"Only at that moment," Odin corrected. "If not destroyed, it has a chance to improve its percentage when the pursuer has made its pass." "True enough," Ato admitted. "That is why I propose to stay close behind it. I can't seem to find that dust cloud on any map. It must be far, far away." Nea laughed again. "What is far? What is near? You do not even have catch-words for Trans-Space. You are looking into the books of the advanced classes, and you have not yet opened the primers of space." Ato flushed in anger. "Nea, I was my father's helper for years and years. I know as much about space as any man." She shrugged. "Oh, you can cover blackboards with formulas, and I don't doubt that they will be right. But living things and living emotions demand something to cling to. A measuring stick. Grim Hagen tried to give them something substantial back there: A system of brutality and graft that worked for the last-minute Caesars. He even threw in a goddess. Did he succeed?" She paused to caress the two things she held in her arms. "My pets know more about time and space and energy than all of you, don't you, dears?" She kissed one of them and gave Odin a mysterious smile. The Kalis began purring contentedly, as though space were no more than a huge living room, and they were beside a comfortable fireplace, looking up at their all-powerful mistress. CHAPTER 13 The dust-cloud was farther away than Ato had guessed. Long before they reached it, his instruments began to waver. He looked at a star-map. Meanwhile, Nea fed rows of figures into a humming calculator. "We'll never make it this way," Ato said. "Not even the emergency storage would help us. Here," he pointed to a pinpoint of light upon the map. "A white star. We can reach it, I think." Nea sighed. "That dust-cloud is beyond our calculations. We should be nearly there, but it's still far-off. I think it is shrinking and expanding. At the same time it's dashing off into space at a terrific rate of speed. You'll have to swing toward that star, Ato. I'll try to probe the cloud some more. My father would have liked this problem--" "I don't like the problem at all--" Gunnar complained. "Just where is Grim Hagen?" "He must be having as much trouble beating his way to that dust-cloud as we are," Ato assured him. And then, doubtfully, he added. "But he has more energy. The Old Space Ship was sitting there below Aldebaran for years and years. He surely took advantage of the time to replenish his fuel. All the while, we were using ours up in an effort to find him." * * * * *