she snapped. “A life is at stake. I have an outfit ready to go. Let me fetch it and we’ll be on our way. We haven’t too bloody much daylight left.”
An inward fraction of her wished flickeringly that matters were different. He had passed through her thoughts oftener during these years than she wanted to admit. And, yes, his treatment on Earth did seem to have taken at least the edges off the arrogance and crudity.
But he was still headlong and self-centered. He must be, or he’d not have been working toward the ruin of a world, merely to get rich.
If she was going to wish for the unreal, it should be that Freydis’s cloud cover didn’t blind landsats that would soon have found Orichalc on Asborg, or that the forest roof didn’t screen him from aerial search.
Hebo matched his stride to hers. Was he curious about this outpost? “I brought my own stuff, of course,” he said.
“Is it suitable for such an excursion?”
“I’ve spent more than four standard years on this world,” he answered, offended afresh. “What about you?”
She bridled in turn. “More than one fairly extensive and intensive expedition in the past. And I too have experience on several planets—including wilderness on Asborg. Some of it isn’t totally unlike what we’ll find today. We’ll take what I’ve packed. In flight I’ll inspect yours and rearrange it if need be.”
He clenched his fists and bit his lip. That was tactless, Lissa realized. Almost as tactless as he’s sometimes been toward me. But, oh, Orichalc—
Trying for peace, she blurted, “Have you any information about our wounded?”
“No,” said Hebo. “They hadn’t reached Forholt when I left.”
She had expected as much. Her group’s aircraft was capacious but slow, his the exact opposite. “I only know several Susaians and one human are hurt enough to require hospitalization, at least overnight,” he added, perhaps also wanting a truce. “How badly?”
“Uldor Enarsson worst. Not to the point of mortal danger. They gave him first aid in camp, and then I went along when our flyer picked them up and did some more for him on the way back here. But I’m afraid he’ll be out of action for weeks at best, and we may have to retire him from the project, return him to Asborg. Chaos take it!”
“A Windholm client, isn’t he?”
“Yes, though actually he’s been more on Freydis than off it for decades, independently surveying and researching.”
“I know. He did first-chop work before he… joined you.”
With an effort, she ignored that last. “My worry goes beyond a patron’s obligation. He was, is, a comrade—an equal, as far as I’m concerned. And close to indispensable. Without his information and skills, unless we can find a replacement, our progress will slow to a crawl.”
“Suitable for lizards, hey?” She glared. “Sorry, that was a bad joke, wasn’t it?” He didn’t sound overly apologetic. “But I do kind of resent the notion I’ve begun to hear about, that nobody but pure-hearted ecologists are fit to get the Susaians established. God damn it, that’s the business I’m in!”
“To get as rich as possible as fast as possible, and never mind what happens afterward,” burst from her.
“Do you expect me to work for nothing?”
They clamped silence upon themselves and stalked onward.
XXXV
As they entered the compound, she saw him surprised. He must have been too little interested, or too busy with his exploitive business, to learn more about this undertaking than the fact of its existence.
A stockade, erected to keep animals out and serve as a windbreak during storms, enclosed a dozen buildings. Some were living quarters, some for storage or utility, one a laboratory. All were cylindrical in shape, built of rocks and hard-dried mud, roofed with sod. Chimneys showed that several contained fireplaces. Doors and fittings were wood, supplemented by sauroid leather; windowframes held glass, unclear, obviously made by amateurs from sand.
“Judas priest!” Hebo exclaimed. “How much labor went into this?”
Lissa didn’t recognize his phrase, doubtless archaic. Yes, he’d have wanted to keep many memories from his first youth. “Quite a lot,” she replied. “Less will in future. We’re learning as we work.”
“When you could have assembled readymade shelters? We make them, you know.”
“Yes. Just as you’ve made most of the buildings and utilities on New Halla. A main purpose of this expedition to the mainland is to find out what can be done with native resources—and I don’t mean clear-cutting whole forests or poisoning the waters with tailings from mines.”
“Huh? Do you suppose, once your precious Susaians start breeding and expanding in earnest, they won’t need an industrial base?”
“Of course not,” she snapped. “The wise ones, like Orichalc, want to find ways that won’t gut the planet. Besides the direct damage Venusberg is doing, it’s sapping the incentive for such an effort.”
“You mean we provide them with what they need, low-cost and
They’d gotten off on the wrong foot again, she thought. It hurt worse than she might have expected. But maybe he felt the same, and was trying to change the subject. “The Susaians experimented under Uldor’s direction. They found that the local soil needs only water, a little added gravel, and some hours kept dry, to set like concrete,” she answered almost eagerly. “You noticed the surface of the airstrip, didn’t you?” With relief: “Here we are.”
She led him into the hut that was hers. He peered around, but in the gloom saw little of her personal things before she had taken up her pack. They were few anyway: pictures of her kinfolk and the Windholm estates; a player and numerous cartridges of books, shows, music; a sketch pad and assorted pencils; a flute. The rest was equipment.
Emerging, they found the Susaian had likewise returned. “Not many,” Hebo remarked.
“Most are in the field, investigating,” Lissa told him. “These are busy with lab studies or chores.”
“What were you yourself doing before the, uh, incident?”
“I’ve hardly begun here, I want to help. No lack of opportunities. I was taking a party of canoers along the Harmony River. Teaching them how. This work is still mostly exploratory, research and development, but it’s beginning to assume an instructional function as well.”
He smiled. How attractive he became, all at once. “Then you received the call about an emergency, and the flyer took you off and brought you to that scene. What about your tenderfeet?”
“I left them on an islet in midstream. They’ll be all right for a few days, if air transport is pre-empted that long. I can even hope they’ll learn something by themselves.”
It was as if he couldn’t keep from taunting: “The better to occupy the continents later, and breed lots of young to overrun them, huh?”
Coppergold and Stargleam approached, saving her from making an angry retort. “Are you certain you do not wish any of us to accompany you, honored one?” the botanist asked.
“Thank you, no,” Lissa replied. “My new companion claims expertise. No harm should threaten me, and we can move faster if we’re alone.”
“We are most grateful, benevolent one,” said Stargleam to Hebo.
The man grinned. “Customer relations.” Lissa wasn’t sure the trans could render that. Best if not. The Susaians did look a bit puzzled.
“Come,” she said, and walked away fast. They must be sensing the tension between her and him. It would worry them.
Silent, the humans proceeded back to the flyer, stowed her pack, and settled down side by side at the front.
