The Mystery of Ireta

by Anne McCaffrey

  “Oh, do be quiet, Aulia,” said Lunzie. “Go on with you, Bonnard, see if we have a clear passage for the shuttle. I’ll be glad to put a lot of distance between myself and the heavy-worlders as anyone else in this shuttle.” She handed him a night mask and gave him a reassuring and approving grin.

  “Portegin, would you check the control panel’s circuitry?” asked Kai. “Varian, let Lunzie see to that arm now we’ve a spare moment.”

  “If after that, Lunzie gets a crack at your hand, Leader Kai.”

  “No ‘ifs’ about it. I do you first, him next,” said Lunzie and reached for her belt pouch. “At least they left me something to work with.”

  “Why bother patching any of us?” demanded Aulia, sinking to the deck, head in her arms. “We can’t last long on this planet. Paskutti was right about that. And they’ve got everything we need!”

  “Not everything. They left us the synthesizer,” said Varian with a snort. “Couldn’t take that, built into the shuttle as it is.”

  “There’s no power to run it. You heard Tanegli.”

  “Bonnard hid the sleds’ packs. They’ll do for the synthesizer.”

  “That’s only delaying the inevitable,” cried Aulia. “We’ll all die once the packs are drained. There’s no way to recharge them.”

  “Kai got a message out to the Theks,” said Varian, hoping to forestall Aulia’s imminent hysterics.

  “The Theks!” Aulia burst out laughing, a shrill, mirthless sound. Portegin came striding out of the pilot’s cabin and slapped her smartly across the face.

  “That’s enough of that, you silly girl. You always do give up too easily.”

  “She has brought up a few harsh truths,” said Margit in a weary voice. “Once the synthesizer is useless, we’re as good as . . .”

  “We can always sleep it,” said Kai.

  “I didn’t realize that this shuttle had cryogenics,” said Margit, but hope brightened her expression.

  “This may be a small expedition, but it has all the basics. Or had,” replied Kai and, finding the proper space between the bulkheads, pressed the release and showed them the hidden recess with the cryogenic supplies.

  “But if Portegin could fix the comunit, we wouldn’t have to cold sleep,” said Aulia, her face also showing relief, “we could just beam EV—”

  “No, and I might as well tell you right now,” said Portegin, his expression grim, “I can’t fix that panel. Not without the spare parts, which they’ve removed.”

  “I knew it,” said Aulia, beginning to weep in the silence that followed Portegin’s announcement.

  “You know nothing,” said Portegin sharply, “so shut up.”

  “Sleep is what we all need, right now. Regular sleep,” said Lunzie, sparing Kai a significant glance.

  Once Discipline had worn off, the four of them would need a full day’s rest before they could recover from the necessary abuse of their systems. With Aulia in such a state and the others certain to react in one way or another to the shock of their experiences, their escape from the heavy-worlders would be meaningless if Kai and Varian could not maintain control.

  “Sleep?” demanded Margit. “Under what’s up there?” She pointed to the ceiling of the shuttle and shuddered.

  “Look at it this way, Margit,” said Dimenon, “we’re beautifully secure. Even heavy-worlders will have to sweat to clean that . . . how should I phrase it—carrion? debris—away.”

  “No, Dimenon. We’re not staying here,” said Kai. “Our escape is best made now, under cover of the dark, so that when the heavy-worlders return, as I’m sure they will, they will presume that the entire shuttle is still here, buried under the stampede.”

  “The carrion-eaters of Ireta work swiftly,” Varian said, perspiration beading her face as Lunzie continued her repairs on the broken shoulder. “But they’ve enough out there for days . . .”

  Someone retched.

  “Which gives us a certain leeway before they discover the shuttle is gone. If we move tonight.”

  “Where do you suggest we move to?” asked Portegin in a dry tone.

  “That’s no problem,” said Dimenon with a snort. “We’ve a whole bloody planet.”

  “Not really,” said Kai. “And they want this shuttle. They need it—if only for the synthesizer and the main power unit. Once they’ve found it’s gone, they’re going to look for it. And look hard. They’ve tracers on the sleds, and while they don’t have the power packs,” here he favored Bonnard with an admiring grin, “they’re strong enough to dismantle the units and use ’em while they belt-lift. And find us.”

  “Not if we’re well hidden,” said Varian, emphasizing the “well” in a voice that held a ripple of amusement. “No heavy-worlder would think of it. And there’d be a lot of other life-form readings to confuse them.”

  Kai regarded Varian, his mind rushing through the possible locations, unable to guess what she had thought of, although Varian looked at him as if he ought to know.

  “Our rest day was a rehearsal, too, though we couldn’t know it at the time.”

  “The giffs?”

  “Yes, that cave where I found the dead egg. It was enormous inside, and dry. Why it was abandoned, I can’t figure. But it should do us.”

  Kai wanted to grab her in his arms, kiss and hug her for that suggestion, but it was neither the time nor the place.

  “That’s exactly the right place, Varian. We’d even register the same as the adult giffs. And the kids as juveniles! Varian, that’s . . . that’s . . .”

  “The best idea we’ve heard all day,” said Lunzie finishing when words failed Kai. There was as much relief in her voice as in Kai’s. Varian beamed at the reception of her solution.

  “Fine. We’ll hole up there . . .” and he ducked as Lunzie swung at him for his pun, “get a good night’s sleep and then do some heavy evaluation. I did, and don’t forget this, my friends, get that message off to the Theks . . .” He held up his hand as Aulia opened her mouth to renew her arguments to aid from that source, “and as one of them is an old friend of my family on ARCT-10, I think I can promise that the message will not be ignored.”

  Aulia may not have been convinced, but Kai saw that others were willing to rest some confidence in that fact.

  “Where has Bonnard got to?” asked Varian, shuddering as Lunzie finished her manipulation on her shoulder. “He ought to have been long back.”

  “I’ll go,” said Triv and was out of the lock before either leader could protest.

  “Now, Leader Kai,” said Lunzie, indicating it was his turn at her hands.

  “Margit, would you break out some peppers for us all?” said Kai, surrendering his broken wrist to Lunzie and diverting his thoughts. “I don’t think they got what was in the locker in the pilot’s compartment.”

  “A pepper?” Margit moved with alacrity to the forward compartment, Aulia right behind her. “That’s the second best idea I’ve heard today. Pray Krim they didn’t get the peppers! Ah, the locker’s untouched! Leave off, Aulia, pass them out to the others, first!” Her voice had turned hard.

  “You know, this is the first time I’ve ever seen leaders required to use Discipline,” said Dimenon, cracking the seal on the can Aulia had handed him. She was drinking hers as she passed others the restoratives. “I’m aware that a leader has to have the Training to lead, but I’d never seen it working. I couldn’t figure out what had got into you, Varian, when you let them beat admissions out of you.”

  “I had to play the coward,” said Varian, taking a long swig at her pepper. “Dead Disciples are no use to anyone. I’d guessed that Bonnard would be smart enough to hide. I do wish he’d get back now, though.”

  They all heard the noises at the lock. Kai slipped his half-sealed wrist from Lunzie’s grasp and moved quickly to the lock, good hand poised in a clenched fist. Portegin and Dimenon joined him, their bare hands cocked back.

  “I found him,” Triv said, poking his head through the half-opened iris. “He�
�d been stacking all the power packs at the edge of . . . the dead beasts. He’s gone for the others now.” He handed three power packs through the lock to Portegin. “He says the heavy-worlders have started a fire on the ridge beyond us. We’ll be able to slide the shuttle to our left, up the hill and they shouldn’t see us. Dead and dying herbivores are hill-high in the compound. It’s going to take some time before they realize neither we nor the shuttle are buried here.”

  “Good,” said Kai and motioned Triv to return to help Bonnard. “We can be gone without a trace left for them to follow or find, bless this ceramic hull.”

  Once the resourceful boy and Triv had swung the power packs safely into the shuttle, they closed the lock. Kai and Varian took Bonnard into the pilot’s compartment where he could diagram the shuttle’s position, and the clearest way up the hill.

  Paskutti’s fist had wrecked the outside view screens as well as the communication unit so maneuvers would be blind. Not, Varian pointed out, that they could have seen all that much even with night masks, and they couldn’t, under the circumstances, use the shuttle’s exterior spotbeams. Both Kai and Varian could recall the coordinates for the inland sea without the tapes now spread across the compound’s littered floor.

  Triv and Dimenon synthesized enough padding to cushion the wounded on the bare plastic deck, and had set Margit and Aulia to clear up the worst of the spillage in Trizein’s laboratory. He was unconscious again, the strain having been excessive for a man of his years. Lunzie thought he might have suffered a heart seizure as a result of the brutal treatment.

  Maneuvering on the bare minimum of power, Kai and Varian, each with one good hand, eased the shuttle out from under its burden of hadrasaur corpses, up the hill and onto a course for the inland sea.

  During the trip, Lunzie synthesized a hypersaturated tonic to reduce the effects of delayed shock and made certain every single person took their dose, either as a drink or a spray. With Triv and Dimenon’s assistance, Portegin began to raid all unnecessary circuits to see if he could jerry-rig even an outgoing signal.

  When they reached the inland sea, Kai hovered the shuttle while Varian, the lock iris partly open, shouted verbal instructions to the terrace they had happily occupied that rest day, which seemed so long ago. When the lock was a half-meter above the terrace, Varian and Triv jumped down. They would have to guide the shuttle into the cage, feeding Kai directions over their wrist comunits. Since the heavy-worlders were sure of their deaths in the dome, it was unlikely any of them would be listening on their own units.

  The mouth of the cave was not large enough to accept the central bulge of the shuttle, but, by steadily pressing in against the rock, they forced a way through, ignoring the score marks on the ceramic skin of the shuttle.

  Varian, standing in the darkness of the terrace, couldn’t understand why the grating noise and vibration hadn’t aroused the entire population of the cliff, but no crested head emerged to investigate.

  Triv lowered Varian down to the cave by belt-line. Then, having secured one end on a rocky spur on the terrace, he joined her. The shuttle was far enough inside the cave not to be immediately visible. But Triv and Varian gathered up masses of dried vegetation and threw them in camouflage over the stern of the shuttle. Dimenon, Margit and Portegin came out to help, spattering the top and sides with moistened cave dung.

  It didn’t take long, but everyone was relieved to be inside the shuttle, with the iris closed behind them. Then the others settled themselves with what comfort they could find.

  “You are going to rest, aren’t you, Lunzie,” asked Kai, hunkering down by her as she tended Trizein.

  She gave a snort. “I’ll have no option as soon as Discipline releases. But Trizein should be all right. It’s natural for his system to seek repair in rest. And there won’t be anything to disturb him. How’re you?” she asked bluntly, glancing at his sealed wrist and then more intently at his eyes.

  “I’m still under Discipline, but not for much longer.”

  She filled her spray gun. “I’ll give everyone else slightly more sedation than necessary. That’ll give us a chance for enough rest.”

  She moved about the cabin then, administering the spray.

  Varian tapped Kai on the shoulder.

  “We’ve accommodation forward, Kai.”

  He glanced round the recumbent forms and then followed her, gratefully lowering himself to the padding on the deck. Thin but thermal-lined sheets had been fashioned and ought, he thought, to suffice. The ship would keep the interior temperature at a comfortable level for sleepers. Lunzie and Triv joined them and settled down, too.

  “It could be worse, Kai,” said the physician, as if she read his thoughts as he stared down the bare cabin at the other sleepers. “We only lost Gaber, and that fool asked for it with his tardy heroics.”

  “Terilla and Cleiti?” asked Varian.

  “Were mauled about, but no more. Worse for the psyche than the body. One doesn’t wish that sort of treatment for anyone . . .” Lunzie grimaced.

  “I’m more concerned about their reaction toward Kai and me when we seemed not to defend or protect them . . .”

  Lunzie smiled. “They understand that. I know Cleiti’s parents are Disciples, and I suspect Terilla’s mother is. What they can’t understand is the heavy-worlders’ metamorphosis into brutal, cruel temperaments.” Lunzie sighed. “All in all, I think we comported ourselves rather well, considering the odds against us and the unexpectedness of that mutiny.”

  Suddenly her body sagged and she sighed again with relief.

  “I’m off,” she said, fumbling with shaking hands for the sedative gun. “Are you two ready for it?”

  “Leave it,” said Kai. “We can do ourselves.”

  Triv offered his arm to the physician. “I’m off it, too, Lunzie.” The release of Discipline was obvious in the gray that seeped into his complexion. He was nearly asleep before Lunzie had fully administered the drug. “I’ll wake first,” he mumbled, and his head dropped to one side.

  Lunzie snorted as she turned the spray on herself. “Not if I beat you to it, my friend. That’s the marvel of Discipline, or is it the bane, working even when you don’t want it to.” She exhaled raggedly and closed her eyes. “You’ve done well, leaders! You can rest easy on that score. Never met a . . . bet . . . ter . . .”

  Varian chuckled. “You might know Lunzie would leave a compliment unfinished.” She kept her voice low, though not even a repeat stampede would have wakened the physician or the other sleepers. “Kai? Will Tor respond?”

  “He’s more likely to than any other Thek.”

  “When?”

  Discipline must be leaving her, Kai thought, hearing the anxiety in her roughened voice. He took her good hand in his and carried it to his lips. She smiled, despite her worry, at the caress.

  “I’d say it will be a week before he could possibly arrive. I think we can hold them together that long, don’t you?”

  “After today, yes, I think we can. But Kai, they don’t know we’ve no contact with EV. Thek help is grand but pretty poor consolation because it’s debatable.”

  “I know. It is, however, contact.” He felt Discipline leaving him, felt the massive fatigue, like an intolerable weight, press down on his abused body. Muhlah, but he’d be almighty stiff when he woke.

  “Are you released, Kai? You look it.”

  He laughed softly, noting the drain of color from her face. He lifted the spray gun.

  “Wait.” She raised herself on her good elbow and kissed him on the lips, a gentle kiss but nonetheless an accolade. “I don’t want to fall asleep kissing you.”

  “I appreciate that consideration,” he said. And gave her a quick, affectionate kiss, pressing the spray against her arm, and then his own. He arranged his limbs and just had time to curl his fingers about hers before sleep overtook him.

  12

  KAI was not the only stiff one when they finally woke. And Lunzie had roused before Triv, which put he
r in a good mood. Trizein was improving, she told the leaders as she handed them each beakers of a steaming nutritious broth. Her own special recipe, she said, guaranteed to circulate blood through abused muscles and restore tissue to normal.

  “You’ll need to be limber. We’ve got to have more for the synthesizer to masticate or I won’t have enough of my brew to revive the others.”

  Kai sipped carefully of the hot liquid. Lunzie had not misrepresented its effectiveness. As the warmth descended to his stomach, he could almost feel the loosening of his stiff muscles. He did have to apply slight Disciplinary controls to reduce the ache in his wrist.

  “How long did we sleep?”

  “I’d say we made it around the chrono and half again,” Lunzie said, glancing at her wrist bracelet.

  “I know we didn’t sleep a mere twelve hours or I’ve lost my knack at putting sedatives into a sprayer. Which I haven’t.”

  “How long before the others rouse?” asked Triv, who was now awake.

  “I’d say we have another clear hour or so before the dead arise.”

  “A little recon?” Triv asked the two leaders.

  “Just remember,” said Lunzie at her driest, “you’ve none of your force-belts anymore. Don’t fall.”

  From reflex action, Kai found himself reaching for the stun locker door, and saw its open, empty shelves.

  “Yes, indeed,” said Varian with a wry laugh, “the cupboard is bare.”

  “And all we’ve got is bare hands . . .”

  “One apiece,” said Varian with a second laugh.

  “Remember, you won’t be able to use full Discipline today,” Lunzie cautioned. “I trust the need will not arise.”

  “I doubt it. The giffs aren’t aggressive,” said Varian, setting her hand comfortably against her body before stepping through the iris. “Another reason why this is a perfect hideaway.”

  A scant few minutes later, as they peered past the mouth of their retreat, she revised her statement.

  “Well, there are a few drawbacks.” She squinted down at the waves beating against the foot of their twenty-meter-high cliff. To either side was an expanse of sheer rock. The line Triv had secured from the terrace flapped in the light breeze. Looking up, Varian could see the giffs flying. “At least there’s nothing but giffs airborne,” she added with an exaggerated sigh of relief.