Part 49 (1/2)
”Lord Aronn will complete the second team,” Basil said.
”Under ideal conditions, both teams will reach the aircraft and we will have three pilots, not just one, available to fly s.h.i.+ps back here to Camp Bettaforca. Our ATV specialist, Mr. Collins, a.s.sures me that the fourplex vehicles can be disa.s.sembled into their original smaller modules for loading onto the aircraft. We hope to evacuate the entire camp and transport it in toto to the North Face. Even if-uh-Fata obstant and we have only a single s.h.i.+p available for shuttle work, it will still be able to airlift all personnel to safety in a single trip. Once the aircraft have power, they are capable of concentrating an enriched atmosphere. Sensitive individuals will reside on board while a sufficient number of s.h.i.+ps are prepared for the first trip to Goriah. Subsequently, only the technical personnel and their Tanu supervisors will have to remain on the mountain to salvage the remaining machines ... The task we face is difficult. Some of us may lose our lives in the attempt to retrieve these aircraft.
But we know, nevertheless, that they may be crucial not only in the reopening of the time-gate but also in the defence of the Many-Coloured Land against powerful enemies. At the risk of belabouring a point, I will end by quoting a peculiarly apposite verse from Kipling: Something hidden. Go and find it.
Go and look behind the RangesSomething lost behind the Ranges.
Lost and waiting for you. Go!
If there are any questions I will now answer them.”
”When do you plan for us Sherpas to start slogging?” Stan asked.
Basil said, ”Tomorrow Nirupam, Ookpik, and I will lay out a route over the Gresson Glacier to the icefall. Support teams will begin carrying supplies to a dump at the icefall foot on Wednesday the twenty-fourth.”
”And how long,” enquired a worried-looking elite gold, ”before the birdies get home to the roost in Goriah?”
”We've got nineteen days,” said Veikko distinctly, ”whether you realize it or not.” And he told them about Kyllikki's estimated time of arrival with the X-zappers, and when the uproar over that had died down, he got around to mentioning the really bad news about Marc.
CHAPTER FOUR.
Mary-Dedra dried her little son's inflamed skin, then dusted him with velvety spores by squeezing a dry puffball over his body.
He emerged for a moment from the terrible stupor and his mind smiled.
Like, he said.
The mother crooned to him through her golden torc: Soon you will feel better much better soon Brendan. She said aloud to Elizabeth: ”Brother Anatoly suggested this subst.i.tute for baby powder. He said it was an old Siberian remedy. The fungus does seem to soothe the blisters better than salves.”
The baby's eyes with their enlarged pupils fixed on Elizabeth.
The feeble glow of pleasure was snuffed out by apprehension.
Hurt me? Hurt again?
Elizabeth said: Yes Brendan. Hurt to make all hurt go away.
(And you must fear me, poor baby, not love the hurter, lest the mind-circuits become confused and you mistake the pain for joy.) Dedra kept up her own flow of telepathic rea.s.surance as she wrapped the child in a light blanket. But when she handed him to Elizabeth he broke into hopeless wails, and Dedra cried out, overcome with guilt and reproach.
”We're very close,” Elizabeth told the mother. ”It could be tonight.”
”But he doesn't seem to be any better ... You say the treatment is going well, but I haven't seen any improvement.
Except in his communication with me, telling me how it hurts.”
”I know. I'm sorry, but it's inevitable. If we keep him below the pain threshold during the redaction, he won't be able to a.s.sist us. But he is better, Dedra. Believe me. Unfortunately, the modifications to the brain haven't yet manifested themselves in the rest of his body. When they do, improvement will be dramatic and abrupt. We're well into the multimodal thalamic nuclei-a primary integrative area. The job is nearly done.”
”Will you work all night again?”