When Deb Bisson arrived she moved to sit at the other end of the table, facing Chan. Her eye met his accusingly. It said, You’re a coward, Chan Dalton. You know I won’t be going ashore, but you won’t tell me in person. You’ll go, and leave me behind. That’s why you avoided me last night. Don’t I deserve better treatment than that?
Well, Deb might have a surprise coming.
Last to arrive were Tarbush Hanson and Chrissie Winger. Maybe they didn’t know after all. As they sat down at the table their faces were puzzled, as if they had no idea what was happening. Maybe they were really wondering; or maybe they were just better actors than the rest. As a magic team, they specialized in misdirection.
“Is there anyone who doesn’t know why I asked you here this morning?” Chan began. Then he paused. Two others who had certainly not been invited were entering the room. The giant form of Vow-of-Silence, crouching low so her head would not hit the ceiling, led the way. Thousands of Tinker components followed the Pipe-Rilla like some long train of purple-black.
Chan waited while Vow-of-Silence folded her limbs awkwardly to perch on a neighboring table. Eager Seeker assembled on the floor next to her as a thick pulsing column about six feet tall.
“Please ignore us,” Vow-of-Silence said. “We came only as observers.”
Ignorethem? When the Pipe-Rilla loomed over everyone? When the Tinker Composite formed a funnel opening in its upper extremity, and was now making the wheezing moans that preceded speech?
Chan said, “How did you learn that there was a meeting?”
“From Dag Korin.” The thin head bobbed. “He came to us. He said you were going ashore. He spoke of great violence, of d-death and d-destruction.”
“I think you must have misunderstood General Korin,” Chan said. “We have no thought of violence ashore.” He turned back to the circle of humans. “But there will be a shore party. Tell me, for my own curiosity. Who didn’t know about this?”
Not a hand was raised.
“So who told you?”
“I heard it from Dag Korin, yesterday,” Tully said. “He mentioned it when I was with Elke Siry. I knew what was going on, as soon as he said he would need maps of Limbo made from our satellite images. And he didn’t give any impression that it was a secret, so I passed the word on to the others.”
Korin again. He had some secret agenda, Chan felt sure of it. But what?
“Well, it’s sure no secret now,” Chan went on. “So let’s talk about who will be going on the first shore party” — everyone at the table sat up straighter — “and who won’t.”
The tension rose. They all wanted to be on the shore party, of course they did. For that they would be prepared to lie, cheat, steal, even fight. Chan could see them getting ready to argue if they were left out, or defend the wisdom of his decision if they were included.
“For starters,” he said, “I’ll tell you one person who will not be in the first exploration party.” The room crackled with nervous anticipation, until at last he went on, “I won’t be going ashore. I will remain here on the ship.”
It had the effect Chan wanted. The others sank back with a collective sigh. If he was off the list, no one else was a sure thing — and they knew it.
“Bony,” Chan went on, “you can’t go, either. This ship’s rotting around us, and we need somebody to jury-rig the failing systems. Does anyone argue that the Bun is the only person for that job?”
Nods all round.
“But you can’t do everything single-handed, Bony. So Liddy, I want you and the Bun to work together. You seem to do that very well. Tully the Rhymer” — Chan went on without giving either Bony or Liddy a chance for argument or discussion — “you have a job to do here, and it’s a tough one. We’ve been talking to the bubble people using a translator, but they are so alien that we think the mechanical units miss subtleties. I want you to learn the bubble language until you can think like one of them. The Angel will be staying on board, to work with Elke Siry, and already speaks to the bubble people pretty well. Stay close to the Angel, and get all the help you can.”
Chan saw Tully perk up a little from his shivering morning misery, and made an inspired guess. “That means you’ll be close to Elke Siry, too, so I have one other job for you. I want you to apply your fading charms to Elke. I know she’s in Dag Korin’s back pocket, and she’s doing special work for him. Whatever she learns and tells him, I want to hear about from you.”
Chan stared down the length of the table at the people he had not spoken to so far. “Now for the rest of you. It’s time either for congratulations or commiseration. Chrissie and Tarbush, I owe you for promising you would go in the pinnace, without bothering to check that the thing could fly. So you’ll go, along with Deb and Danny.” He held up his hand. “Before you start celebrating, let me assure you it won’t be a picnic. We know there’s a military camp on land, and we know that whoever runs it blew our orbiters out of the sky without any attempt at contact. Apparently they don’t like anyone looking at them. Whatever else you may be when you go ashore, you won’t be safe.”
Bony said doubtfully, “But Liddy and I went ashore. We were all right.”
“I know. That was before we flew our orbiters, and I don’t think you got close enough to be noticed. The other possible explanation is that you were damned lucky, and you can’t count on more luck.” Chan reached down under the table and pulled up the rolled image that he had been holding between his legs. He unfolded it on the tabletop, weighting it down at the edges with mugs and plates.
“We should all look at this. I said at the beginning that some of us wouldn’t be going on the first shore party, but I expect we’ll all be there eventually. The Hero’s Return brought us here, but I can’t see it taking us back. We have to find another way home.”
Chan pointed out the black circle on the flattened image. “This is a region of total destruction. The alien encampment is at the center here, and you should expect everything around it to be totally lifeless. When the Bun and Liddy went ashore they found not a sign of either plants or animals. Even the shallow water must have been sterilized. So our shore party won’t land anywhere in the destruction zone. You’ll go farther north, and sneak ashore in the vegetated area above the inlet that the bubble people call `Death Fork.’ It’s actually closer to the location of the Hero’s Return , so if you head due east along the seabed, like this, you’ll arrive on the shore where there ought to be cover. After that” — Chan shrugged — “we won’t be able to help. The four of you will be on your own. Do whatever you think is best.”
A gentle voice said, “Excuse me if I intrude. But I have something that must be added.”
Vow-of-Silence unfurled her body from its tabletop crouch and advanced to loom over the humans.
“I have no wish to interfere with your plans to explore the land area of this planet. I agree that this exploration may be necessary for our long-term survival, something that we all desire. For this reason, I offer my support. I will also go ashore.”
The Tinker Composite’s speaker funnel whirred for two seconds like an electric fan, then produced words. “Our presence on land may be essential to your survival. We can send partial versions of ourself, even our individual elements, on rapid scouting missions. We can enter small apertures which would be to you quite inaccessible, or we can serve as inconspicuous observers. We will also go ashore.”
Next to Chan, Danny Casement muttered, “It’s always the same. Everybody wants to get into the act.”
Chan had his own interpretation of what was going on. Dag Korin had been talking blood and thunder, and it had had precisely the wrong effect. Instead of focusing their attention on Korin, which is what the General had anticipated, the aliens now didn’t trust any humans.