They headed for the encampment. The third alien lagged behind with its black cane still raised. As they passed through the fence, Friday Indigo moved at last. He followed them into one of the buildings, a windowless half-cylinder of dull yellow that seemed to crouch and merge into the black rock.
Deb was desperate to do something. Vow-of-Silence and Eager Seeker did not know it, but she was far from weaponless. She had enough firepower concealed inside her suit to handle a dozen unfriendly aliens. But she was rational enough to know that attacking the building with Chrissie and Tarbush inside would be the worst possible thing to do. If they were dead, delay could not further harm them. If they were unconscious and had been taken as prisoners, an attack by Deb would be a sure way to put all their lives in greater danger.
Even so, it took enormous self-control for Deb to retreat slowly and quietly through the thick scrub, over the line of the ridge and back to their own primitive camp. She did not like what she found there. Danny was bending over the knotted body of the Pipe-Rilla, and there was no sign of the Tinker Composite.
He shrugged when she asked him. “Nowhere, everywhere. When Vow-of-Silence screamed, Eager Seeker came apart. It was like being in the middle of a hailstorm. I felt components banging into me and rattling off my suit just like they had no idea where they were or where they were going. Then Vow-of-Silence keeled over. She almost knocked me flat and landed just the way you see her now. I can’t wake her. And I’ve not seen a Tinker component since they all flew away.”
Deb bent down at Danny’s side. The Pipe-Rilla’s long, gangly body had contorted until her head touched the end of her abdomen, and her slender jointed legs were tight-wrapped around the narrow body. Deb tugged at one, and it did not move a millimeter.
“What happened over the other side of the ridge?” asked Danny. “What made Vow-of-Silence scream, and where are Chrissie and Tarbush?”
“Captured. Unconscious. Maybe dead.”
Deb gave a summary of what she had seen, making it as unemotional as possible. At the end, Danny simply nodded and said, “What do we do now?”
It was a relief to have a team member able to understand the implications of a disaster without going hysterical. Deb glanced up at the sky.
“Good question. We have maybe four more hours of light. I would say we ought to settle down here for the night, but we daren’t do that. I don’t think the aliens know where we are, but if they think at all like us they’ll assume that Chrissie and Tarbush didn’t come here alone. If they head our way, we’ll have to run. But this” — she pointed to Vow-of-Silence’s unconscious body — “will make a quiet escape impossible. And then there’s the Tinker. Eager Seeker’s components could come back any time. So we ought to stay here, but I think that’s too risky.”
Deb looked at Danny. He was small, but he was wiry. “Can you lift Vow-of-Silence?”
“Lift her?” His face wrinkled in perplexity.
“Can you pick her up? Can you carry her?”
“Of course I can. In this low gravity, it’s dead easy.” To prove his point, Danny placed his arms around the tight ball of the Pipe-Rilla and lifted her to waist height. “See? No problem picking her up. Trouble is, if I have to run with her through the scrub I’m going to make a devil of a noise.”
“I know. That’s why we have to do it now, and slowly, when nobody’s around to hear us. Come on.” Deb started to retrace their original path, back toward the sea. “If you get tired I’ll give you a hand.”
“Where are we going?”
“First, we’re going to the shore. Then you’re going back to the Hero’s Return with Vow-of-Silence, and you’ll tell the others what’s happening. I’m going to stay ashore for the night and wait for Eager Seeker.”
Danny stopped dead. “Now wait a minute. You may be the shore team leader, but after what’s happened—”
“Danny, ask yourself this. If it comes to a fight who’s better equipped for self-defense, Deb Bisson or Danny Casement?”
“Well, you are. You’re a weapons master.”
“I am. And at the moment there are no Stellar Group aliens around to tell me that violence is totally unacceptable. I’m telling you, if they’ve killed Chrissie and Tarbush …”
The look on Deb’s face worried Danny, but he said, “Leaving you alone—”
“ — Is the only rational thing to do.” Deb moved forward, heading again for the shore and the sea. Danny followed. When they were at the water’s edge, Deb took Vow-of-Silence’s body from him and closed the Pipe-Rilla’s suit visor.
“Sure you can manage both of you underwater?” she asked. “Do you know where you’re going?”
“I’ve got muscles you don’t even know about.” Danny smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll find the way.” He started to close his own suit, but paused. “There’s one other thing. They’re going to ask me what comes next. What should they be doing?”
“Tell them that tomorrow morning, if nothing has happened here, I propose to take another look at the alien encampment. Tell Chan to give me a full day. If I’m not back then — well, then it will be up to him.”
Danny nodded. “Good luck.” He closed his helmet, took Vow-of-Silence’s body from Deb, and headed without another word into the water.
She watched until he was waist deep, then shoulder deep, until at last his small figure with its outsized burden vanished below the surface. Then she turned and faced inland.
The sun was moving behind a line of clouds to the west, and the evening light suddenly dimmed. The dark vegetation ahead seemed gloomy and impenetrable. As she retraced her steps to where they had left their supplies, Deb told herself that she was being foolish. Danny Casement’s talents included cunning and a certain devious charm, but he would be absolutely useless in any sort of fight. So why did she feel so much less sure of things now that he was gone?
Maybe because she had no one to boss around now. When you were organizing what other people did, there was less time to worry about yourself.
Deb came to the big supply case in the clearing that marked their original base. It was exactly as she and Danny had left it, with no sign of Eager Seeker. As she pulled out a folding chair and sat down, she could hear unnerving rustles and see small movements in the plants around her. In the growing dusk the native animal life became more active.
It suddenly occurred to Deb, much to her surprise, that she was very hungry. No one had thought to eat since they left the Hero’s Return over twelve hours ago.
She opened the supply case, pulled out four sealed containers, and examined them. A solar system culinary selection: shellfish from the nurseries of Marslake; Europan sea-kale, not her favorite but a highly nutritious vegetable; korlia , the richly flavored protein that started life as a warm-blooded engineered plant in Earth’s polar regions; and finally, beer made from the synthetic grains of the Oort Harvesters. On second thought, Deb reached into the supply case and pulled out another container of that.
She ate and drank slowly and thoughtfully. Now and again she looked up at some faint sound in the scrub, thinking that maybe it signaled the return of some of Eager Seeker’s components. It never was.
The sun was on the horizon now, and full night could be no more than an hour away. Before dark she would need to pull out a sleeping bag and a light in case she needed it before morning. There were no weapons in the supply case — the Stellar Group aliens would have vetoed those — but Deb had all she needed hidden away inside her suit.
She leaned her head back to drain the second container of beer. As she did so, something rushed out of the plants around the clearing and jumped into her lap.