Lady Lure (24 page)

“That is exactly right.” Halvo cocked an
eyebrow at her. “It is your life I am planning to risk, as well as
my own, so you deserve a say in this decision. How do you
vote?”

“Do it,” she said at once. “I trust you, if
not the ship.”

His eyes held hers for a moment before he
turned back to the controls.

It was a bumpy ride, and a hot one. The
Space Dragon’s
heat shield, which had been damaged along
with other parts of the ship, began to burn away as they entered
the planet’s atmosphere. They could all see on the viewscreens the
resultant smoke, the debris tearing off the ship, and even a tongue
or two of flame. The temperature inside the
Space Dragon
rose until Perri and Halvo were drenched in perspiration.

Perri was more terrified than at any other
time since her adventures in space had first begun, but she would
not let Halvo know it. Teeth clenched against a scream, shoulders
rigid, she stayed at her post and obeyed Halvo’s terse orders
though her clammy hands slipped on the buttons and her damp hair
flopped into her eyes and had to be brushed away so she could
see.

But the greater part of the heat shield did
hold and Halvo’s piloting skills took them into the lower
atmosphere. The last few loose pieces fell from the shield and the
smoke disappeared.

Perri attempted to take a long breath, only
to realize how thin and contaminated by foul odors the air in the
cockpit was. Halvo, who was intent upon the controls and oblivious
to all else, did not appear to notice the air was tainted, and of
course, Rolli did not require clean air in order to function.

Considering everything that was wrong with
the
Space Dragon,
Perri thought it remarkable that Halvo
guided the ship to a safe landing. He used the nearly powerless
ship as a glider, skimming over mile after mile of a wide ocean,
keeping them in the air until Perri had located an island with a
flat surface that was large enough to allow the ship to roll to a
gradual stop in case the braking thrusters should fail. Which they
did, after a short burst that slowed the
Space Dragon’s
velocity by only a little.

“You are the most amazing pilot!” Perri was
almost in tears from relief when their forward motion finally
halted.

“Unfortunately, we overshot our preferred
landing spot by far too much,” Halvo said. “We are on the opposite
side of the planet from where we want to be.”

“Perhaps that is not a bad thing.”

“Perri, you make me think you don’t want to
meet my brother,” Halvo said.

“I think your brother will not want to meet
our Regulan pursuers,” she said, deliberately neglecting to add
that Halvo’s brother would not be happy to meet the woman who had
abducted so important a family member.

“We are not likely to meet anyone unless we
can make some major repairs,” Rolli said, breaking into the
conversation. “If you will recall, Admiral, our communications
system is not working.”

“The air is getting worse, too,” Perri said.
“I have a headache.”

“Bad air is one problem I can easily fix.”
Halvo went to the entrance hatch and pressed the release button. A
moment later a fresh, warm breeze blew into the cockpit bringing
with it the fragrance of exotic flowers mixed with a salty
tang.

Unable to wait any longer to be free of the
confines of the
Space Dragon,
Perri stepped outside. She
looked around and then turned to Halvo, who was lifting Rolli out
of the ship.

“This is a much nicer place than our last
stop.” She spread her arms wide as if to embrace the entire planet.
“Is that surf I hear?”

She knew – or thought she knew, for the
navigational instruments had been increasingly un-dependable during
the last hour – that Halvo had landed them on the upper left arm of
an island shaped like the letter V. Perri stood in a narrow,
sloping meadow that ended in an abrupt drop. The meadow was dotted
with flowers in brilliant shades of clear yellow or blue or striped
red and orange. A few dainty white blossoms were scattered here and
there among the brighter colors. The wild grasses were intensely
green. Off to the south was a dense forest, and beyond the trees on
the southern horizon a line of high mountains reared upward, their
tallest peaks capped with snow. On the other three sides of the
meadow lay a purple-green sea. The sky was a blue so dark it was
almost purple and the sun – the same star that had shone pure white
when seen from space – was a glorious, warm orange and much larger
than the Regulan sun.

“I want to see what is over the edge,” Perri
said. She started forward, only to have Halvo catch her arm to stop
her.

“Go slowly,” he said, “and carefully. We
don’t know what – or who – is beyond that drop in the ground.”

“Then come with me.” Pulling away from him
she continued across the meadow, following the downward slope of
the land.

“Perri, come back,” Rolli said. “I must warn
you that you are set upon a possibly hazardous course.”

“What harm can there be in walking across a
meadow?” Perri said. “We have just escaped a fiery death. I want to
relax for a few minutes.”

“She’s right,” Halvo said to the robot.
“Happily for you, you are not capable of experiencing the fears
that Perri and I have known over the last few hours. Humans need a
chance to recuperate after coming so close to death.”

“Admiral, my programming compels me to
protest. This is not the time for frivolity. The
Space
Dragon
requires immediate repair.”

“The ship may not be reparable.”

Rolli had more to say to both Halvo and Perri
on the subject of taking responsible action, but Perri was no
longer paying attention. She was still alive when she had fully
expected to be dead. Possessed by a sudden sense of complete
freedom, she broke into a run and did not stop until she reached
the edge of the meadow.

The gently sloping land ended in a cliff that
was steep but only about six feet high. Below the cliff was a sandy
white beach that curved around the northern end of the island. A
short distance away a stream splashed over the cliff and across the
beach. On the ocean side of the island, where the cliffs were much
higher, waves roared onto the sand, great, foam-flecked curves of
greenish water that slid back again into the sea, only to return
with renewed force. The tip of land where Perri stood curved
slightly inward, and beyond a wide bay of calmer water sheltered by
the land she could see the mist-shrouded eastern arm of the
island.

“I wouldn’t advise you to swim here,” Halvo
said, coming up behind her and catching sight of the roiling sea.
“There will be an undertow and rip currents in a place like this.
Swimming will be safer down there.” He waved an arm toward the more
southerly reaches of the bay, where the beach gradually widened and
the water was quieter.

“Dangerous or not, it is beautiful!” Perri
said. “I can smell salt in the air. Halvo, do you think there are
sea animals that we could eat? I don’t think the food processor is
going to work much longer, if it is still working at all. We are
going to be hungry if we stay here for more than a few hours.”

“We might find edible shellfish along the
water’s edge.” Halvo squinted against the sunlight reflecting off
the water. “The cliff dips just to our left. It will be easier to
get to the beach from there. Shall we try a bit of
exploration?”

“Right now?”

“Why not? There isn’t much we can do to
protect ourselves if we should be attacked, but we might discover
something useful down there on the beach.”

“Like a cave where we could hide?”

Halvo smiled at the memory, then shook his
head. Taking Pern’s hand in his, he began to walk toward the spot
where the cliff was not so high.

“Unless we put a moon or a planet between us
and them, there is no place where we can hide and be truly safe
from Regulan sensors,” he said. “All we can do is wait and hope
that Jyrit dispatches those two ships quickly, before they can find
and capture us. Then Jyrit will send out a search party to look for
us. Our task is to survive until he does and to stay with the
Space Dragon
so the job of locating us will be easier.”

“Could the Regulans win against the
Krontar?”
Perri looked toward the sky. It was difficult to
imagine the battle taking place beyond the atmosphere. From where
she stood, Dulan’s Planet was an entirely peaceful place, its
serene sky holding nothing so threatening as a single cloud. The
first of the twin moons was just visible, rising over the eastern
arm of the island. Perri stared at that silver moon, recalling how
close to it they had been only a few hours ago and how uninviting
its surface was. From her present perspective the moon was a
lovely, soft counterpoint to the bright sun.

“Jyrit is a born fighter, and his is the
larger and better-armed ship. He will defeat those Regulans.”

Having reached his goal, Halvo sat on the lip
of the cliff to look downward. Perri copied him. Behind them, they
could hear Rolli’s metallic voice still calling out warnings to
Perri.

“Why didn’t your father build Rolli with legs
instead of wheels?” Halvo asked. “With legs, a robot is much more
mobile.”

“Rolli was intended for use inside a house or
on city streets while shopping,” Perri said. “That is how Regulan
women are expected to spend their time. My father never envisioned
either Rolli or me traveling off-planet. Personally, I am very glad
we have done so.” She paused while Halvo lowered himself to the
sand. He put up his arms and Perri jumped into them.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” she said at
once. “Your back—”

“Is not troubling me at all,” Halvo said,
finishing the sentence for her. Still with his arms around her, he
lifted his head, breathing deeply. “This air is wonderful. You are
wonderful. What a shame that this cannot be a vacation for us.”

“Perhaps until we are found it can be.” She
knew they ought to be on the alert for attacking Regulans or for a
search party from the
Krontar,
but with the clear air of
Dulan’s Planet filling her lungs and Halvo’s strong limbs pressed
against her, Perri could not make herself worry about practical
matters. Her arms went around Halvo’s neck almost of their own
accord. Her fingers slid through his dark hair. Halvo lowered his
mouth to hers. In his kiss was all the sheer joy of being still
alive after so many dangers faced, so many desperate risks
overcome. Perri gave herself up to him, refusing to let herself
think about what would very likely happen when they were found.
Halvo might not blame her for abducting him, but whoever rescued
them surely would.

“Are you hungry?” Halvo broke away, holding
her only by her hands. “Shall we look for food as you
suggested?”

He had told her more than once that it was a
Demarian custom to joke and tease at the beginning of lovemaking,
in order to prolong the anticipation and thus increase the ultimate
delight. Perri was not sure whether that was truly a custom of his
homeworld or whether it was Halvo’s personal preference, but it was
a most effective method of luring her into a sensual encounter.
Looking into his eyes she saw his desire and his humor, and she
knew that, delay though he might, before much longer he would be
deep inside her, carrying her with him to a rich fulfillment they
would share together. When she gazed into Halvo’s eyes all other
concerns fled from her mind. Only Halvo mattered, only his passion.
And her passion for him.

“What do you think we will find?” She gave
him a teasing smile to match his own before breaking away to hasten
toward the water’s edge. “Could there be shellfish or crabs on this
planet? Dare we hope for seaworms? Are they indigenous to most
worlds with salty seas?”

“Ah, I had forgotten for a moment the
deplorable Regulan taste in main courses,” he said. “No doubt you
will expect me to eat several varieties of sea plants along with
sliced, raw worms.”

“Certainly not,” she said, laughing at him.
“We will cook the sea plants before we eat them.”

But the only sea plant they discovered was a
single, long strand of brown material that had been washed onto the
sand and dried by the blazing sun. There were no seaworms to be
found in the damp mud below the tide line and no shellfish of any
kind. They did notice a few large fish leaping out of the distant,
deeper water from time to time.

“Not having fishing gear or a boat to take us
out onto the bay or the open sea, we cannot catch them,” Halvo said
with a sigh of hunger and longing.

“I fear we are going to be reduced to eating
the bread that was left over from our last meal out of the food
processor,” Perri said.

Her stomach was empty, but she was not really
thinking about food. All during their search along the seashore
Halvo had made a point of touching her often, of taking her hand or
tucking a strand of windblown hair behind her ear or letting his
fingers trail down her spine whenever he stopped her to point out
some new aspect of the landscape.

“Perhaps we should return to the ship,” Halvo
said at last. “Rolli will be burning out her circuits in worry and
frustration because we have been out of sight for so long.”

Perri’s heart plummeted in disappointment.
She had assumed that at some point they would lie down upon the
soft, warm sand to make love. She wanted Halvo so badly. There was
a familiar heat building inside her, the result of their prolonged,
private stroll along the shore and his continual gestures toward
her.

Was she mistaken? Did he not want her? Had
she misinterpreted casual touches as preliminary caresses? She was
not experienced enough to be absolutely certain what his intentions
might be.

Having returned to the spot at which they had
first descended to the beach, Halvo boosted Perri up, then hauled
himself to the edge of the cliff to sit beside her with their legs
dangling downward.