Uncharted Territory (17 page)

“All those dice. The binocs.”

“They were
our
binocs.”

“Yeah, well, the indidges seem to have a little trouble with that word. He gave you half a shuttlewren, too. And an oil field.”

“That’s
why he said he’d help me with the waterfall.” He stopped. “I thought Ev said he was a male.”

“He is,” I said, grinning. “And apparently he’s got as much trouble telling what sex we are as we did with him.”

“He thinks I’m
a female?”

“It’s an easy enough mistake,” I said, grinning. I started to walk away.

He grabbed my arm and swung me around to face him. “You’re sure you want to do this? We could get fired.”

“No, we won t. We’re Findriddy and Carson. We’re too famous to get fired.” I smiled at him. “Besides, they can’t. After this expedition, we’re going to owe them our wages for the next twenty.”

We went over to C.J. and Ev, who were glued together again. “Ev, you and your pony go back with C.J. to King’s X,” I said. “You’ve gotta get that theory on the Wall written up.”

“Evelyn told me about his theory,” C.J. said. I wondered when he’d had the time. “And how he saved you from the
tssi mitss”

“We’re gonna go ahead and finish out the expedition,” Carson said, dragging Ev’s pony over. “I thought we’d survey the Ponypiles as long as we’re here.”

We heaved the pony into the bay, and told C.J. to swing west over the Ponypiles and then north on the way home and try to get an aerial.

She wasn’t paying any attention. “Take all the time you need surveying,” she said, climbing on. “And don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine.” She went forward.

Carson handed Ev his pack. “If you could take holos of the Wall at different places, I’d appreciate it,” Ev said. “And samples of the plaster.”

Carson nodded. “Anything else we can do?”

Ev looked up at the heli. “You’ve already done quite a bit.” He shook his head, grinning. “Crystal Falls,” he said, looking at me. “I still think we should’ve named it Heart’s Desire.”

He climbed up into the bay, and C.J. took off, dipping so close to the ground we both ducked.

“Maybe we did too much,” Carson said. “I hope C.J. isn’t so grateful she kills him.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” I said. The heli circled the canyon like a shuttlewren and swooped down in front of the falls for a last look. They flew off, straight north across the plains, which meant we weren’t going to get any aerials.

“We’re just postponing the inevitable, you know,” he said, looking after the heli. “Sooner or later Big Brother’s going to figure out we’ve been having way too many dust storms, or Wulfmeier’ll stumble onto that vein of silver in 246-73. If Bult doesn’t figure out what he could get for this place and tell them first.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” I said. “Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as we think. They didn’t build the Wall, did you know that? They just moved in afterward, clunked the natives on the head, and took over. Bult’d probably own Starting Gate and half of Earth inside a year.”

“And build a dam over the falls,” he said.

“Not if it was a national park,” I said. “You heard what Ev said about how he’d wanted to see the silvershims and the Wall, especially when they find out who built it. I figure people would come a long way to see something like this.” I gestured at the falls. “Bult could charge admission.”

“And fine them for leaving footprints,” he said. “Speaking of which, what’s to stop Bult from getting a crush on you once I tell him I’m not a female?”

“He thinks I’m a male. You said yourself half the time you can’t tell what sex I am.”

“And you’re never going to let me forget it, are you?”

“Nope,” I said.

I went over to where Bult was sitting, watching the pop-up of Carson holding Skimpy Skirt’s hand. “Come with me,” Carson said.

“Come on, Bult,” I said. “Let’s get going.”

Bult shut the pop-up and handed it to Carson.

“Congratulations,” I said. “You’re engaged.”

Bult got out his log. “Disturbance of land surface,” he said to me. “One-fifty.”

I climbed up on Useless. “Let’s go.”

Carson was looking at the falls again. “I still think we should’ve named it Tssarrrah Falls,” he said. He went over to his pony and started rummaging in his pack.

“What on hell are you doing now?” I said. “Let’s go!”

“Inappropriate tone and manner,” Bult said into his log.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” I said. “What are you looking for?” I said to Carson.

“The binocs,” Carson said. “Have you got em?”

“I gave ‘em to you,” I said. “Now, come on.”

He got on his pony and we started off down the slope after Bult. Out beyond the cliff the plain was turning purple in the late afternoon. The Wall curved down out of the Ponypiles and meandered across it, and beyond it you could see the mesas and rivers and cinder cones of uncharted territory, spread out before me like a present, like a bowerbird’s treasures.

“You did not give the binocs back to me,” Carson said. “If you lost ‘em again—”

CONNIE WILLIS has won major awards for her novels and short stories. Her first short-story collection,
Fire Watch,
was a
New York Times
Notable Book. Her other works include
Doomsday Book, Lincoln’s Dreams, Bellwether, Impossible Things, Remake, Uncharted Territory, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Miracle and Other Christmas Stories,
and
Passage.
Ms. Willis lives in Greeley, Colorado, with her family.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY

eISBN: 978-0-307-57415-2

v3.0