Part 19 (1/2)

She started to scream to Ed, to tell him to pull out - then changed her mind and shouted to Ar to let go of the tension, to allow as much slack in the net as they possibly could. She felt the net loosen and slip - SCREEE-AAIIIEEEE-E-E-E-E ... !.

Ed flashed down past them, down. The net stretched. Jael had an afterimage in her mind of Ed's beak outthrust like a battering ram. Ed and the ice layer converged, and he hit the ice with a concussion like a thunderclap - and the ice shattered, a heavy pane of crystal breaking into fragments that tumbled away from the impact point. A hole appeared behind him as he dived deep into the water below.

Jael gazed down in astonishment and heard the parrot's voice distantly calling,Jayl ... Ar ... follow ...

follow.... The parrot turned, circling at the utter extremity of the net.

For the barest fraction of a second, Jael and Ar exchanged glances of disbelief; then, combining their powers, they reshaped the net and pitched the s.h.i.+p downward on the path blazed by Ed. The Flux itself had been altered, as water from their channel flowed slowly into the opening Ed had created. The s.h.i.+p moved sluggishly, at the best speed they could coax from it.Hold on! she called to Ed.Don't tear the net!

Hurry ... hurry ...came the distant reply.

Ice was already beginning to form again, to close off the opening. They reached the hole just as it contracted to the s.h.i.+p's size, or perhaps a little smaller.Gather it in! Ar shouted, drawing the net in close on the sides. It helped, but they were still too large; and they hit the opening with aCRUNNNCH , and a grating sound, as they slowed. Jael kicked out to the side, hard, and something gave way - and they slid free.

They were through, gliding downward into the icy clear waters.

Ed spiraled up, swimming gracefully. With a shriek, he popped up into the bubble and perched between them, neck twisting this way and that, as though he were trying to look everywhere at once.Yawk, yawk!

We did it? We did it?

We did it, Ed!Youdid it! Jael hooted.

The parrot clucked, clacking his beak.Good! Good! Yuck-yuck! Yup! And with a great happy sigh, he fell silent and watched as Jael and Ar turned their full attention to rerigging the s.h.i.+p.Slowly they oriented themselves and spied the distant hazy form of their destination. Now they had only to locate the best current in these waters, but already they were moving in the right direction. Behind them, the realm of ice was receding into memory, and the way ahead appeared clear and true.

Twenty-two.

Vela Oasis.

”I'm happy to report that we should be arriving ahead of schedule,” Ar announced, as Ms. Flaire joined them in the commons. Jael had already eaten half her dinner; she was starving, after what they had been through today.

Flaire lifted a decanter to pour herself a gla.s.s of wine. She paused in the middle of the motion. ”Ahead of schedule? I thought we were in trouble. In fact, since I spoke with you earlier, I thought I felt another -”

Ar's nod cut off her words. His voice rumbled deep in his throat, and Jael recognized a tone of humor.

”What you felt was us making a readjustment in the options that were available to us.” Flaire frowned in puzzlement, and Ar explained, ”We pa.s.sed through a boundary layer - truthfully, with more success than we expected - and we located quite a strong and steady current toward Vela Oasis. Our destination is now well in sight.”

Flaire's eyebrows went up as she tipped the decanter and poured a small gla.s.s of ruby-colored wine.

”Just like that?” With a gesture, she inquired if either of them would like a gla.s.s. Jael blinked, and nodded emphatically.

”Well, it wasn't quite that simple,” Ar conceded.

Flaire poured for Jael. ”I imagine not. Are you certain you don't want any?”

”No, thank you. One of us needs to stay clear.”

Flaire nodded and held her gla.s.s to the light, rotating it by its stem. ”So. Are you going to tell me about Ed?” She smiled wryly. ”I thought you might fill me in on the nature of the problem that you had?” Her gaze s.h.i.+fted from one to the other.

Ar glanced at Jael and said, a trifle less confidently, ”Yes ... Ed. Well -”

Jael cleared her throat. ”Never mind, Ar. I'll explain it.” She felt her voice tighten, and she took a small sip of wine, determined to tell the story without regret or self-consciousness. Ed, after all, had proved himself quite a rigger in the clutch. ”Ed,” Jael said finally, ”is a parrot ...”

Ms. Flaire's eyebrows rose again, higher than before.

The Vela Oasis starport loomed before them like a great golden-spired city on the horizon. Stars.h.i.+p Seneca was a raft on a fast-flowing river flanked by gently rolling green hills. They all clung to the raft as they were swept along by the current, Ed perched firmly on Jael's shoulder.

The trip was nearly over.

Only a few hours later, they brought the s.h.i.+p spiraling out of the Flux, into the starry night. Floating in interplanetary s.p.a.ce, they put in a call for a tow. Then they had some time to rest and plan what they wanted to do after planetfall.Ar was in favor of getting back into s.p.a.ce again as soon as possible. ”After having a look around Vela Oasis, of course,” he said, as they relaxed in his cabin. He was fiddling with a small music synth, producing an appalling series of arhythmic sounds, pulsing with strong, semiharmonic beats. Jael had come to realize that Ar's ideas about music were considerably different from her own; it was something she was going to have to learn to put up with. Oblivious to her occasional winces, Ar continued, ”Once you're doing well, it's best to keep working if you can, I think. At least until you've established a good record.” He added sheepishly, ”I've never managed to get more than two flights in a row, myself. But with any luck, Ms. Flaire may ask us to keep rigging for her.” He silenced his synth and peered at her, his eyes sparkling with hints of gold in the purple webbing of his retinas. He stroked his head-ridges with his fingertips. ”Of course, you might feel differently. Maybe you don't want to.”

Jael laughed. ”Is that your way of asking if I'd like to keep rigging with you? The answer is yes.” As Ar's lips crinkled, her thoughts turned inward again. She wasn't really thinking of the immediate future so much as the long term. Aware of Ar's curious stare, she sighed and murmured, ”I was just thinking about ...

Highwing. And wis.h.i.+ng I could fly that way again some time.” Her lips twitched with a wistful smile.

Truthfully, though, it was not just Highwing but also the pallisp that had been fluttering through her mind.

Nearly this entire flight has pa.s.sed without her thinking of the pallisp, and even when she had thought of it, she'd only felt vague flutterings of desire. That was a comforting realization.

”Highwing,” Ar echoed. The room light angled into his face as he tilted his head, and reflected brightly from the violet filaments deep in his eyes. His mood seemed to turn pensive. ”Highwing is still very real to you, isn't he?”

”Yes, Ar, of course he is. You still don't believe -”

”I was surprised,” Ar said, interrupting, ”by what Ed was able to do today. Cracking the ice like that. I was surprised that such a thing, such a change to the Flux, was possible.”

Jael sighed in exasperation. ”What's that got to do with -”

”I'm trying to say that I'm not sure anymore what is possible and what isn't,” Ar said. A faraway look came into his eyes. ”I'm not saying that I'm convinced, and I don't think one should go flying into dangerous places without good reason. But - ” his gaze flickered back to Jael ” - I appreciate your feelings. Your desires.”

”Ah.”

”Even if I don't ... share them, exactly.”

Jael nodded, gratified to have achieved that much progress, at least. ”Right. I know. Still ...” She let the thought go, with a shrug. ”Mariella hasn't hinted to you whether she wants us to stay on, has she?”

Ar shook his head. ”She seems happy with us. But no, not yet.”

And that, Jael reflected, was the bottom line. They couldn't choose their future when they didn't know what their choices were. For now, it was just a matter of waiting. Of flying into a new port, and waiting.

But that, she thought, was the life of a rigger. The life that riggers everywhere accepted as normal ...

even if it felt anything but normal to her.

Mariella Flaire was little in evidence during the rest of the flight into Vela Oasis. Jael noted from the bridge, though, that there was a good deal of communications activity between Flaire's cabin onSeneca and the planetside network. Business activity, she presumed, though they knew little of the nature ofFlaire's business. During the tow, she and Ar contented themselves with watching the growing ball of the approaching world, an ocher-and-green planet with thin, wispy clouds. They pa.s.sed some of the time trying to devise a method for letting Ed out into the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p proper, so that he wouldn't be confined to the net. But once it became clear that the required holotronic circuitry wasn't on board, they postponed the effort.

It was only as they were on final approach orbit that Flaire appeared on the bridge. ”I apologize for the long silence,” she announced, ”but I've been tied up with some rather difficult negotiations planetside.”

She rubbed her fingers together uneasily. ”I'd hoped to be able to continue on directly from here, with you two as my crew - if you were willing - on a series of rather tightly scheduled stops. But ...”