The Knights of the Black Earth by Margaret Weis & Don Perrin

Author:Margaret Weis & Don Perrin [Weis, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780451455147
Publisher: Roc
Published: 1996-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

And thereby hangs a tale.

William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7

Xris woke with a start and the panicked feeling that always hit him when his systems shut down. The sound of a snore was highly comforting. He glanced over to see the Doc, sitting upright, his head lolling backward, asleep in one of the metal frame chairs.

Tycho, who didn’t handle jumps well, was stretched out on a cot, feebly twitching and groaning. The Little One was a bundle of blankets. Above the usual rattlings and thrumnmings of the plane, Harry’s loud voice could be heard discoursing on the subject of fleas.

Xris did a careful systems analysis. Everything checked out. Quong must have fixed him up. Standing, Xris walked forward into the cockpit.

Jamil, looking intensely bored, was listening to Harry. Rowan was pretending to listen. In reality, she probably hadn’t heard a word, sat staring out into space.

Xris began to chew on a twist. “Hello,” he said. “How’s everything going?”

“Fine, everything’s fine,” Harry said cheerfully.

“You okay?” Jamil asked gruffly.

Xris nodded, changed the subject. He hated talking about the times when he “crashed,” as Quong put it.

“What’s our ETA?”

Harry glanced at the instruments. “Six hours fifty-four minutes and seven seconds.”

“Good. Now why don’t you and Jamil go take a walk.”

Jamil, casting a glance at Rowan, was already on his feet. Harry just sat there, looking blank.

“Take a walk, Harry,” Xris repeated. “Beat it.”

“C’mon, Harry.” Jamil prodded the big man. “You can show me that video.”

“Oh, uh, sure. If you really want to see it. You know, I never knew bugs could be so interesting. Why, were you aware that the flea is known for its agility in leaping—”

The two wandered off back into the interior of the cargo plane.

Xris leaned against the console, chewed on the twist.

Rowan continued to stare into space.

Xris stirred, shifted his gaze to join hers. “Give me one good reason,” he said quietly, “why I shouldn’t throw you out there.”

She finally looked at him.

“Where do you want me to start?”

Xris waved his hand. “Oh, how about when you decided to betray us to the Hung?”

Rowan sighed. “I didn’t, Xris. You have to believe me. I didn’t.”

Xris remained silent, was unconvinced. He finished off the twist, took out another.

“I admit I made mistakes, Xris. I know that now. I knew it then, but by the time I realized ... I should have talked to you ... I wanted to ...”

Shutting her eyes, she shivered. The spaceplane was cold and her uniform—a crisp white blouse and knife-pleated black slacks— was intended for the sheltered, temperature-controlled space station. Xris realized he was still dressed in the yellow coveralls. He glanced around, found a down-filled jacket—Harry’s, to judge by the enormous size—and tossed it to Rowan. She wrapped it around her slender shoulders, hunched into it.

“I’ve often wondered if it would have made any difference,” she continued. “Maybe if I’d opened up to you that day of the briefing, before we left for TISor 13 . .. met you in the bar, like I promised, talked about—” She abruptly skipped that part.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.