Linda Crichton Gillespie, a Washington debutante

Jeanette Crichton, her sister

Dr. Richard Owen, astronomer

Dr. Mary Alie Mouton, astronomer

Major General Edmund Gillespie, USAF astronaut

David Coffey, President of the United States

Mrs. Jeanne Coffey, First Lady

The Honorable Wesley T. Dawson, a Congressman from California

Mrs. Carlotta Trujillo Dawson, his wife

Roger Brooks, Special Assignments Reporter, Washington Post

James Frantza, White House Chief of Staff

Henry Morton, Vice President

Dr. Arthur Hart, Secretary of State

Hap Aylesworth, Special Assistant to the President for Political Affairs

Ted Griffin, Secretary of Defense

Admiral Thorwald Carrell, National Security Advisor

Peter McCleve, Attorney General

Tim Rosenthal, Secretary of the Treasury

Connie Fuller, Secretary of Commerce

Arnold Riggs, Secretary of Agriculture

Jack Clybourne, Presidential Protection Unit, Secret Service

Academician Pavel Aleksandrovich Bondarev, Director, Lenin Institute

Lorena Polinova, his secretary and mistress

Marina Nikolayevna Bondarev, his wife

Boris Ogarkov, Party Secretary at the Institute

Andrei Pyatigorskiy, Assistant Director, Lenin Institute

General Nikolai Nikolayevich Narovchatov, Party Third Secretary, later

Party First Secretary

Chairman Anatoliy Vladimirovich Petrovskiy, Chairman of the Supreme

Soviet

Ilya Trusova, Chairman of the KGB

Dmitri Parfenovich Grushin, KGB officer

Marshal Leonid Edmundovich Shavyrin, Marshal of the Long Range Strategic

Rocket Forces

Harry Reddington, unemployed minstrel

Jeri Wilson, Senior Editor, Harris Wickes Press

Melissa Wilson, her daughter

William Adolphos Shakes

Kevin Shakes

Miranda Shakes

Isadore and Clara Leiber

George and Vicki Tate-Evans

Jack and Harriet McCauley

Martin Carnell, Show-dog breeder

Ken Dutton, Bookstore manager

Cora Donaldson

Sarge Harris, friends of Ken Dutton

Patsy Clevenger

Anthony Graves

Maximilian Rohrs, general contractor, Bellingham

Evelyn Rohrs, former Washington socialite

Ben Lafferty, Sheriff Whatcom County, Washington

Leigh Young, Deputy Sheriff

Whitey Lowenthal, welder

Carol North, citizens of Lauren, Kansas

Rosalee Neill

Colonel Arvid Pavlovich Rogachev, Commander of Kosmograd

Nikolai, onetime Sergeant, Red Air Force

Allana Aleksandrovna Tutsikova, Deputy Commander

Dr. Giselle Beaumont, French scientist

The Honorable Giorge N’Bruhna, Nigerian politician

Captain John Greeley, USAFU astronaut

Herdmaster Pastempeh-keph

Advisor Fathisteh-tulk

K’turfookeph, the Herdmaster’s mate

Chowpeentulk, Advisor’s mate

Fookerteh, the Herdmaster’s son

Attackmaster Koothfektil-rnsp

Defensemaster Tantarent-fid

Breaker-Two Takpusseh (later Takpusseh-yamp)

Breaker-One Raztupisp-minz

Fistareth-thuktun, priest and historian

Koolpooleh, male assistant to Fistarteh-thuktun

Paykurtank, female assistant to Fistarteh-thuktun

Octuple leader Pretheeteh-damh

Tashayamp, female assistant to Takpusseh (later his mate)

Octuple Leader Chintithpit-mang, sleeper

Shreshleemang, Chintithpit-mang’s mate

Eight-cubed Leader Harpanet

Eight-cubed Leader Siplistepth

Rashinggith, warrior (Year Zero Fithp)

Birithart-yamp, warrior in Africa

Pheegorun, warrior in Africa, died by spear

Thiparteth-fuft, guard officer

Sergeant Ben Mailey, U.S. Army

Sherry Atkinson

Robert and Virginia Anson

Wade and Jane Curtis

Bob Burnham

Lieutenant General Harvey Toland, U.S. Army

The Honorable Joe Dayton, Speaker of the House

Senator Alexander Haswell, President Pro Temps of the Senate

Senator Raymond Carr, Senator from Kansas

Nat Reynolds

Joe Ransom

John Woodward

Carrie Woodward, prisoners

Alice MeLennon

Gary Capehart

Ensign Jeff Franklin

Hamilton Gamble

Dr. Arthur Grace

“Tiny” Pelz, crewman

Michael Jason Daniels

Samuel Cohen

Roy Cuber, shuttle pilots

Jay Hadley

Commander Anton Villars, Captain, USNS Ethan Allen

Colonel Julius Carter, U.S. Special Forces

Lieutenant Jack Carruthers, U.S. Special Forces

Lieutenant Ivan Semeyusov, Soviet Expeditionary Force

Brant Chisholm, South African farmer

Katje Chisholm, his wife

Mvubi, Zulu warrior

Niklaus Van Der Stel, Afrikaner Commando

Juana Trujillo Morgan, wife of Major Morgan

Lieutenant Colonel Joe Halverson

Major David Morgan, Kansas National Guard

Captain Evan

Corporal Jimmy Lewis

Captain George Mason

Within its broad array of nested rings, the planet was a seething storm. It had always been so. Patterns chased themselves across its brown-on-brown face in bands and curlicues. The space around it churned with activity: billions of icy particles in a broad array of nested rings; eights of moons; streamers of dust whipped by powerful magnetic fields; all whirling around at terrific velocities, at several makasrupkithp per breath. Message Bearer maneuvered within that storm.

The Herdmaster’s Advisor, gazing raptly through the thick double window, seemed to notice only the beauty of the scene.

The Herdmaster found that irritating. His own domain included collisions, industrial operations, internal quarrels, and the peaceful integration of sleepers with spaceborn. He had quite enough problems without… that.

Message Bearer’s main telescope was the equal of any astronomical installation on the world they had left behind. The alien probe was close now, by astronomical standards, and the screen showed it in fine detail.

A circular antenna. A pod at the tip of a long boom radiated infrared warmth. That would be the power supply. Two more booms thrust instruments outward. Clasp digits with me, that I may know your herd! One extension held what had to be cameras, the other some kind of electronic sensing device.

Sixty-four sleepers, the Breaker’s team, were working now to infer what they could about the creatures who had built that machine. They hadn’t told the Herdmaster anything useful. When the camera platform began to turn, the Herdmaster’s digits flexed restlessly.

“You made your decision half a year ago,” Advisor Fathistehtulk said placidly. “You did not destroy it then. How can you destroy it now?”

“Here is where their fragile spy probe must pass through endless orbiting debris, It must survive collisions, radiation, orbital fluctuations, and any unreal danger the prey may imagine. Here is where some mischance is most likely to smash it!”