CHAPTER 7 A pessimist is merely someone who lacks the imagination to see the answer to his problem —Anthropos, The Sane Mind Dev felt as though she and the ship had formed a cyborg unit; there was such a oneness between them that the sudden lack of power seemed almost like personal death. At the same instant, the artificial gravity departed, to be replaced by a weightless feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was not the honest freefall of space, but the very real sensation of falling. Foxfire was twisting and plummeting down toward a rendezvous with the hard surface of Dascham. She could not see, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t act. Ardeva Korrell had worked long and hard to excel at her job; she knew her board by feel. In an instant she had restored the drive, but it seemed to do