Rissa and Tregare (10 page)

Her days and nights repeated themselves, so much alike that they blended in her mind and she lost count of them. She walked a lot, for exercise. Bran installed the promised curtain rods and provided material, and she curtained the windows. Kenekke pronounced the second aircar fit for service; in it, she explored the surrounding terrain. But finally, after a trip to Big Sink, where she had to laugh at her attempts to swim in-on, nearly-the heavy liquid, she could find nothing new to learn here. She decided to return to Hulzein Lodge-and perhaps to One Point One-and concern herself with her business affairs on the planet. But before she brought herself to tel Tregare of these plans, one night when her thought was not strongly upon pleasure, her body answered to his and she lay gasping, shak-ing her head.

"You did it!" he said. "This time, peace save us, you did it!"

"Yes-yes, Bran! And I do not know how, or why. For I was not even trying ..."

"Maybe that's it-maybe before we tried too hard."

"Yes. Or-perhaps it merely took time, and a number of small acceptances between us, to make possible this greater one." Then she said, "Bran-I had thought, these past few days, to go to the Lodge and the city, to consult with Liesel and others about my holdings and their management. This is necessary if I am to go with you soon. But now I do not want to leave you." His fingers smoothed her hair back from her face. "Well, why don't we both go? I've got business there myself, and best to handle it before I'm needed again here and at Base Two. I think Vanois is straightened out for now, and Deverel can help him if need be."

"Then it is settled." She touched his body, then shook her head. "No-it is too late now, this evening."

"We'll wake up early." He turned off the light and she snuggled against him for sleep. cheerful the next mid-morning, Rissa accepted Bran's offer and took the aircar's controls. She looked under the seat and checked placement of the oxygen equipment, then fastened her safety harness and energized propulsion. She lifted paralel to the ridge above them and climbed in an arc to bring them in line with the pass and rising toward it. She looked to Bran and laughed. "I am quite excited-the pass..."

"You know what to expect?"

"I think so. We go against the current, so I must not stint on power. At the dogleg I am prepared for turbulence. For the first turn I do not have a specific landmark, but the sun favors me-and I wil pick one, for times when it does not."

"Good. Look-I'm sorry I had to keep you waiting, but there was word from
Inconnu;
I had to reply, and advise Gon-nelson. And Vanois had some questions."

"It is all right. We kept
them
waiting, did we not?"

He laughed and squeezed her shoulder. Then they rode in silence to the pass.

Entering from this side they found litle turbulence, only a strong headwind; Rissa increased power and fitted her oxygen nosepiece into place. As she had recalled, the entrance was much wider than on the far side. When the cut narrowed, she was somewhat above summit altitude, moving at an angle that showed her the turn well before she reached it. "This time, Bran, I make it easy for myself. Another time I will take it low, as you did."

"Coming back, you'l have to-the current doesn't give you time to get much higher."

"Oh, yes-of course. I am just as pleased to do it this way first."

Then she was into the turn-at this height the turbulence was less-through the dogleg and second turn. She held most of her altitude until she was out of the cut and past the "bumpy stretch," then turned toward the Lodge and set a constant rate of descent. After testing the air, she stowed her oxygen gear. For a few seconds she glimpsed One Point One, a smudge in the distance-then a ridge crest cut off her view.

As she passed a hilltop and sighted the Lodge, thunder boomed in a clear sky; peripherally she saw a flash of light. "Bran-a ship landing?"

"Nothing less. If it's Limmer-and I hope it is-he's nearly a day early. Must have come in fast and used top decel. I hope it doesn't mean something's wrong." He shrugged. "Well, we won't belong finding out. Soon as we land, I'l cal the port."

"Yes. Bran-did you notice? Back there I tried to see how close I could set our rate of descent. And I do not think I missed by more than twenty feet, vertical."

He laughed. "That's good guessing
and
good luck-the wind stayed constant."

"Luck is a fine thing to have-without it, I would stil be in Total Welfare." Making a small correction, she brought the car to ground near the Lodge.

A young woman answered the door. Inside, needing no help with the single suitcase each had brought, they went to their room. Bran went to the viewscreen terminal as Rissa walked into the bathroom. When she came out he was saying, "-this afternoon, then. If anything comes up and I can't make it, I'l cal you back. Open a bottle." He cut the circuit and turned to Rissa; his face showed tension. "That was Limmer."

"There is bad news?"

He shook his head. "Don't know yet. But the reason he's here so fast, and took a beating from high-gees to do it-
he's met the
Shrakken.
In space."

tregare reached Liesel by intercom. She joined them, fol-lowed by a servitor bearing a lunch tray. As they ate, Bran talked. 

"Limmer didn't know what they were, of course. When the ship came in screen range it wasn't converging, but passing on a skew, in close to his same direction. Nearer, he could make out its insigne-placed funny, like in the pictures Vanois had, and no known language or lettering. He caled it-the answer came garbled, but he recognized a word or two of English. Then his comm-tech fiddled frequencies and scan rates, and got a picture-of sorts-from inside the other ship. The description's vague, but it fits the Shrakken, al right." Rissa said, "And then what happened?"

"Nothing. That was the closest approach. The skew di-verged until Limmer lost signal." Liesel said, "The big question is, where were they headed?"

Tregare beat a fist against his thigh. "That's the trouble-Limmer doesn't
know!
His computer's gone unreliable-he had hell's own time getting here at all-so until it's fixed or we run the tapes on someone else's, we won't know. That's why I'm going to town this afternoon."

Liesel nodded. "We have interface terminals at Maison Renale. Not programmed for that kind of problem, but-"

"Nothing shaken," said Tregare. "By tonight, you wil be. And we'l know." entering the aircar, Tregare took the passenger's seat, Rissa the pilot's. She flew fast and low; at the spaceport she landed at the safety perimeter around
Lefthand Thread.
Climbing out, Tregare said, "He's kept her in good shape." At the ship's ramp, an armed guard met them. "You're Tregare? And who else?"

"And Tregare's wife." The woman nodded and let them pass. Unsure of this ship's interior design, Rissa fel behind so that Tregare could lead. He climbed past the level she ex-pected; they entered the control room. At first look, Limmer repelled her. Hulking and stoop-shouldered, he loomed; scars gave his swarthy face a per-manent sneer. But his voice, when he spoke, was low and resonant. Shaking hands, he said, "Tregare! It's good to see you again!"

"You too, Limmer. And this is my wife-Tari Obrigo."

Taking her hand, the man half-bowed over it. "My pleasure, Ms. Obrigo. I suppose you already know you've married a nova in ful explosion, and you seem pleased enough about it. So, my congratulations to both of you."

She had to laugh. "Thank you, Captain Limmer. And-my pleasure, also."

"She manages," said Tregare. "Now, then-you have your people working on the computer, naturally. Is it fixed yet?" Limmer shook his head. "Then let's have a quick look at the viewscreen tapes, first thing. After that we can go over to town and use a terminal there to analyze the rest of it, once I pro-gram a little."

Limmer turned to his control console; the screen lit. Among unfamiliar stars a glint appeared; magnification drew it closer, until Rissa recognized a ship-and on it, the insigne patterns Vanois' pictures had shown.

Sound came-garbled-only a few isolated words were clear, but those words were in English. Then the outside view vanished, the screen streaked and wavered, showing a picture, barely recognizable, of two Shrakken. For a moment, both sound and picture cleared-"Shrakken. And you are-" Then the noise level rose and obscured al meaning, and the picture vanished into flickering chaos. Limmer turned it off. "That's all we got, before they were out of range. Do you know what those things are? I think 7

do."

"What is it," said Rissa, "that you think?"

"Underground rumor says UET never invented star drive-that they stole it. Except for weapons, that ship's damned near a duplicate of yours, Tregare. I think I met some more of the creatures UET robbed."

Rissa nodded. "You are right, but there is more. Tregare-?"

Quickly, Tregare summarized the news from Charleyhorse. "So that's why we need to analyze your course-data-and fast. Want to come along?"

"Like I want to wake up alive tomorrow. Give me a minute first, though." Limmer gave a few brief orders on his inter-com, acknowledged the response, and turned back to Tregare. "Al right; my First's briefed to handle things while I'm off-ship." He opened the control console and brought out a tape module. "It's al on here. I'm ready to go if you are." 

Outside, at the aircar, Tregare said, "Tari? Do you know the air traffic rules in the city?" She shook her head. "Then I'd better drive it this time. You watch; see if you can figure the system." With Rissa beside him and Limmer in a seat behind, he raised the car to perhaps fifty meters and took a circuitous path-Rissa saw no clear pattern-to Maison Renale.

Inside, Tregare spoke briefly at the admission desk and they went to a room Rissa recognized as security accommodations. The computer terminal sat in a corner; Tregare worked at its controls for some time before inserting the tape module. "First we'll see if this is the same ship that was at Charley-horse-at least, if it came directly, we wil."

"Charleyhorse?" Limmer frowned. "You mentioned that one, earlier-it's not on my charts, Tregare." Tregare nodded. "None of us have al the new ones-ever. If there's blank at the end of your tape, I '11 add it. If not, I can fil it in for you later. Al right, here we go."

Lacking detailed knowledge of Tregare's programming, Rissa did not try to interpret the readout. She waited; finally Tregare said, "The angle's off a little-enough to indicate a slight course change. But ten to one, this is the ship that hit Charleyhorse."

"And can you see where it is bound?" said Rissa.

"Hold on-I'm punching for extrapolation." He looked at the result and shook his head. "They were slowing-maybe to take a group of sightings and locate themselves better. Or who knows what?"

He turned away from the terminal. "Considering that Charleyhorse probably isn't exactly loaded with navigational talent, my best guess is that the Shrakken found their direc-tions were a litle off-and were correcting course for
here."
Rissa said, "Then let us hope they arrive well before your deadline for leaving." He stared at her. Then he laughed, and Limmer said, "You married wel, Tregare." returning to the port, Tregare took a different routing. This time he showed Rissa the indicators-arrows painted on roofs 68

and paved streets-that guided him. "Those tell you which way to go, and the way they're drawn-solid, dotted round or square, or double line-al in different colors, you'l notice-the four altitude lanes they apply to. Above those, you needn't folow any pattern, but for local hops it wastes time to go that high." He gave her the altitude figures; she repeated them and nodded.

"Yes, I can remember that easily enough."

At the port Limmer shook hands with both. "I'l refuel and sel off cargo I don't need, as soon as I can. Should I buy any-thing-for the sake of appearances-so nobody thinks some-thing's funny?"

"Let 'em think what they like." Then; "Or say you intend to load up at an outer-planet mine. You're stocking food any-way, so that'd fit." Limmer's perpetual sneer came close to imitating a smile; he threw a half-salute and turned away. Tre-gare lifted off and headed north, toward the Lodge.

After a time, Rissa spoke. "Limmer-was he one of your men on
Inconnul"

"Not at first. A lot of our people Escape by jumping ship on a colony planet and hiding out until one of
us
comes along. It's a big help-otherwise we'd always be short of trained people for newly Escaped ships. I found Limmer on UET's iceworld colony Hardnose; for a few years they had a regular Underground Railroad there. I was short a Second Hat, then, and he filed the bil until we got him a ship of his own."

"At first he gives a poor impression-but he improves with acquaintance."

"Too right. His face, Rissa-he got those scars at UET's Academy when he was fourteen years old." Between her teeth, breath hissed. "UET! Always UET-and the Presiding Commitee, its puppet. Tregare, I
must
go with you-to Stronghold and then, peace wiling, to Earth."

He looked at her; low-voiced she added, "Some there-it wil be hard to grieve for their deaths." He did not answer; during the flight neither spoke again.

in their room at the Lodge, viewscreen and intercom set to record incoming calls but not to interrupt, they proved again that Rissa's climax the night before had been no fluke. Then for a while they shared the tub. Out of it and dried, while Tre-gare still steeped himself, Rissa checked the intercom and found a recorded cal from Liesel. She dressed, told Tregare where she was going, and joined Liesel in her office. She reported Tregare's conclusions about the Shrakken; then the talk turned to Rissa's business affairs.

The board meeting of Bleeker, Ltd., had gone as expected. Rissa now owned the warehouse complex; her recommended changes were under way. Fennerabilis would sell the North Point area but wished to speak with Rissa directly-by screen, at least. Ami Gustafson could help her in hiring a patrol boat for the fishing season to control poachers. Rissa was not in-vested into Hulzein holdings, as such, so as not to waste the control value of her moneys. And when Rissa and Tregare left on
Inconnu,
Hulzein Lodge would handle her affairs on com-mission as Erika did on Earth.