Serpent's Gift (41 page)

Slowly, Khuharkk' came closer to her, and Heather held her ground, her heart racing. Then she felt the Simiu reach out, lay a gentle hand on her shoulder. "One who would beat a child is an honorless
dragkk'"
he said softly. "Especially one who would harm a child who has such spirit, such courage." The Simiu paused for dramatic effect. "Such .. .
honor."

Heather didn't know what to say. A moment later the leathery hand brushed her unruly curls with a feather touch. "Back home, I had a niece with a mane the color of yours," Khuharkk' said wistfully, stroking her thick mop with his knuckles. "She, too, had troubles, and needed my guidance. I am thinking, Honored Heather Farley, that you, too, could use a
true
uncle, an uncle who would be a friend and mentor. You would benefit from such an uncle, almost as much as this lonely uncle would benefit from such a niece."

Heather blinked, feeling her head spin at this sudden turn of events. He had called her "honored"! And he wanted to be her uncle! Hing had told her that an uncle was very special, a helpful big brother. That he would offer her this was an incredible honor.

She blinked, dazed. "I... don't deserve this."

"That may well be," he said briskly, returning to his old self as he stepped back". "But there is much I have to learn about humans... and I am curious about those things not taught in books. It would be a fair exchange. And I must confess, I would like to improve my computer skills. You could help me in that, couldn't you, little' niece?"

241

She drew herself up, stood taller. "I'd be proud to, Uncle!" Then she added,

"But only if we work strictly through the regular input modes!"

He glanced at her sideways. "This ability ... to telepathically link with the computer. It is hard to understand. Do you do it often?"

She blinked, surprised by his curiosity. She shook her head, then glanced at the terminal in his room. Her terrifying experience was still raw in her mind.

"No, sir. In fact, I've learned my lesson about that. I'll
never
do that again, not
ever,
and that's a promise!"

"I believe you, Niece," the Simiu said, and he inclined his head gravely to her. "Truly, you have learned a great deal!"

"We've discovered that the radonium in the vicinity of the school is breeding," Andrea Lynch said bluntly to the assembled StarBridge contingent. Jeff Morrow sat silent, not looking up, his face lined with misery.

"You've
got
to get out of here, and the sooner the better."

Rob felt the blood drain from his face. "But--but..." he stammered. "Wait a minute! You said that everything here was all right!"

"That was a week ago," Lynch said bluntly. "It's breeding fast-- and it'll continue to pick up speed."

"How long do we have?" Kkintha said, nervously pulling out tufts of her chest ruff. "Before it becomes dangerous?"

"A week, probably," Lynch said. "Maybe a little less."

"A
week!
Rob slammed his fists against the arms of his chair. "Are you
crazy!

Do you know how long it's going to take to pack this place up, and
move,
lock, stock, and barrel? Just getting the kids to safety will probably take several days, now that one of our shuttles has been destroyed!"

"You'd better get started, then," Lynch said, her eyes flat and expressionless as a lizard's. "We're sorry about this, Dr. Gable, really, but it's not our fault.

When radonium starts breeding, it's extremely unpredictable."

"This--this .. ." Rob sputtered at her, so angry he couldn't think straight for a second, then the red haze cleared slightly, and he was able to say, coldly and distinctly, "Just how long have you known about this, Ms. Lynch?"

The crew boss didn't meet his eyes. "Two days," she said flatly. "But we did a recheck to make sure we were right, and that was only completed today."

"You are certain of your facts, then?" Kkintha said in her soft, 242

chittery voice. The little Chhhh-kk-tu didn't look strong enough to crack an acorn, but she was taking this much better than Rob though he knew she had to be equally upset.

"Yes, we're certain," Lynch said, her dark eyes grim.

"What about the star-shrine?" Ssoriszs said. "May we at least rescue that before we must evacuate? Serge told me that Cavern Two should be

neutralized by now."

"Out of the question," Lynch snapped. "Cavern Two won't be safe for at least another week."

"I think we need a second opinion on all of this," Janet said making no effort to hide her anger. "If only Andreiovitch hadn't--"

"I have taken care of that already," Kkintha said, interrupting Janet.

"You what?" Rob stared at the little alien, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"When Dr. Andreiovitch was kil ed, I knew we would need another engineering team," Kkintha said flatly. "So I contacted a nearby mining station where they mine radonium, and requisitioned their services. They will be here in three days."

"Whoa!" Rob gazed at the little alien in undisguised admiration. "You don't mess around, Kkintha!"

"No, Robert, I do not," she said in clipped tones. "This situation is getting to be, as you humans would put it, 'no longer within the grasp of the fingers.' So I determined to act."

Rob was bemused by her mangled idiom until he suddenly realized that she meant "out of hand." "I quite agree," he said ter "Ms. Lynch, I regard it as inexcusable that you didn't warn] us the moment your instruments picked up even the faintest hint of radonium-2 near the school!"

"Frankly, I question that finding," Janet said. "I've been all over this immediate vicinity, and down in the bowels of these don and my instruments don't register even a peep of R-2. How do you account for
that,
Ms. Lynch?"

She leaned forward, her green
eyes
challenging the black woman.

"Our instruments are more sensitive than yours!" Lynch tested. "I told you that earlier!"

"So you did," Janet said, looking more than a little like a cat who is poised to pounce. "Tell me, just how much more sensitive
are
they?"

Lynch shifted uncomfortably in her seat, glancing at Jeff, who had scarcely moved, much less spoken, since he'd first sat down. "It's very technical.. ."

she began.

243

"Don't worry about that," Janet purred. "I've boned up. I'm sure I'll be able to follow you, even if
they
can't." She indicated the other StarBridge staff. "I'll explain it to them later."

Lynch hesitated, then with a sudden grimace turned to Morrow. "Jeff, you led the survey team, while I stayed in the caverns mostly!
You
explain it to them!"

"Yes, Jeff," Rob said, trying to rein in his anger as he looked at his friend's haggard, drawn features. "You did lead the survey team. Is Lynch right? Do we only have a week?"

Morrow gave all of them a glance that seemed glassy, as though he'd received a shock. Remembering last night, Rob wondered whether the engineer had been drinking, but he didn't think so. Jeff looked extremely depressed, but he was clearly in full command of his faculties. "I told Andrea earlier that I thought she was being a bit of an alarmist," he said quietly.

Lynch gave an audible gasp of indignation and looked daggers at her boss.

Morrow shrugged, spreading his hands out. "Well, I
did,
Andrea," he defended himself to the crew boss before turning back to the others. "Rob, realistically, I would say you had at least two weeks. It's possible that an evacuation won't prove necessary at all. My people are sealing off those areas as fast as possible."

"How many 'areas'?" Janet asked.

"At the moment, we've only found one that's within a hundred- meter radius of the school. There's another that's about a kilometer away. Both are small, and isolated."

"I'm surprised I didn't detect the hundred-meter lode," Janet said, her eyes never leaving Morrow's face. "I went at least a hundred meters out during my surveys. Sometimes considerably more."

"This one would be easy to miss, without the most fine-tuned equipment,"

Jeff said. "It's a tiny spot.
We
had to double-check it before confirming it."

Rob looked over at Andrea Lynch. The woman sat slumped down in her seat, her arms clamped across her chest, obviously defiant, defensive, and boiling mad at what she regarded as her boss's defection.

"If you didn't think the situation was as serious as Ms. Lynch indicated,"

Kkintha said, "then why did you condone her advising us to evacuate immediately, Jeffrey?"

Morrow ran his fingers through his lank hair. "To be honest, Administrator, there is
some
danger. I felt that you wouldn't want to take even the smallest risk, and would prefer to get the students

244

out at even a whisper of danger." He regarded them all, one by one. "Am I right?"

Slowly, reluctantly, they all signed their agreement. There was no argument--the safety of the students had to come before any other consideration.

"We will begin putting my plan into effect first thing tomorrow," Kkintha said.

"I will call an all-school assembly and brief the students. Janet, please arrange whatever transport you can to replace the
Fys,
as my plan was made before the destruction of that craft."

Silently, with heavy hearts, the StarBridge staff left the conference room to begin their preparations.

Very early the next morning, Hing walked rapidly down the corridor in the bottom level of the school, where the pool and gyms were located. She had promised Serge that she'd join him for his daily swim, and for once in her life, she was actually
on time.

"Be on time, if that is possible," he'd teased her, when they'd parted shortly before midnight, after making love. Because it was Heather's first night back, Hing felt that she wanted to sleep in their suite, in case the child had any bad dreams. "Or you may be sorry."

"Oh, yeah?" she'd said coyly. "Why would I be sorry?"

"Because, if you are very late, I am apt to swim so many laps by the time you get there that I will be too tired for any other physical activity for the rest of the day," he'd replied solemnly, his sapphire eyes dancing.

Now, walking along the corridor with all possible speed, Hing glanced at her watch. "Hah," she muttered, "fooled you, Serge LaRoche! I can't wait to see your face!"

Of course, she'd promised herself that she'd be
early,
but she hadn't managed that. Still, she thought, managing to quicken her pace a tiny bit more, with a little luck she might reach the hall outside the pool area and be able to lean against the door before he came along, and then rag him that she'd been there for ten minutes, and what had been holding him up, for goodness' sake?

Grinning, Hing gave in and broke into a jog. She couldn't wait to see him, even though they'd only been apart a few hours. She'd missed waking up with him beside her, one arm draped across her hip. Besides, she wanted to show him what she now wore on her left hand, for the first time in six months.

As she rounded the last corridor, she saw with a sigh that she'd missed her chance. Serge was already coming down the corridor

245

from the opposite direction. He saw her, glanced at his watch, and then did a double take that was almost as satisfactory as Hing had envisioned. "Hi!" the Cambodian student called, waving her left hand at him. "Notice anything?"

He squinted at her, then his face lit up. "Wonderful! That is won--"

Hing never heard the rest of what he was going to say, because a dull boom resounded beneath her feet, half an instant before the floor surged upward as though punched by a giant fist. She screamed as she staggered, trying to stay on her feet, then she saw Serge fall to his knees.

Beside him, the nearest wall began a slow nightmarish topple, even as the muffled
thud
of a second, bigger explosion resounded below them.

"Serge!" she shrieked, wavering forward, trying to stay upright, praying the wall wouldn't hit him. "Serge!"

As she struggled, slipping to one knee, Hing felt the floor heave again beneath her, and then another giant fist slammed just below her, so hard that she had scarcely a moment to realize that the surface beneath her feet was no longer heaving, no longer plunging-- it was no longer doing anything, because it was no longer there.

The floor beneath her had literally disappeared.

The student screamed wildly as she fell through the giant aperture that had opened up in what seconds ago had been the corridor. Using every bit of her strength and determination, she lunged forward, grabbing for the edge. Her fingernails caught on the ripped flooring and she scrabbled, kicking, clawing for purchase as she tried to heave herself up and out--

--only to fail.

And fall.

Hing had perhaps half a second to realize that she was hurtling downward, and that all was blackness around her--

--before the blackness slammed into her, and she was swallowed,

engulfed .. . blotted out.

246

Darkness. There had been darkness.

And fear.

And pain.

His head had hurt terribly--still hurt, though the pain was now a dull ache instead of throbbing agony.

The fear was also gone, though deep inside him, something shrank in terror from a searing knowledge that he stubbornly refused to contemplate--but that awareness was far, far buried, and he managed to ignore it.

And the darkness. . . that was gone, too, because there Was a wan light all around him.

Should he open his eyes? The effort seemed too much, too dangerous.

Opening his eyes was a huge step--one he was not ready to take.

Sleep, that was what he needed. Oblivion, that was what he craved. He drifted off again, thankful that he hadn't really awakened. That was something he instinctively knew better than to do .. .

But even as he slept again, he was uncomfortably aware that waking was inevitable. He could not put it off forever--no matter how much he wanted to . . .