The Gripping Hand

"Hey, why so soon? We could take another ghost tomorrow. And I'm still wondering where the opal meerschaum-"

"Mr. Re

"Oh."

They covered five or six miles before the snowmobile came back for them. Re

Boynton swore at the size of the carcass, "I still don't believe it. This place was hunted five years ago. How would it have time to grow so big?"

The brothers had only gri

It was a matter of pride. You ate the meat when you killed a ghost, they'd told him. You opened cans when you'd failed.

"It feels like I've been diddled, and I don't know how or why," Re

He closed the computer. He was ravenous. The meat would take another hour to cook through. Would it taste as good as di

Less well seasoned, maybe, less well cooked, but fresher. And there was the "sauce": exhaustion and hunger. Four men would be hard put to make a dent in that much meat.

That much meat. He flipped the computer open. The ship would be halfway to the horizon, dammit. "The ghost was well fed. Why didn't it attack like the one we watched at the palace? I didn't blow a heart open. It lived too long. It acted... drugged. The Scott brothers didn't seem weary enough, either. If I'm not seeing mirages... there'd have to be a lot of men involved. This is big."

They collapsed the tent and loaded it with the fur and the snow buggies into the cargo compartment of the plane. The snow ghost meat was lashed to the struts holding the landing skids. Boynton climbed in and sat in the pilot's seat.

"Hey," Darwin Scott said.

"Oh, hell, I'll fly," Boynton said. "I didn't do anything else to earn my keep. Son of a bitch, I'd never have believed that big a ghost would be in here. Farther south, yeah, but not just here."

"Why didn't we land farther south?" Re

"Lakes are too big," Boynton said. "Lots of warm streams from the volcanoes. Most lakes don't even freeze, and they're all deep. You want to go down there, you land here and take a long trip on a snow buggy." He spat through the window. "Which I had intended to do. Son of a bitch."

James laughed. "Re

The Scott brothers climbed in. James took the right-hand seat next to Boynton.

"I'm a pilot," Re

"Next time," James Scott said. "This is tricky, with the plane loaded down..."

"He's right," Boynton agreed. "You ever fly one of these things? Didn't think so. I'll check you out in Zion. Right now we ought to get that fur somewhere it'll be properly treated. That's a good fur."

Re

Boynton gri

"We really ought to be getting in," Darwin Scott said.

"Hell, the man wants to see the place," James said. "Would myself. Good shooting, Mr. Re

"We'll just circle and go on," Darwin Scott said. "That's a good fur."

"It is that," Boynton agreed.

There had been light snow that night, but Re

"Must have been a lot of wind through here," Boynton muttered.

Re

"Right down there," James Scott said. "Here, I'll take it a moment." The plane banked and turned in a tight spiral so that Re

Boynton was on the high side of the plane. He craned up and looked off to the left. "What the hell... ?"

"What?" Re

South of the forest the snow looked chewed. Snowmobile tires, men's footprints, the blurred circle where a helicopter must have come down and taken off. A hell of a lot of activity. Re

Darwin Scott drove his elbow into Re

"What the hell?" Boynton demanded.

"Gentile friend, you have seen nothing," Darwin Scott said.

"Gentile. Church business?"

"He is not a gentile," James Scott said. "Lapsed, but he was born to the Church."

"I must think on this," Darwin said.

A part of Re

"Use the spray," James Scott said. "I have the controls."

"Hey, I don't want to be no giggling idiot," Boynton said. "Look, if this is Church business-hell, give me the skin and my share of the gear, and it's quits for me. I'll say we got a ghost, and the dude wanted to hunt some more, so we split up. You took the dude off to a place you didn't want me to know about. After that it's up to you."

"It would even be true," Darwin Scott said. "We must think on this."

"While you're thinking, where the hell are we going?" Boynton demanded.

"Outside Zion there is a small lake," Darwin Scott said. "Land on that."

5 The True Church

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil or labor fear; but with joy wend your way;

Though hard to you this journey may appear, Grace shall be as your day.

‘Tis far better for us to strive, Our useless cares from us to drive;

Do this, and joy your hearts will swell-All is well, all is well!

Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints

A tiny red light danced in Ruth Cohen's eyes, then the massive door opened before she could touch the bell. The butler was dressed in a traditional ma

Ruth glanced down at her best civilian dress and gri

The butler took her overcoat and handed it to another servant. "His Excellency is in the library," he said, and ushered her down the hall.

Bury was in his travel chair, not at the desk but at an elaborately inlaid game table. "You will forgive me if I do not stand? Thank you. Would you care for a drink? We have an excellent Madeira. Not from Earth, I fear, but from Santiago, which many say is not greatly inferior."

"I would really prefer coffee."

Bury smiled. "Turkish or filtre? Filtre. Cynthia, the Kona, I believe. And my usual. Thank you." Bury indicated a chair.

"Please be seated, Commander. Thank you."

Ruth smiled. "Your hospitality is a bit overwhelming."