"Yes, that would be not only respectful and appropriate, but a long-overdue honor for such a valiant lady. I'll inform Lord Larad immediately."
"Would her space suit be usable after all this time?" Piemur asked, curious. When he saw the shocked expression on Jancis's face, he belatedly realized how callous that sounded and, groaning, hid his face against his arm. Farli curled her tail consolingly around his throat.
"With some minor repairs, it is to be hoped that the space suit is usable," Aivas replied so calmly that Robinton was certain that recovery of both body and suit had been planned from the start. "You are both to dress as warmly as possible, as the bridge temperature currently reads ten degrees below zero."
Jaxom was unmoved by that information, since he was used to the absolute cold of between, but Piemur gave a dramatic shudder and hunched his shoulders as if already warding off the chill.
"Can Farli come, too?" he asked.
"That would be advisable," Aivas said. "If Jancis's Trig will accompany Farli, there would then be two fire-lizards who understand this sort of between transfer."
Despite an obvious reluctance, Jancis instructed her young bronze Trig to settle himself on Piemur's right shoulder. Jaxom and Piemur left the buildings by themselves so as not to suggest to anyone outside their small group that this journey was anything unusual. The bulky tanks of oxygen, which Aivas had insisted they bring in case of emergency, had already been secured to Ruth's back, but Jaxom checked the ropes before he and Piemur mounted.
"Ready, Piemur?" Jaxom asked over his shoulder.
"As ready as I'll ever be," the harper replied, resettling his grip on Jaxom's wide belt. "But I'm awfully glad Ruth's already been there."
Tell Piemur not to worry. It's fun to float! Ruth remarked as he launched himself.
As Jaxom passed on that encouraging message, he felt Piemur's spasmodic tug on his belt and knew that the harper was also nervous. Not that he didn't trust Ruth to get them there. It was just such a long way!
Between never seemed so cold nor the transfer so long, yet Jaxom, counting silently, reached ten seconds just as they emerged onto the bridge deck of the Yokohama.
"Are we there yet?" Piemur asked. His hands were rigid on Jaxom's belt. As Jaxom looked over his shoulder to reassure the harper, he realized that Piemur had his eyes squeezed shut.
Rather than laugh at his friend, he cleared his throat and turned his head forward-and began to slide sideways off Ruth's neck.
"Shards! What's happening?" Piemur exclaimed, opening his eyes as he and Jaxom continued to slide to their right until they came up against the cold wall.
Don't make sudden moves, Ruth warned both of them.
"I heard you, I heard you," Piemur replied. The freezing wall seemed to burn through the leather of his helmet and his jacket. "It is cold up here!"
Jaxom only nodded. "I'm going to pull us back up on Ruth, Piemur," he said. Carefully grabbing a neck ridge, he slowly righted them. Farli unwrapped her tail and peered up at Jaxom, chirping encouragingly.
"That's all I need," Piemur said wryly. "My fire-lizard telling me how to handle free-fall! " Farli pushed off from his shoulder and floated upward. Trig squeaked; when Farli answered him in an encouraging tone, he let go of his perch and, following her example, also drifted away. The two came to rest on the ceiling, chittering animatedly.
"That's enough, the pair of you," Piemur said, disgusted.
"They're not coming to any harm," Jaxom said, "and Ruth says if we move slowly enough, we'll be all right. We've got a lot to do. Look, Piemur, I'll dismount-carefully-and then you can untie the oxygen tanks. Ruth says the tanks are bulky and he doesn't move until we've untied them. He wants to look out the window."
"He would!"
Jaxom heard the note of self-disparagement in Piemur's voice and grinned. "They did have some practice, you know."
"Hmmmm! The air here smells peculiar, sort of dead."
"It'll probably improve with the fresh tanks," Piemur said cheerfuly.
Cautiously, Jaxom dismounted on the right-hand side of the white dragon. Keeping between Ruth and the wall might prevent him from floating about.
Your placement is perfect, Ruth, he told his weyrmate approvingly, hanging on to a neck ridge as he judiciously lowered himself.
It's the only place I'd fit, Ruth remarked, slowly turning his head to his right to observe the margin. I'll hook my tail so I won't drift when you unload me.
Now I know why dragons have tails! Jaxom replied, giving a nervous chuckle.
"Don't laugh," Piemur warned. He had just swung his leg over and had to clutch at Ruth's wing joint to keep from floating upward.
"I wasn't laughing at you, Piemur. Ruth's just found out how to anchor himself. Watch his tail. And dismount to the right, not the left. Don't grab that wing joint so hard. Wings are fragile."
"I know, I know. Sorry, Ruth." But as Jaxom watched anxiously, he could see that Piemur had to make a considerable effort to relax his grip. "I've done some crazy things in my life, stealing fire-lizard eggs, crawling into carry-sacks, scrambling along shorelines-but this is undoubtedly the craziest," Piemur muttered to himself as he eased off Ruth's back, following Jaxom's example. At last his feet touched the deck. "Made it!" he exclaimed.
Wedged between the wall and his dragon, Jaxom began to untie the ropes that secured the oxygen tanks to Ruth's back.
"Huh!" Jaxom exclaimed in surprise as the tiniest push sent the first tank drifting toward the deck. "Well, easier off than on!
As Aivas said." He grinned at the young harper, who was gaping in surprise. "No weight at all." With one finger, he pushed the second tank after the first.
"Hey, I could get to like a place where work is play," Piemur said with a grin as he began to relax.
"Here-let's stack them against the wall. By the first Egg!" Jaxom inadvertently used more force than necessary to lift the tank and nearly launched it over Ruth.
"Wow!" Piemur stretched out to restrain the tank and found himself rising. But he was quick enough to grab Ruth's wing and correct the reaction. "Yeah, this free-fall stuff has distinct advantages! I'll tend to the others."
While Jaxom watched in surprise, Piemur took a firm hold of Ruth's shoulder neck ridge and executed an effortless flip over the white dragon's back.
"Whee!" The exclamation was part laugh and part surprise that his unorthodox maneuver succeeded in guiding him neatly into the narrow space between the dragon and the railing around the upper level of the bridge. "This is fun!"
"Watch it, Piemur. We don't want those tanks crashing into anything."
"I'll just tie these down."
"It is safest to secure any loose object on board a spacegoing vessel," Aivas agreed, as calm as ever. "You are doing well. Bridge temperature is still rising, and all proximity alarms are quiescent."
"Proximity alarms?" Piemur asked, his voice rising in surprise.
"Yes, this facility is now receiving function reports and damage analysis," Aivas went on. "Considering its length of time in space, the fabric of the Yokohama has not had a significant breach. The solar-powered deflector shields display no operational damage. As you will remember from your studies, these panels provide power to the small thrusters that keep the ship in its geosynchronous orbit. There has been minor penetration of some of the outermost sectors of the main sphere, but these were automatically sealed off. None of those sections are now required. The doors on the cargo bay are still open, and a malfunction light is on. However, your assigned tasks take precedence. Please proceed. Oxygen remains at a normal level, but you will shortly feel the effects of the low temperature, decreasing manual dexterity. Gymnastic displays should be curtailed."
Jaxom smothered a laugh and hoped that only he had heard Piemur's insolent mutter about all work and no play.