"Himself," Jaxom automatically corrected.
"Or herself," Piemur added, waggling a finger at the white rider.
"For the dragon to be anchored securely to the Yokohama," Aivas finished.
"Lines? We can get rope or some of that strong fine cable Fandarel's been extruding," Piemur suggested.
"That will not be necessary, as something suitable is already available."
"What?" Jaxom asked contritely, realizing that their banter was delaying details that they had wanted to hear for Turns.
The screen in front of them lit up, showing a graphic of the Yokohama profile. The display altered to a close-up of the long shaft on which the engines were fitted-and the framework of spars that had once held the extra fuel tanks in place.
"Dragons can hang on the frames!" Jaxom cried. "That would definitely offer a secure grip. And, unless I've misread the dimensions, those rails are as long as a Weyr Rim. Imagine, all the Weyrs of Pern, Piemur, out in space, along those girders! What a sight!"
"The only drawback to that," Piemur said pragmatically, "is that there aren't enough space suits for all the riders of Pern."
"There will be sufficient space suits available when required," Aivas informed them calmly, "though not quite all the dragons in the Weyrs of Pern will be needed. Since you are still suited, Lord Jaxom, and have taken nourishment, perhaps you and Ruth would attempt an extravehicular activity today?"
Piemur's eyes grew wide and round as he assimilated Aivas's astounding suggestion. "By the first Egg, it's not the humans you've got to be wary of, Jaxom. It's Aivas who's trying to kill you!"
"Nonsense!" Jaxom replied hotly. But he had felt his stomach leap almost in time to the accelerated beat of his heart at the notion of an EVA. "Ruth?"
I'll see a lot more from there than I can from the window was the white dragon's thoughtful response.
With a laugh that was only a trifle shaky, Jaxom told Piemur what Ruth had said.
The harper gave him a long incredulous look and sighed. "I don't know which of you two is more outrageous. You'd dare anything, the pair of you would." Then in a wry tone, he added, "And I'm supposed to be the reckless one."
"But you aren't a dragonrider," Jaxom said gently.
"The dragon makes the man?" Piemur shot back.
Jaxom smiled, sending a loving look at Ruth, who was watching the two humans. "With a dragon to guide and guard you, you tend to feel secure."
"So long as your riding straps hold" was Piemur's quick retort. Then he shook his head. "Come to think on it, with Aivas as your mentor, you don't need to worry about what mere men could do to you."
"Lord Jaxom will not be in any jeopardy, Harper Piemur," Aivas said with customary composure.
"So you say!" Then Piemur fixed Jaxom with a fierce stare. "So you're going to do it? Without checking with anyone?"
Jaxom glared right back, anger rising. "I don't need to check with anyone, Piemur. I've been making my own decisions for a long time, This time I get to make it without anyone else's interference. Not yours, or F'lar's, or Lessa's, or Robinton's."
"Sharra's?" Piemur cocked his head, his eye contact unswerving.
It doesn't seem to be a hard thing Aivas asks us to do, Jaxom, Ruth said. It is no more dangerous than going between, where we have nothing to hold on to. My talons are strong. My grip will be secure for both of us.
"Ruth sees no problems. If he did, I would certainly listen to him," Jaxom said, very much aware that Sharra would undoubtedly share Piemur's reservations. "I don't know why you're upset about an EVA. I thought you'd want to be first."
Piemur managed a flicker of a smile. "One, I don't have a dragon to reassure me. Two, I dislike being trussed up in this thing." He flicked his hand at the space suit. Then his expression changed to a cocky grin. "And three, it's just likely I'm one of those humans who'd panic out there with solid earth a million dragon-lengths away from my feet. So," he finished, rising to his feet and reaching for Jaxom's helmet, "since I can't talk you out of it, go and do it. Now! Before I get myself in a knot!"
Jaxom gripped his shoulder. "Don't forget that Aivas cannot endanger human life. And we've seen tapes of spacemen doing EVA drills."
So let us go. Ruth pushed himself away from the window with just enough force to arrive by Jaxom. He peered down at Piemur's scowling face. Tell Piemur that I won't let anything happen to you.
"Ruth says he won't let anything happen to me," Jaxom said.
With a roughness born of anxiety, Piemur adjusted Jaxom's helmet, securing the fastenings, checking the oxytank unit, and gesturing for him to turn on the helmet's audio.
"Keep up a running commentary, will you, Jaxom?" he asked.
"Nod if you can hear me all right." The sound of his own voice echoing in the confines of the helmet still sounded unnatural to Jaxom.
Piemur nodded, his expression carefully blank.
"Aivas, show us where we're going so Piemur can watch." Jaxom gave his friend one more buffet and then, pulling first one foot and then the other free of the deck, he floated up to Ruth. Hauling himself into position, he attached his riding straps to the toggles that had been designed to hold snap-on equipment for EVA.
"You wearing the right riding harness?" Piemur asked acidly.
"That's the second time you've asked me that today."
"Bears repeating. Can you see the screen perched up there?" Piemur's tone was even more acerbic. Jaxom wished the harper wouldn't worry so much. But that was yet one more difference that only another rider would understand: the supreme confidence one could have in one's dragon's abilities. And Ruth had more than most.
"I can see it," he said, his voice high and tinny to his ears.
Do you know where we're going, Ruth?
Certainly. Shall we go?
Jaxom was accustomed to very short passages between, but this must have been the shortest they had ever taken. One moment they were on the bridge; the next, they were surrounded by a different sort of darkness. For one heartbeat, Jaxom tasted as deep a fear as he had ever known. But Ruth's head, erect and swinging around as he surveyed the scene. was all the token of reassurance Jaxom needed. Then he became aware-unlike the total lack of sensation in between-of his legs pressing against Ruth's neck and even the tug of the straps against his belt.
I won't let go, Ruth said as calmly as ever. I could hang by my claws. The metal is .so cold it feels hot.
Jaxom peered down over the lower edge of his helmet and saw that Ruth had, indeed, curled his talons about the spars-two different spars. Carefully the white dragon had extended his forepaw talons to grip the upper bar and had arranged his hind feet on tiptoe, one in front of the other, for a purchase on the lower one, stretching comfortably between the two levels.
I'm holding my breath, but I am in no discomfort, Ruth continned as he gazed alertly around. His left eye was whirling ever so gently in the blue of interest. Above, Jaxom could see more horizontal spars, a longitudinal framework that circled the engines. Their mass was behind the grid, an immense rectangular boxlike structure in which the matter/antimatter drive provided propulsion for interstellar travel.
"Are you all right, Jaxom?" Aivas asked.
"Perfectly," Jaxom replied. He would have been unwilling to give any other response, but in truth, he felt his muscles relax just a trifle even as he spoke. After all, nothing had happened.
"Ruth suffers no discomfort?"
"He says not. He's holding his breath."
I wish to climb higher, for a better view. There is nothing to be seen here but the engines. They are uninteresting. Before Jaxom could forbid him, Ruth had reached for the spar above his head.
Whatever you do, Ruth, don't let go entirely, Jaxom said urgently.