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And so would I, Jaxom thought.
Then, before he could come up with too many arguments against this rash, foolhardy, reckless endeavor, he signaled for Ruth to float over to him.
"You will, of course," Aivas said drolly, "be very sure to keep oxygen tanks full on the bridge for fifty Turns to come."
Jaxom gave a grim smile. "I'm not going to take any chances, Aivas. I'll just get into my suit." He was becoming quite adept at inserting himself into the space gear. He mounted Ruth and buckled on the riding straps, just to be very sure, in case they emerged in nothingness. He also knew that Ruth would have no trouble anywhere-or anywhen-finding his way back to Ruatha Hold.
He read the date exposed on the digital and added fifty to the year displayed: 2579. With that legend firmly in his mind, he told Ruth to transfer to that time.
I know when I'm going, Ruth said cheerfully, and they were abruptly between.
Jaxom counted the breaths he was taking and was rather pleased that they were slow and steady. At fifteen, they were back on the bridge-which had not, apparently, altered.
The view hasn't changed, Ruth said disconsolately.
"No, it hasn't," Jaxom said, surprised to see the diagram still up on the screen. The digital clock, however, definitely registered fifty full Turns past his last view of it. He unhooked his straps and floated down from Ruth's back to the screen.
"I suppose I could have put this back up in preparation for my coming," he told himself. "I'll remember. I hope. Is there sir up here, Ruth?"
Yes, but it's not very fresh.
Jaxom pulled off his gloves and put them down on the console. He didn't bother to unsuit, since he had no intention of remaining longer than this errand required. He tapped out the appropriate code and saw the cursor outline a second orbit, deviating by several degrees from the earlier one and with the return path intersecting the orbit of the fifth planet and spiraling in! With trembling fingers, he pressed the print command and a sheet obediently emerged-a sheet that felt subtly different from the paper he had become accustomed to. Much whiter, softer! Bendarek had really improved the quality of paper over the intervening Turns. Then he compared its diagram to the one on the screen.
"Shards! Aivas, the path of the Red Star has shifted. Aivas?" An iciness flowed across Jaxom's midsections. "Aivas?"
How can he hear you fifty Turns into the future, Jaxom? Ruth said in some amusement.
"Oh, right... I suppose. Except he'd know when we were going..." Jaxom was still uneasy about Aivas's silence. "I guess I have got so that I rely on him too much. But he was right. So we're stuck with this new madness of his, aren't we, Ruth?"
I do not think it is madness to be certain we never have Thread again.
"We're not out of this Pass yet, even if it is possibly the last one we'll have," Jaxom said, pushing himself off the deck to grab at Ruth's neck and swing his leg into the saddle. "The old bridge hasn't changed... and yet, it feels awful still and unused!"
I thought the view would have changed, Ruth said, clearly disappointed.
Jaxom thought vividly of the digital in his correct present, added thirty seconds to prevent an overlap, and Ruth took them between. Exactly fifteen breaths later he was looking straight at the digital advanced the thirty seconds. He did, however, feel very tired, and as he looked at Ruth's neck, he noticed a definite tinge of gray exhaustion in the usually lustrous hide.
"And?" Aivas queried him.
"I must have put the graph up, because it was there when I arrived."
"And?"
Jaxom undid his helmet, determined to spin the scene out for all it was worth. "Well, I must have remembered to keep the oxygen tanks topped up, for there was some, even if Ruth said it wasn't fresh-Shards!" He looked down at his bare hands. "I left my gloves there."
"Then. You will have left your gloves then." Aivas could play the same game.
Jaxom gri
"Yes," Aivas said, unperturbed, "that will be sufficient. The explosions have accomplished exactly the desired dislocation. Jaxom, your vital signs show a depletion. You must eat carbohydrates."
"Ruth's a bit gray, too. He needs to eat more than I do."
You should have told me wed be doing this today, Jaxom. We have flown Fall, and I haven't eaten since those wherries last week.
"As soon as you're feeling able, dear heart, you shall have as many fat bucks and wherries as you can stuff down your maw."
Then let us go now. I really feel very hungry.
"Jaxom?" Aivas said as the white rider started peeling off his space suit.
"Yes?"
"Will you comply?"
"With your mad scheme? It appears I must because I have. Haven't I?"
Ruatha Hold was gay with ba
He and Ruth had transferred from the Yokohama immediately to an upland meadow where the white dragon had replenished his energies on three bucks and two does. He had then glided home, emitting an occasional satisfied burp so that Jaxom could eat a more substantial meal than the handfuls of berries he had found in the bushes surrounding the field. Jaxom had seen his dragon comfortably curled up on the weyr couch, given orders to the first Steward he saw that he was not to be disturbed even if Thread fell out of phase, and grabbed some bread and cheese from the kitchen, which he consumed on his way to his quarters. There, somewhat sated, he removed his boots and riding belt and crawled under the sleeping furs to sleep.
Sometime during that exhausted rest, Sharra must have joined him, for when he awoke just as the sky was lightening, she was there, nestled against him. What had roused him were unmistakable greetings of Gatherers, arriving after an overnight journey. His nose told him that the spits were already turning over open flames in the roasting pits, and his stomach told him that he needed to fill it. He must have slept an entire day.
"Mmmm, Jax?" Sharra murmured, sleepily reaching for him.
"Yes, love, who else were you expecting?" He leaned over and kissed her. "You let me sleep?"
"Hmmm. Ruth said you were very tired. Meer wouldn't let anyone in the room but me."
He angled himself up to a sitting position, scrubbing at his tousled hair, ru
"We're up, we're up!" Jaxom assured them although Sharra hauled her pillow more firmly under her head, her eyes determinedly shut.
The two fire-lizards disappeared, and very shortly there was a timid scratch at the door of the bedroom.
"Come!" He could smell the aroma of klah as soon as the door opened. A drudge who looked freshly scrubbed and attired entered with a well-stocked tray.
Once he had had some klah and had cajoled Sharra into waking up enough to join him, he revived sufficiently to bathe and dress in new Gather finery.
"Whatever were you doing that exhausted you and Ruth so much?" Sharra asked as she let him fasten her new Gather gown, a splendid affair in the golds and rusts that so suited her.
"Well, there was Fall, and then Ruth and I had to test those new gloves Hamian's produced and-" He waved his hand airily. "I guess things just mounted up. Did you get enough rest?" he asked solicitously, dropping a kiss on her bare neck before he fastened the topaz necklace which had been his nameday present to her.