The Reaches

Dole must have thought the same thing. He nodded to the tents crewmen were building from fabric the Chay had brought and said, 'Even if we get a big one and they come down, it's not going to hurt nobody.'

I nodded agreement, then grinned. A seasoned spacer adapted to local conditions; the landsman I'd been six months ago would have been terrified. On Venus, ground shocks might rupture the overburden and let in the hell- brewed atmosphere.

'Guillermo?' Piet called to the Molt who'd been directing outside operations during our absence. 'Turn things over to Dole and join us on the bridge, please.'

The Chay crew paid us no attention. They backed the dirigible from the Oriflamme before turning its prow toward the city. Again I noticed the delicacy of the driving cilia. Mechanical propellers or turbines would have scattered the tents our crew had just constructed.

Salomon waited for us alone in the forward section, though as we entered a pair of sailors carried bedrolls toward the main hatch while discussing the potential of converting Chay foodstocks into brandy.

'I've run initial calculations for an empty world twenty days from here,' the navigator said. 'We'll have to refine them in orbit, of course.'

'I don't know that it's come to that, exactly,' Piet said cautiously. I'm sure he would have started the calculations himself if Salomon hadn't already done so.

'Cseka scares the hell out of me,' I said. 'The Chay scare me even worse. They-'

'They're friendly,' Piet said.

'They're not human,' I said. 'An earthquake may not hurt you, but it isn't your friend. There's nothing I saw in there today-'

I waved in the direction of the city.

'— that convinces me they won't decide to eat us because, because Stampfer's got red hair.'

'I haven't had a chance to look over the goods they've brought us. .' Stephen said. He took off his helmet and kneaded his scalp with his left hand. 'But I don't think there's much doubt that trade-in techniques, at least, given the distance-could be valuable.'

He gave us a humorless grin. 'Of course, that's only if the Chay decide to let us go. Jeremy's right, there.'

Guillermo had said nothing since he entered behind us. He was seated at his usual console. His digits were entering what even I recognized as a sequence to lift us to orbit.

Piet laughed briefly. 'So you all think we should take off as soon as possible,' he said. 'Even though Chay knowledge could give Venus an advantage greater than all the chips the Federation brings back from the Reaches?'

'What we think, Piet,' Stephen said, 'is that you're in charge. We'll follow whatever course you determine.'

'I'm not a tyrant!' Piet snapped. 'I'm not President Pleyal, 'Do this because it's my whim!' '

I swallowed and said, 'Somebody has to make decisions. Here it's you. Besides, you're better at it than the rest of us. Not that that matters.'

I grinned at Stephen. His words hadn't been a threat, because the big gunman accepted that all the rest of us knew the commander's decision was the law of this expedition. As surely as I knew that Stephen would destroy anything or anyone who tried to block Piet's decision.

'Yes,' said Piet. He sat down at his console and checked a status display. 'Air and reaction mass will be at capacity within the hour. We'll check the gifts, see what's worth taking and what's not, but we'll leave the bales where they are for the time being. We don't want to give the impression that we're stowing them for departure.'

He looked up at the rest of us and smiled brilliantly. 'Primary set is in six hours. An hour after that, we'll inform the crew to begin loading operations. When they're complete-another hour? — we'll close the hatches and lift.'

Piet rubbed his forehead. 'I didn't,' he added as if idly, 'much care for the way our hosts treat their prisoners.'

The Oriflamme shuddered as another shock rippled through the soil beneath us.

* * *

The primary was just below the horizon. The sun at zenith in the clear sky was only a blue-white star, though it cast a shadow if you looked carefully.

Three dirigibles rested outside the entrance to the domed city, their partially deflated gas bags sagging. The airships and their crews were armed, but the Chay all wore gray. None of their officers were present, and the guards themselves didn't bother to look at me as I walked into the dome.

Half a dozen Chay in orange and pastel blue capes preceded me by twenty meters. A group of gray-clad laborers followed at a similar distance, chattering among themselves. Like me, some of the laborers left their cowls up and the veils over their faces even after they entered the dome.

I hadn't done a more pointlessly risky thing since the night I went aboard the Porcelain. Though. .

Boarding the Porcelain hadn't made me a man, perhaps, but it had made me a man I like better than the fellow who'd lived on Venus until then. I wasn't going to leave a human prisoner here to be tortured to death.

The hard floor of the dome was a contrast to the springy surface of the mat on which it rode. The cape hung low enough to cover my feet, but I was afraid somebody would notice that the sound of my boots differed from the clicking the locals made when they walked. I took deliberately quick, mincing steps.

There were hundreds of pedestrians out, but the broad boulevard seemed deserted by comparison with what I'd seen in the afternoon. Though the dome was clear, it darkened the sky into a rich blue that concealed all the stars except the sun itself. The walls of overhanging apartments wicked soft light from within, but even the lower levels weren't bright enough to illuminate the street.

I could see the cage ahead of me. I gripped the cutting bar beneath my cape to keep it from swinging and calling attention to itself; and because I was afraid.

I could claim to be looking around; but the Chay would want to carry me back to the Oriflamme, and if they did that they'd see we were loading the ship to escape. To save the others, I'd have to insist on staying overnight in the city. What would the Chay do with me when the Oriflamme lifted?

Lord God of hosts, be with Your servant. Though I'd been no servant of His; a self-willed fool, and a greater fool now because I wouldn't leave an enemy of mine to die at the hands of enemies of his.

I'd slipped away from the Oriflamme without causing comment. I told Dole I was going for a walk to calm my nerves. I didn't want my shipmates to worry if they noticed I was gone.

It didn't seem likely they would notice, what with the work of preparing for departure. I was only in the way.

There were no guards around the Council Hall or the cage in front of it. Occasional Chay strode across the court, on their way from one boulevard to another, but they didn't linger. Even those in bright garb were hard to see. My gray cape would be a shadow among shadows.

A Chay in silvery fabric walked out of the Council Hall carrying a bundle. I paused beside a tower, close against the wall. If the fellow had been a moment slower, I'd have been crossing to the cage myself. The grip of my bar was slick with sweat.

The Chay thrust his bundle into the cage. He had to wiggle it to work it through the mesh. It fell with a slapping sound to the floor within. The Chay called something obviously derisory in his own language, then went back the way he'd come.

Feeding time at the zoo. The prisoner didn't move. I couldn't even be sure which of the still forms within the lattice was the living man.

There wouldn't be a better time. I walked to the cage, keeping my steps short. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a Chay laborer start across the courtyard. I continued forward, my heart in my throat. The Chay disappeared