Page 12 (1/2)

Sil-Chan hung in his harness trying to breathe deeply while his h which he had just dervished He felt his heart pounding His left shoulder ached

That cost an to set in His hands trembled uncontrollably He kneould have to find a supply of anti-S soon That dive had taken hih htly A strange quiet intruded upon Sil-Chan&039;s awareness The quiet bothered hirew discernible A masculine voice intruded on the quiet

"Hey in there! You all right?"

Sil-Chan could iency equipular field He shuddered All of the quiet, single-purposed reserve which had marked his life to this point dissolved like the h an invisible barrier to become an unexpected person on the other side

"You funnel-mouthed, vacuum-headed idiots!" he bellowed

The jetter trembled as someone forced open the door beside him He turned his head, looked upside down into the face of aIt was the set of the eyes and the reserved look in a narrow face

"You sound healthy enough," the ?"

"No thanks to you!" Sil-Chan raged

"Here, let ently helped Sil-Chan reh and there was unexpected strength in his arms He smelled of some odd spice

Sil-Chan winced as the straps were eased over his left shoulder

"Bit of a bruise there," the &039;s broken How about your legs and back?"

"They&039;re fine Get me out of this stupid"

"Easy there Easy does it"

The round, helped Sil-Chan to sit up There was an acrid fuel srass The sky swayed a bit above his rescuer

"Just sit there a bit until you feel better," the man said "You seem to be all in one piece"

Sil-Chan studied this first Dornbaker he had seen The ht pants The jacket was open almost to his navel and exposed a smooth, almost hairless chest The sale of black hair, soled over his forehead, He looked as priht?"

It was the voice of the young wo around the end of the wrecked jetter, bare legs swishing in the long grass At sight of Sil-Chan, she ca for breath "Thank the Stone you weren&039;t killed," she panted "I ran all the way from Control"

Sil-Chan stared up at her: skin as dark as Tchung&039;s but her hair was a golden cloud and her eyes were the blue of themerriment that even her obvious worry could not conceal She, too, wore the oddly fringed clothing, but a curve of bright red blouse filled the wedge of her jacket It came to Sil-Chan that she was the most delicately beautiful creature he had ever seen He found himself unable to look away from that lovely face, the softof chin and cheeks All of the careful repression that had kept hi of his past peeled away It was an effort to wrench himself back to duty He cleared his throat

Before he could speak, she said: "I told theht away on the hunt!"

"Easy, Hep," the man said His voice floated out in an effortless baritone

Sil-Chan shook his head to clear it of that lovely female vision "Would you direct me to the Paternomer, please?" he asked

"He won&039;t be back for two days," the man aid "I&039;h they should convey important information "We&039;re to take care of you until the PN returns"