after the ceremony. The admiral was now winding up the courtesies. Any minute now he would begin to tell the new Pogosan city of the wonders of the Four Caves and the promised return of the Evil Ones. The importance of that banished thought of Varese from Inglis' mind.
All around Inglis the Pogosan were fidgeting and shifting, limbering up for the dance. Inglis heard the stranger admiral begin a new incident of his city's rovings, and a strong and impatient feeling swept over him. Hurry it up! News of the Word could not wait!
The admiral was saying, "This' strange ship which we have here was found with beings unknown to us aboard. However, I see that your strangers are similar to them." Inglis pricked up his ears, half his mind coming back from the desire for the dance to what the admiral was saying. "They have gone off in a squadron to bring one of their number who was before them, and I expect to see their sails tomorrow."
Inglis understood then. Varese had borrowed some ships from the Pogosan—the Thinkers of the Sea would find that a perfectly natural action—and had gone to find Abd al-Malik ibn-Zobeir. Tomorrow. By tomorrow, then they would know that they were not marooned on this planet. By tomorrow Varese could help with the communications men under his command to reconstruct the radios, and, tomorrow ... tomorrow Varese could be told the great news, news of the Word and of the promise of the Four Caves given by the Evil Ones.
Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
-
12
The next day turned out to be a big day; but not because Commander Varese and the crew of Swallow turned up.
As soon as it was possible after the dancing and the rejoicing following upon the passing on of the great news about the Evil Ones, Inglis and his people went aboard the whaler. The little ship had been left in tiptop condition; everything shone with care and attention.
"There's been no panic here, at the least," M'Banga said with evident satisfaction.
"Did you expect any?" Gerda asked him.
"We-ell, no. Not really. Not with Commander Varese in charge. But it must have been a nasty shock to them to see their ship blown apart in space and sent to crash—"
"And that, too, is odd," Inglis said. "I mean, you'd think they'd be chasing as hard as they could in the whaler to find us."
"Perhaps they did." Ranee was her cool, composed self. "We were a very small object in a very wide sea. They could have gone looking for us and they could have missed us on the detectors."
"Well," Sammy said, remembering he was a detector screen tech, "they could have done. After all, I wasn't aboard."
Linda kidded him over this and the two scuffled. Toni shouted, "Hay! You two—don't step all over the bits and pieces!" She lowered her bundle to the deck and glared at the skylarkers.
"Linda," Gerda said practically: "Have a look at that circuit diagram, will you?" She pointed to the manual open on the workbench. "We'll need to rig that on a bread board, I'm thinking."
Linda released Sammy's hair and went across to the work bench. She wasn't a bad kid, Inglis supposed; it was simply that this open-air, sea roving life had made them all more than a little impatient with restrictive discipline. And with Varese he would have need of ironbound discipline. The man would have to be handled carefully; there were no two ways about that.
Toni and Sammy went back for more radio spares from the shrine where Hannah stood, again on guard. There could be no last minute losses at this stage. Gerda looked up, a smudge on her cheek putting a sparkle into her eye, holding a hot soldering iron casually so that Inglis winced. A strand of dark hair strayed over her temple. She felt it and pushed it back with her free hand, looking guilty.
Inglis wondered idly why she worried so much over keeping her green headcloth so firmly in place.
Gerda looked down on the wrecked radio—wrecked by her own fair hands—awaiting its reassembly into a subetheric radio set. "Commander
All around Inglis the Pogosan were fidgeting and shifting, limbering up for the dance. Inglis heard the stranger admiral begin a new incident of his city's rovings, and a strong and impatient feeling swept over him. Hurry it up! News of the Word could not wait!
The admiral was saying, "This' strange ship which we have here was found with beings unknown to us aboard. However, I see that your strangers are similar to them." Inglis pricked up his ears, half his mind coming back from the desire for the dance to what the admiral was saying. "They have gone off in a squadron to bring one of their number who was before them, and I expect to see their sails tomorrow."
Inglis understood then. Varese had borrowed some ships from the Pogosan—the Thinkers of the Sea would find that a perfectly natural action—and had gone to find Abd al-Malik ibn-Zobeir. Tomorrow. By tomorrow, then they would know that they were not marooned on this planet. By tomorrow Varese could help with the communications men under his command to reconstruct the radios, and, tomorrow ... tomorrow Varese could be told the great news, news of the Word and of the promise of the Four Caves given by the Evil Ones.
Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
-
12
The next day turned out to be a big day; but not because Commander Varese and the crew of Swallow turned up.
As soon as it was possible after the dancing and the rejoicing following upon the passing on of the great news about the Evil Ones, Inglis and his people went aboard the whaler. The little ship had been left in tiptop condition; everything shone with care and attention.
"There's been no panic here, at the least," M'Banga said with evident satisfaction.
"Did you expect any?" Gerda asked him.
"We-ell, no. Not really. Not with Commander Varese in charge. But it must have been a nasty shock to them to see their ship blown apart in space and sent to crash—"
"And that, too, is odd," Inglis said. "I mean, you'd think they'd be chasing as hard as they could in the whaler to find us."
"Perhaps they did." Ranee was her cool, composed self. "We were a very small object in a very wide sea. They could have gone looking for us and they could have missed us on the detectors."
"Well," Sammy said, remembering he was a detector screen tech, "they could have done. After all, I wasn't aboard."
Linda kidded him over this and the two scuffled. Toni shouted, "Hay! You two—don't step all over the bits and pieces!" She lowered her bundle to the deck and glared at the skylarkers.
"Linda," Gerda said practically: "Have a look at that circuit diagram, will you?" She pointed to the manual open on the workbench. "We'll need to rig that on a bread board, I'm thinking."
Linda released Sammy's hair and went across to the work bench. She wasn't a bad kid, Inglis supposed; it was simply that this open-air, sea roving life had made them all more than a little impatient with restrictive discipline. And with Varese he would have need of ironbound discipline. The man would have to be handled carefully; there were no two ways about that.
Toni and Sammy went back for more radio spares from the shrine where Hannah stood, again on guard. There could be no last minute losses at this stage. Gerda looked up, a smudge on her cheek putting a sparkle into her eye, holding a hot soldering iron casually so that Inglis winced. A strand of dark hair strayed over her temple. She felt it and pushed it back with her free hand, looking guilty.
Inglis wondered idly why she worried so much over keeping her green headcloth so firmly in place.
Gerda looked down on the wrecked radio—wrecked by her own fair hands—awaiting its reassembly into a subetheric radio set. "Commander
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