Chapter 25 Chapter 23 Peregrine Falcon

"Europa is about 400,000 kilometers from Ganymede at the moment," Captain Chandler told Poole, "and if you hit the gas pedal—thanks for teaching me that! Peregrine can get you there in an hour. But I do not recommend it, our mysterious friend may be wary of anyone rushing past at such high speed." "Agreed! I need time to think, too. I'll spend at least a few hours, and I still hope..." Poole whispered. "Hope for what?" "Hopefully there's some kind of contact with David, whatever he's become, before I try to land." "Yeah, it's always bad manners to be an unexpected visitor, even to acquaintances, let alone strangers on Europa. Maybe you should bring a present—what did ancient explorers use? I remember Mirrors and glass beads were quite popular at one time."

Chandler's joking tone did not succeed in concealing his real concern, not only for Poole, but also for Poole's plan to borrow the expensive equipment—the captain of the Goliath was ultimately fully responsible. "I haven't decided how we should proceed. If you return triumphantly, I hope to be bathed in your glory. But if you lose the Peregrine and your life, what shall I say? Say you We stole the space shuttle when we weren't looking? I'm afraid no one would believe it. Ganymede Traffic Control Center is very efficient and they have to! If you walk away without saying goodbye, they will find you in no time , just a microsecond—well, a millisecond! You won't be able to go unless I give you a flight plan first.

"So I plan to do so, unless I can think of a better way... "You go out on the Peregrine and do your final qualification test - everyone knows you've been flying solo. You're going into orbit 2,000 kilometers above Europa, that's pretty normal, anyone does it anytime, the local The power doesn't seem to object either. "Estimated total flight time is five hours plus or minus ten minutes. If you suddenly change your mind and don't want to go home, no one can do anything to you—at least, not on Ganymede. Of course, I will Going into a rage, saying that such an aviation error is such a shock to me, etc., etc., will make me more realistic in the investigation court later."

"Will it come to that? I don't want to get you into trouble." "Don't worry, it's time for a little excitement here. Only you and I know about this plan, try not to mention it to the crew, I want them to look—what's that saying you taught me?" innocent'." "Thanks, Tim - I really appreciate all you've done. Hope you never have to regret dragging me aboard the Goliath near Neptune." As the crew prepares the Peregrine for what is in principle a short, routine mission, Poole finds that his demeanor is still subject to suspicion.Only he and Chandler knew it might not be the case at all.

But he is not flying towards the complete unknown like he and David Bowman did 1,000 years ago.Stored in Peregrine's memory is a high-resolution map of Europa that can be seen in detail several meters wide.He knew exactly where he was going; all that remained was to see if he could break centuries of taboos.