“Portegin, would you check the control panel's circuitry?” asked Kai. “Varian, let Lunzie see to that arm now we've a spare moment.”
“If, after that, Lunzie gets a crack at your hand, Leader Kai.”
“No “ifs” about it. I do you first, him next,” said Lunzie, reaching for her belt pouch. “At least they left me something to work with.”
“Why bother patching any of us?” demanded Aulia, sinking to the deck, head in her arms. “We can't last long on this planet. Paskutti was right about that. And they've got everything we need!”
“Not everything. They left us the synthesizer,” said Varian with a snort. “couldn't take that, built into the shuttle as it is.”
“There's no power to run it. You heard Tanegli.”
"Bonnard hid the sleds" packs. They'll do for the synthesizer."
“That's only delaying the inevitable,” cried Aulia. “We'll all die once the packs are drained. There's no way to recharge them.”
“Kai got a message out to the Theks,” said Varian, hoping to forestall Aulia's imminent hysterics.
“The Theks!” Aulia burst out laughing, a shrill, mirthless sound. Portegin came striding out of the pilot's cabin and slapped her smartly across the face.
“That's enough of that, you silly girl. You always do give up too easily.”
“She has brought up a few harsh truths,” said Margit in a weary voice. “Once the synthesizer is useless, we're as good as . . .”
“We can always sleep it,” said Kai.
“I didn't realize that this expedition had cryogenics,” said Margit but hope brightened her expression.
“This may be a small expedition, but it has all the basics. Or had,” replied Kai who, finding the proper space between the bulkheads, pressed the release and showed them the hidden recess with the cryogenic supplies.
“But if Portegin could fix the communit, we wouldn't have to cold sleep,” said Aulia, her face also showing relief, “we could just beam EV?”
“No, and I might as well tell you right now,” said Portegin, his expression grim, “I can't fix that panel. Not without the spare parts which they've removed.”
“I knew it,” said Aulia, beginning to weep in the silence that followed Portegin's announcement.
“You know nothing,” said Portegin sharply, “so shut up.”
“Sleep is what we all need, right now. Regular sleep,” said Lunzie, sparing Kai significant glance.
Once Discipline had worn off, the four of them would need a full day's rest before they could recover from the necessary abuse of their systems. With Aulia in such a state, and the others certain to react in one way or another to the shock of their experiences, their escape from the heavy-worlders would be meaningless if Kai and Varian could not maintain control.
“Sleep?” demanded Margit. “Under what's up there?” She pointed to the ceiling of the shuttle and shuddered.
“Look at it this way, Margit,” said Dimenon, “we're beautifully secure. Even heavy-worlders will have to sweat to clean that . . . how should I phrase it – carrion? debris – away.”
“No, Dimenon. We're not staying here,” said Kai. “Our best escape is best made now, under cover of the dark, so that when the heavy-worlders return, as I'm sure they will, they will presume that the entire shuttle is still here, buried under the stampede.”
“The carrion eaters of Ireta work swiftly,” Varian said, perspiration beading her face as Lunzie continued her repairs on the broken shoulder. “But they've enough out there for days . . .”
Someone retched.
“Which gives us a certain leeway before they discover the shuttle is gone. If we move tonight.”
“Where do you suggest we move to?” asked Portegin in a dry tone.
“That's no problem,” said Dimenon with a snort. “We've a whole bloody planet.”
“Not really,” said Kai. “And they want this shuttle. They need it – if only for the synthesizer and the main power unit. Once they've found it's gone, they're going to look for it. And look hard. They've tracers on the sleds, and while they don't have the power packs,” here he favoured Bonnard with an admiring grin, “they're strong enough to dismantle the units and use 'em while they belt-lift. And find us.”
“Not if we're well hidden,” said Varian, emphasizing the “well” in a voice that held a ripple of amusement. “No heavy-worlder would think of it. And there'd be a lot of other life-form readings to confuse them.”
Kai regarded Varian, his mind rushing through the possible locations, unable to guess what she had thought of although Varian looked at him as if he ought to know.
“Our rest day was a rehearsal, too, though we couldn't know it at the time.”
“The giffs?”
“Yes, that cave where I found the dead egg. It was enormous inside, and dry. Why it was abandoned, I can't figure. But it should do us.”
Kai wanted to grab her in his arms, kiss and hug her for that suggestion but it was neither the time nor place.
“That's exactly the right place, Varian. We'd even register the same as the adult giffs. And the kids as juveniles! Varian, That's . . . That's . . .”
“The best idea we've heard all day,” said Lunzie, finishing when words failed Kai. There was as much relief in her voice as in Kai's. Varian beamed at the reception of her solution.
“Fine. We'll hole up there . . .” and he ducked as Lunzie swung at him for his pun, “get a good night's sleep and then do some heavy evaluation. I did, and don't forget this, my friends, get that message off to the Theks . . .” He held up his hand as Aulia opened her mouth to renew her arguments to aid from that source, “and as one of them is an old friend of my family's on the ARCT-10, I think I can promise that the message will not be ignored.”
Aulia may not have been convinced but Kai saw that others were willing to rest some confidence in that fact.
“Where has Bonnard got to?” asked Varian, shuddering as Lunzie finished her manipulation on her shoulder. “He ought to have been long back.”
“I'll go,” said Triv and was out of the lock before either leader could protest.
“Now, Leader Kai,” said Lunzie, indicating it was his turn at her hands.
“Margit, would you break out some peppers for us all?” said Kai, surrendering his broken wrist to Lunzie and diverting his thoughts. “I don't think they got what was in the locker in the pilot's compartment.”
"A pepper?" Margit moved with alacrity to the forward compartment, Aulia right behind her. "That's the second best idea I've heard today. Pray Krim they didn't get the peppers! Ah, the locker's untouched! Leave off, Aulia, pass them out to the others, first! " Her voice had turned hard.
“You know, this is the first time I've ever seen Leaders required to use Discipline,” said Dimenon, cracking the seal on the can Aulia had handed him. She was drinking hers as she passed others the restoratives. “I'm aware that a Leader has to have the Training to lead, but I'd never seen it working. I couldn't figure out what had got into you, Varian, when you let them beat admissions out of you.”
“I had to play the coward,” said Varian, taking a long swig at her pepper. “Dead Disciples are no use to anyone. I'd guessed that Bonnard would be smart enough to hide. I do wish he'd get back now, though.”
They all heard the noises at the lock. Kai slipped his half-sealed wrist from Lunzie's grasp and moved quickly to the lock, good hand poised in a clenched fist. Portegin and Dimenon joined him, their bare hands cocked back.
"I found him," Triv said, poking his head through the half-opened iris. "He'd been stacking all the power packs at the edge of . . . the dead beasts. He's gone for the others now." He handed three power packs through the lock to Portegin." He says the heavy-worlders have started a fire on the ridge beyond us. We'll be able to slide the shuttle to our left, up the hill and they shouldn't see us. Dead and dying herbivores are hill high in the compound. It's going to take some time before they realize neither we nor the shuttle are buried here."