"How does Winnie know everything," Roland countered, "including accurate descriptions of planets she's never visited?"
"I'll have to talk it over with her," Darla said thoughtfully. "Apparently there's more information in that poem hers than I've been able to get out."
"Maybe the poem and the map and this kind of information," John offered, "what to eat along the way and that sort of thing―maybe you could consider it all a… well, what would you call it? A tourist guide kit?"
"Very good, John," Roland said. "Very good."
"Boy, those woods out there are spooky," Lori said through a mouthful of game hen. "Kept getting. funny… I dunno, feelings."
"Did, you see any white rabbits?" Roland asked.
"Nah, didn't actually see anything. Hey, this is good."
"You should eat, honey," Susan said motheringly. "You haven't taken a bite all day."
"I'm eating, I'm eating!"
"Sorry, Lori. I didn't mean―!'
"Oh, it's okay. I'm sorry."
We watch Winnie tale a tentative bite of fruit and roll it around her tongue. Not bad. She chewed it briskly and popped the rest into her mouth.
We all looked at one another and shrugged.
John leaned back. "Well," he said as if to start something off.
"Yes; well," Roland seconded.
"What are you folks going to do now?" I asked.
"I've been thinking," John began.
"Thought I smelled something burning," Lori mumbled. I think she had John pegged as somewhat of a stuffed shirt, which he was.
Susan tittered, and Roland smiled before he said seriously, "I'm for keeping with Jake. I think if you examine all our options, it's the best one."
"Hold off, now," John cautioned, raising hand. "Why don't we examine then all and see?"
"The linkages are there," Roland asserted. "Everything seems to have gone according to Plan."
"I'm not so sure of that."
"It's fairly obvious."'
"Not to me, I'm afraid," John said gently. "Forgive me, Roland."
Roland sighed. "I suppose my task is to make you see the overall design."
"I want to learn from you, Roland. I really, do. But… please, let's make it an exchange. Agreed?"
Roland nodded. "You're right. I have been doing a lot of pontificating lately." He gave John a conciliatory grin. "Let's go over our options."
"Well, for one…" John slapped the table. "We can try to find, the planet where the Ryxx launch those ships. We may be able to get back to Terran Maze that way."
The second way to get back from a supposedly one-way portaclass="underline" go through normal space. Back in Terran Maze, nobody knew of this, and the Ryxx must have taken great pains not to let on, probably in order to protect their monopoly on trade with the Outworlds, though they could have had other reasons. I knew of no other race who bothered to build starships; the Skyway made them superfluous. The Ryxx would probably hold their monopoly even if everyone knew they were doing it.
"That may be worth exploring," I put in, "just to satisfy your curiosity and cover all bets, but I wouldn't hold out any great hopes for it. How much money have you got?"
John gave me a dour look. "Jake."
"Sorry. Just trying to point out that passage on a sublightspeed starship has to run high. Even if they do take passengers, which I somehow doubt, there could be a long waiting list. From the little I know of starship design, weight and space would be critical."
"Didn't Wilkes say he was going?" John asked.
"I wouldn't take anything Wilkes said without a truckload of salt; He may have been lying, maybe not. Keep this in mind. He was; or is still, for all I know, a very well-connected man. He may have cut a special deal."
"Maybe…" John drummed the table with spidery fingers. "Well, I don't know, maybe we could get jobs, work up our passage money, approach the Ryxx and make a deal ourselves. Plead our case."
The corner of Susan's lips curled sourly. "We have a great sob story."
"I'm simply outlining the alternatives, Susan."
"Oh, go ahead, John. Don't mind me."
"Bear with me, please. Now, back on Splash―"
"I wouldn't go back there," I said.
"Maybe not Splash. Some other place. Here, for instance. There's always the option of settling here, or on some world where we can get a community going."
"The three of us?" Roland said skeptically.
"Three, or two, or even one, Roland. Isn't that what Teleological Pantheism is all about?"
Roland acknowledged the point with a tilt of his head.
John ruminated for a moment, then went on, "I see what you're saying. We'd be cut off. No funds, no communication with our group on Khadija, or with the organization back on Terra. It would be difficult."
"Rather. No money, no immediate prospects of getting any, no place to stay, except with Jake. We need supplies and literature to stock a reading center―"
John turned to me. "I think I told you we do no proselytizing. But one of our chief functions is to open up and run a reading room and consultation center. That's what we were about to do when we had the mishap with the Militia back on Goliath. After visiting our colleague in the hospital, we were going to see about renting a little storefront in town."
Susan had been thinking. "What about sending a message back by starship? If we could only let Sten or somebody know what happened to us."
"Yes," John said, the idea dawning on him, "yes, that's a marvelous thought! Don't know why I didn't think of it. We simply must get word back somehow. If we could let our community know that there's something here on the other side…"
"Again," I said, "you can try, but again I doubt it would work. The Ryxx don't seem to want anyone to know about the Outworlds. They may have been willing to take Wilkes back, but that might only have been because they were in on the drug operation. Anyway, I seriously doubt whether they're in the mail business."
John and Susan looked deflated.
"I wouldn't give up hope," I hastened to add. I didn't want to be too hard on them because what I had to tell them next would be pretty rough. "We know nothing for sure. And the most important thing we're not clear on is whether any of us are safe anywhere in the Outworlds."
Susan's face blanched. "What do you mean; Jake?"
Although I was nearly drunk, I, had been giving, the whole matter some thought "'First of all, we don't know what became of the Laputa." I turned to Lori. "What would've happened if the Arfie pirates had taken over the ship?"
"I don't know. It never happened before."
"You have no idea what would have become of the passengers?"
"No, but I wouldn't put it past Arfies to do something terrible. Some of them are okay, but others…"
"But the ship has always managed to beat off these attacks. Right?"
"Yeah."
"So," I went on, turning back to John and his confreres, "there's every possibility that everyone aboard that ship who was hot on my tail is alive and well and desirous of my blood. All of you are in danger because of your association with me. And that goes for Lori, too… and Carl."
John shook his head slowly, exasperation in his voice. "But surely there's somewhere in the Outworlds we could hide. I simply can't believe―"
"Hide? From the Reticulans?"
The three Teelies looked grimly at me, then at each other.
"I hate to bring it up," I said, "but we're going to have to proceed on the assumption that all of us are sacred quarry."
That put a damper on the conversation for a while. I remembered I hadn't checked in with Sam.
"About time."
"Sorry. We were discussing what we should do. I think we've agreed that everyone should stick together for now."
"A good idea."
"And we should try to get word on what happened to the
Laputa. Is there anything on the air here in the way of news?"
"No commercial or government stations, but there's an extensive skyband and amateur radio network. I've been monitoring all channels. Nothing on the Laputa so far."