“Neither do I-but how else do you explain those people, and that thing in my yard?”
Susan frowned. “If they’re really from outer space, then why won’t their ship fly?”
“But maybe it did fly-how else could it get there?”
“I don’t know,” Susan said. “I don’t understand any of it.” She rubbed her temple. “Maybe if I’d gotten more sleep over the weekend, but I didn’t expect anything like this first thing on a Monday morning.”
“Thank you for coming so early,” Amy said gravely. “I appreciate it.”
Susan waved away Amy’s gratitude. “No problem,” she said. “Shall we get down to Rockville and fill out the papers?”
* * * *
Prossie lay curled up on the cot, staring at nothing.
She was betrayed.
She was trapped here, a prisoner, completely cut off from the minds of others, and most particularly from the minds of her fellow telepaths, the minds of her family and her community.
She was in jail, for reasons she did not understand-listening to words without being able to read the minds behind them was hard for her, and although she had heard the charges against her, she did not see why they had been leveled at her and the rest of the crew. Their ship had crashed; how could that be a crime?
And she knew that there would be no rescue. The brief moment of hope when Carrie had first reached her had died again when the news came through-her people had written her off. They had declared her expendable and expended. Carrie had told her-the mission had been abandoned as a failure, I.S.S. Ruthless given up as lost, and she and Captain Cahn and the other eight were considered prisoners of war. No efforts would be made to rescue them.
And since there were no other contacts between the Empire and this Montgomery County, there could be no negotiated freedom, no exchange.
She would rot here, in this bland little cell.
This was almost worse than a dungeon, really. If she were confined behind cold stone walls, in darkness and filth and hunger, she would be able to concentrate herself on resistance, on courage; she would have the romance of all those childhood stories to fall back on, all the tales of heroes who endured monumental suffering along the way to magnificent triumphs. The Earl of the White Mountain, the Man in the Sealed Helm, the people of Camp Eight-all the old stories of famous prisoners came back to her.
What romance was there in concrete block walls, a steel cot, and porcelain fixtures? What suffering did electric light and three meals a day provide?
She was no swashbuckling hero; she wasn’t even a real soldier. She was just a telepath, sent along on this expedition because telepathy was the only good way to communicate over long distances.
Maybe, she thought, she should ask for an attorney-the officer had said that if she could not afford one, one would be provided for her.
But no; what good would that do? Why would a native attorney want to help her? How could an attorney get her out if the authorities wanted to hold her? If she got out, where would she go? What would she do?
She wished that Carrie hadn’t told her Bascombe’s decision. Captain Cahn and the others presumably didn’t know about it, and they were probably stewing in their uncertainty, but that was better than despair.
She curled up more tightly, her head full of telepathic wool, and stared at nothing.
Chapter Six
“She’s not taking it well.” The telepath sat slumped in her chair, staring unhappily at the floor.
“Carrie, don’t let it get to you,” her supervisor said. “Prossie’ll be okay, I’m sure of it.”
Carrie looked up.
“I’m not,” she said. “I read her mind, and I’m not sure at all.”
* * * *
There were four of them this time. Nancy hung back as they emerged from the basement, and despite their deferential manner, Pel found their numbers and armament somewhat intimidating himself.
Raven came first, and stood to one side, introducing the others as they stepped out into the hall and bowed.
“Stoddard, man-at-arms and a loyal friend to me since I was a lad,” Raven said, describing a man who stood six feet tall and wore a dirty and somewhat faded red tabard over a stiff leather garment Pel had no name for. Stoddard bowed-more than a mere bob, but not a particularly deep bow. His hair was black and shaggy, his face brown and rugged; besides the tabard and leather, he wore baggy brown hose and brown leather boots. A scabbard hung from his belt, and from the look of it Pel judged his sword to be somewhat heavier than Raven’s.
“Squire Donald a’ Benton,” Raven named the next. His bow was more perfunctory than Stoddard’s, his green tunic considerably cleaner, his boots newer. He seemed about half Stoddard’s size, and in fact was no taller than Nancy’s five foot four, Pel realized. Like Raven and Stoddard, he bore a sword.
His green eyes darted about curiously.
“The mage Valadrakul of Warricken,” Raven said, gesturing at the last member of his party. “Now sworn to Stormcrack Keep.”
The wizard did not bow at all, but made an odd gesture with one hand instead. Most of his dull brown hair trailed loose, halfway down his back, while the rest hung in two narrow braids in front of either ear; he wore a long black vest, ornately embroidered in red and gold, that reached to mid-calf and mostly concealed a plain black tunic and breeches. The sheath on his belt was too small for a true sword, but held a good-sized knife.
“Mage?” Pel asked.
“A wizard,” Raven said. “A magician. One who works spells and brings forth wonders.”
Pel nodded, and tried not to stare. “This way,” he said, motioning toward the family room, herding the visitors ahead of him.
Valadrakul did not fit Pel’s image of a wizard. He was neither tall and imposing, nor small and wizened; his face was not long and hawk-nosed. He wore no robes, nor pointed hat, nor long white beard.
Instead, he was of medium height-five-nine, perhaps, or a bit over-and a little fat, with a pale, round face and a full brown beard, clipped short. His hairstyle reminded Pel of Val Kilmer playing the warrior in “Willow,” though it wasn’t exactly the same, and his outfit didn’t seem like anything in particular. There were no moons and stars, no pentagrams; the embroidery was a graceful floral pattern.
Pel stepped down into the family room to find three of the four strangers standing in the center, staring in all directions. Raven stood with the others, but smiled politely at his host and did not stare; after all, he had been here before.
“Have a seat,” Pel suggested.
Raven nodded and settled on the couch; the wizard, whose name Pel had not caught, took the other end. Squire Donald started toward the recliner, but threw first Pel and then Raven a questioning glance before sinking gingerly into it.
Stoddard ignored the invitation completely; he stepped back toward one wall, but continued to stand, arms crossed over his chest and feet braced apart.
Pel looked at his stolid pose and decided not to argue. Sitting down in that leather barrel the man was wearing might be difficult, and he looked as if he were accustomed to standing.
The man-at-arms looked incredibly out of place in that room, in his rough and archaic clothing. The other three weren’t so bad, but Stoddard simply didn’t fit in such a setting.
With a final glance at him, Pel decided against taking a seat himself; there were no good ones left. Sitting on an endtable seemed undignified.
“So,” Pel said, addressing Raven, “what brings you back?”
“Why, the same portal as erstwhile, of course,” Raven answered smoothly.
“No,” Pel said, “I mean, why have you come back?”
Raven smiled an acknowledgment of his slip. “As before,” he began, “we seek your aid. Have you heard aught of the sky-ship the Imperials sent hither?”
“No,” Pel replied. “And we should have, if it’s really there.”