"Oh, really?" He thumbed back several pages to a picture of a crude rocket lifting off in a shower of fire. "Think, Adze. We've gone from using stone tools to wooden ships to mechanical warfare. Now we have rockets. It's the history of a planet. Not a novel, not a story. The maps are the same as on the globe. "
He opened to a page further back, seeing a domed settlement on a red planet with no atmosphere. Turning a couple of pages, he found a two-dimensional map of a solar system. "Look at this. Earth is third from the sun. This sun, from the photo, I'd say it's a G class star. Look at it, for God's sake! What system is this?"
He turned to the next page, finding a primitive starship. "Pus Rot me, I think you're right." Adze settled next to him. "This is . She shook her head.
"If only we could read it."
Sinklar turned to the last pages, finding Targa. Not the Targa he knew, but a hostile place. In the text, Sinklar found the symbol for CO, "They terraformed Targa.
:,You sure that's this planet?"
'The name here, Target. That's what they originally must have called this planet. "
"What's next?" Adze seemed to have caught his excitement.
To his disappointment, Sinklar found only text. "Must be the bibliography and index. I guess publishing is still as primitive as it was."
"Why didn't they use data cubes?" Adze wondered. "You can store so much more."
As if holding a holy relic, Sinklar closed the volume, hugging it to his chest. "I guess they didn't have them." "We've lost so much."
"And we're not going to lose the rest. If I have to declare martial law, Adze, we're going to break out of this mess." She gave him a skeptical glance. "The Lord Commander
and the machine might have something to say about that." "Pus take the machine. I can do it."
I'You? "
He gave her a crooked grin. "When I dropped on this ball of mud, I was a lowly private. I left here as Commander of all Regan forces."
"You believe it, don't you?"
Sinklar carefully replaced the book. Then he took Adze by the shoulders, staring into her eyes. "We can't let it go. Do you understand? Do you know what that book is? It's our history, Adze. You have to know where you're coming from to know where you're going. That's what's been missing. Are you with me?"
"I'm with you, Sinklar."
"Good. When Staffa's team arrives, I want that book copied. I want this room scoured. Somewhere in here, there has to be a translation, something the linguists can use. I
want copies of that book sent to every scholar in Free Space. I want it translated!"
"We'll do it."
Sinklar grinned, the old optimism rising. "Come on. I think that's enough for now. We'd better get back to the surface and see what new problems have cropped up. "
They pulled the heavy door closed and started back up the passage. For a long time, Adze was silent, locked in her thoughts. For Sinklar, the walk was buoyant. Images of the pictures in the book spun in his mind. Foremost among them, the realization that after the rocket photos, the ones of war had nearly vanished from the book.
Could it be true? Had open space brought relative peace to humanity?
"I understand now. Adze gave him a different look, one he hadn't seen yet.
"What's that? "
"I understand what they saw in you." I'Who?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
Sinklar barely heard her, his brain spinning pictures of humans from Earth, expanding out among the stars-beyond the Forbidden Borders.
Skyla! Rot you, wake up!"
The call brought Skyla out of a hideous nightmare in which Arta Fera's warm flesh lay against her own. She'd been bound, tied to the sleeping platform, writhing while the Seddi assassin stimulated her captive flesh, and Ily's voice floated out of the mist, asking, ". . . did anyone find the body? Are they sure Chrysla is dead? "
"What? Huh? " Skyla blinked against the bright light, jerking herself up and grabbing for the blaster that hung off the headboard.
Lark stood outlined in the hatch of the small cabin. Safe. Aboard Rega One.
It's all right. Skyla let her fingers slip off the contoured handle of her pistol. For a moment, she slumped, trying to rid her mind of questions about Itreata and of Arta's predatory amber eyes staring at her from over the golden mound of her pubis.
Arta, Chrysla-Chrysla, Arta. The two twined together in her nightmares. At least she'd been awakened before she had to watch herself step through that doorway into Itreataand see Arta's smoldering eyes staring out of her own face.
She rubbed a hand over her face. Stop it. Your subconscious is torturing you worse than Arta did. That's why Ily asks those questions. It's fear that Chrysla will take your place.
Skyla mumbled to herself, "If Staffa wanted Chrysla, he wouldn't have let her run off."
* * * Or would he? He says he loves you, and he let you run off.
"But I sneaked away." What a pus Rotted mess.
Lark entered, seating herself on the edge of the sleeping platform. "I heard you clear down the hall. That must have been some terrible dream. Now you're talking to yourself." "I've had worse. "
"Something's wrong. I heard the bridge monitor go off. I went up to check.
We're in real space again. We dropped out of null singularity. "
Skyla shook her head, trying to fling the afterimages of the dream from her mind. Her breasts itched, and she rubbed them to wipe away the memory of Arta's ephemeral saliva. "Dropped out? Where?"
"I don't know. I didn't hang around to take a star plot. One of the lights is flashing. I think it's a cooling tower that serves the main reactor. "
" All right." Skyla exhaled wearily and stood, fumbling for her clothing.
As she was pulling on coveralls, Lark gave her a nervous look, finally admitting, "Boy, you sure have a lot of scars. " ' 'I told you. You wanted to be like me? You pay a price.
Now you know what all those combat lessons are about." "Yeah. " La 'rk whispered. "I guess I do."
Skyla snapped the coveralls and led the way into the corridor. The ship hummed softly as she walked toward the bridge. "The alarm sounded and you went forward, right?"
' 6Yep. " A hesitation. "I thought about sitting down with the manuals and trying to fix it. Then I reconsidered. I'm dead tired, don't know what I'm doing, and it might be too serious for me to be screwing around with."
Skyla shot a look of approval over her shoulder. "You know, you're a smart kid.
"I wonder sometimes. You make me feel pretty dumb." "Don't. There's big difference between dumb and ignorant. Part of being smart is knowing when you're in over your head. "
Skyla ducked onto the bridge, seeing the cooling tower light gleaming a baleful red. Through the ports, she could see the redshifted stars blurring like flares and wavering before them. Rega One was hurtling along at just under light speed.
"Why does it do that? Drop us out of null singularity?" "Well, how would you rather come out? In one piece, or as plasma? If something goes wrong, the singularity generation kicks off. Without that singularity generation up front, you can't defy light speed. "
"So it's a fail-safe? Keeps you from being lost outside?" "You can't get lost out there, kid. What's in this universe stays. Unless, of course, you get brave enough to see what's on the other side of the event horizon around a black hole. We still don't have an accurate physics to describe that."
Skyla settled herself in the command chair and dialed up the coolant. Despite the levels indicated, the tower warning remained red.
"Sensor says it's too hot." Skyla rubbed the back of her neck and made a face.
"Serves me right."
"What does?"
"Did anyone ever tell you you ask too many questions?" "Just my father . . .
and you. "
Skyla groaned to herself. "It's happened before. On the jump from Rega to Terguz. I just readjusted." She paused, rapping her fingertips on the armrests. "Lark, I wasn't thinking clearly. Smart spacers chec
k out indicator readings. Make sure they don't have problems developing.
"But you didn't?"
"I said you ask too many questions." But that damning indictment remained.
"All right, I owe you this one, so I'll 'fess. I was drowning in my own misery on the way over. I had other things to think about. Leave it at that and come on. "
"Where to?"
" The reactor room. You're about to have your first lesson in basic starship repair. "
She slipped past Lark and started back down the corridor. "Does this mean we have to send a distress beacon and wait to be rescued?"
Skyla half turned. "Rescued? You've been watching too many space operas.
No, if this is a simple matter of a jammed valve, we could be null singularity within a half hour. If it's a pump or a leak, well, it might be longer. "
Skyla undogged the hatch and shinnied down the ladder to the engineering deck.
As Lark landed beside her, Skyla indicated the large display on the engineering deck hatch. "First thing you do is check the gauges. Here, see?
They're all reading safe. Well within the range of tolerable radiation. If those roentgen counters read a rise to above acceptable background, they'll turn yellow, and then red. Yellow means trouble, and red means danger."
" And if they're unsafe? " Lark studied the monitors on the reactor room hatch.
" Then you suit up-suits are in the locker to your rightand follow the precautions in the manual. Only when you're completely suited, do you pass this hatch. After you fix what's broke in there, you be Rotted sure to decontaminate on the way out. Otherwise you get real sick, you throw up, your hair falls out, and you pray you get to treatment before you die. "
"Swell. Skyla threw the dogs over, each clunking solidly, and entered the monitoring station for the mains. The coolant level readings were below normal. "Wonderful. We're low on fluid."
:'Does that mean we send a distress beacon?"
'Get out of here! What makes you think ships are so fragile? We've got spare drums of coolant." I hope. "If starships had to send distress signals every time they had a glitch, we'd never get from one planet to another. Now, take the green diagnostics disk out of the locker there on the wall. That's it, the one marked coolant. Stick it into the comm slot and run it."
:'Why not just keep the program in the comm?"
'Good question. If we had a radiation leak in here, or if the temperature rose another three hundred degrees, do you think you could trust the comm?
"I guess not." Lark input the disk and studied the readings as the comm interpreted the system. "It says the main pump and backup are only producing eighty-nine
kilograms of pressure."
Skyla groaned again. "That's bad." "How bad?"
She limbered up her fingers. "Bad enough that now we do a lesson in basic pump repair. If it's really bad, we manufacture new parts from the stock in the parts locker. The tool kit is in that big box on the deck beside the desk.
Let's get started. "
Skyla unclipped the access tunnel cover and flipped on the light switch. She stared in at the sinuous mass of pipes, hoses, and tubing, all basking in the roar of the fans, pumps, and hydraulics. "Should have left that Rotted engineer aboard. I could have locked him on this deck and never worried about it."
On hands and knees, she crawled into the cramped space and located the pump housing for the main coolant tower. Lark wiggled in, yipping as she touched an exhaust pipe. "Forgot to tell you, some of this stuff gets pretty hot.
Especially the exhaust system. "
"I noticed." Lark inspected the offending pipe. "How hot can the pipes get?"
"Enough to glow cherry red if the coolant falls low enough. Makes it real uncomfortable to work in here." "It's pretty warm in here as it is. You mean it can get hotter?
"Hand me a two centimeter spanner."
Lark started to crawl back out, then asked, "Uh . . . what does a two centimeter spanner look like?"
Skyla took a deep breath, head dropping. "It's going to be a long session. I can tell already."
And Ily Takka would be using every second of it. Dropping from null singularity, revectoring, and hurtling for Ashtan at multiples of the speed of light.
Nkylos had begun to fume. He'd been sitting for too long, waiting on the will and pleasure of the Companions. Once again, he checked on Bruen, noting no change in the old man's medical status.
The dome he shared with Bruen had four rooms. A bedroom on either side separated by a shared toilet on the back wall and a small dispenser with table and chairs on the front. The confines of the dome left him no relief but to pace from one room to the other and back. At each extreme, he could duck his head to stare out at the dusty compound.
:'Eating at you, is it?" Bruen asked.
,What are we doing here? It's a farce. Staffa is dealing with the machine, and we're just sitting. They won't even tell us what's going on." Nyklos smacked a fist into his palm. "When did it all go so wrong? Placing Kaylla in charge was a mistake. She's under Staffa's spell. She's sucked right up to him."
Bruen sighed, faded blue eyes following the Master's movements. "It should have been you, Nyklos. If only you'd been there. I had to make the choice.
Hyde was gone-and for all I knew, you were dead."
" I know. She was here. I don't blame you." Except that now that it had been said, the thought of his becoming Magister irritated like a ripa spine under the flesh.
, ,You should have seen her, Magister. At every mention of Staffa, Kaylla literally reeked of worry. You'd think she cared for him. And after what he did to her. "
"Nyklos, you must keep things in perspective." Bruen made a weary gesture with his hand. "He saved her life in the desert. Got her off Etaria when Ily would have sent her back to the slave pens."
Nyklos pivoted on his heel, raising an eyebrow. Could he believe this? Or was this just another of Bruen's wicked barbs. "She's never hinted that they were lovers."
" Of course not. She's a professional. " Bruen gave a slight shrug. "I may not be happy with my choice of Kaylla for my successor, but you don't think I'd appoint an idiot to the job, do you?" Bruen made a face. "If she wants to slip into Staffa's bed every now and then while Skyla's not looking, what difference does it make? Kaylla Dawn isn't the kind of woman who would sell us out over a bit of sex. I believed that at the time, and-despite my considerable
differences
with her-I still believe that she has more integrity than that.
Nyklos had stopped short, pulling at his mustache as he remembered the times Kaylla had taken her aircar to Staffa's quarters, especially during those days after Skyla had been abducted by Ily.
"Nyklos, you must remember the circumstances of her appointment. We were fighting for our lives. Staffa offered a safe haven-a place where neither Ily Takka nor Divine Sassa could deal us a deathblow. If Kaylla was having sex with Staffa, so much the better. She could see to the safety of the Seddi Order. Survival was my first concern since Makarta was denied us. You do understand, don't you? We needed the Lord Commander at that moment in time. I was desperate. "
Bruen was being too reasonable about this. Nyklos nodded, an emptiness yawning inside him. And now, Kaylla had begun to slip. Tired and worn from the cares of managing so much, the carefully maintained control had eased. That's what he'd seen that day when Sinklar was talking to her.
Staffa's lover. Yes, of course, it all made sense.
Nyklos winced, pained by it all. Staffa had the two women Nkylos cared the most about. And, indeed, he had come to care for Kaylla, his attachment more one of devotion and respect than the driving and desperate love he suffered for Skyla. Now, that, too, crumbled to dust in his weary soul.
Bruen added casually, "Staffa has made his deal with the machine. He belongs to it now. Maybe he won't be as interested in frolicking with Kaylla since he's going to be ensorcelled by the machine. "
"I don't want to believe this, Bruen.
S
ympathy filled Bruen's watery eyes. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew. I shouldn't have said anything. I didn't think, Nyklos.
"I just . . . "
"Would it help to talk about it?" Bruen's sad expression offered solace.
"Talking can make these things easier to bear. You know, airing feelings helps to put things in perspective. If it's any consolation, I don't think all three of them are having it at once. I'm not even sure that Skyla knows that he's pumping into Kaylla's well. "
'What? "
,Well, they are discreet. And let's face it, Skyla is no smarter than any other woman. " Bruen's voice turned intimate. "You really fell for Skyla, didn't you? She is a most beautiful woman. A pale goddess worthy of the Blessed Gods. " Bruen sighed. "Ah, Master, I can still marvel at her, even though I'm well past the age to do anything about it. It must eat at you like hot acid to think of Skyla offering herself to Staffa. Of his body moving on hers. I don't know how you stand it."
"Bruen, sometimes I can sympathize with the people who want to strangle you. "
"I'm sorry. I only meant to help. Now I've disturbed you. " He sighed. "Yes, foolish me. I was right to step down when I did. I can no longer curb my tongue. " Bruen raised a withered hand. "Please, forget I said anything. It was just the ramblings of an old man. "
"He and Kaylla . . . " Nyklos shook his head. Something precious had been looted from deep inside him. Fool! He should have known! Should have seen it in the expression on Kaylla's face.
Nyklos clenched his fists, hating the thoughts stirred by the old Magister's words. Angrily, he jumped to his feet and stepped out into the cool Targan evening, slamming the door behind him.
Who should he believe in? Bruen? Or Kaylla? The old Magister might not be as wrong as they'd thought. And he'd seen, seen the desperate worry in her eyes when it came to Staffa's safety. She'd never admit that she was spreading for Staffa.
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