Rissa paused. Tregare squeezed her hand, leaned over to the curtain that hid the child, and whispered back, "For a few minutes, princess; then you come back inside. Because mainly we're going out to be by ourselves, a little while."

  Barefoot, all three, they went to and down the ramp, then a few meters away from the scout. Tregare said, "Ground cover isn't damp, to speak of; let's sit, shall we?" When they did, he pointed upward. "See-two of the moons showing. Watch; you can see them move against the stars."

  Neck craned, Rissa stared. Yes-one whitish disc and one orange, each slightly larger than a star's twinkling dot, inching across the starfield. "Are they as close together as they seem?"

  "Not really," said Tregare. "On average, the orange one's half again as far out. Eccentric orbit, though, and near perigee right now." A pause. "The white one-if I remember right, it takes quite a slant from the ecliptic."

  "It moves more," said Lisele, "than when we were at the ship."

  Stellar light made vision ghostly; more than seeing, Rissa sensed Tregare's headshake. "Not the same moon; this one's a little brighter. The one you mean-from here, we can't see it."

  Rissa chuckled. "Bran, I had no idea you kept such a close check on this planet's satellites."

  "The one we just mentioned? Special case-it's practically in synchronous orbit. Takes years to go around the planet. Right now it's somewhere above that big jungle valley we flew over."

  They talked longer, Tregare pointing out his guesses of stars known on Earth. Rissa offered to bet against two of his choices, but he didn't take the wagers. Then Lisele said, "I'm getting cold," so her parents kissed the child goodnight and sent her back inside.

  Tregare reached for Rissa. She responded, but said, "The chill is not entirely comfortable."

  He laughed. "Almost forgot; I brought this big fat quilt."

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  He wrapped it around them; they snuggled together. And a little later, if stars or moons heard Rissa's cries, she did not care at all.

  An hour past dawn, everyone on the scout was up and dressed. Lisele poured fruit juice, and Tregare made coffee, but said, "We shouldn't eat yet, in case somebody wants to invite us out." When no one did, after a time he heated and served a round of standard rations. Then, after Hagen and Jenise did a quick job of cleanup duty, the group waited. An hour, before Tregare stood, and said, "I don't know protocol around here, but I think it's time we go look people up."

  First, relaying through the Shrakken comm-net, he called Inconnu Deux. At the ship, Ivan reported, all was well. "Okay," said Tregare, "I guess we can get on the march."

  Only Tregare and Rissa went. Hagen Trent's digestion was giving him delayed reactions to last night's dinner, so he stayed aboard, nominally in charge. Jenise and Lisele wanted to explore a little. "All right. But stay within sight of the scout."

  Once outside, Tregare headed for the building where they had met Sharvil. The Shrakken galley held only a few attendants, making slow work of tidying the place, so Tregare and Rissa went to the other room they knew. And found six Shrakken, including Sharvil, plus the three who had come in the scout. Rissa spoke greetings; Stonzai relayed them. Sharvil answered, and Stonzai said to Tregare, "Back to ship now, today, we go?"

  He nodded. "I'd thought so. Expected you on the scout, though, earlier. We waited quite a while."

  "Sharvil here, to talk, waits." So, thought Rissa-the Shrakken leader stood on form. But why had not Stonzai told them?

  At any rate, now Tregare and Sharvil negotiated. At first, rather than moving the scout back and forth, Sharvil wanted him to bring the Deux to Shtegel-and offered to replace the fuel wasted in such an inefficient short hop. But Tregare refused; aside, to Rissa, he said, "I wouldn't like to tempt these nice folks."

  Equally soft-voiced, she said, "I think the problem would not arise-but if we are to misjudge, let it be on the side of caution."

  Then Sharvil wanted a firm time for the scout's return, bringing the FTL conversion data. Tregare shrugged. "Two-three days was my engineer's guess. He's not here, and I can't commit

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  him to a definite time when he knows the answers better than I do." And after several rephrasings, Sharvil eventually accepted that answer.

  Then came the forehead-touching ceremony, and they left- Rissa, Tregare, Stonzai and Sevshen. Skandith would remain at Shtegel. Outside, Rissa saw Lisele and Jenise near a grove of trees. Tregare gave a piercing whistle, startling the Shrakken so that each gave a little jump; he pointed to the scout, and everyone began running toward it. Rissa overtook Tregare, and wondered if he were losing stamina, but he winked at her, and she also slowed. The Shrakken passed them, making whuffling noises that could have been laughter as they moved in their toe-dancing lope. Jenise, Rissa saw, was not overtaking Lisele very rapidly.

  Stonzai and Sevshen reached the upramp first, with the four humans in a near-tie. Tregare picked up Lisele. "The champ."

  Laughing as they went up the ramp, she said, "Someday I really will be."

  There was time, Tregare said, to get back to the ship before mid-afternoon. "Especially since we're going against the planet's rotation. Over more than two radians of longitude, the time differences add up." Mentally, Rissa converted the figure-yes, about a third of the world's circumference.

  "Well, then," she said. "Shall we strap in for liftoff?"

  "Can I sit in Control this time," asked Lisele, "so I can see everything?'' Hagen Trent had started in that direction; now, smiling, he shrugged and went toward a bunk instead.

  Tregare said nothing, so Rissa answered. "All right. Come along, and Set us make sure of your safety harness."

  While she did so, Tregare called the Deux. Anders Kobolak had the watch; he patched the intercom through to Ivan's quarters. "Marchant here. All's calm so far. You coming back soon?"

  "Preparing to lift," Tregare said. "See you by mid-afternoon, or close to it. Tregare out." He cut the circuit and activated his drive; when its hum built to suit him, he nodded and hit the power lever. Vibrating under thrust, the scout rose. As the ground fell away and swooped to one side, then further as Tregare set his climb angle, Rissa saw Lisele grip the arms of her seat. And realized that the child hadn't ridden a scout this way before.

  The ring-shaped island slipped over the horizon behind;

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  soon the entire archipelago followed it, and after a time the -mainland lay ahead. Not obviously, though; their earlier trip had been under mostly clear skies; but now, below, cloud layers hid much of the shoreline and the land beyond. The great river's mouth was hidden. Rissa turned to Stonzai. "The river?"

  The alien pointed left, where cloud masses covered all surface features. "There, should be it."

  Tregare grinned. "Doesn't matter. The course-and-speed integrator in this bucket's little computer isn't calibrated for fine detail, but it'll do. Because if things are socked-in at the far end, we can home on the Deux's beacon."

  About halfway, by Rissa's guess, across the shallow jungled bowl of valley, ahead they saw the mountains come into view. Only their upper reaches showed above the cloud layer that hid the valley below, but Lisele smiled and pointed to them. "Yeah," Tregare said, "something to see, finally. Too bad you weren't up here yesterday, when-" Then his face twitched and he fell silent; the scout jerked with the sudden tremor of his hands. Rissa's head gave a stab of pain; her vision blurred; then the moment passed.

  "Bran! Did you feel-?"

  "Something-as if-I don't know. It's all right now."

  From Stonzai came a groan. Rissa looked; if the Shrakken agreed with Tregare, her appearance did not show it. The sidewise-moving eyelids closed tightly, and the V-mouth made a triangle that bared clenched teeth. Words came. "It-it the Tsa is!"

  "Stonzai!" Rissa touched her. "Is it still hurting you?"

  Strangely, unreadably, the Shrakken's head moved. "Attacking now, they not. But for pain to ease, a time takes."

  Rissa turned. "Lisele-did you feel anything?"

  Squinting upward, at the sky, the child said, "For a second, everything flickered, was all. But I saw-up there, some dots moving." She shook her head. "Gone now."

  Cursing, Tregare threw a switch. Beeps sounded, and on a sidescreen five blips appeared. "Stupid!" he muttered. "Flying with topside detectors off, just because-" Swiftly the blips moved offscreen; he twiddled dials to no effect as the beeps died away. "Well, that does it!" He pointed the scout steeply down; the speed indicator showed a rapid increase.

  "Bran. Are you sure?"

  "Enough. The Shrakken don't have five ships here, and

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  weren't expecting any, just yet." He shrugged. "Doesn't prove anything, I know. But let's get home like a bat!"

  They sat, tense, as Tregare drove the scout, bucking at the limits of stability in atmosphere, across the great valley. Skimming the cloud layer, occasionally they passed through its upper promontories. After ten minutes, then twenty, Rissa saw her husband begin to relax. Even Stonzai, except for the way she gripped the seat's arms, looked normal again.

  Then the detector alarm sounded; Tregare reached for the screen controls. "No, Bran," Rissa said. "I will do it. Hying this low, you need all your concentration." Her third try gave results-five blips, homing from above and behind. Homing fast.

  Tregare's first choice of words showed little imagination. Then, "All right-we can't outrun that lot, or outmaneuver. Not in a scout. But maybe we can outslick 'em!" Abruptly they dropped into cloud, and kept dropping. Then the scout was braking, hard. "If I can set down before they get here, and cut drive-''

  "The jungle! Bran-"

  "Landing blast should clear the ground; let's hope so." The scout lurched; Stonzai made a shrill bleat. "In my head again!" Tregare shouted. "You feel anything?"

  "I-I am not certain." Had she? Rissa could not be sure.

  With forward motion almost stopped, Tregare pointed the nose up; the craft began to settle. From below, Rissa heard rumblings- then pain clutched her mind, and shook it. Stabs of light came; she fought to see and think; nausea struck. Tregare's fist beat the control panel; he screamed. Lisele cried, "Oh, make it stop!"

  A crashing jolt as the scout hit dirt; then it tipped. Power came on in a great surge-by Tregare's purpose, or a random swipe of his hand? To Rissa's left, something dealt the scout a staggering blow, then another. Pain shattered her thinking; the next impact came directly facing her, and her safety harness cut cruelly. Tregare's tore loose, and he was thrown against the controls.

  Teeth clenched, Rissa batted at the power switch-and again, until she got it. Then the pain flowered so brightly that she saw nothing more, and heard only the dying cough of the scout's drive.

  To feel her consciousness leaving was total relief.

  Rissa woke to pain-of mind and of body, and for a time she could not separate the two. But her mind cleared, and she

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  found herself hurtfully suspended by her harness. The scout, then, lay on the side she faced. Carefully she tested arms and legs; each moved, not pleasurably. After a moment she decided how to free herself safely; one hand on each side's harness release, she pushed them, and fell braised and sprawling against her control panel.

  Normal lighting was gone; the dim glow of the emergency system lit the place. She looked; Tregare lay still, but he breathed. His face was turned away; blood smeared the part she could see. And his left leg bent wrongly. She crawled toward him.

  But above her, once and then again, she heard a faint gurgling gasp. Something spattered on her neck. Rissa looked up.

  Horror! Half in her harness and half out, one strap across her chest and another cutting into her throat, Lisele hung. The child's face was purple and blackening; one bleeding hand was inside the strap at her neck, and the oilier clawed feebly at it.

  Adrenaline struck; time slowed. Clambering to her feet, Rissa reached for Lisele's harness to pull herself up; the task took seeming hours. With one foot in a loop of her own loose-hanging harness, her left hand reached for the catch that would free Lisele's throat-but from where she hung, she had no leverage. And the child swung there, barely making any sound.

  Panting, Rissa let go the catch, bent her leg and jumped- with only one arm and leg to propel her. Now the time-stretch helped-in mid-air she lunged, with both hands, for the catch.

  And got it. Falling, unable to protect herself from impact, she saw the strap fly loose, and Lisele suspended only by her chest. Then the edge of the control panel crashed against her kidney. Agony shot through her and blanked her mind.

  When she could think, she found herself again trying to reach Lisele. This time the climb was almost impossible, but at its end, the task was not. She rigged her own harness to hold her-swaying, semi-upright-wrapped her left arm through Lisele's restraints and around the child, and carefully released the final strap. Lisele's weight unbalanced her, but she managed to hold. Then, figuring each move carefully, it took long minutes to get the child down safely.

  At any rate, Lisele was breathing. Had she needed resuscitation she would have died, for Rissa could not have given it in time. She lowered her daughter past the control consoles to a bare section of forward bulkhead, and laid her down with limbs

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  straight. None was broken; good; the mouth was free of blood or phlegm. And now normal color was returning to the small face.

  Rissa stood, and climbed back onto the now-horizontal control panel. It was time to see to Tregare.

  The panel was not quite level; the scout, she decided, was lying a bit nose-down. She considered the matter longer than need be, so that she would not have to think of what must be done-or of what could be done, which might be very little indeed.

  Surprising her, Tregare had his eyes open. "She all right?"

  "Bran! How long have you been awake?" She shook her head. Her coiled hair had come loose; part of it fell across her face. Irritably she pushed it back. "No-first, how badly-you-?"

  His hand made a small motion; he winced and flexed it, then shrugged, and winced again. "You see the leg. When we have time, you'll have to set it." At her start of protest, "You know how; you trained at Erika's." When she nodded, he said, "Still more than half deadhead, I was, dizzy with hurting, when something fell and jarred me. You?" Again she nodded. "I'll ask later. Next I knew, you were climbing up. Toward Lisele, hanging there, face all purple. Didn't say anything; why distract you?"

  How could he look so calm? "So I waited. Is she all right?"

  "By great luck, perhaps a miracle. Her harness slipped somehow; she was hanging-Bran, for a time I did not think I could free her!"

  Her left hand was near enough that he could clasp it. "You did, though. Peace be thanked, Rissa-you did!" He squinted past her, up where Lisele had dangled. "And from here, I can't think how you managed." He tried to turn his body; she saw his teeth clench. "Ugh! We can't move me until that leg's set. First, though-you've had no chance to check on anyone else, yet. For starters, how about Stonzai?"

  She had not thought-she had not thought of any others. Not Stonzai, nor of those who had suffered the crash in isolation, strapped in bunks and knowing nothing of the peril. "Oh, Bran! Wait-I will go and see."

  Again she climbed, this time not in frantic hurry. She reached Stonzai and found the Shrakken female hanging against her safety harness as Rissa had done, when she woke, and

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  breathing evenly though not yet conscious. From the alien's mouth trickled bright orange blood. Judging by the puddle below, the stream had been larger and was dwindling; in itself, the blood loss should not be serious. At this point Rissa could do nothing helpful; she climbed past Stonzai's seat position and found footing to stand. And from here she could see the hatch that gave access to the bunkrocm.

  The hatch was slightly ajar. At what was now its lower edge, something dark moved, and grew. Even in the dim light, Rissa could see that it had to be blood. Not a great Sot, here-but at the source?

  And it was not bright orange. The stuff was dark red.

  IX. Elzh

  Again now the beastworld-near!

  Too soon, with Elzh in fret for Tserln and Ceevt. Idsath had projected that itself and Tserln, indling, could fill the young with warm thought to turn mindpain away, and Elzh followed that hope. Still, though-two less Tsa to strike at mindbeasts. Of five ships, only.

  And now, beastworld. Twice around it, so near to mindpain range as to brush that world's gases, Elzh's ships curved.

  Only two places, distant from each other, showed mindbeast sign. Two ships at the larger; at the smaller, three. But there, the third was the ship that came out of nothing!

  To decide-as correct, as understood. Pain and dread would be, but Tsa-Drin law gave no choice. Mindsaying the need and regret, Elzh directed the five ships to descend. Gases tugged at the speed of Elzh's ship; it shuddered, almost as Elzh did.

 

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