Quintaro’s face darkened, and he seemed about to get to his feet, when Sapphire laid a hand lightly on his arm.
“He’s right,” she said coldly. “Shut up.”
The anger didn’t vanish, but he didn’t say another word.
They sat silently, facing each other. Scorpio paid no attention to Quintaro but stared directly at Sapphire. His only observation by the time he fell asleep twenty minutes later was that she never blinked.
Merlin had rejoined them by the time Scorpio awoke. Quintaro was sprawled in a water-resistant one-man tent, snoring, and Sapphire was sitting motionless, her back against a tree trunk, protected from the rain by the overhanging branches, exactly as she’d been when he’d fallen asleep. His first thought was that she had somehow died during the night, but when he got to his feet, she did the same.
“Wake your friend and we’ll be on our way,” said Scorpio.
She stepped on the splayed fingers of Quintaro’s left hand.
“Damn!” he yelled, getting to his knees and shaking the hand vigorously. Then he saw who had been responsible for it, and all anger vanished.
“Five minutes to take care of your morning ablutions,” announced Scorpio. “We’ll eat in the vehicle.”
Why do I detect added tension? asked Merlin. I thought I was the one taking all the risks last night.
You ever see her eat, or sneak off to relieve herself?
No. But I already told you she wasn’t human.
I could fill a book with things she isn’t, replied Scorpio. What the hell is she?
I have no idea.
Was she in any danger last night? Can she even feel pain?
There’s an easy way to find out.
Oh?
You’ll see.
Quintaro returned a couple of minutes later, Scorpio walked off for a few minutes and returned, and the four of them began approaching the vehicle, which was about ten yards away. As they did so, Merlin “accidentally” bumped against Sapphire, and her upper arm made contact with the branch of a thorn-covered bush.
“Merlin apologizes,” said Scorpio quickly.
“Not a problem,” she replied.
“You’re bleeding,” he noted, indicating a pair of dark spots that suddenly appeared at the point of contact.
She looked at her arm, said “Oh,” and continued walking to the vehicle.
Hypothesis, thought Merlin. If you cut her, she bleeds. She just doesn’t feel it or care about it.
They reached the vehicle, climbed into it, and began moving. Scorpio tried to think of the direction as “inland,” but he was so thoroughly lost and so completely surrounded by jungle except for a handful of narrow, winding trails that the whole planet seemed inland from where he was.
“Any idea how much farther we have to go?” he asked Quintaro, on the assumption that there was no sense asking Sapphire.
“Beats me,” he said. He jerked a thumb toward Sapphire. “She’s my map.”
“Has she deigned to tell you what we do when we get there?”
“Pick it up and go home,” answered Quintaro.
“I mean, is it above the ground? Is it in plain sight? Is it guarded, and if so, by who or by what?”
“I don’t know,” said Quintaro. “I just know it’ll put us on easy street for life.”
Is he holding back anything, or maybe out-and-out lying? asked Scorpio.
Nope. View him as one hundred percent dupe.
Why did she choose him, I wonder?
Half the reason’s in your pocket.
After an uneventful three hours, the rain finally became no more than a light drizzle. Scorpio stopped, just to rest his eyes for a few minutes. Quintaro got out to stretch his legs, as did Merlin, who found the vehicle especially unsuited to a member of his race.
“How’s your arm?” Scorpio asked Sapphire, who had remained seated.
“It’s fine,” she replied. “But you knew that.”
“We could talk about all the things I don’t know instead,” offered Scorpio. “Quantum mechanics, ancient Mercurian pottery, godstones …”
“You know what you need to know,” said Sapphire.
“I hope you don’t think I want the damned thing for myself,” said Scorpio. “If I did, I wouldn’t be driving you to it.”
“That is not a satisfactory answer, Mr. Scorpio.”
“Oh?”
“Mr. Quintaro and I are in your power. He is a fool, as well you know.”
“And you are …?”
“A weak, helpless woman,” she answered.
“That may be a record,” said Scorpio, smiling at her. “Three lies in a four-word sentence.”
She did not return his smile, but she took no offense, and indeed didn’t react at all.
“So what does a godstone do?” continued Scorpio.
She stared at him and did not answer.
“You said it was worth more than diamonds. Forgive my ignorance, but what is worth more than diamonds?”
Silence.
“How long have you been looking for it?”
No answer.
“A year? Three years?” A pause. “Ten thousand years?”
No reaction, and no answer.
“Sooner or later, we really have to have a little talk,” said Scorpio. “A two-sided talk. I’m sure you think my partner and I are expendable, just as I know you think Quintaro is. Leaving aside whether Merlin and I can take care of ourselves, if there is a godstone, whatever the hell that means, is Venus expendable?”
“Venus is my home,” she said in cold, flat, emotionless tones.
“So you can answer when you want to.”
She stared at him and offered no reply.
“What makes you want to?” he asked. “For example, how about an identical blue woman named Sapphire who is leading an expedition that’s looking for something called—you’ll never believe this—a godstone? You think that might be an interesting topic of conversation?”
“Try not to be as big a fool as Quintaro.”
“You sure know how to hurt a guy,” said Scorpio.
“Yes, I do,” replied Sapphire. “You would do well to remember that.”
“It’s never far from my mind,” he assured her. “One last question.”
“Good.”
“For this conversation,” he qualified. He stared at her. “Did you pick us, or did Quintaro?” He held up a hand. “Before you say it was him, I know who approached us and made the offer. But was it his idea or yours?”
“He has no ideas,” said Sapphire.
“All right,” said Scorpio. “Then let me ask you: why us?”
“He told you why. You are said to be the most lethal man on the planet, and even I do not know who or what will be guarding the godstone.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “Okay,” he said at last. “We’ll talk again later.”
She neither confirmed nor contradicted him but merely stared at him. Or through him, he decided.
He climbed out of the vehicle, walked around for a few moments to get a little life back into his legs, then joined Merlin, who was staring at some large golden fish in a stream.
“You’re hungry after everything—or everyone—that you ate last night?” he asked with a smile.
No, I just like their colors, and the patterns they make when the light hits them through the water.
Our blue-skinned passenger thinks we’re going to run into some trouble when we finally reach the godstone.
I know. I see the conversation in your mind.
What do you think? asked Scorpio. We’re just pawns in whatever game she’s playing. We could steal the vehicle right now, strand them here, and go back to McAnany’s tavern. Quintaro probably won’t last a day, but somehow I think it would only prove a minor inconvenience to her.
I think we don’t want to be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.
“Okay,” said Scorpio aloud. “It was just a suggestion. Let’s get back
to the vehicle.”
He called to Quintaro, and a few moments later the vehicle was making its way along the muddy trail.
They came to the first fork they’d encountered in almost two days, and Sapphire directed Scorpio to keep to the left. He did so, and soon the road began winding downhill. By nightfall, they were running alongside a major river, perhaps two miles across. The rain returned with a vengeance, and they spent the night inside the vehicle, doing their best to ignore the thunder and the discomfort.
At dawn, they began again, but within a mile the trail had totally washed away, and Sapphire directed Scorpio to take the amphibious vehicle into the river, which paralleled the trail for quite a few miles, and simply keep to the water until the trail was passable again.
“I hate all this water!” complained Quintaro.
“Be glad you have it,” replied Scorpio, plunging the vehicle into the river as it morphed into a boat.
“Be glad of this?”
“Comes from the clouds,” said Scorpio. “No clouds, no rain—but also no clouds and this is a desert world too hot for anything to live on it.”
“They live on Mercury, don’t they?” said Quintaro irritably.
“Not on the sunward side, they don’t,” replied Scorpio. “They stick to the terminator zone and the dark side.”
“You’ve been there, I presume?” said Quintaro dubiously.
“A couple of times,” Scorpio confirmed. “Not my favorite place.”
“Scorpion!” said Sapphire suddenly. “Hard left!”
Scorpio instantly did as she ordered and saw a huge creature, about the size of a humpback whale, far more reptilian than fish or mammal, suddenly surface where they had been, pluck three low-flying avians out of the sky in its gaping jaws, then vanish beneath the water again.
“I’ve seen stuff like that in the ocean!” remarked Quintaro. “But inland, in a river?”
“This isn’t like Earth,” explained Scorpio. “It’s all freshwater, and every creature that lives in the one can swim in the other.”
“God, I hate this world!” snapped Quintaro.
“Then what are you doing here?”
Quintaro made a face. “Looking for action. I’d been hearing about baxitla—that’s the Venusian card game—for years, so I thought I might as well give it a try.” A smug smile. “Did okay, too. You cost me less than one night’s winnings. And I met her”—he jerked a thumb in Sapphire’s direction—“and once we get our hands on the godstone, I plan to open my own casino in Marsport.”
Just what Marsport needs, thought Scorpio. An eighty-fourth casino—or is it the eighty-fifth?
It’s all academic, answered Merlin. However this ends up, you don’t think he’s going make any money, do you?
Scorpio gave the creature five minutes to get sufficiently downstream, then guided the VZ4 back to the center of the river.
They proceeded for another seven miles, then he decided that the trail was safe enough to handle the vehicle, so he ordered the wheels to emerge, withdrew the rudder into the interior, and was soon traversing the jungle road once more.
“How’s this thing fixed for fuel?” asked Quintaro. “I haven’t noticed you refreshing the pile or whatever the hell it runs on since we started.”
“It’s got a series of atomic batteries,” answered Scorpio. “We started with a dozen, and we’ve drained two of them and are on our third.” He paused, then added with a smile, “It’s your vehicle. I figure you’d have asked the salesman.”
“Took it right out of the showroom,” answered Quintaro smoothly. Then: “Will we have enough to get back?”
“Depends on where we’re going,” said Scorpio. “Ask your ladyfriend.”
Which ended the conversation.
The rain increased as night fell, the trees weren’t clustered enough or carrying enough foliage to provide sufficient shelter, and they slept in the vehicle once more. Merlin was gone when Scorpio awoke, but that wasn’t unusual. The Venusian was out hunting for a meal, and he’d be back when he’d killed and eaten it.
“Does it ever cool off?” muttered Quintaro as he climbed out of the vehicle and went off toward a cluster of trees.
“Sure,” said Scorpio. “As soon as the rain stops.”
Quintaro glared at him, then disappeared behind the trees.
“We’re alone again,” noted Scorpio. “Care to continue our conversation?”
No answer.
“May I take your silence as an affirmative?”
“Does that pass for wit on Earth?” she asked coldly.
“Haven’t you been there?”
She stared at him without speaking.
“I hope to hell this damned stone exists, and it’s everything you think it is.”
“It exists,” she said with absolute certainty.
“With a name like ‘godstone’ it must be part of some religion,” he continued.
She remained silent.
“You might tell me a little something about it, including where you think it is. I’d hate to have the other Dragon Lady get there first.”
She gave him a contemptuous glare, then got out of the vehicle, walked to the far side of the clearing, and raised her unblinking face to the sky, oblivious of the rain cascading down.
“Come on back!” he said, half shouting to be heard over the rain. “I won’t ask any more questions.” This morning, he added mentally.
She stood motionless for a full minute. He sat where he was, watching her, thinking that under other circumstances he could admire a figure like that all day, especially the way the water made her outfit cling to it, but all he could do was wonder what was going on inside that head.
Finally, she returned to the vehicle just as Quintaro reappeared. Then it was simply a matter of waiting for Merlin.
When he hadn’t shown up for another half hour, Scorpio got out of the vehicle. He couldn’t search for tracks—they were washing away almost as fast as they were made, and besides, Merlin’s had probably been made hours ago, but he felt he had to do something, even if just get wet. He heard chattering in the branches above him, looked up, and saw a family of monkeylike bipeds huddled against the rain. They didn’t have tails like the monkeys of Earth did, but growing out of each wrist was not only a hand but a long, thin tentacle that functioned like a tail, wrapping around limbs to secure the owner’s position.
After another few minutes a thought reached him.
Stop standing in the rain, you idiot, and get the med kit ready. I’ll be there in another minute.
Scorpio rushed around to the back of the vehicle, opened it up, and got the kit. As he did so, Merlin broke through the foliage and came into view, limping painfully across the small clearing.
“What the hell happened to you?” said Scorpio. “You need help getting into the vehicle?”
No, I can make it, thought Merlin, and proved it by jumping up into it, emitting a pained grunt. I can’t reach my wounds. Rub some antiseptic and painkiller on them.
Scorpio applied the proper medications. “I take it breakfast fought back?” he said as he rubbed them in.
No. There’s another safari out here.
A safari?
I don’t know what else you’d call it.
They can’t be on foot?
No, they’re in a pair of vehicles. There are only four of them left—well, three now. One of the men took a shot at me—probably thought I was dinner. He did me some damage, as you can see. When he knew I was hit, he left the vehicle and came after me.
You killed him, of course, thought Scorpio.
Of course.
I wonder what the devil they’re hunting for this far from what passes for civilization?
I thought you’d never ask, replied Merlin. They’re after the godstone—and they’ve got a blue-skinned lady guiding them.
Oh, shit! Scorpio paused for a moment. Is this the same group as the guy we found a couple of days ago?
Probably.
&nbs
p; Probably?
He died before I could find out.
How far are they from us?
Maybe four miles west. Five at the outside.
Okay, try to get some rest.
Scorpio closed and latched the back, then walked around and climbed onto his seat.
“Is he all right?” asked Quintaro without much interest.
“He’s a hard one to kill,” answered Scorpio. He turned to face Sapphire. “Mind if I ask you a question or two?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“Live with it,” he said. “My first question: have you got a sister?”
She didn’t answer, but he thought he could see the muscles in her face suddenly become tense.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ve got another one, and this time I’m going to insist on an answer.”
“Leave her alone!” snapped Quintaro.
“Be quiet,” said Scorpio. “This doesn’t concern you.” He turned back to Sapphire. “Are we in a race?”
“No,” she said.
“You’re sure?”
She merely stared at him.
You might as well proceed, thought Merlin. You can’t turn back, not now that you’ve as much as told her we’re within walking distance of her double’s safari.
You really think she can stop us or do us harm if we do turn back?
I’m incapacitated, and you’re in no more danger going forward than going back to the tavern against her wishes.
Shit! I hate it when you make sense.
Scorpio put the vehicle in gear and began proceeding once again along the muddy trail.
They traveled for two more hours, and suddenly Scorpio could see another river—or an equally broad branch of the river he was paralleling—sweeping toward them from his right. He brought the vehicle to a halt and turned once again to Sapphire.
“All right,” he said. “Either I’m going to have to cross the river at some point in the next couple of miles, or I’m going to turn to the right, but even then we’re going to be confronted by another river. So which way do you want me to go?”
“Straight,” she said.
“You’re sure?”
She merely stared at him. He shrugged and began moving forward again. The forest began thinning out, and suddenly he came to a valley that was almost devoid of trees, and again he stopped.
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