Dragon and Judge

"That may depend on how they remember your parents," Draycos said. "Fortunately, they seem to hold Jupas in great esteem."

"Only I'm not a Jupa," Jack reminded him.

"Perhaps there is some task your parents were attempting when they died," Draycos suggested. "They may hope you'll complete it."

"I hope they don't want me to reopen the mine," Jack muttered, a sudden lump rising into his throat. "I don't know the first thing about mining."

"Yet you learn quickly," Draycos pointed out.

Jack snorted. "I hate to tell you, symby, but a hundred feet underground is no place to start learning a trade. Mining is a lot trickier than it looks."

"We'll take it slow and easy," Draycos assured him. "And we'll do it together."

"Terrific," Jack countered. "How much do you know about mining?"

The whiplike tail arched thoughtfully. "It involves digging," he said helpfully.

"Thanks," Jack said dryly. "That much I knew." Sitting up, he twisted his left shoe around and prodded at the molded rubber of the sole. The secret compartment popped open, and he dug out his spare comm clip. "First things first. Let's see if the cavalry was paying attention back there." He clicked on the device. "Uncle Virge?" he called. "Uncle Virge? Alison? Anyone home?"

There was no reply. "We'll have only limited range surrounded by this much rock," Draycos pointed out.

"I know," Jack said. Getting up, he went out of the bedroom and crossed the living room to the exit door. The crowd had dispersed, the Golvins having apparently gone back to tending various parts of the cropland. Looking more closely, Jack could now see that there was an intricate and efficient-looking irrigation system leading off from the river. Maybe these people weren't as simpleminded as he'd first thought. "Uncle Virge?" he called again quietly.

Still no response. With a sigh, Jack shut off the comm clip and went back to the bedroom.

Draycos was by one of the white stones, peering up between the walls. "The gap is quite spacious," he said. "It would be easily passable."

"And it probably conducts sound like crazy," Jack warned, crossing to his side.

"Perhaps, but not between apartments," Draycos said. "These shafts appear to lead only to this particular set of rooms. There may be other shafts extending downward to other apartments."

Jack craned his neck and looked up. The entire shaft seemed to be made of white stone glowing in the reflected light from the sky above. The shimmer made it difficult to see more than a few dozen feet, but there were certainly no other openings within that distance. "Took a heck of a lot of digging to open these up," he commented.

"True, if they burrowed these rooms and shafts from preexisting stone columns," Draycos agreed. "But having watched them build the bridge, I suspect they constructed the pillars themselves. In that case, they simply designed the structures with these double walls."

"That's almost worse," Jack said, wrinkling his nose as an odd scent drifted down between the two walls. "There must be almost forty of these things scattered around the canyon."

"They have clearly been at this a long time," Draycos agreed.

Jack shook his head as he eased his way out of the shaft. "I don't know," he said. "If push comes to shove, I think I'd rather take my chances holding on to your tail while you climb up the outside."

"For three hundred feet?"

"You're right," Jack agreed. "I may have to tie a knot in it first."

The dragon tilted his head warningly. "What?" he rumbled.

"Kidding," Jack hastened to assure him.

"Good," Draycos said. "I find it interesting that the other Jupas seemed to have had no problem reaching this apartment."

"Probably had climbing gear or lift belts," Jack said. "Unfortunately, all that stuff's back aboard the Essenay."

"They'll come for us," Draycos assured him quietly. "Uncle Virge will not abandon you. He and Alison will somehow learn where we are."

"Or maybe he already knows," Jack said, frowning as a sudden thought struck him. "If this is where my parents died . . ."

He looked sharply at Draycos as some of the pieces fell together. "Why that rotten—" he bit out, a sudden anger flooding through him. "He knew these Golvins were looking for me. That's why he never let me off the ship whenever we were on Semaline."

"That does now seem likely," Draycos agreed.

"Likely, my left foot," Jack growled. "It's a dead cert. Geez. First Neverlin, and now these Golvins. Is there anyone out there who doesn't want a piece of me?"

Draycos flicked his tail. "You're a very popular person."

Jack glared at him. "This isn't funny, buddy."

Draycos ducked his head. "My apologies," he said. "I was trying to lighten the mood."

Jack sighed. "I know," he said, reaching over to scratch Draycos behind his ear. "I'm sorry. I'm just . . . I thought I'd buried all these memories a long time ago."

"Memories are not a bad thing," Draycos reminded him. "They anchor us to the past—"