Gavving was telling the rest of the mutineers about the leak. He told it long, including what they planned to do about it. Jeffer tapped the white button. "Pnikazyvat Voice. Have you found the leak?"

"I find no point of leakage. Air is disappearing."

"Will we live long enough to get back into the Smoke Ring?"

"No. The course I've programmed would take twenty-eight hours. Air pressure will have dropped to lethal levels in ten hours. Times are approximate."

Lawn couldn't remember how long an hour might be. Still. . . ten hours? It had been seven before the cabin got so cold. She wondered why Voice hadn't taken it into account. Sometimes Voice could be such a fool.

She said, "Display the areas where you have looked for a leak."

The yellow line diagrams of the cabin sprouted green borders along two-thirds of the interior. Red dots blinked elsewhere. "Those are sensors that have died," Lawn told Jeffer. "Voice, implement your course correction."

Jeffer added, "Pnikazyvat Voice. Do not use the main motor at any time!"

"I will fire as I have fuel," Voice said. "First burn in ten seconds.

Nine. Eight."

"Everybody grab something," Jeffer called.

Mutineers were pulling the extra ponchos over their clothing. They stopped to strap themselves in. The jungle giants moved against the aft

wall and grabbed fixtures- "Two. One."

But only the attitude jets lit. The carm's nose swung toward the

Smoke Ring and stayed there while the aft motors fired. It lasted several tens of breaths. They would pass closer to Gold . . . which had become huge, a spiral storm seen edge-on, whose rim was already below them.

If Mark weren't tied, Lawni thought, and ~( the main motor fired~ nobody would be able to move except Mark It was something to keep in mind. Jeffer didn't seem to realize that the thrust could be controlled,

by touching the top or bottom of those rectangles to raise or lower the fuel flow.

Meanwhile . . . how could the leaks be blocked? If there was a way, Lawn was damned well going to find it before Jeffer did.

Chapter Twenty-one - Go For Gold

"KENDY FOR THE STATE. KENDY FOR THE STATE. KENDY FOR

the State."

The response came almost instantly, sharp and crisp through nearvacuum and dwindling distance. The CARM was out of the Smoke Ring. Kendy had clear sending for the first time since the mutiny. He sent: "Status?"

The motors were functional, all of them. Fuel: a few teacupaful.

Water:a good deal. Solar power converters: functional. Batteries:

charged, but running down as they changed water into liquefied hydrogen and oxygen. Sunlight flux from T3 would be steady in vacuum. There would be fuel.

The CARM was on manual. CO2 flux indicated a full load of passengers. The carbon dioxide was accumulating slowly; the life support system could almost handle it.. . and the cabin was leaking air. Oh shit, they were dying!

"Course record since initiating burn."