Lynn so; and all of us scrambled out of bed and ran for the lift.
So had Griffin come running from my lady’s bedroom. He stood there in his robe and his bare feet like the rest of us; but no word from my lady, nothing. It left us with Griffin alone, and that rumbling and squealing came over the com fit to drive us all blank.
“Have you answered it?” Griffin asked of Gawain and Modred, who sat at controls still in their party clothes; and Percy and Lynn took their places in their chairs wearing just the robes they had thrown on. “No,” Modred replied. He turned in his place, calm as ever, with dark circles under his eyes. “I’m composing a transmission tape in pulses, to see if we can establish a common ground in mathematics.”
“Use it,” Griffin said. “If the beginning’s complete, use it.”
Modred hesitated. I stood there with my arms wrapped about me and thinking, no, he wouldn’t, not with my lady not here. But Modred gave one of those short, curious nods of his and pushed a button.
The transmission went out. At least after a moment the transmission from the other side stopped. “I should see to my lady,” I said.
“No,” Griffin said. “She’s resting. She took a pill.”
I stood there as either/or as Modred, clenched my arms about me and let this born-man tell me I wasn’t to go ... because I knew if my lady had taken a pill she wouldn’t want the disturbance. This terrible thing started up again and the crew asked help and Dela took a pill.
An arm went about me. It was Lance. Viv sat near us, on one of the benches near the door.
“You’d better trade off shifts,” Griffin said to the crew, marking, surely, how direly tired Gawain and Modred looked.
“Yes,” Gawain agreed. He would have sat there all the watch if Griffin hadn’t thought of that, which was one of the considerate things I had seen Griffin do ... but it gave me no comfort, and no comfort to any of the rest of us, I think. It was Dela who should have thought of that; Dela who should be here; and it was Griffin instead, who started acting as if he owned us and the Maid . Until now he had looked through us all and ignored us; and now he saw us and we were alone with him.
“We’ll dress,” Lynn said, “and come up and relieve you.”
“Get back to sleep,” Griffin said to those of us who were staff. “No need of your being here.”
We went back to the crew quarters and got in bed again, except Lynn and Percy, who dressed and went topside again. Then Gawain and Modred came down and undressed and lay down with us as Lynn and Percy had—I think they were glad of the company, and worked themselves up against us, cold and tense until they began to take our warmth, and until they fell asleep with the suddenness of exhaustion.
What went on out there, that noise, that thing outside our hull—it might go on again and again. It might not need to sleep.
VII
The huge pavilion slowly yielded up,
Thro’ those black foldings, that which housed therein.
High on a nightblack horse, in nightblack arms,
With white breastbone, and barren ribs of Death,
And crowned with fleshless laughter—some ten steps—
Into the half-light—thro’ the dim dawn—advanced
The monster, and then paused, and spake no word.
W e went about in the morning on soft feet and small steps, listening. We stayed to our duties, what little of them there were. Even the makeshift lab was quiet, where Vivien was setting things up ... running tests, that took time, and we could do nothing there. Griffin and Dela stayed together in her bed, and I walked and paced feeling like a ghost in the Maid ’s corridors, all too conscious how vast it was outside and how small we were and how huge that rumbling voice had sounded.
“It’s probably trapped here too,” Dela said when I came finally to do her hair, “and maybe it’s as scared as we are.”
“Maybe it is,” I said, thinking that scared beasts bit; and I feared this one might have guns.
So had Griffin come running from my lady’s bedroom. He stood there in his robe and his bare feet like the rest of us; but no word from my lady, nothing. It left us with Griffin alone, and that rumbling and squealing came over the com fit to drive us all blank.
“Have you answered it?” Griffin asked of Gawain and Modred, who sat at controls still in their party clothes; and Percy and Lynn took their places in their chairs wearing just the robes they had thrown on. “No,” Modred replied. He turned in his place, calm as ever, with dark circles under his eyes. “I’m composing a transmission tape in pulses, to see if we can establish a common ground in mathematics.”
“Use it,” Griffin said. “If the beginning’s complete, use it.”
Modred hesitated. I stood there with my arms wrapped about me and thinking, no, he wouldn’t, not with my lady not here. But Modred gave one of those short, curious nods of his and pushed a button.
The transmission went out. At least after a moment the transmission from the other side stopped. “I should see to my lady,” I said.
“No,” Griffin said. “She’s resting. She took a pill.”
I stood there as either/or as Modred, clenched my arms about me and let this born-man tell me I wasn’t to go ... because I knew if my lady had taken a pill she wouldn’t want the disturbance. This terrible thing started up again and the crew asked help and Dela took a pill.
An arm went about me. It was Lance. Viv sat near us, on one of the benches near the door.
“You’d better trade off shifts,” Griffin said to the crew, marking, surely, how direly tired Gawain and Modred looked.
“Yes,” Gawain agreed. He would have sat there all the watch if Griffin hadn’t thought of that, which was one of the considerate things I had seen Griffin do ... but it gave me no comfort, and no comfort to any of the rest of us, I think. It was Dela who should have thought of that; Dela who should be here; and it was Griffin instead, who started acting as if he owned us and the Maid . Until now he had looked through us all and ignored us; and now he saw us and we were alone with him.
“We’ll dress,” Lynn said, “and come up and relieve you.”
“Get back to sleep,” Griffin said to those of us who were staff. “No need of your being here.”
We went back to the crew quarters and got in bed again, except Lynn and Percy, who dressed and went topside again. Then Gawain and Modred came down and undressed and lay down with us as Lynn and Percy had—I think they were glad of the company, and worked themselves up against us, cold and tense until they began to take our warmth, and until they fell asleep with the suddenness of exhaustion.
What went on out there, that noise, that thing outside our hull—it might go on again and again. It might not need to sleep.
VII
The huge pavilion slowly yielded up,
Thro’ those black foldings, that which housed therein.
High on a nightblack horse, in nightblack arms,
With white breastbone, and barren ribs of Death,
And crowned with fleshless laughter—some ten steps—
Into the half-light—thro’ the dim dawn—advanced
The monster, and then paused, and spake no word.
W e went about in the morning on soft feet and small steps, listening. We stayed to our duties, what little of them there were. Even the makeshift lab was quiet, where Vivien was setting things up ... running tests, that took time, and we could do nothing there. Griffin and Dela stayed together in her bed, and I walked and paced feeling like a ghost in the Maid ’s corridors, all too conscious how vast it was outside and how small we were and how huge that rumbling voice had sounded.
“It’s probably trapped here too,” Dela said when I came finally to do her hair, “and maybe it’s as scared as we are.”
“Maybe it is,” I said, thinking that scared beasts bit; and I feared this one might have guns.
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