A Working of Stars by Debra Doyle

Author:Debra Doyle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2011-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

12:

ENTIBOR: STANDARD ORBIT GG-12 ERAASI: HANILAT

Night’s-Beautiful-Daughter was built of good steel and stout aluminum. Llannat Hyfid—Maraganha, she reminded herself yet again; I have to be Maraganha—was the first of Arekhon’s Mages to abandon her pressure-suit, as soon as the airlock had cycled and the ship was safe. Her sturdy leather boots rang on the metal deckplates as she left the entrance bay for the narrow, curving passageway beyond. For these first few minutes, she didn’t want the members of Arekhon’s Circle to see her face.

I never thought I’d board this ship again. And I certainly never thought that I’d find her waiting for me at the other end of time.

She knew the layout of the Daughter by memory; she could have followed the ship’s corridors all the way from the cockpit in one direction to the engine room in the other. She thought for a while of going to the cockpit, where a much-younger Llannat Hyfid had found—would someday find—two long-dead crew members strapped into their seats, with their throats slit and a message written on the forward viewscreen in their blood: “Adept from the forest world: Take this message to the Domina. Tell her what you have seen.”

But they wouldn’t be there now. In this time, Night’s-Beautiful-Daughter was still a living ship, and whatever had happened to set her adrift on her course through the interstellar gap was yet to come.

Llannat returned to the entrance bay instead. The two Mages already waiting in there—intense young Ty, who carried an Adept’s staff in spite of his Circle training; and Narin, whom they had pulled by main strength out of salt water and the Void—gave her odd looks when she entered the compartment.

Llannat shook her head ruefully. They all thought of her as something not quite human, even ’Rekhe, who certainly ought to know better; a wonderworker, perhaps, or their own private oracle. She wished that they would stop. Not a sensible wish, since she was in this position of her own will, but good sense never stopped anyone from wishing yet.

The airlock cycled one last time, and Karil and Arekhon came aboard through the sliding doors. The starpilot turned to Arekhon and said, “Where to next, Captain?”

“Eraasi,” he said. “Ty, find us food supplies if you can. The ship should be fully stocked, but if it isn’t we’ll have to stop somewhere before the interstellar gap to replenish our larder.”

“We have to be on our way before any of the in-system ships get antsy and fire on us, or we may be permanently delayed,” Karil said. “I’m going to move off a ways before I calculate the run we need.”

“All we need,” said Arekhon, “is to find the other side of the Gap.”

“Easier said than done, maybe,” the pilot said. “But we won’t know until we give it a try.”

“Let’s go, then,” he said. “Maraganha etaze—if you would like to come along as well?”

Llannat gave in to the inevitable. “I’d be honored,” she said.

When they reached the cockpit, Arekhon took his place in the right-hand seat and gave a deep sigh.

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