Dragon and Judge

"It's an obvious direction to consider," Draycos pointed out. "Especially if the mine is also the reason your parents were murdered."

Jack felt his stomach tighten. He'd been living with that idea for over a week now, and it still sent shivers through him. "Draycos, we have got to get a look at that mine," he said.

"I agree," Draycos said. "Tomorrow night I'll attempt to scale the cliff and—"

"Listen to my words, symby," Jack interrupted. "We have got to get a look at it."

"I don't know," Draycos said doubtfully. "If there's something there the Golvins are hiding, I doubt the One will want you examining it."

"That may be what he thinks now," Jack said. "But he's never seen me in full persuasion mode, as Uncle Virgil used to call it. Neither have you, for that matter."

"I'll look forward to the show," Draycos said dryly.

"And well you should," Jack said, pulling his feet into bed and under the blankets. "Better get some sleep. With a little luck, tomorrow could turn out to be a very interesting day."

CHAPTER 16

There were a dozen different techniques for getting a person to give you what you wanted, and Uncle Virgil had taught Jack every one of them. Even so, it took a full hour and almost the complete set before the One finally realized that he wanted to let Jack go look at the mine.

And even then he insisted that Thonsifi and the guard Sefiseni accompany their Jupa on his field trip. Jack thanked him, switched back into shirt and jeans before the other could change his mind, and together the group piled into the shuttle and headed up.

The shuttle's pilot turned out to be the same one who had flown Jack to the canyon after his kidnapping at the NorthCentral Spaceport. His name turned out to be Eight-Three-One Among Many. "I don't believe this is a wise idea, Jupa Jack," he warned as he once again threaded the shuttle through the system of arching bridges and guy wires up into the bright desert sunlight. "We were told there would be great danger if anyone went into the mine."

"I'll be careful," Jack assured him, studying the area as the shuttle moved toward it over the glistening sand.

The mine entrance was at the western edge of a long mound of sand surrounded by a confused tumble of gray and black rock formations cutting upward through the desert surface. Large plastic or ceramic beams framed the actual opening, which was under the partial protection of a thick rock overhang. Even from their distance it was obvious the entrance itself had filled with drifting sand.

There—to the left.

Jack winced as he turned his torso a little in that direction. What in the world did Draycos think he was doing, talking again in a crowded shuttle like that?

There—Langston's crash site.

Jack peered in that direction as he gave his upper chest a warning tap. He'd better set his partner straight about these slips, preferably before they set off on the return trip.

But the K'da was right. Even amid the random sand drifts and half-covered rock formations he could pick out the buried shape of Langston's starfighter. It was about a hundred yards from the mine entrance, in one of the few patches of sand that didn't have any large rocks in it. Probably why Langston had chosen that spot to ditch in.

It was also no more than twenty yards from the eastern edge of the canyon. The pilot was lucky, Jack reflected, that he hadn't missed the edge and gone straight to the ground below.

"Where do you wish me to land?" Eithon asked.

"Right out front," Jack said, shifting his attention back to the mine entrance. "Between those two big rock formations will do nicely."

A minute later Eithon set them down in the shade of the easternmost of the rocks Jack had pointed out. "Looks like we've got some digging ahead," Jack said as he climbed out. "I wish I'd thought to bring some shovels."

"I brought two," Thonsifi said, her voice reluctant. "They are in the storage area."

"Great," Jack said, stepping around the back of the shuttle and popping the hatch. The shovels were small gardening tools, but at least they'd work better than bare hands. "Let's get to it," he said, pulling them out.

The others joined him, all three Golvins with the same hesitation Jack had already heard in Thonsifi's voice.

But they tackled the job willingly enough. Thonsifi and Eithon handled the shovels, scooping away the sand, while Jack and Sefiseni moved larger stones and broken pieces of the entryway itself.

Within half an hour they had an opening big enough to get through. "Great work," Jack complimented them, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Let's go."

None of the Golvins moved. "It is not safe," Thonsifi said. "We were warned to stay away."

"Who said it wasn't safe?"

"Those who built the mine," Thonsifi said. "After we were told that the copper and iron were not ours."

At which point all the legal complications had set in. "No problem," Jack said. "You can all wait here. I don't mind going in by myself."