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Jaxom worked as fast as he could, but still the cold increasingly penetrated the down-lined gloves that had always kept him warm through hours of Threadfall. Maybe space was colder than between, he thought, flexing frozen fingers.
"Aivas, didn't you say there'd be heat on the bridge?" he complained. "My hands are getting numb with cold."
"Readings indicate that the bridge heating is not working as efficiently as possible. It is probable that the resistive ceramic of the units has crystalized. This can be repaired later."
"That's good news," Jaxom said as he double-checked his entries. Then he straightened up. "Mine's done-program ready."
"Activate," Aivas ordered.
Jaxom punched that key with some trepidation-though the Egg knew how he could have gotten it wrong with the endless drills Aivas had put him through in learning the sequences of attitude, exposure, and sectors. With considerable personal satisfaction, he watched the fast-forward scroll of the display as it confirmed his plotting.
"This board's much faster than the ones we've been using," he remarked.
"The equipment on the Yokohama was state-of-the-art when the ship was commissioned by the Pern Charter Group," Aivas said. "High-speed computations would have been essential in astronavigation."
"I told you we were using baby stuff," Piemur murmured.
"Before the infant walks, it must learn to crawl," Aivas said.
"Is everyone hearing all this?" the harper demanded with some indignation.
No.
"I thank your mercy for that! And my program's up and ru
"That is correct. You must now begin phase two of the schedule. You will find the auxiliary oxygen storage behind Bulwark B-8802-A, -B, and -C," Aivas instructed.
Piemur was shaking the fingers of his gloved hands. "My fingers have never been this cold! I'll give you Bitran odds this bridge is colder than between."
"In point of fact," Aivas remarked, "it is not. But you have been in that very cold temperature far longer than you have ever remained between."
"A point," Jaxom reminded Piemur as they pulled themselves up along stair rail. "Remarkable feeling, this weightlessness," he said with a comradely grin at the harper.
Piemur gave him a happy grimace of agreement. Just then Farli and Trig came tumbling end over end above their heads, making them duck-which sent them bouncing off the steps.
"Careful! " Jaxom cried, reaching for the railing as smoothly as he could.
"Ohohohohoh!" Piemur continued to float on up to the ceiling.
By the time Jaxom, securely holding on to the rail with one hand, had grabbed the floating Piemur by the ankle and hauled him down, neither was sure whether to laugh or swear at their clumsiness. However, the slight mishap made them all the more circumspect in their motions. They located, opened, and examined the auxiliary oxygen compartment, then carefully removed the one empty tank, maneuvered the four they had brought with them into the space available, and made the necessary co
"Phase three may now be initiated," Aivas told them once the co
Jaxom caught Piemur's gaze, and the young harper gave him a wry grin, shrugged, and turned back to the space-suited figure they had both been avoiding.
Ruth, we need you back on the landing, please, Jaxom said as he and Piemur solemnly converged on Sallah's body. He swallowed.
As they lifted it from the chair it had occupied for 2,500 Turns, the rigid space-suited body retained the position in which it had originally collapsed across the console. Jaxom tried to feel reverence for the personality that had once inhabited the frozen shell they were handling. Sallah Telgar had given her life to prevent the defector, Avril Bitra, from draining the Yokohama's fuel tanks in her bid to escape the Rukbat system. Sallah had even managed to repair the console Bitra had wrecked in her fury at being thwarted. Odd that a Hold had been named after such a woman, but then, Bitrans had always been an odd lot. Jaxom chided himself for such thoughts. There were some very honest, worthy Bitrans-a few, anyway-who were not given to gambling and the other forms of gaming that fascinated so many of that Hold. Lord Sigomal kept to himself, but that was far preferable to the late Lord Sifer's well-known unsavory appetites.
With the ropes that had held the tanks in place, Jaxom and Piemur strapped the bent body between Ruth's wings. Sensing their mood alteration, Farli and Trig had ceased their cavorting, and when Piemur again mounted the white dragon, they quietly settled to his shoulders.
When Jaxom slid astride Ruth, he could no longer control his jaw, and his teeth began to chatter. Had Sallah felt this creeping cold as she died? Was that what had killed her, abandoned so far above the planet? His chilled fingers could barely feel Ruth's neck ridge.
Let's get back to Landing before we freeze solid, too, Ruth, he said.
"Can we go before we freeze solid?" Piemur asked wistfully, unaware that he was echoing Jaxom's silent request to Ruth.
Now! Jaxom longingly projected a vivid scene of warn, balmy Landing to his dragon.
As they entered the chill blackness of between, he was still not sure which was colder.
Much later in the evening of that momentous day, when Lessa had a chance to sit down and think about it all, she wondered just how Aivas-quite likely with Lytol's co
Lord Larad was absolutely dumbfounded when Robinton, conveyed by Mnementh and F'lar to Telgar Hold, apprised him of the retrieval of his ancestress's remains.
"Yes, yes, indeed, Sallah must be honored. There must, of course, be some ceremony fitting such an occasion." Larad looked helplessly at Robinton.
Burial services were usually brief, even for the most honored being. The deeds and goodness of unusual persons were perpetuated in song and harper tales, which were considered the most fitting of memorials.
"A performance of the Ballad of Sallah Telgar would certainly be appropriate," Robinton said. "Full instrumental accompaniment to chorus and solo voices. I'll speak to Sebell."
"I never thought to have the chance to honor our brave ancestress," Larad said, and floundered once again.
Fortunately Lady Jissamy, Larad's astute and capable wife, stepped to his side. "There is that small cave, just to the north of the main court, the one which that recent rockslide revealed. It is just large enough-" She faltered and then recovered. "And certainly accessible, easy to reseal."
Larad patted her hand gratefully. "Yes, the very place. Ah... when?" he added tentatively.
"The day after tomorrow?" Robinton suggested, resisting an urge to grin in triumph. The day after next would be just the day before the Lord Holders convened about the matter of the late Oterel's successor.
Larad shot him a quick glance. "You couldn't possibly have pla
"Me?" Years of practice made it possible for Robinton to affect genuine surprise. He waggled his hand in denial.
F'lar came to his assistance with a disgusted snort. "Hardly, Larad. We knew she was there. So did you. Aivas included her sacrifice in his historical narrative. Today was the first chance to actually get to her. And it just doesn't seem proper to-well, just to leave her remains there."