Into the Void

Julia appeared on the forecastle. Teldin was surprised by the rush of pleasure he felt, knowing she was on board. That emotion was followed by a sense of sadness. He numbered her as one of his friends aboard the Probe. And now, due to him, she was in the same serious trouble as Aelfred. If you want a long, trouble-free life, don't get involved with me, he thought grimly.

'Helm's ready,' Julia called.

Aelfred nodded. 'Take us up,' he ordered. 'Fast.'

The officer nodded and disappeared below. Aelfred turned to Teldin, showing a sharklike grin. 'Here we go,' he said. 'Want to see how many laws of the spaceways we can break?'

The deck surged beneath Teldin's feet as the hammership lifted clear of the water. A rushing filled his ears as water poured off the wooden hull. The ship's sail filled, and the ship heeled slightly. The harbor dropped away quickly.

'Ready hand weapons,' Aelfred called out to the crew. 'Anything that comes near-sea gulls, anything- put an arrow into it.' He turned to Teldin and lowered his voice. 'Who knows? It could be a wizard sent to stop us.'

*****

Despite Aelfred's misgivings, nothing-not even an unfortunate sea gull-tried to interfere with the Probe's departure. The vessel quickly picked up speed, climbing straight upward. Teldin's last view of Rauthaven showed a slate-gray harbor surrounded by a lighter-gray city-no longer the almost-magical place he'd seen on the approach. Then the hammership plunged into the lowering clouds and the land below was lost from view.

It was cold and wet in the cloud deck. Teldin expanded the cloak to full size and pulled it tighter around him. glad for the warmth it gave him. The clouds were so thick that he couldn't see from his position near the forecastle even as far back as the stern turret. Wisps of cloud-stuff were chill arid clammy against his skin. He ran his fingers through his hair, then shook off the droplets of moisture that had collected on his hands.

Under Aelfred's orders, the crew deployed the four triangular fins that added so much to the hammership's sharklike appearance. Others trimmed the sail, while one unfortunate was detailed to clamber up the mast to take station in the crow's nest.

Teldin felt a presence by his shoulder. It was Aelfred. 'I think we're clear,' he told Teldin.

As if the big warrior's words were the necessary incantation, the Probe burst out of the clouds and into open air. Teldin was facing west, and the brilliance of the evening sun dazzled him. He turned away, wiping streaming eyes.

The cloud deck was spread out below them like the landscape of another planet. The dark gray of slate below, it was a lighter gray, almost white, from above. It formed rolling hills and plains, deep chasms and towering mountains. It looked as solid as the land that surrounded Rauthaven, easily solid enough to bear the weight of a man, or even of something larger. He stared at the cloud topography. It was easy to imagine creatures living up here: humans-or maybe more exotic beings-driving herds of cloud-sheep to graze on the cloud-hills. The cloud- people would have cloud-cities, he imagined, and would climb the heights of the cloud-peaks for enjoyment.

He forced himself to look away and shook his head to clear it. He was exhausted, he knew. The buzzing he felt in his head-and, more, his fantasies about cloud-creatures-told him that he had to sleep. Fatigue poisons were coursing through his body, numbing his nerves and twisting his thoughts as if he'd drunk too much of Aelfred's sagecoarse. When had he last slept? He remembered with difficulty: it was only last night that he'd lain in his cabin aboard the Probe, with Rianna in his aims. No more than twelve hours, then, but it felt like twelve years. He reviewed the events of the past day: the auction, the ambush, the flight….

He shook his head again. Now was no time to think of such tilings. No matter how much the stress he'd been under made his body cry out for sleep, he couldn't indulge himself. He'd be meeting with T'k'Pek soon. He had to be sharp when he spoke to the arcane. There was still much that he had to do… not the least of which was confirm that his own life would be safe after he was free of the cloak. He turned away from the cloud-landscape and climbed the ladder to the forecastle to join Aelfred.

Rianna was below with the hammership's navigator, Sylvie. Teldin was relieved to realize that Willik's information about the Nebulon was correct. Already the vessel hung like an oversized star against the darkening sky.

The hammership approached the arcane's vessel quickly, much quicker than had the dragonfly. Soon Teldin could make out the vessel's cylindrical shape, then the dark bands that were the great windows encircling the massive vehicle. The Probe slowed, coming to a halt above one end of the arcane's ship. There was no sign of the ivory stairway that had given them access to the Nebulon's deck. Of course not, he told himself, that would only be for invited guests. For a moment he wondered if the great cylinder were defended. What weapons might the arcane possess to drive off uninvited guests?

Nothing had attacked them as they'd approached, and why would defenders strike now, when wreckage from the Probe would crash onto their own vessel? There was another issue, even more important, though….

How would they get aboard the Nebulon? There was no way the hammership could land on the circular deck. Not only was the Probe too large, but he knew full well that it was built for water landings only.

Luckily, Aelfred had that one figured out. 'Helm,' he called below, 'hold us in position.' Then he turned to the crewmen on the main deck. 'Warin, Kell, put out ladders,' he ordered. 'Go down and tie us off to the rails.' The crew went quickly about their tasks.

Teldin watched nervously as the two crewmen worked on the deck below. They were vulnerable down there, open to any kind of attack. While he couldn't picture T'k'Pek himself leading an assault, Teldin knew from personal experience how easy it was for virtually anybody to hire people to do their dirty work.

Aelfred seemed to have had the same thought. While Warin and Kell worked, the first mate detailed other crew members to stand ready with missile weapons, 'covering' their fellows.

Despite both men's fears, nothing interfered with the crewmen's work. Soon the hammership was secured to the rails surrounding the Nebulon's circular deck. It hung two dozen feet above the bone-white deck, held in position by four thick ropes. Aelfred glanced at Teldin. 'Easy,' he muttered. Teldin had no difficulty reading the big warrior's true meaning: too easy. He nodded uncomfortably. It was time for him to board the arcane's ship, time for what should be the last step in the quest that had been driving him since Krynn. Everything about the approach to the Nebulon was triggering alarms in his brain.

What could he do, though? Turn back now? He had to see this through to its conclusion. He looked around. 'Rianna,' he said, 'I want to take the men with me.'

'I'm coming, too,' she told him.

'It's too dangerous,' he argued, 'you're wounded….'

She cut him off sharply. 'There's not a chance in Gehenna that I'm letting you go in there alone. I'm not much of a mage, but I'm better than nothing.'

'It's too dangerous,' he repeated.

She reached out and took his hand in a firm grip, her eyes locked on his. 'You're not my keeper, Teldin,' she told him quietly. 'I have the right to make my own decisions, and my decision is that I'm coming with you. Will you accept that?' He hesitated for a moment, then squeezed her hand. 'I accept that,' he said. He turned to the expectant Aelfred and spoke quietly. 'I know what you're going to say,' Teldin told him, 'but I need you aboard the Probe. I don't feel comfortable about any of this-' he smiled '-but I'll feel a lot better if you stay here and make sure the Probe doesn't go anywhere.' Aelfred's expression told him all he needed to know about the warrior's doubts. He grasped his large friend's arm. 'I need you to do this,' he said earnestly.

Aelfred was silent for a moment, then he nodded. 'I agree,' he said. 'I don't like it, but I agree. At least let me send someone with you.'

'I'll go.'

Teldin turned. It was Julia who'd spoken. She'd just climbed to the forecastle from the bridge. Her straight hair,