Durham put down the bottle and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He looked at the darkbird, feeling cold and hollow.
"I want to go to him. You understand? To Jubb."
Up and down it bounced, like the nodding of a head.
Susan said, "What are you going to do?"
"Try and steal a lifeboat."
"I'm going with you."
"No. Morrison doesn't want to kill you, but don't push him too far. You stay. Then if I don't make it you'll still be—" He broke off. "That's taking a lot for granted, isn't it? After all, Hawtree is your father."
She whispered, "I don't care."
"It's the biggest decision you'll ever make. Don't make it too fast." He kissed her. "Besides, if you wait, you may not have to make it at all."
He took Morrison's gun and went out, and the darkbird went with him, bunched small and darting so swiftly that the two men it struck down never saw it. Durham turned aside into the communications room, and the darkbird saw to it that there was no alarm. He damaged radio and radar so that it would take some time to fix them. Then he went on down the corridor to the plainly marked hatch that led to Lifeboat No. 1. He got into it, with the darkbird. As soon as the boat hatch itself was shut, automatic relays blew him free of the pod on a blast of air.