Part 38 (1/2)

I found Everett stretched out on his cot in the main sphere, leafing through the s.h.i.+p's pharmaceutical listing, his injured leg propped up on one of the medical kits. ”The wraparound get too boring for you?” I asked as I made my way toward him.

”It got too chilly,” he said. ”What's happening out there?”

”Absolutely nothing,” I said. ”Oh, except that dinner is going to be ready soon.

Thought you might want to join us.”

”What are we having?” he asked.

”No idea,” I admitted. ”However, Chort's in charge of preparation, so I expect it'll at least be palatable.”

”Probably,” Everett said, wincing slightly as he s.h.i.+fted his leg.

”Unfortunately, I don't know if I'm up to the walk.”

”Really,” I said, frowning, as I squatted down beside him. ”I didn't realize it was bothering you that badly or I wouldn't have jumped on you earlier. Sorry.”

He waved the apology away. ”Don't worry about it. You were right-it should be mostly healed by now. Maybe it's the cold and lower air pressure up here that's bothering it.”

”Then the lodge and a real bed are exactly what you need,” I said briskly, straightening up and reaching down to him. ”Come on-I'll give you a hand.”

”No, that's all right,” he said. ”Let me just rest it a while longer, and I'llcome up later.”

”You're going to join us for dinner, Everett,” I said firmly. ”This is the first decent meal we'll have had since I don't know when, and you and your leg aren't going to miss out on it.”

”Look, I appreciate the thought. But-”

”Besides, we have to have a serious talk about what we're going to do after we leave here,” I said. ”And that's going to concern all of us. So, bottom line: Either you let me help you up to the lodge, or I'm going to send Nicabar and Ixil to carry you. Your choice.”

”You win,” he said, putting down the listing and smiling wryly. ”They wound up mostly carrying me back to the Icarus on Palmary, and I'm not in any hurry to repeat the experience.”

We made our way around the curve of the hull and into the wraparound.

Everett's leg didn't seem to be giving him all that much trouble that I could see, but I nevertheless kept a hand ready to a.s.sist if it should suddenly go weak on him.

I.

turned on the entryway floodlights for better lighting and preceded him down the ladder. He reached the ground safely, and we headed toward the lodge.

A gentle breeze had started up since I'd entered the Icarus, stirring up the cold mountain air and making it feel that much colder, and Everett's leg reacted by stiffening up even more. It took us over ten minutes to cross the four hundred meters to the lodge, and by the time we made it up the steps to the portico he had given his pride a vacation and was leaning heavily on my arm.

”Sorry about this,” he puffed as I steered us to the main door. ”I guess I should have let Ixil carry me after all.”

”Not a problem,” I a.s.sured him. ”You'll be better once we get you out of all this cold night... d.a.m.n.”

”What?” he asked.

”The lights,” I said, turning around to look behind us. Sure enough, the Icarus was beautifully bathed in the backwash from the floodlights. ”I wasn't even thinking. Too used to always leaving them on in port, I guess.”

”You going to go back and turn them off?” Everett asked.

”Unless we want to advertise our presence to anyone who happens to pa.s.s by,” I said, getting the door open and helping him limp over the threshold. The delicate aromas coming from the kitchen area made my stomach growl. ”Go on in-the dining area's off to the left, around that corner and through a sort of rectangular archway. I'll be back in a minute.”

”Better grab a flashlight for the way back,” he warned as I headed back across the portico. ”That ground's pretty uneven in places.”

”I will,” I called back over my shoulder. ”a.s.suming I can remember where we stashed them. Make sure Chort saves me some of whatever that is, all right?”

”Sure,” he called. ”Well, probably.”

Between the portico lights behind me and the floodlights in front of me I had no problem traversing the terrain this time around. I climbed up the ladder and shut off the floodlights, then headed forward into the main sphere.

Contrary to what I'd implied to Everett, I knew exactly where the flashlights were, and it was the work of ten seconds to unearth one from the pile of machine-shop equipment. But now that I was finally alone in the s.h.i.+p there were other more urgent matters that needed to be attended to, and the excuse ofhunting for a flashlight should give me the time I needed.

I tackled the helm and nav systems first, my familiarity with them permitting me to finish the job in probably two minutes. Tera's computer was next on my list, another relatively quick and easy job given how much time I'd spent around it lately. After that, making sure to stay well back in the wraparound as I slipped past the open hatchway, I headed back into the engine section.

Even with full lighting the maze of cables and conduits back there was a pain to get through. With only a flashlight, and one that had been adjusted to its lowest setting yet, such a safari was downright dangerous. But I made it through to the control station without garroting myself, and five minutes later I was done.

The hidden access to the inner sphere was sitting wide-open, just as I'd instructed Ixil to leave it. I s.h.i.+ned my light briefly inside, but there was nothing to be seen except the usual tangle of wiring. I looped a few turns of conduit over the hinged breaker panel, just to make sure no one thoughtlessly closed it, then left the engine section, making sure that the door to the wraparound was also locked open.

I left my flashlight off as I slipped out of the hatchway and climbed down the ladder. Everett or someone else might be looking in this direction, and I still had one last task to perform before I could head back up for dinner. Careful of my footing, I circled the aft end of the s.h.i.+p and made my way around to the s.h.i.+p's starboard side.

With the tree branches towering over me blocking out the starlight, this side of the s.h.i.+p was even darker than the port side had been. Even so, it wasn't difficult to locate the set of latch grooves I'd spotted on my first inspection of the s.h.i.+p back at Meima, the grooves I'd later learned Cameron had anch.o.r.ed a collapsible ladder into for his backdoor entrance into the s.h.i.+p that morning.

Probing carefully with my little finger, I felt in one of the two bottom grooves for the piece of guidance tag I'd wadded up and put inside.

The folded piece of plastic was no longer wedged halfway down the opening as I'd left it. Instead, it had been jammed all the way to the bottom of the groove.

A.

quick check of the other groove showed the other half of the tag had likewise been crammed into the bottom.

Feeling my way along the side of the s.h.i.+p, I circled around the drive thrusters and worked my way back to the base of the ladder. Then, and only then, did I turn on my flashlight and head up to the lodge.

Everett was not, as I'd expected, waiting for me in the expansive foyer where I'd left him. He had instead found his way to the dining room and seated himself at the far end of one of the rustic hewn-wood tables. Shawn, Tera, and Nicabar had reappeared from their rooms and were in the process of choosing seats of their own at the table, with Chort and Ixil just lugging in a large steaming stewpot containing whatever it was I'd smelled earlier. Four seats were stillempty: one on each side of Everett at the far end, one beside Shawn, the fourth at the end of the table closest to me, the seat facing away from the entrance archway. Choosing that one, leaving Chort and Ixil to fight over the other

three.

chairs, I sat down.

Dinner was a curious affair, full of odd contrasts. The couple of hours of privacy had done small but noticeable wonders for the civility level among the group, particularly for Tera and Shawn, who mentioned that they'd spent their time catching up on badly needed sleep. The fact that the quiet surroundings lent themselves to a sense of security was also undoubtedly a calming factor.

At the same time, though, there was an underlying tension permeating the whole event, a tension that showed up in a hundred little ways, from the slightly stilted conversation and long uncomfortable silences to the way everyone's eyes periodically and suddenly darted to the archway behind me as if expecting the entire population of the Patth homeworld Aauth to suddenly come charging in on us. Tera seemed the worst in this respect, though Shawn's natural twitchiness brought him in a close second. By a sort of unspoken mutual consent we avoided the topic of the rest of our trip, and our chances of actually getting to Earth with the whole Spiral breathing down our necks.

I gave it half an hour, until the stew was gone and the conversation had again lagged and they were starting to make the small but unmistakable signs of getting ready to take their leave. Then, clearing my throat, I lifted my left hand for attention. ”I know you're all tired and anxious to start settling down for the night,” I said. ”But there are one or two matters we still need to deal with.”