Part 41 (1/2)

Lunzie activated the sled's power pack to fly back up the hill to the s.h.i.+p. Just about halfway there, she began to a.s.similate the full implications of that little encounter. Dondara had treated her to the ”baptism” as he had probably done everyone else on the scout . . . enjoying his little joke. She had taken no umbrage and begged no quarter. But he had been considerate without being patronising, recognising certain lightweight problems rarely encountered by heavyworlders - like a propensity for catching chills.

”Will such minor wonders never cease?” she said to herself, ruffling her slowly drying hair.

”What happened to you?” Vir called as she came into view. ”Dondara had me baptised Ambrosian style,” Lunzie shouted back, holding out the front of her clammy wet tunic with her good hand.

As she came upon Elessa, she saw that the botanist was grinning. ”You knew he was going to do that.”

”I'm sorry,” the girl giggled. ”I almost stopped you; he's such an awful practical joker. To make amends, I found you a kittisnake to examine. Aren't they adorable? And so friendly.” She held up a small handful of black fur.

”Hang on to it for me,” Lunzie called.

She set the sled down behind the scout. Elessa met her halfway and wound the length of animal around her hands.

”This is one of the most plentiful life-forms on Ambrosia,” the botanist explained, ”oddly enough omnivorous. They're really Bringan's province but they so love the attention that they're irresistible.”

The kittisnake had a small round face, with a round nose and round ears which peered out of its sleek, back-combed fur. It had no limbs, but it was apparent where the thicker body joined the more slender tail. Two bright green eyes with round black pupils opened suddenly and regarded Lunzie expressionlessly. It opened its mouth, revealing two rows of needles, and aspirated a breathy hiss.

”It likes you,” Elessa declared, interpreting a response which Lunzie had misjudged. ”Pet it. It won't bite you.”

It certainly seemed to enjoy the caress, twisting itself into pretzel knots as Lunzie ran her hands down its length. She grinned up at the botanist.

”Responsive, aren't they? Good amba.s.sadors for a flouris.h.i.+ng tourist trade on Ambrosia.”

While Lunzie was making friends with the kittisnake, a light breeze sprang up. She suddenly decided she needed a warmer tunic over her injured arm. Though the bones had already been knit together by Bringan, the swollen tissue had yet to subside. Lunzie felt her flesh was starting to creep.

”Excuse me, will you?” she asked the botanist.

She squeezed past Zebara, poised in the open hatchway of the scout. He greeted the doctor, raising an eyebrow at her wet hair and clothes.

”Dondara took you to see the snark, huh?”

”A granddaddy snark to judge by the volume of baptismal waters.” She grinned up at the heavyworlder.

”Haven't you raised Fleet yet, Flor?” the captain asked, turning back from the hatchway toward the semicircular pilot's compartment. The communications station occupied another quarter arc of the circle facing the rear of the s.h.i.+p between the telemetry station and the corridor.

”Aye, aye, sir,” called the communications tech. ”I'm just stripping the message from the beacon now. They acknowledge your request and have despatched the Zaid-Dayan. Zaid-Dayan.”

”The who? That's a new designation on me,” Zebara growled. Lunzie caught the note of suspicion in his voice.

”Be glad, sir. Brand-new commission, on its maiden voyage,” Flor said apologetically. ”Heavy cruiser, ZD-43, the Registry says, with lots of new hardware and armament.”

”What? I don't want to have to wet-nurse an unintegrated lot of lightweight lubbers ...” Zebara sighed, pus.h.i.+ng back into the communications booth and looking over Flor's shoulder.

Lunzie slipped in behind him. ”Isn't telemetry showing a trace?” she said, noticing the blip on the current sweep of the unit.

”Is that the ZD-43 arriving now? Wait, there's an echo. I see two blips.” Zebara eased her aside with one huge hand and inserted himself into the telemetry officer's chair. ”Oh-oh! Pollili!” he roared. His voice echoed out onto the hillside. The broad-faced blond woman appeared on the breast of the slope below the shuttle and hurried up it at double time. ”Interpret this trace for me,” Zebara ordered. ”Is this an FSP vessel of any kind? Specifically a new cruiser?”

Pollili took the seat next to Flor as her captain moved aside. She peered at the controls and toggled a computer a.n.a.lysis. ”No way. It's not FSP. Irregular engine trace, overpowered for its size. I'd say it's an intruder.”

”A pirate?” Lunzie heard herself ask.

”Two, to be precise.” Zebara's expression was ferocious. ”They must have been hanging in the asteroid belt or dodging us around the sun. How close are they to making orbit?”

”An hour, maybe more. I get traces of big energy weapons, too,” Pollili said, pointing to a readout on her screen. ”One of 'em is leaking so much it's as much a danger to the s.h.i.+p carrying it as it is to us. An academic point, to be sure, since we're unarmed.”

”Will they land?” Lunzie asked, alarmed.

”I doubt it. If we can see them, they can see us. They know someone is down here, but they don't know who or what,” Zebara said.

”Forgive me for pointing out a minor difficulty, sir,” Flor said in a remarkably level, even droll tone, ”but they can dispose of us from s.p.a.ce. The ZD-43 is at least three days behind us,” she added, her healthy colour beginning to pale. ”Once they realise we're alone here, they'll kill us. Is there nothing we can do?”

Zebara smiled, showing all of his teeth.

What was it Bringan had said? When he grins like a shark, watch out?

”We bluff. Flor, send another message to the Zaid-Dayan Zaid-Dayan. Tell them that we've got two pirates circling Ambrosia. Tell them to take any shortcuts they can. Force multiple jumps. If they don't hurry, we'll be just a scorch mark and crater on the landscape. We're going to stall the inevitable just as long as we can.”

”How?” Lunzie demanded, wis.h.i.+ng she felt as confident as Zebara sounded.

”That, Doctor, is what we must figure out. Flor, have you sent that? Good. Now get on the general communicator channel and get the crew back here for a conference.

”I want your most positive thinking on how we can keep those pirates off planet,” Zebara began once the crew had a.s.sembled in the messroom.

”Those blips couldn't possibly be anything else, could they?” Bringan asked after clearing his throat.

Zebara gave a short bark of laughter. ”They haven't answered hails and their profile doesn't match anything in our records. And it's not good neighbourliness they're leaking. Think, my friends. Think hard. How do we stall them?”

”No black box, huh?” asked Vir, a thin human with straight black hair and a bleak expression.

Flor shook her head. ”Those would be a long time disconnected.” No legitimate s.h.i.+p would put out into s.p.a.ce without the black box interface between control systems and engines which transmitted automatic identification signals. To disconnect it disabled the drives. Unscrupulous engineers had been known to jury-rig components, but such a s.h.i.+p would never be allowed in an FSP-sanctioned port.

Zebara smashed his fist into a palm. ”Stop denying the problem. Think. We've got to stall them long enough to let the Zaid-Dayan Zaid-Dayan reach Ambrosian s.p.a.ce.” reach Ambrosian s.p.a.ce.”

No one spoke for a long moment. No one even exchanged glances in the tense atmosphere of the wardroom.

”What if we take off? Can't we outrun them?” Vir demanded to Wendell, the pilot.

”Not a chance,” Wendell said sadly. ”My engines don't have the kick to push us far enough out of their range to make a warp jump. They'd catch us halfway there.”

”So we're stuck on this planet while the predators line us up in their sights,” Dondara growled, scrubbing his dusty hair with his hands. He had taken only thirty minutes to run the distance from the pools after he'd received Flor's mayday recall. Lunzie was full of admiration for the heavyworlder's stamina.

Scarran cleared his throat. His perpetually red-shot brown eyes made him look choleric or sleepy and he had a naturally mild personality.

”What about a violent disease of some sort? We're all dead and dying of it. Highly contagious. Can't find an antidote,” he suggested in a self-deprecating voice.

”No, that wouldn't work,” Pollili scoffed, drawing her brows together. ”Even a.s.suming they're of a species with enough in common with ours to catch it, they'd blow our s.h.i.+p off the face of the planet to wipe out the contagion and then land where they pleased.”

”What about natural disaster?” asked Elessa, collecting nods from Flor and Scarran. ”Unstable tectonics? An earthquake! A volcano about to blow? They'd have sacrificed scanning potential to some sort of weaponry.”