I have told you many times, Jaxom, that I do not think they will become lost. Every dragon knows his way back to his own weyr.
Every dragon is to impress on his rider that there are to be no exceptions to this order, Jaxom insisted.
I will tell them that they are too far away from Pern to disobey. They will not. The dragons certainly will not. Ruth paused briefly. I have told them. I may not be a queen, but dragons trust me.
Still apprehensive, Jaxom asked Ruth to rise up over the surface, so that every dragon could see him.
Back at their weyrs, they are to get out of the suits immediately, so they can be collected by browns and brought to Fort Weyr.
For our next trip. Jaxom couldn't believe the smug satisfaction in Ruth's tone. So much for worrying if this double time jumping was affecting the resilient white dragon. He saw that faceplates were turned in his direction, and he raised his arm, making the hand gesture to go between. A second later, he asked Ruth to take him back to Yokohama.
Curiously, time seemed to go more slowly on the return. Yet Jaxom reached his thirtieth exhalation gust as they emerged in the cargo bay of the Yokohama. The first dragon he saw was Ramoth, Lessa beside her, and to one side, F'lar appeared. Jaxom glanced down at his wristwatch: F'lar's trip had lasted the full fifteen minutes that dragons could endure without oxygen. The cargo bay was lit, but not well enough for Jaxom to tell if Mnementh was off color. Looking down at Ruth, he saw no alteration in the lustrous coat.
We've done it, he said. Everyone safely back below?
Monarth tells me so. Heth... Ruth hesitated, and Jaxom felt part of him shrivel in fear. Heth says they are all back, but several dragons are in bad color.
If that's all, it's nothing a good meal won't cure. And you?
I'm fine. We have done very well. So far.
Now if I can only think of some pretext for the Buenos Aires, Jaxom said as he removed his helmet.
You will.
"Yeeeeow!"
Jaxom was so startled by the loud cheer from F'lar that he nearly lifted himself from Ruth's back. The white dragon, eyes whirling in amazement, also turned his head to see F'lar propel himself off Mnementh and go shooting toward the equally surprised Lessa. When he grabbed her, his momentum spun them off in a lazy twirl until they careened into Ramoth. The great gold dragon arched her neck to look down at the extraordinary behavior of the Benden Weyrleaders.
"We did it! The dragons of Pern did it! Aivas'll have to eat sand on this one! He never thought we could do it!" F'lar was yelling at the top of his voice and laughing when echoes bounced back at him.
"Really, F'lar..." Lessa struggled to regain her balance, but Jaxom could see that she was smiling. "Yes, it is a splendid moment for the Weyrs! A splendid one! You've kept your promise. Indeed you have. That'll show the Holds and Halls!"
Still grinning fatuously, F'lar leaned back against Ramoth, pushing back his wayward lock.
"In point of fact, Lessa," he said then, his expression turned wry, "we haven't quite done it. There's N'ton's wings to lift the third engine, and then we have to wait. First for the explosion, and then to see if it had the proper effect."
Jaxom rubbed his hand across his lips. Knowledge of the fixture was a parlous asset. But it was enough that Jaxom knew this great enterprise would work.
"All safely down with your wings, Jaxom?" F'lar inquired as Jaxom floated to the deck.
"A few dragons off color..."
"Ruth's not," Lessa said, scrutinizing the white dragon and smiling approval at Jaxom.
"He says I've been stuffing him. Which of us gets to tell Aivas?" Jaxom asked, smiling broadly. ,
"We both do," F'lar said. He clapped an arm across Jaxom's shoulders, and together they bounced across the deck to the cargo-bay console. "You know, I didn't see your wing."
"Nor I yours," Jaxom said, chuckling. "We poor soil-bound Pernese have no appreciation of real size..." He spread his arms wide. "That Rift is mammoth. We planted our engine really well down in the Rift on a wide stone ledge."
"Aivas already knows," Lessa said. "I told him you'd all gone and that Ramoth was in touch with Mnementh. Oddly enough," she added, peering at Jaxom, "she couldn't hear Ruth."
"That is odd," Jaxom said, pretending to be puzzled. "Ramoth hears him quite well. But you both forget how far that Rift stretches, and we were at the far northern tip of it."
They reached the console.
"Aivas?" F'lar said.
"You have succeeded. Are all safely returned?"
"Yes. Now do you doubt draconic abilities?" F'lar asked, vindication mixed with the triumph in his laugh. He pulled Jaxom over in a comradely fashion. "You didn't want to believe that dragons could do what we said they could."
"We were right on schedule, too," Jaxom said, allowing himself to chuckle. "My team set that engine down right where you wanted it. No problem!"
"You are both to be complimented on your courage and daring."
"Don't lay it on too thick, Aivas," F'lar said.
"You deserve every credit that will accrue to your valorous deed. You have performed an incredible feat, Weyrleader F'lar. There is no doubt of that. Or that you will have achieved your personal goal-the end of Thread on this planet."
Jaxom grinned at F'lar, pleased at Aivas's unusual rhetoric.
"Your achievement is historically equivalent to that of the first dragonriders to fight Thread. Your name will be remembered with Sean O'Connell's, Sorka Hanrahan's-"
"That is laying it on too thick," Jaxom said. "You're the only one who remembered who were first to fight."
"Actually, Jaxom," F'lar said, grinning broadly, "Sebell showed me the corrected Harper Hall Records, and the eighteen riders who participated in that Fall were honored in their Turn. No one ran afoul of any of those dangers you warned us about," F'lar added, savoring this auspicious moment.
"It is wise to prepare for unusual contingencies," Aivas said.
"Well, we've done it."
"And you deserve this," Lessa said, joining them with a wineskin in her hands. "Best Benden."
"The 'sixteen?" Jaxom asked, craning his head for a look at the label.
"What else?" Lessa replied with a coquettish smile before she put the wineskin to her lips.
Jaxom blinked and, recovering, grinned back. It was about time that she treated him as an adult. Then he grew serious as he accepted the wineskin from her and raised it to the Benden Weyrleaders. "To all the Weyrs of Pern!"
"To us for this triumphant day!"
Jaxom took a long swig, then passed the wineskin to F'lar, who drank, then passed it to Lessa. As she sipped, F'lar turned to Jaxom. "You did tell 'em all to shuck those suits for the next round?"
"As planned, brown riders'll bring them to N'ton at Fort Weyr."
"Did your team scatter those treated ovoids as Aivas wanted?"
Jaxom winked at Lessa. "Mirrim wanted to bring back some examples of empty ones she found lying about." Lessa looked outraged, but he waved a reassurance. "I recommended that she didn't."
"How long before the explosion, Aivas?" F'lar asked.
"The HN03 gauge readings reassure that there is no stoppage. The corrosion continues."
"That's no answer," F'lar said, frowning.
Jaxom grinned. "That's all you're going to get right now. And we've still the third one to go." Which constituted a major problem for him. He desperately needed a few private words with Aivas, to see if he had come up with any ideas on how Jaxom could insinuate himself into N'ton's flight and get the dragons to take Ruth's coordinates for the second time leap of a mere five hundred Turns. Somehow he had accomplished it, for the other crater was there on the southern tip of the Rift. Jaxom had racked his brains and, whenever he was private with Aivas over the past few days, had tried to figure out any way that didn't involve explaining to N'ton. Not that N'ton wouldn't believe Jaxom, or that he wasn't discreet, but the fewer who knew about the time-traveling the better. Lessa would be furious at the risk involved.