Book 3, Chapters 28-30 Summary

The captain of FNS Espérance considers her expendable, swooping in close enough to see the radar units rather than rely on homing in on their beams. He is burned at 1,000 km., after firing. Luna loses two ballistic radars and their crews and 13 gunners get a fatal dose of radiation. The second cruiser orbits again. Mike reports this to Davis when he reaches Little David's Sling on Sunday. He seems to be developing a conscience, grieving for the lost humans and blaming himself for not stopping six incoming targets at once. Mike has suffered frustrating "outlying discontinuities." The second ship is likely to change orbit and arrive in an hour rather than three. Davis suspects the Terrans want to capture Mike, but the computer disagrees. Junior is working on South America, one load at a time and his program...