Long View - Rissa And Tregare Part 12

He smiled again. "All right-Liesel ate me alive, you might say, but she didn't skin me. I still have my holdings, just not the control-and it's to her own advantage to run things well. And when the showdown comes, I'd bet you anything I'm on the winning side!"

"You have discussed it with others-this showdown?"

"Used to, some-over drinks and such. No more, though- now I know it's real, it's too dangerous to gab about. Am I right?"

"If about the one thing, then about the other also, I would say."

He nodded. "You belong with the Hulzeins, all right; you keep a tight string."

She looked at her watch. "Oh-my appointment is soon. I-"

"Sure." Bleeker stood; again he offered his hand and she took it. "Well, I'm pleased you came by. Wanted to tell you- 88.nothing shaken, your part in all that happened. And Welt-marks or no Weltmarks, I'm glad you finished Stagon dal Nardo."

"I am never glad of killing. But dal Nardo-it was difficult to grieve for him."

His face lost all expression; before he could speak, she turned to leave. "Good-bye, Mr.

Sleeker. Another time, perhaps."

She walked out and left the building. Walking briskly, she reached the DRC building with minutes to spare. Inside, she met Estelle Marco in the corridor and was directed to the laboratory. She removed her clothing and climbed onto the high table. Soon the doctor entered.

"You're ready, I see. All right, feet up there-yes. Now-" The old woman's hands moved surely; within her Rissa felt the fingers probing, then a slight pain-then, for a time, nothing.

She tried to follow what the doctor had told her would happen -the plastic tube searching for her own, partially withdrawing and rotating and again advancing-but could localize no sensation. Finally she did feel it, being drawn out of her.

"A moment, let me look-yes, you're all right. Put your clothes on, if you like-or maybe you'd rather see this."

Rissa stood and followed as the doctor took the collector to a workbench and examined its tiny transparent receptacle under a microscope. A pause. "Well, we caught it all right." She turned to face Rissa. "Now, then-do you want the cells stored separately, or conceived first?"

"Is there advantage one way or the other?"

Marco shrugged. "Some say so-that only the stronger sperm stay potent in the freeze.

If that's so, you're betting for a more hardy zygote, but with less chance of getting one at all."

"Conception now, I would say-and the zygote itself frozen at the proper stage. Which is-?"

"After the habit of cell division has been reinforced a time or two. I prefer to freeze while a division is in process; an action halted midway has momentum to restart when the zygote is thawed."

"Very well. Do it so, please." Now Rissa dressed herself. "And are we finished, then, for this time?"

89."Yes. Call me a day or two ahead, if you can, when you're ready for the next try."

"I will. And thank you, doctor."

Already moving apparatus into place for the next step, the old woman smiled and waved her good-bye. Rissa smiled in return, nodded, and left.

OUTSIDE, she broke into a jog, laughing in exhilaration. At the aircar she saw Sparline's note: Plans changed. Little trip with F's people, their transport.

They'll return me to the Lodge so this car's yours for the day.

-S.M.

It was not yet noon but Rissa felt hunger. Debating with herself, she decided she could wait. Flying low and fast she returned to Hulzein Lodge. , Entering, she met Liesel in the main corridor. "Back for lunch, are you? But where's Sparline?" Rissa explained, and a few minutes later joined Liesel in the dining room.

They chose luncheon from what was most quickly available and soon were served. Liesel said, "Bran called. The incoming s.h.i.+p-he finally got a clear message-it's Peralta, on No Return. Be here in less than a week, now, and the routine's the same as Limmer's was- refuel, sell cargo, stock supplies and move to Base Two."

"Then he has four s.h.i.+ps-only two more are needed! Unless -you know he does not wish to leave Number One unguarded against the Shrakken." She paused. "Did he leave word for me?"

Liesel chuckled. "He put me on hold while he recorded something to your extension. It's short, is all I know-probably just saying join him when you can if not sooner."

"That would be both welcome and sufficient. And-is there any reason not to do so at once?"

"I'd like a little of your time first. Not much-just a few decisions you should make in the line of business. But you 90.haven't said-how did it go today in town?"

Telling the morning's events, Rissa ended with, "Bleeker has adjusted well; he no longer minds that you decide for him."

"Hah! I don't, really. At first, yes-then I began asking his opinions, and with the pressure off, he's making good choices again. I set policy-after that, he has a fairly free hand. If he doesn't know it, though, I'll wait awhile before I tell him."

"Yes. Well, I am finished, and I see you have been waiting for me. I would like to hear Bran's message, and then we can confer."

"Sure. I'll be in my office."

Upstairs, Rissa played the screen's tape. First, a request for information from the warehouse construction superintendent -he was not available, so she, also, recorded her answers, along with questions of her own. Bran's call came next; the picture hardly existed, but his voice came clear.

"Rissa? I'm at Two, staying on Lefthand Thread. Call me here when you're ready to come through the Hills. I miss you."

She called the scout; Anse Kenekke relayed her to Limmer's s.h.i.+p, and soon Tregare spoke to her. "Everything go all right? You ready to come here?''

"Yes, and yes. Where shall I meet you?"

"The cabin's best. I may be late, so eat when you get hungry. You're not nervous about running the pa.s.s?"

"No, Bran. The angle of light will favor me."

"All right. Be braced for the rough spots-remember?"

"Surely. And I hope you will not be kept too late."

He laughed. "No chance. All right-I'll see you then."

"Good-bye, Bran." She checked the tape again; it held nothing more, so she joined Liesel downstairs. The conference was brief; Rissa found most of the decisions obvious, and Liesel did not disagree with any.

"That does it, then. And now you're off across the Hills?"

"Yes. Two minutes to pack and I can be on my way."

"You and Bran come back when you get the chance. And going through that d.a.m.ned pa.s.s of his, be careful."

"There is no way to be careful there. One can only be correct-and I intend to be."

"Then I won't worry." They said good-byes. In not much 91.longer than the two minutes she had predicted, Rissa had the aircar rising along the line of the ridges above.

SHE had the oxygen equipment out early; the pa.s.s was no place to have to scrabble under the seat. Ahead she saw clouds-if the sun is obscured in the pa.s.s itself-then she saw another way. Tregare had followed rising ground levels to the mouth of the cut. She began to climb, gaining alt.i.tude far ahead of her turning point. She wondered-if the approach could be made so easily, why had he not done the same? Expecting the unexpected, she concentrated her alertness and veered away from the Hills to make her direct approach, when she would reach the cut from greater distance as well as greater height.

Ahead she saw it, then came abreast and turned. Still climbing at full power, she pointed toward its center. First there was calm-this cannot be all of it-then an invisible current shook the car and thrust it downward at a rate that shocked her. Dropping, the car lost forward speed; she saw only one choice and took it-deliberately she went into a dive.

Adrenaline hit her; time slowed. Would it be enough? When her speed satisfied her, she pulled the nose up sharply and shot -pitching wildly-through the entrance turbulence into the narrow cut, higher and faster than Tregare had done.

Into grayness! She went through a brief bright patch; then the sun was lost again. Her eyes readjusted soon enough to glimpse the white tumble of boulders. She cut sharply into the turn she could not see and narrowly missed crags at her left. Too soon! Only her higher alt.i.tude, giving more width for maneuver, had saved her.

The second turn! The light was against her now but she knew it had to be soon-saw a shadow and swung into it-the cut widened again and she was safe. Well above summit height, she stayed there until the ground below came its closest and began to drop away.

She spoke aloud. "Next time, peace knows-I'll ask first!" But she thought, all things considered, she had not done so badly!

She made a slow, curving descent, barely topping the last 92 .

ridge before her direct approach to the plateau. She saw the scouts.h.i.+p but not the second aircar; Tregare, then, was still at Two. She landed, saw no one about, and went into the cabin.

Its door was locked. She turned her key in the pattern that opened without setting off alarms. Inside, she opened their suitcases and stowed the contents into drawers.

She had a shower, long and hot. She called the scouts.h.i.+p and found herself automatically relayed through to Lefthand Thread. Tregare was not aboard, and the man who answered did not know how to connect her with Carcharadon, so she said, "Then please tell Tregare that his wife arrived safely at Base One.'" He acknowledged and she cut the circuit.

SHE went outside and met Kenekke guiding a sort of motorized wheelbarrow, piled high with boxes. "h.e.l.lo, Anse. Now I see why I got automatic relay when I called the scout." "Hi, Ms. Kerguelen. Yes, I set it that way when I go out." "Have you been here all along? Since we left, I mean?" "No, I've spent some time down at Two.

Hain's there now."

"Do you take turns between here and there?" "More than we'd like, but it's only for a little while." "Good. Well, I will not interrupt your work further." They smiled and she went back into the cabin.

Restless, she paced the main room. Then, in the kitchen she poured fruit juice and sat. I cannot be inactive like this-I must learn the work they do at Base Two and help with it. Decision made, she went to the scout; Kenekke admitted her. "If I might trouble you a moment?" He nodded. "Are there reading-tapes here, and a projector?" "Yes, sure. What kind of tapes do you want?" "Technical material. If possible, on the installation of weapons. That is what Tregare is doing, and I wish to help-if only because, if I stay in that cabin much longer, I shall begin chewing it into small pieces!"

He laughed. "I could gnaw a few chunks off this scout, myself. Well, let's see-there's not much on weapons as such, but it's jury-rigging for installation that concerns us now." "Yes- that is what I would like to see."

93."It won't be on tapes, though-the captain worked all that out on paper. He made copies. I think I can find you a complete set, or nearly."

"I will certainly appreciate it, if you can." The man looked through a chest of large, flat drawers, removing drawings and sheets of notes, and piling these on the cart-table. Finally, "I think this is most of it, Ms. Kerguelen." He frowned for a moment. "I'll have to remember; the captain said that around other folks, we're to call you Ms. Obrigo." He shook his head. "I guess I don't have to understand it."

She touched his hand briefly. "You and Hain heard my true name because I could tell Bran Tregare trusts you. I am not certain whether it is so important here to hide my ident.i.ty. But on Earth thirty years ago, it was a matter of death. And, as we know, UET has long fingers."

"UET!" Kenekke's face and voice made a snarl. Then he hunched his shoulders, rolled his head from side to side; she could sense the crackling tensions leaving him. "If it's against them-don't worry; I won't make any slips. And neither will Hain." He smiled tentatively.

"They wanted you bad, eh? I hope you stuck 'em a good one!"

"They thought so, apparently." She hesitated. "Enough so, that to get off Earth safely I had to kill a Committee policeb.i.t.c.h. And another of their hounds, I am told, was sent to follow me to Terranova-but he did not expect me to get off at a halfway point when I had paid to go so much farther."

"Their greed-they can't believe we're not all as greedy." Kenekke laughed. "You go s.p.a.cing for them-they keep everything you own tied up, and think that ties you. 1 walked off from the whole lot-and they're welcome to it, for I have freedom, and-"

"And you would not trade! Of course not. Neither would I." She started to pick up the large, awkward papers, trying not to lose the pile of smaller sheets. Kenekke took the over- sized drawings and fas.h.i.+oned them into a long roll. Then he slid the smaller notesheets into a plastic folder.

"Here-easier handling, this way." She thanked him and returned to the cabin.

She had had her fill of fruit juice; she made a pot of coffee.

94.She put the papers in the best order she could determine -Tregare's numbering system was helpful, but she found it somewhat cryptic-and began studying drawings along with the correlated notes. At first it was like learning a new language, but she persisted and soon was understanding more than not of what she read.

Dark approached. She turned lights on and closed the curtains, and suddenly realized she had forgotten to eat dinner. She was hungry but-let's see now-she turned a sheet, looked back to the previous one, saw the discrepancy she had missed, and nodded.

PART of her mind heard the aircar land, but she paid no conscious heed until the knock resounded at the front door. Then she sprang up and ran to open it.

"Bran!" She hugged him and raised her face; his kiss was quick and light, and he did not return her embrace. Puzzled, she stepped back-then saw his hands held out from his sides, black with grime, and the smears on face and clothes.

He laughed. "Let me clean up; then I'll greet you properly." He gestured. "See? You got a smudge on your front, there."

She brushed at it and shook her head. "I do not care. But, all right-get your clothes off; I will run the tub for you."

With the water running at the proper heat, she went to the kitchen for her coffee, and brought a chair to set beside the tub. Tregare slid down into the hot water. "Aah-this is good!"

"Since when do captains get their hands so dirty? And how does the work progress?"

"Captains do what they know best, like anybody else. Progress? Not bad, except someone misread a drawing and welded a turret mount in, the wrong way around. That's how I got so pretty-cutting the thing free and helping manhandle it into place, then welding it in right.

Simpler to do it than tell it."

She nodded. "Some things are-I have also found that true. But I meant-what proportion of work is done, on Vanois' s.h.i.+p? And have you begun on Limmer's?"

"Limmer's? Lefthand Thread's already equipped." He 95 paused to rinse lather from his hair, then said, "I guess I haven't filled you in on that part of the operation. All right -you guessed it back on Inconnu-my a.r.s.enal's on a place called New Hope. I ran onto a group of Escaped UET technicians trying to make a living there. Pioneer world-not much market for their talents-making farm machinery was about the size of it. But some of them were weapons experts, so we made a deal."

She smiled. "Tregare, the Good Samaritan at a profit."

"Right again. I provided the equipment they needed, and drawings, and samples of a few pieces of hardware. Yes-that missing projector you noticed, for one. So they build weapons for me. And when Limmer picked up the first load, he had them equip Lefthand Thread, just to be sure everything worked."

"First load?"

"Enough to arm six more s.h.i.+ps, to make up the eight I want. Only three on UET's schedule are armed, so five of mine-if I have eight-get rigged with dummy hull plates to hide the weapons. Limmers is fixed that way-that's why you can't see it's armed. For combat, the plates are jettisoned." Trying to reach behind him, he winced. "Hey-scrub my back, will you? Bruised my shoulder-not much of a thing, but right now it hurts to reach back that way."

"All right." She rubbed lather onto him, then rinsed it, splas.h.i.+ng water up as he bent forward. "Now-tell me something of the weapons themselves, since I am to train in operating them."

"Sure. Well, there's two kinds, plus a defense-of sorts- against one of them. Three separate jobs, there; take your pick."

He leaned back again. "The energy projectors-Inconnu mounts eight-are the trickiest to handle. Each one is a pair of lasers-above visual range-that have to converge on target and heterodyne for peak heat in the infrared. You can blow a hull to vapor-if you're tuned right and your convergence is on. Tuning's tricky because frequencies drift as the thing heats up when you fire. UET never bothered; they just set it to creep through the hot part of the spectrum in the first five-six shots."

96."But on your s.h.i.+ps it is different?"

"Yes. You've got a tuning lever-for one component only, because it's the difference that counts-and a monitor display. When you're on-peak, your scope shows a circle; if it tilts, you move your right-hand lever the other way to push it back."

"That does not sound too difficult."

"Except that with your left hand you're controlling convergence. If the light on either side of your scope starts blinking, you move the range lever in that direction until it goes out. So you're watching and doing two things at once, and it takes practice to get your coordination down to a reflex."