Part 8 (2/2)
Cara said thoughtfully, ”They're not supposed to do that.”
”No,” Rhani agreed. ”I'll tell Binkie to call Main Landingport and remind them. Cara, Zed is going to Abanat tomorrow, just for one day. He'll be back in the evening.”
Suddenly, Dana began to laugh.
All three women turned to look at him. ”What are you laughing at?” Rhani said.
Controlling the laughter, he hiccoughed. ”Sorry, Rhani-ka. It occurred to me that the pilot of the bubble might be someone I know.”
”Who?” asked Immeld. Cara frowned at her, and pressed her arm.
”It doesn't matter,” Dana said, ”because it can't be her. The timing's all off.”
”I thought you didn't know anyone on Chabad,” Rhani said. But she remembered as she said it that he had not exactly stated that.
”I don't.”
”Then who were you thinking of?” she pressed. His face closed like a fist. ”A Starcaptain,” he answered, ”named Tori Lamonica.”
Zed Yago left the estate in the dark before sunrise.
Rhani walked with him to the bubble hangar. In the west, the stars made a frosty diadem on Chabad's horizon. ”Good hunting in Abanat,” she said. ”I'll miss you.”
”I won't be gone long. Jo drinks at The Green Dancer. I'll talk with her about Sherrix and I'll be back. I want to stop at the Main Landingport and talk to Tam Orion about that overflight.”
”I was going to have Bink write.”
”Let me complain. It was probably a newly hired pilot, but that's no excuse.”
Rhani said, ”That's what Dana said. I thought some tourist offered a pilot a bribe.”
Zed palmed the bubble door. ”They're paid on Nexus' scale. They don't need bribes.”
She caught his sleeve as he reached for the ceiling bar to swing inside the bubblecraft. ”Zed-ka -- where's Dana's s.h.i.+p? You told me you bought it from the Council.”
”_Zipper_?” He dropped back to earth lightly. ”At Port, on the Field, with the Yago seal on it. He should know better than to bother you about it.”
”He didn't. But yesterday I found him listening to the air, to music in his mind.” Zed was nodding. ”You know about his music, Zed-ka?”
”I know about it,” said Zed.
”He's adjusting well to the change in his life.”
”He'd better.”
”But I think he would be more content, less inclined to run, if he had his music. He thought the tapes were destroyed.”
Zed said, ”They weren't. I gave orders that nothing in _Zipper_ was to be touched. If you want, Rhani-ka, I'll call up to Port and have them send the tapes to Abanat on a shuttles.h.i.+p. If I call this morning I should have them by tonight.”
”I'd like that, Zed-ka.” She smiled, picturing Dana's surprise and joy.
Zed said, ”Don't coddle him, Rhani-ka.”
”Happy slaves work better.”
He smiled at her. ”We've had this discussion before.” He ran his fingers along the edge of her cheek. ”I'll bring the tapes.”
”Thank you, Zed-ka. Don't stay all day at the Landingport, exchanging lies with the chief pilot.”
”I will not,” he said with dignity. He reached again for the ceiling bar.
He disappeared into the bubble. Rhani stepped back as the two halves of the hangar roof began to slide apart. The bubble hummed. She clapped her hands over her ears. Zed transpared the skin, waved briefly, and then opaqued it over. The bubble s.h.i.+vered, and lifted straight up.
Dana, awake in his bed, heard the familiar drone.
It swelled, and then died, till all that he could hear of it was a dry arthropodal whine.
Zed was gone. In his head a chord sounded. He got out of bed smiling. He washed and then dressed. The straw sandals were already conforming to his feet.
He went to the kitchen and helped himself to fruit. The house was quiet. The kitchen door was unlocked. Pus.h.i.+ng it open, he strolled outside.
The shadowless light was pleasant. The cool air seemed softer. Dana picked his way to the rear of the house, where the bubble hangar sat. A slight figure rested on a hangar strut, arms folded. Dana hesitated. Rhani saw him. She leaned away from the hangar. Shoulders hunched, hands in her pockets, she came to join him. She looked thoughtful. Delicately as a dragoncat, she lifted her chin, sniffing the air. ”Smell the moisture?”
Dana said, ”I thought it seemed less dry.”
”In the valleys at sunrise, sometimes you can feel dew on the gra.s.s. In winter it even rains: three storms a season. When it rains in Abanat the shops close. People leave houses and stores to walk in the rain.”
”Amri said there were no seasons here.”
”She wasn't born here.”
”She was remembering Belle.”
”She seems taken with you,” Rhani said.
”She reminds me of one of my little brothers.”
”You have more than one?”
Dana smiled. ”I have seven.”
”Seven!” Rhani marveled. ”All eight sons of one mother?”
”Oh, no.” He chuckled. ”No. We go in for extended parenting on Pellin.
There are actually nine sons, ten daughters, eight mothers, five fathers.”
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