Part 43 (1/2)

The two s.h.i.+ps exchanged fire as they changed direction, headed out toward Dondara's rock flats before ascending once more into the sun. Radiant heat from their pa.s.sage set fire to the trees on the edge of the plateau. The pirate and the cruiser continued to blast away even as they touched the bottom of their parabola and veered upward toward the sky. They were completely out of sight in the upper atmosphere when Lunzie and Pollili felt air sucked away from them and then heard a huge BOOM! A tiny fireball erupted in the middle of the sky, spreading out into a gigantic blazing cloud edged with black smoke. The explosion turned into a long rumble which altered to a loud and threatening sibilation.

”Into the water, quickly!” Lunzie gasped.

The two women were just barely under the surface when hot fragments of metal rained down around them, hissing angrily as they struck the water. The fragments were still hot when they touched the edge of their protective force-screen envelopes and pa.s.sed through harmlessly. Lunzie's lungs were beginning to ache and her vision to turn black by the time the pieces stopped falling. When she finally crawled up the bank, her legs still in water, she gratefully pulled in deep breaths.

Pollili emerged next to her and flopped on her back, water streaming out other hair and eyes. There were burns on the fabric of her tunic, and a painful-looking scorch mark on the back of one hand.

”It's over,” Lunzie panted, ”but who won?”

”I sure hope we did,” Pollili breathed, staring up at the sky as the thrum of engines overhead grew louder.

Lunzie rolled over and dared to look up. The FSP wars.h.i.+p, its spanking new colours scorched and carbonised and lines etched into its new hull plates by the enemy lasers, hovered majestically over the plateau where the destroyed scout had once rested, and triumphantly descended.

”We sure did.” Pollili's voice rang with pride.

”That,” declared Lunzie, ”is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Singed about the edges, scorched a bit, but beautiful!”

The Zaid-Dayan Zaid-Dayan carried the scout team to rendezvous with the carried the scout team to rendezvous with the ARCT-10 ARCT-10. Zebara's team was lauded as heroes by the Fleet officers for holding off the pirate invasion until help could arrive. Pollili especially was decorated for ”performance far beyond the line of duty.”

”It should have been for sheer invention,” Dondara muttered under his breath.

Pollili was uncomfortable with the praise and asked Lunzie to explain just what she had done which everyone thought was so brilliant.

”I trusted you; now tell me what you trusted me to do,” Pollili complained. When Lunzie gave a brief resume. Poll frowned at her, briefly resuming her ”Quinada” mode. ”Then you should take some of the credit. You thought up the deception.”

”Not a bit,” Lunzie said. ”You did it all. I did nothing but allow you to use latent ingenuity. Chalk it up to the fact that people do extraordinary things when under pressure. In fact, I'd be obliged if you glossed over my part in it to anyone else.”

Pollili shook her head at first but Lunzie gave her a soulfully appealing look. ”Well, all right, if that's what you wish. Zebara says I can't ask how you did it. Only at least tell me what I said that I don't remember so I can tell Dondara.”

Lunzie also rea.s.sured Dondara that his mate could not snap back into her ”Quinada” role. He'd missed it all since he was just returning to the scout just as the s.h.i.+p was blown up. He had been set to wade into the molten wreckage and find some trace of Pollili. He was very proud that his mate was considered hero of the day and constantly groused that the computer record of her stellar performance had been destroyed along with the scout s.h.i.+p. Lunzie was relieved rather than upset and eventually gave Dondara a bowdlerised description of the events.

The other team members had suffered only bruising and burns in their escape, treated by Fleet medical officers in the Zaid-Dayan's Zaid-Dayan's state-of-the-art infirmary. Bringan's hands and feet were scorched and had been wrapped in coldpacks by the medics. In his scramble from the scout s.h.i.+p, he had been so concerned to preserve the records he salvaged that he hadn't turned on his force-belt. He also hadn't realised that he was climbing over melting rock until the soles of his boots began to smoke. He'd had a desperate time trying to pry the boots off with his bare hands. state-of-the-art infirmary. Bringan's hands and feet were scorched and had been wrapped in coldpacks by the medics. In his scramble from the scout s.h.i.+p, he had been so concerned to preserve the records he salvaged that he hadn't turned on his force-belt. He also hadn't realised that he was climbing over melting rock until the soles of his boots began to smoke. He'd had a desperate time trying to pry the boots off with his bare hands.

Zebara had a long burn down his back where a flying piece of metal from the exploding scout had plowed through his flesh. He spent his first eight days aboard the naval cruiser on his belly in an infirmary bed. Lunzie kept him company until he was allowed to get up. She called up musical programs from the well-stocked computer archives or played chess with him. Most of the time, they just talked about everything except pirates. Lunzie found that she had become very fond of the enigmatic heavyworlder.

”I won't be able to give you the protection you'll need once we're back on the ARCT ARCT-10,” Zebara said one day. ”I'd keep you under my protection if I could but I no longer have a s.h.i.+p.” He grimaced. Lunzie hastened to check his bandages. The heavyworlder captain waved her away. ”I had a message from the EEC. I have number one priority to take the next available scout off the a.s.sembly line but if I break my toys, I can't expect a new one right away.” He made a rude noise.

Lunzie laughed. ”I wouldn't be surprised if they said just exactly that.”

Zebara became serious. ”I'd like to keep you on my team. The others like you. You fit in well with us. To reduce your immediate vulnerability, I'd advise that you take the next available mission ARCT ARCT offers. By the time you come back, I should be able to reclaim you permanently.” offers. By the time you come back, I should be able to reclaim you permanently.”

”I'd like that, too,” Lunzie admitted. ”I'd have the best of all worlds, variety but with a set of permanent companions. I think I would have enjoyed myself on Ambrosia. But how do I queue-jump past other specialists waiting to get on the next mission?”

Zebara gave her his predatory grin. ”They owe us a favour after our luring a pirate guns.h.i.+p to destruction. You'll get a berth in the next exploration available or I'll start cutting a few Administrators down to size.” He pounded one ma.s.sive fist into the other to emphasise his point, if not his methodology.

Chapter Fourteen.

Zebara was right about the level of obligation the EEC felt for the team's actions.

”Policy usually dictates non-stress duty for at least four weeks after a planetary mission, Lunzie,” the Chief Missions Officer of the ARCT-10 ARCT-10 told her in a private meeting in his office, ”but if you want to go out right away, under the circ.u.mstances, you have my blessing. You're lucky. There's a three-month mission due for a combined geological-xen.o.biological mission on Ireta. I'll put you on the roster for Ireta. With the medical berth filled by you, there are only two more berths to a.s.sign. It leaves in two weeks. That's not much turnaround time. ...” told her in a private meeting in his office, ”but if you want to go out right away, under the circ.u.mstances, you have my blessing. You're lucky. There's a three-month mission due for a combined geological-xen.o.biological mission on Ireta. I'll put you on the roster for Ireta. With the medical berth filled by you, there are only two more berths to a.s.sign. It leaves in two weeks. That's not much turnaround time. ...”

”Thank you, sir. It relieves my mind greatly,” Lunzie said sincerely. She had come straight to him after that talk with Zebara. The scout captain had depressed the right toggles.

Then she had to give the Missions Officer her own report on the Ambrosia incident, with full details. He kept the recorder on through the entire interview, often jotting additional notes. She felt quite exhausted when he finally excused her.

She later learned that he had interviewed each member of the team as well as the Zaid Zaid-Dayan officers. Apparently the fact that the lugger with its cold sleep would-be invasion force had escaped didn't concern him half as much as he was pleased that the overgunned escort had been destroyed. Most of those officers. Apparently the fact that the lugger with its cold sleep would-be invasion force had escaped didn't concern him half as much as he was pleased that the overgunned escort had been destroyed. Most of those ARCT-10 ARCT-10 s.h.i.+p-born felt the same way. ”One less of those hyped-up guns.h.i.+ps makes s.p.a.ce that bit more safe for us.” s.h.i.+p-born felt the same way. ”One less of those hyped-up guns.h.i.+ps makes s.p.a.ce that bit more safe for us.”

The rest of Zebara's team was given interim s.h.i.+p a.s.signments until a replacement explorer scout s.h.i.+p was commissioned. Lunzie, waiting out the two weeks before she could depart on the Iretan mission, found herself with one or more of the off-duty team, and usually Zebara himself. To her amus.e.m.e.nt, a whisper circulated that they were ”an item.” Neither did anything to dispel the notion. In fact, Lunzie was flattered. Zebara was attractive, intelligent, and honest: three qualities she couldn't help but admire. She was duly informed by ”interested” friends that heavyworlder courting, though infrequent, was brutal and exhausting. She wasn't sure she needed to find out firsthand.

During his convalescence, Zebara strained his eyes going through s.h.i.+p records, trying to locate doctored files. The rumour of a bacterium on Ambrosia killing the landing party one by one had indeed made the rounds of the ARCT-10 ARCT-10 before any report had come back from the before any report had come back from the Zaid-Dayan Zaid-Dayan. It was arduously traced back to Chacal, Coe's asocial friend in communications. He was taken in for questioning but died the first night in his cell. Although the official view reported it as a suicide, whisper had it that his injuries couldn't have been self-inflicted. Lunzie felt compa.s.sion for Coe, who felt himself compromised by his ”friend's” covert activities.

”Which gets us no further than we were before,” Bringan remarked at Lunzie's farewell party the night before she embarked on the Iretan mission.

”Somebody's got to do something positive about those fardling pirates,” Pollili said, glowering about the room. Lunzie was beginning to wish that she'd never imposed the Quinada personality on Pollili. Some of it was sticking. She devoutly hoped it would have worn off by the time she returned from her three months on Ireta.

At the docking bay while they were waiting for the ARCT-10 ARCT-10 to reach the shuttle's window down to Ireta's surface, she had a moment's anxiety as she saw six heavyworlders filing in. Stop that, she told herself. She'd got on just fine with Zebara's heavyworld crewmen. This lot could be similarly sociable, pleasant and interesting. to reach the shuttle's window down to Ireta's surface, she had a moment's anxiety as she saw six heavyworlders filing in. Stop that, she told herself. She'd got on just fine with Zebara's heavyworld crewmen. This lot could be similarly sociable, pleasant and interesting.

She concentrated hard on the activity in the docking area for there were several missions being landed in this system. A party of Theks including the ubiquitous Tor were to be set down on the seventh planet from the sun. A large group of Ryxi were awaiting transport to Arrutan's fifth planet which was to be thoroughly investigated as suitable for colonisation by their species. Ireta, the fourth planet of the system's third-generation sun, was a good prospect - some said a textbook example - for transuranic ores since it appeared to have been locked into a Mesozoic age. Xen.o.biological surveying would investigate the myriad life-forms sensed by the high-alt.i.tude probe, but that search was to take second place to mining a.s.say studies.

The teams would contact one another at prearranged intervals, and report to the ARCT ARCT on a regular basis by means of a satellite beacon set in a fixed orbit perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. The on a regular basis by means of a satellite beacon set in a fixed orbit perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. The ARCT-10 ARCT-10 itself discovered traces of a huge ion storm between the Arrutan system and the next one over. They intended to track and chart its course. itself discovered traces of a huge ion storm between the Arrutan system and the next one over. They intended to track and chart its course.

”We'll be back for you before you know it,” the deck officer a.s.sured them on his com as the Iretan shuttle lifted off and glided out of the landing bay. ”Good hunting, my friends.” Ireta was named for the daughter of an FSP councillor who had been consistently supportive in voting funds to the EEC. At first it seemed that the councillor had been paid a significant compliment. Initial probe readouts suggested that Ireta had great potential. There was a hopeful feeling that if Ambrosia was lucky, Ireta would continue the streak. It possessed an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, indigenous plant life that ingested CO2 and spat out oxygen: probe a.n.a.lysis marked significant transuranic ore deposits and countless interesting life forms on the part surveyed, none of which seemed to be intelligent.

A base camp was erected on a stony height and the shuttle positioned on a ma.s.sive shelf of the local granite. A force-screen dome enclosed the entire camp and the veil constantly erupted in tiny blue sparks where Ireta's insect life destroyed itself in clouds on the electrical matrix. Sufficient smaller domes were set up to afford privacy, a larger one for the messhall-lounge, while the shuttle was turned into a laboratory and specimen storage.

And then there was the extraordinary stench. The air was permeated with hydro-telluride, a fiendish odour like rotting vegetation. One source was a small plant, which grew everywhere, that smelled like garlic gone berserk. No one could escape it. After one good whiff when the shuttle doors had opened on their home for the next three months, everyone dove for nose filters, by no means the most comfortable appliance in a hot, steamy environment. Soiled work clothes were left outside the sleeping quarters. After a while, no amount of cleansing completely removed the stench of Ireta from clothes or boots.

The stink bothered Lunzie far less than the feeling that she was being covertly watched. This began on their third day dirtside when the two co-leaders, Kai on the geological side and her young acquaintance Varian as xeno, pa.s.sed out a.s.signments. The remainder of the team was a mixed bag. Lunzie knew no one else well but several of the others by sight. Zebara had personally checked the records of everyone a.s.signed to that mission and she'd been delighted to learn that Kai as well as Varian and a man named Triv were Disciples. She was as surprised as Kai and Varian when three children had been included for dirtside experience on this mission. Bonnard, an active ten-year-old, was the son of the ARCT-10's ARCT-10's third officer. The gen was that she was probably glad to have him out of her hair while the third officer. The gen was that she was probably glad to have him out of her hair while the ARCT ARCT explored the ion storm. Cleiti and Terilla, two girls a year younger than Bonnard, were more docile and proved eager to help. explored the ion storm. Cleiti and Terilla, two girls a year younger than Bonnard, were more docile and proved eager to help.

Kai and Varian had both tried to set the children aside.

”That's an unexplored planet,” Kai had protested to the mission officer. ”This mission could be dangerous. It's no place for children.”

Lunzie was not proof against the crus.h.i.+ng disappointment in the young faces. There would be a force-s.h.i.+elded camp: there were plenty of adults to supervise their activities. ”Oh, why not? Ireta's been benchmarked. No planet is ever completely safe but it shouldn't be too dangerous for a short term.”

”If,” Kai had emphasised that, holding up a warning finger at the children, ”they act responsibly! Most important of all, never go outside the camp without an adult.”

”We won't!” the youngsters chorused.

”We'll count on that promise,” Kai told them, adult to adult. ”It isn't uncommon for children to join a mission,” he said to the others. ”We can use the extra hands if we're to get everything done.”

”We'll help, we'll help!” the girls had chorused. ”We've never been on a planet before.” Bonnard had added wistfully.