upon a time. She does these things for people, with the understanding that she'll call the favor in eventually. My dance card's empty for the next couple of weeks. You just tell me what you need.'
'Well,' Gabriel said, 'we're heading to Rhynchus.'
Helm looked bemused. 'Rhynchus? There's nothing on Rhynchus.'
'That's what we hear,' Gabriel said. 'Let's have our computers cut a course and head on over there.' Helm shook his head, mystified, and bent to his own console to comply. 'Strangers well met,' they heard him mutter, 'with the emphasis on strange.' Gabriel grinned a little and started working in the tank.
Three hours later, without sighting or hearing from any other craft, they were in orbit over Rhynchus. Moving in silent tandem, using visuals and sensors, Sunshine and Longshot looked down upon the forlorn world.
The planet was mostly barren-looking. It had little surface water-a few lakes-and any water that appeared within thirty degrees of the poles was well frozen. At the equator, matters were slightly better.
Here and there were some small patches of some stubborn native vegetation, even a small forest or two, but they were few. Mostly the surface was rocky and uninviting, and the color of the exposed parts of the crust was not such as to suggest much in the way of mineral or metallic wealth.
There was no sign of anything else, nothing built, no city, no habitation. The two ships were in ball-of-yarn orbit, the processing orbit that covers a planet's whole surface in a matter of a few hours. They had done one whole pattern for mapping purposes, and the computer was working with the maps. But by eye, there was nothing at all visible, and it was getting frustrating.
'They have to be here,' Gabriel muttered.
'Who would 'they' be?' Helm inquired from over on his ship.
'There's a colony,' Gabriel said after a moment. 'It's been, oh, misplaced.' Enda gave him a wry look, but said nothing.
'Well,' said Helm, 'my sensors are pretty good. Any idea what we're looking for, specifically?' 'Not at all,' Enda said, sounding more cheerful than Gabriel thought was appropriate. Helm laughed. 'Heat be a fair bet, you think?'
'Sesheyans like it between five and forty C, so, yeah, heat seems smart,' Gabriel said. 'Setting up now.'
Gabriel sat back 'What I don't understand is the atmospheric situation,' he mused. 'There's much more air here than was mentioned in any survey the Concord did. None of the briefings mentioned anything significant in the way of atmosphere-otherwise everyone in the system would have been a lot more interested in the planet.'
'Well,' Enda said. 'I suppose one might be able to understand it. Say the Concord comes into the system a few years ago, and the people on Phorcys and Ino say there's nothing on that planet. It's just a cold rock with very little atmosphere, too far out to do us any good, no resources, not worth terraforming.'
She shrugged. 'At that early date, why would anyone disbelieve them? Then a survey ship takes a quick pass by, finds it as they described it, then goes away again. No one bothers to go back because surveys cost money, and they had already done one and found nothing.'
And one small colony is easily hidden, Gabriel thought, especially if it's vital that it stay hidden. 'You're probably right,' he said, 'but what I don't understand is how anyone is surviving there at all, if the place is so cold.'
'Domes?' Enda said. 'Or some other form of protection?'
'Domes cost a lot of money to build and more to maintain.' Gabriel shook his head. 'Looking at temperature now,' said Helm. 'One pass in three axes?' 'Sounds about right,' Gabriel said. 'Let's go.'
It took them forty-five minutes. When the pass was finished, Helm spent a few moments working with his computer, then transferred the results to their tank where the data displayed on the surface of a 'false- colored' rotating globe.
'It's a lot warmer than it should be,' said Helm.
There was no arguing that. The first Concord survey, done twelve years ago, suggested an average planetary temperature of no better than 4° C. This map showed it as being more like 12° C. 'Now how did they miss that?' Gabriel asked.
'On the second survey? I think it more than likely that they were just looking to see if the planet was in fact there,' Enda replied. 'Even if they got a record of the second temperature, who knows who was given the information for analysis, or whether it seemed particularly germane to them? They may have thought that the initial survey was in error.' She shrugged.
They coasted around the planet one more time, this time with both Longshots and Sunshine's sensing equipment listening for communications traces of any kind-drivespace relay traffic, even radio. There was nothing.
'Not that I would have really expected drivespace relay,' Gabriel said. 'There's no surer way to give yourself away.'
'There is one thing, though,' Helm said. 'Oh?'
'Had the machine do a little more fine analysis on that last map, narrowing down the temperature bands a little. Got a little tiny hot spot down there in the northern hemisphere,' said Helm. 'Almost lost it. There are little pinpricks of volcanism all over the place. You see 'em. But those are diffuse. This one is clear and sharp.' 'A dome.' Enda said.
'A dome. You were right,' Gabriel said. 'I was wrong.'
Enda waved one hand. 'As if such things matter. That is what we seek, I think. Helm, we must go down there. We have some slight introduction to them, if a shaky one, but you have none such. I would be afraid you might be fired upon.'
'Might be fun,' Helm drawled, 'but never mind, I'll stay up here.' ' 'Riding shotgun,' ' Gabriel said.
'A good enough name for it. I'll be here. Better off-load your little egg to me. No point in taking it down there with you; you may need the room to bring something back up. Meanwhile, shout if you need me. I'll keep comms open.'
'Believe it,' Gabriel said. 'We'll take handhelds with us if we leave the ship. Any sign of anyone else around here?'
'Neither hide nor hair. Go on.' They made their way down.
The atmosphere proved not to be as thin as had been reported. There was much more oxygen in it than Gabriel expected, and Sunshine reported wing bite more quickly than she should have. Gabriel spoke to the computer, directed it toward that one source of even heat, and told her to take them down. He would hold himself ready to take over if necessary.
But it was a standard landing, as straightforward and uncomplicated as if they were landing on a paved field. Rhynchus's surface here was actually pumice or some other kind of light, porous stone. When Gabriel got up and headed into the lift and the door opened, he saw that Sunshine's landing skids had scraped the stone about an inch deep where she had sideslipped a little on landing. Then, even in the dimness, he saw the other, much older skid- marks there too. Around them were scorchmarks from landing jets-various people's landing jets-and he understood that this was indeed a landing field, of sorts.
And then, hearing a faint humming in the air, he looked up- very slowly, not wanting to alarm anyone- and saw the sesheyans with the guns. All of them held the guns rock steady with sights trained on him. 'The Wanderer walks strange ways,' he said, 'and company finds, unlooked-for: but hospitality's laws say feed the guest ere you kill him.'
The guns did not lower. But the sesheyan holding the biggest of them, the one who had appeared atop a boulder not far from the edge of the landing field, looked at Gabriel with a long, cold, thoughtful look. 'You are not from VoidCorp,' he said in perfectly serviceable human idiom.
The lift activated again. Guns lifted all around. 'Just my friend,' said Gabriel, 'a fraal. She isn't armed and she's pushing three hundred, so please don't frighten her. No, we're not from VoidCorp.' 'Not at all,' said Enda as she came out of the lift to stand beside Gabriel.
'Prove it,' said the sesheyan on the boulder, in a tone of voice that clearly said to Gabriel, 'leader.' Gabriel started to become exasperated. 'That's going to be a little tough to prove, don't you think? Look, it was Ondway who sent us-or rather, he didn't send us. He tried every way he could think of not to send us, including not telling us anything about you, or even that you were here. He was very careful about it.' 'That is possibly what we call a 'negative proof,' ' Enda said demurely. The leader's eyes pinched down narrow at her.
