The Icarus Hunt Part 42

"Trondariok," Ixil repeated. "It's a Dariok colony world about ten light-years from Rachna."

For a moment Cameron still didn't get it. I watched his face, wondering idly how long it was going to take. And then, his face suddenly cleared. "Of course,"

he said, nodding. "Rachna. It's the duplicate Icarus we were building at the construction plant there. The one I was going to have flown to Meima."

"That's the one," I confirmed. "One of my other suggestions to Sir Arthur. A second Kalixiri commando team got in and commandeered it, with instructions to fly around that area for a week or so and make sure they're seen and identified."

"By then, if we're lucky," Ixil added, "the group we've got at Hinsenato will have finished making their copy off the blueprints the Kalixiri sent them from Rachna."

"Wait a minute," Nicabar said, his forehead wrinkled in thought. "Rachna.

That's way over in the Eta Sindron region, isn't it?"

"That's right," I said.

"Well, h.e.l.l, that's no good," he objected. "The Patth know we were on Palmary less than a week ago. We couldn't possibly have made it all the way to-"

He broke off, his face changing as he suddenly got it. "Oh," he said. "Right.

Of course we couldn't make it with a standard stardrive. But the Icarus isn't supposed to be running with just a standard stardrive."

"And as far as the Patth are concerned, this little incident should solidly clinch that theory for them," I said, nodding. "So now we just have to lead them on. A couple of days after the Icarus disappears from the Trondariok area, it'll be spotted near Hinsenato, then somewhere else, and so on. The idea is to draw the chase far enough away from here that we'll be able to quietly move the real Icarus somewhere secure where we can start studying it."

"And what happens to us?" Nicabar asked. "The same gilded cage the Patth were offering?"

"For Shawn and Chort, some kind of protective custody will be required," I conceded. "At least until the Icarus has been tucked away someplace safe.

That'll also give us some time to get their testimonies against Everett."

"So that was why you maneuvered him into admitting Jones's murder in front of all of us," Tera murmured. "So you'd have witnesses to his confession."

"Right," I said. "Just one more lever we can use against him if he decides to be stubborn about helping us dismantle Antoniewicz's organization. As for you and your father, power and influence being what it is, you're pretty much exempt from any threats Geneva can throw at you. Though I suspect Sir Arthur will strongly suggest you both stay with the project, wherever it finally gets set up."

"Don't worry on that count," Cameron said firmly. "The Icarus is my discovery and my property. Wild Yavanni couldn't drag me away from it now."

"Likewise," Tera seconded."We sort of figured you'd see things that way," I said. "And Ixil and I are accounted for, too." I turned to Nicabar. "Which just leaves you."

"What are my options?" he asked calmly.

"The Kalixiri want to toss you into the gilded cage with Shawn and Chort," I told him. "Frankly, I think that would be a waste of talent and ability.

"So here are your choices, or at least the ones I'm going to recommend to Sir Arthur You can stay with Cameron and the research group, using your commando training and experience to help protect the project; or we can take you to meet Sir Arthur and see if he thinks you've got it in you to be a down-and-out smuggler type. We may have gotten Antoniewicz, but there are a lot of other fish in the cesspool that we'd like to see flopping around the bottom of our boat."

"I appreciate the offer," he said, looking at Cameron and Tera. "But this one's no contest. Here with the Icarus is where the future is going to be created.

If we can figure out how that stargate works, the Spiral is going to change, almost overnight. The Spiral, h.e.l.l-we'll be able to get to places in the rest of the galaxy we could never reach before."

He looked back at me. "And the one thing sure as h.e.l.l is that the Patth will fight like demons every step of the way to keep us from pulling their little gold-weave rug out from under them. No, I think I'd like to stay here."

"Okay," I said, catching Ixil's eye and getting to my feet. "I'll go give Sir Arthur a call, and we'll see what we can work out. I'll let you know what he says." Nodding to Cameron and Tera, I headed across the room, leaving Ixil to the task of prying his ferrets away from their impromptu snack.

There in the archway, though, I paused and looked back. Nicabar was deep in quiet conversation with the Camerons; but as he leaned across the table it seemed to me that his eyes were lingering more on Tera than they were on her father, an attention that seemed to be reasonably mutual. And it occurred to me that after all the time the two of them had spent aboard the Icarus, surrounded by loathsome smugglers and potential murderers, having only each other to trust, they might have become a bit more than just shipmates. It would be interesting to drop back by the project in, say, six months and see if Cameron was now working under the protection of a future son-in-law.

Ixil was coming toward me now, Pix and Pax still munching away as they rode his shoulders. I made a mental note to offer him a small wager.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

TIMOTHY ZAHN is one of science fiction's most popular voices, known for his ability to tell very human stories against a well-researched background of future science and technology. He won the Hugo Award for his novella Cascade Point and is the author of nineteen science fiction novels, including the bestselling Star Wars trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command; the novels Conquerors' Pride, Conquerors' Heritage, and Conquerors' Legacy; and three collections of short fiction. Timothy Zahn lives in Oregon.

Copyright 1999 by Timothy Zahn.

Cover Ill.u.s.tration by Paul Youll.

ISBN: 0-553-10702-X.