'Still live?' Oreb repeated plaintively.
Certainly it did not seem so. The fallen soldier's arms and legs, of
painted metal now scratched and lusterless, lay motionless, bent at
angles that appeared unnatural; his metal face, designed as a model
of valor, was filled with the pathos that attaches to all broken things.
Singled out inquiringly by one of Oreb's bright, black eyes, Auk
could only shrug.
The talus rolled forward again as Incus's head appeared above its
side. 'I'm going to--he's not _dead_,' the little augur gasped. 'Not
completely.'
Auk caught his hand and pulled him up.
'I was--was just reciting the _liturgy_ you know. And I saw--The
gods provide us such graces! I looked into his _wound_, there where
the chest plate's sprung. They train us, you know, at the schola, to
repair Sacred Windows.'
Afraid to stand near the edge of the talus's back, he crawled
across it to the motionless soldier, pointing. 'I was quite good at it.
And--And I've had occasion since to--to _help_ various chems.
_Dying_ chems, you understand.'
He took the gammadion from about his neck and held it up for
Auk's inspection. 'This is Pas's voided cross. You've seen it many
times, I'm sure. But you can undo the catches and open up a chem
with the pieces. _Watch_.'
Deftly he removed the sprung plate. There was a ragged hole near
its center, through which he thrust his forefinger. 'Here's where a
flechette went in.'
Auk was peering at the mass of mechanisms the plate had
concealed. 'I see little specks of light.'
'Certainly you do!' Incus was triumphant. 'What you're seeing is
what _I_ saw under this plate when _I_ was bringing him the Pardon of
Pas. His primary cable had been severed, and those are the ends of
the fibers. It's _exactly_ as if your spinal cord were cut.'
Dace asked, 'Can't you splice her?'
'_Indeed!_' Incus positively glowed. 'Such is the mercy of Pas! Such
is his _concern_ for us, his adopted sons, that here upon the back of
this valiant talus is the one man who can _in actual fact_ restore him to
health and strength.'
'So he can kill us?' Auk inquired dryly
Incus hesitated, his eyes wary, one hand upraised. The talus was
advandng even more slowly now, so that the chill wind that had
whistled around them before the shooting began had sunk to the
merest breeze. Chenille (who had been lying flat on the slanted
plate that was the talus's back) sat up, covering her bare breasts with
her forearms.
'Why, ah, _no_,' Incus said at last. He took a diminutive black
device rather like a pair of very small tongs or large tweezers from a
pocket of his robe. 'This is an opticsynapter, an _extremely_ valuable
tool. With it--Well, look there.'
He pointed again. 'That black cylinder is the triplex, the part
corresponding to _your_ heart. It's idling right now, but it pressurizes
_his_ working fluid so that he can move his limbs. The primary cable
runs to his microbank--this big silver thing below the triplex--conveying
instructions from his postprocessor.'
Chenille asked, 'Can you really bring him back to life?'
Incus looked frightened. 'If he were _dead_, I could not, Superlative
Scylla--'
'I'm not her. I'm me.' For a moment it seemed that she might
weep again. 'Just me. You don't even know me, Patera, and I don't
know you.'
'I don't know you either,' Auk said. 'Remember that? Only I'd
like to meet you sometime. How about it?'
She swallowed, but did not speak.
'Good girl!' Oreb informed them. Neither Incus nor Dace
ventured to say anything, and the silence became oppressive.
With an arm of his gammadion, Incus removed the soldier's skull
plate. After a scrutiny Auk felt sure had taken half an hour at least,
he worked one end of a second gamma between two thread-like wires.
And the soldier spoke: 'K-thirty-four, twelve. A-thirty-four,
ninety-seven. B-thirty-four...'
Incus removed the gamma, telling Dace, 'He was scanning, do
you follow me? It's as if _you_ were to consult a physician. He might
listen to your chest and tell you to cough.'
Dace shook his head. 'You make this sojer well, an' he could kill
all on board, like the big feller says. I says we shoves him over the
side.'
'He _won't_.' Incus bent over the soldier again.
Chenille extended a hand to Dace. 'I'm sorry about your boat,
Captain, and I'm sorry I hit you. Can we be friends? I'm Chenille.'
Dace took it in his own large, gnarled hand, then released it to tug
the bill of his cap. 'Dace, ma'am. I never did hold nothin' agin you.'
'Thank you, Captain. Patera, I'm Chenille.'
Incus glanced up from the soldier. 'You asked whether I could
restore _life_, my daughter. He isn't dead, merely unable to actuate
those parts that require fluid. He's unable to move his head, his
arms, and his legs, in other words. He can _speak_, as you've heard. He
_doesn't_ because of the shock he's suffered. That is my _considered_
opinion. The problem is to reconnect all the severed fibers correctly.
Otherwise, he'll move his _arms_ when he _intends_ to take a
step.' He tittered.
'I still say--' Dace began.
'In _addition_, I'll attempt to render him _compliant_. For our safety.
It's not _legal_, but if we're to do as _Scylla_ has commanded...' He
bent over the recumbent soldier again.
Chenille said, 'Hi, Oreb.'
Oreb hopped from Auk's shoulder to hers. 'No cry?'
'No more crying.' She hesitated, nibbling her lower lip. 'Other
girls are always tellirig me how tough I am, because I'm so big. I
think I better start trying to live up to it.'
Incus glanced up again. 'Wouldn't you like to borrow my robe,
