Rissa and Tregare (9 page)

"Yes, I feel wel. Would you hand me a towel, please?" She stood and began drying herself.

"Then why leave so early?"

"I did not like it, Bran-that you talked over my head, of things you al knew and I did not, as though I were a school-girl."

"Oh, hell-I'm sorry. It's just that it would have taken too long, there, to fil you in-repeating, as you say, things they
do
already know."

Wrapping the towel around her, she moved to sit in the kitchen and poured coffee for herself. "And is there time for it now, Bran? For instance, what is this advance schedule, and why is it so important?" He sat facing her. "All right. You guessed that I plan to take Stronghold. My first idea was simply to scout the place, wait for a time when few ships were in port, and go in by force. But then Bernardez took the
Hoover."

"It will be one of your ships?"

"If he makes rendezvous on time, it wil. But the big thing -that advance schedule, that Bernardez gave me-it's for the next batch of ships UET

was building, to send to Stronghold.

Number, names, equipment-and,
timing.
Stronghold has that information by now, you see." He paced back and forth across the kitchen once, then sat again. "There's eight ships planned; that's why eight's my favorite number. Because
we
get there first-names and in-signia painted to match what Stronghold's expecting-they welcome us with open arms-for just long
enough!"
He grinned.

"But the
men's
names-surely they will not fit?" "How could UET put out a roster, years ahead? Half the crews were runny-nosed kids when they sent that schedule."

Her eyes widened. "Yes, I see it-the long view, again. But what if you have fewer ships? " He shrugged. "So we say the schedule went sour this time; it's happened before. If I have fewer ships they'll run jammed, with all the combat people I can crowd aboard. But I don't think I could get enough-equipped and supplied-into less than six. And I'm still worried about maybe having to leave a ship here, in case the Shrakken come."

"But I thought you did not expect a battle." "I don't, but it pays to be ready." His face flushed; he thumped a fist against his knee. "That time I was at Strong-. hold-I scouted it, best I could. And it won't have changed much-they'd done a major expansion, not long before. And Rissa-it's not as hard a nut to crack as you might think." He paused, so she nodded and said, "Tell me." "The ships in port, the defense and communication centers -those we have to wrap up fast, so no word gets out. The rest we can mop out at leisure, with as little fighting as possible. Offer amnesty, the rank and file aren't apt to make a fight of it."

"And then?"

"Come on now. Think a moment-you'll see it." She scowled a moment; then her forehead smoothed. "Of course! You sit-the spider in Stronghold's web-as more UET ships come and are taken and no word goes back to Earth. Until-"

"Until we have enough to challenge UET on Earth itself!" Now he talked faster. "The crews we capture-both at first and later-enough will come over to us that we can send ships UET stil thinks it owns, anywhere we wish. To Earth, even, and get a toehold on UET's home grounds. So when we go there in force, maybe UET's defenses won't work quite the way they expect, the way they'd work right now. You see?" He paused. "How do you like it?"

She smiled. "I think UET wil come to regret training you in the way they did. It is a fine plan! And-I suppose you have already thought of this, for it is a consequence of the long view-your newer recruits wil help compensate for any ad-vancements UET has developed during the years you fore-shortened in space."

"An analogy from the edge you had in personal combat, here?" She nodded. "But UET's not that progressive. Except for the weapons they added-and those have stayed pretty standardized-the main differences between the first ships they built and the latest I've seen are matters of interior design-convenience.
So
far, that is-I've got my fingers crossed, there."

"And I, Bran. But what is the timing factor you men-tioned?"

"We have to reach Stronghold ahead-but not too far ahead-of the UET ships they expect. To be
sure
of that, my ships have to leave here, armed and supplied, in less than two hundred days. If they're not ready-at least six-the whole kite comes down, and we have to start over, or forget it."

"I see. No wonder you become impatient, waiting for word."

"Too true, Rissa. And eight ships is my
top
hope-unless one just happens to come here, that I can persuade to join up or let me buy control. And damned soon, now."

"Eight? I know of three-oh, yes, the
Hoover!"

"Al right-there's
No Return. I
was landed-fake insigne -on The Islands, a UET world that's mostly water. It's where I bought up that load of women, in fact. Not long after, the
Bonaparte landed,
and Peralta-he was First Hat-recognized me. We made a deal: he wouldn't expose me, and I wouldn't kil him. I'd help him take the ship and-come time to put a fleet together-he'd take my orders. So far, it's worked out.

"Malloy's
Pig in the Parlor
I bought into, same as with Vanois. And Jargy Hoad-he's the one helped me design this cabin-Jargy was riding Second Hat on
Inconnu
when we took the
Peron
in space and renamed it
Deuces Wild."

"So it is your ship, and Hoad your man?"

"Correct. And Use Krueger on
Graf Spee-
she's a volun-tary aly, like Bernardez. Just plain likes the idea.

"Now, if only enough of them show up on time..."

"All have been informed?"

"Should have been. I sent word to enough drops, right after I got the schedule from Bernardez. There's quite a network, Rissa-for long-haul word between Escaped ships. And figur-ing those messages by effective time gets pretty tricky."

"I can see, it would be. But otherwise, al is settled? Six or more ships, you wil go-fewer, and you wil not?"

"That's right."

"There is one thing more, Bran. Will we go on
Inconnu
together-or you alone, again unmarried?" He stared. "Now look, Rissa-I
told you-"

"But I have another thought. The-the zoom-wombs are stil operable, are they not? And the techniques available, to extract sperm and ova and combine them?"

"I suppose so. But, you mean you want-?"

"I wish to go either with you, or my own way, alone. If you need to ensure an heir, this is how it can be done."

"But you said-how could I leave a child I wouldn't see for years? So, how can
you?"

"Gestation can be delayed-until either we return or it is decided here that we likely wil not." He was silent. She said, "Well, Bran?

You have no reason now for leaving me behind -except that you do not want me with you." Slowly his scowl cleared; he nodded. "Al right. I'l figure some job you can do on
Inconnu,
to make it look good."

"An excuse? No-I think I will excel at weaponry and navigation."

"Weapons, maybe-and turret operators are pretty well protected. But you don't have time to learn navigation."

"I think you are wrong. On
Inconnu,
as you have men-tioned, I observed. And at turnover I learned this." She recited Number One's coordinates with respect to Far Corner, then transposed them. "So, you see, I could guide us there again. I do not think the rest of it would be too difficult to learn."

He shook his head. "What I can't figure is why-when I know better-I keep underestimating you." She reached and squeezed his hand. "Perhaps Erika Hul-zein taught me too wel-always to keep something back, in case of need-so that no possible enemy could prepare for me fully."

"I didn't think I was your enemy, Rissa."

"And of course you are not. But it may be, Bran, that in a part of my mind
every
person is considered a potential enemy." She released his hand and clamped both of hers together. "Bran-I had not thought of that before." He stared at her. "You think maybe that's why-?"

"Perhaps, yes. It has become late-shall we try again and see?"

But later, panting and sweat-drenched, she was forced to accept the fact that her body was not yet ready to yield its defenses.

next morning, Tregare took an early cal from Vanois and left for Base Two. Rissa stayed behind. "In time I wil become used to Vanois, but not today, I think." After breakfasting, she went to the scout and asked Deverel whether he could give her some instruction in navigating.

"Our computer here doesn't have ful simulation," he said. "Just the records of
Inconnu's
own travels. I don't know-"

"If Tregare has not said I should have ful access, then let us start from the beginning, from Earth. Even UET has
those
records."

"You're right. And-pardon me, Ms. Kerguelen, but the skipper
didn 't
say."

"He will." She smiled. "Meanwhile your caution is quite proper. Now, shall we proceed?" She ran the first four trip records, calculating ahead as the data unrolled before her and checking at the end of each run; she caught herself in error once and realized she had hurried too much. She turned to Deverel. "Now, if there is a tape I may see, in which destina-tion was changed in mid-voyage, I would like to try it. If not, we can turn the machine off."

He hesitated. "There's the Escape itself, of course, but-"

Then he shrugged. "I can't think of any reason you
shouldn't
see it-"

"Only if you feel sure, Hain Deverel."

"I'm sure enough. Here-I'll punch up the start for you."

She watched the record, stopping the tape to work out her own figures and then running it to see how well she had done.

In a quick side-glance she saw Deverel smiling, and soon found the reason for his amusement-not merely one change of goal on this trip, but three-and now she remembered Tre-gare's story. "The second," she said, "was when Farnsworth retook the ship, briefly. And then Tregare ..." She punched in the final course-figures and waited, and found she was correct.

"The skipper-he told you about that, did he?"

"On
Inconnu,
the first evening out of Far Corner. I men-tioned hearing that after Escape he mutinied against his own people. Like any person, he resents being maligned."

"Saved our heads, the captain did." It was Kenekke's voice; Rissa had not seen or heard his entrance. "Not for the first time, nor likely the last."

"True," said Deverel. "But don't be so modest, Anse. You saved a few heads yourself, on that trip." Kenekke waved a hand. "Who didn't?" He looked at the figures from Rissa's last simulation run. "That's how it went, al right. You studying to navigate, Ms. Kerguelen?"

"Yes. But I thought you were an engineer, not a navi-gator."

"We work with the same numbers; it's simpler that way."

"I see I have more to learn than I had thought. May I ask you questions when I know what to ask?"

"Any time. Say-sounds like you're coming along, on
Inconnu."

"I hope to do so."

"Good. A man keeps a steadier head, with his love close to hand." The big man smiled, turned, and left the control room.

Unsure what to say, Rissa looked at Deverel. He said, "Anse is right. He doesn't talk much, but when he does, it pays to listen."

Before she could stop herself she said, "How long-?"

"Anse and I? From before space-in UET training, when they'd have killed us for it. Nobody was more eager than us for Escape."

"UET would have killed you? I do not understand. In North America, among freepersons many ways are accepted."

"But not in UET. What they want is robots, zombies-and they manage to build themselves a lot of those. They caught a couple of boys in the cadre next to ours-and we saw what happened to them."

She shook her head. "Do not tel me, please. Though per-haps I imagine worse than the reality."

"I doubt it." With obvious effort, he laughed. "But that's light-years gone and here we are on a fine world, waiting our chance to set teeth into-wel, to teach UET a lesson, maybe."

"I hope so. Thank you, Hain, for helping me. I will leave you now."

she decided to explore Tregare's escape tunnel. Carrying a handlight, she swung the tub, opened the trapdoor and de-scended the vertical shaft. Above her the door closed; she pointed the light up to find the latch that would release it from below. She walked through the featureless tube, past the shaft slanting upward on the left, to the gully exit. Yes-it did give good cover. She returned to the side shaft and clambered up to the smal pilbox. Vision slits looked out toward the cabin-she could see the left side and the front-and the area between it and the scout. The emplaced weapons were two energy projectors, similar to those on
Inconnu-but
she knew they must be powered by a lesser source than the ship's. They were mounted so they could be locked together for elevation and traverse or disengaged for separate targets. Aiming, she moved the locked pair back and forth to get the feel of it. She returned to the shaft under the cabin, operated the latch and waited while the tub pivoted and the trapdoor raised, and climbed up into the bathroom. Her hands were dusty; she washed them.

She spent the rest of the afternoon hiking upslope behind the plateau, circling above the cliff that overlooked the cabin's kitchen window, and then returning by way of a narrow ravine that debouched into a talus slope. Picking her way down, the rough rocks cost her a bruised ankle.

She found that Tregare had not returned; she ate and spent the evening alone.

the next day he was back briefly, but took the aircar across the Hils and was gone the night again. The folowing morning he returned and woke her early, for breakfast and for love-making too brief-surprisingly so-for any chance of satisfac-tion, before disappearing into the scoutship. That day he joined her for dinner and stayed the night, and for the next few days they were together more than not. He showed pleas-ure at her navigational progress and one day announced that Peralta's
No
Return
was homing for rendezvous. But for the most part he was busy, even though present in body, and could give her litle of his attention.