I took a minute to check back with Nelixan, and she gave me a couple of suggestions about what loose ends at the base did with their time.
Since relaxing in the solar room held no attraction for me, and rock hunting in a vacuum suit on the surface was just as had, I went to see if anything was happening in the physical reconditioning chamber.
Members of the Tildorian teams who had been hurt and Healed used the room to stay in shape until they could get back to the planet.
There were more than a dozen people in the room, not all of them team members. I watched quietly for a while, then joined a couple of the girls who had been working with the barbarians. We tossed each other around a little, then chose swords and got serious. I took it as easy as I could with them, but they were still outclassed, though through no fault of their own: the sword technique I’d learned in the Federation was clearly superior to anything the Absari Confederacy had developed. When the girls had had more exercise than they really should have tried, three of the men interrupted and threatened to tell the medical staff. Since that would have meant a longer stay in the base the girls quit, but not with very good grace.
The men took over for the girls and bombarded me with questions. I went through stance, balance, and angle of blade, and was just beginning on parries when we were interrupted. Valdon smiled pleasantly at the men, yanked the sword out of my hand, excused the two of us, then hauled me out of the room by one wrist. I didn’t know what was going on, but he didn’t slow down enough for me to ask any questions until we had reached my room. As the door slid closed behind me, I was finally able to pull my wrist away from him.
“What the hell is the matter with you?” I demanded, rubbing a wrist that felt stretched. “Where do you come off barging in and dragging me around?”
“I wanted to talk about your new partner,” he said with a hard look in his eyes as he folded his arms. “You know, the good-looking fellow who’s well thought of by his coworkers.”
“Oh, him,” I muttered, not liking his dark tones of voice. “I didn’t know Dameron was awake yet.”
“He isn’t,” Valdon said flatly. “I happened to be talking with Nelixan, and she passed on the word. If you had to change your mind again you might have told me about it! This on-again, off-again business is beginning to get to me!”
“But you didn’t ask,” I pointed out in a very reasonable way. “If you had asked, I would have been glad to tell you.”
“Aren’t you generous,” he said in a voice that had suddenly turned very soft. “If it’s my fault for not asking, let’s take care of it right now.” he moved closer fast, put his palms to the wall to either side of me, then looked down and locked eyes with me. “I am now formally asking the identity of your new partner. Would you care to tell me who he is?”
“Sure,” I answered, looking up at him with a smile. “You’re my new partner. And you’re also wide open.”
He flushed very faintly, but didn’t move.
“Then take advantage of it,” he offered, still staring down into my eyes. “You might be interested in what happens right after that.”
I stared back at him, realizing I had a problem. I knew-without knowing how I knew that if I started playing rough again he would not retaliate in kind as most men would. For some reason I didn’t want to think about how he would retaliate, and above that there had already been enough argument between us. The smartest thing would be to drop a subject that never should have been brought up.
“I couldn’t do that,” I answered, not having hesitated long. “I said I’d be making an effort to get along with my new partner. That isn’t my idea of getting along.”
“What is your idea of getting along?” he asked, the hard look fading from his eyes. I brought my arms up, put them around his neck, then returned the kiss he’d given me the night before, but with interest.
“That’s more in line with my thinking,” I said softly when the kiss ended. “Does it disagree with you?”
“I’m willing to suffer,” he laughed gently, brushing some hair out of my eyes. “As your new partner, I think I ought to offer my services.
Is there anything else you might be thinking about that I could help with?”
His faint grin made it plain what sort of anything he was referring to, but I had my own ideas on the subject.
“As a matter of fact there is,” I murmured, moving closer to look up at him. “I’m just about starving to death. What are the chances of getting a decent meal around here?”
For a minute he didn’t make a sound, then he started laughing. He threw his head back and roared, and I couldn’t help grinning as I watched him.
“You are without doubt the craziest woman I’ve ever met,” he said after he’d run down to chuckling. “Working with you will be an experience and a half. Well, come on! We can’t have people starving around here.”
He took my hand and led the way over to the refectory, then found some real, live meat dishes for me. For some reason most of the dishes looked alike in their pictures, and that’s how I’d ended up with a dessert instead of what I’d really wanted. It was obvious that telling them apart took practice.
When I was happily stuffed, Valdon and I went to check on my ship. He and Dameron had done a good job putting it back together, and it seemed to be all ready to go. I poked and. puttered for a little while in preparation for the next day, then took Valdon up on his offer of a tour of the base. We covered the entire thing, from the ship’s entrance tunnels to the smallest of storage areas, and the base finally settled down into perspective. The people using it were humanoid and therefore had developed a lot of things strange humanoids like me would recognize, but there were enough oddities to remind me that I was a long way from home.
For instance, one of their favorite sports was deep dropping, and an inner cavern had been prepared especially for its practice. The deep dropper stepped off the edge of an abyss, free-fell lord-only-knows how far, and was finally caught by a safety field a random number of feet from the bottom. Since the positioning of the safety field was decided by computer, they never knew when their fall would be stopped. Also, since the safety fields had – been known to fail occasionally, they never even knew if they’d be stopped. It takes more nerve than I have to casually walk into one of the dozens of ten-foot-wide, unlit holes, and I didn’t mind saying so. Valdon looked at me less with amusement than with an odd sort of respect, then suggested that we eat again. I wasted no time agreeing with such a sensible suggestion, and we walked into the refectory to see Dameron at a table, watching as three or four dishes were raised to eating height from the center of the table. We were about to choose a place of our own when Dameron spotted us and gestured us over.
“Just the people I want to see,” he said, shoveling part of his meal into his mouth. “Sit down and have something to eat.”
“Why do I get the feeling I ought to be suspicious?” I asked as Valdon and I sat. “That isn’t anything like the tone of voice you used when you told me how easily I could handle that business on Tildor.”
“You must come equipped with ultra-sensory gear,” Dameron grinned.
“Better watch out for her, Valdon. She’s the type to know what you’re doing even when you’re only thinking about it.”
“He can do or think anything he likes,” I countered, not willing to be distracted. “I’m his partner, not his mother. Now what was this oh-so-casual thing you wanted to mention to us?”
“It’s not exactly casual,” Dameron admitted reluctantly, losing his grin. “The truth of the matter is, you can’t leave for home yet.”
“Why not?” I asked, keeping my eyes on his face.
“Now, don’t start looking like that,” Dameron protested, clearly uncomfortable. “I didn’t say, you couldn’t go, I just said you couldn’t go yet.”
“I think you’d better tell her why,” Valdon put in quietly, placing his hand on my arm.
“Nelixan woke me for a shift level call,” Dameron said, giving a lot of attention to his food. “When I got the transmitter link, I almost had my ears burned off. Seems one of our long-call operators had mentioned to the caller that we had a special visitor here. I’m sorry I ever told them about you.”
“And they say only women don’t know when to keep quiet,” I muttered, remembering my earlier thoughts on not spreading the word. “What happened then?”
“Phalsyn took his turn at me,” Dameron said, his face glum. “He and I have been friends for a long time, and that’s probably the only thing that saved me. Phalsyn reminded me that little things like contacting members of other civilizations ought to be mentioned to Absar Central, even if only in passing. He also said that if I let you leave before he gets here, I’d better go with you.”
“Always room for one more,” I said, leaning back a little. “You and Valdon can share a cabin.”
“Be reasonable, Diana!” Dameron pleaded, his eyes directly on me.
“Phalsyn only wants to talk to you! He may be high in governmental circles, but he’s really bright. he won’t cause you any trouble.”
“So you say,” I countered, holding his gaze. “What happens if I decide to take off right now?”
“Take off where?” Valdon put in in a calm, gentle way. “We haven’t programmed your course computer yet.”
“I’d still be better off than when I got here,” I said, throwing him a quick glance. “And maybe even better off than waiting around. When things become official, they also tend to become complicated.”
“This time it can’t be helped,” Dameron sighed, pushing his half-eaten food away from him. “I’m sorry, girl, but you’ll just have to wait to see Phalsyn. He’s already on his way, so it shouldn’t be too long.” he stood up from the table, turned three-quarters away from me, then added, “Under the circumstances, I think you’d better stay away from your ship at least until Phalsyn gets here.”
He left then, and I watched his broad back disappear while I cursed feelingly under my breath. You can always trust people to come up with more complications than any one particular situation calls for.
I started to get up too, but found Valdon in my way, still holding onto my arm.
“We haven’t eaten yet,” he said in the same calm, gentle voice he’d used a minute earlier. “We can’t have people starving around here’, remember?”
“I’ll eat later,” I answered just as calmly and quietly. “There’s something I have to do first.”
“Do you mean get to your ship before guards are put on it?” he asked.
“And then what? Take off in the first direction that appeals to you?
How do you plan on getting through the ship locks? Or evacuating the air from the tunnels?”
“I’m very resourceful,” I told him, merely stating a fact. “Want to bet on it?”
“Not after having given you a tour of this place myself,” he snorted.
“Sit still and behave yourself, or I’ll have you confined to your room.”
“What, no brig?” I asked with raised brows. “Surely you’d feel safer with me behind bars.”
“I’d feel safest with you tied hand and foot!” he answered sharply.
“If you don’t stop acting like an idiot, that’s exactly what will happen to you! Waiting a few days for Phalsyn isn’t going to kill you.”
“I’m glad you’re so sure about that,” I muttered, looking away from him. “I wish I could be as sure.”
“Hey, nothing’s going to happen to you,” he protested, putting an arm around my shoulders. “If Dameron or I thought there would be any trouble for you because of this, you would already be on your way. I know Phalsyn too, and I give you my word that everything will be fine.”
“Would that come under the heading of famous last words?” I wondered aloud, turning back to him. “Look, Valdon, basically I’m a pessimist.
If I expect the worst to happen, I’m prepared when it does. Now, why not be a good boy and turn your head for a few minutes? You can always tell this Phalsyn that I overpowered you.”
“Oh, that would solve the problem.” he nodded. “He wouldn’t even bother bringing me up on charges. He’d just tie a ribbon around me and send me home. You’d better sit back and relax, Diana. When it’s time to leave we’ll leave together.”
His determination wasn’t hard to see, and any more words would have been a waste of breath.
“I have very little choice,” I shrugged, leaning back as he’d suggested. “Just bear in mind that if you’re wrong, I’m the type to come back and haunt you.”
“I’ll take my chances.” he grinned, then reached past me to press buttons on the box. While we waited for the food, I reflected that
“middle-of-the-night” would be as good a time to leave as right then.
In a base as quiet as that one, no one would be expecting trouble, When we finished eating, we went to the lounge and sat around with a number of the base personnel, listening to some very strange music for longer than I would have stayed on my own. When Valdon finally walked me back to my room, I wasn’t disappointed over missing the
“entertainment.” Even if I’d been in the mood for it, I wouldn’t have been able to bridge the gap between cultures alien to one another in a single sitting. My new partner followed me inside, then gave me a strong, reassuring smile.
“It shouldn’t be too long,” he said, referring to the wait he’d mentioned more than I had. “I can’t honestly say I know what Phalsyn wants to talk to you about, but he really is the reasonable sort.
After we’re through with him we’ll be on our way, and I won’t have to share a cabin with Dameron.”
“You sound awfully pleased about that,” I commented over my shoulder as I reached for a cigarette. “I thought you liked Dameron.”
“There’s liking and there’s liking,” he said, coming up behind me to take the cigarette out of my hand and pull me gently to him. “You’re a lot more my type, and I’d much rather share a cabin with you.”
He looked down into my eyes as he said that, but rather than sending the sort of “let’s get to it” signals most men did in a situation like that, he seemed to be searching for something. I couldn’t imagine what the something could be, until I suddenly realized that his last statement had been a question. “I’d rather share a cabin with you,” he’d said, not, “We will be sharing a cabin.” he was making no attempt to force me into anything, and from my experience with him on Tildor, I knew it wasn’t a put-on. He’d been very much aware of how dippy Bellna had been over him, and if he’d wanted to play twisted bed games he would have done it then. But he also knew how I had felt about him, and had brought in a substitute player rather than take the advantage he could have. I also remembered then what Dameron had said about how some women reacted to him when he showed interest in them, and his lack of aggressive behavior became more understandable. The hunter had gone hungry too many times, and had therefore learned to keep his claws sheathed.