A Deepness in the Sky

Then he was gone, and the elevator was sinking downward. For a moment, Unnerby surrendered to rage and sadness. Funny how the two emotions could mix. He had heard the stories about Sherkaner, and had willed disbelief. Like Sherkaner, he hadwanted certain things to be true and had ignored the contrary symptoms. Unlike Sherk, Hrunkner Unnerby could not ignore the hard truths of their situation. And so this ultimate crisis would have to be won or lost without Sherkaner Underhill... .

Unnerby forced his mind away from Sherkaner. There would come a time later, hopefully a time to remember the good things instead of this afternoon. For now...if he could commandeer a jet out of Princeton, he might be back at Lands Command in time to chat up his deputy directors.

Around the level of the cobblies' old park, the elevator slowed. Unnerby had thought this was Sherkaner's private lift. Who might this be?

The doors slid back—

"Well! Sergeant Unnerby! May I join you?"

A young lady lieutenant, dressed in quartermaster fatigues. Victory Smith as she had been so many years ago. Her aspect had the same brightness, her movement the same graceful precision. For a moment, Unnerby could only boggle at the apparition beyond the doors.

The vision stepped into the elevator, and Unnerby involuntarily moved back, still in shock. Then the other's military bearing slipped for an instant. The lieutenant lowered her head shyly. "Uncle Hrunk, don't you recognize me? It's Viki, all grown up."

Of course. Unnerby gave a weak laugh. "I—I'll never call you Little Victory again."

Viki put a couple of arms affectionately across his shoulders. "No. You're allowed. Somehow, I don't think I'll ever be giving you orders. Daddy said you were coming up today....Have you seen him? Do you have a moment to talk with me?"

The elevator was sliding to a stop, foyer level. "I—Yes, I did....Look, I'm in a bit of rush to get back to Lands Command." After the debacle upstairs, he just didn't know what he could say to Viki.

"That's okay. I'm on minus minutes myself. Let's share the ride to the airport." She waved a grin. "Twice the security."

Lieutenants might manage a security escort, but they are rarely the subject of one. Young Victory's group was about half the number of Unnerby's but, from the look of them, even more competent. Several of the guards were clearly combat veterans. The fellow on the top perch behind the driver was one of the biggest troopers Unnerby had ever seen. When they slid into the car, he'd given Unnerby an odd little salute, not a military thing at all. Huh! That was Brent!

"So. What did Daddy have to say?" The tone was light, but Hrunkner could hear the anxiety. Viki was not quite the perfect, opaque intelligence officer. It might have been a flaw, but then he had known her since she had cobblie eyes.

And that made it all the harder for Unnerby to say the truth. "You must know, Viki. He's not himself anymore. He's all into alien monsters and videomancy. It took the General herself to shut him up."

Young Victory was quiet, but her arms drew into an angry frown. For a moment, he thought she was angry with him. But then he heard her faint mutter, "The old fool." She sighed, and they rode in silence for a few seconds.

Surface traffic was sparse, mainly cobbers traveling between disconnected boroughs. The streetlights splashed pools of blue and ultra, glittered off the frost that lined the gutters and the sides of buildings. Light from within the buildings glowed through the rime, showing greenish where it caught flecks of snow moss in the ice. Crystal worms grew by the millions on the walls, their roots probing endlessly for morsels of heat. Here in Princeton, the natural world might survive almost into the heart of the Dark. The city around and beneath them was a growing, warming thing. Behind those walls, and below the ground, things were busier than ever in the history of Princeton. The newer buildings of the business district glowed from ten thousand windows, boasting power, spilling broad bands of light upon the older structures....And even a modest nuclear attack would kill everyone here.

Viki touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry...about Daddy."

She would know much better than he how far Sherkaner had fallen. "How long has he been into this? I remember him speculating on space monsters, but it was never serious."

She shrugged, obviously unhappy with the question. "...He started playing with videomancy after the kidnappings."