Part 34 (2/2)
The shi+p bucked, twisted-again Ren Zel snapped to his dead board, and again the pilot on first corrected the boggle and flew on
Moments passed, and still Elsu did not level their course
Ren Zel leaned forward, checking gauges and tell-tales, feeling his stohten”Pilot,” he said lance ”Must we?” she asked, dulcet ”But I a this shi+p, Ren Zel dea'Judan”
”Indeed you are However, if we do not level soon, even a pilot as skilled as yourself will find it-difficult-to pull out This shi+p was not built for such entries”
”This shi+p,” she stated, ”will do what I wish it to do” Incredibly, she kept her course
Ren Zel looked to the screens They were passing over the ocean, near enough that he could see the v-wakes of the sea-shi+ps, and, then, creeping into the edge of screen four, towering thunderheads where the water met the land
”Pilot,” he said, but Elsu had seen the!”
They pierced the stor the screen three dead
”Give me my board!” Ren Zel cried ”Pilot, as you love your life-”
She threw hi hatred, and the wind struck again, sla them near into a sole The cabin lights flickered as Ren Zel's board came live, and there was a short, snapped-off screaht the shi+p, fought the wind, fought his own velocity The wind tossed the shi+p like so ht, steadied his craft and passed out of the storround was ot the nose up, rose, rose- His board snapped and fizzed-desperately, he slapped the toggle for the secondary back-up
There was none
The shi+p screaround
ON THE MORNING OF his third day out of the healing unit and his second day at hoht hi of sunshi+ne Her face was strained, her eyes red eeping
”You are called to thebetween Obrelt and Jabun next hour, brother,” she said, her voice husky and low ”Aunt Chane will come for you”
Ren Zel went forward a step, hand outstretched to the first of his kin he had seen or spoken to since the accident ”Eba?”
But she would not take his hand, she turned her face from him and all but ran from the room The door closed behind her with the weariso to
Next hour In a very short time, he would know the outcoht reasonably take reht on the matter, a ht box They would have run the tape, built a sim, proven that it had been an accident, with no hter A double tragedy, that she should die while in Obrelt's keeping There would be the life-price to pay, but-Balance?
He considered the computer in its alcove near thePerhaps today he would be allowed to access the nets, to find what the world knew of this?
But no, he was a pilot and a pilot's understanding was quicker than that He kneell enough the conditions of his tenure here All praise to Terran poetry, he even knew the proper name for it
House arrest
Escorted by med techs, he'd arrived hoht not to his own rooms, but to the Quiet Suite, where those who -were housed
There was a med tech on-call It was he who showed Ren Zel the computer, the call button, the bed; he who locked the door behind him when he left
There was entertainment available if one wished to sit and watch, but the communit reached only the med tech and the computer accessed only neutral infor drills did not open to his code, nor had anyone brought his books, or asked if he wished to have them
This was not how kin cared for kin
Slowly, Ren Zel went over to the pile of clean clothes He slipped off the silver-and-indigo robe, and slowly, carefully, put on the modest white shi+rt and dark trousers He sat down to pull his boots on and sat a little longer, listening to the blood singing in his ears He was yet low of energy It would take so as a reluth He had been advised to take frequent naps, and not to overtire hiood
He pushed himself to his feet and went back to the table His jacket was there, wonderingly, he shook it out, fingering the places where the leather had been ether by the hand of a master As he had been
The touch and s and personal co the bland and antiseptic a the jacket up and on, settling it on his shoulders, and looked at the re license went into its secret pocket For a moment, he simply stared at the two cantra pieces, unable to understand why there should be so , he slipped them into the pocket of his jacket
Behind him, he heard the lock snap, and turned, with a bare fraction of his accusto that had been crushed
Chane dea'Judan stepped into the roo silently closed behind her He stood where he was, uncertain, after Eba and two days of silence, what he ht expect from his own kin
If Aunt Chane will not speak to ht, I will not be able to bear it
She paused at the edge of the table and opened her arms ”Ren Zel”
He alainst her shoulder, he felt her stroke his hair as if he weres soone ill, child,” she htened, and stood away, searching her solemn face
”Ill,” he repeated ”But the life-price of a pilot is set by the Guild I will take the-” He stopped, struck du
”Tell me,” he said then ”Aunt?”
She took a moment to master herself, and met his eyes squarely
”A life for a life,” she said ”Jabun invokes the full penalty, council and Guild uphold theht box Surely, the Guild has duht box?”
”Dumped it and read it and sent it by direct pinbeaeed with bitterness ”Jabun turned his face fros-and the request to hold open review at Casiaport Hall! He called on three first class pilots froain I aht, under Guild law” She took a deep breath and looked him squarely in the eye
”The honored pilots of Casiaport Guild find you guilty of negligence in flight,that pilot Elsu Meriandra untimely met her death”
But this wasof the entire flight, froe to crash
”Aunt-”