"There's stuff all over," Louie explained. "Not just a band, like most people think. The asteroids have moved at right angles, too. Not so thick, but there's a globe of stuff, not just a belt. Maybe a bunch of little jumps."
"We can't start making them until you figure them, Louie," Frank reminded him.
The radio gave its hum of life, and a voice came through.
"We have orders from space police not to escort you through, to turn you back."
"This is an E ship, with an E on board. His command is to come through," Tom said.
"I just work here," the voice answered as if it were bored and tired. "I take my orders from Space Control."
Tom looked over at Louie. Louie apparently caught the look out of a corner of his eye, and impatiently waved a finger not to bother him. His other hand was speeding through the movements of manipulating the astrocalculator. Then he nodded his head, still not looking up, and the co-ordinates flashed in front of Frank. Now, as rapidly as Louie, Frank set up the pattern of the jump band.
"I take my orders from the E's," Tom answered in a voice that matched the boredom, tiredness. Then with a nod from Frank, "Now!" he said.
There was silence again.
"It's going to add at least an hour," Louie complained. "I've got to pick my way through this muck."