Chapters (64)
- Other titles by Anne McCaffreyPublished by Ballantine Books:
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- INTRODUCTION
- PROLOGUE
- At a Gather—6.15.30
- Part 1
- Turnover at Landing—1.1.31 Present Pass Aivas—Aivas Adjusted Turn 2553
- Benden Weyr—1.1.31
- Southern Hold—1.1.31
- Healer Hall—1.1.31
- Back at Landing—1.2.31
- Fort Hold—late night—1.1.31
- Fort Hold Runner Station—1.2.31
- Keroon Printer Hall—1.3.31
- Benden Weyr—midday—1.3.31
- Monaco Bay Weyr—five days later—1.8.31
- Part 2
- Ruatha Hold—local time 12:04 in the morning—1.9.31
- Telgar Weyr—local time 4:04 in the morning—1.9.31
- Benden Weyr—local time 6:04 in the morning—1.9.31
- Harper Hall—local time 1:00 in the morning—1.9.31
- Landing—local time 10:12 mid-morning—1.9.31
- In the Conference Room at Landing—1.9.31
- Monaco Weyr—10:22 in the morning—Timing it
- In the Conference Room at Landing—local time 1:10–1.9.31
- Sunrise Cliff Seahold—timed-back
- In the Conference Room—local time 2:12 at Landing—1.9.31
- Back at Landing—local time—3:40
- Harper Hall—5:00 in the morning, and Southern Hold—2:00 in the morning–1.9.31
- Landing—late afternoon—1.9.31
- Same time at Keroon Printer Hall—local time 11:15—1.9.31
- Later, on an unusually bright evening at Landing, Sunrise Cliff, and Honshu Hold—1.9.31
- Part 3
- Honshu—1.10.31
- Circle Runner Station—1.18.31
- Harper Hall
- Benden Weyr—
- Benini Hold—east Monaco and Honshu—1.20.31
- Harper Hall—1.28.31
- Honshu Hold—2.1.31
- Fort Hold—2.13.31
- Printer Hall at Wide Bay—same night
- Honshu Hold—2.9.31
- Night at Wide Bay—2.9.31
- Ruatha Hold—late evening—2.9.31
- Core Hold—two days before Council Meeting—2.26.31
- Part 4
- Honshu Weyrhold—2.26–27.31
- Council Meeting at Telgar Hold—3.1.31
- Honshu Weyrhold—3.01.31
- Interim at Benden and elsewhere
- Honshu Weyrhold—time passing slowly
- Landing—3.21.31
- Honshu Weyrhold—3.21.31
- Southern Hold—3.23.31
- Honshu Weyrhold—3.27.31
- Benden Weyr—3.27.31
- Cove Hold—same day, same approximate time
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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“By forming our own Craft, we will be able to significantly reduce the tension among holders and crafters who fear we wish to dominate their traditional crafts.”
“Well, well, sky-watching wouldn’t take all of us,” G’dened began, fuming with indignation.
F’lessan laughed out loud. “And a good many more, G’dened, if we’re to make a proper job of it.” His eyes sparkled. “In fact, Honshu already has images of the asteroid belt from its initial search patterns.”
“Search patterns?” G’dened asked, scowling.
With a glance at Erragon, F’lessan went on, “We know which stars are constant in our skies. What we search for is something moving between those stars and us! Look!” He flipped several prints to the table. “See this one?”
“I see a streak on black and a blur,” G’dened replied, dismissing the image.
“We’ve identified the streak as an asteroid. We’re calling it Aliana.” He ducked his head and gave the almost cheeky smile he had used as a small boy when he was hiding deeper feelings. “Tai thought we should give them names, instead of numbers, and I thought that perhaps we’d name it after one of the first dragonriders. We’ve got a lot of those.”
“Which, asteroids or dragonriders?” Lessa asked, smiling to show that she liked the idea. She could see that both Wansor and Erragon obviously approved.
“Both.”
“How’d you know it’s an asteroid?” G’dened demanded impatiently, his scowl deepening.
“F’lessan cross-checked it with Cove Hold and Yoko,” Erragon said.
“This blur, as you call it, is a star named Acrux. Acrux is fixed … at least in a forty-minute exposure … while the asteroid is moving fast enough to create the blur. By considering its position in the sky, we know that it is in the asteroid belt. By getting to know our night skies and taking images—” F’lessan tapped the print.—“we will find ones that might be moving dangerously close to Pern.”
“One just did!” G’dened objected, feeling insulted, and pushed the print away.
F’lessan laughed. “We’ve had more than one near miss.”
“Oh, not that Runner site again!” And the Istan Weyrleader swiped his hand in dismissal.
“If I may,” Tai said in such a firm voice that everyone regarded her in surprise, “the Fireball was the first really hazardous impact noted in the Yoko’s records as far back as it kept them.”
“Quite right, Tai. And, until the last ten minutes of its descent,” Erragon said, “we weren’t even certain that it would impact on Pern. And it is by no means the only one in a possibly hazardous orbit.”
That was news to the inland Weyrleaders; G’dened’s scowl deepened.
Lessa wondered if they oughtn’t to have asked M’rand to come to this meeting. Usually he had balanced G’dened’s pessimistic, biased attitudes.