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The Captain dropped back into her chair.
"Tell me," she said. "For the honor of all those who worked
my ship with me, for the honor of that which I carry within me-
tell me, Adelman!"
"I will tell you," said Giles. "I will place the individual I
name in your hands, and your hands alone, to do with as you
will-once all the humans aboard here are safely down on 20B-
40:'
"You would have me change course from that destination
marked out by honor and duty!" said the Captain. "You would
hold back information until I have lost all hope of buying credit of
honor for the unborn last of my line, until you are landed among
other humans who will protect you, no matter what. You will
cheat me, human!"
The last words came out on a high note that was almost a cry.
"I will name and give you that individual I speak of-free
from interference, to do with as you will," said Giles steadily.
"That is my promise, my word and my contract. Your people have
done business with the Adelbom for some generations. Captain
Rayumung. When did ever an Adelborn cheat one of you?"
"It is true," said the Captain, looking into the front view-
screen before her as if she hoped to find some support and assur-
ance there. "The word of such as you has always been good, in my
knowledge."
She stopped speaking. Giles waited. There was no sound, in
the small area behind the screen guarding the control consoles and
the command chairs, but the sound of Giles' own breathing. Fi-
nally, the Captain stirred.
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"I must take you at your word," said the Captain at last, once
more speaking in that distant voice in which she had first answered
Giles. "If I did not, and you were honest, I would have com-
pounded the dishonor now upon me and mine, by passing by an
opportunity to regain the honor I have lost."
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Giles breathed out, softly. He had not realized that he had
been inhaling and exhaling so shallowly-mere cupfuls of air from
the upper part of his chest as he waited for the Captain to decide.
She turned her head back to look at him now.
"I will make the first course change now, the second course
change later," she said. "The angle is not such that a single change
is indicated. After I've made the first change we must stay twelve
hours on that course before the second and final correction can be
made."
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11
Sixteenth day-17:09 hours
"I don't want"" said Giles, "any of you to think the situation
isn't still serious, because it is. We've got twenty-seven days yet,
minimum, to survive on board this lifeship; and the ib vine, as you
know, has been putting out less and less fruit, for reasons the
Captain doesn't understand any more than we do. Something
seems to be poisoning it. I'm not sure but what the Captain thinks
that it's us-we humans-that are the poisonous element. But the
important thing is we're racing a situation with less and less fruit.
Now, we can do with a minimum of food for twenty-seven days if
we have to-but that fruit juice is our only source of water. So
keep that thought in your minds and try to get used to using as
little liquid as possible."
Giles had gathered the arbites, even including Esteven, who
was by now somewhat recovered, into the middle section of the
lifeship to brief them. He had just finished telling them the truth
about the Captain's sex and much of what had gone on between
the Captain and himself in his efforts to get the course of the ship
changed to 20B-40. They had listened in silence, except for a
general murmur of excitement when he had explained that they
might be getting to planetfall earlier than had been expected. But
generally, they had reacted less than he had expected.
He was being forced to the conclusion that they had never
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really appreciated the danger of the situation they were in. If not,
perhaps they did not understand, now. It was a thought that
gnawed at Giles as he looked about at them.
"You've followed what I said, have you?" he demanded
sharply, looking around at them all. "You realize what we're up
against? It's going to be a real test of will power and physical
determination to survive. You've got to keep your spirits up and
your exertions down. Now, you understand that, and the serious-
ness of the situation, even with this course change?"
There was a pause and then a mild murmur of agreement
from them, interrupted by a small, but curious noise from the front
of the lifeship, where the Captain was out of sight behind the
control-area screen. It had been a sound almost like that of an
Albenareth clearing her throat-almost as if the Captain had been
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