Bixie was quiet, but her eyes were shiny, and dried tear streaks shone on her face. “You be flying tru dah rocks, den, Billy?”
Billy said, “Yes, Bixie.”
Pat said, “Maybe you should spell it out in plain English.”
“There’s nothing we can do to stop this robot from catching us. It is faster than the Argent. Not by much, but faster. We can’t hurt it with anything we have. Before we could get home it would have us and probably blast us to pieces and recover what it wanted.”
Koothrappally said, “What Bixie means by through the rocks, then, is that you intend to pilot the Argent through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Is that your plan?”
“Yes. And use the terrain against the robot.”
Pat squirmed, “I don’t know.”
Billy said, “Fine, Pat, what are your ideas on how to beat this thing?”
Pat’s face flushed, “There has to be some other way that won’t take us away from home.”
“As soon as you come up with one, I’m ready to listen. Until then, I’m Captain of this ship.”
Pat was angry, anyone could tell, but he held his tongue. Ekka put her mouth close to Billy’s ear and whispered, “Fly us to safety, my Captain. I will guard your back.” She returned to Bixie’s side and sat between the little Jamaican and Dakota, putting her arms around both to comfort them in their respective grief. She watched Garrett from the corner of her eye.
Edgar spoke up, “It’s gaining steady on us.”
Billy increased their speed as much as possible without disrupting the transmogrifier’s need to gradually build up the ship’s acceleration.
Koothrappally said, “What will you need my calculations to accomplish?”
“Well, its things we’ll have to do on the fly, you and me.”
“At this moment, you do not know?”
“Not exactly. What I do know is that all the rest of you need to prepare for possible punctures and crashes in the hull.”
Avi moaned, “Punct
ures and crashings? If I ever return to Earth, I vow to never leave my home in Ceylon except to fish from my boat. I am not meant for these dangerousnesses.”
Ekka gave them assignments and did her own work as well to prepare. Billy kept Koothrappally close. Two hours later, Billy did some rapid calculations and said, “See that bright star ahead? That’s Jupiter, and we are now entering the asteroid belt. Eddie! How is the Golden Man coming?”
“Closer, way closer.”
Billy pushed the Argent faster, and saw an enormous field of rocks as far into the distance as he could see.
Two hard thumps rang against the hull. “Hoo, Lordy,” Pat said, “There ain’t no way through this.”
Edgar yelled, “The robot’s speeding up!”
Billy said to Koothrappally, “John, I know what I’m going to do now.”
“You didn’t know before? Oh, this is bad, Billy.”
Billy swerved in an S through a scattered cluster of rocks and boulders the size of horses, “Here’s the plan. We’re going to start knocking some of these rocks into one another, like playing pool.”
“But that will start a chain of similar events! There is no friction in the ether to stop them.”
“That’s right. One will strike another, and those will strike others, until the effect is dominoed through the field.”
“And what will we do?”