Part 1 (2/2)
Suddenly, guilt filled him, and he looked somberly at the archeologist. He owed this man so much. ”I won't go back,” he said abruptly, ”not to what I was.”
”I never imagined you would.” Murdock had been well on the road to the life of a petty criminal when the Project had discovered him, some six Terran years previously, a boy with the instincts of a clan chieftain or commando in an age where such talent was a detriment to all but very specialized groups such as theirs. Ross had proven to be one of the best finds they had made, maybe the best. ”You've grown up, my young friend.” His eyes sparkled. ”Except in the matter of patience.”
”We'll need a lifetime of that,” he responded quietly, suppressing the regret that threatened to flood his voice.
”I don't know about that,” his partner told him. ”If I were you, I'd plan on exhibiting my newfound abilities for Eveleen Riordan's approval a lot sooner than that. A matter of days might be a more realistic target.”
2.
MURDOCK FELT HIS chest, his stomach, tighten. He took a deep breath to steady himself, then met the other's blue eyes steadily. ”Gordon, don't joke about that. I don't find it funny...”
Ashe laughed. ”Calm down, Ross Murdock. You've been feeling rather sorry for yourself, I fear, to the detriment of your thinking.”
”Go on.” He would have liked to tell him in graphic detail where to put that remark, but it was accurate, and he was more interested in an answer right now than in verbally avenging the observation.
”Consider the matter from the Project's point of view. Five experienced, very expensive Time Agents suddenly vanish, and in their place, a full-fledged Hawaikan civilization complete with hitherto equally nonexistent flora and fauna quite literally appears on the scene. What do you imagine their response should be?”
”Put a gate up as fast as they could slap one together and get back to us.” The hope withered in him. He did not dare let it run, not yet. ”It's been three months, Gordon,” he said simply.
”Our time. Besides, there would be the little matter of dealing with the locals and then locating not only the right period but the precise time, the month and week and maybe even the day within it.”
Ross turned his gaze to the eternally tossing ocean. ”Why didn't you say something before?”
He sighed. ”Because I couldn't be sure. There were so many ifs, so many things I just didn't know, so many suppositions and out-and-out guesses. You could accept permanent exile, Ross, but maybe years or a life of uncertainty and waiting-I wasn't about to do that to you. I was having too much of a taste of it myself.”
Murdock looked swiftly at him. ”I'm sorry.” His head lowered. ”I haven't been much help.”
Gordon smiled. ”You've done your share.”
”You said a matter of days?” the younger agent prompted, once more feeling the eagerness rising in him. Eagerness? He felt as if he were returning to life.
He nodded. ”The Foanna shared my opinion and have been helping me watch for some kind of signal that a breakthrough might be imminent.” He grimaced. ”To put it more accurately, I've been trying to help them. The Lady Ynvalda discovered something yesterday morning, the beginning of a disturbance, that seems to be what we've been waiting to see.”
”Maybe,” Ross said sharply. The s.p.a.cers had traveled through a Terran time gate once before, wreaking havoc at every level, and even all of their own race could not be cla.s.sed as friends. Humankind was ever cursed by its divisions, and there were other efforts similar to the Project whose operators would use them as savagely as any s.h.i.+pload of Baldies bent on vengeance if they got half a chance.
”We're not going to be standing there with big smiles and open arms when-if-that gate opens, not until we're d.a.m.n certain who's stepping through it and why.”
Murdock's eyes suddenly went once more to the ocean. ”Gordon, what about Karara? There's no going back for her. There can't be.”
”She's an agent,” the other said quietly.
”She was. She's Foanna now, or their creature. If she returns with us, the brain boys'll just grab her and take her apart, or try to do it. She'll never have any kind of life again.”
Ross watched the happy trio, in pain himself at the thought of what they might so soon have to endure, worse in a great measure than his own recent misery. All three would be affected, too. Such was their bonding that what hurt the human would hurt the sea mammals as well. ”Hawaika, this Hawaika, is Karara's place now. Let her stay, and the dolphins, too, if they're all willing. Just tell the bra.s.s they didn't make it through the fight.”
You are generous, Younger Brother, and blessed. To be able to feel and feel for another's pain is no small gift, albeit not always an easy one for the bearer.
That sounded, not in his ears, but directly in his mind. Ross had grown accustomed to the Foanna's method of mental communication by then, but he had to school himself neither to start nor to frown openly as he turned to face the source of those thought-words.
The air before him was s.h.i.+mmering. In the next instant, it seemed to compress and resolved itself into a gray-cloaked figure, the Lady Ynvalda, he saw, when she permitted the deep cowl to draw back and the atmosphere to settle sufficiently for the Terrans to recognize her.
He felt annoyed and did not care if the newcomer detected his irritation. He disliked being perpetually taken by surprise in this manner, and he disliked these theatrics. He also failed to see the purpose of continuing with them, at least so far as the Time Agents were concerned. It was different with the Rovers and Wreckers, he conceded readily, but he and Gordon did not have to be kept impressed.
”Welcome, Lady,” Ashe said, as was his right as the humans' leader. ”You heard our discussion?”
”In part,” she answered in the lilting cadences of her kind's verbal speech.
Ynvalda turned to Murdock. He could feel a shadow of amus.e.m.e.nt, provoked by his annoyance, but her voice and what he could read of her expression were serious when she spoke. ”You need have no fear for our sister,” she a.s.sured him. ”She can protect herself and will pa.s.s through none of your people's gates.”
”Unless she chooses to do so,” he responded quietly.
The Foanna measured him for a moment. ”You are right, Younger Brother,” she said softly. ”That decision is hers alone. I accept the rebuke.”
Ashe released the breath he had been holding. More and more frequently, Ross rose above himself, most often when the rights of others were involved. ”I'll speak with her when she comes ash.o.r.e,” he promised, ”though I think we can all be fairly sure of her answer, and that of the dolphins as well.”
Gordon's eyes narrowed even as he fought to control the hope surging within him. ”You have some news for us, Lady?” It required a surprisingly strong effort of will to hold his voice steady when he asked that. The thought of home, of Terra, was an ache filling all his being...
She slowly inclined her head in a.s.sent. ”I do. The gate has formed and should open shortly, but whether it will be to admit friends or foes, that no mortal on this side of it can know or deduce.”
3.
ROSS MURDOCK CROUCHED low behind a tall, broken stone column, his heart slamming in his breast. He licked his lips with a tongue nearly as dry and clutched his weapon more tightly still with hands that already ached with the pressure of his grip.
If the Baldies came through, they would have a fraction-second only to beat them back, throw them off balance until the Foanna could bring their stronger powers to bear. Human enemies could pose an even greater problem...
The grid formed. It was the well-remembered pattern and proclaimed that the equipment being used to generate it, at least, had originated with their own people.
A single, slender figure took form. The newcomer was small and seemed shorter still as he crouched down, trying to minimize the target he presented to anyone waiting to cut him down.
The target she presented. Ross's lips parted in a surprise that would have been ludicrous had anyone removed their eyes from the gate to notice him. Although she was technically an agent, this was one of the last people he would have expected to walk out of the future to collect them.
The woman steeled herself and straightened. ”Doctor Ashe, Murdock, Trehern, in the name of whatever, don't shoot me,” she said with only the barest undertone of uncertainty to betray the fact that she was not perfectly at ease.
”All right, Miss Riordan,” Gordon called out, ”come on through... Who else is with you?”
”No one. I'm it.”
Eveleen looked about her and caught sight of the younger agent at once. ”Ross Murdock!” She held out her hand to him. ”I am glad to see you again. Both of you,” she added, ”but I never had the privilege of teaching you, Doctor Ashe, and so I don't know you quite as well.”
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