"I appreciate the distinction, Ki."Brendan chuckled."What might you be hungry for?"
Aware that she couldn't overburden her system, she settled on a light meal of juice and cereal, which she took from the galley into the main room.
"Shards!But we get to be sloppy eaters, don't we," she said with chagrin, noticing the food stains on the arm of her usual chair."Anything I can use to wash these out, Bren?I don't really want to hand you back to Boira in less than the condition you arrived in.That's not shipshape."
"And Bristol fashion?"
Killa laughed.Then she noticed the view on the main screen."Muhlah!What's that?"
"Ah, that is the very red Mira Variable R. Leporis.It has a four-hundred-and-thirty-two-day cycle.A type N, and, with any luck, we'll see it at its hottest.The pulsations should be magnificent as it begins to contract."
Killa squinted."It's very bright."
"I can darken the screen if it is visually uncomfortable."
"Hmmm, would you?Ah, thanks.That is undoubtedly the very reddest object I've ever seen.What are you seeing?"
"The emission spectra.Stupendous!"
They both, in their separate ways, considered the spectacle blazing light-years away but so vivid.
"Of course, if you find nothing of interest on Nihal Three, I'd be happy to take you elsewhere."
Killashandra snapped her fingers."Just like that?"
"It's like this, Ki," and Brendan explained what he had offered Lars.
The crystal singer whooped and fell against the back of the chair in a paroxysm of laughter.
"Our own brain ship?Acting the yacht?You've got a deal, man!"She gasped the phrases out between spasms of laughter and ended up wiping her eyes of tears."You really mean it?" she asked, turning toward Brendan's column.
"I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't."
"Don't huff, Bren, honestly, I didn't mean to offend.But don't you cost a lot?"
"I only need fuel, landing fees, and whatever supplies you and Lars require.To be sure, my larder's a bit bare right now."
"I can well imagine.You were champion to feed us as you did, Bren.I haven't eaten better during any Passover I can remember."Then practicality gripped her."I think you'd better tell me just how much your fuel and general landing fees run to.We got a great fee for risking skin and symbiont on Opal, but…"
Brendan then ran through some figures for her so that she realized the idea was feasible.In fact, downright exciting.
"Of course, we've got to get our report back to Lanzecki.Does Nihal Three have black crystals?"
"It does."
A shiver ran up Killashandra's spine.She didn't like to use black-crystal communications.One of the few crystal singers who could locate and cut black crystal, she was unusually sensitive to its presence in cut or raw form.Especially since she had installed the black-crystal communications system for the Trundomoux:she had never managed to bury the memory of the soul-shattering shock of activating the king crystal.She had asked Lanzecki about that lingering pull, but he hadn't had any answers.Whatever it was, it made her wary of actually using black crystal-especially when she wanted to forget crystal for a while.
"There are significant bodies of water down there," Killashandra said as Brendan approached their destination.
"We can go somewhere else," Lars said to pacify her."I didn't choose Nihal Three, remember.It was your 'straight on till morning'…"
His partner glowered at him.
"The chief recreational activity of the planet Sherpa is mountain climbing," Brendan said, raising his voice to distract them."Downhill and cross-country skiing, skidoo and other snow-based sports, canoeing and kayaking on only designated rivers, trekking on foot or mounted, hunting and fishing.The catering is deemed one of the highlights of the planet and indeed, wears the Four Comets of Gastronomical Excellence."
Killashandra groaned.
"A little exercise would improve your appetite," Brendan remarked."Although I never thought I'd have to say that to the pair of you!"
Lars chuckled, and even Killa managed a grin.Then Lars regarded her queryingly, his expression blandly conciliatory.
"Oh, all right.We do mountain sports first," she said in assent, then waggled her finger at him."I might do some canoeing, but you're on the bow paddle."
"Landing fees are moderate," Brendan said happily."This won't cost you much," he added cheerfully."You can send in your report, and I can get an update on Boira's condition.Ah, I'm getting a signal.Oh, really?" he added in surprise."Penwyn, how good to hear your voice!"To the astonished singers, he added, "The planetary manager was in my class!I'm very glad we decided to come here."
Although Killashandra worked on the official report with Lars, she let him take it to the Communications Center. When they had passed it in the ground vehicle on their way into the settlement, she experienced the frisson in her guts that told her she had cut the system's king crystal.She had returned as quickly as possible to the B amp;B.Now, in an atavistic burst, she scrubbed the food stains off the chairs while she waited for Lars to return.When he seemed to have been gone rather longer than the dispatch of a message should have taken, she began to feel ill used, then irritated and finally worried.
"This isn't an over-regulated planet, is it?Crystal singers aren't forbidden?" she asked Brendan.
"Not at all.It's a very loosely settled place, though there's a fair competition between recreational facilities to attract visitors.Penwyn handles what administration there is and he arbitrates any disputes, as well, but it's an orderly world."
At last Lars came back with promotional holos crammed into every pocket of his shipsuit.He was plainly delighted as he dumped them on to the worktop by the viewer and gestured dramatically at Killashandra.
"Take your pick!Reports filed-state of the art comtower, I'll tell you that, with your friend, Penwyn, handling the transmission, Bren.Guess you won't mind how long we're away, will you?"
"Hmmm, no, of course I won't," Brendan answered vaguely.He was busy chatting up Penwyn.
During the day that it took the two crystal singers to decide where to go first-eventually they settled on cross-country skiing to get their muscles limbered up for downhill runs-they didn't hear much from Brendan.
"Must be making up for the last fifty years," Lars said.
"Must you measure time!" she replied in a burst of irritation.What did time have to do with anything?It was today that mattered, and how well they spent it, how much they enjoyed it, or, if they were working in the Ranges, how much they could cut in a day!
Lars regarded her in surprise and then apologized in such a perfunctory manner that he aggravated her further.The lingering stress put a bit of a damper on their journey to the resort Killashandra had chosen.But once at the 'port that serviced the area-a long narrow valley amidst the most magnificent mountain scenery-her mood lifted.
The 'port was above the snowline in the mountainous rim of Sherpa's main continent, Nepal.They were collected at the door by the soberly welcoming rep of the snotel they had booked into.
"I am Mashid," he told them, making a low, respectful bow.Dark almond-shaped eyes did not so much as blink as he continued his greeting."I have been appointed to see that your sojourn with us is all that you desired."
Killashandra and Lars exchanged quick looks.
"We're remarkably easy to please," Killa said, "so long as you don't show me any large bodies of water."She dug Lars in the ribs.
"All water at this altitude is frozen," Mashid replied stolidly.
"What do we drink then?"Lars asked with a bare twitch of his lips."Melted snow?"
"Drinking water"-and Mashid's attitude toward drinking that was contemptuous-"is of course supplied as needed from protected reservoirs."