"Where did he go?" Taryl asked, an edge of fear and regret in her tone.
"I don"t know," Delle said. "He wouldn"t stop raving about how the Carda.s.sians are going to come here, soon. He said we all need to take the shuttles and go-get as far away from the balon as possible."
"I told him-Lac said they didn"t get his ship!"
Delle shook her head. "He wouldn"t listen," she said. "A few others have gone as well. Tancha and Res and Vusan..."
Taryl looked lost for a moment before pulling herself together. "I can"t go looking for Seefa now," she said. "We"ve got to get that carrier ready to go!"
Lenaris was p.r.o.ne to agree. Seefa could take care of himself. Lac, however- Halpas and Tiven followed Lenaris and Taryl through the empty fields that lay between the village and the carrier"s resting place. "What"s all this about balon?" Tiven wanted to know.
"It"s how we fuel our ships," Lenaris explained.
Halpas looked stunned, his heavy eyebrows moving back from his forehead. "You mean...like the ship you flew here? Are you joking?"
Taryl shook her head. "We distill the balon and isolate the nadion-affected components to stabilize it. We"ve been doing it for close to five years now, without a single incident."
Halpas and Tiven appeared impressed, and when Lenaris told them that Taryl had created the technology, they were even more so.
"Where did you train?" Tiven wanted to know.
Taryl flushed. "Self-taught," she explained. "My grandfather always said I had a knack for chemistry..."
"She"s an excellent engineer as well," Lenaris told them.
"Not good enough to fix that carrier," Taryl said.
"Well, you don"t have to be," Tiven said. "That"s why I"ve come, isn"t it?"
"Yes," Taryl said, "and I"m hoping to learn a thing or two as long as we have you."
Tiven frowned, and Lenaris wondered if he didn"t like the idea of an overzealous would-be protegee getting in his way, but the old man said nothing.
They reached the ship in very little time, Halpas and Tiven both doing a terrible job of masking their excitement as they looked it over. "She looks structurally sound," Tiven announced. Lenaris and Lac had almost completely dug the ship out, and their diagnosis had been similar-these old carriers were built st.u.r.dy, and even some of the hardest impacts couldn"t crack them.
Tiven practically scampered up the side of the wing, climbing down into the c.o.c.kpit like a man twenty years younger, with Halpas close on his heels. Lenaris and Taryl came in afterward, when Tiven had tapped on a palmlight and was already halfway down to the engine room.
Lenaris followed Taryl and Tiven down into the engine room while Halpas looked over the navigation controls. The old engineer wasted no time in hoisting himself into the maintenance conduit, shifting about and making his inspection for only a few moments before calling out his diagnosis. "Anti-grav"s completely shot, the aft piston coil array is fried, rear thrusters are in bad shape...and...it looks like the auxiliary power is...hm..."
"What?" Lenaris said.
Tiven bent his body so that his head emerged from the conduit. "Who"s been working on the auxiliary systems?"
"That was me," Taryl said quickly. "A long time ago. I didn"t make it worse, did I?"
"No, no," Tiven said, his head and shoulders again disappearing into the tube. "It looks like you would have almost had it, actually-you just need two self-sealing stem bolts on the transformer plate underneath the shock absorption circuit."
"Oh-I have some, back in my house!" Taryl exclaimed. "I can go get them right now!"
"That would be helpful," Tiven said. "And if you have a f.l.a.n.g.e-type resistor wrench to torque down those bolts..."
"I do," she said.
"Maybe I"d better go with you," Lenaris suggested, feeling that his presence here was a bit superfluous. Taryl didn"t discourage him, and they climbed out of the ship together, into the afternoon sunlight.
They walked through the fields in silence for a while, Lenaris simply enjoying her company, as he had been doing since they left Tilar. It was nice to spend time with her without Seefa along. He felt a stab of guilt at the thought, hoping that Seefa wasn"t in any kind of danger, but he chased the thought away.
Similar thoughts must have occurred to Taryl. "I think I know where Seefa could have gone," she said glumly. "And I"m sure he wants me to come after him. He"s testing me."
Lenaris didn"t know what to say. He knew what he would have liked to say-that if Seefa was indeed testing her, then it was an unfair gauge of Taryl"s loyalties. How could she be expected to choose between her brother and her fiance? "Where do you think he is?" he finally asked.
"Back near his family"s farm," Taryl said. "The Aro farm was adjacent to my parents" lands, when we were children."
"So...your marriage was arranged?" Lenaris already knew as much, but he hadn"t heard it from Taryl, he"d heard it from Lac.
"Yes," she confirmed.
"How did you feel about that?"
She looked slightly put off. "I don"t know," she said. "It"s just how things were always done around here."
"But not anymore," Lenaris pointed out.
They did not speak for a few more minutes.
"Holem," she finally said. A subtle coloration in her tone had him very uncomfortable; he was sure now that she was upset with him.
"What is it?"
"You don"t really like Seefa, do you?"
Lenaris bit his lips, cursing the notorious directness of the Ornathia family. "What makes you say that?" He wished with all his heart that something-anything-would distract her from this conversation. A house caught on fire, an underground tremor, the very voices of the Prophets calling out from above...
She looked away. "Never mind. You"ve just answered me."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You"re chewing your lip like it was a piece of gristle. You always do that when you"re uncomfortable."
"Well, maybe it"s you making me uncomfortable." Lenaris instantly wished he hadn"t said it.
Taryl looked annoyed for a split second before she laughed. "Oh, Holem. Be serious. What is it about him that you don"t like?"
Lenaris was taken aback at her laughter. Why did she find it funny that he might be uncomfortable around her? In fact, sometimes he was was uncomfortable around her, if only because his desire for a more meaningful relationship with her would periodically make his heart feel like it was going to break. But she probably had no idea that his affection for her was anything beyond platonic. She probably regarded him as she regarded her own brother. The consideration of that possibility brought back the unhappy sensation of heartache, and Lenaris blurted out his answer to her question without really considering what her reaction would be. uncomfortable around her, if only because his desire for a more meaningful relationship with her would periodically make his heart feel like it was going to break. But she probably had no idea that his affection for her was anything beyond platonic. She probably regarded him as she regarded her own brother. The consideration of that possibility brought back the unhappy sensation of heartache, and Lenaris blurted out his answer to her question without really considering what her reaction would be.
"He"s not good enough for you, Taryl. That"s all I have against him."
Taryl looked surprised, but there wasn"t time to address the topic any further, for they had reached the village.
Lenaris followed her into the cottage, helping her to gather up the necessary items in a rough satchel. "Let me carry that," he insisted, making to sling the satchel over his own shoulder.
"I can do it," Taryl said, reaching for the satchel and sounding cross.
"Taryl..." Lenaris said, not wanting to finish, but knowing that he had to. He couldn"t have tension with her, not now. "Don"t be upset with me about Seefa. It isn"t that I have anything against him. It"s just..."
"What?" she asked, and the anger had gone out of her voice. Lenaris thought that she wanted to hear him say it-he hoped she did- "I can"t help how I feel," he said stiffly.
She put her hand on his shoulder, as if to remove the satchel, but she didn"t remove it. "And how do you feel?"
He couldn"t say anything else, and he thought she looked disappointed for a moment before he realized that she was crying softly.
"Taryl!" he said, alarmed. "I...I"m sorry! Seefa will be all right...I should never have said anything...it wasn"t my place..."
She came into his arms and he held her close, feeling as he did that it was wrong to enjoy it so much when she was so obviously hurting.
"It"s not just that," she said, her voice m.u.f.fled as she pressed her face against his chest. "I feel as though I was wrong to leave him. What if I never see him again, and the last words we had were angry? I"m...the only family he really has, since his aunt and uncle pa.s.sed."
"You"ll see him again. He loves you, and the two of you are going to be married." The words tasted less than sweet in his mouth, but he wanted, he needed, to console her.
"I don"t want want to marry him, Holem." to marry him, Holem."
His body went rigid for a beat. He wondered if he"d heard her correctly.
"I care about Seefa, but I haven"t wanted to marry him for a long time. Maybe I just got angry with you because...I felt so guilty."
"Guilty?"
"Yes. Because...I was...glad that he wasn"t with me. With...us." Taryl began to cry again, her face pressed against Holem"s shoulder, her body warm against his. He found that he could not resist holding her a little bit tighter. After a long beat, she turned her face closer to his, so that he could feel her breath on his skin. He brushed her forehead with his lips...and before he had quite realized what was happening, he was kissing the ridges of her nose, and then her mouth, softly at first, and then harder as she responded, and then his hands had begun to move across her back, underneath her tunic and around her waist, and her hands were finding their way across the front of his chest, and she had removed the satchel from his shoulder and it dropped to the floor.
Their clothes seemed to fall away as they tumbled to her bed in an eager meeting of mouths and limbs and fingers. They moved slowly, and then quickly, and then slowly again, becoming a single, breathing, living thing for a few stretching moments, their hearts and bodies perfectly in rhythm. Lenaris had been with a few women, had even loved two of them-but this was different, it was Taryl, Taryl, and the depth of what he felt for her far surpa.s.sed any love he"d known before they had become friends. and the depth of what he felt for her far surpa.s.sed any love he"d known before they had become friends.
Entangled in her arms, Lenaris felt like he could sleep for days, exhausted and happier than he had been since he was a boy. But there were things that must be done...things that he hardly felt like considering now that Taryl was here, pressed against his body. He wanted to just hold her a little longer...
But she stood up abruptly, retrieving her clothes from the rough floor where they had been discarded. She didn"t look at him as she dressed. "Come on, Holem," she finally said. "We"d better get back."
"Sure," he said, quickly dressing and retrieving the fallen satchel to loop it across his chest. This time, she did not argue with him about carrying it. She seemed determined not to meet his gaze, and he sadly decided that if he hadn"t wanted things between them to remain tense, he"d just done exactly the wrong thing.
Damar sat before the companel in his quarters with an unhappy knot in the pit of his stomach. He was not looking forward to this, but it could not be helped. He hoped she would understand; after all, his responsibilities were greater than they had been before his promotion. Veja had to realize that. She had to realize that his obligation to Dukat was immense. He entered Veja"s communication code with a great deal of reluctance.
"You are looking beautiful, as always," he said, as Veja"s face appeared on his screen. "It pains me to tell you that it will be longer than we might have hoped until I will be able to see you again in person."
"What do you mean?" Veja did not look like she was going to take this very well. Veja did not look like she was going to take this very well.
"My darling, you have my deepest apologies, but-"
"Oh, no, Corat. Not the trip to the vineyards!"
Damar hung his head. "Please, Veja. My duties to the station come first, no matter how much I wish it might be otherwise. You know that as well as anyone."
"But, Corat, this trip was planned months in advance! How, at this late date, can your duties suddenly have become so pressing that you cannot even take a single two-day pa.s.s-only your third since you arrived, I might add?"
"Veja, do not make this any worse. Dukat asked me if I would be willing to sacrifice this weekend for an important update to the security systems. What could I say? I owe my promotion to him."
"You mean to say that he gave you a choice? And you chose to do a favor for Dukat, rather than to spend time with me?"
Damar sighed, his patience waning. "Veja, that isn"t how it works. Please, I need your support."
She was quiet for a moment, and Damar hoped she was reconsidering her reaction, which he felt was tremendously unfair. If she was going to be the wife of an officer, she was going to have to learn to accept certain things. A soldier"s duty was always to his superiors.
Her voice was cool when she spoke. "Fine, Corat. It is regrettable that you cannot come along with me, but-" "Fine, Corat. It is regrettable that you cannot come along with me, but-"
"What do you mean, come along with you? We will postpone the trip to a later date."
"Oh, no, Corat. I requested this time from my superior, and he gave it to me. I"m not going to spend that time sulking around the settlement. I"ve always wanted to see Tilar."
"Veja! Are you mad? You can"t go away by yourself, it is far too dangerous to travel alone."
"Of course, I"ll bring Natima. She always has her weekends free."
"Natima!" Damar scoffed. "She is hardly fit to ensure your safety! No, Veja, you"ve made your point that you are angry. I have apologized, but there is nothing more that I can do. Please, end this foolishness."
"I accept your apology, Corat. But I am still going to Tilar. I"ll be sure to contact you from the vineyards, to let you know what you are missing."
Veja ended the transmission before Damar could argue further, and he smacked his palms in anger against the surface of his desk. He decided that she was probably only trying to bait him. He was not going to give her the satisfaction of contacting her again to argue about something so utterly preposterous. He turned off his companel and went to bed, antic.i.p.ating a sleepless night.
Miras lasted another week before she made her decision, a week of deep consideration, of working up the nerve-a week of terrible, relentless dreams. She dreamed now, knew she"d fallen asleep because she had to watch it all again, relive the nightmare. The Hebitian woman was gone; now there was only the hidden object, the murder, the twisted, smoking ruins of her homeworld.
Someone touched her, and she woke.
It was a stranger, the man in the seat next to hers. "I"m sorry to wake you, but we"ve gone back down into the atmosphere, and we"re approaching Lakarian City. The pilot says we"ll be there in just a few moments."
"Oh, thank you, Mister...?"
"Raaku."
"That"s right, I remember now." They had briefly introduced themselves shortly after boarding the shuttle. Shortly after Miras had walked away from her old life, possibly forever.
The message of the recurring dreams had continued to unfold for her, although the images remained cryptic, violent, and strange. But she"d come to believe that the discovery of one of the Bajoran Orbs by a Carda.s.sian would mean the end of their civilization-had come to believe it with all her heart, and that belief finally allowed her to embrace her insanity. She had no husband, no children. Her parents lived well outside the city, and she didn"t see them often. Her job was interesting to her, but not especially fulfilling...
And if I"m right about this-if this is a vision, a reality that will come to pa.s.s-then I have a responsibility.
She had spent many hours reading through the texts she could find on Oralius, on the Oralian Way-and while many were simple propaganda smears, she"d seen glimmers of a strange but interesting philosophy here and there. From what she could tell, the Oralians were simply spiritual seekers, not the decadent cult she"d always believed them to be.
The brief recorded message from Natima Lang had provided the final push. It had been waiting in her transmissions only the day before, and had confirmed Miras"s information about Gar Osen and the death of the kai-not directly, but clearly enough. Natima had been uncharacteristically grim, her expression solemn as she"d cautioned Miras not to continue concerning herself with affairs on Bajor. She"d added that going public with unapproved information was a punishable offense. When Miras had tried to return the call, she"d found that Natima was unavailable.
With clear evidence that there might actually be something to it all, Miras had acted. She"d packed a bag, made a few calls-and had then managed to scramble the Orb"s access code in the ministry"s database, making it impossible for anyone to retrieve the item without manually opening every single shipping container in the warehouse. All those years studying the ministry"s filing system, preparing for her life"s work, she"d learned a trick or two. There was a chance that n.o.body would learn of what she had done until someone actually attempted to find the Orb-but Miras wasn"t about to take the chance that she"d be so lucky. She had stepped across a line, a step she couldn"t take back.
The man seated beside her looked out the window of the transport shuttle, at the flat, endless desert stretching all around them, beautiful in the early morning light. "Have you seen the Hebitian ruins before, Astraea?"