nodded: ‘Full ahead.’ The hydrofoil surged across the few hundred yards that separated us from the improbable object on the river. As we drew closer the water hissed and bubbled, and the foils failed to support our craft. Carla moved a control lever and the hull sank back; skilfully she adjusted our speed until we came almost to a halt beneath the spaceship’s curving overhang. Around us, the silvery bellies of killed or
stunned fishes flashed in the churning water. Some of them had undoubtedly been cooked alive; I found myself hoping that the intake valves—already open and gulping in water, thirsty to replace the squandered reaction-mass—would filter some of them off to the commissary. It was probable: like many of the Division’s mechanisms, the ship had a sensitive nose—and a ravenous appetite—for usable organics.
About fifty feet above us, at the Terrible Beauty ’s widest diameter, a hatch unlidded and a face peered down at us: Tony Girard, currently the security officer on the ship.
‘Hi, Ellen!’ he shouted. ‘Sending a ladder down.’
I caught the plastic ladder as it reached the boat, and turned to Malley. ‘After you.’
Malley grinned at me, all cynicism gone from his face. He looked like a small boy about to go on a carnival ride. He picked up his bag, looped its longest strap across the back of his neck and under his armpits, and set off up the ladder.
‘Carla,’ I said, ‘we’ll obviously wait till you’re well clear before we lift, but will you be all right?’
She made a performance of shading her eyes and looking around the now almost deserted stretch of river. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘There’s a Union station at the mouth of the Lee. I’ll find out there why nobody answered your call—or mine, and why there weren’t any other patrol boats around to help.’ Her expression darkened. ‘ Somebody ’s gonna have some hard questions to answer.’
‘Contact us when they do,’ I said, scribbling a note of our call sign and passing it to her, along with the money I’d taken from Graciosa. ‘And thanks for everything. Anybody gives you trouble, you just give us a call.’ I jerked my thumb at the ship, and she smiled—grateful for the moral support, but probably not taking my promise seriously. This is a mistake people make about the Division, but each person only makes it once. I smiled, half to myself, and grasped Suze’s shoulder.
‘You were great,’ I said. ‘You helped me a lot, and it was real neighbourly of you to come after us.’
‘Even if it wasn’t necessary!’ Suze laughed. ‘Forget goodbyes, Ellen. I’m coming with you.’ She put her hand on one of the steps of the ladder.
‘What? You can’t—’
‘I can,’ she said confidently. ‘Anybody in the Union can join the Division if there’s a ship available to take them, and—’ she patted the hull ‘—here it is.’
She was right. It was a rule, but in practice it was only applied by experienced spacers from the Inner System defences joining the Division as a natural progression, and by members of various administrative committees
coming out to exercise what they supposed was democratic oversight. We had long experience in dissuading starry-eyed youngsters from Earth, but ultimately we could only dissuade, and—if the new volunteer turned out to be useless—gently disillusion them with some really boring tasks.
‘But Suze!’ I expostulated. ‘You’ve got a job to do here. Something’s up among the non-cos—all this radio communication, nobody knew that was going on. You’d do better to use what you know to help the Union find out—’
She held up her free hand. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m useless for that now. The non-cos saw me with you, and we’ve seen how fast word can spread. They won’t trust me any more, and they’d be right! And if you’re really going to—where you said—I wouldn’t miss that chance for anything. I’m coming.’
And with that she turned
stunned fishes flashed in the churning water. Some of them had undoubtedly been cooked alive; I found myself hoping that the intake valves—already open and gulping in water, thirsty to replace the squandered reaction-mass—would filter some of them off to the commissary. It was probable: like many of the Division’s mechanisms, the ship had a sensitive nose—and a ravenous appetite—for usable organics.
About fifty feet above us, at the Terrible Beauty ’s widest diameter, a hatch unlidded and a face peered down at us: Tony Girard, currently the security officer on the ship.
‘Hi, Ellen!’ he shouted. ‘Sending a ladder down.’
I caught the plastic ladder as it reached the boat, and turned to Malley. ‘After you.’
Malley grinned at me, all cynicism gone from his face. He looked like a small boy about to go on a carnival ride. He picked up his bag, looped its longest strap across the back of his neck and under his armpits, and set off up the ladder.
‘Carla,’ I said, ‘we’ll obviously wait till you’re well clear before we lift, but will you be all right?’
She made a performance of shading her eyes and looking around the now almost deserted stretch of river. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘There’s a Union station at the mouth of the Lee. I’ll find out there why nobody answered your call—or mine, and why there weren’t any other patrol boats around to help.’ Her expression darkened. ‘ Somebody ’s gonna have some hard questions to answer.’
‘Contact us when they do,’ I said, scribbling a note of our call sign and passing it to her, along with the money I’d taken from Graciosa. ‘And thanks for everything. Anybody gives you trouble, you just give us a call.’ I jerked my thumb at the ship, and she smiled—grateful for the moral support, but probably not taking my promise seriously. This is a mistake people make about the Division, but each person only makes it once. I smiled, half to myself, and grasped Suze’s shoulder.
‘You were great,’ I said. ‘You helped me a lot, and it was real neighbourly of you to come after us.’
‘Even if it wasn’t necessary!’ Suze laughed. ‘Forget goodbyes, Ellen. I’m coming with you.’ She put her hand on one of the steps of the ladder.
‘What? You can’t—’
‘I can,’ she said confidently. ‘Anybody in the Union can join the Division if there’s a ship available to take them, and—’ she patted the hull ‘—here it is.’
She was right. It was a rule, but in practice it was only applied by experienced spacers from the Inner System defences joining the Division as a natural progression, and by members of various administrative committees
coming out to exercise what they supposed was democratic oversight. We had long experience in dissuading starry-eyed youngsters from Earth, but ultimately we could only dissuade, and—if the new volunteer turned out to be useless—gently disillusion them with some really boring tasks.
‘But Suze!’ I expostulated. ‘You’ve got a job to do here. Something’s up among the non-cos—all this radio communication, nobody knew that was going on. You’d do better to use what you know to help the Union find out—’
She held up her free hand. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m useless for that now. The non-cos saw me with you, and we’ve seen how fast word can spread. They won’t trust me any more, and they’d be right! And if you’re really going to—where you said—I wouldn’t miss that chance for anything. I’m coming.’
And with that she turned
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