by Pam Uphoff
Ajha joined her and his shoulders relaxed. "Looks like the box will declare him good enough in another few hours. Nasty stuff in his lungs, I guess he inhaled a lot of dinosaur saliva, mucus and whatever. The legs look amazingly good. He's getting osteorepair and all the muscle, tendon, and skin nanos."
"Oh!" Paer's hand flew to her mouth. "I didn't even think about skin!"
The professor snorted as he climbed in. "He'll be bragging about this for the rest of his life. He'd better have some scars to back up the tale." He rubbed his knee. "I wonder how many of my ambitious fellows will wish I'd been immortalized as the first member of the faculty to be eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex? I must have been mad to come up with this project." He smiled a little. "And One damned lucky to have had you lot assigned to us."
Ebsa rolled to his feet. All the others were peering through the door.
Ajha looked around at them. "Well? Get your breakfasts. You've got two more days to collect data."
A faint stir of disbelief . . . followed by apprehension.
"We will all be staying close together, with all three crawlers."
The stunned T-Rex was gone, the dead one a scene of much feasting.
The scavengers were watched, recorded and identified from a distance, then they drove to the far corner.
Ebsa wasn't sure they collected much more data. But they did get out and do things, relaxing a bit but very careful to stay near the crawlers. At sunset they retreated to a campsite well away from the T-Rex carcass, and had a quiet night. They quit early the next day and started cooking.
"What are you doing pouring a whole bottle of wine into a frying pan?" Hob looked at the dark simmering liquid and turned away, shaking his head. "I have an idea . . . "
"Help yourself to anything in that tub." Ebsa pointed. "Ra'd and I are pit smoking, Fean's taken some, and the last one is something weird of Paer's. Smells like dill pickles."
Hob nodded. "Right. Radar rotisserie coming up."
Radar? Do we actually have radar strong enough to cook something? Ebsa hesitated. "Umm, it's either in a safe container or pointed away from camp and a bit upwards, right?"
"Oh. Uh, right, good idea." The tech expert wander over to examine the tubs and departed with a nice big roast.
Cooking was interrupted by Whti's emergence from the docbox. They propped his splinted legs on a now empty tub and let him nap while the last of the sedatives wore off. They dined to a spectacular sunset.
The rotisserie rex was served on flatbread with a cucumber yoghurt sauce. Not bad. Fean's tyrannosaurus curry had everyone grabbing for drinks. The smoked ribs—one each was too much—came slathered in a vinegar tomato sauce, spicy and sweet. The fettucini dino in a wine reduction sauce was well received.
"Wait just a minute here . . . " Witty paused with his first dino nugget halfway to his mouth. "Just what part of the T-Rex did these 'nuggets' come from?"
"We wanted to use the appropriate parts, but as Paer pointed out, way after we were gory with looking for them, that this was a female. So we got you a bit of tail."
The dill pickle dino nuggets won.
In the morning they packed up. Last job, they carefully approached the carcass, and guards out, Ebsa retrieved Whti's recorders from his grove. Ra'd and Paer examined the remains—the professor backed away from the fast developing stench. Ra'd collected a few stinking trophies. The interns all drove. Paer leading off, Ra'd in the bunkhouse, and Ebsa driving the lab bringing up the rear.
Fean climbed up to retract the crow's nest and rails, but dropped back down as he started moving.
"We don't need a shooter, while we're moving." She eyed him. "So . . . You and Paer are an item, eh?"
Ebsa could feel his face warming. "Yeah . . . for now."
"Huh. Unexpectedly good tastes in men for a glamor girl."
Ebsa glanced her way in astonishment. She was laughing silently.
He jerked his eyes back to the front, knowing he was blushing even worse.
"You're almost as easy to kid as she is. So, you three are buddies?"
"Yeah. Well, there's a couple of others but they're younger. Not interning yet." He glanced her way. "Did you intern with Ajha?"
That got a laugh. "Oh One no! I had two nearly disastrous—for my career—internships. Then they gave me my first real assignment. Me, Dan who had somehow managed to conceal a bad case of alcoholism, and Hob who was—probably rightly—suspected of slicing into directorate files for the sheer fun of it, and a couple of old guys with serious psychological problems. Assigned to this Clostuone! To go catch extinct birds on another world. Oh! I was so insulted and put out. A Clostuone!" She laughed out loud. "Ajha won't admit it, but I think he was told to either fix us or lose us. And Agni probably would have been delighted to lose Ajha as well. It was a wild trip. We all survived. We all improved. And we take the deepest pride possible in being the team that gets all the impossible assignments."
"This one isn't . . . well . . . "
"Yeah. Think about what this trip would have been like with Ajha, me, Dan and Hob trying to keep those five idiots alive. When the Boss read the orders for this project the first words out of his mouth were 'I need an Action Team.' Trust me, Ajha doesn't like Action Teams. When the subdirector told him not to worry, he was assigning him three interns, so he'd have plenty of shooters, I thought Ajha was going to go fetal in some dark corner. We figured that made it eight idiots we'd have to try and keep alive.
"You three have been—literally—life savers. I always wondered why there weren't more dinosaur studies. Got that answered. You can bet that Ajha's going to be putting in recommendations for new operational standards for Paleozoic and Mesozoic studies that involve half a dozen crawlers, and twice as many guards as researchers."
"Yeah. All armed with BA twenties and penetrating explosive rounds Huh. So . . . I can see Ra'd and me being sent off with many wishes for a failure to return. But Paer?"
"Politics. An attack on the President that can't be proven? Maybe. It's hard to say who's actually pulling the strings, with a temporary director. Or if a mere intern assignment got no attention at all. I don't know, and Ajha just shrugs and says he likes to keep all of his crew alive, no matter who their daddy is."
"When we arrived, he did take one look at her and . . . pause. But he didn't look that alarmed."
"Yeah. He always wins at poker."
Ebsa slowed to drive back down their stump filled road to the beacon. They waited a couple of hours before the gate opened and they drove thankfully home.
Paer was the only one who didn't look relieved. "Just . . . well, don't talk to my dad or Urfa about it . . . Oh Hell. I'm going to have to tell them, else they'll be twice as pissed when they do find out."
First stop, the hospital.
Whti put on his best innocent look. "It could be worse. If it was Paer we were bringing home in the docbox and we had to explain about her being eaten by a T-Rex . . ." Whti waved as the efficient staff whisked him away.
Chapter Six
4 Shaban 1403 yp
Gate City, One World
They pulled into the warehouse and helped the others download all the huge volumes of data they collected.
And the project was done.
Well, their part of it.
No doubt the academic types would be churning out analyses and publishing papers for the next decade.
"Have fun analyzing everything, and say hi to all the little Claudios for me!" Paer waved as the directorate limo pulled away, taking the Professor and most of his students off to Paris.
Ebsa looked back at the Team. "So, let me guess. Time to clean up the crawlers."
Paer laughed and headed for the lab.
Ebsa stuck his head in the bunkhouse crawler. Ten weeks of occupation by young males had left it badly in need of cleaning. Time to strip everything out.
Another limo circled and parked. The chauffeur leaped out to open the rear door.
Ebsa didn't recognize the man who got o
ut, but the old team all started grinning, walking out close enough to listen as Ajha clasped hands with the man.
"Intel Subdirector Ajki. Only one of the lot worth spitting on." Hob kept his voice low. "Ajha's uncle."
"Well, Ajha, glad to see you've survived another project. Rumor has it you finally almost lost one."
"Afraid so. One of the grad students looked tasty to a T-Rex. But it looks like he'll recover. Why are you here? They swap you back to . . . Oh. Don't tell me . . . "
Ajki grinned. "Yep. Kowtow to the new Director of External Relations."
Whoops from the rest of the crew.
A grinning Fean thumped Ebsa's shoulder. "C'mon. We need to empty out the kitchen, the forward bay . . . then there's the labs to put in order . . . "
Paer popped out of the third crawler. "I've got the docbox running through a cleaning cycle. Shall I start on the chem lab?"
Behind him Ebsa could hear the new Director choke. "Oh, One Hell. Please don't tell me that they assigned the President's daughter to one of your wild expeditions."
"Oh, well, if you want me to lie . . . "
"Yes."
"I kept her inside the whole last nine weeks. Wrapped in cotton batting."
"You usually lie better than that." The new director looked them over. "Well, she survived. See you all for dinner."
They scrubbed the poor abused crawlers, collected their luggage and headed for the Director's Residence.
Paer grabbed the room that adjoined his.
Chapter Seven
5 Shaban 1403 yp
Gate City, One World
They had enough time to tour the facilities, ooh and aah over the permanent gates that now connected to all the colonies, eat things they hadn't killed and didn't have to clean and cook, and . . . spend lots of time with Paer. There didn't seem to be any need to head for the maze. Not that it wasn't fun to . . . umm . . . map it out and check different effects in different buildings.
"Do you think we'll be assigned together for the next internship?"
Ebsa sighed. "If we aren't . . . you be bloody careful!"
She thumped his arm. "You too."
"Yeah. And then we'll be really studious and serious. Professional. All semester. And ace all our classes."
That got him a gentle thump. "There's always the winter break."
"Thank the One."
***
"Whti! One! Look at you, on your feet!"
Whti grinned like a crocodile. "They shipped me to Embassy. I don't think they quite knew how to cope with what Paer did to me, so they decided I should go check out the new Comet Fall Hospital there. One above, that Joy Juice, the real deal—I couldn't have von neumanns, so they dosed me twice a day. Ultramarine . . . can I call her a witch doctor? Think their version of a medgician. Think. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. Blonde." For a second a wistful expression. "Think personal attention. Very personal. Holy One, the ambassador started joking about getting me out of there before I married her." Deep sigh. "She laughed. 'Witches don't marry. It's a sign of subservience, and witches are subservient to no one,' she said. Dammit. But the docs cleared me to go home; they just said no running and jumping. Or getting eaten by T-Rexes."
Ebsa cleared his throat. "So . . . You're going to make us do all the running and fetching?"
Whti laughed. "Nah, I've got to get to Paris before my colleagues steal all my data. But I wanted to come by and say . . . well . . . Holy fucking One! I got eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Ahem. Thank you for saving me."
***
Ajha had a nice little out-of-the-way office to sort out his reports to both the subdirector of exploration and to the administrators at the directorate school. And for the post-internship interviews.
A pleasure, for a change. He talked to Ra'd first.
"Needless to say, I checked off all the boxes as excellent, other than a mere good on group relations. In fact, with people you trust—Paer and Ebsa—you are excellent. I'm recommending that you three be kept together, if possible, and recommended you all for either Info or Explorer Teams."
He interlaced his fingers and studied the closed and private young man. "Given your sense of honor, I have disrecommended you for Action Teams. I also fully expect them to disregard that. I can feel that you have that twist of mind that suits them. But you also have a rigid sense of honor, and I think the Action Teams would break you. Hold onto your honor, and screw the team. Leave if you must. Never sell your soul. It's too hard to get it back. If you reject all offered assignments, and need to find a sponsor to repay your tuition, apply to Disco. Use me for a reference."
The stiff young man blinked, eyes not quite as uninformative as usual. "Thank you, sir. I will do everything I can to not break."
Paer was another sort of problem. "What potential I see, and what you've indicated an interest in are slightly off."
She sat up indignantly. "I want teams."
"Yes, but while your driving is excellent . . . what? Because you got stuck once? You also handled getting unstuck very well. You didn't lose your temper, didn't dig in deeper once you realized you were stuck. And a good shooter, good martial arts. But any run-of-the-mill agent has those. You have an extraordinary healing talent. You may have learned your techniques on horses, but they work just as well on humans. Have you ever considered medical school, specializing in applied magic . . . "
"No. I want to be on Info or Exploration Teams."
"Then get certified as a medic. Trained medics are always in high demand for projects Across. If you really want to get Across, that will do it. And the experience would be useful several years down the road if you change your mind and want to try medical school. And One knows the Directorate needs Medgicians."
The daughter of the president scratched her chin. "Huh. Medic. That's . . . a really interesting idea. I . . . don't know about being a Medgician, though."
Ebsa was the hard one. He knew well enough the cliff he was aiming the youngster at.
"Leadership classes. Take them."
Horrified look.
"I know. It won't be easy. But it will give you the tools you need to fully utilize what you are already good at instinctively. Stop doubting yourself. Clostuone is a label. You're magically stronger than ninety percent of the other students. Ignore the snobbery and take the classes."
Ajha sighed as Ebsa walked out the door. I'd take any or all of that trio right now. He turned back to the cover letters he was composing to go with the three Internship Reports and added that to each.
***
Then they did the small amount of packing needed and Paer's guards showed up with an official vehicle. They were chauffeured through the corridor to New York. Dropped off at the school. With Paer's bodyguards. The three of them exchanged glances, and burst into laughter.
The guards crossed arms and glared.
"Sorry, sorry," Paer sputtered. "It's just that after the last ten weeks of being the guard, and, well, dealing with some very large and hungry animals . . . Oh, never mind."
It was baking hot on campus. The drifting spray from the fountain was welcome and they paused for a quiet moment in front of the admin building to enjoy it before they walked in and up a flight of stairs. Ebsa and Ra'd reported to the same counselor. Paer waved and headed further down the hallway.
Ra'd glanced in at their counselor's outer office. Two students sitting and waiting. The secretary frowned at them, and sniffed. No doubt her comp was telling her who they were.
Our reputations are still just as bad as they were ten weeks ago. Ebsa tried to smile nicely. "We'll wait out here, until our appointment times."
Ra'd was looking worried. "What if I can't control it, this time? We could easily wind up on entirely different worlds. Ajha was a miracle. What if my next boss is . . . not."
Ebsa eyed the other man. "This is a silly time to suddenly start worrying. We're just bashing your twist as a precaution. We can do a two person merge but I still say you're too honorable to be dangerous in that way. You
don't need me as a brake."
Ra'd heaved out a deep breath. "I hope you are right. You don't dream about walking down the street, kicking people out of your magnificent self's path."
"It's just a weird nightmare."
"No, the nightmares are worse. Straight out of horror shows."
"Well, you should know, what with being a zombie . . . "
"I thought you'd stopped with the silly theories?" Ra'd scowled at a scrawny fresher, who gave them a wide berth. "See? I'm acting like a violent brute, without even thinking about it. I need it to stop . . . "
Ebsa touched his shoulder, still damp from the fountain's mist. The practiced merge with a friend. The twist was minor . . . and disappeared.
Ra'd took a deep breath and relaxed. "Yeah, like that. I think you straightened it out completely."
"Ra'd . . . I don't think I did anything. It just . . . went away."
"Of course you did, you are getting stronger all the time." His face relaxed. "I feel . . . sane. Like I just woke up. It's . . . nice. Guess I can manage an internship without you two crutches to block for me. After all, this one will just be six weeks, right?
"Right. And no dinosaurs. Probably."
***
Ra'd left the counselor's office first. "Clerking for Interior in Paris. Eh. I couldn't hit lucky twice, could I? My step mother will probably expect me to stay with them." He waved and headed out.
Two other returned students came and went. Paer stuck her head in the door. Grinning. "My counselor's a dick, he hated giving me this one! Embassy!"
Ebsa grinned and gave her a thumbs up, as his counselor called him in.
The councilor smiled toothily. "I see you were a good boy while categorizing algae. That Clostuone gave you top ratings in everything including firearms. Which makes his judgment a bit suspect. However, congratulations. You've made it halfway to graduation."