He squeezed his eyes closed. Had he been perhaps half a metacycle earlier finishing his tour of the monastery...
Two c'lenyts or so farther on down the hill, the destruction mysteriously ceased-as if the Leaguers had purposely targeted only specific portions of the town. Brim shook his head is disgust. He was far beyond any attempt to justify the Leaguers' strategy, especially their attacks on random civilian targets.
Presently, he was able to flag down a passing Fleet vehicle and hitched a ride all the way to the Government Sector at the bottom of the hill, where he called in a hurried report of his sightings. From there, he continued on foot; if memory served him, he was only six e'lenyts or so from the base.
He had walked no more than a thousand irals, however, when he came upon another charred and battered area of fresh destruction, this one among a number of private homes and storefronts that clearly predated the surrounding government structures by at least a hundred years. As he hurried through the nibble, he could see no buildings at all that had escaped at least some damage. Rescue workers were everywhere shouting at each other and scurrying through the rubble like insects whose hive has been disturbed. The whole area reeked of smoke and the sickening, sweetish odor of burned flesh.
Suddenly, he felt his hackles rise when he thought he recognized one of the vehicles parked just off the main thoroughfare-a familiar sun-bleached skimmer with a frayed canvas top.... Claudia's? He stopped in his tracks to peer inside with a growing concern.
There it was! Her red leather briefcase-and on the floor, the menu from Nesterio's Cabaret. He bit his lip. Was she one of the casualties? Heart in his mouth, he found himself running toward the smoking rubble nearest the spot where she'd parked.
And then he spied her with two other women in the wreckage of a nearby house, struggling to lift a heavy wooden beam. "Claudia!" be called impulsively as he picked his way through the crumbled wreckage.
Still struggling with the beam, she could turn her head only slightly. "Wilf," she grunted through her effort, "thank the Universe.... Help us move this beam-quickly!"
Without another thought, Brim grasped the heavy timber, and the four of them forced it through a layer of fallen stone until it could be moved freely. Then, nearly choking on the dust they had raised, they dragged it to one side and braced it against a great chunk of fallen masonry. Instantly, the three women returned to the shallow trench they had created and began to dig frantically until a low moan issued from a bloody face still half covered with brick dust and debris. The man had clearly been trapped when the ancient timber fell across his chest. Brim pitched in with his bare hands as if he had purposely arrived to join in the rescue effort.
When the victim was safely turned over to a tired-looking ambulance crew, Brim found himself looking at Claudia in an altogether new light. She was a great deal changed since their evening in Nesterio's Cabaret. Now, her long chestnut hair could most charitably be described as disheveled. Her dust-covered face was streaked with sweat, and her tunic and trousers were seriously burned in a number of most unfashionable places. She appeared to be wearing a pair of cast-off boots that were at least a hundred sizes too large for her feet, and she was covered with thick clots of drying blood-enough that it couldn't be her own, or she'd long ago have joined the nearby pile of corpses that waited for identification.
She also appeared to be looking at him. "Well," she said in a tired voice, "it looks as if you got caught in it, too." She frowned for a moment. "I thought I saw Defiant take off..." she said.
"You did," Brim said, finally catching his breath. "I wasn't on her."
Suddenly she seemed concerned. "Why?" she asked. "I mean, I thought you were Principal Helmsman...."
Brim smiled, somehow pleased by her concern. "I am still, so far as I know," he explained as rescue workers carried another live victim to a waiting ambulance. "But I was also on leave this morning-near the monastery, exploring this beautiful city of yours."
Instantly he wished he had never opened his mouth, for Claudia's face capitulated to a look of despair. Tears slowly formed in the corners of her eyes, and she looked away in embarrassment. "It lost a lot of its beauty this morning," she choked. \
"I'm terribly sorry," he mumbled, touching her arm. He wanted in the worst way to draw her to his shoulder, but a crowd began to call from the street.
"Come on," a man called. "We've found more of them!"
"Children!" another voice yelled. "Hurry."
"Now!" shouted another. "We've got to get them out of there!"
"Can you stay and help?" Claudia asked with a desperate took on her face. "Universe knows we need everyone we can get."
Brim nodded. Defiant was still out, probably chasing the remnants of the attacking fleet.
"I'll stay," he said, rolling up the sleeves of his already ruined tunic, "as long as I possibly can."
During the next metacycles, Brim lost all track of time as he and Claudia helped rescue five children-two of whom died before they could be lifted into an ambulance-and eight retired starsailors. The children had been trapped as they waited for their transportation to school; the old starsailors were residents of a complex specially set aside for elderly residents of the district.
Toward morning-while he and the other rescuers combed the wreckage a second time looking for victims they might have missed in the early panic-Brim heard the approaching rumble of heavy gravity generators. Presently, Defiant thundered in from landward, turned, and projecting great white beams from her landing lights, sank smoothly toward a touchdown out on the bay. Moments later, he felt a hand on his arm. It was Claudia. "That was Defiant, wasn't it?" she asked wearily.
"She was," Brim said. "And I suppose it means that I shall have to leave here almost immediately. I still have quite a few c'lenyts to walk."
Claudia smiled-beautiful in spite of the dust and dried blood. "I think we are both finished here for tonight," she said. She pointed to a large tram that had just pulled up to a nearby curb. "A fresh crew of rescue volunteers from the day shift," she explained. 'They'll take over for us now-although I don't know how many more they can save."
Brim smiled and looked her in the face. "They have to try, though," he said gently. "If they save even one more person, it'll be worth their while."
"And if they don't?"
"Still worth while," Brim said resolutely.
Claudia looked him full in the eye. "Quite a thought for a bloodthirsty warrior like Wilf Brim," she said quietly while the shouts of the fresh rescuers echoed in the rubble around her. Then she gently touched his cheek. "How did you get here?" she asked.
"I walked-actually I ran," Brim said. "Transportation got a little behind schedule up there by the monastery."
"They got the section below the tram stop, didn't they?" she asked.
"Yeah," Brim said. "Pretty thoroughly. I was there."
"And you walked all the way from there?"
"No," Brim said with a smile. "I hitched a ride to some government buildings about a c'lenyt from here."
"What would you think about hitching another ride tonight?" she asked.
Brim gently grasped her arms and drew her closer.
She moved against him easily, then looked into his eyes meaningfully. "How about settling for a ride to Defiant tonight?" she asked. "I don't think I'm up to anything more strenuous-and I doubt if you are either, Mr. Brim."
"I should be most glad for a ride to Defiant, or anywhere for that matter-as long as I ride with you," he answered, surprising himself with the truth of what he had just said. He felt a rush of guilt as Margot's face passed his mind's eye.