Part 24 (1/2)

”Right,” Ornina said, punching in a command. ”Okay; it shows clear.”

”You need any help with that, Hanan?” Chandris asked. ”I could come down and-”

”No, I'm fine,” he a.s.sured her. ”It's fixable; just going to take a bit more time than I thought.

Speaking of time, why haven't we hit the catapult yet?”

”It'll be another few minutes,” Ornina told him. ”They're having some trouble with one of the supply s.h.i.+ps going through to Central, and it's got things backed up.”

”Typical,” Hanan sniffed. ”Well, keep me informed.”

”And let me know if you want any help,” Chandris added.

”I won't, but thanks.” The intercom clicked off. Chandris turned to Ornina- And paused. On her face... ”You all right?” Chandris asked.

Ornina turned to look at her, the lines trying to smooth out as she did so. ”I'm fine,” she said.

A cold knot settled into Chandris's stomach. ”Something's wrong with Hanan, isn't it?” she asked. ”Is he getting worse?”

Ornina shook her head tiredly. ”He has no choice but to get worse,” she said. ”It's a degenerative disease. Degenerative diseases by definition get worse.”

”Then he shouldn't be down there alone,” Chandris said, reaching for her restraint release.

”No, don't go,” Ornina said, shaking her head. ”You can't help him. Not any more. You're too much like family now.”

Chandris stared at her. ”I don't understand.”

”Neither do I, really,” Ornina said quietly. The lines of pain were back in her face now. As if, having said this much, there was no longer any point in trying to hide them. ”He's funny that way, Chandris.

It's pretty easy for him to accept help from strangers and acquaintances, but very hard to accept it from family and close friends. Pride, or some strange form of denial, I don't know which.”Chandris thought back to when she'd first come aboard the Gazelle; compared Hanan's face and words then to how he'd looked and acted during her most recent lessons in s.h.i.+p's maintenance.

Thought about the brief conversation half an hour earlier, and Hanan cheerfully giving Kosta permission to fix the air scrubber. ”That's why you don't sell your extra angel, isn't it?” she said slowly. ”So you can make sure there's a steady stream of strangers like me who he can accept help from.”

She locked eyes with the older woman. ”Except that I'm not a stranger anymore.”

”No, you're not,” Ornina agreed. ”You're far more valuable to us than a stranger would be.”

”Right-except that I can't help you anymore,” Chandris retorted, a frustrated anger beginning to stir

within her. ”That's real valuable.”

”You know the s.h.i.+p as well as the two of us put together,” Ornina countered, her eyes taking on a firmness and a frustrated anger of their own. ”You're an extra pair of hands-an extra pair of skilled hands-and the way Hanan is going we're going to need those hands if we're going to keep the Gazelle flying.”

”Oh, wonderful,” Chandris shot back. ”I keep the Gazelle flying, and in the process grind Hanan's pride into the dirt.”

Ornina leveled a finger at her. ”I want you to get one thing straight, young lady. You are not responsible for Hanan's quirks and flaws and bouts of false pride. Yes, it hurts him to have to be dependent on people. But that's reality, and denying it just makes things harder on himself and everyone else around him. Eventually, he's going to have to bite the stick and learn that, and he never will if people always cave in to him. Understand?”

”Yes,” Chandris muttered.

”Good.” Ornina took a deep breath, the momentary anger fading from her face. ”And one more thing. Like it or not, Chandris, you were a G.o.dsend to us. We need you here. More than that, we want you here. In five years of taking in everyone from outcasts to thieves to fugitives we've never found anyone who clicked even remotely as well with us and the s.h.i.+p as you have.”

A ripple of old fear twisted through Chandris's heart. ”I can't stay here forever,” she said. ”I never said I would.”

”I know.” Ornina turned back to her board. But not before Chandris saw that her eyes were s.h.i.+ny wet. ”You're free to leave anytime you want to, of course. I just wanted you to understand how we felt.”

The board beeped. ”Looks like the bottleneck's clearing up,” she said. ”We'd best get moving.”

”Right,” Chandris murmured, the word coming out with difficulty around the knot in her throat. Yes, she understood, all right. Understood that, for all the old fears and habits that still haunted her, she didn't want to leave the Gazelle, either. Understood that, for probably the first time in her life, she had found something that was worth fighting for.

She might not be a thief anymore. But she hadn't forgotten how to fight.

The almost-felt jerk came, and in a blink the Seraph catapult was replaced by the spidery arms of Angelma.s.s Central's tethered net poles. ”Approach vector?” Ornina asked, all business again.

”Vector logged in,” Chandris confirmed crisply, matching the other woman's tone. ”There seems to be a lot of traffic ahead, though. We might want to swing our approach a little wider than usual.”

”Good idea,” Ornina nodded, fingers playing across her keys. ”Let's see... let's try this.”

Chandris gave the projected course a quick study. ”Looks good,” she agreed. ”Want me to implement, or confirm it with Central?”

”I'll call Central,” Ornina said, reaching for the comm section of her board. ”Go ahead and plug it in so we'll be ready when they give us clearance.”

Chandris had just started keying in the new course when the door hissed open behind her. She turned, expecting to see Hanan- ”I see we've arrived,” Kosta commented, drifting in.

”Quiet-we're working,” Chandris growled, turning back to her board.

”Sorry,” Kosta stage-whispered.

He headed over to his seat, busying himself with something. Chandris took her time, checking and rechecking the course and her inputting of it, with the desired result: Ornina finished her part of the task first. ”All cleared,” she told Chandris, switching off the comm. ”Go ahead and execute. h.e.l.lo, Jereko,” she added, turning to Kosta. ”Everything all right with your equipment?”

”Yes, thanks,” he replied. ”Better than all right, actually-I thought I was going to have to sit down there with it the whole time, but Hanan helped me tie the outputs into one of the Gazelles spare command lines so I can operate it from up here.”

Chandris felt her lip twist. Kosta settling down in the control cabin. Terrific. ”He's supposed to be working on a fuel pump down there,” she told Kosta tartly. ”Not fiddling around with your stuff.”

”Hey, he insisted,” Kosta shot back. ”It's not my fault if he's the kind who likes to be helpful.”