The Third Lynx

It was a five-day trip from Ian-apof to Ghonsilya, and it went off as smoothly as any I'd ever taken. At Ghonsilya Station we collected our luggage and took the shuttle to the transfer station, where we breezed through customs and reserved tiny staterooms aboard the next torchliner headed for the inner system. Ghonsilya's current positioning vis-a-vis the Tube translated to another six days of travel, and we all settled in to enjoy the ride as best we could.

It wasn't nearly as easy as it sounded.

Morse, while cordial enough, was still nursing the secret resentment against me that he still refused to talk about. Penny was brooding with an equally potent nervousness about the situation she'd been unexpectedly drop- kicked into. Bayta was even quieter than usual, probably worried about the two of them in addition to her usual worrying about the two of us.

And as the forced idleness of torchliner travel built up toward boredom, I found my thoughts turning increasingly toward Penny.

It was absurd on the face of it. I knew that. Her family's wealth created a social chasm between us that I could never hope to cross, she was already engaged to someone else, and despite her twenty-three years she was clearly a babe in the woods when it came to stuff like this. My focus needed to be on the Lynx: finding it, getting it away from the Modhri, and then keeping it away from the Modhri long enough to find out what he wanted with it. Anything that fell outside those parameters came under the heading of potentially lethal distractions.

It was a litany I repeated to myself at least once a day. Usually more than once. But the harder I tried to push my feelings into the background, the more they stubbornly popped out somewhere else. Somewhere along the line, I knew, this growing obsession was going to get me into trouble.

The last evening before we reached Ghonsilya, it did.

I had taken to eating dinner quickly and then escaping from the general press of other passengers to the aft observation lounge. That particular lounge, with its view marred somewhat by the blazing nuclear fire of the drive, was usually fairly empty, which was just the way I wanted it.

Not that the solitude was helping my mental wrestling. If anything, being alone with my thoughts actually made things worse. But at least I didn't have to put up with any mindless prattle from Tra'ho'seej excited about returning home. The ultrasonic overtones in their voices always made my teeth hurt.

I'd been sitting there for maybe half an hour when Penny showed up. 'There you are,' she said, working her way between the chairs and over to my two-person couch. 'I wondered where you've been disappearing to. That's very rude, you know.'

I glanced over at the lounge's only other occupants, a pair of lanky Fibibibi cuddled close together at the far side of the room. Their full attention was on the coruscating fire of the drive, which their ultraviolet-sensitive eyes made more spectacular than Human vision could appreciate. 'Sorry,' I apologized to Penny. 'I have a lot on my mind.'

'I can imagine,' she said gravely as she sat down beside me. Way too close beside me. 'Real men of action are also men of thought.'

'I wasn't just thinking,' I told her. Aptly and succinctly put, I noted to myself. 'I've also been keeping an eye on the rest of the passengers.'

It was half a lie, but only half. I had indeed done a little looking and speculating. But at this point it was mostly just academic. The walkers would identify themselves soon enough, as soon as we sorted ourselves out among the various transports at the Ghonsilya spaceport.

Penny, of course, didn't know anything about that. All she knew was that she was in danger from dark and mysterious forces, and that she was counting on me to protect her from them. 'Mr. Morse is worried about them, too,' she said. 'He told me I should stay in my stateroom the whole trip except for meals.'

I had to smile at the thought of Morse trying to keep someone with Penny's spirit caged up that way. 'I take it you didn't think much of that advice?'

'You've got to be kidding,' she said, her nose wrinkling. 'There's nothing to do in there except read and sleep. At least the Spiders put computers in their compartments.'

'I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Mr. Morse's advice,' I cautioned her. 'He is a professional security agent.'

'I know.' Her nose wrinkled again. There was something rather endearing about the way she did that. 'It's just that he's so British.'

'And you're, what, German?'

'Austrian, actually,' she said. 'But I mostly grew up in Paris.'

'Ah.' I said, nodding. The Brits and French had had a running feud going for at least the past six hundred years. Sometimes it had been almost friendly, other times decidedly not. 'Say no more.'

Her forehead creased, and for a moment I thought she was going to take issue with my comment. But then her skin smoothed out again. 'Anyway, I've got you here to protect me, right?'

'I'll certainly do my best,' I said, gazing at her face, feeling all those unwanted emotions stirring inside me. It was bad enough when I was just watching her from across a room. To have her staring trustingly at me with those big brown eyes barely half a meter away was pushing things way past the line. 'But in this case I have to agree with Mr. Morse,' I managed. 'Now that you've finished dinner, maybe you should go back to your stateroom for a while.'

Her face fell a little. 'Well …all right. But only because it's you who's asking me.' Her expression brightened again. 'Will you walk me there?'

'I—' It had been a long time since I'd stumbled over my own tongue. This wasn't just a stumble, but a full- blown barrel-roll reverse in the pike position. It took me a solid three seconds just to bring my voice back on line. 'I can do that,' I managed. 'Sure.'

'Because I feel a lot safer when you're with me,' she breathed.

She shifted position; and suddenly that half meter of open space between us was gone. 'You're not like any man I've ever met, Frank,' she whispered, her breath making little hot puffs against my lips. 'Thank you for caring about me.' Her lips moved closer, brushing gently against mine.

I should have pulled back. Failing that, I should at least have frozen in place.

Instead, I moved in for the kill.

I don't know how long we sat there like that, our lips locked in a solid, passionate kiss. No more than a few seconds, probably. My blood was pounding in my ears, my whole body starting to tremble with adrenaline and desire and guilt.

But for those few seconds, the rest of the universe had ceased to exist. There was no Daniel Stafford, no mysterious Nemuti sculptures, no Modhri, no Bayta, no—

'What in bloody hell are you doing?'

And very definitely no ESS Agent Morse.

I tried to pull back, only to find that somewhere along the line Penny's right arm had gotten itself crooked around the back of my neck. I reached up and gently but firmly forced it away as I looked sideways past the sheen of her hair toward the door.

Morse was standing just inside the lounge, his eyes wide, his expression still trying to decide whether it wanted to be astonished, appalled, or just plain furious. Penny's face, in contrast, was flushed, slightly defiant, and completely unapologetic.

'Evening, Morse,' I greeted him as I finished easing Penny away from me and rested my hands on her shoulders to make sure she stayed there. I was feeling rather defiantly appalled myself, but since both of those were taken I decided to go with unconcerned casual instead. 'You must have skipped the dessert cart.'

The contest taking place across Morse's face was instantly over, with furious as the clear winner. Quietly, genteelly furious, perhaps, but furious nonetheless. 'That's more than I can say about you,' he retorted, his voice gone stiff with a thousand years of proper British decorum. 'May I see you a moment?' His eyes flicked to Penny. 'Alone?'

'Certainly,' I said, shifting my eyes to Penny's. They were big and brown and still unrepentant. 'If you'll excuse us. Penny?'

She nodded silently and got up, weaving her way back through the chairs to the door. She passed Morse without a glance going in either direction and disappeared. 'What can I do for you?' I asked, gesturing Morse