Free The Engines of Dawn by Paul Cook

Cloudman. If the ship was going to move, regardless of means, he wanted to be in control of the means by which they were going to do it.
    Though some of the best engineers on Eos had been called to assist with the experiment, Ben hadn't anticipated that the Kuulo Kuumottoomaa, one of his Kaks-a navigator Ben had never seen before-and High Auditor Nethercott would be invited to observe. They were standing in the back of the room, staying as much out of the way as possible. But nothing escaped their scrutiny.
    "What are they doing here?" Tommy Rosales whispered to Ben when the spectators arrived at the last moment.
    "I don't know," Ben remarked. "Let's ask."
    Ben walked up to a gathering of technicians going over the large Hollingsdale breeder-a reactor the size of a small house-and buttonholed Dr. Silbarton.
    "Eve, what are those people doing here?" he asked.
    The High Auditor had had his eye on Ben the moment he had walked into the lab. Apparently, Ben's little venture into the auditorium the other day had cost him anonymity among the Auditors. Nethercott glared at Ben. Ben glared back, and the High Auditor came over, having heard Ben's query. "I can assure you that we're here as advisors only, Mr. Bennett," the Auditor said cordially.
    "Advisors?" Ben said. "You're going to advise these people? What qualifies you or … them"-Ben pointed at the Kuulo and the Kak standing mute in their enclosed environment suits-"to advise anybody on anything?"
    "They're just going to observe, Ben," Eve said.
    "They shouldn't be here," Ben insisted.
    Nethercott's eyebrows rose somewhat, but he did not seem to mind Ben's effrontery. He said, "President Porter invited us to observe the ship's use of energies it will be taking from trans-space, the realm of Mazaru."
    "Horseshit," Ben said.
    Several engineers had heard this and looked up. Even Rosales seemed surprised.
    "Ben!" Eve said.
    Ben felt his blood start to boil, although he wasn't sure why.
    "They have no reason to be here," Ben stated. "That's all."
    The High Auditor said nothing, but did not take his eyes off him.
    Eve Silbarton pulled Ben aside. "What did you do? Trade your brain in?" she whispered harshly. "If you did, get it back. This one's defective." She tapped him hard between the eyes with a forefinger.
    "Ow!"
    "Look, this is Porter's idea. Nobody's done this before and he thinks it will make history-if we can pull it off. And it might be good for us to have several highly placed witnesses."
    It was the Kuulo Kuumottoomaa's turn to voice an opinion on the matter. The voice box at his collar said, "We traveled in space for thousands of years using sublight-speed technologies before we came across the Onesci Lorii's mathematics and could build her Engines. But this maneuver you are attempting is new to us, at least the way your engineers have described it, and we may be of some help if something goes wrong."
    Several of the workers in the room had paused to witness the exchange between Ben and the Grays.
    "Then why not share Onesci mathematics with us so we can manufacture our own Engines and get the hell out of here?"
    The High Auditor took in a breath sharply. But the Kuulo didn't seem to be offended. "When you are ready for them, they will make themselves known to you. That is how Mazaru works."
    "He helps those who help themselves," Ben said. "What kind of help is that from the Almighty?"
    "I'm sorry," the Kuulo said. "I do not understand-"
    Dr. Israel Harlin, the head of the physics department, broke up the philosophical fracas. Harlin was a tall, white-haired man with a heavy beard, and a way of walking stooped as if he feared ceilings. "Gentlemen, please. We need everybody at their stations for this. We can argue later."
    The two aliens and the Auditor backed away as if conceding some sort of minor victory to Ben. But Eve kept looking at him strangely-as if he had just had a personality overhaul, one that came with less common sense than the one it replaced. Maybe she was