The Lost Ship of the Tucker Rebellion - Marie Sexton Page 0,72
and buy yourself several extra hours at the Legacy, but I’m sure if you think about it, you’ll agree that colonizing a new world with a few hundred people makes a lot more sense than just the six of you.”
“Seven,” Denver grumbled. “But point taken.”
“I propose we change course together and head for the Legacy at top speed. Balls to the metal, or whatever your bot said.”
“The expression, Ms. Fleming, is ‘balls to the wall.’ Or ‘pedal to the—’”
“OPAL!” It was almost enough to make him wish they’d left her with Gru.
Almost.
Denver turned back to Dusty. “Once we change course and go to full speed, it’s a safe bet the Destroyer follows suit.”
Dusty nodded. “Agreed. It’ll be close. My group isn’t going to break any speed records. I know we’ll slow you down, but I think the benefit we bring with us will be worth it. I estimate we’d still have time to reach the Tucker Legacy and make our escape before they caught up.”
“Okay,” Denver said, rubbing his forehead, feeling the beginnings of one killer headache on its way. “Give us another minute to talk it over.”
“Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you. And if I may say so, we look forward to finally meeting you in person, sir.”
The screen went dark, and Denver slumped into the cockpit’s vacant chair. “How’d we ever get ourselves into this mess?” he asked nobody in particular.
“Ginn. That’s how,” Marit said, her fists balled at her sides. “I’m going to tear her hair out and break her knees. And then I’m going to strangle her with my bare hands.”
Denver held up a hand to stop the outburst. “One crisis at a time. We’ll deal with Ginn and Rand soon enough. What do you think about waiting for them?”
Marit sighed. “The plan was to use gravity assist and slingshot around Uranus in order to save fuel. But now you’re talking about burning fuel instead, right? A lot of it.”
“Most of it, yeah.”
“I was counting on having fuel left over to get back to Umbriel.” Marit looked like she might be close to tears, and that just didn’t happen very often. “But this means it’ll be a one-way trip. If we get out there and don’t find anything, we won’t have enough fuel to get back. We’ll be stuck drifting, hoping for the best.”
“Well,” Laramie said, “I suspect the armada would be happy to pick us up and give us a ride back.”
“Back to a Martian prison,” Marit said.
“I don’t see that we have any other option,” Denver said, doing his best to keep his voice gentle rather than argumentative. “We could save fuel by slingshotting, but being efficient also means being slow rather than going top speed. The armada will catch us before we get there. It seems to me our only real shot now is to throw caution to the wind and go for the Legacy.”
“You’re right. I’ve been counting on being able to make the decision later, but it seems the Martians have made it for me. Looks like I’m tagging along to this new world whether I like it or not.”
“The real question is,” Laramie said, “do we go their speed and lose time, or do we say to hell with them?”
It was Marit who answered. “I think we’re a lot better off with Dusty’s group than without them.”
“Do you think we can trust them?” Denver asked.
“Escapists aren’t known for their love of Mars,” Spence said, “and they haven’t sold us out yet.”
Laramie leaned forward. “The thing is, waiting for them puts us at greater risk of being caught. Is it worth the risk? OPAL, how much time do we lose if we wait for Dusty’s group?”
“Some of the ships in Ms. Fleming’s entourage are quite unconventional. It is difficult to assess their capabilities.”
“Give us your best estimate.”
“Taking into consideration the maximum velocity of a Destroyer-class ship and my estimated maximum velocity of the Escapist ships, we can still make it to the Legacy before they catch us.”
That was one worry out of the way. “But how much time will we have at the Legacy before they catch us?”
“Your window at the Legacy would narrow from twenty-seven hours to fourteen hours.”
“That isn’t much,” Laramie said. “But I think it’s enough.”
“I agree.” Denver glanced around. “Anybody else object to this plan?”
They all shook their heads.
“In that case, somebody needs to get back in touch with Dusty. Let her know our we’ve made a decision.”
“Your enthusiasm for the opposite sex has gotten us