"I think you are wrong. On Inconnu, as you have mentioned, I observed. And at turnover I learned this." She recited Number One"s coordinates with respect to Far Corner, then transposed them. "So, you see, I could guide us there again. I do not think the rest of it would be too difficult to learn."
- 59.
He shook his head. "What I can"t figure is why-when I know better-I keep underestimating you."
She reached and squeezed his hand. "Perhaps Erika Hul-zein taught me too well-always to keep something back, in case of need-so that no possible enemy could prepare for me fully."
"I didn"t think I was your enemy, Rissa."
"And of course you are not. But it may be, Bran, that in a part of my mind every person is considered a potential enemy." She released his hand and clamped both of hers together. "Bran-I had not thought of that before."
He stared at her. "You think maybe that"s why-?"
"Perhaps, yes. It has become late-shall we try again and see?"
But later, panting and sweat-drenched, she was forced to accept the fact that her body was not yet ready to yield its defenses.
NEXTmorning, Tregare took an early call from Vanois and left for Base Two. Rissa stayed behind. "In time I will become used to Vanois, but not today, I think." After breakfasting, she went to the scout and asked Deverel whether he could give her some instruction in navigating.
"Our computer here doesn"t have full simulation," he said. "Just the records of Inconnu"s own travels. I don"t know-"
"If Tregare has not said I should have full access, then let us start from the beginning, from Earth. Even UET has those records."
"You"re right. And-pardon me, Ms. Kerguelen, but the skipper didn "t say."
"He will." She smiled. "Meanwhile your caution is quite proper. Now, shall we proceed?" She ran the first four trip records, calculating ahead as the data unrolled before her and checking at the end of each run; she caught herself in error once and realized she had hurried too much. She turned to Deverel. "Now, if there is a tape I may see, in which destination was changed in mid-voyage, I would like to try it. If not, we can turn the machine off."
He hesitated. "There"s the Escape itself, of course, but-"
60.Then he shrugged. "I can"t think of any reason you shouldn"t see it-"
"Only if you feel sure, Hain Deverel."
"I"m sure enough. Here-I"ll punch up the start for you."
She watched the record, stopping the tape to work out her own figures and then running it to see how well she had done.
In a quick side-glance she saw Deverel smiling, and soon found the reason for his amus.e.m.e.nt-not merely one change of goal on this trip, but three-and now she remembered Tre-gare"s story. "The second," she said, "was when Farnsworth retook the ship, briefly. And then Tregare . . ." She punched in the final course- figures and waited, and found she was correct.
"The skipper-he told you about that, did he?"
"On Inconnu, the first evening out of Far Corner. I mentioned hearing that after Escape he mutinied against his own people. Like any person, he resents being maligned."
"Saved our heads, the captain did." It was Kenekke"s voice; Rissa had not seen or heard his entrance. "Not for the first time, nor likely the last."
"True," said Deverel. "But don"t be so modest, Anse. You saved a few heads yourself, on that trip."
Kenekke waved a hand. "Who didn"t?" He looked at the figures from Rissa"s last simulation run. "That"s how it went, all right. You studying to navigate, Ms. Kerguelen?"
"Yes. But I thought you were an engineer, not a navigator."
"We work with the same numbers; it"s simpler that way."
"I see I have more to learn than I had thought. May I ask you questions when I know what to ask?"
"Any time. Say-sounds like you"re coming along, on Inconnu."
"I hope to do so."
"Good. A man keeps a steadier head, with his love close to hand." The big man smiled, turned, and left the control room.
Unsure what to say, Rissa looked at Deverel. He said, "Anse is right. He doesn"t talk much, but when he does, it pays to listen."
Before she could stop herself she said, "How long-?"
61."Anse and I? From before s.p.a.ce-in UET training, when they"d have killed us for it.
n.o.body was more eager than us for Escape."
"UET would have killed you? I do not understand. In North America, among freepersons many ways are accepted."
"But not in UET. What they want is robots, zombies-and they manage to build themselves a lot of those. They caught a couple of boys in the cadre next to ours-and we saw what happened to them."
She shook her head. "Do not tell me, please. Though perhaps I imagine worse than the reality."
"I doubt it." With obvious effort, he laughed. "But that"s light-years gone and here we are on a fine world, waiting our chance to set teeth into-well, to teach UET a lesson, maybe."
"I hope so. Thank you, Hain, for helping me. I will leave you now."
SHE decided to explore Tregare"s escape tunnel. Carrying a handlight, she swung the tub, opened the trapdoor and descended the vertical shaft. Above her the door closed; she pointed the light up to find the latch that would release it from below. She walked through the featureless tube, past the shaft slanting upward on the left, to the gully exit. Yes- it did give good cover.
She returned to the side shaft and clambered up to the small pillbox. Vision slits looked out toward the cabin-she could see the left side and the front-and the area between it and the scout. The emplaced weapons were two energy projectors, similar to those on Inconnu- but she knew they must be powered by a lesser source than the ship"s. They were mounted so they could be locked together for elevation and traverse or disengaged for separate targets.
Aiming, she moved the locked pair back and forth to get the feel of it.
She returned to the shaft under the cabin, operated the latch and waited while the tub pivoted and the trapdoor raised, and climbed up into the bathroom. Her hands were dusty; she washed them.
She spent the rest of the afternoon hiking upslope behind the plateau, circling above the cliff that overlooked the cabin"s 62.kitchen window, and then returning by way of a narrow ravine that debouched into a talus slope. Picking her way down, the rough rocks cost her a bruised ankle.
She found that Tregare had not returned; she ate and spent the evening alone.
THE next day he was back briefly, but took the aircar across the Hills and was gone the night again. The following morning he returned and woke her early, for breakfast and for love-making too brief-surprisingly so-for any chance of satisfaction, before disappearing into the scoutship. That day he joined her for dinner and stayed the night, and for the next few days they were together more than not. He showed pleasure at her navigational progress and one day announced that Peralta"s No Return was homing for rendezvous.
But for the most part he was busy, even though present in body, and could give her little of his attention.
Her days and nights repeated themselves, so much alike that they blended in her mind and she lost count of them. She walked a lot, for exercise. Bran installed the promised curtain rods and provided material, and she curtained the windows. Kenekke p.r.o.nounced the second aircar fit for service; in it, she explored the surrounding terrain. But finally, after a trip to Big Sink, where she had to laugh at her attempts to swim in- on, nearly-the heavy liquid, she could find nothing new to learn here.
She decided to return to Hulzein Lodge-and perhaps to One Point One-and concern herself with her business affairs on the planet. But before she brought herself to tell Tregare of these plans, one night when her thought was not strongly upon pleasure, her body answered to his and she lay gasping, shaking her head.
"You did it!" he said. "This time, peace save us, you did it!"
"Yes-yes, Bran! And I do not know how, or why. For I was not even trying . .."
"Maybe that"s it-maybe before we tried too hard."
"Yes. Or-perhaps it merely took time, and a number of small acceptances between us, to make possible this greater one." Then she said, "Bran-I had thought, these past few 63.days, to go to the Lodge and the city, to consult with Liesel and others about my holdings and their management. This is necessary if I am to go with you soon. But now I do not want to leave you."
His fingers smoothed her hair back from her face. "Well, why don"t we both go?
I"ve got business there myself, and best to handle it before I"m needed again here and at Base Two. I think Vanois is straightened out for now, and Deverel can help him if need be."
"Then it is settled." She touched his body, then shook her head. "No-it is too late now, this evening."
"We"ll wake up early." He turned off the light and she snuggled against him for sleep.
CHEERFULthe next mid-morning, Rissa accepted Bran"s offer and took the aircar"s controls.
She looked under the seat and checked placement of the oxygen equipment, then fastened her safety harness and energized propulsion. She lifted parallel to the ridge above them and climbed in an arc to bring them in line with the pa.s.s and rising toward it. She looked to Bran and laughed. "I am quite excited-the pa.s.s..."
"You know what to expect?"
"I think so. We go against the current, so I must not stint on power. At the dogleg I am prepared for turbulence. For the first turn I do not have a specific landmark, but the sun favors me-and I will pick one, for times when it does not."
"Good. Look-I"m sorry I had to keep you waiting, but there was word fromInconnu; I had to reply, and advise Gon-nelson. And Vanois had some questions."
"It is all right. We kept themwaiting, did we not?"
He laughed and squeezed her shoulder. Then they rode in silence to the pa.s.s.
Entering from this side they found little turbulence, only a strong headwind; Rissa increased power and fitted her oxygen nosepiece into place. As she had recalled, the entrance was much wider than on the far side. When the cut narrowed, she was somewhat above summit alt.i.tude, moving at an angle that showed her the turn well before she reached it. "This time, Bran, I make it easy for myself. Another time I will take it low, as you did."
64."Coming back, you"ll have to-the current doesn"t give you time to get much higher."
"Oh, yes-of course. I am just as pleased to do it this way first."
Then she was into the turn-at this height the turbulence was less-through the dogleg and second turn. She held most of her alt.i.tude until she was out of the cut and past the "b.u.mpy stretch," then turned toward the Lodge and set a constant rate of descent.
After testing the air, she stowed her oxygen gear. For a few seconds she glimpsed One Point One, a smudge in the distance-then a ridge crest cut off her view.
As she pa.s.sed a hilltop and sighted the Lodge, thunder boomed in a clear sky; peripherally she saw a flash of light. "Bran-a ship landing?"
"Nothing less. If it"s Limmer-and I hope it is-he"s nearly a day early. Must have come in fast and used top decel. I hope it doesn"t mean something"s wrong." He shrugged. "Well, we won"t belong finding out. Soon as we land, I"ll call the port."
"Yes. Bran-did you notice? Back there I tried to see how close I could set our rate of descent. And I do not think I missed by more than twenty feet, vertical."
He laughed. "That"s good guessing and good luck-the wind stayed constant."
"Luck is a fine thing to have-without it, I would still be in Total Welfare." Making a small correction, she brought the car to ground near the Lodge.
A young woman answered the door. Inside, needing no help with the single suitcase each had brought, they went to their room. Bran went to the viewscreen terminal as Rissa walked into the bathroom. When she came out he was saying, "-this afternoon, then. If anything comes up and I can"t make it, I"ll call you back. Open a bottle." He cut the circuit and turned to Rissa; his face showed tension. "That was Limmer."
"There is bad news?"
He shook his head. "Don"t know yet. But the reason he"s here so fast, and took a beating from high-gees to do it-he"s met the Shrakken. In s.p.a.ce."
TREGARE reached Liesel by intercom. She joined them, followed by a servitor bearing a lunch tray. As they ate, Bran talked.
65."Limmer didn"t know what they were, of course. When the ship came in screen range it wasn"t converging, but pa.s.sing on a skew, in close to his same direction. Nearer, he could make out its insigne-placed funny, like in the pictures Vanois had, and no known language or lettering. He called it-the answer came garbled, but he recognized a word or two of English. Then his comm-tech fiddled frequencies and scan rates, and got a picture-of sorts-from inside the other ship. The description"s vague, but it fits the Shrakken, all right."
Rissa said, "And then what happened?"
"Nothing. That was the closest approach. The skew diverged until Limmer lost signal."
Liesel said, "The big question is, where were they headed?"
Tregare beat a fist against his thigh. "That"s the trouble- Limmer doesn"t know! His computer"s gone unreliable-he had h.e.l.l"s own time getting here at all-so until it"s fixed or we run the tapes on someone else"s, we won"t know. That"s why I"m going to town this afternoon."
Liesel nodded. "We have interface terminals at Maison Renalle. Not programmed for that kind of problem, but-"
"Nothing shaken," said Tregare. "By tonight, you will be. And we"ll know."
ENTERINGthe aircar, Tregare took the pa.s.senger"s seat, Rissa the pilot"s. She flew fast and low; at the s.p.a.ceport she landed at the safety perimeter around Lefthand Thread.
Climbing out, Tregare said, "He"s kept her in good shape."
At the ship"s ramp, an armed guard met them. "You"re Tregare? And who else?"
"And Tregare"s wife." The woman nodded and let them pa.s.s. Unsure of this ship"s interior design, Rissa fell behind so that Tregare could lead. He climbed past the level she expected; they entered the control room.
At first look, Limmer repelled her. Hulking and stoop-shouldered, he loomed; scars gave his swarthy face a permanent sneer. But his voice, when he spoke, was low and resonant. Shaking hands, he said, "Tregare! It"s good to see you again!"
"You too, Limmer. And this is my wife-Tari Obrigo."
Taking her hand, the man half-bowed over it. "My plea- 66.sure, Ms. Obrigo. I suppose you already know you"ve married a nova in full explosion, and you seem pleased enough about it. So, my congratulations to both of you."
She had to laugh. "Thank you, Captain Limmer. And-my pleasure, also."
"She manages," said Tregare. "Now, then-you have your people working on the computer, naturally. Is it fixed yet?" Limmer shook his head. "Then let"s have a quick look at the viewscreen tapes, first thing. After that we can go over to town and use a terminal there to a.n.a.lyze the rest of it, once I program a little."
Limmer turned to his control console; the screen lit. Among unfamiliar stars a glint appeared; magnification drew it closer, until Rissa recognized a ship-and on it, the insigne patterns Vanois" pictures had shown.
Sound came-garbled-only a few isolated words were clear, but those words were in English. Then the outside view vanished, the screen streaked and wavered, showing a picture, barely recognizable, of two Shrakken. For a moment, both sound and picture cleared- "Shrakken. And you are-" Then the noise level rose and obscured all meaning, and the picture vanished into flickering chaos.
Limmer turned it off. "That"s all we got, before they were out of range. Do you know what those things are? I think 7 do."
"What is it," said Rissa, "that you think?"
"Underground rumor says UET never invented star drive- that they stole it. Except for weapons, that ship"s d.a.m.ned near a duplicate of yours, Tregare. I think I met some more of the creatures UET robbed."