"You can start naming the constellations," I suggested, getting to my feet.
"So.
How do I work this thing?"
He gestured to the articulated arm angling its way toward the center of thesphere twenty meters above us. "Once I've set the destination panel, I expectall you'll need to do is work your way along the arm to the trigger section atthe end," he said. "Basically the same as you did on the Icarus."
Except that on the Icarus the gravitational field had been pointing the otherway. It looked like I was in for a long climb. "Right," I said. "Don't worryif it takes me a couple of hours to get the supplies to you. There isn't a lot ofprivacy in the ship right now, and I don't want anyone to catch me putting asurvival pack together. Someone might jump to the wrong conclusion."
"Or even the right one?" he suggested.
I nodded. "Especially the right one."
A ghost of something flicked across his face. "You'll let my daughter know I'mall right, won't you? We've hardly spoken since the trip began—there justhaven't been any safe opportunities—but I know she's worried about me."
"And vice versa?" I suggested.
His lips compressed. "Very much vice versa," he agreed quietly. "I'dappreciateit if you'd watch over her for me."
"I will," I promised. "You can count on it."
For a moment he studied my face, as if trying one last time to see if I wasindeed someone in whom he could place this kind of trust. I met his eyesstolidly, not flinching away from the probe, exuding all the sincerity I couldmuster. And after a couple of heartbeats he nodded. "All right," he said witha sigh. "You'd best be on your way, then."
I nodded and gave a whistle. Pax emerged from a mass of wiring he'd beennosingthrough and bounded enthusiastically over to me. I managed to catch him beforehe could start with equal enthusiasm up my leg and settled him into a cradlingcarry in the crook of my elbow. "I'll let you know when you can come out," Itold him, crossing the sphere to where the arm was anchored. "I'll either comemyself or send in one of the ferrets."
"Understood," he said. "Good luck."
"You, too," I said. Reaching up with my free hand, I wrapped my legs around itand started awkwardly to climb.
The awkwardness didn't last long. I'd barely started my climb when I felt myselfrapidly going weightless. For about five seconds I hung there in zero gee, andthen the gravity began again, only this time pointed the opposite direction, toward the center of the sphere. I quickly turned myself around, noticing thatCameron was still glued, albeit openmouthed, to the inner surface. I don'tknow why finding a two-tier artificial gravity in our unknown aliens' bag of tricksshould have surprised me, but it did. The level of the pull stayed about whereit had been aboard the Icarus, keeping me moving inward without giving me thefeeling of uncontrolled falling. I looked over—up, rather—at Cameron once asPax and I slid down toward the center, wondering if he'd noticed that I'd somehownever gotten around to agreeing to his request that I tell Tera he was here.
Because there was no way I was going to let her in on what the Icarus reallywas. No way in hell; for the simple reason that that would require me lettingher know that I knew what it really was. As a possibly advanced stardrive thatmight or might not still function, the Icarus had a value that was potentiallyhigh but still nebulous. As a stargate with proven capabilities, that valuehad suddenly solidified to an astronomical level.
And I had no intention of letting Tera come to the realization that theIcarus's asking price was now light-years beyond the paltry half-million debt that heldme enslaved to Brother John and the Antoniewicz organization. Enough to buy meout of that contract, guarantee me immunity from prosecution for every illegalact I'd ever committed, and set me up for a lifetime of luxury on top of it.
I had reached the trigger. I took one last look at Cameron, who didn't knowanyof what his daughter had learned about me. But as I squeezed the trigger, andthe tingling and blackness closed in around me, I wondered oddly if he mightpossibly have guessed the truth.
CHAPTER 18
THE TRIP BACK to the Icarus probably took no longer than the trip out from ithad. I say probably because it definitely seemed longer. Partly that was dueto the fact that I was expecting it, with the accompanying sense of slightlycringing anticipation, and partly because this time I had a Kalixiri ferretcradled in my arm, whose main reaction to the tingling sensation was toattemptto dig his claws into whatever patches of skin were within easy reach.
Mostly, though, it was due to the uncomfortable awareness that a singlemiscalculation on Cameron's part would leave me in very serious troubleindeed.
Because if Cameron had guessed that I was not precisely what he thought he'dhired back at that Meima taverno, and if he'd decided he didn't want someonelike me aboard his ship anymore, then a small mistake on the encoding panelwould be the absolute simplest way of getting rid of me for good.
But Pax's claws didn't get to anything that wouldn't heal by itself, andCameron hadn't made any mistakes, deliberate or otherwise. There below me were thestacks of interior wall panels awaiting the attention of Chort and his weldingteam outside, the other stacks of equipment and paraphernalia, and the archaiccomputer humming beside the gaping access panel.
The relatively minuscule part of my mind that hadn't been worried about meending up in the wrong stargate at the wrong end of the universe had occupied itself with the question of how I was going to explain my sudden appearance toTera without giving away the true nature of her father's discovery. But to mymild surprise Tera was nowhere to be seen, either at the access panel orhalf-hidden in the shadows thrown by the sections of inner hull that we'd leftin place because of the wiring conduits fastened to their undersides. For amoment I wondered uneasily if she might have taken it upon herself to crawlinto the small sphere after me, but as I began the by-now-familiar downward drifttoward the surface I realized she had more likely simply gone around to theaccess panel in the engineering section to see if I was coming out there.
For a change, Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on me. Then again, maybe thefickle wench was just lulling me into a false sense of security while she reached fora rock.
I had made it to the surface, ready this time for the sudden surge ingravitational strength in that final meter, and was picking my way through theobstacle course toward the access panel when the hatchway to the wraparoundopened. Tera, undoubtedly, come to ask questions I had no intention ofanswering.
But to my mild surprise it wasn't Tera who came crawling out of the zero geeof the wraparound toward me. It was, instead, Chort, still vacsuited but with hishelmet hanging from the neck connector and bouncing gently against hisshoulder blades. "Captain McKell," he puffed as he caught sight of me. "Good—I hadhopedto find you here."
I resisted the impulse to ask where else he thought I might have gotten to. Itwould have been unnecessarily sarcastic, and given my experiences of the pasthour, would have been rather disingenuous as well. "Is there a problem?" Iasked instead as I set Pax down.
"We have to leave this place," he said, pulling himself the rest of the wayinto the sphere and standing up. "As soon as possible."
I frowned. "Are you finished with the cowling already?"
He twitched his head. "No, not entirely," he said. "But there will be nofinishing. Electronics Specialist Shawn is ill."
I grimaced. In the excitement of my trip to nowhere and back I'd almostforgotten about this constraint on our little operation. "How bad is he?"
"You will see for yourself soon," Chort said, his voice noticeably morewhistlythan usual. "Drive Specialist Nicabar will be bringing him inside as soon ashis seizure is ended."