“I need a favor. I’d like you to scout the area for me. Find eight places where I can lock down my gear. These places need to have a few trees, at least. The more the better, actually. They should be as remote from populated areas as possible. And preferably four on either side of the isthmus, although that’s not a necessity. They should be spread out, to the degree it’s practical. I appreciate your help. By the way, I’d also be grateful if you could have Bill do some weather scans of the isthmus and offshore waters. Get me as much climate information as you can.
“Thanks. I’m looking forward to working with you on this. With a little bit of luck, we should be able to pull off a rescue.”
“And I bet she will,” said Jack.
IN THE MORNING they tried out the lightbenders. Jack was the only one of the three who had any experience with the devices. He opened the packages, took them out, and removed several pairs of goggles. “So we can see each other,” he said, pointedly holding them up and then laying them on a table.
The lightbender consisted of a set of transparent coveralls and a wide belt. The belt buckle doubled as both control and power unit.
Jack pulled on the coveralls, added a wide-brimmed safari hat, smiled at them, and touched the buckle.
Digger watched with pleasure as Jack faded from sight. The process took about three seconds during which he became transparent, then vanished completely. Except for his eyes. They looked back at him from the middle of the chamber. More intensely blue and bigger than he’d ever noticed. And disembodied.
“My irises, to be precise,” Jack said. “The system is selective. Has to be. If it blanked out your eyes, you wouldn’t be able to see. So it isn’t perfect.”
“I’ll be damned,” Digger said. “You know, I’ve seen it in the sims, but actually standing in a room when it happens—” He started thinking about the possibilities of being invisible.
“That’s why they don’t sell them down at the mall,” said Kellie, reading his expression.
She and Digger strapped on the gear. She faded away and Digger looked down at his body, found the appropriate stud on his belt, slid it sideways, and watched himself vanish. A wave of vertigo swept through him.
“It’ll seem a little strange at first,” said Jack’s voice.
Kellie’s dark eyes were full of mischief.
“Take a pair of goggles,” said Jack, “so we can see each other.” One of them rose from the table, apparently on its own, and went over the blue eyes. The goggles vanished and the eyes came back. “Ah,” Jack said, “that’s better.” The other two pairs also levitated, and one floated over to Digger. He took it and put it on.
The light in the room dimmed, but two shimmering silhouettes appeared.
“You’ll need to be careful about walking until you get used to things. You can see the ground, but you can’t see your feet. At least not the way you’re accustomed to seeing them. Sometimes they’re not where you think they are. People have broken ankles. And worse.”
Kellie popped back into the light. “I’m ready to go,” she said.
“You know”—Digger smiled—“you could get into a lot of trouble with one of these things.”
“Try your luck, cowboy,” Kellie said.
The Cumberland had also brought a substantial supply of pickups. They looked like large coins. Wilcox Comm. Corp. was engraved on the head, with an eagle symbol, and a reproduction of their headquarters on the flip side. They were powered, like the e-suits, by vacuum energy, and consequently could be expected to perform for indefinite periods of time. The back side would adhere, according to the directions, to virtually any solid surface.
They put about thirty of them into a case and stored it in the lander. It was late evening on the Jenkins, late afternoon on the isthmus. “Let’s try to get some sleep,” said Jack. “We’ll go down first thing tomorrow.”
When everyone had retired, Digger stopped by the bridge, saw that Kellie wasn’t there, and knocked gently on her compartment door.
“Who is it?” she said.
“Me.”
The door opened slightly. She stood tying her robe. “Yes, Dig?”
“I love you, babe,” he said.
“I love you, too.” She made no move to open wider.
“You know,” he said innocently, “you never know what might happen on these surface trips.”
“They can be pretty dangerous,” she agreed.
He reached in, touched her hair, pulled her forward. She complied, and their lips brushed softly. She came forward the rest of the way on her own, crushed her mouth against his, and held on to him. He was acutely aware of her heartbeat, her breasts, her tongue, her hair. His right hand pushed against the nape of her neck, sank down her back, cupped one buttock.
And she backed away. “Enough,” she said.
“Kellie—”
“No.” She put a hand on his shoulder, restraining him. “Once it starts, you can’t get it stopped. Be patient.”
“We have been,” he said. “We just signed up for, what, another year or so out here?”
She looked at him a long moment, and he thought she was going to bring up Captain Bassett, which she often did when this topic arose. Captain Bassett had begun sleeping with one of his passengers on a run in from Pinnacle or some damned place. The other passengers had found out, the Academy had found out, and Bassett had been fired. Conduct unbecoming. Violation of policy. Once a captain engaged in that sort of behavior, he, or she, could no longer expect to be taken seriously by the other passengers.
But on this occasion, Captain Bassett didn’t surface. Instead Kellie withdrew into her room and waited for him. He followed her in and closed the door. The bed was still made; a lamp burned over her desk. A book was open. She watched him for a long moment, as if still making up her mind. Then she smiled, her eyes narrowed, and she did something to the robe.
It fell to the deck.
KELLIE TOOK THEM back to the glade they’d used on their first landing, descending through a rainstorm and arriving shortly before dawn. They packed up a supply of water and rations and got ready to move out. After they were off the lander, Kellie would take it offshore to a safe place and wait until called. Jack and Digger activated their e-suits but, at Jack’s suggestion, not the lightbenders. “Let’s wait until we’re out of the woods,” he said.
“Why?” asked Digger. “Aren’t we taking a chance on being seen?”
“It’s still dark, Dig. All you’d do is make it more difficult to walk. It’s tricky in these things until you get used to them.”
“You guys need anything,” Kellie said, “just give me a yell.”
They waved, turned on their wristlamps, and climbed out into the night. The grass was wet and slippery. Jack led the way to the edge of the trees and plunged in. Digger hesitated and looked back. The lander waited patiently in the middle of the clearing. The lights were off, of course, and the sky was dark. More rain was coming.
He knew Kellie would stay put until her passengers were safely clear. The east was beginning to brighten. Jack turned and waved him forward. He was really enjoying his role as leader and lightbender expert. The lander lifted, the treads retracted, and it rose silently into the sky.
Thirty minutes later they were out by the side of the road. Jack told him it was time to “go under,” which, it turned out, was the standard phrase for switching on the lightbender. It had a disparate ring for Digger.
He touched his belt, felt a mild tingle as the field formed around him, held out his arm, and watched it vanish. When he looked up, Jack was also gone. He activated his goggles and his partner reappeared as a luminous silhouette.
They turned south. Toward Athens.
THERE WERE ALREADY travelers abroad. Two Goompahs appeared riding fat horses. They were gray, well muscled, with snouts, and ugly as bulldogs. “Everything in this world,” said Digger, “seems uglier than at home.”
“Cultural bias?”
“No, they’re ugly.”
One of the Goompahs carried a lantern. They were engaged in a spirited conversation, which included growls and thwacking their palms together and jabbing fingers at the sky. They passed Jack and drew alongside Digger and suddenly grew quiet. To Digger’s horror, the closer of the two had raised his lantern and was looking in his direction. Staring at him.
The animals sniffed the morning breeze, but they wouldn’t be able to detect any unusual scents because the e-suits locked everything in. Still, it was a trifle unsettling, especially when one of the beasts turned its head and also looked at Digger.
“Your eyes, Dig,” said Jack. “Close your eyes.”
He put his hand in front of them and began backing away. The riders exchanged remarks, and Digger was sorry he didn’t have a recorder running because he could guess the meaning. Harry, did you see that? You mean that pair of little blue eyes over there?
Harry rode to where he’d been standing and looked in all directions. They exchanged a few more comments and the one without the lantern detached a switch from his saddle. Just in case something had to be beaten off.
Digger had to restrain a laugh at the weapon. But he actually did hear a word repeated by the second rider: Telio. The name of his companion?
Digger was tempted. Challa, Telio. But he could guess how the pair of them would react to a voice coming out of the air. He compromised by trying to memorize the features of the one who might be Telio. It was difficult because they all looked alike. But he marked down the creature’s nervous smile, a battered left ear, and the shape of nose and jaws. Maybe we’ll have a more opportune moment.
OVER THE NEXT hour, they encountered several groups and a few lone pedestrians. There were both males and females on the road, and Digger noted that one of the females was alone on foot. The area was apparently safe.
They began to see scattered dwellings. The forest gradually died away and was replaced by farms and open fields. They stopped to watch a female working just outside a small building on a mechanical device that might have been a spinning wheel. An animal, a two-legged creature that looked like a goose with an extraordinarily long bill and protruding ears, waddled out the door, looked in their direction, got its neck stroked, and nibbled at something on the ground.