Resurgence

“Very well. You should move directly toward the grid point, which is at thirty degrees to the right of your present suit vector. But wait for word from me before you begin.” This time Ben had not looked at Hans before giving his answer. Now he said, “Captain Rebka, I am going onto the surface also.” Before Hans could object, Ben added, “This is not a matter for discussion. I will follow Specialist Quistner, but well behind her. You will move the Savior to keep up with us, and the ship will at no time be more than ten steps away from me.”

Which if you get in trouble might as well be ten lightyears for all the good I can probably do you. Hans said, “Very well. Ten steps away from you until you give other instructions.”

As Ben Blesh vanished through the inner door, Darya motioned to Hans to turn off his radio transmitter and moved to place her suit helmet into contact with his.

“Hans, what does he think he’s doing?”

“He’s afraid that Lara is handling everything, and he won’t get his share of the action. Don’t worry. Give him a few more years, and he’ll be willing to offer his share to anyone who’ll take it.”

“He could be putting two people in danger instead of one.”

“That sounds more like my line than yours. But so far, Iceworld doesn’t seem to offer enough danger for even one. I hope you are right about the interior, because I’ve never seen anything deader than the outside. Here he comes. I have to turn my transmitter back on.”

Ben was emerging from the outer lock to stand by Lara Quistner. He waved, knowing that Rebka would be watching on the monitors, and closed the lock door. As Ben turned away, Hans instinctively operated the lock door again and set it to its widest opening. Ben did not seem to notice. He said, “All right, Lara. Go ahead.”

Her suited figure, illuminated by one of the Savior’s outside searchlights, headed away from Ben Blesh and the ship. The plain on which she moved reflected no light, so that she appeared to walk on nothing. Ben waited until she had taken at least fifty steps, then followed. Hans in turn allowed ten paces, then eased the bulk of the Savior after Blesh’s suited figure. The delicate balance of gravity and thrust would have been difficult for a human, but the autopilot made it child’s play. Hans was free to attempt the difficult task of keeping his attention on three things at once: Lara Quistner, moving in a straight line toward the invisible grid patch; Ben Blesh, following; and the view all around the Savior provided by the ship’s monitors.

Hans wondered if Ben realized that Lara was steadily increasing the distance between them. Probably not. The view from within a suit was never all that good. Hans could tell what was happening, because his vantage point at the Savior’s controls placed him much higher. If what Darya had told him last night was true, Lara wanted the feeling that she was exploring a new world alone, without Ben’s authority to follow and annoy her.

Whatever the reason, it was still a damn fool thing for her to do and Ben needed to know about it. Hans was about to send word on what was happening when a flicker of light caught his peripheral vision.

It was the faintest gleam of blue, a dust devil far off to the right that ran across the plain and was gone before you could be sure you saw it at all. Staring in that direction, nothing was visible but the black-hole light-absorbing surface of Iceworld. Hans had no idea how far away the flicker had been. He looked across at the readings from the ship’s scanners. They had not reported any signal at all.

Imagination?

People did not accuse Hans of an excess of imagination—quite the opposite. Was he letting the spooky silence and dark of Iceworld get to him?

“Ben, and Lara. Do you realize that Lara is getting farther ahead?”

“I don’t think that’s true.” Lara sounded confident and a little too cocky. “I think I’m holding a steady distance. This is interesting. When you get close enough and can look at things from close to a grazing angle, you actually see the edge of the grid point area. It glows a pale green.”

Ben said at once, “Lara, I am in charge of this exploration party. I don’t want you to go any closer, no matter how interesting you think something is. Stay right there until I catch up. That is an order.”

An order from Ben, which Lara surely didn’t wish to hear. She said, “Very well,” but the signal from her suit gave Hans an accurate range-rate reading. She was moving as fast as ever. The edge of the circular grid patch was no more than a hundred meters in front of her.

Hans didn’t want to get into the middle of a two-person power struggle, but he had no choice. If Ben was to serve as chief of the party, he must know what was going on.

“Ben, I’m holding the Savior a steady ten paces behind you. But Lara hasn’t stopped. The distance between you is still increasing.”