That might not have been so bad if visibility had been better, but visibility wasnt better. In fact, it stank. True, Hells trio of moons were all large and bright, but that actually made things worse, not better, for two of themTartarus and Niflheimwere above the horizon simultaneously, and the confusion of shadow and brightness those competing light sources cast across the tangled, uneven jungle canopy did bewildering things to human vision. Nor was Camp Inferno likely to offer much in the way of a landmark when they finally reached it. Presumably the jungle had been cut back immediately around it, if only to give the Peep shuttle pilots clearance on their grocery runs, but even a large clearing could disappear without any effort at all against such a confusing sea of treetops and shadow. And without electrical power, the kind of artificial light spill which might have been visible at long range was highly unlikely.
All of which meant the shuttles were going to spend more time than anyone liked to think about cruising around looking for their destination. Which not only increased the possibility that some weather sat or some unnoticed recon sat was going to spot them, but also the possibility that someone on the ground was going to hear them and wonder what SS aircraft were doing overhead in the middle of the night.
Which wouldnt be a problem, Honor thought, sitting in the copilots seat of Tremaines shuttle and peering out through the windscreen, if we could be sure StateSec hasnt planted informers down there. And much as I hate to admit it, if I were StateSec, this is one camp where Id make darn sure I had at least one or two spies in place.
"We ought to have seen something by now, Maam," Tremaine said. Most people would never have noticed the strain in his voice, but Honor had known him since he was a brand-new ensign on his first deployment, and she turned to give him one of her half-smiles.
"Patience, Scotty," she said. "Patience. Weve hardly started looking yet."
He grimaced at his controls, then sighed and forced his shoulders to relax.
"I know, Maam," he admitted. "And I know anything down there is going to be the next best thing to invisible, but" He broke off and shrugged again, and she chuckled.
"But you want to spot it anyway and get down on the ground where its safe, right?" she suggested.
"Well, actually, yes, Maam." He turned his head to grin back at her. "I guess I always have been a little on the impatient side, havent I?"
"Just a little," she agreed.
"Well, I come by it naturally," he said, "and"
"Scuse me, Mr. Tremaine," a voice broke in over the com, "but I think I see something."
"And where would that happen to be, Chief?" Tremaine inquired. "You really ought to be a bit more precise in making these minor sighting reports, you know," he added severely.
"Yes, Sir. Sorry bout that, Sir. Guess Im just getting old, Sir," Senior Chief Harkness replied so earnestly Honor had to turn a laugh into a smothered cough. "Ill try not to let it happen again, Sir," Harkness went on. "Maybe next time I can find you a younger, fitter flight engineer, Sir. And then"
"And then you can tell me where you saw whatever you saw before I come back there and have Master Chief Ascher take care of you for me, Chief!" Tremaine interrupted.
"Ha! Threats now, is it?" Harkness sniffed over the com, but he was tapping keys back in the tac section even as he spoke. A heads-up holo display glowed suddenly, painting a rough map against the windscreen with a blinking icon to indicate the approximate location of whatever Harkness had seen. The icon was well astern and to port of them, and Tremaine brought the shuttle around in a wide curve.
"Is Two still on station?" he asked. Honor leaned to the side, peering through the armorplast on her side of the cockpit, but she couldnt see anything. Senior Chief Harkness, however, had a better view from his location.
"Sticking to you like glue, Sir," he said. "Shes dropped back a little on your starboard quarter, but shes holding position nicely."
"That, Chief Harkness, is because she is an officer and a lady. And unlike people who dont tell me theyve seen things until were past them, shes also good at her job."
"You just keep right on, Sir," Harkness told him comfortably. "And the next time you need to find your posterior, you can use your own flashlight."
"Im shockedshocked that you could say such a thing to an officer and a gentleman," Tremaine returned in a slightly distracted tone. He was leaning forward, eyes sweeping the night. "Id think that after all these years, youd at l"
He broke off suddenly, and the shuttles speed dropped still further.
"I do believe I may owe you an apology, Chief," he murmured. "A small one, at least." He glanced at Honor. "Do you see it, Maam?"
"I do." Honor raised an old-fashioned pair of binoculars, once more missing her cybernetic eyes vision enhancement as she peered through them with her right eye. It wasnt muchno more than what looked like a torch or two burning against the blackness of the jungleand she felt a distant surprise that Harkness had seen it at all. Of course, he does have access to the tac sensors from back there, she reminded herself, but Peep passives are nothing to write home about.
"How do you want to handle it, Maam?" Tremaine asked, and tension burned under his deceptively calm tone.
"Warn Commander Metcalf, and then take us up another few hundred meters," she replied. "Lets see if we cant find another break in this canopy."
"Yes, Maam." He thumbed a button on the stick to flash the running light atop the vertical stabilizer once, then eased the stick back and fed a little more power to the air-breathing turbines. The big shuttle angled smoothly upwards while its companion, warned by the flash of light, broke right and stayed low, tracking him visually against the moon-bright sky. He climbed another three hundred meters, then leveled out, sweeping around the dim lights Harkness had spotted.
They were easier to see from the greater altitude, and the live side of Honors mouth frowned as she studied them through the binoculars. There were actually two double rows of light sources, set at right angles. Most of them were quite dim, but five or six of them flared brighter where the two lines crossed, and she thought she could make out faint reflections of what looked like flat roofs of some sort. She stared at them a moment longer, then laid the binocculars in her lap and rubbed her good eye with the heel of her hand in an effort to scrub away the ache of concentration.
Nimitz bleeked softly at her from where he lay beside her seat in a highly nonregulation nest of folded blankets, and she smiled down at him reassuringly. Then she lifted the glasses again, studying the jungle.
"Whats that line to the east?" she asked after a moment.
"How far from the camp, My Lady?" Jasper Mayhews voice came over the com.
"It looks likewhat, Scotty? Twenty or twenty-five klicks?"
"Something like that, Maam," Tremaine replied. "Chief?"