dissolved into a mess of blubbering good-byes. But, as Jib led the unit out the door on his way to the loading dock, Tesa turned back for a last look at
their suite. Jib had turned the living room's holo to the Black Hills. There
were two eagles flying there now. For once, the sight of them made her
smile . Clutching her new knife, Tesa followed Jib out, closing the door
behind her.
47
CHAPTER 4
The Singing Crane
Margaritka Tretiak handed Tesa a cold glass of fruit juice. "Tesa," she
signed in Grus, "wake up. Drink this."
"It's been barely an hour since we started the wake-up," Dr. Li Szu-yi
reminded Meg. The health specialist of the Singing Crane, the Terran space
station orbiting Trinity, was a plain, brown-skinned woman in her forties.
Reed-thin, she had short, dark hair, almond eyes, and a cool businesslike
manner. She peered into the young woman's eyes. "Besides, she probably
doesn't know a thing about the missing voders."
Meg felt disoriented herself. An early arrival meant both women were still in
hiber-sleep when the Norton had docked with the Crane.
"Neither of you have had enough time to get the hibernation drug out of your
systems," the doctor continued. Meg noticed that Szu-yi never looked
directly at Tesa when she spoke.
Tesa drank the juice down, holding the glass in both hands. Meg wanted
nothing more than to get off the station. The one-gee gravity made her feel
old when she wanted to feel buoyant. What she wouldn't admit was that
everything about the Crane reminded her of Scott. But before they could
leave,
48
she had to find out what in hell had happened to their voders. Tesa combed
fingers through her hair , rearranging two feathers she ' d tied there.
The crew were beginning to straggle in, stealing sideways glances at Meg,
acting like strangers. She should ' ve expected that . When she'd left she was in pain and grieving for Sco tt . She would have to reassu re them that she was okay and, most impo rt ant , that this young woman was
just the person they needed.
" I've talked to Captain Stepp , Meg," Lauren Nichols said. The crew ' s p ri ma ry computer tech and data analyst was round, Anglo, and thirty-five.
Meg always thought of her as "pert," with tight , brown curls framing a pretty face . " The Captain's shipping invoice," Lauren continued , "
ordered that container down - loaded onto the S . V. Holly du ri ng a regular cargo tr ansfer at space station Orion, while you and Tesa were hibe rn ating."
"That' s ri diculous ," Meg grumbled . " I logged the datacard onto the lading bill myself . What made them think those voders were supposed
to be delivered to the Holly?"
"Ask 'em to give us a copy of the bill, will you, honey?" Bruce Carpenter ' s soft drawl startled Meg . What surp ri sed her mo re was how much she'd missed him. He had loved Scott, too, even though they'd never
agreed on anything. Lanky, of medium height , Bruce's thinning red
hair seemed to have become sparser. She couldn ' t remember it being
so gray, either.
He hugged her, kissing her forehead. " I really missed you, ol girl," he
whispered.
"Who the hell you calling old?" She laughed. " Lot more snow on your head than when I left."
Moving to a chair , Bruce sat with arms crossed, stretching his legs out.
"If we had that bill ," he said to Lauren, "we might be able to find the error."
The technician turn ed to the infirma ry 's comm unit.
Bruce, Lauren , Meg, and Scott had been the core of the colonizing
team that had first discovered Trinity. The four of them had elected to
stay when their- company ship had leftMeg and Scott because they
believed that the Grus were intelligent, and Bruce and Lauren in spite of
their doubts. The four had always worked as a team, and after fifteen
years of space-hopping they were practically family.
" Lauren , call Peter in here , please ," Bruce requested. "Maybe he can get to the bottom of this."
49
"Right," Lauren answered, and turned back to the comm. "Does she know
anything about it?" Bruce asked in a low voice, indicating Tesa.
"I'll ask her," Meg said. She could see the young woman's confused
expression. Poor kid, she thought, I'd planned an organized briefing session, not this. She looks so lost. Meg remembered suddenly that Tesa's birthday
had passed while they were in deep-sleep. She was twenty now, and had
left her teens while asleep with no one but a stranger to even think of it.
"Tesa," Meg signed in Grus, "we can't find those new Mizari voders. Is there any chance they're in your luggage?" It was a long shot, but Meg was
desperate.
Meg could see Tesa thinking it through, fuzzily.
"Ask her again," the doctor said. "She didn't understand."
"She understands just fine, give her a chance," Meg answered curtly.
"The Mizari voders?" Tesa signed, finally. "They went in with our cargo. Did you check--"
Meg turned away from Tesa at the sound of a new voice. "I've got that lading
data from Captain Stepp, Meg," a black man said from the doorway. "Want to
give me your data-card so I can compare? By the way, it's sure good to have
you home again."
Peter Woedrango, the Crane's chief engineer , software specialist, and
ecologist, gave Meg one of his expansive smiles as he took her card. The
tall Senegalese man had his computer link in his ear and a pocket crowded
with computer pens. He was good-looking, with a shaggy mane of hair and
laughing eyes.
Tesa tapped Meg. "Can we go to Trinity now?"
Meg felt a stab of guilt. This is terrible. I turned away while she was in the middle of a sentence. I haven't introduced her to a soul. This voder thing has
me too rattled to think.
"Captain Stepp," Meg signed, "can't leave till we know what happened to the voders, and you and I can't go planetside until this is solved."
Tesa nodded , glancing self - consciously at the strangers. "She'll feel a lot better after dinner and a night's sleep," Dr. Li announced to the room.
"Szu-yi, please stop talking about Tesa in third person," Meg said quietly.
The doctor pressed her lips together.
50
"Sleep! " Tesa signed abruptly . " I've been doing nothing but sleep for the past month ! C an 't we go ? Please?"
Meg was surpri sed. "You understood her?"
Tesa smiled wry ly . " How hard is it to understand àno-go' when you
see one?"
" What was all that about ?" Bruce asked , interested. Befo re Meg could an swer , Peter interrupted . " Meg, both your data - card an d the lading bill tell Captain Stepp to transfer our voders to the Holly."
"Those things are halfway to Novaya Rossiya by now," said Lau re n , ruefully . " Maybe your brother can send them back, Meg."
"How could that happen?" Meg demanded . " It's impossible!"
Peter shook his head. " You could ' ve picked up an error while that card was accruing its approvals . Gove rn ment cards a re used over an d over . After you tr an sferred the data onto the lading bill , something happened , the data hiccuped or eroded somehow and old orders
came through instead ." He shook his head . " You know the gove rn ment . Penny - wise , pound foolish."
"What are we supposed to do without those new voders?" Meg fumed. " It took months to get them."
"We'll contact StarBri dge ," Lau re n assured her. "We'll get new ones ,
don't wor ry. I'll tell Captain Stepp she c an go." Meg w an ted to scream.
Tesa tapped her lightly again, distracting her. "The voders are gone ?"
she asked.
" Yes," Meg signed , and explained what had happened. Tesa frowned , then began rummaging around in her belt pouch.
"Forget the voders," Bruce suggested. " Let's start this meeting over . This young lady ' s gonna think she got dumped into a crowd of rude
techno-types. Nobody ' s even said hello." The gray - haired m an stepped forward , holding out his h an d.
Tesa hesitated, then took it as he said softly , " How do you do, my
darling ? I'm Bruce Carpenter , resident meteorologist an d
xenoichthyologist . Hope you'll enjoy working with us."
"Bruce," Lauren complained, rolling her eyes. "She's deaf! How much of that do you expect her to understand?"
"I'll bet she's a champeon lip- re ader ," Bruce said. He gave the Indian woman a conspiratori al smile , which Tesa retu rn ed.
51
"Got a nice firm handshake , too. You ' re gonna be all ri ght."
"I'd like to see anyone lip-read ` xenoichthyologist'! Hon estly, Bruce!"
Tesa return ed Bruce ' s greeting in Grus, but then her face clouded . " I said , ` Hello, good flight,'" she asked Meg, "should it have been , ` Hello, good fishing'?"
Meg nodded reassuringly as Bruce said, "Peter, come greet our new part
ner."
The tall black man stuck out his hand, smiling. "HOW ARE YOU, TESA?"
Peter shouted.
Embarrassed for him, Meg had a vivid memo ry of the hospital on
Shassiszss and the human attendant who kept hollering at her , though
she could hear nothing . Bruce murmured to the programmer.
Peter lowered his voice, but still overenunciated every syl lable. "I am Pe-
ter Woe-drang - o. How are you?"
Tesa turn ed to Meg. "Please , tell them I ' ve studied with you, that I sign G ru s well. I'd rather they sign than speak." Meg realized with a sta rt how little she'd told Tesa about the crew. She'd been so busy briefing
her on the project, the G ru s, the planet , she'd hardly mentioned the crew. Tell the truth , Margaritka . It made you think of Scott , so you avoided the subject . Meg hesitated before admitting , "They don't know how to sign G ru s ... Rob told me that you read lips , and that you spoke English and Miza ri. We all know English."
Peter asked Meg, " Can she read lips?"
"I read that even expert lip - readers can understand only twenty percent of what's said," Lauren told him, pushing back a stray curl. "You guys
are just confusing her. You might as well give up." B ru ce gave her an
offhanded glance.
The doctor shook her head. " Meg, what were you thinking of? This place
won't be ready for a StarB ri dge student for ten years! If then. We don ' t have time to baby-sit."
Meg started to respond hotly but Tesa began signing. "I'm not comfort able
speaking . After all the time they've been here, I thought they'd all sign Gru s."
" What ' d she say?" B ru ce asked.
Meg translated and the crew glanced uneasily at one another, except for Bru
ce. "Looks like you caught us on that one," he said , his brown , friendly eyes never leaving Tesa ' s face.
" Lea rn Grus ?" the doctor sno rt ed , glancing at Lauren. " That ' s what voders are for." Lauren nodded quick agreement.
52
"Tesa ," Meg said , signing at the same time , " they can get their Terran voders, or I can translate."
The younger woman was clearly unhappy. "Can't we just go to Trinity?" she
signed. Meg translated her signs to the crew . " It's been years since I've seen woods , or running water, or clouds. And I want to see the Grus.
Please."
"Ms. Sacajawea ' s in quite a rush , isn't she?" Lauren said cynically.
"Wonder how she'll feel when she's plastered with mud and feather dander
and reeks of fish. Those Grus won't seem so glamorous then , I'll bet."
"Lauren!" Bruce snapped. " Be quiet!"
"Oh, Meg," Dr. Li said quickly, "don't translate that!"
"Why should I be quiet?" Lauren asked Bruce, her fair cheeks flushing at
his rep ri mand . " She's not a telepath!"
Tesa's face clouded with sudden anger. Meg felt confused, unsure of what
was happening, as Tesa stood tall and approached the sho rt
technician, showing her something cupped in her hand. Lauren blushed
furiously. Then Tesa showed it to the others.
It was a Mizari voder , the one Tesa had had on StarB ri dge. She'd
stopped using it early in the voyage when she'd developed a good
base in Grus vocabula ry . Meg had totally forgotten that she'd had it . It must have been in her pouch . Meg remembered how effective the
"save and recall " feature was.
Tesa was showing everyone the "Sacajawea" speech, preserved for
posterity. Lauren squirmed uncomfortably.
"Do you know who this was?" Tesa signed to the computer tech . She
indicated Sacajawea ' s name, trusting Meg to translate.
Lauren shook her head.
"She was a Shoshone," Bruce said . " She helped guide the Lewis an d Clark Exploration in the 1800s . She was their translator , right?"
Tesa read his words , nodding. "Yes, but because she was, herself ,
one of the people, she was more than a translator. She was an
interrelator." The Grus signs Tesa used actually mean t "the one who teaches us to fish together"-an eleg an t choice, Meg thought . " Did you know that ` Sacajawea ' means `bird wom an '?"
" I didn ' t know that," Bruce admi tt ed.
"But later," Tesa continued , " she was called ` the wom an who b ro ught barbari an s to our count ry.'" She tu rn ed back to
53
Lauren. "Let's shake hands, before mine smell like fish, and be friends. I'm
Tesa." She held out her hand to the tech, giving her a tight smile. Lauren
took the proffered hand gingerly.
"Be a sport, Lauren, she caught you fair," Peter said. Tesa gave Bruce a
warmer smile, "You'd be surprised at what àchampion' lip-reader can pick
up." Tesa turned to the doctor, "I'm deaf. I'm not a baby, and I'm not stupid. I won't fill the void Scott Hedford left behind, but I'll work hard."
Dr. Li looked at Tesa with that tight, enigmatic expression that exasperated
Meg so much.
Meg examined Tesa's voder. "You don't know how happy I am to see that
thing."
Just then, Dr. Li said in a low tone, "Meg, you should take this young woman
planetside before ... her enthusiasm for landfall gives us cabin fever.
Besides, you don't want to miss sunset your first day back."
Tesa grabbed Meg in a hug, nearly knocking her over. "We'll bring the new
equipment tomorrow, Meg," Peter said.
"I'll call up a flight pattern," Lauren offered.
"I'd better go check the weather," Bruce said. He waved at Tesa and got a
smile in return. "See you tomorrow." Meg and Tesa moved to leave the
infirmary. As they passed
Lauren, the tech smiled and said plainly, "Have fun, Tesa."
" Our stuff ' s in the hall," Meg signed to her companion. "You'll meet Thorn planetside." She watched as Tesa sorted through unloaded
equipment for her belongings. Hope that meeting goes better than this one
did! Meg thought.
Thorn Albaugh watched the shuttle, the Patuxent, soft-land silently on the
hillock ' s small pad. He touched the sound nullifiers nestled in his ears.
They neutralized all noise on Trinity, even the landing of a space shuttle.
Well, Meg, he thought, you still pilot better
than anyone except ... Scott.
Thorn had just talked with the Crane, and Bruce had given him an earful
about their new "interrelator ." The weatherman had sounded totally smitten with the new crew member and had even made some remark
regarding Thorn's height, or lack of it . At five feet six , as they still measured it in rural Wisconsin, Thorn was a bit shorter than Bruce . With blond, curly hair, a t ri m, dark beard , and blue eyes surrounded by
laugh lines, Thorn thought of himself as a man who was comfo rt able in
his
54
surroundings , wherever they might be. He supposed that an a tt ractive young wom an could have a powerful effect on an older m an like
Bruce , but at twenty - eight, Thorn didn ' t expect to be easily impressed.
As he reached the pad, the Patuxent ' s door unsealed. A stiff b re eze blew up as Meg emerged . Thorn was pleased by her appear an ce - she looked good , even vibrant, but that was Trini ty , Thorn knew . She loved this place as much as if she'd been bo rn here . And, of course, the last time he'd seen her ...
He frowned, remembe ri ng that he ' d have to b ri ef Meg on eve ry thing that had occur re d while she was gone . There'd been increased Aquila attacks on the far weste rn flocks . But the bad news can wait , he decided.
Meg gri nned at him, then tu rn ed back to the interior of the ship.
Reaching in, she gave a h an d to the hidden occupant, steadying her
as she adjusted to the ch an ge in gravity.
The new crew member emerged ... and kept on emerging. Thorn was
startled to realize how tall she was.
A vagran t breeze blew her dark , wavy hair around her face; she
brushed it away , inhaled a lungful of air , an d looked around . " I do feel buoyan t! " she signed to Meg . Thorn was surp ri sed at her e as e with the l an guage . He'd been struggling with it for two years , and while he could re adily interpret what was said to him, he always felt like a klutz
while signing.
Then the newcomer' s eyes met his, and suddenly Thorn understood
Bruce ' s teasing . She smiled shyly , and he realized that he'd been caught gaping like an adolescent.
"This is our other biologist, Thorn," Meg signed to the young woman. " The Grus call him ..." She made a namesign that meant " relaxed ," and Tesa laughed . Meg tu rn ed to Thorn . " This is Tesa , fr om StarB ri dge."
He signed a greeting in Grus, but it came out, "The fish are happy to see
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