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“For what?” asked Ram Odin. “You can’t trust them.”
“I can trust them to do what they think is in their own interest,” said Noxon.
“In the interest of the world of Garden,” said a mouse.
“In the interest of the mice of Garden,” Noxon corrected him.
There was no argument from the mice.
“But now I’m sure that I will slice time with you,” said Noxon to Ram Odin. “Only we’ll bring the mice with us. The less time they have to figure out ways to fiddle with the ship, the better off we’ll be.” Then Noxon turned to the expendable. “Thank you for your quick action.”
“It was the obvious thing to do,” said the expendable. “Remember that I have a complete record of all the things the mice have done. Including the attempt to send a devastating plague to Earth, and the murder of Param. I have been watching the mice continuously since you appeared here. I recognized them as soon as the memory transfer was complete.”
“Thank you for taking the obvious action, then,” said Noxon.
The expendable nodded graciously.
“Give me your hand,” said Noxon to Ram Odin. Noxon scooped up the box of mice, tucking it against his body. “By the way,” Noxon asked the expendable, “why did you happen to have an empty box lying around?”
“This is a colony ship,” said the expendable. “We have hundreds of containers of various sizes for the use of the colonists.”
“They can’t chew through this, can they?” asked Noxon.
“It would break their little teeth,” said the expendable.
“Then by all means,” said Noxon to the mice, “go ahead and give it a try.”
“I’ve seen people talk to their pets before,” said Ram Odin, “but you’re the first person who actually got answers.”
“Not this time,” said Noxon. “I think they’re pouting.”
“They had a near-death experience,” said Ram Odin. “I think I know just how low our friend here took the oxygen level. They were desperate for air.”
“As we will be,” said Noxon, “if I can’t take the ship with us back to regular time.”
“Cheer up,” said Ram Odin. “You probably won’t be able to find regular time, so it’s a moot question. But let’s get close to Earth and see.”
Noxon turned to the expendable. “We’ll be moving very quickly. What should I look at to know when we’re nearing the gravity well of Earth, but are still outside it?”
“Gravity goes on forever,” said the expendable. “The Earth is already exerting a faint but noticeable tug on this ship. What threshold am I looking for?”
“I don’t know,” said Noxon.
“When we come within the average orbital distance of Pluto,” said Ram Odin.
“I didn’t even think about the outer planets,” said Noxon. “What if one of them captures our timeflow?”
“We don’t come in through the plane of the ecliptic. Our course brings us toward Earth from the North Pole. Or rather toward L5, a point balanced between the gravity wells of Earth and the Moon.”
“No,” said Noxon. “I don’t think this will work if we’re at such a point of balance.”
“As we approach,” said Ram Odin reassuringly, “Earth will have a much stronger pull on us than the Moon, until right before we arrive at the point where this ship was built.”
Noxon thought of something else. “Do you have any control over this ship?” he asked.
The expendable cocked his head. “The other computers and I are the ship.”
“No. I mean . . . can you make the ship go where you want?”
