Karla slapped Clovis hard across the face. "Clovis Holstein, I will not be spoken to in that tone or with those words! You insult me, and you insult all those who are your friends."
She pressed her right hand against Clovis's livid cheek to stroke away the sting. "You think people only see you as small, but that's not true. Maybe they're more aware of your physical proportions at first, but that changes after a while. I've got dark hair and light eyes and I always think people find me strange because of that unusual combination. You've got no monopoly on such feelings."
She frowned heavily. "How can you say no one cares about you or wants to be a true friend? I remember seeing you at the community dance a month ago. I envied how you got along so easily with everyone. You, Dan Allard, and Cat Wilson laughed and carried on like three close friends, and it certainly didn't look as though your friends were just politely tolerating you."
Clovis looked down at his feet. "Perhaps I do have some friends, but that's beside the point. You wouldn't have gone to the dance with me."
Karla narrowed her eyes. "You didn't ask me, did you?"
Clovis's look challenged her. "Would it have made any difference if I did?"
She sighed. "I won't lie to you, Clovis. You don't fit the image of my dream man."
The dwarf shook his head. "And Thor does?"
Karla Bremen moistened her lips. "Clovis, I'm not a teenage girl looking for a date for the big dance. Yes, at one time, Thor closely matched what I wanted, but I've changed since creating that image. There are some things more important to me than looks." She glanced back over her shoulder to the room where the children lay huddled together. "The care and feeling you've shown over the past couple of days have touched me. You have strength, you have heart, and as much courage as anyone who ever strapped himself into a 'Mech."
Clovis studied her face. "Are you saying there's a chance for me in your life?"
Karla nodded. "It's not a contest with me as the prize. It's working together to see if we have what it takes to form a lasting partnership. I make no promises, other than to be honest with you, and you'll have to accept that. If we're to have a relationship, it will have to grow of its own accord."
Clovis smiled as the tension between them eased. "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, as they say at the fights on Solaris."
Karla laughed sincerely. "A wise idea. You've no idea how awful is my cooking nor how voracious is my appetite for truly bad holovids."
"I'll take my chances." Clovis looked back toward the room containing the children. "You'd best get back to them. I still have to go up there and see what is going on."
She hesitated, then said softly, "Be careful, Clovis."
Slinging a satchel full of electronics repair tools over his shoulder, Clovis laughed lightly and headed toward the shaft leading upward. "Take heart, fair damsel. Beset by the Dragon we may be, but no knight in shining armor would ever leave a lady in peril."
During the long climb up toward the surface, Clovis forced himself to concentrate on the mission at hand. Can't be dreaming about what might or might not be, Clovis.Rung by rusty rung, he ascended to a sub-basement level of the 'Mech bay. Crawling through shadowy access passages, Clovis headed deep into the facility the Kell Hounds had used as their temporary base.
Finally, in a water pipe tunnel just north of the east-west sewer line, he found what he had been seeking. A meter beyond the wall that separated Morgan Kell's private office from the room he used for staff meetings, Clovis felt a slender fiber-optic cable running along a waterpipe.
Bingo! Though I griped about spending five hours down in these stinking tunnels, now I'm glad Morgan wanted an independent visiphone line running out of his office.Groping around in his tool kit, Clovis located the small headset and cable tapper he'd used to check the connections when putting in the line.
He clipped the optical collar to the line and tightened it down until he heard a dial tone in his earpiece. On the alpha-numeric keypad dangling from the optical collar, he carefully typed in "COMSTAR," then adjusted the microphone before his mouth. He turned up its volume fairly high.
A gentle voice of indeterminant sex filled his ear. "ComStar, Lyons south. The Peace of Blake be with you."
Clovis kept his voice to a low whisper. "I have a message for Morgan Kell."
The ComStar technician's reply was firm but friendly. "Colonel Kell, in compliance with an order from Duke Aldo Lestrade, has left the world. I can put you in touch with his contact person here, a Clovis Holstein?"
"I am Clovis Holstein. I need to get a message to the Kell Hounds. New Freedom has been occupied by a company from the Third Dieron Regulars. I need to tell Morgan."
Clovis heard the gentle tapping of fingers on a keyboard. A computer beeped and the tech's voice again came on the line. "I do not have a current location for Morgan Kell."
Clovis thought for half a second. "They should be at Alphecca, at one of the jump points."
"That's not what my computer shows, Mr. Holstein."
Clovis frowned. The heat from the hot water pipe filled the narrow tunnel with a stifling warmth. Sweat poured from his forehead and stung his eyes. "All right, then they should be at Ryde."
The tech clucked lightly. "I show that they have not reported in to collect their messages. Do you want to send this message to Ryde?"
"Yes."
"Splendid." The click of computer keys again played through the line. "With our next transmission, the message should get there by the first of next week."
"You don't understand," Clovis whispered frantically. "This is an emergency. The message has to go out now."
"That will be expensive, Mr. Holstein. How will you pay for the priority transmission?"
"How am I going to . . ." Clovis growled with exasperation, then blurted, "Charge it to the Third Dieron Regulars."
"Very well. Initiating a call back on your line to get verification. Just a moment!"
"No!" Clovis heard a series of melodic notes, then a harsh ring from the room above him. A voice echoed in stereo from the earpiece and above him. "Moshi, moshi?"
Clovis ripped the optical collar from the phone line, then scurried on through the hot tunnel. Here's one time my size is an advantage.Above him, in the world of men, an alarm sounded and the pounding of heavy footsteps drummed over the floor.
Almost instantly, Clovis realized two things. They will catch me. I've got to head away from the children.Karla's smiling face came unbidden into his mind and softened his second realization. When they catch me, they’ll kill me. May my death keep you safe, Karla Bremen . . .
A shaft of light stabbed down into the tunnel as someone ripped away one of the access panels to the crawlspace. Clovis filled his hand with the Foxfire and shielded his eyes against the light with his left hand. Two booted feet dropped down into the tunnel, then the legs attached to them bent as the Combine soldier sank to his knees.
Clovis pointed the gun at the man's stomach and pulled the trigger. Using the soldier's screaming as cover, Clovis cut into a cross passage. He traveled east along it, then headed back north at the next opportunity. He slid quickly through the tunnels and before he knew it, reached the outer wall and passed through it.
The dwarf cracked the external accessway's wooden doors and smiled. Hot damn! Time didn't make any difference down in that hole, but here. . .Outside night had fallen, and for the first time, Clovis dared hope he might make good his escape.
Cautiously, he pushed the door open enough for him to slip out. He pressed it down noiselessly, then hunkered down in the building's shadow. He scoured the surrounding landscape for any sign of movement, but saw nothing. I wish they'd shut that damned alarm off. I'd prefer to trust my ears to my eyes in this darkness.