“Okay, but if Gwen’s still there when she boards, she’ll have a hard time explaining. They’re friends, and Gwen’s space-struck; she’s been begging me to let her come along for weeks. She won’t be happy to see me take Alison instead of her.”
“Well, that’s awkward,” Terry agreed. “But later when she hears the ship’s been lost, she’ll feel it was a stroke of luck.”
Frowning, Jon said, “I don’t like to think of how she’ll feel. She’s fond of Alison—and of me, too, maybe. I know we have to fake an accident, but hurting someone I care about—”
Terry cringed, remembering the people on Maclairn who must have believed that he had died in space twelve years ago. He’d had no choice about leaving them to grieve; Jon and Alison did. Yet they could not reject the chance to escape Ciencia for their friends’ sake.
Alison, when she heard the new plan, agreed. “Gwen will be devastated, both when she thinks I’m in space and after we’re reported lost. That can’t be helped, though it makes me sad. Gwen is one of the nicest people I know, and one of the most enthusiastic about Estelan goals. But she’s young and a little too intense—once she sets her mind on something, she doesn’t let go of it.”
There was nothing to do with the rest of the day but wait. At dinnertime they forced themselves to eat something; then Alison arranged everything in the apartment neatly, disposing of all perishable food, so it would look as if she had gone on a trip from which she planned to return. She had no clothes appropriate for mining work, but fortunately was tall enough to adjust warm pants and a shirt from Terry’s closet in such a way that their poor fit wouldn’t be obvious when covered by the new flight jacket. She would be seen in them for only a few minutes, after all.
The cargo courier arrived on schedule after dark and stopped directly in front of the building; groundcars weren’t plentiful enough in the colony’s compact city for there to be a parking problem. The blanket rolls were a tight fit with the boxed pharmaceuticals, so they had to squeeze one of them between the seats. As there wasn’t enough room for four people Jon drove, leaving the courier to take the bus to retrieve his van. After quick stops at his rooming house and Alison’s clinic, they headed for the spaceport.
Terry was silent, recalling the many times he had driven that route while smuggling in data chips containing forbidden literature. He was used to the tension of his trips to and fro, but this one was more nerve-wracking than any other. If he was caught this time, Alison and Jon would be arrested too for aiding an escaped convict. And if he was sent to prison again, it would be forever.
~ 7 ~
Bonanza’s pad was lighted, and with a sinking feeling Terry realized this meant Gwen was still there. He had hoped not to meet anyone. “Don’t talk to her,” Alison warned as they approached, “or to us in her presence any more than you have to. She’s listened over and over to the recording of what you said at your trial, and she might recognize your voice.”
“If the instrument panel’s taking this long to fix, that’s bad news,” Jon said. “I don’t want to have to stick around after we load up.”
But Gwen came out of the ship as soon as they arrived—a short, stocky woman with reddish hair nearly hidden by the hood of her jacket. “I’m through, but I waited for you,” she said with enthusiasm. “I’ve never gotten a chance before to be here when you lift off.”
Terry pulled his skullcap down, half-covering his darkened face, thankful that the freezing cold required them all to be bundled in heavy clothes. Not that this would be enough to conceal Alison. “You came to watch too!” Gwen said when she saw her. “Let’s go to the hotel for something hot to drink afterward.”
Jon said quickly, “We’ve got to hurry. Goodbye, Gwen, and thanks for coming this afternoon on short notice. I really appreciate the great work you do maintaining Bonanza.”
“I enjoy it. I’ll help you load if you’ve got stuff to put in the hold.”
Gwen was aware that he smuggled cargo, Jon had told Terry, but she didn’t know about the government’s role in it, which he was forbidden on pain of arrest to reveal. She would assume that he must load the ship fast in case police observers showed up, and since she obviously didn't intend to leave the pad, he had no choice but to let her see how much more than usual they were carrying.
“Where’s your crew?” Gwen asked. “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
“Well, they wanted time off,” Jon lied, “so I’m taking this other guy, Ernie, as a replacement.” Reluctantly, he opened the van’s rear doors. They made quick work of moving the cargo, making sure that Gwen was too busy with boxes to notice the transfer of the blanket rolls.
“Would you take the van back to the observation deck so that I don’t have to, Gwen?” Jon asked when they were ready to board. “The owner’s going to pick it up there, and it will save you the walk.”
“Sure. Coming, Alison?”
“I’ll be along later,” Alison said lamely. But Gwen simply stood there, looking puzzled, and the inevitable could be put off no longer.
“Alison’s coming with me,” Jon announced. “I need an extra hand this trip and she’s been wanting to get a look at the sun.”
“Alison? But Jon, you’ve known I want to go since the day we met! You know I wanted to be a pilot till I lost the training lottery when I was sixteen. I’d be useful in space—more so than Alison, because I could make repairs if something went wrong with the ship.”
“Nothing’s going wrong; you’ve signed off on it and so I know it’s in top shape. Anyway, your company wouldn’t be likely to give you time off on such short notice, which is why I didn’t ask you.”
“I’ll quit! I’ve got plenty of freelance jobs, I’m thinking about quitting the company anyway.”
“Then maybe some other time soon.” Jon exchanged glances with Terry. It was risky to stand and argue, but on the other hand, Gwen would now be able to testify that Alison had boarded the ship; they wouldn’t have to leave other evidence for the accident investigators.
Gwen seemed about to explode. She was a good deal younger than Alison, Terry realized, and much younger than Jon. She wasn’t used to disappointment. “It’s not fair!” she protested. “Alison, you’re working, too—are you going to just abandon your clinic clients?”
Something had to be said, and Alison, in desperation, used the only plausible lie she could think of. “I’m taking a short vacation,” she said. “Jon and I want to be together. We’re—lovers.”
Astonished, Gwen stammered, “I–I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She was sorry for more than one reason, Terry saw. His telepathic sensitivity told him that she had feelings for Jon despite their age difference, and to his dismay he perceived that the feelings were mutual. No wonder Jon had been upset by the prospect of letting her believe he’d died.
“It’s time we got going,” Jon said gruffly. As he turned toward the ship, Terry, still facing away from it, saw what the others did not.
“There’s a car approaching,” he said, keeping his voice low. Not now, he was thinking—not twice! The other time he’d boarded Bonanza, the time he’d flown it while Jon was injured, he’d had to lift off hastily just ahead of the police. Reason told him that whoever was in this car had no reason to suspect him of anything, but his heart rate accelerated.
The car stopped beside the van and the man who got out strode purposefully toward them. Jon said, “It’s my boss miner—not the one that flew with you, Terry—and I told him this morning I’d postponed the trip. Thank God he didn’t see us load cargo. Come along while I talk to him, and act natural.”
Gwen drew back. “I must have dropped my phone in the hold," she said, “and since its outer hatch is sealed now, I’ll have to go in through the cabin. I’ll be quick so you can leave as soon as you’re through placating him.” She headed for the main hatch while the others went toward the parked car.
“What’s going on, Darrow?” demanded the miner, obviously angry. “Did you think I wouldn’t see your
pad lights on my way into the hotel bar?”
“Cool it, Mendoza,” Jon said. “I got the repair done sooner than I expected so since I’d said you’d be free to make a night of it, I decided to fly with some friends this weekend. This is Alison—she’s well, more than a friend, and she’s been wanting to go up with me. And Ernie here has agreed to help me out just this once.”
Mendoza scowled. “That might be once too often. I wouldn’t want to think you were cutting someone else in on a cargo deal.”
“Of course not, nothing like that. You don’t believe I’d take my woman anywhere near a starship, do you? She’s not immune from prosecution like registered crew members, so I’ll just show her my asteroid claim and pick up some high-grade ore. There’s no free trader in orbit now, so you can be sure I won’t be selling any till later, when you’re aboard.”
Though contact with starships was illegal, only the mining ship’s captain was liable, Terry recalled. The crew, being powerless to choose where they were taken, were officially assumed not to know unless they told someone. That was the only way the authorities’ smuggling racket could be made to work. Most miners spent the time while docked getting drunk or pretending to sleep, but they had to be paid shares; otherwise, if displeased with their captain, they might report him—which meant his inevitable arrest and imprisonment since the government could not ignore a report once it was filed.
Mendoza must know plenty about Jon’s past dealings with starships, Terry thought nervously. He might call the police if he felt Jon was planning to hide a sale from him.
“Well, okay,” Mendoza conceded, “as long as you’ve got a woman with you. She doesn’t look like the type for mine labor.”
“He’ll remember her,” Jon said quietly to Terry as Mendoza departed. “So it’s a good thing he came; it’ll provide evidence that she was aboard. Gwen’s testimony wouldn’t have been needed, and I’m sorrier than ever that she’s involved.”
“Especially since she helped load the boxes,” Terry agreed, “though I assume she knows better than to reveal that you were carrying cargo.”
“Gwen can look out for herself,” Jon assured him. “She may be impulsive, but she’s too sharp to let anything slip.”
Terry frowned. “Does she know what you told Mendoza? They might run into each other in the hotel bar, and if she mentions that you called on her for repairs only this afternoon, he’ll know you lied to him earlier. He could be reporting you to the police right now, for all we know.”
“God, you’re right,” Jon said uneasily. “Gwen had gone back for her phone and didn’t hear the excuse I gave him for not taking the crew. We’d better get out of here fast.”
They boarded the ship hastily, glad that the preflight checking had been done earlier, and Jon started the liftoff sequence. Terry settled into the copilot’s seat, remembering the night less than two weeks ago when, still a prisoner, he had flown secretly from this spaceport with Quaid. He had not imagined then that he would get away, much less that he would come back and escape again. He let out a deep breath. It was over—he was leaving Ciencia for the last time and from now on, whatever dangers lay ahead, he would be free!
Alison leaned forward from her seat behind the pilots. “We never said goodbye to Gwen. Did you see her get into the van, Jon?” The spot where it had been parked wasn’t visible from the cockpit.
“No, she must have left while we were with Mendoza. The inner hatch to the hold is sealed; I’d have a warning light if it wasn’t.” Mining ships were devoted almost entirely to cargo space; the cabin contained only seats for four people besides the pilots, two triple-deck bunks, a toilet and a small galley. Since the hold was unpressurized it could not be entered during flight except in case of an emergency requiring spacesuits.
Jon had spent most of his adult life in cramped quarters like this, Terry thought. A stateroom in Estel would seem luxurious to him. Alison, on the other hand, would find it hard to get used to. Was he crazy, asking her to live aboard indefinitely? Excited though she was to be going into space, that might wear off; not everyone shared his love of flying.
The ship shuddered and rose gently from the pad, then picked up speed as more power flowed to its antigravs. Within seconds the pad lights were a small circle below. Through the viewport, now filtered, the sun appeared as Bonanza broke through the thick cloud cover. Dazzling against the black backdrop of space, it filled Terry with the surge of elation he’d always felt on emerging from a planet’s atmosphere.
“God, Terry!” Alison cried out. “The sun! From the vids I didn’t guess—” She had never seen it before. Born on a world perpetually enshrouded, she had been unable to envision its brilliance.
From behind Alison another voice broke in—Gwen’s voice. “It’s awesome!” she exclaimed. “Brighter than I ever imagined.”
~ 8 ~
“Oh, my God.” Jon twisted around in the pilot’s seat, his face white. “Damn you, Gwen!” he burst out furiously, “I trusted you, vouched for you—how could you pull a stunt like this?”
Taken aback by his anger, Gwen said reproachfully, “I didn’t think you’d really mind. It’s not as if you and Alison could have any privacy in here with another man aboard, and on the asteroid you’ll be in spacesuits.” Then, sensing that this wasn’t what had infuriated him, she added, “I knew you won’t be doing anything illegal like contacting a starship with her along—I wouldn’t have risked interfering with that.”
Alison, too, was white with dismay. “I should have checked, I noticed that we hadn’t seen you leave—I suppose you were hiding in one of the bunks, behind the curtain. You couldn’t know you’d be putting us in danger.”
“What harm can I do? You’ve got more than enough consumables for four people; I was working in here all afternoon, and I saw Jon stow the supplies.”
“God help us,” Jon said despairingly. “We can’t go back now; it would attract attention. If we landed so soon we’d have to fake engine trouble and stay around for it to be investigated; the police would start asking questions.”
“I don’t understand,” Gwen protested.
“No. You don’t.”
“Why would you want to go back? I won’t be that much of a nuisance, I’ll stay out of your way if I can’t be useful.”
Neither Jon nor Alison dared to answer. It was time for him to take charge, Terry realized. “What’s done is done,” he said decisively. “We can’t return now and we can’t spend days in orbit and then take right off again. It’s too big a risk—if I were caught the rest of you would be considered accomplices. Gwen’s made her decision and she’ll have to live with it. Tell her the truth, Alison.”
“Gwen,” Alison said soberly, “We’re not planning to go back, ever. We’re leaving Ciencia for good.”
“Leaving? But that’s impossible—where is there to go?”
“We’re going aboard Estel, to other worlds.”
“Estel! But even if it’s real, its captain’s in prison.”
“Not anymore,” Terry said, “but I would be if someone saw through my disguise. My name isn’t Ernie. I was warned not to talk to you, Gwen, because Alison thought you might recognize my voice.”
Gwen stared at him incredulously. “I–I do,” she mumbled, awed. “I guess the police must be looking for you.”
“Then you see what this means. We can’t take you home, so you’ll have to join us. For me that’s great; Estel can use an engineer—it will save us from having to show ourselves at spaceports often. But I wouldn’t have chosen to expose you to the dangers we’ll be facing.”
“Don’t worry about it. If Jon and Alison don’t mind them, neither do I.”
“Well, with Alison there’s more to it.”
“I lied to you about me and Jon,” Alison said. “I hoped it would keep you from sticking around where you might be implicated in our getaway. It’s Terry I’m with. He’s been to Estel once since escaping from prison, but he came back for me.”
“I wasn�
��t sure there really is an Estel,” Gwen admitted. “Some people think it’s imaginary, as the government claims.”
“It was, until recently,” Terry said. “But there’s a ship with that name now, and I own it. There’s a lot I can’t tell you till I know you better, Gwen, and some things I can’t ever tell anyone. You’re going to have to accept the fact that I have secrets you don’t share. But you do need to know about the risks.”
Gwen nodded. “What can be so dangerous after we’re gone from here?”
“For one thing, we’ll be smugglers, so wherever we are we’ll have to avoid being captured either by the authorities or by pirates. And for another, I have enemies who will try to stop me from spreading the word about mind faculties that aren’t acknowledged by science.”
“Even on worlds where they’re legal to read about?”
“Yes, people don’t always believe what they read, or bother to read about such subjects in the first place—and there are some who don’t want them to. My aim is to counter that.”
“I want to help,” Gwen declared. “Only—I don’t know much about starships; I’m not qualified to repair one.”
“You can’t work on the hyperdrive, of course. We’ll have to take it to a starport for that anyway, but, barring some catastrophe, no oftener than we need to refuel. The rest of the maintenance work is the same as on any ship, and you’ll have access to all the specs.”
There was a long silence while Gwen absorbed this. Then, turning to Jon, she said, “I had no right to push in when you made plain that I wasn’t wanted. Now you’re stuck with me, and I can’t pretend I’m not happy to be here. But I’m sorry I betrayed your trust.”
“I do want you,” Jon said in a low voice. “I was mad because I was afraid for you—and because I don’t like your being forced to leave everything in your life behind without having chosen it.”
“The only things I cared about back there were my work and what I was doing to promote Estelan ideas,” she said. “It looks like I’ve still got all that. As for people—” She broke off, blushing.
The Rising Flame: Box Set: Defender of the Flame + Herald of the Flame Page 49