Flinx inspected what he could see of the penestral while the jet boat headed back toward the southern shore. “Those people in the mudders, they didn’t stand a chance.”
“Never knew what hit them,” Lauren agreed. “I’m sure they weren’t carrying any kind of tracking equipment. No reason for it. If our tracker had been out of order, we’d have joined the mudders in the penestral’s belly.”
A quick death at least, Flinx thought. Death was a frequent visitor to the unwary in the Drallarian marketplace, so he was no stranger to it. Thoughts of death reminded him of Mother Mastiff. Would his persistence result in her captors’ deciding she wasn’t worth the trouble anymore? What might they have in mind for her, now that her presence had caused the death of a number of them? Surely, he decided, they wouldn’t kill her out of hand. They had gone to so much trouble already.
But the thought made him worry even more.
Exhilarated by the fight, Lauren’s voice was slightly elevated and hurried. She had reason to be short of wind, Flinx thought. “One of these days, Flinx, after we’ve finished with this business, you’ll have to come back up here. I’ll take you over to Lake Hozingar or Utuhuku. Now those are respectable-sized lakes and home to some decent-sized fish. Not like poor little Patra, here. At Hozingar, you can see the real meaning of the name The-Blue-That-Blinded.”
Flinx regarded the immense carcass slung alongside the jet boat in light of her words. “I know there are bigger lakes than this one, but I didn’t know they held bigger penestrals.”
“Oh, the penestral’s a midrange predator,” she told him conversationally. “On Hozingar you don’t go fishing for penestral. You fish for oboweir.”
“What,” Flinx asked, “is an oboweir?”
“A fish that feeds regularly on penestrals.”
“Oh,” he said quietly, trying to stretch his imagination to handle the picture her words had conjured up.
Quite a crowd was waiting to greet them as they tied up at the lodge pier. Lauren had moored the inflated penestral to a buoy nearby. The carcass drew too much water to be brought right inshore.
Flinx slipped through the oohing and ahhing guests, leaving Lauren to handle the questions. Several of her employees fought their way to her and added questions of their own. Eventually, the crowd began to break up, some to return to their rooms, others to remain to gawk at the fish bobbing slowly on the surface.
Flinx had collapsed gratefully into a chair on the porch that encircled the main building. “How much do you want for the use of the skimmer and a tracker?” he asked Lauren when she was able to join him. “I’ll need you to show me how to use it, of course.”
She frowned at him. “I’m not sure I follow you, Flinx.”
“I told you, I’m going after them. You’ve made it possible for me to do that, and I’m very grateful to you.”
She looked thoughtful. “Management will scream when they find out I’ve taken out the skimmer for personal use. They’re a lot more expensive than a jet boat or mudder. We’ll have to be careful with it.”
He still wasn’t listening to her, his mind full of plans for pursuing the kidnappers. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you for this, Lauren.”
“Don’t worry about it. The lodge’s share of profit from the disposal of the penestral ought to defray all the operating expenses. Come on, get yourself and your snake out of that chair. We have to gather supplies. The skimmer’s usually used for making quick runs between here and Attock. That’s where we pick up our guests. We’ll need to stock some food, of course, and I want to make sure the engine is fully charged. And if I don’t take ten minutes to comb my hair out, I’m going to die.” She tugged at the tangles of black ringlets that the action on the lake had produced.
“Just a minute.” This time it was Flinx who put out the restraining hand as he bounded out of the chair. “I think I’ve misunderstood. You don’t mean you’re coming with me?”
“You don’t know how to use the tracking equipment,” she pointed out.
“I can figure it out,” he assured her confidently. “It didn’t take me long to figure out how to handle the boat, did it?”
“You don’t know the country.”
“I’m not interested in the country,” he responded. “I’m not going on a sightseeing trip. That’s what the tracker’s for, isn’t it? Just loan the stuff to me. I’ll pay you back somehow. Let me just have the tracker and a charge for my mudder, if you’re worried about the skimmer.”
“You’re forgetting about my wervils. Besides, you can’t track a skimmer with a mudder. What if you hit a canyon?”
“Surely you’re not giving up your work here,” he said, trying another tack, “just so you can seek revenge for the deaths of a couple of pets?”
“I told you, wervils are an endangered species on Moth. And I also told you how I feel about animals.”
“I know,” he protested, “but that still doesn’t—”
He broke off his protest as she reached out to ruffle his hair. “You know, you remind me of another wervil I cared for once, though his fur wasn’t quite as bright as yours. Near enough, though.” Then she went on more seriously. “Flinx, I don’t like these people, whoever they are. I don’t like them because of what they’ve done to you, and I don’t like them because of what they’ve done to me. Because of that, I’m going to help you as well as myself. Because I’d be going out after them whether you were here or not, for the sake of Sennar and Soba.
“Don’t try to deny that you couldn’t use a little help and don’t give me any of that archaic nonsense about your not wanting me along because I’m a woman.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” he told her crisply. “The last thing I’d try to do would be to inflict any archaic nonsense on you.”
That caused her to hesitate momentarily, uncertain whether he was joking or not. “Anyway,” she added, “if I can’t go, not that you can stop me, then you couldn’t go, either. Because I’m the only one who has access to the skimmer.”
It was not hard for Flinx to give in. “I haven’t got time to argue with you.”
“And also the sense not to, I suspect. But you’re right about the time. The tracker should pick up the gel underneath their skimmer right away, but let’s not play our luck to the limit. I don’t know what kind of skimmer they were using. I’ve never seen the like before, so I’ve no idea if it’s faster than usual. We go together, then?”
“Together. On two conditions, Lauren.”
Again, she found herself frowning at him. Just when she thought she could predict his actions, he would do something to surprise her again. “Say them, anyway.”
“First, that Pip continues to tolerate you.” He rubbed the back of the flying snake’s head affectionately. It rose delightedly against the pressure. “You see, I have certain feelings toward animals myself.”
“And the other condition?” she inquired.
“If you ever touch my hair like that again, you’d better be prepared for me to kick your lovely backside all the way to the Pole. Old ladies have been doing that to me ever since I can remember, and I’ve had my fill of it!”
She grinned at him. “It’s a deal, then. I’m glad your snake isn’t as touchy as you are. Let’s go. I have to leave a message for my superiors in case they call in and want to know not only where their skimmer is but their lodge manager as well.”
When she informed the assistant manager of the lodge, he was very upset. “But what do I tell Kilkenny if he calls from Attoka? What if he has guests to send up?”
“We’re not expecting anyone for another week. You know that, Sal. Tell him anything you want.” She was arranging items in a small sack as she spoke. “No, tell him I’ve gone to the aid of a traveler in distress across the lake. That’s an acceptable excuse in any circumstance.”
The assistant looked past her to where Flinx stood waiting impatiently, chucking Pip under its jaw and staring in the direction of the lake.
“He doesn’
t look like he’s very distressed to me.”
“His distress is well hidden,” Lauren informed him, “which is more than I can say for you, Sal. I’m surprised at you. We’ll be back real soon.”
“Uh-huh. It’s just that I’m not a very good liar, Lauren. You know that.”
“Do the best you can.” She patted his cheek affectionately. “And I’m not lying. He really is in trouble.”
“But the skimmer, Lauren.”
“You still have the lodge mudders and the boats. Short of a major catastrophe of some kind, I can see no reason why you’d need the skimmer. It’s really only here to be used in case of emergency. To my mind”—she gestured toward Flinx—”this is an emergency.”
The assistant kicked at the dirt. “It’s your neck.”
“Yes, it’s my neck.”
“Suppose they ask which way you went?”
“Tell them I’ve headed—” A cough interrupted her. She looked back at Flinx and nodded once. “Just say that I’ve had to go across Patra.”
“But which way across?”
“Across the lake, Sal.”
“Oh. Okay, I understand. You’ve got your reasons for doing this, I guess.”
“I guess I do. And if I’m wrong, well, you always wanted to be manager here, anyway, Sal.”
“Now hold on a minute, Lauren. I never said—”
“Do the best you can for me,” she gently admonished him. “This means something to me.”
“You really expect to be back soon?”
“Depends on how things go. See you, Sal.”
“Take care of yourself, Lauren.” He watched as she turned to rejoin the strange youth, then shrugged and started back up the steps into the lodge.
As Lauren had said, it was her neck.
It didn’t take long for the skimmer to be checked out. Flinx climbed aboard and admired the utilitarian vehicle. For almost the first time since he left Drallar, he would be traveling totally clear of such persistent obstacles as mist-shrouded boulders and towering trees. The machine’s body was made of black resin. It was large enough to accommodate a dozen passengers and crew. In addition to the standard emergency stores, Lauren provisioned it with additional food and medical supplies. They also took along the dart rifle and several clips and a portable sounding tracker.
Flinx studied the tracking screen and the single moving dot that drifted northwestward across the transparency. A series of concentric gauging rings filled the circular screen. The dot that represented their quarry had already reached the outermost ring.
“They’ll move off the screen in a little while,” he murmured to Lauren.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure they’re convinced by now that they’ve lost us.”
“They’re zigzagging all over the screen,” he noted.
“Taking no chances. Doesn’t do any good if you’re showing up on a tracker. But you’re right. We’d better get moving.”
She slid into the pilot’s chair and thumbed controls. The whine of the skimmer’s engine drowned out the tracker’s gentle hum as the craft rose several meters. Lauren held it there as she ran a final instrument check, then pivoted the vehicle on an invisible axis and drove it from the hangar. A nudge of the altitude switch sent them ten, twenty, thirty meters into the air above the lodge. A touch on the accelerator and they were rushing toward the beach.
Despite the warmth of the cabin heater, Flinx still felt cold as he gazed single-mindedly at the screen.
“I told you not to worry,” Lauren said with a glance at his expression as they crossed the shoreline. “We’ll catch them.”
“It’s not that.” Flinx peered out through the transparent cabin cover. “I was thinking about what might catch us.”
“I’ve yet to see the penestral that can pick out and catch an airborne target moving at our speed thirty meters up. An oboweir might do it, but there aren’t any oboweirs in Lake Patra. Leastwise, none that I’ve ever heard tell of.”
Nevertheless, Flinx’s attention and thoughts remained evenly divided between the horizon ahead and the potentially lethal waters below.
“I understand you’ve had some trouble here.”
Sal relaxed in the chair in the dining room and sipped at a hot cup of toma as he regarded his visitors. They had arrived in their own mudder, which immediately stamped them as independent as well as wealthy. If he played this right, he might convince them to spend a few days at the lodge. They had several expensive suites vacant, and if he could place this pair in one, it certainly wouldn’t do his record any harm. Usually, he could place an offworlder by accent, but not these two. Their words were clear but their phonemes amorphous. It puzzled him.
Routine had returned as soon as Lauren and her charity case had departed. No one had called from down south, not the district manager, not anyone. He was feeling very content. Unless, of course, the company had decided to send its own investigators instead of simply calling in a checkup. That thought made him frown at the woman.
“Say, are you two Company?”
“No,” the woman’s companion replied, smiling pleasantly. “Goodness no, nothing like that. We just like a little excitement, that’s all. If something unusual’s going on in the area, it kind of tickles our curiosity, if you know what I mean.”
“You had a man killed here, didn’t you?” the woman asked.
“Well, yes, it did get pretty lively here for a day.” No accounting for taste, Sal mused. “Someone was killed during a fight. A nonguest,” he hastened to add. “Right in here. Quite a melee.”
“Can you describe any of those involved?” she asked him.
“Not really. I’m not even positive which guests were involved and which day visitors. I didn’t witness the argument myself, you see, and by the time I arrived, most of the participants had left.”
The woman accepted this admission with a disappointed nod. “Was there a young man involved? Say, of about sixteen?”
“Yes, him I did see. Bright-red hair?”
“That’s the one,” she admitted.
“Say, is he dangerous or anything?” The assistant manager leaned forward in his chair, suddenly concerned.
“Why do you want to know?” the man asked.
“Well, my superior here, the regular manager—Lauren Walder. She went off with him.”
“Went off with him?” The pleasant expression that had dominated the woman’s face quickly vanished, to be replaced by something much harder.
“Yes. Three, maybe four days ago now. I’m still not completely sure why. She only told me that the young man had a problem and she was going to try to help him out.”
“Which way did their mudder go?” the man asked.
“North, across Lake Patra,” Sal informed them. “They’re not in a mudder, though. She took the lodge skimmer.”
“A skimmer!” The woman threw up her hands in frustration and sat down heavily in a chair opposite the assistant. “We’re losing ground,” she told her companion, “instead of gaining on him. If he catches up with them before we do, we could lose him and the …” Her companion cut the air with the edge of his hand, and her words trailed away to an indecipherable mumble. The gesture had been quick and partly concealed, but Sal had noticed it nonetheless.
“Now you’ve really got me worried,” he told the pair. “If Lauren’s in some kind of trouble—”
“She could be,” the man admitted, pleased that the assistant had changed the subject.
Sal thought a moment. “Would she be in danger from these people who had the fight here, or from the redhead?”
“Conceivably from both.” The man was only half lying. “You’d better tell us everything you know.”
“I already have,” Sal replied.
“You said they went north, across the lake. Can’t you be any more specific than that?”
Sal looked helpless. “Lauren wouldn’t be any more specific than that.”
“They might not continue heading north.”
&n
bsp; “No, they might not. Do you have a tracker for following other craft?” Sal asked.
The man shook his head. “We didn’t think we’d need one. The last we knew, the young man we’d like to talk with was traveling on stupava-back.”
“I think he arrived here in a mudder.”
The woman looked surprised and grinned ruefully at her companion. “No wonder we fell behind. Resourceful, isn’t he?”
“Too resourceful for my liking,” the man murmured, “and maybe for his own good if he backs those you-know-whos into a corner.”
The woman sighed, then rose from her chair. “Well, we’ve wasted enough time here. We’ll just have to return to Pranbeth for a skimmer and tracking unit. Unless you think we should try to catch up to them in the mudder.”
The man let out a short, humorless laugh, then turned back to the assistant manager. “Thanks, son. You’ve been helpful.”
“I wish I could be more so,” Sal told him anxiously. “If anything were to happen to Lauren—you’ll see that nothing happens to her, won’t you?”
“I promise you we’ll do our best,” the woman assured him. “We don’t want to see innocent bystanders hurt. We don’t even want to see noninnocents hurt.” She favored him with a maternal smile, which for some reason did nothing to make the nervous assistant feel any better about the situation.
11
The tracker hummed quietly, the single glowing dot showing clearly on its screen as the skimmer rushed northward. It was clipping the tops of the tallest trees, more than eighty meters above the bogs and muck that passed for the ground. They had crossed Lake Patra, then an intervening neck of dry land, then the much larger lake known as Tigranocerta and were once more cruising over the forest. A cold rain was falling, spattering off the skimmer’s acrylic canopy to form a constantly changing wet topography that obscured much of the view outside. The skimmer’s instruments kept its speed responsive, maintaining a predetermined distance between it and its quarry to the north.
Awfully quiet, Lauren Walder thought. He’s awfully quiet, and maybe something else.
“No, I’m not too young,” he said into the silence that filled the cabin, his tone softly defensive.
For Love of Mother-Not Page 15
