Long View - Rissa And Tregare Part 5

"Yes. It was good, Bran." She stood. "Now I will unpack."

"All right. I'm going over to the scout for a while-make a few calls and check on whatever's come in since I was here last." He left; leisurely, more intent on thought than on action, she stowed her things away.

Finished, she found the stuffy air oppressive and tried to open a window. The latch- dusty, obviously long-unused- was too stiff for her fingers. She shrugged and went to open the door instead. The feel of it surprised her; it swung smoothly, but was much more ma.s.sive than she expected. Now she saw its thickness, and that the wall was considerably thicker than normal.

Puzzled, she stepped outside and walked around the cabin. At no window could she look in-their placement and the foundation put the lowest a foot beyond her reach, let alone seeing inside. Back to the door-only one?-that does not fit the rest of it-she climbed the steps, paused in the doorway and considered what she saw.

Placed two feet from the right corner of the cabin, the door opened inward and to her left.

She pulled it nearly shut, then slowly opened it. Straight ahead was the kitchen entrance; on the right the end of the table could be seen-but not the 38.seating, nor the sink and cupboards to the left.

To see the bed-in the left front corner, its head against the far wall-she had to come all the way inside. The left rear of the cabin was bathroom, and its door also opened inward and left.

She nodded. No one could come through the door without giving an alert occupant both warning and time to take cover.

Now she prowled the place. Only one kitchen window faced the hill behind. She moved around, looking out; the part of that slope that commanded a view into the kitchen was sheer stone cliff. Again she nodded and went back into the main room. There had to be more-she was going to find it for herself.

The two men had changed the bed-a fair job but not excessively neat. She stood at the foot of it. Which side? Oh, yes-away from the wall, toward the bathroom. Tregare would want to move quickly. So . . .

Yes-barely hidden inside the bed frame, near the head, she found the holder-and the gun, b.u.t.t turned toward the foot for right-handed convenience. She pulled it out-a projectile weapon such as Ernol had carried, with an oversized magazine and a tiny bore in the thick barrel. She put it back.

At lunch Tregare had sat facing the cabin's front. She was not surprised to find, in a holder under that side of the table, the first gun's twin. Consistently, the b.u.t.t pointed to the right. She went again to the door; now she knew what to look for. The three large embossed leather ornaments hung in a pattern slanting down from the door's upper right corner. The lowest was near her right hand as she took the doork.n.o.b in her left; she reached behind it and brought out the weapon.

No needle-spitter, this; it was an energy gun, and heavy. Rissa knew her strength, but she could not hold this piece steady, one-handed. Automatically, before replacing it, she checked the charge indicator and found it near maximum.

There might be more weapons and there might not-but one thing there had to be. She scanned the floor carefully, lifting and replacing the small rugs here and there-in the main room, then kitchen, and finally bathroom. She paused to confirm another needle-gun beside the tub, hidden by a hanging towel, then stood, baffled. Finally she laughed and pulled 39.sidewise at the tub. It pivoted around the mounting that held its plastic water- connections. And there she found what she sought.

There was no pull-ring to the trapdoor; only a b.u.t.ton in the floor near one end. She pressed it; the spring-loaded segment swung upright with a crash, vibrating for a moment.

She looked down; the hole dropped at least twice her height; on one of its glazed sides were metal rungs for climbing. At the bottom she could make out the shadow of a tunnel mouth.

This, she thought, explained the need for an outhouse much better than Tregare had done.

She closed the trapdoor and would have replaced the tub, but it swung back automatically.

Yes-of course-that would be necessary, She had no reason to doubt Tregare's thoroughness, but she checked anyway. Outside and around to the back, looking at the outhouse, she considered its position-largely sheltered in front by the cabin, and from behind by one of the storage buildings.

Entering it, this time she observed the heavy construction. She was not at all surprised to find, hidden in convenient reach of a right-handed sitter, the now-familiar needle-gun.

THE hills brought sunset early. Expecting Tregare's return, Rissa looked through the a.s.sortment of kitchen supplies and chose foods for the evening meal. When she heard him at the door, she had an improvised stew simmering. She went to meet him and they embraced.

"Well.' Keep yourself busy this afternoon, Rissa? Or maybe take a nap?"

"I found much of interest. Your defenses here are ... impressive. At first, when we arrived, I noticed nothing-but when I began to be curious..."

He grinned. "What all did you find? Now I'm curious."

In proper order, she told him what she had found, and how. "I did not go into the tunnel- nor, since I had no idea where to look, search outside for the other end. It is simpler to ask."

"Yes. Well, the tunnel-it's about a hundred meters- brings you back up behind a storage building, in a gully that gives cover if you have to run for it. About halfway-a little 40.less-is a side shaft up to a camouflaged pillbox-looks like just any other hummock, but its guns cover the front approach to the cabin."

"Most thorough. And now-what did I miss?"

Tregare laughed. "Less than I expected-even if I'd set you looking."

"There is more, though?"

"Nothing much-except maybe the real reason this cabin is exactly where it is. From the ridge up there, we're at the precise minimum angle so that if anyone wants to swoop in and drop a bomb and not overshoot-he has to slow down enough to be vulnerable himself, to some little fleabite missiles I've got planted down a little farther out. From the front or sides of course, they'd have no chance-over the ridge was the tricky part."

Rissa nodded. "I am most impressed. But, Bran-are we then in such danger, that your precautions must be so thorough?"

He gripped both her shoulders. "Rissa, I take a lot of precautions I may not need to-if you mean, do I expect to have to use them. I learned that at UET-give them credit for a few good ideas-and maybe improved on the principle a little. When I built this place-had it built-helped build it-I was playing in local politics just a bit, and the situation was considerably stickier than it is now. But I don't regret any of the work, wasted effort or not."

He released her. "For one thing, word got out-and probably improved in the telling-about what I was doing. It's always good to give the opposition the worries."

"Opposition? Is it anyone I should know about?"

"Not now. One got wiped out as an oligarch, and the rest are running hard as they can to stay in the same place." He sniffed the air. "You started dinner? Good-I wouldn't mind fixing it, but I'm hungry enough that I'm glad I don't have to wait while I do it."

"Yes. So am I. Hungry, I mean. Shall we?"

From a cupboard Rissa had not yet inspected, Tregare brought a bottle of wine.

"Let's be a little festive; all right?"

Over the meal, he told her of his own afternoon. "It's the delay that makes it rough," he said. "From Inconnu's...o...b..t 41.the message lag is about eight hours. Doesn't sound too bad, right? But the only times either of us can send is when the sender's pointing the right way when the receiver will be, eight hours later."

Her brows came together, then she nodded. "Yes-I see it."

"Gonnelsen-my First Hat, remember?-he tried to get a better sync on his...o...b..t, out of the computer. But with the length of Number One's day, it didn't fit-he'd be inside the planet he's...o...b..ting!"

"So your communications are irregular."

"d.a.m.n near nonexistent. It'll improve, oddly enough, as that planet gets farther away."

He pushed his empty plate to one side. "One piece of good news, though. Inconnu got a clear copy of a message that came in here garbled a few days ago-too weak a signal to punch through atmosphere."

He leaned forward. "You won't appreciate this yet-but it was from Lefthand Thread, two months out, and homing! Which means it's a lot closer than that now."

"Left hand? That is good?" She played up to his baiting.

"The Escaped ship you heard about, that I practically took by force. I had reason- Marrigan was going to take it out in unsafe condition. We can't afford to lose any Escaped ship- so I sort of strongarmed him into selling. I was younger then-crude methods were all I knew."

"At any rate, you took Lefthand Thread."

"Not exactly. I took Spiral Nebula-which had been UET's Wellington, to start with-and rename'd it. d.a.m.ned near called itHogan's Goat, it was so f.u.c.ked up-but we fixed it.''

"And this ship is coming here?"

"Or to rendezvous with Inconnu-depends on the ships's situation. But it's moving now, Rissa-it all starts to move!"

She looked at him-his face flushed, eyes widened-and said, "The plans you have mentioned, Bran-this is part of them?"

His eyebrows lowered. "I'll tell you all of it, Rissa-soon as I know if there's a h.e.l.l's chance it might work. All right?"

"Could I not help you decide?"

His palm slapped the table; winegla.s.ses jiggled. "Sure- when I know enough to ask the right questions. Right now, 42.too many loose ends. Even before those d.a.m.ned aliens showed up."

"I could guess your plan, I think-but until you wish it, I will not." She rose and put her dishes into the cleaner; when she turned to fetch his, he was bringing them.

He had left the gla.s.ses. He said, "Let's finish this in the other room," and took bottle and gla.s.ses to a small table there. He arranged two chairs and they sat. After he poured, he looked first at the window before him, then over his shoulder at another.

"Those things should be curtained, for night. We can't see out, but somebody could see in." He looked at her. "Can you sew? There's some material in one of those bottom drawers."

"You have needles? Thread? What of hanging rods?"

"h.e.l.l, I don't know. Welding rod, off the scout-I could bend the ends and drive them in the wood. But the sewing-"

"If necessary I will staple the cloth together, as you fasten your papers. I do not mind having to improvise."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Looking down at his wine, he sipped it. "New subject. Rissa- you're here because you want to be?"

"You did not carry me to the aircar. In fact, I carried part of my own luggage and climbed inside quite without help."

His hand moved, swirling wine in the gla.s.s. "You're not making this easy, are you?"

"I mean to make no difficulties. What would you ask?"

"Do you want to go to bed with me?"

"I do not expect either of us to sleep on the floor, Bran."

"Why won't you give me a direct answer?"

"I will, when you ask a direct question."

"All right! You want to f.u.c.k with me, or don't you?"

"I do-of course I do, or I would not be here."

"Then why didn't you say so?"

"I thought the matter was clear enough."

He came around the table, and raised her to stand upright. She accepted and returned his kiss-then his clothes and hers fell to the floor unheeded and she was on the bed, looking up at his taut, unsure smile.

He began gently-that much he had learned on Inconnu- but gentleness was only prelude.

Their coupling was not un- 43.duly brief but, for her, was done too soon. She felt her body move to respond-but then they lay quiet, her response stopped short of fulfillment.

He sighed. "You didn't make it, did you?"

"Not this time. But I began to, Bran. So do not be in too great a hurry-nor will I- and one day it will be as we both wish."

He was off her and across the room, then back with bottle and gla.s.ses. He placed them on the bedside stand next to the intercom unit and sat on the bed beside her.

His fingers stroked her belly; they reached a ticklish spot; she laughed and wriggled.

Then she saw that he touched the scarred area.

"That was done at the Welfare Center. Does it disturb you?"

"Would it disturb you if I fathered heirs elsewhere and brought them home for you to raise?"

"I am not ready for such a task. Someday, perhaps-" She sat up. "Bran! Needing heirs as you do, why did you marry me?" And why have I not told him?

He lunged toward her, pushing both hands into her hair and gripping it. His face pressed against her, his lips between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. His shoulders shook-and only when he raised his head did she realize he was laughing.

"Several reasons," he said. "More than you know. But the one you're asking about- well, one time on Inconnu when you were studying the control room and pretending not to, I took your hair dryer apart. I thought it was pretty bulky to travel with, but I didn't expect what I found."

"Then-you knew?"

"I'd seen a reverser before, yes. So-"

"Bran-I said, I am not ready-"

"You don't have to be-yet. I don't know how to work the thing, anyway; sure as peace I hope you do. No-the only problem is, will you be ready before I leave? Or will I have to leave sperm in the freezers that came with the zoom-wombs?"

Unbelieving, she looked at him. "You would father a child you could not see for- perhaps-decades?"

"It wouldn't be that long for me, of course. But what kind of choice do I have?"

"If I go with you-"

44."Where I'm going, that's not possible."

"I can go anywhere you can! If you say I cannot, we shall not remain married."

"As you are now, you could-sure. But, Rissa-combat's no place for a woman at the heavy end of pregnancy, or with a young baby. Look-be reasonable-you-"

She lay back. "If you ever tell me your plans, perhaps I will know which of us is correct. Now-may I have some more wine?"

AFTER a silent time, she said, "Bran? What were the other reasons? Why you wanted this marriage, I mean."

He looked at her. "On the ship-you got to me. Two things I like are guts and honesty."

"I was not so honest with you."