several hours," Showm insisted. "Put me on and let me talk to them. A Ganymean. One of the Giants who inhabited Minerva in the distant past. Don't you think that would get their attention?"

Danchekker was shaking his head, at the same time showing his teeth, as if looking for a way to put something delicate without offending. "What you say is true, of course, Frenua. It's all most distressing. But even were we to succeed, it's still merely one infinitesimal sliver in a totality of unimaginable immensity…"

"It's a world of people. Living, thinking, feeling, people."

Hunt pinched his eyebrows together with his thumb and fingers. Danchekker was right, of course. What Danchekker might also have been trying to remind Showm of but wasn't saying was that the future of this world was fixed anyway. Nothing could change it, anymore than a past that had already happened-which of course was what it was. What the mission could hope to achieve, what the physicists and philosophers were still arguing over, was whether an action initiated across the Multiverse would give rise to a new future that had not existed previously. But emotions were running high, and he wasn't about to get into it.

"Whatever we do, I suggest we get on with it," Chien said. "They could be on their way to the airport already."

Although Eesyan was technically in charge of the mission until they made contact with the Lunarians, he inclined his head to concede Showm the floor. "Garuth," she said, "Can you get us a connection? We need the Lambian government system in Melthis-whichever department is the most closely involved in Perasmon's affairs. The best place to start would probably be the Agracon."