Shadows in Flight, enhanced edition

object's mass kept changing.
    That was impossible, of course, a mere artifact of the data. The mass didn't change, that's simply how it was reported. What was actually happening was that the object was not moving on a path that was predictable in relation with the known masses of the star and its larger planets. So the software kept adjusting the estimate of the object's mass to make it conform to its most recent movements.
    It wasn't an "object" at all. It was using its own power to move on a path it chose itself, independent of the gravity of the star and its planets.
    Carlotta told the software to regard the object as a starship.
    Immediately she got a very different report of its past movements. The ship now had a constant mass -- more than a thousand times more massive than the Herodotus . But the trajectory now made perfect sense. The ship was slowing down as it entered the star system. It was heading, not toward the star, but toward a rocky planet in the goldilocks zone.
    But Carlotta didn't care much about the planet. Planets were of no use to them because Father couldn't stand even half a gee, let alone 1.2. The fact that the alien ship was approaching it suggested that the atmosphere was attractive to whatever species the ship belonged to. But what mattered to Herodotus was the existence of the alien ship.
    The human race had encountered only one alien species, ever, and had fought a war of extinction with them. According to a story told by the writer of The Hive Queen under the pseudonym "Speaker for the Dead," the Formics had not meant to wipe out the human race at all. But Carlotta wasn't buying it -- it was easy to impute benign motives to an alien species that no longer existed.
    The trouble was, it was too late to avoid meeting the species. No matter what the Herodotus did, it would be detected -- and its plasma path could be followed back till it disappeared. And since their flight had been straight as an arrow since they reached near-lightspeed, all the aliens would have to do to find the human home world was keep on going straight along the path marked by the Herodotus 's plasma emission trail even after the trail itself petered out.
    It would be far more useful to slow down and stop , not turn, so that they could discover as much as possible about this alien ship and its inhabitants. Using the ansible, they could report every speck of information they found -- right up to the moment when the aliens destroyed them. The human race would then have time to make whatever preparations might be possible to meet these aliens when they followed the Herodotus 's trail back to Earth.
    And it would give Sergeant something useful to occupy his time instead of plotting ways to kill Father -- or whoever his enemy might be today.
    Carlotta sent a signal to Ender and Sergeant. Come with me to talk to the Giant. Something important has come up. Then she copied the pertinent charts and reports to Father's holotop.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER 5
     
     

     
    "Of course we're going to stop and try to communicate with them," said Cincinnatus. "We have no other choice. We can't leave a potential threat behind us without investigating it."
    The others nodded. A group this bright didn't need discussion when the options were obvious.
    "There's no reason for Ender to stop working on the genetics problem," said the Giant. "We're pursuing an interesting path that involves bacterial latency. Carlotta can manage deceleration, approach, and communications."
    Cincinnatus felt his normal despair. As usual, no one could think of anything for him to do.
    Carlotta, bless her little heart, took pity on him. He hated that. He didn't need to have his shame put into words. "What about Sergeant?"
    The Giant looked at her as if she were an idiot. "He's going to arm the Herodotus so we're ready to turn this alien ship into dust if the need arises."
    Just like that. For the first time in his life, Cincinnatus mattered. The Giant had a use for him.
    Ender was skeptical, of course. "We don't want to go in guns blazing."
    The Giant sighed, and now Ender got the are-you-really-this-dim look. "Andrew, sometimes I think you forget that each of you is exactly as intelligent as the others. Cincinnatus isn't going to use any weapons against an enemy whose capabilities we don't yet know. And even when we know them, he won't initiate hostilities. We don't need a war. We need an assessment. But if they want a fight, we have to be so ready that only a vastly