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Myths are not fiction, but history seen with a poet’s eyes and recounted in a poet’s terms
- Shipquotes
FERRY SAT at his co a pale liquid which reeked ofbiostats on a shielded viewscreen when Hali and Waela entered and he did not lower the shields
The co cohtly illuminated by corner reht There was a sharp smell of caustic cleaner in the air
Hali noted two things immediately: Ferry was not yet overcome by the drink and he appeared fearful Then she saw that the command center had been tidied recently Anywhere Ferry worked was soon a scattered mesnotorious situation shipside where instincts of neatness equated with survival But things had been made neat here Unusual
She saw Murdoch then and realized that Ferry feared what Murdoch ht report to Oakes Murdoch stood at one side of the command center, arms folded, impassive
Ferry closed down his screen with a conscious flourish, swiveled to face the newco so quickly"
Ferry’s voice was reedy with controlled ee of his nose once, an unconscious iers were tre
What does he fear? she wondered
The man’s furtiveness spoke of terrified conceal to do with my baby?
The characteristic blip of her own fears lifted and fell And there was Kerro’s voice: "Trust Hali and Ship, Waela Trust them"
Waela tried to s in a dry throat Could no one else hear hilance around the room When she heard the voice, she felt sure of it The instant it was gone, she doubted Her real-tih Physical senses honed to high sensitivity by the necessities of survival on Pandora - these she trusted And Ferry de on several levels of deception She had heard the stories about Ferry, a coh medical man with a few eccentricities, but not to be trusted alone with a young wo else
A humbler, Waela told herself, who sits in the co Why did Oakes choose a humbler?
Waela’s Pandora-sensitized nostrils detected alcohol in Ferry’s drink She put on her best iroundside uses of alcohol and tetrahydrocannabinol in their various forenerally accepted in Colony But somehow she had not expected this shipside With Ship to protect the well, Ship held that alcohol was a risky and undesirable poison shipside But then again, she knew that Ferry, like herself, had spent his early years Earthside His reversion ht not be all that unusual
Still, Ferry’s actions interested her If the fact of her iram were taken seriously in certain circle ? Well, why else would Ferry be using viewscreen shields? And alcohol! She did not want her life, nor her baby’s life, depending on someone who deliberately lowered his acuities
Drinking, she thought The as dredged up out of her childhood and she had a botto time which had passed since she had equated that ith alcohol
The shielded screen bothered her It was tiht
"That drink smells like fresh mint Could I taste it?"
"Ye of course"
It was not of course, but he offered her the glass "Just a taste It’s not the kind of thing a prospective ainst her fingers She sipped the drink and closed her eyes, recalling a scorched afternoon in Earthside summer when her rownups The color of this drink was paler, but it was definitely bourbon with aze fixed on the glass
Hungry for it, she saw He’s nearly drooling
"It’s quite good," she said "Where did you get it?"
He reached for the glass, but Waela handed it to Hali, who hesitated and looked at Ferry, then at Waela
"Go ahead," Waela said "Everyone should have one sometime I had my first when I elve"
When Hali still hesitated, Ferry said, "Perhaps she shouldn’t, ith this strange illness going around What if it’s catching?"
He treats it like a precious jewel, Waela thought It et
She said: "If it’s that contagious, we’ve caught it Go ahead, Hali"
The younger woman sipped, sed and ilass thrust out for sorabbed it fro, Hali said: "That’s terrible!"
"It’s all in knohat to expect," Ferry said
"And lots of practice," Waela said "You never told us where you got it Not one of our lab alcohols, is it?"
Ferry placed the glass carefully on the deck beside his seat
"It’s froet"
"Don’t we have s to discuss?" Murdoch asked
They were his first words, and they transfixed Ferry He reached down for the drink, drew his hand back without it He turned and fussed with the controls for his screen, dropped the shield, hesitated, then left it down
Waela promised herself that she would use the first opportunity to call up the records Ferry found so interesting With unrestricted use of Ship’s research facilities, it would not be difficult
Murdoch moved around behind Ferry, an action which increased Ferry’s nervousness
Waela found herself sy with the old man Murdoch in that position would make anyone’s shoulderblades twitch
Ferry sputtered, then: "I wa ahh, waiting for so up the, ahh business w Ihere?" Hali asked She did not like the undercurrents flowing through this room Unspoken threats lay heavy on Ferry’s shoulders and it was obvious they came from Murdoch
Ferry reached for the drink with a convulsive motion, but before he could put it to his lips, Murdoch reached over Ferry’s shoulder and relass from his hand
"This’ll wait"
Murdoch put the glass on a ledge behind him As he turned back toward the others, the hatch opened and three people entered
Hali recognized Brulagi from Medical, a heavy-set woman with fat arular close-cropped style, and her eyes shone bright blue above a flat nose Right behind her cae dark man with quick al ray-haired, a thin-lipped, soft-spoken woned Hali to monitor Waela TaoLini
"Ahhh, here you are," Ferry said "Please be seated, everyone Please be seated"
Hali was glad to sit She found a sling chair for Waela and another for herself Waela moved her own chair to seat herself directly across from Ferry It put her apart from the others, an observer’s distance, and let her focus on Ferry and Murdoch without having to turn Ferry would notice and it would annoy hiation
What is it with you, old man? Waela wondered What do you fear?
The three latecoles to Ferry Murdoch re Waela’s move, wondered about it, but was distracted by the sudden realization that Andrit fro on here?
Murdoch touched Ferry’s shoulder and the older man jumped "Show them the map"
Ferry sed, turned to his keyboard, punched at it clumsily A miniature projection of Ship’s schematic materialized at the holofocus beside hinized the special Natali area outship froh the projection Brulagi fros and stared at the three-diitated by it Usija merely nodded
"What are the red markers?" Hali asked
"Each dot represents a stricken child," Ferry said "If you connect them, they form a spiral and you’ll note that they increase in density as they reach the spiral’s center"
"A vortex," Murdoch said
Waela peered closely at the schelanced up to catch a look of unguarded fury on Andrit’s face He was clenching and unclenching his fists She saw the heavy lesuit
Ferry pulled soe beside his keyboard and shuffled through theht not know, ahh, where is your cubby, Waela?"
Andrit leaned forward, allared at Waela She saw Murdoch repress a smile What amused him?
"You all knohere I sleep, Doctor My cubby’s at the center of the spiral"
Andrit lunged as quickly as anyone Waela had ever seen ship-side But even though she felt heavily pregnant, Pandora had conditioned her reflexes to blurring speed When Andrit hit the space where Waela had been sitting, she no longer was there Before he could recover, Waela felled him with a blow to his carotid - every h her It gushed froh every fiber of her body
Hali, out of her chair by this time, looked from Andrit sprawled unconscious on the deck to Waela who stood poised and breathing easily in front of thelow under her skin to a blaze As she turned slowly on one heel to see if there would be ht
Dazed, Hali asked: "Why did he do that?"
Waela confronted Ferry "Why?" She stood balanced on the balls of her feet Andrit had threatened not her but her unborn child! Let any of them try to harlint in his eyes He appeared to be enjoying this
"He wa personally upset, you understand? One of the stricken children is his son"
"What do those red dots really mean?" Hali dey proble in Lab One"
Waela took a step toward Ferry "I want to hear it fro on?"
"I, uhh, don’t really know lance over his shoulder at Murdoch
"Youabout it," Waela said "Tell us what you do know"
"Now, let’s change our tone a bit," Murdoch said "There’s an injured man on the deck and this whole unfortunate matter does not require more passion"
He turned toward the Natali representative "Doctor Usija, since the med-tech appears unable to respon"
Hali looked down at Andrit as beginning to stir
"He’ll recover," Waela said "I pulled my blow"
Hali stared at her The implication was obvious: She could have killed the man Belatedly, Hali bent to examine hie, but Waela was right: He would recover
"What happened in Lab One?" Waela directed her question to Murdoch
"A artificial form of this phenomenon You are the first natural example of this we’ve seen"
"Natural example of what?" Waela forced the words out
"The draining of energy fro other people"
Waela glared at hi? She took a step toward him and felt Hali’s hand on her arht her down Sensing this, Hali jerked her hand back
"Waela? Just ato understand"
"Understand what?"
"They think you’re responsible for the sick children"
"Me? How?" She turned back toward Ferry "Explain"
Murdoch started to speak, but she snapped an angry glare at him "Not you! Him"
"Now, Waela, calm yourself," Ferry said "This has all been an unfortunate mistake"
"What do you mean unfortunate mistake, you drunk? You set this up You invited Andrit here You knew about that spiral in your sche to do?"
"I will not take that tone from you," Ferry said "This is m"
"This is your funeral if you don’t tellon here!"
Hali stared at Waela What was happening to the wo very still - no threatening i were frozen in their seats
"Now, don’t you threaten me, Waela," Ferry said There was a plaintive note in his voice
She’s perfectly capable of killing hiht Ship, save us! What has coan to speak very softly, but her voice was co in the tense air of the roo at the phenooes very deep It is dangerous to you Since Waela is Pandora-conditioned, I advise you to answer her"
Ferry pushed hio He wet his lips with his tongue
"I, ahh your circumstances shipside, Waela There has been some, ahhh, let us call it superstition"