Part 13 (1/2)

”You'll need to get better control over your vocal ]

registers if you want to sound like a dronetalker,” Sev ' warned. ”Drones' synthesized voices don't wobble.” '

He sank to the cabin floor, long legs folding under him with no apparent strain, and gazed at the fake wafl con- cealing Nancia's t.i.tanium column. ”Undercover work is always a strain,'' heconfided. ”I used to do half an hour of yoga meditation before taking on a false ident.i.ty.”

Nancia rapidly scanned her data banks. Apparently yoga was an old-style Earth exercise designed to induce tranquility and spiritual enlightenment.

”Too bad you can't do the same thing,” Sev commented.

”A brains.h.i.+p can do anything you softpersons can,”

Nancia snapped, ”only better! Tell me about thisyoga.”

Sev grinned. ”Well. Maybe you can. It just requires a little translation. Let's see, start with regular breathing...

Not heavy,” he said reprovingly as Nancia flushed dean air in and out through her ventilation ports, ”just regular. Even. Smooth. That's the idea. Now dose your... umm, deactivate your visual sensors.”

Usually Nancia hated the blackness that accom- panied temporary loss of visual sensor connections.

But this time it was voluntary. And Sev's voice con- tinued, low and soothing... and it was restful not to be scanning her remodeled interior.

Caleb must be exiting her lower entry port now; if she opened an external sensor she'd be able to see him walk- '*>*(* l_l^-_ ___J__ .!_” *~*n.^cmn-r+ rvanli-il the exercise now; Sev's patient instructions were work- ing. She felt perceptibly less nervous as she followed his suggestions to feel the energy in her lower engines and let it flow through her propulsion units without actually releasing it A warm glowing sensation bathed her fins and exterior sh.e.l.l. Caleb's near-quarrel widi Sev, the ap- proaching confrontation off Bahati, even the exciting suspicion that Daddy had personally recommended her for this a.s.signment... all these doubts and fears and hopes seemed very small and far away. Nancia con- templated herself, a tiny speck in the universe; as was the planet on which she sat, the sun that lit the sky around them. All little floating dots in an infinite pattern; dots winked out or came into existence, but the pattern swirled on and on forever....

150 6f ”Restore full sensor connections.” Sev's calm order was like a gentle wake-up call. Nancia opened her sen- sors one by one, feeling anew the wonder of existence.

The gritty s.p.a.ceport floor beneath her landing gear, the smell of engine oil in the air outside, the sights and sounds of an ordinary working s.p.a.ceport were all bright and trembling with new meaning.

”I think you'll do now,” Sev said with satisfaction.

”I think so, too,” Nancia agreed.

Out of habit, Nancia lifted offas gently as if she were carrying a full committee of Central Worlds diplomats.

Just because she was decked out in the revolting colors of OG s.h.i.+pping didn't mean she had to slam on-and off-world like a mindless drone. Besides, rapid move- ment would destroy the trance of peace in which she was still floating. And, she thought guiltily, it would also bounce Sev around. If Caleb had been aboard, his comfort would have been her first thought; Sev deserved the same consideration.

The work of outfitting her as an OG drone had been done at Razmak Base in Bellatrix subs.p.a.ce. Razmak possessed the very useful quality of being located just one hour's s.p.a.ceflight away from a Singularity zone opening directly onto Vega subs.p.a.ce near Nyota ya Jaha; Nancia would not have to risk a long flight during which some authentic OG s.h.i.+pping employee might notice and report her presence. She arced through the sky like a silver rainbow and made one sleek rolling dive into Singularity.

The disadvantage of this particular transition, from a softperson's point of view, was that the transition through Singularity was subjectively longer than usual.

Sev had considered this a reasonable tradeoff for the ad- vantages of Razmak Base; Nancia hoped he would feel the same way when they exited into Vega subs.p.a.ce.

For herself, Nancia had been looking forward to the151.

jump- She skimmed the rolling waves of collapsing sub- s.p.a.ce, dove and surfaced and spiraled through the s.p.a.ces until the decomposition funnel drew her whirling into its shrinking s.p.a.ce. Systems of linear equations fol- lowed their orderly dance; s.p.a.ce shrank and expanded about Nancia, colors sang to her and the inexorable regularity of the mathematical transformations unfolded with the beauty of a Bach fugue. She came out into Vega subs.p.a.ce with an exuberant shout of joy, the golden notes of a Purcell trumpet voluntary echoing through concealed pa.s.sages and empty loading bays, ”CUT THAT OUT!”.

The outraged shout, echoing where no human voice should have sounded, was like a spattering of high-frequency power along Nancia's synaptic connectors.

She opened all sensor connections at once. The world was a faceted diamond of images: painted bulkheads, pseudosteel corridors, Sev still strapped to his bunk for the Singularity transition, the central cabin viewed from three angles at once: all framed by the external sensor views...o...b..ackness spattered by the fire of distant suns.

And Caleb, coming from one of the angles where temporary walls blocked Nancia's sensor view of her own interior, resplendent in his Courier Service full- dress uniform and still green in the face from the extended period in Singularity. Nancia dosed down all the other sensors and expanded the image of Caleb.

Her brawn wasn't usually inclined to Service frip- peries; she had forgotten just how fine a man could look in the uncomfortable full-dress black and silver of the Courier Service, with the stiff collar forcing his jaw up and the silver-and-corycium braid winking in rain- bow lightfires every time he drew a deep breath.

”You've developed a distaste for cla.s.sical musk?” It was the only thing she could think of to say - the only thing that was even remotely safe to say.

152.

fcf Margarti, Ball153.

”You were half a tone flat on the high notes,” Caleb informed her, using the same carefully remote voice that Nancia had employed. ”And much too loud.”

”I suppose I should apologize for the unintended a.s.sault on your delicate sensors,” Nancia said. ”I had turned off the cabin speakers, and I wasn't aware that there was another softsh.e.l.l aboard.”

”Awhat?”

Had Caleb really spent four and a half years as her brawn without ever once hearing the slang term that sheUpersons used for mobile humans? Nancia rapidly reviewed a selection of their communications. It was indeed possible. She had never realized how much of her communication she censored for Caleb's benefit, how careful she'd been to avoid offending against his standards of speech and action.

Maybe she'd been too careful, if he thought he could get away with a stunt like this.

”I think you can figure out what the term means,”

Nancia told him. Then, as she absorbed the emotional impact of what Caleb's action meant, her hard-won control cracked like a faulty sh.e.l.l. ”Caleb, you idiot, you could have been killedl What if I'd lifted off at full speed? Hiding in that corner, you'd have been bounced around like three dice in a cup!”

”You never do bruising takeofls or landings,” Caleb pointed out. ”Too fond of showing off your land-on- an-eggsh.e.l.l, turn-on-a-dime navigational skills.”

Nancia was momentarily distracted. ”What's a dime?”

”I'm not sure,” Caleb admitted. ”It's an Old Earth phrase. I think it refers to some kind of small insect.

Want to check your thesaurus? We could call up the Old English language files via the Net, too. Something to pa.s.s die time.”

”Stop trying to change the subject! Why didn't you tell me you were going to be aboard?”

”Would you have let me come?”

”Well. *. no,” Nancia admitted. ”I'd have had to tell Brytey. Your presence could compromise the mission, Caleb, don't you realize that? I'm supposed to be an unmanned drones.h.i.+p, remember?”

”I know,” Caleb said. ”Don't worry. I won't com- promise the b.l.o.o.d.y mission. But I couldn't let you face this gang of diieves alone, Nancia. Don't you see that?”

She wasn't alone; she had Sev, who knew all about investigative work and undercover missions. But she couldn't very well berate Caleb for wanting to protect her, could she?

”Just keep out of sight,” Nancia said finally. ”Please, Caleb?” Oh-oh. Sen is using his cabin. He isn't going to Uke that. ”Work it out with Sev. If one of you can hide, I guess two of you can. But-he's in charge for this mis- sion. I agreed to that, and you'll have to do the same.”

She took the set of his jaw and the brief upward jerk of his head for all the a.s.sent she was going to get ”Oh. One other thing.”

”Yes?”