Silent Dances

by A. C. Crispin

  eat him, Good Eyes?"

  Thorn hovered over the terminal screen, using one of Peter's computer pens

  to manipulate the data. This was like playing one of those old computer

  games--only in this game there were no points, and you could actually win.

  Or lose, he thought grimly. He'd already lost, hadn't he? A good researcher

  in Scott, a good friend in Peter, and ...

  Don't get mad, he reminded himself, get even. Peter's program had been damned hard to install-especially since Thorn kept hearing his friend's voice

  saying, "Don't worry, I'll talk you through it." But it was working fine, now.

  Thorn had been able to pick up numerous communications from the ship

  since he'd installed the program. He'd traced the privateers to their favorite

  stopping places; he knew their travel routes. Since the Crane crew had

  come down to Trinity, they had moved in ever-tightening circles toward the

  camp. That's fine, Thorn thought, step into my parlor.

  The privateers liked the old-growth forests, especially the area near where

  Tesa had been killed. Thorn was interested in that place himself, and didn't

  believe it was only coincidence that had drawn all of them to that one spot.

  He'd been watching an Aquila nest there months ago, when his computer

  had told him that Tesa's Mizari voder had also found Scott ' s old camera

  and that she was watching the nest,

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  too--observ ing it almost daily . That had stopped Thorn from dumping

  the camera ' s memories into his files to study at his leisure . He couldn

  ' t ri sk having Tesa discover his real mission on T ri nity ; it would only hamper him and put her in needless danger.

  That was what he' d believed then . Now, he could only curse himself for that decision . I f he'd confided in her , he could've told her about the p ri vateers' activity in that area , he could've wa rn ed her to stay away from there ...

  Thorn sighed, and ran a hand through his hair , unable to force his mind

  away from those events. When the nest he'd been obse rv ing had been

  destroyed by lightning in a storm, Scott ' s last good camera had been

  blasted also. When Thorn went to investigate , he'd collected the

  fragments so they wouldn ' t foul T ri nity . He'd felt bad about the nest, and had wondered what had happened to the chick, but he never did

  find any connection between the Aquila and the p ri vateers. He was

  wonde ri ng what Tesa might have learned when he'd found her quilt ...

  A data- line flashed on the screen . Well, look at that, Thorn thought.

  They are getting overconfident. That ' s the fourth time they've settled for the night at those coordinates. Since the Crane crew had moved into the shelter, communications between the p ri vateers and their contact were

  brief , with f re quent disagreements.

  They sure like that spot, Thorn thought . Maybe it's time for me to invite

  myself for dinner. They had to be doing something import ant the re, the way they kept going back . He had to be su re before he left camp , though . Bruce was watching him like a hawk.

  Heari ng a soft footfall , he glanced up to see the meteorologist

  watching him. Without changing his expression , Thorn saved his file

  and blanked his screen.

  "Why do you do that eve ry time I show up ?" Bruce asked, by way of greeting.

  "Do you like people reading your mail over your shoulder?"

  Bruce' s mouth twisted into his mocking , lopsided smile. "You w ri te a lot of letters , but you never send any of them out."

  Thorn blushed. " That ' s none of your damned business."

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  Bruce shrugged. "Where'd you go today, and why didn't you take Lauren, as

  you were supposed to?"

  "She didn't feel well," Thorn said.

  "The rules," Bruce said tersely, "are, two go out or no one goes out. I could get the idea you're trying to defy me."

  "You could also kiss my ass," Thorn said quietly, his face

  flaming . He rose slowly. He was tired of this whole setup. He and Meg were

  practically prisoners in their own workplace. "I don't work for you, Uncle Brucie. Stay away from me."

  "You're playing something funny here," Bruce said with a taunting grin, "and I'm going to find out what it is. You use people. You used Lauren, then

  dumped her." He stepped forward so that he and Thorn were standing toe

  to toe. "Then, somehow, you suckered Peter into doing your dirty work--

  which got him killed. And I'm going to get you for that ..."

  Thorn drew his fist back and unleashed it fast, closing Bruce 's mouth with a

  snap . The weatherman hit the floor, but was up in a second, swinging .

  Thorn was ready and blocked the punch. But Bruce caught him with the

  next one smartly across the chin, and Thorn fell over his computer bench,

  sending equipment flying.

  Reaching down, Bruce grabbed Thorn roughly by the shirt, hauling him

  erect. The blond biologist brought his knee up into Bruce's stomach. The

  older man exhaled in a whoosh, but he still did not release Thorn's shirt. He

  chopped Bruce hard on the neck where he knew it would hurt.

  Bruce lashed out wildly, hitting Thorn in the ear with a cupped palm, making

  the shorter man's ears ring. The meteorologist's next blow caught Thorn full

  in the chest. The biologist slugged back, and they caromed across the

  computer furniture, fighting wildly, swinging, punching, kicking. They

  crashed over chairs, fell across a table.

  Suddenly hands were on them, pulling them apart. Thorn heard shouts.

  Then Lauren was screaming at them as Dr. Li hung on to Bruce and Meg

  clung to Thorn's arm.

  "What are you doing?" she shrieked. "Have you gone nuts?" Embarrassed, Thorn looked down. He hated losing his temper.

  "You two make me sick," Lauren whispered in a low, dangerous voice.

  "We're the only ones left, and you want to kill each other! I'll call your families. I'm getting good at it."

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  She stared at Thorn, wild-eyed . "'Mrs. Albaugh , your son died p ro ving a point today . No, we don ' t know what point, and we probably wouldn ' t get it if we did."' She tu rn ed around to Bruce . "'Mrs. Carpenter , Bruce died protecting someone ' s honor . No, it wasn ' t necessa ry, she really didn't have any...'"

  The computer tech dissolved into wrenching sobs. Bruce tried to console her

  with a hug, but she slapped at him wildly. "Get away from me, just get away!"

  " I'm sor ry, li'l darlin'," the weatherman murmured softly. "Come on , don't c ry ." He took her in his arms and they walked away, Bruce

  speaking softly and Lauren weeping.

  " I'll check him over in the mo rn ing ," Dr. Li mumbled. "You didn ' t hit him over the head, did you?"

  " No," Thorn said.

  "Like I always say," Szu- yi told Meg . " Two men in one work station is one man too m an y."

  Meg looked as though she couldn' t ag re e more.

  Thorn looked at the older woman apologetically. " You were ri ght . This was a bad idea ." He walked over to his bed an d fell into it . Dr. Li could check him in the mo rn ing as well.

  Tesa packed the last of the pemmican into the bags she'd made f ro m

  the bladder and stomach of the Tree Ripper. There'd been a wealth of

  blue winter ber ri es along the shrubs, and she'd spent days d ry ing the Ripper ' s meat, or pounding it with fat an d ber ri es into energy-packed pemmican.

  Thunder had taken her first flight the day after they' d killed the Ripper . She began hunting , sha ri ng her catches with Tesa and Sailor , and these cont ri
butions freed Tesa to p re pare for their re tu rn .

  At first, Tesa had considered leaving the Ripper where he lay, because

  she had no way of knowing whether the c re ature was intelligent . As

  far as Sailor knew , no one spoke to the solita ry predators . But it pained Tesa to see the magnificent being dete ri orate wastefully . So, finally , she offe re d prayers to his spi ri t , thanking him for his meat an d his pelt, and asked to share his courage an d st re ngth . She made a fi re and offered some liver , kidney , and hea rt to the Wak an Tanka of T

  ri nity, and fed the rest to Thunder.

  Labori ously she skinned the animal and tanned the pelt, leaving the

  head intact an d placing two shiny green stones

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  in the eye sockets . She also left the forepaws , but the pelt was so

  huge , she halved it across the width and tu rn ed the bo tt om half into leggings and a leather dress. It had taken two weeks of hard work , but

  while she'd scraped the massive hide , then rubbed it soft with brains

  and fat , Tesa was also pl an ning.

  It's nice to be warm again, she thought as she wrapped the red an d white furred robe around her , settling the massive skull on top of her head .

  She'd smoked the dress to make it glove soft, and the leggings, with

  the hair left on , were snug and cozy . Only her StarB ri dge shoes had su rv ived these eight weeks--but they were nearly indestructible.

  She studied Thunder, who was perched at the edge of the sho re. It

  would be years before the avi an would get the distinctive color of her

  people, but already , the spines of her feathers were glistening bronze.

  Thunder was busy picking at the Ripper claw that Tesa had strung on a

  thong of skin an d hung around her neck . The avian had needed a

  talisman to prove to her people that she had indeed helped kill a

  Ripper. Until she'd made a significant kill, she'd told them , nothing she

  said would be taken se ri ously.

  In spite of the uncert ainty she faced on their retu rn , Tesa felt good

  about the future . She had followed her d re ams. Tesa glanced at the

  packed sled and wondered if it could

  still get off the ground loaded as it was. Sailor and Thunder were both

  watching her expectantly. She le an ed back against the outside wall of

  the cave, taking one last look at the beautiful caldera . Suddenly she

  jumped as something sharp an d bu rn ing pierced the flesh of her arm .

  She slapped at herself and shook her arm until something small fell out

  of the folds of her robe. It was an insect from the ground hive she'd

  raided weeks ago. Moving slowly in the cold, it must've crawled up the

  wall and under the skin , stinging her on the upper arm.

  Tesa stared at it, incredulous. No human had ever been stung on Trinity .

  When she'd invaded the hive, the hapless creatures had swarmed her,

  but were unwilling to deal with such alien chemist ry. Had this one been

  elected to give its life to deliver a final chastisement to the un - Worldly

  thief ? Her arm bu rn ed fu ri ously . Tesa shrugged off the robe and grabbed a handful of powde ry snow , then packed it around the re d welt that marked the sensitive spot . What did this me an ? That she

  belonged to T ri nity , or that she'd stayed too long?

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  Her optimism dimmed.

  Sailor and Thunder peere d at her. She rubbed off the snow as the pain

  ebbed and redonned her robe . Time to go.

  Tesa hovered on the sled as Sailor took his running start , and Thunder

  launched herself up. Circling the c ry stalline lake, they cleared the rim

  of the caldera , heading east.

  Tesa chewed on a piece of jerky and worried about Sailor. What was taking

  him so long? Looking straight up, she checked on Thunder, who was still

  perched on a high limb overhead.

  They' d stopped on the shore of Black Feather ' s ri ver, by the edge of the fo re st . They were ti re d , and they needed information . It was harder now to talk to the Travellers since none of them would get within

  capture distance of the Aquila. Tesa and Thunder had to camp while

  Sailor followed the river, information gathe ri ng . Today was taking longer than usual, but Tesa supposed she should expect that . The

  closer they got to home , the more they needed to know.

  Tesa fidgeted, wonde ri ng where her gold and white child could be ,

  when suddenly she spo tt ed him weaving his way along the ri ver , looking rushed . Thunder dropped down beside her.

  "Things aren't ri ght here , Good Eyes ," Sailor signed. "I've followed the water for miles and there were no Travellers and the Blue Cloud people

  who'd been here are gone . So I went into the fo re st , but it ' s dese rt ed , food ri pe and uneaten, small nests and burrows abandoned . I found no one who could tell me anything.

  "Trees have been destroyed," Sailor continued , "re cently."

  " By lightning ?" Tesa asked.

  "Or something else," he answered grimly. He tu rn ed to Thunder . " I couldn ' t find any of the high nests of your people."

  " How far does this èmpty' area extend ?" Tesa asked.

  "I couldn' t find the end of it ," he signed . " I don't like it here , Good Eyes."

  Sailor' s edginess was quickly transmitted to Thunder, who began

  glancing a ro und ne rv ously . " I can circle the area from high," she suggested. "Perhaps I can see where it ends."

  "No," Tesa signed, " you'd be too easy to spot ." The p ri vateers could have been terro ri zing the Aquila , but she'd have

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  thought the other animals would return in a day or two-unless, the privateers

  were now using this area as a base of operations. She couldn't risk

  stumbling onto the c ri minals if they were camped somewhere in this wood, but neither did she feel safe taking to the air.

  Tesa pulled out her voder. She'd been afraid to turn it on since they'd left the

  caldera. Perhaps she could watch for transmissions, without asking for a

  coordinates check. They hadn't noticed her until she'd done that. It was a

  risk. She bit her lip, turned the voder on, and began scanning.

  When she didn't pick up anything, she couldn't decide whether to be relieved

  or not. Tesa wanted to go, but knew they should stay. They were too tired to

  travel anymore tonight.

  "The humans who killed your father might be in this area, Thunder," Tesa

  signed. "We'll have to keep watch for them. This device might hear them

  communicating with others, so we'll have to take turns watching it through

  the night. If the pattern changes in any way, wake me immediately. We'll

  have to leave here quickly, in the dark."

  The two youngsters looked at her gravely. None of them wanted to run into

  that terrible killing machine. Sailor said he'd watch the voder first, so she

  tied it to his back where he could keep an eye on it. Finding a spot in the

  river, he pulled up one leg and rested. Thunder selected a high perch.

  Tesa decided the rust-colored ground cover made a perfect resting place for

  someone covered by a red and white Ripper skin. Pulling her robe over her,

  she determined to get as much sleep as she could until it was her watch.

  Thorn's earpiece beeped, and he was instantly awake and alert. He couldn't

  afford grogginess these days, living alone in the wilderness. He peered at

  his Mizari voder, realizing that someone was transmitting now in the late

  afternoon. He'd taken to dozing during the day, since he had
to move around

  so much at night. That's when the privateers pulled off information from the

  robot probes. That's when he could trace them.

  Of course, Bruce hadn't stopped looking for him either. The meteorologist

  had to have been furious when Thorn had slipped out at night over a week

  ago. Since then, the blond biologist was forever being roused by Bruce's

  attempts to communicate with him, his endless demands that Thorn return,

  confess his

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  complicity in the c ri mes against T ri nity and Earth, blah, blah, blah. He had wonde re d whether B ru ce would come after him, but the

  weatherman ' s messages insisted it wouldn ' t be safe to leave "the women" alone.

  Thorn could just imagine Meg's and Szu- yi's response to that.

  The biologist figured that Bru ce was hoping his pa rt ners, the p ri

  vateers, would find Thorn and kill him . Then B ru ce could claim they we re just eliminating one more competitor for their wealth . After all , as soon as he'd left camp , someone had transmi tt ed a warning to the c ri minals . Since then , the p ri vateers had been cautious.

  All the more reason why he needed to move quickly now. Thorn scanned the

  data, brow furrowed. Someone had opened a telecommunications line,

  but wasn ' t sending an y messages, as though they were just waiting

  for something to come in. Could their contact person be late?

  Keeping an eye on his voder , he rolled up his sleeping bag and packed

  it on his sled . The receiver was by Black Feather's ri ver , an area the p ri vateers preferred. Maybe one of them was reconnoite ri ng . It was

  damned peculiar.

  He checked the coordinates. According to his readout, the receiver was

  actually located in the ri ver. Did that me an another glitch in the program ? Well, he wouldn ' t know unless he checked it out. Thorn

  hopped on his sled and took off.

  It was dark by the time Thorn traced down the transmitter. The red dwarf star

  the Gru s called the Mother Sun was high in the sky, an incredibly b ri

  ght star . Of the th re e moons, only the Child was full, and it didn ' t throw much light.

  Thorn piloted the sled manually, keeping it as low to the ground as he could.

  He stayed in the shadows of the trees, overlooking the ri ver, but he

  couldn ' t see anything yet. Suddenly the coordinates on his voder