"Well, not quite," said Jenise, but now she smiled.

  "Very well," said Rissa. "At any rate, when you have had your next injection, Hagen Trent and I will undertake to move you down to Control. And your bed, also. You will have dinner with us."

  "Fine." Hair or no hair, Lisele thought, Jenise looked a lot better than she had a little while ago. "One thing, though."

  Rissa's brows raised. "Yes?"

  "I need a bath; I don't like smelling me. But how-?"

  "Indeed." Rissa nodded. "You can hardly utilize our horizontal shower. Nor can Tregare. We shall need some kind of bathtub-but where? One of the corridors, perhaps; there is no room in Control. Somewhere, at least, where hoses can reach to

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  provide water and drainage." She sighed. "I hope this scout stocks another pump in working condition."

  Then she and Lisele did go down to Control, talked with Tregare about ways to rig a bathtub, and went groundside.

  They found Trent and Sevshen shoveling mud away. Stonzai, with a slab of wood, pushed back the crest of the pile so it wouldn't ooze down again. All in all, Lisele saw, they'd moved quite a lot of gumbo, and to one side a growing hummock sat where a pond had been.

  Trent looked up to greet them. He was mud all over, but it didn't mask his smile. "We found one antenna feed. A stub, rather; it's broken off. About a radian off the vertical, clockwise as you face upship. So the other feed's too far down to bother with."

  Rissa's face took on the look of concentration. "The stub- what is its condition? Can we connect to it?"

  Trent rubbed a muddy wrist across his brows; the result wasn't much improvement. "First we dig out some more; no point in trying to work too close to the ooze. Then I'll disconnect the broken part at the fittings, and hang an extension on, and spray a good seal against any mud that seeps back. Then-'' He shrugged. "Tregare's the communications expert. I'll get with him, and try to scrounge up stuff to build antennas to his design."

  He looked up. "We can hang it in one of these trees. I hope our instruments still tell direction right, lying slaunchwise."

  "I would think so," said Rissa. "And now, if Stonzai will spell you at that shovel, shall we look closer and see if any reasonable amount of digging, behind our fulcrum, might let us tilt this scout?"

  Lisele wanted to do something useful, but what was there? She watched Rissa and Trent move back along the scout, looked at the two Shrakken working against the mud, and turned away. She walked along the sunken path away from the little ship, careful to stay on the slippery ridge under the stinking ooze. Here the water was too shallow to hold monsters, so she felt safe. In the patches of sunlight the heat came like a blast from an oven; when she reached a patch of shade, she paused a moment.

  She looked aside, toward the afternoon sun. In a tree she saw movement-but not what moved; the leaves gave too much cover. Whatever, it had to be pretty small.

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  Exploring, on such a precarious route, wasn't much fun. Lisele sighed; might as well go back to the scout. Placing her feet carefully at every step, she began her return.

  Suddenly, about twenty meters short of the scout's buried nose, under the water Lisele saw a branching path. It went to the other side of the scoutship, away from the airlock. Might be nothing new to see there, either, but at least she could be the first to walk it. And maybe come all the way around the scout's tail, and surprise Rissa. Why not?

  This trail, too, was slippery, but Lisele took care and didn't fall. She went nearly two-thirds of the scout's length, and there the path petered out. She squinted down into the water. Actually, she decided, the timber knocked down by their crash had torn out the path's ridge. So now what?

  A tree was down, pushed over and slanting. With not too much of a jump she got onto it and began to climb its slope. Maybe there'd be a branch, back among the heavy leaves that smelled like some spice she couldn't quite name, that would let her get down to where the path started again. If it did. No harm, trying...

  Off to the side, again she saw movement, and looked quickly, and decided it was bugs. Not quite like Earth insects, but not too different, either. Or bigger. One fell back and floundered, its three wings flailing; she grabbed it, to have a look. The small thing struggled while she stared at its color patterns-the orange and green and purple and...

  It came to her that she could be stung or bitten; and with a gasp she tossed the bug free, and it flew away. Then she thought, if it wanted to sting me, it had time to. Behind bunched leaves, it vanished.

  Until she heard the voices, Lisele didn't realize how high she'd climbed. "No, Hagen!" Looking down, she saw Trent hugging Rissa, who stood with one arm braced against the scout. "I said no."

  The engineer breathed so hard, Lisele could hear it. "Why not? You and Tregare, you're not exclusive. And now that he's crippled-''

  With a ragged laugh, Rissa pushed him away. "Now, perhaps he needs me even more. But the point is, I do not want you."

  There was movement-Lisele couldn't tell just what

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  happened-and Rissa said, "I do like you, Hagen. Let that be enough."

  "Oh, no. Oh, no!" He reached to pull her to him; she said something Lisele didn't hear, and then-

  Lisele wasn't sure how it went. Rissa turned her back on Hagen Trent, and then he was up off the ground, and Rissa turned again. And Trent flew out into the mud and landed on his face. He went almost under water but not quite; when he scrambled up, he was sputtering. "Peace take you, woman! I'll-"

  Quite still, Rissa stood. "Please. No one is harmed."

  Gradually, the man stopped shaking. "All right." He climbed out of swamp, back onto the path. "Are you going to tell Tregare?"

  Rissa shrugged. "No, if you prefer. Though if I did- Tregare, you must understand, trusts me to make my own decisions."

  The man sagged as if someone had hit him. "But what I want, how I feel, makes no damned difference."

  Lisele saw her mother frown. "Not entirely true, that. But-nobody, Hagen Trent, commands Rissa Kerguelen against her will." As he turned away, Rissa added, "If you had spent eleven years in UET's Total Welfare, as I did, you would feel as I do."

  Over his shoulder, Trent looked back. "Maybe so; I don't always understand you two-ages people who lived so long before I was even born." He shrugged. "I'm sorry, Rissa. This mess here-I guess I let it wiggle my mind too much." He faced her. "Can you still like me?" She nodded. "Then that is enough." Sloshing away, he turned at the scout's tail and went out of sight.

  Until Lisele called down, "Mother?", Rissa stood looking after the man. Then she glanced up, and after a moment, laughed.

  "I suppose you can clamber down safely?" She waited while Lisele worked her way down to the tree's trunk, then inched over and jumped down to the path. Landing, she braced hands against the scout and avoided slipping. Then Rissa came to hug her. ' 'And how much, my daughter, did you observe? And what do you think about it?"

  Lisele looked up. "You told him to leave you alone and then you made him do it." She made a face. "Some people sure have to learn things the hard way. I didn't think he'd be like that."

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  After a pause, Rissa said, "Basically, Hagen is a good person. The circumstances here-he got a bit overwrought." Lisele thought for a few seconds, and then nodded.

  They sloshed their way around the back of the scout-past a gap where Lisele waded waist high through murky water-and toward the airlock. Rissa gestured. "This section is bedded solidly. Digging, to tilt the ship, would be a forbidding task. Let us hope we do not have to try."

  "You think we can call for help, then, and somebody will come?"

  "As matters stand, that possibility is our best chance."

  Past the airlock, they reached the digging site. Stonzai tossed a shovel of mud, then stuck the tool in the ground. "I think, enough is." And Sevshen laid down his own shovel.

  Looking at the exposed antenna fitting, Rissa said, "You are right. Once Hagen fits a new connection and seals it, ooze should do no harm." She suggested a break, and they all headed for the airlock.

  Inside, Tregare and Hagen Trent were talking; the engineer had bathed, and was now clipped near-bald. On a folding table he was fitting pieces of apparatus together. "Today I'll install and seal the new signal-feeds. Tomorrow-" He gestured toward a rough drawing. "Tomorrow, Tregare, I'll scrounge up parts and start building an antenna array to this design of yours." Then, seeming quite at ease, he greeted Rissa and the rest.

  Rissa and Lisele went up to the horizontal shower; after the two Shrakken were done with it, they washed clean of mud and slime. Jenise was awake when they looked in on her; for a few minutes they visited. Returning to Control they found Tregare alone. "Hagen's out rigging the new feed; should be back, pretty soon." His smile, then, looked a little smug. "Meanwhile I think I've figured the easiest way to fix us a bathtub."

  It was simple; when Rissa saw it, she laughed. At the right of Control was a closet, only a few decimeters above the bulkhead now serving as deck, and the closet held a working sink. "We take the door off," said Tregare. "The closet's solid metal, leakproof, so we get the junk out and rig a pump for drainage, and we're in business."

  Trent came in and reported the new antenna feed shipshape. He wasn't too muddy; soon he and Rissa and the two Shrakken emptied the closet and dismounted the door, which they laid across two folding tables as a workbench. "Could double as

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  dinner table, too, "Tregare said, "if we take some of those seats loose from the deck and bring 'em down here." But that job had to wait; people were hungry. First, Trent and Rissa brought Jenise Rorvik down to Control; Liseie and Sevshen carried the accel pads down, and Jenise's bed was laid out alongside Liseie's.

  Then they ate. Liseie was getting a little tired of Tregare's cooking, but she didn't think she'd better say so.

  Later, Jenise and then Tregare tried out the new bathtub. Rissa hadn't located another spare pump yet, so Trent swung the sink to a vertical position, and drainage was bailing with a bucket and using towels to sop up the last of the water.

  That job was slow but not really difficult. The hard part, earlier, was someone having to stand and hold Jenise's arm, then later Tregare's leg, clear of the water. "We'll have to put up hooks," Tregare said, "so we can hang slings to support us cripples."

  Then they all sat around and talked, sipping brandy-except for Liseie, who had a small glass of wine. It made her sleepy; as soon as she finished it, she went to bed. And even with the lights and the talk, almost at once she felt herself dozing off.

  Thinking, at least we're getting a start made. . ..

  XII.IVAN

  For a time, not long, Dacia cried

  against Ivan's chest. Then she sat up, and he heard her sniffing the tears away. When she spoke, her voice was steady. "How long has it been?" .

  "In freeze, you mean? Three days, nearly." She gasped. "Why did you leave me in there so long?" Almost but not quite, he had to laugh. "Because until just about two hours ago, I was still knocked out from the Tsa attack. So-"

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  She touched his lips. "You must be starving-weak." He felt her moving. "If you help a little, I can walk. Let's get up to the galley, and I'll feed us something."

  Quite suddenly, he was hungry. "Sure. Let's go."

  Between his support and her guidance, they got upship fast. At the galley level she tried to turn, but Ivan said, "First you should check Control out, tell me what I missed." So they went up.

  He had to give her some of the computer codes; her work hadn't included them. When the answers came, they fit his own guesses of speed and distance a lot closer than luck would allow.

  "Ivan? We're a long way from Shaarbant."

  "I know. And staying below redline, a long time, too." He paused. "Is it just my imagination, or is the Deux shaking a lot?"

  "It's shaking, all right. Do you know why?"

  Headshake. "Not sure. We plowed air at top max accel, though-'way past redline. I hope I didn't bust something."

  Her brief laugh sounded nervous. "Me too. But-shouldn't we cut the Hoyfarul Drive, slow down? Get ready to turn back?"

  He tried to think. "Maybe. Tregare said-I don't know." Of a sudden, again his hunger came real to him. "Before we change anything, I need full readings, all the instruments. Let's eat first."

  They went to the galley; if Dacia hadn't been with him, he could have found it by the faint odors. He sat, and soon she fed him-literally, cutting the food and bringing bites to his mouth. After a little experimenting, he could handle the coffee by himself. Thank peace for small favors.

  "Ivan?" Her tone implied a slight, puzzled scowl.

  "Yeah? Hey-good meal, Dacia. Thanks."

  "And welcome. But, Ivan, we have to talk. Your eyes-you don't see anything at all?" He shook his head. "Then why is it that you keep them closed so tightly?"

  He hadn't noticed, but she was right; his eyelids were clamped shut so hard they hurt. He tried to relax and open them; pain stabbed sharper and the lids squeezed shut again. He grimaced, and Dacia asked what was happening. "I'm not sure; it hurts to open them, is all. Hold on a minute, while I try something." Deliberately he forced his lids open; the pain made him close them. Again, and the same result. On the third try he endured the hurt, and gradually it left him. "I don't see a thing, Dacia. But are they open now?"

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  "Yes." Her voice was near; his face felt her breath. "Ivan- whatevers happened, there is no visible damage to your eyes."

  "Visible" nearly threw him into laughter he couldn't have stopped. He took a deep breath. "Well, that's something. But, now what?"

  She paused. "Keep them open-that's right. And now move them, up and down, and side to side." He pretended to look in those directions, and thought he felt movement. Dacia said, "Yes. Those muscles work, all right."

  Those muscles tired quickly, too. Ivan let himself "look" straight ahead, but forced his eyes open after each involuntary blink; the pain, now, was minor and lessening. "Just a moment," Dacia said; he heard her get up, move away, come back and sit again. Her breath moved air against his face. "Ivan, I want to try something. Just keep your eyes open." His cheeks and forehead felt warmth.

  "What's that all about? What did you do?" In his ears, his pulse beat fast; his breathing came rapid and shallow.

  Sure, he trusted Dacia-but he couldn't see.

  Until she spoke he didn't know he'd said it out loud. "Ivan-I'm sorry. I should have told you." The sound she made, then, didn't quite qualify as a laugh. "Testing the pupillary reflex. Shine a light, see if the pupils contract. Yours do, Ivan."

  He couldn't understand. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  Her hand clasped his shoulder, then moved up to cup his cheek. "Whatever it was the Tsa did to you, your eyes themselves still work."

  "Then why the hell can't I see?' He knew he'd snarled it-but her hand on his face told him he needn't apologize.

  "I don't know. Their clawing, in our minds-it blocked synapses, so we couldn't act. Froze us, like a muscle cramp. So perhaps-"

  Wrist to elbow, he stroked her forearm. "A cramp in my optic nerves, somehow? Or even the visual center itself? What do you think?"

  She had no idea. "Too sketchy, what I remember about the pupillary reflex arc. But it still operates, so whatever they did to you has to be farther back, past the arc's extent."

  Slowly, he considered what she said. "And will I-what are the chances that I'll ever see again?"

  With a rush, she came and held him. Her tears wet his face. "All I can do-the same as you, Ivan-is hope you will!"

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  They went back up to Control. There, sitting in the watch officer's position, Ivan felt more like a ship's commander than like a helpless cripple. He tapped fingers on the panel's edge, and said, "It's time we woke more people. Not too many. Who?"

  The first answers were easy. Jeremy Crowfoot. Anders Kobolak, because the Deux needed a ranking officer who could see, and Haskell Ornaway for backup. Alina Rostadt because Anders would want his wife with him. The two top engineers and a couple of good drive techs. Who else, though?

  Ivan snapped his fingers. "Ellalee. If she gets training, how to fly the ship, and shooting, her ability to resist the Tsa could make a difference." Dacia agreed; in turn she suggested Arlen Limmer, both for training and as a general handyman, and after a moment's pause, Ivan nodded.

  Downship they went, to start the resuscitations. Ivan wasn't sure why he went along, when he couldn't even see what was happening, let alone help. By the time they got there, he decided it was because he'd rather be with Dacia than alone.

 

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