Kimber seemed so confident that Dard dared now to ask that other question.
“She isn’t very big. How are you going to stow away all the people?”
For the first time the space pilot did not meet his eyes. With the toe of his shabby boot Kimber kicked at an inoffensive table savagely.
“We can stow away more than you would believe just looking at her, if we are able to use the hibernation process.
“But not all,” Dard persisted, driven by some inner need to know.
“But not all,” Kimber agreed with manifest reluctance.
Dard blinked, but now there was a veil between his eyes and the sleek, silver swell of the star ship. He was not going to question farther. There was no need to, and he had no desire for a straight answer. Instead he changed the subject abruptly.
“When are you going to try to reach the Voice?”
“As soon as I hear from Tas—”
“And what do you wish to hear from Tas?” came a voice from behind Dard. “That he has succeeded in making sense of gibberish and ’kicking legs’ and all the rest of the fantastic puzzle this young man has dumped into his head? Because if that is what you wait for, wait no longer, Sim! The sense has been made and thanks to Lars Nordis and our messengers,” Kordov’s big paw of a hand reached up to give Dard’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “we can now take off into the heavens at our will. We wait only for your part of the operation.”