The Star Fox (24 page)

Now the privateer found words more easily. He stayed with English, though, which de Vigny could follow. ‘As I explained to Lieutenant Irribarne, Earth needs to be convinced of two things. First, that you people survive; second, that you won’t go along with any appeasement that costs you your homes. Well, the men of yours who’re now in space, on my ship, might be a clinching proof of the first point. But men have always bragged about how hard they’ll fight, so any such claims they may make could be discounted.’

‘And rightly so,’ de Vigny remarked. ‘One has often in history heard nations declare they will fight to the last man, but none have ever done it. And there has never been any question of fighting to the last woman and child. If Earth does not soon come to help, I shall most certainly try to save us by making whatever bargain I can with Alerion.’

‘I’m coming to that,’ Heim said. ‘If we can send some of your women and children, it’ll make the whole thing more real to the average Earth-dweller. They’d be a powerful help to the faction there which does want victory. Three ways: plain old emotional appeal; living proof that standing up to Alerion doesn’t necessarily mean total disaster; and, well, a woman who says her people don’t want to surrender is more convincing than a man. The balance of opinion at home seems
to be pretty delicate. They might be enough by themselves to tip it.’

‘They
might
. You deal in hypotheses, Monsieur Captain. I must deal with the reality that we shall soon be getting sick.’

‘If they also carried word you aren’t about to – what then?’

‘
Hein?
’ De Vigny balled his fist. ‘What do you propose?’

‘That we get you your vitamins. Look, aren’t the Aleriona having a lot of trouble operating your machines? And aren’t you causing still more with your raids?’

‘Yes. But this is hardly significant.’

‘It is when they’re in a tearing hurry to complete the space fortifications and I’ve thrown them way behind schedule. I think if you offered to leave them alone, and maybe even send them some technicians, they’d swap. Give you the pills you need. Of course, you’d have to make sure those really were vitamin C capsules, but that shouldn’t be too hard to arrange.’

‘What?’ Irribane cried. ‘Bargain with the enemy?’

‘It is not uncommon in war.’ De Vigny stroked his chin. ‘Indeed, those are the terms I was planning to make, if I could, when we are desperate. They will understand we are buying time in the hope of deliverance. But if they do not know that deliverance may, after all, be expected—Yes. Why should they not take an easy way of getting us off their necks? They will assume we can be dealt with later. … To be sure, they may demand unconditional surrender, insist we come down to the lowlands where we can be penned up.’

‘If they do,’ Heim said, ‘I think we might manage to grab warehouse stocks or even manufacturing facilities. A joint operation between your forces and my ship. Or if that doesn’t look feasible—’ He swallowed bitterness. ‘We can throw in an offer that I go home.’

‘Name of a name,’ de Vigny breathed. ‘That would surely fetch them. But let us make the less costly proposal first, not admitting we have any communication with you, and hold this bargaining counter in reserve.’

‘Oh, sure. Besides, we have to get the transport with the evacuees safely away, which needs surprise.’

De Vigny considered him. ‘You are most strangely concerned about a hundred or two of women and children. I attach less importance to them. Our continued existence here, as free men, is more apt to make Earth move. However … two hundred saved are still two hundred, so have your way.
But how do you propose to get such a lumbering, overloaded craft beyond the Mach limit?’

‘
Fox
will make a covering raid when I send word.’

‘What? She is that close, undetected? How the devil? And how can a maser beam find her when Aleriona radar can’t?’

‘My engineer is off explaining the setup to your technical staff. Let us stick to the tactical side for now. The diversion should be ample. One well-armed ship, striking by surprise, can raise all kinds of hell. Once
Meroeth’s
in space,
Fox
will escort her to the limit. According to all our information – from instruments, radio monitor, captured documents, and so forth; we’ve got a man who can puzzle out the language if you give him time – most of the enemy strength here is chasing through the Auroran System and beyond, looking for me. So we ought to be out of danger well before they can bring more power to bear against us than
Fox
can handle.’

The colonel frowned. ‘You juggle too many unknowns for my taste.’

‘Or mine,’ Heim said dryly. But one way to clear away some of ’em is obvious. Let me go along with your delegation to the Aleriona. They won’t know I’m not just another colonist. But I know them pretty well. I ought to, after so many years sparring with them. I also have a professional Navy eye, which they won’t be expecting. Endre should come too. He’s got a poet’s grasp of nonhuman psychologies. Between us, we can not only help you make a better deal, but carry back a lot of useful information to base our specific plans on.’

‘M-m-m … well—’ De Vigny pondered a moment. Then crisply: ‘So be it. Time is short, and we do not really have much to lose. This, then, is the schedule as I understand it. We begin at once to arrange evacuation. During the next few days, the people chosen can flit in by ones and twos. We must also load supplies, and must not be observed doing it. But my men can run a cargo tube from the forest to one of your locks below water, without exposing it to the sky.

‘Meanwhile I establish radio contact with the Aleriona and ask for a parley. They will doubtless agree, especially since their new chief of naval operations seems, from Lieutenant Irribarne’s account, to be a rather decent fellow. I daresay they will receive our representatives already tomorrow.

‘If we can reach an agreement, cessation of guerrilla operations and perhaps the supplying of some engineers in exchange
for vitamins – good. Whether that works out or not, the delegation returns here.

‘Then your ship attacks to get this transport safely away.

‘After that, if we are provided with the capsules, you continue your warfare in space as long as possible. If not, and if we cannot steal them, I call the enemy again and offer an end to your activities, provided he supplies us. This he is virtually sure to accept.

‘At large cost or small, we shall have gained time, during which we hope Earth will come to help. Am I right?’

Heim nodded and got out his pipe. That’s the idea,’ he said.

De Vigny’s nostrils dilated. Tobacco? One had almost forgotten.’

Heim chuckled and threw the pouch on the desk. De Vigny picked up a little bell rang it. An aide-de-camp materialized in the tent entrance, saluting. ‘Find me a pipe,’ de Vigny said. ‘And, if the captain does not object, you may find one for yourself too.’

‘At once, my colonel!’ The aide dematerialized.

‘Well.’ De Vigny unbent a trifle. Thanks are a poor thing, monsieur. What can New Europe
do
for you?’

Heim grew conscious of Vadász’s half jocose, half sympathetic regard, blushed, and said roughly, ‘I have an old friend on this planet, who’s now Jean Irribarne’s sister-in-law. See to it that she and her family are among the evacuees.’

‘Pierre will not go when other men stay,’ the Basque said gently.

‘But they shall most certainly come here if you wish,’ de Vigny said. He rang for another aide. ‘Lieutenant, why do you not go with Major Legrand to my own flyer? It has a set which can call to anywhere in the Haute Garance. If you will tell the operator where they are, your kin—’ When that was done, he said to Heim and Vadász, ‘I shall be most busy today, it is plain. But let us relax until after lunch. We have many stories to trade.’

And so they did.

When at last de Vigny must dismiss them, Heim and Vadász were somewhat at loose ends. There was little to see. Though quite a few men were camped around the lake, the shelters were scattered and hidden, the activity unobtrusive. Now and then a flyer came by, as often as not weaving between tree trunks under the concealing foliage. Small radars sat in
camouflage, watching for the unlikely appearance of an Aleriona vessel. The engineers could not install their loading tube to the ship before night, unless one of the frequent fogs rose to cover their work. Men sat about yarning, gambling, doing minor chores. All were eager to talk with the Earthlings, but the Earthlings soon wearied of repeating themselves. Toward noon a degree of physical tiredness set in as well. They had been up for a good eighteen hours.

Vadász yawned. ‘Let us go back to our tent,’ he suggested. This planet has such an inconvenient rotation. You must sleep away a third of the daylight and be awake two thirds of the night.’

‘Oh, well,’ Heim said. ‘It wouldn’t be colonizable otherwise.’

‘What? How?’

‘You don’t know? Well, look, it has only half Earth’s mass, and gets something over 85 percent of the irradiation. The air would’ve bled away along ago, most of it, except that air loss is due in large part to magnetic interaction with charged particles from the sun. Even a G5 star like Aurore spits out quite a bit of stuff. But slow spin means a weak magnetic field.’

‘Another thanks due to Providence,’ the Hungarian said thoughtfully.

‘Huh!’ Heim snorted. ‘Then we’ve got to blame Providence for Venus keeping too much atmosphere. It’s a simple matter of physics. The smaller a planet is, and the closer to its sun, the less difference of angular momentum between the inner and outer sections of the dust cloud that goes to form it. Therefore, the less rotation.’

Vadász clapped his shoulder. ‘I do not envy you your philosophy, my friend. God is
good
. But we are in mortal danger of becoming serious. Let us, I say, return to the tent, where I have a flask of brandy, and—’

They were not far from it then, were crossing a meadow where flame-colored blossoms nodded in the golden grass. Jean Irribarne stepped from under the trees. ‘Ah,’ he hailed, ‘
vous voilá
I have looked for you.’

‘What about?’ Heim asked.

The lieutenant beamed. ‘Your friends are here.’ He turned and called, ‘’Allo-o-o!’

They came out into the open, six of them. The blood left Heim’s heart and flooded back. He stood in a sunlit darkness that whirled.

She approached him timidly. Camp clothes, faded and shapeless, had today been exchanged for a dress brought along to the woods and somehow preserved. It fluttered light and white around her long-legged slenderness. Aurore had bleached the primly braided brown hair until it was paler than her skin; but still it shone, and one lock blew free above the heart-shaped face. Her eyes were violet.

‘Madelon,’ he croaked.

‘Gunnar.’ The handsome woman took both his hands. ‘
C’est si bon te voir encore. Bienvenu!

‘
Å nej
—’ The breath rasped into him. He pulled back his shoulders. ‘I was surprised,’ he said limpingly. ‘Your daughter looks so much like you.’

‘Pardon?’ The woman struggled with long unused English.

Her husband, an older and heavier version of Jean, interpreted while he shook Heim’s hand. Madelon laughed. ‘
Oui, oui, tout le monde le dit. Quand j’ètais jeune, peutètre. Danielle, je voudrais que tu fasses la connaissance de mon vieil ami Gunnar Heim
.’

‘
Je suis très honorèe, monsieur
.’ She could scarcely be heard above the wind as it tossed the leaves and made light and shadow dance behind her. The fingers were small and cool in Heim’s, quickly withdrawn.

In some vague fashion he met teen-age Jacques, Cècile, and Yves. Madelon talked a lot, without much but friendly banalities coming through the translations of the Irribarne brothers. All the while Danielle stood quiet. But at parting, with promises of a real get-together after sleep, she smiled at him.

Heim and Vadász watched them leave, before going on themselves. When the forest had closed upon her, the minstrel whistled. ‘Is that indeed the image of your one-time sweetheart, yonder girl?’ he asked.

‘More or less,’ Heim said, hardly aware that he talked to anyone else. ‘There must be differences, I suppose. Memory plays tricks.’

‘Still, one can see what you meant by – Forgive me, Gunnar, but may I advise that you be careful? There are so many years to stumble across.’

‘Good Lord!’ Heim exploded angrily. ‘What do you take me for? I was startled, nothing else.’

‘Well, if you are certain … You see, I would not wish to—’

‘Shut up. Let’s find that brandy.’ Heim led the way with tremendous strides.

D
AY
crept toward evening. But life kept its own pace, which can be a fast one in time of war. At sunset Heim found himself on a ness jutting into the lake, alone with Danielle.

He was not sure how. There had been the reunion and a meal as festive as could be managed, in the lean-to erected near the Irribarne flyer. Champagne, which he had taken care to stow aboard
Meroeth
, flowed freely. Stiffness dissolved in it. Presently they sprawled on the grass, Vadász’s guitar rang and most voices joined his. But Heim and Madelon kept somewhat apart, struggling to talk, and her oldest daughter sat quietly by.

They could not speak much of what had once been. Heim did not regret that, and doubted Madelon did. Meeting again like this, they saw how widely their ways had parted; now only a look, a smile, a bit of laughter could cross the distance between. She was an utterly good person, he thought, but she was not Connie or even Jocelyn. And, for that matter, he was not Pierre.

So they contented themselves with trading years. Hers had been mild until the Aleriona came. Pierre, the engineer, built dikes and power stations while she built their lives. Thus Heim found himself relating the most. It came natural to make the story colorful.

His eyes kept drifting toward Danielle.

Finally – this was where the real confusion began as to what had happened – the party showed signs of breaking up. He wasn’t sleepy himself, though the wine bubbled in his head, and his body demanded exercise. He said something about taking a stroll. Had he invited the girl along, or had she asked to come, or had Madelon, chuckling low in the way he remembered, sent them off together with a remark about his needing a guide? Everybody had spoken, but between his bad French and hammering pulse he wasn’t sure who had said what. He did recall that the mother had given them a little
push toward the deeper forest, one hand to each.