Part 29 (2/2)

”You really goin' back to that business, young feller-me-lad?”

”It's what I know best. If I'm lucky, I might be promoted to a management position in a few years.”

September made an impolite noise.

”M'nag, what is that, friend Ethan?” Hunnar looked curious.

”I would direct others at the job I'm doing now, supervise them. When the next Commissioner arrives here and begins recruiting a network of Tran to act as Commonwealth agents for Tran-ky-ky, he'll be delegating similar jobs. You'd be a good candidate for one such important post, Hunnar.”

”He is candidate for no post,” said Elfa KurdaghVlata, laying a possessive paw on the knight's shoulder. With his broken leg, Hunnar was unable to draw away -not that he wished to. ”Upon my father's pa.s.sing, he is to be my ruler-mate in Wannome.”

”Well, that's a pretty good management position too,” Ethan admitted with a smile. They could see the smile through his survival-suit mask. Copying September, he slid it back, gasped as the cold air struck him.

The shock pa.s.sed quickly. The wind was blowing no more than a dozen k.p.h. Coupled with the gentle tem-perature, it made the day seem positively tropical. He watched the white sea skim by beneath the icerigger's duralloy runners. Perhaps he would doff the survival suit altogether, plus the clothes beneath, and enjoy a sunbath in the shelter of the central cabin.

He considered other options besides the obvious. What of the distant, wealthy Colette du Kane? By now he had acquired almost enough self-confidence to deal equally with that ma.s.sively composed woman. It was a possibility he should reconsider.

Especially if he had lost his job.

”Will you come back, Sir Ethan?” Hunnar asked hopefully.

”I'd like to.”

”Me also, feller-me-lad.”

Leaving Hunnar and Elfa locked in more than just conversation, the two humans moved off across the deck.

”We've made a lot of friends here, Skua.”

”Oh, I wouldn't come back just for that reason, lad.” The giant grinned that knowing grin which gave him the look of a man half devil, half prophet. ”I've friends scattered all over the Commonwealth, on more worlds than I can remember. Fact is, I've other places to visit.

”There's this gal on Alaspin, she's an archeologist thinks she's onto somethin'. Been wantin' me to come 'round that way for a couple o' years and help her out on some big dig. As I've only been to Alaspin once be-fore, I think I might just drop down that way and look her up again.”

”Then if not for the friends, why would you want to come back?”

”Why, young feller-me-lad?” September's smile widened. ”You saw the carvings and inscriptions and mo-saics in the mountain-city, and you heard our teacher friend Milliken hypothesize a different ecology, where the predominant color's green 'stead of white.

”Yes, I'd like to come back all-right. In about ten thousand years or so when this world swings close by its star again and the cycle s.h.i.+fts from cold to warm. I'd like to sail these same oceans again in a real boat, though the ol' _Slanderscree's_ got her points.” He tapped the wooden rail affectionately.

”Think on those carvings again, feller-me-lad. Ten thousand years from now, why, it'd be nice to be here. Because when those frozen seeds thaw out fast, there's gonna be a few hundred billion flowers all bloomin' at once.”

--- Copyright

A Del Rey Book Published by Ballantine Books Copyright 1979 by Alan Dean Foster All rights reserved under International and PanAmerican Copy-right Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 7870603 ISBN 0345333225 Manufactured in the United States of America First Edition: April 1979 Tenth Printing: May 1989 Cover Art by Michael Herring --- *About the Author*

Born in New York City in 1946, Alan Dean Foster was raised in Los Angeles, California. After receiv-ing a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Master of Fine Arts in Motion Pictures from UCLA in 196869, he worked for two years as a public relations copywriter in a small Studio City, Califor-nia firm.

His writing career began in 1968 when August Derleth bought a long letter of Foster's and published it as a short story in his biannual _Arkham Collector Magazine_. Sales of short fiction to other magazines followed. His first try at a novel, _The TarAiym Krang_, was published by Ballantine Books in 1972.

Foster has toured extensively through Asia and the isles of the Pacific. Besides traveling he enjoys cla.s.sical and rock music, old films, basketball, body surfing, and karate. He has taught screen writing, lit-erature, and film history at UCLA and Los Angeles City College.

Currently he resides in Arizona with his wife JoAnn (who is reputed to have the only extant recipe for Barbarian Cream Pie).

<script>