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Tedric hard against the soft cushion of the horizontal couch in which he rode. He
struggled to make his spine less rigid, tried to force his muscles to relax and flow like
liquid into the pliant surface beneath. Outside, through the tiny round porthole, he could
see the sky ablaze with a crimson flash.
We could be dying, he thought. There's no way a man can endure this force.
But he knew from his studies in history that men had endured this same force since the
dawn of the age of space. Few simpler methods had yet been devised for reaching the
surface of a planet than a parachute drop.
Nolan and Keller, who had both done this before, nevertheless showed the pain of their
five-G ordeal. Their mouths hung open, their faces dis- torted with the force, their brows
covered with per- spiration.
Then the parachute unfurled and caught, and Tedric was thrown forward against the
straps of his couch. The sky outside turned in an instant from blazing red to pitch black,
and he knew as he strug- gled to catch enough air to breathe that the capsule was now
floating gently downward through the midnight dark of Evron Eleven toward the surface
below. Tedric finally managed to speak. "Whew," he said, with true feeling.
Nolan, strapped to the couch on Tedric's right, turned his head and managed a weak
grin. "We dropped harder than I expected. There was a minute when I think I actually
blacked out, and that should never happen."
"Do you think it's because the planet has greater than its volume would normally
indicate, an abnormally high density?" Tedric spoke from the lessons he had learned at
the Imperial Academy, but the knowledge never quite seemed to be a part of him. It was
something extraneous, like a suit of borrowed clothes.
"That's possible," Nolan said, "but I'd rather blame Carey.I think he wanted to make our
trip as uncomfortable as possible."
"He has no authority over a capsule launch."
"He has authority wherever he chooses to ex- ercise it. Who do you think is going to
step forward and tell him he's wrong? Not dear Captain Maillard, that's for sure."
Tedric said nothing. Because of the way Nolan had been treated during the course of
the voyage, his dislike of Carey had become an obsession. All three men knew better
than to unfasten their straps quite yet. The impact of landing still awaited them.
Tedric turned his head and saw through the porthole the familiar pattern of Evron
Eleven's nighttime stars. He had memorized the local starmap in preparation for finding
his way around this strange planet.
Unless anot er miscalculation ha occurred, the capsule ought to set down some ten
kilometers northwest of the present headquarters of the re- bellious workers. Despite its
planetary character, Evron Eleven was only sporadically inhabited. The mining of
Dalkanium had begun on the planet less than a century ago, and so far only a few
especially rich lodes were being followed. The rebellion had
been limited to the site of the largest mine, where approximately one thousand workers
presently held fifty supervisors and corporate officials pris- oner. Because of this, the
rebellion might possibly be contained with some ease, and it was for this reason-he
claimed-that Carey had decided to begin his counterattack with a small landing party. "I
wish I could have brought my dulcetone," Keller said. "If there was ever a time when a
song would go good, it's now, when we're floating through the air with nothing on our
minds."
"I didn't know you were a musician," Nolan said, and Tedric was glad of the diversion to
draw Nolan's thoughts away from Matthew Carey.
"In my time, I've been a little bit of everything," Keller said. "I'm more a singer than a
musician, though."
"Then why don't you sing?" Tedric said. "We're good listeners."
"Got any favorites?"
"No, not especially." It took a question like that to make Tedric realize there wasn't a
single song he could honestly say that he knew. Or was that true? A faint tune hummed
at the back of his mind, but it stayed there, not quite audible. Another memo- ry? From
how far back?
"Then I'll try this one on you." Keller broke into a song that concerned a beautiful
maiden from a planet named Glencora whose loving man had gone to fight the war.
Despite a happy, soaring melody, the song was almost a lament, as the maid- en cried
for her lover's return and saw him again only when he was brought back from the
farthest reaches of space, as dead as a stone. Then she wept
over his grave until her tears alone caused to swell out and speak of its love before it fell
back and she died and a flower grew where she lay. Nolan was frowning. "I hardly think
that's what we need to hear now."
"It always cheers me up," Keller said, with the hint of a grin.
"If you're partial to graves and ghosts and dead women, I suppose so."
cli enjoyed it very much," Tedric said, but again a memory was stirring. What was it this
time? Was it the music again?
Before he could make any serious effort to an- swer these questions, there was a
sudden jolt. Tedric was thrown against the straps that held him to the couch, then
bounced and lay still.
"We're here," Nolan said.
Keller was the first one free of his couch and he hurried to help Nolan and Tedric.
When he could, Tedric stood up and went over to the porthole. Evron Eleven was a
moonless world and there was onlv starlight by which to see. The landscape
appearedto be a barren stretch lit- tered with a few large boulders and rocks. He turned
away from the port. "We'd better get out of here and try to hide the capsule. Someone
may have seen the flash of our descent."
"I doubt that." Nolan shrugged quickly within his gear: holster, belt, heatgun, sword. "Not
unless we I ve missed our mark. The mine ought to be well past the horizon."
"And it is underground," Keller added. He was drawing together the backpacks each
would have to wear.
"Still, we can't be sure. Maybe someone was outside, watching the stars."
"A pair of Keller's doom-struck lovers," Nolan said.
But Keller shook his head. "Nobody can afford to fall in love on Evron Eleven."
It required only a few additional moments before the men were properly outfitted and
ready to venture out. Tedric punched the button that controlled the lock and was the first
to look through the opening.
The air was sharp, heavy in oxygen, and a chill wind seemed to be blowing. He blinked
several times to acquaint his eyes with the darkness, then leaped to the ground. The
earth was soft and malleable, a fine but moist dust that stuck to the soles of his boots.
He ignited the battery flash he wore at his waist and turned in a complete circle,
surveying the landscape. His first impression proved accurate. Rocks and boulders, little
else. In the distance stood a twisted outline that might have been a leafless tree. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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