by neetha Napew
‘I’ll get my own water, Bjornsen,” he said with great dignity and straightened himself out and walked, however slowly and carefully, back to the galley.
Chapter Five.
IT TOOK NEARLY TWO WEEKS TO REACH the coordinates Kamiton had given Zainal. Kris said nothing about it, but she hadn’t realized she’d be so long away from Zane. She thought a lot about him and there was plenty of time to think as they hurtled at top speed toward their destination. “Top speed” was somewhat dampened by a device which Zainal had attached to the propulsion unit just before they shifted to a new heading, and before they left what would have been a well-traveled area of Catteni-controlled space.
“It alters the ion emissions slightly;’ he explained.
“We may not be as easy to follow. Certainly it will delay pursuit.
Kamiton knows where to meet us.”
“He’s meeting us?” Chuck exclaimed.
“Didn’t Gino tell you?” Zainal asked.
“He told me that Kamiton would have to see before he’d join wholeheartedly;’ Kris said.
“Oh,” for once Mitford was taken aback. He rubbed his forehead. “I seem to be missing a lot.”
“There are alcoholic drinks even I wouldn’t take,” Zainal said reassuringly.
“I think Kivel probably did his best to get information from you.”
“Fraggit, I thought I could hold anything and not spill any beans,”
Chuck said. “I did hear you mention Kamiton but I didn’t know you
intended to take him back to Botany:’
“Him and how many others?” was Ninety’s query.
“Only Karoiron;’ Zainal said. “He is a scout explorer, which is why he knows about this asteroid belt where we will meet him, and then return to Botany. Spatially we are traveling in a triangle so we won’t be long getting home once we contact him.”
“Do we have to be Catteni with him?” Gino asked, rubbing at the stubble over his gray skin.
“No, because it will give us the... the upper hand,” and Zainal grinned, “to show him how well we can fool Catteni, even on their own world.”
Kris was not the only one who took in the significance of his last phrase. Ninety nodded slowly, and Gino grinned more broadly than ever.
Coo and Pess nodded. Mack Dargle made a comical grimace.
“What did I say?” asked Zainal who was becoming more and more sensitive to Human nuances.
“Their own world,” Kris said, enunciating the three words slowly.
“I would give my eyeteeth to hear other Emassi speak that way of Cat-teni;’ Mack said.
The asteroid field was a spectacular vision as they passed the heavy Uranus-type planet well away from the slowly orbiting mass of space detritus.
Chunks large enough to be small moons were interspersed with smaller, uneven hunks following eccentric orbits about each other as well as the big planet, which, like some interstellar miser, seemed unwilling to release any of its satellites. The cosmic do-si-do dance was almost mesmerizing.
Gino wondered just how many of the original inner worlds and moons had been involved in a collision of such magnitude. And how it had occurred. Two charred and dead planets, pockmarked by impacts centuries old, wobbled on erratic Mercury- and Venus-type orbits, each with more small moons of spatial debris attracted by the gravity of the planets they now orbited but not large enough to head for final dissolution in the primary.
The star was dying, according to the spectroscope analysis Gino had done: the readings suggested that the star was doing its damnedest to continue to live. Yes, all this space junk wasn’t really an asteroid belt... a field of planetary and lunar fragments hugging the one thing that gave it some stability—the heavy Uranus planet. The area would take days to circumnavigate.
To wend a way through it would require not only a very, very experienced pilot but a ship with heavy shielding and good gunners to explode those bits and pieces that were too small for them to avoid and too big to ibounce harmlessly off the shielding.
“Only someone like Karoitoh would find a... a curiosity like this:’ Zainal shrugged and seeded himself more firmly in the pilot’s chair, hands poised over the control panel.
“How’ll we ever find the one we want with that mess churning around like
that?” Gino asked, his hands tense as he readied himself to use the
thrusters on Zainal’s command. “It’s damned near a light year across;’
“No,” Zainal replied prosaically, “but certainly it covers an enormous
area:’
They’d rehearsed the maneuvering tactics all the previous day, using the diagram that Kamiton had given Zainal. They were to approach from co-oral’mates at the ecliptic and weave a course that, in itself, would have thrown any pursuer off. Not that the ship’s detectors had spotted anything following them. Kris wondered how anyone could rely on the diagram since : every rock, boulder, mountain, and small moon seemed to be on a totally · rratic orbit.
SEE WHAT YOU MEANT about being able to hide.. :’ Chuck murmured respectfully.
“Right thruster two seconds.. :’ Zainal interrupted Chuck’s remark.
Gino responded, and they seemed to be heading directly at a cluster spinning end on end when Zainal asked for three seconds right thruster and they broke into the clear... briefly.
No one dared say another word to risk breaking the concentration of the two pilots. They sat, occasionally with an inadvertent gasp at the terrifying proximity to a space obstacle large enough to crush them, clinging to the armrests of their seats, and grateful for the safety belts that held them in place. Zainal had insisted they don protective helmets and emergency oxygen tanks, and these precautions, pitiful though they seemed as the ship wove a torturous way through the maze, irrationally gave them a sense of security.
It seemed like hours, and possibly it was, before they finally saw empty space again. Then Zainal ordered a left thruster for five seconds, which swung the ship right back at the belt. The second course change, just before they would have reentered the asteroid belt, brought them parallel to it.
A sparkle caught Kris’ eye and she pointed. “Look! Three-fifteen!”
Zainal gave a nod of his head and slowed the KDL almost to a complete halt. The ship drifted toward a ginormous asteroid, which turned ever so slightly to display an obvious cavern, which had been punched into it at some point. Zainal now slowly moved the KDL toward the dark hole, and they caught sight again of a glint where no light should be. He activated an exterior light, and they all reacted to the sight of an EVA-suited figure making for their hatch.
“Light the air lock,” Zainal said, “and prepare to accept boarder.”
Karoiron was as much a surprise to Kris as he was to the rest of the Botany group. He acted, Kris thought, much as Zainal had on their first meeting: dismissive, even contemptuous, until he realized that each and every one of them understood what he said to Zainal.
“I did not expect you to arrive so promptly, Zainal. I have only just arrived myself.”
“With no pursuit?”
Kamiton shrugged shoulders as broad as Zainal’s and began to strip off rest of his space suit, looking around with a frown as no one seemed immediately assist him.
“You’re closest, Chuck,” Zainal said in Catten, “give him a hand. These are awkward even with plenty of space.” He took the helmet from Kami-ton and the harness of the one-man thruster pack.
“Your cabin has the most room,” Chuck said as Zainal opened a compartment where the helmet and thruster could be stored. “This way, Kami-ton, in case you are unfamiliar with this class of ship.” By tone, gesture, and courtesy, Sergeant Chuck Mitford was establishing his equality with the new arrival.
“They all speak Catten?” Kamiton asked, surprised as Gino and Mack pressed tight against the bulkhead to give him room to move aft.
“All of them,” Zainal said.
Kris, too, had made as much space in the companionway as she
could to allow Kamiton to pass her, but he stopped and stared hard at her. She / raised an eyebrow in askance. He was a touch taller than she.
“Is it a female?” he asked Zainal, not taking his eyes off her.
Kris was glad that her gray skin did not show the flush of blood to her
face at being referred to as an “it:’
“Female and of command rank,” she said in a cold hard voice, almost
spitting out the Catteni syllables. “A fact you will remember:’
“One of the Terrans, though, is she not?” He looked forward at Zainal.
“Do not speak over me, Kamiton,” she said, thoroughly incensed and
determined to be certain he answered her directly, “speak to me as you
would to any other of equal rank;’
“I would, were I you,” Zainal remarked in a mild tone to Kamiton.
“She’s dangerous in a fight. Gino,” and he paused at his cabin, “set course for Botany, top speed.” Then, as soon as Kamiton and Chuck had entered the cabin, he winked at Kris and closed the door.
WHATEVER MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAID during the short interval in which Kamiton was assisted out of his EVA apparel, he did not again refer to her as an “it” or but addressed her directly, as he did the rest of the crew. Since he asked a great many questions, glancing about the cramped table in the crew mess, he did seem to accept her answers if she gave them.
Once or twice, he rephrased the question later on, looking at Gino for an answer.
“Kris would know that, and I think she’s already given you the answer,” Gino said blandly.
Kamiton was quick enough never to use that ploy again.
“Which of you were first on Botany?” Kamiton asked.
Chuck held up his hand first followed by all, including the two Deski and Zainal, except Gino. Karoiron had the same habit of raising one eyebrow as Zainal would, in the manner of requesting explanation.
“I am space pilot, too,” Gino said with a shrug. “Third Drop.”
“The rest of us,” Chuck said, “were what the Eosi picked up in the initial Invasion.
“So you have learned Barevi as well?” Kamiton asked.
“Well enough to barter in the markets,” Kris said.
“And other places;’ Chuck added in a droll tone.
Kamiton started to cross his arms, but there were too many wide bodies to permit that so he put his elbows on the table. Gino got up and started to clear the remnants of the meal, which provoked a startled reaction from Kamiton. Gino grinned.
“We all take turns;’ he said. “You do know, Kamiton, that there are many minerals in the asteroid belt. Read traces as we wandered through:’ Kamiton gave a curt nod of his head. “I picked it so.”
Coo and Pess, evidendy having had enough of the social scene, rose and left the room.
“Now;’ Kamiton asked in a patient tone of voice, “I wish to see the spatial photographs of this refuge of yours. And especially of this Bubble that has our leaders...” his tone was contemptuous, “so aggravated.”
At least that was what Kris thought the word meant. Most of the language Kamiton had used could be understood in context if he used words that she wasn’t familiar with. At least he did them the courtesy of not speaking in pidgin Catteni.
Mack Dargle came in then: he’d been standing the watch. “Nothing around
here but us, Zay;’ he said, nodding to Karoitoh. “Pess has taken over
the watch;’
Zainal nodded, then asked Mack to collect the hand viewer and the file that had been compiled as what they facetiously called the “travel guide.”
Karoitoh went through the file several times, first very quickly, grunting now and then. The second round was more selective as he magnified certain scenes, like the enclosed valleys, which caught his attention. Zainal had had Baxter take shots of the new Farmer equipment in the garage and then in action. There were also shots of the units, which the settlers had made of the original equipment.
Kris noticed it about the time that Chuck must have because the sergeant’s eyes made contact with her. In no shot did Zainal actually show the geographical location of either the original installations or the current ones. Nor any details that might have given their positions away. Kris wondered if this was intentional. Zainal had said that he trusted Kamiton.
‘ How far?That was when Kris began to fret over the possibility that Kami-was actually a spy for the Eosians.
Then Chuck tapped her on the arm. “Your shift, Kris;’ He also gave her a nod to reassure her that he would remain. And that he was still assessing this new recruit.
Kris glanced at the timepiece on the wall. “The time has just flown, “she said inanely. Then pushed herself around the table, which also momentarily displacing Kamiton from his position.
“I think the Cat’s okay,” Gino said when he came forward an hour later. He’d brought her a cup of herbal tea. He had one as well as he slipped in the pilot’s seat and absendy ran his eyes over the panel lights. “So do Coo and Pess, and they’d have more to go by than any of us. ‘Sides which, I can’t imagine Zainal risking any chance of aborting phase three. then wriggled his fingers in a characteristic stretch of his hands over the control panel. “Got a course correction to make soon.” He leaned slightly to the left to peer at the rearview screen. “Nary a sign of pursuit either. Hope the others are okay.” And doubt crept into the pilot’s voice.
“So far Zainal’s been right...” Kris said loyally.
“You only need to be wrong once,” Gino said.
“For Pete’s sweet sake, you sound like Balenquah.”
Gino sat up straighter in the chair. “Kindly keep your insults to yourself, young woman,” he said. “To begin with I’m a much better pilot than that idiot ever was.”
“Sorry,” Kris said, feigning meekness.
Gino had his eyes on the timepiece now and, toggling up the course correction made it with swift movements of his agile fingers. “There now.
We should be home in next to no time.”
“Really?”
“As the man said, that asteroid jumble wasn’t all that far from where Botany is after all.”
GINO’S WORDS WERE TRUE enough for they made it home just as the watch changed. Before that, however, Zainal and Gino had done the computation to find which window was the best one to take, avoiding the thirty-hour satellite. They had three and Zainal decided to use the one that would bring them in just “beyond” the range of the geo-synchronous, older one while the thirty-hour sat was on the other side of the Bubble.
By mutual consent, Kamiton was allowed to take the second seat so he could have the best view of the Bubble and the insertion. He sat, arms folded across his chest in best Catteni mode, and watched, his keen yellow eyes missing nothing. Zainal had indicated that Kris and Gino should remain in the cabin. The others were detailed to rig the ship for landing and check the cargo restraints. There was always some buffeting as they entered the atmospheric envelope of Botany.
Zainal altered one view screen to show Kamiton the Eosian arrays still stuck in the Bubble at that point of exit. Karoitoh snorted, then apparently gestured for Zainal to turn the screens on the Bubble. He seemed surprised when Zainal slowed to penetration speed. They almost popped through like a pea coming out of a pod, Kris thought. She gave a nostalgic Peas were so good, fresh out of the pod. Maybe someone would have thought to bring back some Earth-type seeds to experiment on Botanic soil.
She hoped so, and that peas were among them.
They slipped easily through the Bubble’s skin, and Kamiton rumbled a request for a rear screen view. Of course, there was absolutely no indication that a large ship, with arrays of all the same sorts that had been ripped off the Eosian vessel, had passed through it.
Then Kamiton saw Botany, the largest of the continents in full view, though clouds were obscuring the seas and the other landmasses. His eyes opened wide. He said nothing but the crisp nod of his head was approval
enough for Gino and Kris who grinned at each other.
Zainal did the necessary orbits, pointing out the original continent they had inhabited, also the half-desert one they had partially explored, barely visible under cloud cover. Then at a much lower altitude, he did a flyby of the command post, magnifying the screen sufficiently so that Kamiton could identify that this was an alien structure.
They flew on, low enough over the neatly cultivated fields to show Kamiton a few Farmer mechs at work, spraying in one case, harvesting in mother. Again that sharp Catteni nod to indicate Kamiton had noticed.
Almost at a glideonserving fuel had become second nature to all the pilots—Zainal took the KDL across the narrow sea and up to the landing field.
“God in heaven, what’s happened?” Gino cried.
Zainal snapped on the intercom. “Scott? Beverly? Someone. Landing mstructons.
“Five, I count five,” Kris said, her voice rising in a squeak. “We’ve been invaded?”
“Welcome back, Zainal,” and Scott’s voice was far too vibrantly triumphant for the extra three ships to be menaces.
Suddenly Zainal began to swear in Catteni, only a litfie of which Kris understood but it had to do with boiling and eating and other usually fatal applications. Karoitoh was roaring his head off, laughing and whooping in such uncharacteristically Catteni behavior that Kris and Gino were both grinning, too. Kris couldn’t quite understand his angry reaction: after all, he was the one who proposed the acquisition of Catteni spaceships.
Zainal was definitely not amused and continued to growl out his fury all through the landing procedures. As soon as he put the KDL down, to one side of the now crowded field, he jerked his head at Gino to power the ship down. He brushed past Kris who was considering what options she had of cooling him off before he did something that would really put the cat among the pigeons. She slipped in ahead of Kamiton who was nearly staggering with laughter down the companionway to the hatch. Zainal didn’t wait for the landing ramp. He jumped to the ground and started looking about for someone to holler at.