"Mine would be better," Nova said. "I should do it."
"You can't be two places at once," Cirocco replied. "My decision on that stands." She turned to Chris. "I'll spell it out. Your chances of catching him are excellent. If you were betting on a poker hand, I'd say go for it. But you've got a five percent chance of losing."
"I know, I know." Chris put his face in his big hands and was silent for a long time. When he looked up, his eyes were red. "What would you do, Captain?"
Cirocco leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.
"Chris... I can't make that decision. I can't tell if I want him back because he's a human being in danger, or because he's my salvation. I feel like the professional they bring in when a child is kidnapped. I can tell you a few things about what might happen, but the decisions about the options are up to the parents." She looked from Chris to Robin, and back again. "I'll play it whichever way you two decide."
"What do you want to do?" Robin asked.
"Me? I want to steal him back, right now, so badly it's making me sick. But you know my ulterior motives."
"For what it's worth," Conal said, "I agree with Cirocco. I don't want Gaea to get her hands on him."
"I disagree," Nova said. "Sorry, Mother. There's too much risk, even if it was me going after him. I'm ninety-nine percent sure I'd get him. But one percent risk is too much."
"Tell me about Gaea," Chris said.
"Gaea?" Cirocco frowned. "You may not believe this, but I feel on firmer ground there. What Snitch said is the gospel. She won't hurt him. Once she has him, he won't be in any physical danger. He'll be treated well."
"I worry about psychological damage," Chris said.
"I hate to say this, Chris, but all we can do is take our pick of the trauma he suffers. Falling, or having a fifty-foot woman as a loving grandma."
"That's going to hurt him. She'll take him over."
"That's her plan, of course. But don't under-rate her. She'll raise him to love her. But that will insure he'll be treated well."
There was silence from all for a time, and at last Chris sighed.
"I probably won't ever have a tougher decision. But I think we ought to try and take him now."
"I agree," Robin said, quietly. She reached back and took Chris's hand.
"Okay," Cirocco said. "We're about halfway across Cronus. In about a rev we'll have the light we're going to need to pull this off. I'd welcome any more ideas."
Both planes were very quiet for a long time as they moved through the silvery night of Cronus. There were a hundred things that could go wrong, and they all knew it.
At one point in the endless rev, Rocky called from Tuxedo Junction, and it was a relief to Cirocco to have something new to deal with.
"Captain," Rocky said. "I have located the sixteenth egg. It had rolled down the hallway outside the room. It is now destroyed."
"Good enough, Rocky."
"There is information I have held back, not wishing to distract you from the central problem."
"Now's probably a good time to give it to me."
"Very well. Valiha, on her way to Bellinzona, discovered twelve dead zombies on top of a hill about a kilometer and a half from here. There were no signs of struggle."
"Was this hill downwind of the Junction?"
"Yes, it was. I'm assuming it was Nova's love potion that killed them."
"Seems reasonable."
"Valiha believes two Priests were on that hilltop. She thinks they were Luther and Kali. The scent was too old to be sure. In addition, there was a dead human child, male, between five and fifteen years old. I have recovered his body, and cannot estimate more closely, though perhaps you could."
"He hadn't gone zombie?"
"No. Perhaps he won't."
"Maybe not, but we can't take that chance. Cremate him, please. Anything else?"
"Valiha spoke to me not long ago. She asked that, if you called, and if you had the time, would you call her back."
"Roger, will do." Cirocco switched channels. "Serpent, do you read?"
"I read you, Captain."
"Where are you, my friend?"
"I'm almost to the mid-point of Iapetus, Cirocco." They could all hear Serpent's exhaustion.
"You're making incredibly good time, Serpent, but I'm afraid it was for nothing. We're most of the way through Cronus, and we're sure he's on his way to Hyperion. I don't think it'll do any good for you to go on."
"I'd prefer to keep going, unless you have something better for me to do. But I'll soon have to stop for rest and food."
"Don't push yourself so hard. I don't think there's much you can do, either way."
"Then I'll go on until you turn back."
"All right." Cirocco once again pressed buttons. "Valiha, are you there?"
"I am at the outskirts of Bellinzona, Cirocco," Valiha said.
"What did you want to know?"
"You bade me catch live zombies," she said. "I have enlisted Hornpipe, Mbira, Cembalo, Sistrum, and Lyricon in this project. They tell me Luther was here a short time ago, but know of no other zombie band in the area. We can search for strays, but our noses tell us none are in the area. The citizens of this fair city have become cautious enough that few new zombies spring from their graveyards. What I wanted to know, Captain, is must these zombies be already dead?"
Cirocco thought it over for a while.
"Valiha, you are ruthless and practical."
"Captain, to me there are those who have been executed for their crimes, and those who, through an oversight, are still walking around. Do you wish me to read them their rights and arrange fair trials?"
"Follow the right path as you see it," Cirocco sang.
Valiha turned off the radio and stuffed it in her pouch. She sang a few notes to her five companions, and they trotted off down the broad pier that ran along the Grand Canal. When they came to the crossing waterway known as the Slough of Despond, they stopped, and looked around. It was here that much of Bellinzona's thriving business in slaves was done.
Soon a caravan came shambling down Edward Teller Boulevard.
There were twenty slaves in iron fetters: sixteen females and four males, many of them children. They were guarded by ten muscular men in rough armor, and at the head of the procession was the slavemaster in a sedan chair carried by a pair of identical twins. The chair was a conspicuous indulgence in Gaea's low gravity, but it had nothing to do with utility and everything to do with showboating. The contingent of guards, on the other hand, might have proved too few, even if the caravan had been set upon by human bandits. But the slavemaster was counting on the unseen presence of the mafia to which he owed his allegiance.
The Titanides spread out along the edge of the pier. The guards looked at them nervously, as did the slavemaster.
"Are these for sale?" Valiha asked him.
The man was obviously surprised at the question. It was well-known that Titanides never bought slaves. But good business practice demanded steering clear of them, never offering offense-or at least treating them as the dangerous animals they were. So the man got up and made a perfunctory bow. His English was not great, but good enough.
"All for sale, sure. You in the market?"