big, burly brother molly, but we all know who’s been dropping the encrypted files.” He met Denver’s eyes. “It had to be Ginn. And there’s a good bet it’s Rand hot on our tail, in that Jumper.”
“Agreed,” Denver said.
“She never would have been able to do it if that psychopath wasn’t holding OPAL hostage,” Marit fumed.
She was right, but there was no point dwelling on it now. “How long do you think we have?” Denver asked.
“Well,” Spence said, looking somewhat placated, “if ship A leaves Titan X going ten gigameters per hour, and ship B leaves Titan X twelve days later going 10.4 gigameters per hour, at what point will ship B overtake ship A?”
“I was never good at those problems,” Denver grumbled.
“Nobody is,” Laramie said. “That’s why man invented computers.”
Laramie was right. Denver turned to Spence. “I need you to go back to the cargo bay. Catch Gru up as fast as you can. If he wants his precious funguses—”
Laramie corrected.
“—to reach this new planet, we’re going to need OPAL to run some numbers for us.”
“You got it.”
It felt like it took forever, but it was probably less than five minutes before Spence reappeared, a smile on his face. “He was so busy with Treesa, he barely even listened to my compelling argument.”
A second later, OPAL’s familiar voice crackled over the speakers. “Hello, Denver. Spence said you needed me.”
Denver and Laramie grinned at each other like goofy kids. “Good to have you back, OPAL,” Laramie said.
“Thank you, Laramie.”
“OPAL,” Denver said, “I need you to review our most recent transmission. Confirm what Dusty’s saying, and find out how much time we have.”
“One moment.”
More waiting. Denver tried to fidget.
“Ms. Moondust Fleming is correct that a message was sent to somebody on Titan X.”
“By Ginn?”
“Yes, Denver. She’s sent a total of four messages over the last few days.”
“What about the rest? Do you know who’s on that Jumper?”
“It is registered to one Randall Beaugard.”
“Jumpers are fast,” Marit said. “Way faster than anything as big as a destroyer. He’ll catch up fast.”
“Indeed. Rand is already more than halfway.”
“I’m more worried about the military fleet following him,” Denver said. “OPAL? How long do we have?”
“There are ten military-grade ships in pursuit, including a Destroyer-class vessel. If both parties maintain their current velocity, they will overtake us in seven standard days.”
“Agreed.” Denver signaled to Laramie to resume the transmission with Dusty.
They caught her lounging in a chair, her legs hanging over the arm, but she jumped to her feet the minute she saw them. “Have you confirmed what I’ve told you, sir?”
“We have. Our bot says that given our current speed, we have seven days.”
Dusty nodded. “That was our conclusion as well.”
“So we go faster,” Laramie said.
“You could,” Dusty said. “You’ve been going for optimum efficiency. It may be time to forget slingshotting around Uranus. Adjust your course. Go straight for the ship on fuel and go for broke.”
“Balls to the wall. Pedal to the metal. Bury the needle.”
“OPAL!” Denver snapped.
“Sorry, Denver.”
“The thing is,” Dusty went on, “as soon as you go full throttle, they’ll probably do the same. Still, taking everything into account, they wouldn’t have time to catch up before you reached the Tucker Legacy. You’d make it. But my people wouldn’t be able to keep up with your ship. We’ll end up being left behind.”
“Which is why you decided to contact us,” Denver guessed. “Not because you’re worried about us, but because you don’t want to miss your chance to colonize a new planet.”
“The two things aren’t mutually exclusive.” She stopped, biting her lip, looking unsure of herself for the first time. “I know you don’t know us. I know you never anticipated having this many tagalongs. But we’ve been waiting for this, Captain Clayborne. Some of us have been waiting our whole lives.”
“How many people are we talking about here?”
“My ship is carrying a dozen families. The other ships vary in size. Some bigger, some smaller. All together, we total approximately four hundred fifty people.”
“Holy shit,” Laramie mumbled.
Dusty acknowledged that with a small nod. “The good news is, we’ve all been preparing for this for a very long time, and we weren’t as rushed as you, getting out of Titan X. I’m pretty sure we have things you never thought to bring along.”
“Like what?” Laramie asked.
“Fabric and thread. Sewing machines. Shovels and axes. Nails. We even have a plow.” She smiled, obviously proud of her followers. “You could ditch us