Part 34 (2/2)

146 .

nae and distributing long-distance bulletins. The bulk of radiowave information went directly into the in- habitants' homes, ready for display on individual

tridee units.

She finally found a man using one of several public viewers. His home unit had blown a module and had

not yet been repaired.

”Mataroreva? Big fellow, real easygoing?” She nodded. He jerked a thumb to his right, his attention still wholly on the viewscreen. ”Went into the library,

I think.”

Two rooms farther on she found the town storage bank. Thousands of tape chips with information on everything from how to dissect local forms of poison- ous fish to entertainment shows imported all the way from Terra filled the slots in the bank. The room was very small. No one except the librarian needed to use the room, since the chipped information could be called up on any screen in town.

Maybe Sam was hunting a restricted chip, or pro- viding information to be stored and s.h.i.+pped hard copy to Mou'anui, to back up his broadcasts. She tried the transparent door. It wasn't locked. Yes, he was prob- ably encoding a chip. For all his seeming frivolity, she knew he was a diligent and conscientious worker.

She could surprise him as effectively as he had sur- prised her. She opened the door quietly and slipped inside. There was no sign of him ... no, there, toward the back of the room, some noise. A local technician was probably helping him, she realized. That would spoil some of her surprise.

As it developed, her surprise was as total as she could have wished, but she drew no joy from its effect.

A technician was also present, as she had suspected.

The trouble came from the fact that Sam and the woman weren't engaged in research or programming.

Cora simply stood and stared, her expression com-

147.

pletely blank, like a mindwiped idiot awaiting imprint- ing.

Oddly enough, her attention was focused mostly on the technician, the stranger, who was taller, fuller, at least ten years younger, than Cora. Sam moved slightly away from the woman, shattered the incredi- bly awkward tableau by doing the worst possible thing.

He smiled apologetically.

”Pardon me,” Cora finally managed to say, with the incredible calm that so often occurs in times of emo- tional paralysis. ”It wasn't anything important.”

”Cora?” She had already left the room. He did not follow.

Still icily composed, she exited the building. She managed to get halfway back to the visitors' apart- ments before she broke into a run. A few locals eyed her curiously. There was no need to run on Vai'oire.

Everything was close to everything else.

Cora entered the reception area. The fates had chosen to bestow a small favor: Rachael was not to be seen. Stumbling into her room, Cora sealed the door behind her. Then she collapsed on the woven bed and lay there interminably, trying to cry. She dis- covered that she could not. She laughed wildly, her throat burning. Out of practice. Old habits die hard.

No tears fell from her eyes. Not for Sam, not for her- self.

Exhausted, she eventually rolled over. Her head hung toward the floor. Rainbows danced and swirled beneath the distant water.

Why so upset? she asked herself silently, angrily.

What do you have to be so upset about? He promised you nothing, he forced you into nothing. It was the mildest possible seduction.

Yes? What about the cavern, then? Beauty that he knew would overcome you. And you were overcome, but he and the beauty were separate, and you will-

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