“There’s this gal on Alaspin, she’s an archeologist thinks she’s onto somethin’. Been wantin’ me to come ’round that way for a couple o’ years and help her out on some big dig. As I’ve only been to Alaspin once before, I think I might just drop down that way and look her up again.”
“Then if not for the friends, why would you want to come back?”
“Why, young feller-me-lad?” September’s smile widened. “You saw the carvings and inscriptions and mosaics in the mountain-city, and you heard our teacher friend Milliken hypothesize a different ecology, where the predominant color’s green ’stead of white.
“Yes, I’d like to come back allright. In about ten thousand years or so when this world swings close by its star again and the cycle shifts from cold to warm. I’d like to sail these same oceans again in a real boat, though the ol’ Slanderscree’s got her points.” He tapped the wooden rail affectionately.
“Think on those carvings again, feller-me-lad. Ten thousand years from now, why, it’d be nice to be here. Because when those frozen seeds thaw out fast, there’s gonna be a few hundred billion flowers all bloomin’ at once.”
THE DELUGE DRIVERS
Book Three of The Icerigger Trilogy
In memoriam… Judy-Lynn Benjamin del Rey
Fate is an unkind editor, but at last the
genie is free of the bottle.
Soar.
I
THE WORST PART OF it wasn’t that Ethan Fortune was freezing to death. The worst part of it was that he was doing so voluntarily.
Nudity was not favored by the heavily furred native Tran. For a human being to be standing naked on Tran-ky-ky verged on insanity. Despite this Ethan was not trying to commit suicide. He was supposed to be celebrating, though it was hard to pretend you were having a good time when you were turning blue and the goose bumps dotting arms, legs, and other sections of your anatomy were well on their way to settling in as permanent features of the epidermal topography.
That he had company in misery was no consolation. Skua September was just as cold, except for those portions of his face and neck that were covered by a heavy brown and gray beard. The old giant had both arms clapped tightly to his ribs.
There was also the matter of exposure to curious eyes as well as to the elements. Foolish to be embarrassed, Ethan told himself. He and Skua were the only the human beings in the royal hall of Arsudun. It was only natural their nude forms would draw attention, with their flat feet devoid of skatelike chiv, their dan-less arms, and their largely furless bodies.
Mousokka, who was second mate on the icerigger Slanderscree, commented that he found the subtle change in color of their skin very becoming. The glares this observation drew quickly convinced him that the change was other than voluntary and he did not mention it again.
The hardest thing to do was simply to be quiet. Shivering was permissible: muttering and making other noise was not. Skua leaned over to whisper to his companion anyway.
“It’s not so bad, young feller-me-lad. After a while the numbness kind of overwhelms the cold.”
“Shut up. Just shut up, will you?” Ethan leaned forward around the nearest member of the honor guard and looked toward the cupola. “Surely they’re almost through?”
Beneath an intricately carved dome of stavanzer ivory, a trio of elderly Arsudunian scholars were intoning the traditional marriage ritual. Overhead arched the stone walls and ceiling of the royal hall of Arsudun, the island-state whose corrupt Landgrave Ethan, Skua, and their Tran friends had recently overthrown. The new young Landgrave, Sev Gorin-Vloga, had given his blessings to the newlyweds-to-be and insisted they take their vows in Arsudun’s ancient castle. Ancient unheated castle, Ethan reflected as he tried to keep his teeth from chattering.
The two principles in this frigid romantic drama were Sir Hunnar Redbeard and Elfa Kurdagh-Vlata. Elfa was the daughter and heir of the Landgrave of Sofold, Hunnar the first Tran Ethan and Skua had dealt with after surviving their crash landing on this world eons ago. Ethan was delighted to share in their happiness. He would have given anything not to have agreed to share in the actual ceremony.
Not that he and Skua were alone in their nakedness. Guards and spectators alike had disrobed for the ceremony. Only the bride and groom were dressed. But the feline-ursine Tran were clad in thick fur. They didn’t notice the chill in the castle. Ethan and Skua had no such natural protection.
“Look, Ethan,” Skua whispered, “when I accepted the invitation to this little soiree on our behalf I had no idea stripping down was part of the tradition. The way that guard captain explained it, by appearing without raiment in the presence of the beloveds we indicate that we’re giving of our friendship and affection without any constraints. One holds nothing back. It’s a sign of respect for the lucky couple. One hides nothing in their presence.”
“That’s for damn sure,” Ethan growled.
Skua looked thoughtful. “Got its practical aspects besides. Hunnar there’s going to be Landgrave someday, ruler of Wannome. When everybody’s in a happy mood and celebrating would be a good time for a potential assassin to strike, but it’s tough to sneak in a weapon when you’ve nothing to hide it behind.”
“Damn shame, too. If I had one, I know who I’d use it on.”
September spread his huge hands. “Now what could I have done, feller-me-lad? Turned down the invitation to our friends’ wedding? A royal invitation at that, and what with us getting ready to leave this ball of ice once and for all. No reason for us to hang around. With Sofold and Arsudun in the north and Poyolavomaar and Moulokin in the south the Tran are pretty well on their way to breaking out of their feudal city-state cycle and establishing a planetary government. The rest of the independent states will have to join up because there’s no way they can stand against that kind of strength.”
One of the other spectators, an Arsudunian noble by the look of him, admonished them to be silent. It was disrespectful to converse during the sacred moments of the ceremony whether one be hero or commoner—or alien. Were they not conscious of the singular honor which had been bestowed upon them? Despite the presence of the human scientific outpost on the western shore of Arsudun this was the first time non-Tran had been allowed to witness the solemn, traditional rites which united male and female Tran in wedlock.
It was a delight Ethan could have forgone.
He kept quiet for Hunnar and Elfa’s sake. The business of betrothing consisted of a lot of twitching and moaning and entirely too much talk. If not for the fact that the two principals were close friends he would have declaimed his discomfort to all and sundry and damn the consequences. He tried to tell himself he wasn’t freezing, but his body wouldn’t buy it. So he concentrated instead on the more enjoyable activities which had led up to this prolonged session of discomfort: the procession through the town, the entrance into the castle, the swearing of the nobles, even the formal divestiture of garments which had taken place outside the hall, the clothing heaped into two piles between which the wedding procession had passed.
Would he truly have blasphemed if he’d kept his underwear?
He should have been grateful. What if tradition had called for the ceremony to have taken place not within the castle but out on the bare plains of Arsudun? Inside the temperature hovered close to freezing. Out on the plains it sank far below the point where water moved in comfort. Only fires in a few stone basins held back the arctic climate. One blazed not far away. Sticking his naked backside, or for that matter any portion of his anatomy, close to the hot stone would have constituted an unforgivable breach of etiquette. But he was going to have to do something soon. Shivering and goose bumps were half funny. Frostbite was not.