Chapter 15 Chapter 15 The Space Cave

Ted Richett turned around as Byron stepped into the cockpit.Although his hair has turned gray, his physique is still so strong, his broad face is rosy and full of spring breeze. He stepped up to Byron in two steps at a time, and held the young man's hand enthusiastically. "By the stars," he said, "I knew you were your lord's son without you saying a word. It's almost like the old rancher!" "I hope so," said Byron gloomily. Richter giggled awkwardly. .All of us, each of us, wish it were so.Oh, by the way, my name is Ted Richter, and I'm a colonel in the Lyngen regular army, but we don't use titles internally.Even to the sovereign himself we address him as 'sir'.That reminds me of something! "He said seriously: "There are no masters, misses, or ranchers on our Lingen planet.Forgive me if I sometimes address you inappropriately. "

Byron shrugged. "As you said, we don't have any internal titles. But what about the tugboat? I think I should arrange this with you." Byron stealthily glanced across the cockpit, where Gilbret sat listening quietly; Artemisia, her face turned away from him, was weaving abstract patterns with the computer's stylus with her slender, pale fingers.Richter's voice drew his attention back. The Lingen people took a good look at the whole cabin. "This is the first time I've seen a Tyranid battleship from the inside, please don't be surprised. So, is the emergency transition chamber of your spaceship at the tail of the spaceship? It seems that the power propulsion device surrounds the middle of the spaceship .”

"correct." "Okay, that's no problem. Some of our older ships have power propulsion devices at the tail of the ship, so that the tugboat will be at an angle when it is connected, which makes the gravity adjustment of the ship very difficult. And, in the operation When flying through the atmosphere, it has almost no maneuverability at all." "How long does it take to hang the tugboat, Ritzett?" "Soon. How big a tug do you want?" "How big can you be?" "A super-luxury one? No problem. If the Sovereign says so, there's nothing wrong with it. We could have a tugboat that's effectively the equivalent of a spaceship, and it even has auxiliary engines."

"I suppose there are living quarters, too." "For Miss Hinriad? That's much better than yours..." He fell silent suddenly. At the moment her name was mentioned, Artemisia floated past them, and walked out of the cockpit with an indifferent expression.Byron watched her departing figure. Ritzer said: "I guess maybe I shouldn't have mentioned Miss Hinriad." "No, no, it's all right. Don't worry about it. Are you saying..." "Yes, as far as cabins are concerned, there are at least two fairly large sleeping cabins with showers. And the usual lavatories and drains on a large passenger ship. She'll be comfortable."

"Good. We need food and water." "No problem. The water tank can hold enough water for two months, even if you want to have a swimming pool on the spaceship. You can also freeze all the meat. You are eating Tyranids now Concentrated food?" Byron nodded, and Richett grimaced. "Smells like sawdust, doesn't it? What more?" "Miss's clothes," said Byron. Richter's brow was wrinkled. "Of course. Yes, she'll have something to do then." "No, sir, it won't. We'll give you all the necessary measurements, and you'll give us what we ask, whatever is in fashion."

Richter smiled slightly and shook his head. "Rancher, she wouldn't like that. She wouldn't be satisfied with clothes she hadn't picked out, and even if she had the chance to pick them, she'd pick the same ones, but she'd definitely Wouldn't be satisfied. It's not me talking nonsense, I have experience with these types of ladies." Byron said, "I think you're right, Richett. But we've got to do it that way." "Okay, but I've already said something, and there's time for you to talk. What more?" "Some small bits and pieces, some miscellaneous items, give me some detergent. By the way, there are also cosmetics, perfume... and other women's products. We need to make arrangements in time for the tugboat to set sail."

At this time, Gilbret walked out without saying a word, and Byron also watched his back, feeling very angry in his heart.Hinriad people!They are Hinriads after all!There was nothing he could do about it.These Hinriads: Gilbreth is Hinriad, and she is Hinriad. He said: "Of course, some clothes from Mr. Hinriad and myself. But it doesn't matter." "Okay. Can I use your radios? I'd better stay on this ship until the adjustments are complete." Byron waited while the initial order was given.Then Richter leaned back in his seat and said, "I'm not used to seeing you here walking, talking, alive. You look so much like him. The rancher always talks about you every chance he gets. You Did you go to school on Earth?"

"Yes, if things didn't go wrong halfway, I would have graduated from there more than a week ago." Richter looked uncomfortable. "Look, you don't blame us when it comes to the way you were sent to Rhodia. We don't want to do that. We mean, we're extremely disciplined internally. Some of the guys don't want to at all, though. In doing so, the Sovereign is evidently not consulting with us. Of course, he needn't. Frankly speaking, he's at his peril. Some of us—I won't mention their names—are even considering, Should the passenger ship you're in be intercepted and dragged off? Of course, we wouldn't do that unless it was absolutely necessary. But we might, if it wasn't for the final analysis that the sovereign must know what he's doing. Already did that."

"It would be wise to act on that belief." "We know him. There's no denying that. He's taken over here." He tapped his forehead slowly with a finger. "Sometimes you can't tell what makes him go his own way. But he always seems to be right. At least, wiser than the Tyranids, but not the others." "Like my father, for example." "I wasn't thinking of your father when I said that, exactly, but you're right in a sense. Even the rancher was arrested. But, on the other hand, he was a different kind of man." He's a man of integrity, he doesn't tolerate crookedness, and he always underestimates the meanness of others. Then again, for some reason, that's what we like best. You know, he treats everyone equally.

"Even though I'm a colonel, I'm a commoner. You know my father was a metalworker, and he doesn't think of me for that. It's not because I'm a colonel either. If he passes an engineer apprentice in the corridor, He would also step aside and say hello and a few pleasantries so that for the rest of the day the apprentice would feel as airy as an engineer. That's how he treated people. "It's not that he is weak. If you need to be punished, you will be punished, but not too much. You know in your heart that you deserve the punishment you deserve. Let it go after the incident. He won't come every other time." Week's still out there picking it up on you piecemeal. That's the way ranchers are.

"And our lord, he's different. He's a man of wisdom. Whoever you are, you can't get close to him. For example, he has no sense of humor. I can't talk to him the way I talk to you now. .Now, I just talk about it, without any scruples, almost like no one else. With him, you have to say exactly what you want to say, without a word of nonsense. And, you have to be precise in your words, otherwise, he will say that you speak sloppy. However, a monarch is a monarch after all, and he is born that way." Byron said: "As for the sovereign's sanity, I think I should agree with you. He expected me to be on this ship before he came here, you know?" "Did he expect it? Well we don't know. But, you see, that's my opinion. He was going to go aboard the Tyranid cruiser by himself. It seemed like suicide to us." We didn't want him to do it. But we thought he knew what he was doing, so he just got on the ship. He could have told us you might be on board. He must have known that the rancher's son's escape would be a Big news. But that's too conventional. He wouldn't do that." Artemisia was sitting on the lower bunk of the sleeping cabin. She had to bend over and maintain such an awkward posture, lest the upper bunk keep rubbing against her back.But, now she doesn't care about it. Her two palms rubbed the sides of the clothes almost involuntarily from top to bottom.She felt disheveled and unkempt, and she was exhausted and irritable. She hated wiping her hands and face with wet napkins; she hated wearing the same clothes for a week; At this time, she almost stood up again, ready to turn around.She didn't want to see him, and she didn't want to see him.However, it was Gilbreth who came.She bent down again, "Hello, Uncle Jill." Gilbret sat down opposite her. For a while, his thin face looked serious, and then gradually showed a few lines of laughter, "I also find the spaceship life for a week very boring. I always hope you It cheers me up." But she said, "Uncle Gil, do not need to engage in the set of psychology to me. If you want to coax me in sweet words, I think I should be responsible for you. Then you have a wrong idea. I can't wait to beat you for a pause." "If that makes you feel better..." "I'm warning you again. If you put your hand out and tell me to hit me, I'll hit you. If you say, 'Would you feel better if you hit me?' Then I'll hit you again." "Anyway, you've evidently had a quarrel with Byron. Why?" "I don't understand the need to talk about it. Come on, let me be quiet." However, after a pause, she said: "He thinks my father did the things the Lord Lingen star heard about. For that, I hate him." "Hate your father?" "No! It's that insensitive, childish, pious fool!" "I suppose you mean Byron. Well. You hate him. But the hatred which annoys you as you sit here is mixed with a love which, to a bachelor like me, seems absurdly fanatical." Intertwined, you can't separate them from each other no matter what." "Uncle Jill," she said, "did he really do that?" "Byron? What did you do?" "No! My father. Would my father do such a thing?" Gilbret was thoughtful, however, and said very calmly, "I don't know." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "You know, he did deliver Byron to the Tyranids." "Because he knew it was a trap." She said excitedly: "Besides, the facts are indeed a trap. That's exactly what the terrible king of Lingen Star had in mind. That's what he said. The Tyranids know who Byron is, He put him in his father's hands on purpose. Father just did what he had to do. Anyone with eyes could see that." "Even so."—he squinted at her again—"he's trying to persuade you to agree to a rather boring marriage. If, Shinrik can get himself to do this..." She interrupted him and said, "Then he has no other choice." "My dear, if you're going to interpret all your father's courting of the Tyranids as having to, how do you know he won't snitch on the rancher to the Tyranids out of necessity? " "Because, I'm sure he wouldn't do that kind of thing. You don't know my father the way I do. He hates the Tyranids, I know that, and he wouldn't go out of his way to help them. I admit it , he fears them, and dares not defy them openly, but he will never help them if he can manage to avoid them." "How do you know he can avoid it?" However, she just shook her head vigorously, her hair falling down, covering her eyes and the tears in her eyes. Gilbret stared for a moment, spread his hands helplessly, and left. The tugboat is connected to the emergency transition cabin at the rear of the "Relentless" spaceship through a wasp-waist tunnel. Its volume is dozens of times that of the Tyranid spaceship, which is almost ridiculously large. The Ringen Star Monarch joins Byron for the final inspection.He said, "Is there anything else you need?" Byron said, "No. We'll be comfortable, I think." "Well, ah, yes. Richter told me that Artemisia is not in good health, or, at least, in a bad complexion. If she needs medical treatment, the most sensible way is to send her to my spaceship." "She's fine," said Byron abruptly. "In that case, so be it. Are you ready to set sail in twelve hours?" "Two hours later, if you like." Byron passed through the connecting tunnel (he had to bend over) and got into the body of the "Relentless". He said in as calm a voice as possible, "There's a set of rooms at the back for your use, Artemisia. I won't bother you, I'll be here most of the time." She also replied coldly: "You won't disturb me, rancher. It doesn't matter to me where you stay." Then, the spacecraft set sail together, and after only one jump, they had reached the edge of the nebula.They spent hours waiting for the final calculations to be made on Jondy's boat.Because, after entering the interior of the nebula, they are almost completely blinded by navigation. Byron stared gloomily at the visual board, and there was nothing on it!The entire half of the celestial sphere was engulfed in darkness, without a trace of light.For the first time Byron realized how warm and friendly the stars were.How beautiful and lovely is the sky full of stars! "It's like falling into a cave in space," he whispered to Gilbret. Then, after another jump, they entered the nebula. At about the same time, Simok Aratap, the commissioner of the Great Khan who was leading ten armored cruisers, said after hearing the navigator's report, "It doesn't matter, we have to bite them no matter what." So, less than a light-year away from the "Relentless" entering the nebula, ten Tyranid battleships also entered the nebula.