Deadman Switch

I swallowed, a rush of guilt and shame flooding in on me at the reminder of what I'd done to Kutzko and Captain Bartholomy. They, too, would escape any direct charges of collusion... but it would likely be small consolation to either of them. "I understand very well," I told Adams evenly. "There's too much already in the balance for us to want to add to it."

The hardness faded slowly from his sense. "I'm glad we agree." A faint smile twitched at his lips. "Though before you get the wrong impression about us, let me say that I'm glad you were honest with me. No matter what it costs, truth is always preferable to lies." He took a deep breath, let it out in a long sigh. "I can give you three days. No more."

I caught Calandra's eye. She shrugged, a touch of helplessness in her sense. Three days was horribly short... but then, anything less than a decade would be too short for the task we'd set ourselves. "Whatever you think is right," I told Adams.

"I'm sorry I can't give you more," he said, genuine regret in his voice. "But in actual fact, I suspect you'll have even less time than that. Your absence will surely have been discovered by now, and sending your ship out into space isn't likely to fool anyone for very long. The Pravilo will probably be here by nightfall."

Unfortunately, he was probably right. "All the more reason for us to get moving at once," I said.

"Agreed. What I think I'll do is simply give you one of our cars and let you drive yourselves to Myrrh—that'll save me having to ask one of my people to make the ten-hour round trip, and also keep you from tying up one of Myrrh's vehicles with your search."

"Fine," I said. "Semi-auto drive, I presume?"

"Yes, but you won't have any trouble getting to Myrrh," he assured us. "We've done the trip enough times that we've got the best route programmed in." He got to his feet. "If you'll excuse me, then, I'll go get things started. I'm afraid there won't be time enough for me to offer you a proper meal, but my kitchen is back that way—please help yourselves to whatever you'd like to take for the trip."

"Thank you," I nodded, also standing up. "We appreciate all your help."

For a moment we locked eyes. "I only hope," he said quietly, "that it'll be enough."

He left, and I looked down at Calandra. "Do you think we can trust him?" I asked her.

She shrugged slightly. "We don't really have much choice any more, do we?"

I grimaced. "Not really."

With a sigh, she stood up. "Anyway, the Halloas are probably the least of our worries at the moment. Come on—you heard the man. Let's go pack up a lunch."

Chapter 16

We set out from Shekinah half an hour later in a mul/terrain that Adams assured us was the best in his small fleet. The vehicle's exterior was in such bad shape that it made me wince, but the motors ran well enough and the sucon rings seemed to hold their charge without any obvious leakage, so on balance I really had no grounds for complaint. Perhaps, I reflected, eight years among Carillon's wealth had spoiled me more than I'd realized.

We headed off, following a barely distinguishable path that looked more appropriate for livestock than for vehicles. Calandra, I could tell, wasn't in the mood for conversation, and I had no particular reason to try and draw her out. So I got as comfortable as I could in a perpetually bouncing seat, prepared myself mentally for a long five-hour trip, and settled back to watch the landscape.

It was, I found, a surprisingly interesting landscape to watch. Even the sections of untouched native area we'd seen around Shekinah had hardly been the lifeless desert I'd been expecting, and now I was finding that even that had been relatively sparse.

Not that any of it was truly spectacular, at least not by normal human aesthetic standards. Most of the plants were a drab bluish or gray-purple in color—clearly based on something other than chlorophyll—and most of them were built low to the ground, with only a few types even as large as a mid-sized bush. But they were numerous enough, and with considerable variety. Idly, I wondered how many of those who so confidently described Spall as a desert had ever actually seen the place.

"I wonder why the plants are so thin around Shekinah," Calandra spoke up into my thoughts.

I shrugged. "I'd guess Adams's people are doing something to the soil to help their own crops grow—fertilization, or something. Maybe whatever it is interferes with the local flora."

"Maybe," she said slowly. "On the other hand... maybe it's a result of ru

I sensed a cautious glint of optimism within her, and saw where she was headed. If the fusion drive was indeed responsible for the thin flora, we might have found a visual sign of human habitation. "What could the mechanism be?" I wondered out loud. "The heat wave from the landing?"

"Or else perhaps some chemical peculiar to a fusion exhaust," she suggested. "I wish we had some detailed information on the biochemistry here."

"And had a biochemist along to explain what the information meant?" I added dryly.

Almost unwillingly, she smiled. "That's a point, I suppose," she admitted. "Well... maybe someone at Myrrh will know something."

I nodded. The Halloas at Myrrh had, after all, been farming this soil for a couple of years now. Hopefully, somewhere along the line they'd taken the time to learn a little about their new home.

—

It was almost sunset when the car finally drove us into the center of a small cluster of homes and came to a stop.

The Myrrh settlement was in many ways a fainter echo of the Shekinah one. Considerably smaller, with a slight feeling of roughness around the edges, it was obviously still in the early stages of its life and development; but obvious too was the fact that it was indeed a true offshoot of the Halo of God. The young man who came out to greet us—a bit shabbier, in a frontier sort of way, than those at Shekinah—had the same underlying sense of peace about him that I'd seen in Adams and his followers.

"Greetings," he nodded as Calandra and I got stiffly out of the car. He did a double take as he realized he didn't recognize us; and then his smile came back. "Sorry—we don't get many strangers here. What can I do for you?"

"We're here to see Shepherd Joyita Zagorin," I told him, stretching aching muscles. "We've got a message for her from Shepherd Adams."

"Ah—I should have guessed," the boy nodded, his smile becoming more of a grin. "I've driven the Shekinah/Myrrh road myself—great fun, isn't it?"

"Marvelous," I grunted. "You should go into partnership with a kidney regrowth company—you'd both clean up."

"Probably. If you'll follow me, please...?"

"Where is everyone?" Calandra asked as we crossed the open square-like area toward a large meeting-house sort of building.

"We're having a common di

He waved off between two of the buildings, and I saw a group of perhaps half a dozen people sitting a short distance off from the settlement, clearly deep in meditation. "You people certainly take this meditation seriously, don't you?"

He didn't take offense, not even privately. "There wouldn't be much point in doing it half-heartedly, would there?" he countered.

I couldn't argue with that.

The meeting house was full of busy people and delectable aromas that made my stomach growl. Our guide led us past the large, C-shaped tables to a small room in the back, where a young woman was diligently working with an old computer. She looked up as the youth tapped on the open door. "Yes, Thomaz?"