PART THREE:
THE BRAZEN ANVIL
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The landscape above,
Distant voices from the sky,
Like my childhood home.
Karil awoke with the scent of Loris' hair in his nostrils, her small buttocks tucked into his lap. He was, of course, hard as a brick. He nuzzled her ear and she stirred and turned toward him, whereupon he began to kiss her throat. For a few moments she moaned softly, and then she awoke. She placed the palms of her hands on his chest in the gesture that all men have always dreaded.
"Thank you, Karil," she said.
"Thank you for what?"
"For comforting me last night."
"But I'm not exactly your type."
"I'm saying that, right now, I'm the Captain and you're the Astrogator and we're in a dangerous situation, and I know how a man's attitude is affected..."
"I'm not like that, Lor."
"Maybe not, but I don't think we should monkey around with the status quo as long as we're in this situation. Anyway, I still haven't come to terms with the fact that Johanna's gone."
"I'm afraid it's academic now anyway."
She hugged him, confusing him even more. "You see, Karil? The minute I reminded you that I'm your Captain..."
"That's not..."
"I have to keep my mind clear. I think it's better for both of us if we wait and talk about this again when all this is over. All right?"
"All right, Lor. I guess I see your point."
"Good. Let's have some breakfast and build a centrifuge for the catbox." She kissed him on the nose, a gesture remarkably reminiscent of Johanna, and climbed out of bed. It was hard to imagine her the same woman he had seen on the bridge of Mjolnir.
***
Even at twelve million kilometres, Saturn was impressive--oblate as a pumpkin, its whirling cloud-bands visible, but the ring-system still looking smooth and hard-edged. Its icy moons circled it leisurely. Atty was in free-fall now, irrevocably committed to orbiting the gas-giant forever unless she could be refuelled.
"There are only two alternatives," Atalanta was saying calmly. "Either you call for help, in which case you will have to identify yourselves and alert al-Zubair, or you will have to use the Hum Bug."
"I'm not sure it carries enough fuel," Karil said.
"You've checked the figures three times. You can achieve Titan parking orbit, but only if you leave in a few seconds. I understand your reluctance..."
"No, you don't."
"You must overcome this fear, Karil. No one can speak to Kelley but you, and Shagrug's life depends on your doing it in secret."
"Look, Karil," said Loris with surprising gentleness, "I moved to the Outer Worlds as a child. I've lived in cramped quarters as long as I can remember, but I wouldn't step into that coffin either, if there was any other way."
"You have all the diplomacy of Shagrug," Atty said.
"Anyway," Loris went on. "Think of Nova Terra. When we get there, we'll have all that open sky above us."
***
They stood, flanked by armed guards, on the crest of a hill. A rolling landscape of forest and meadow stretched the length of a river valley before them, fading to blue in the distance. It was early autumn and some of the trees had turned; oak and birch, maple and linden, elm and spruce and poplar made a palette of greens and reds and yellows. A faintly chill breeze ruffled Karil's hair and the almost-forgotten scent of wind over earth flared his nostrils. He turned his gaze to windward, to his right, and saw what appeared to be blue sky beyond the crest of the hills surrounding the valley.
But it was not sky. It was glass--kilometres and kilometres of blue-tinted glass that arced up into the clouds. At the end, hanging nearly upside-down in the sky, from three o'clock to one o'clock high, another landscape was visible through a break in the cloud-cover. It was a snowy, evergreen-forested valley surrounded by rocky peaks. Rivers ran black, and ice-covered lakes gleamed like gold in the sun. The shadow of night was sharp across the landscape, creeping almost visibly the length of the valley.
Beyond it, directly above them, was more blue sky, with clouds scudding across the face of the sun. Karil continued to sweep his gaze around to the left and saw, from eleven to nine o'clock, a vast stretch of golden prairie, broken by wooded rivers and waterholes and moving black clouds that he thought shadows at first but quickly realized were herds of grazing animals.
Another blue window-mosaic dropped to the hills at his left. Peering through it, he could see the great mirror angling away into space, held against the cylinder's spin by suspension cables. Beyond, the vast red cloud-cover of Titan stretched below, hiding the secret of its frozen surface from orbiting eyes. Shagrug was down there somewhere.
"Look," Loris said.
Karil gazed along her pointed finger to the dirt trail that wandered toward them, out of the forest and up the hill. A rider was cantering toward them, leading a second, rider-less horse. The clouds parted for a moment and sunlight fell upon the distant figure, and Karil saw a mass of golden hair fluttering in the wind, whipping about her body, brushing the Arabian's flank. Karil shaded his eyes with his hand and watched her coming. She was riding bareback, dressed in shorts and a halter despite the chill breeze, tanned thighs hugging fine horseflesh. If ever there was a woman born to ride, it was Terry. He started forward as she reached the crest of the hill and she reined in and slid down into his arms. Her hair enveloped him. Loris watched, amused, and the guards stood about foolishly with their guns.
"Oh, put those things away," Terry told them. She stepped back and looked at Karil. "I knew you were still alive. There was a new report of your death every week, but they were all different, so I decided not to believe any of them. I think this is the only place left in the solar system that you're not wanted--at least by the authorities." She smiled at Loris.
"I presumed myself dead a couple of times too," Karil said. "You remember Loris. She's my Captain now."
Terry stood on tiptoes and kissed Loris with surprising warmth. "Thanks for taking care of my boy here."
"He took care of me, actually," Loris said. "Saved my life. And my sanity, such as it is."
"I want to hear all about it," Terry assured them.
"It's a long story," Karil said. "And we have to see the Professor immediately."
"That's why I'm here. Our place is down by the lake, a few klicks from here. Jay would have come too, but Charles is working his tail off on the Nova One projections. Besides, he's not what you'd call a rider." She turned to the guards. "Thanks for the escort, guys. I can take over now."
The guards shrugged, handed over Karil's and Loris' lasers, clipped their own and descended the elevator into the hill.
"Who's this?" Karil asked. He patted the stallion’s flank as it grazed.
"This is Kalandar Prince. He's mine."
"He's magnificent."
"I brought you a nice gentle mare because you said you had a friend, and I didn't know..."
"Wait a minute," Loris said. "You don't expect me to ride that thing, do you?"
"It's only a horse," Karil said. "Haven't you ever ridden before?"
"I'm not sure I've ever seen a goddamn horse before--in the flesh. If you think I'm gonna ride it, you're crazy."
"There are no roads yet," Terry laughed. "And you can't walk. The sun is going down. It'll be cold soon."
It was true. The sun's image was close to mirror's end and the terminator was sweeping up the valley.
"Come on, it's easy. You can ride with Karil." Terry grasped her stallion's mane and vaulted onto its back as smooth as silk. She handed the second mount's reins to Karil. He gathered them up and swung into the saddle, then extended a hand and succeeded in hauling Loris up behind him. She clutched at him with some trepidation at first, but after a few minutes at a slow walk, he felt her body relax against him.
"It's a nice way to travel," she said with some surprise.
"Some of us," Karil said, "think riding is the second-best thing there is. We'll slip into a rolling trot now, so hold on. You should have the rhythm soon."
Loris fit herself into the complex rhythm of the trot and was riding comfortably in a few minutes, though the movement of Karil's firm buttocks between her legs made her smile to herself. No wonder he thought it the second-best thing. The road led down into the valley and threaded its way through the darkening forest along the riverbank.
"How do you manage three different environments in the same airspace?" she asked.
"Rotation creates prevailing winds that circulate water vapour. Something about the difference in air-pressure and gravity between the axis and the rim, and the coriolis forces set up by the rotation. Jay could explain it better. By varying the mirror angle and the length of the day, we can keep one valley cooler than the others, change seasons according to schedule. Valley Three up there, in the mountains, has the longest and harshest winters; Valley One, on the plains, the shortest and mildest; here it's in between, so we can maintain a deciduous forest.
"What's it like on Nova One?" Karil asked. The other cylinder was visible through the glass.
"You'd feel right at home. It's just like High Africa. There's no real change of seasons, but a big difference in humidity level from valley to valley. I don't have the expertise to explain it in detail, but it has to do with vegetation. Valley One is rain-forest--foggy, swampy, very mysterious. Valley Two is bush country and open savannah. We've already got some of the smaller animals in place. Valley Three is desert and dry scrub. Look, there's the house."
It was dark now, and they could just see the house above the lake, the lights in its windows shimmering on the surface. There was a plume of smoke rising from the chimney.
"You have open fires?"
"Sometimes, on special occasions like this. In fact, a little particulate matter in the atmosphere helps in the snow-making process. Light a fire and bring on the winter. Charles calls it sympathetic magic."
As they rounded the lake amid a cacophony of frogs and crickets, Karil could make out the big house, the outbuildings and stables. "Actually," Terry admitted, "the fire is only for fun. We're plugged into solar-generated electric power. We're near the bottom of the valley here and the superstructure is only a few meters down."
As they approached the house, Karil saw Jay coming toward him across the yard; he helped Loris down and dropped to the ground. Karil and Jay carried on as old friends do when meeting again.
"Jesus, Still," Jay said, "I can't believe the mess you've gotten yourself into. We've been asked by three different planetary authorities to hand you over on sight. The only trouble is: we can't decide which authority has first claim on you."
"It's nice to be wanted," Karil said. "And you told me I'd never amount to anything!"
"I never said that," Jay laughed. "I said you were throwing away your life."
"Actually, I came damn close to doing that."
Loris came up beside him and Jay greeted her, suddenly shy.
"Loris? Where's Johanna?"
"Johanna's dead.
He went beet-red. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"I've dealt with it," Loris said in a voice that sent a shiver up his spine, "in my own way." Her expression changed in a flash. "Nice homestead you have here. Though you could use a more comfortable transportation system." She rubbed her bottom.
"Charles likes it this way," Jay said. "I think he's stalling the project as long as he can to keep the whole valley for himself. Come on inside; you must be freezing."
"Not in free-fall suits," Loris said. "Though I don't know how Terry can run around dressed in that fetching manner."
"I'm a warm-blooded Martian. Take them inside, Jay. I'll put the horses away."
"Go ahead, Lor," Karil said. "I'll help Terry. It's been a long time since I put a horse to bed."
After untacking and wiping down their mounts in the fragrant stable, Karil and Terry stood awkwardly for a moment. Then she stepped into his arms, and he felt her warm and vibrant against him. The touch of her lips was familiar and thrilling, and memories of their days on Earth swept over him like golden tresses. She smelled of horses; to Karil, it was fine perfume.
"Karil, I think we should..."
"We'll have to talk later," he said. "It's important that I speak to the Professor. I just needed to kiss you, that's all."
She paused a moment, her hand on his cheek. "You're different, somehow. You seem older. I like it. Come on, let's find Charles."
Karil paused at the door of the common-room, observing the home that Kelley had designed--the roaring fire illuminating the wooden panelling, the thick carpet and the deep chairs arranged about a cluttered table just high enough to put one’s feet up, the shelves of finely bound paper books, the sound of Bach and the smell of smoke and food. Loris had made herself at home. She had a drink in her hand and her feet up on the table.
"I'll see if I can find the old pirate," Terry said. As she passed by Jay on her way to the kitchen, she reached out and touched him on the arm. Karil would hardly have noticed, knowing the affectionate ways of Martians, but Jay glanced up at him suddenly and dropped his eyes too quickly. He had no time to analyze the confusing flood of contradictory feelings that rose in him, for Professor Charles Kelley was striding into the room. The red-haired bear of a man extended his paw in greeting, first wiping it on his apron.
"Karil. You son of a gun." His voice filled the room with bass reverberations, drowning out the music and the clatter and voices from the kitchen. "I never expected to see you alive again."
"Professor..." He took the professor's hand, found himself pulled into the bear's embrace.
"If I remember correctly," the Professor went on, "I won't offend you by offering you a drink."
"A little wine would be nice, but I have to..."
"Fine. Let me know what you think of this. I made it myself, right on the premises. I think I can trust my trout almandine to the crew for the time being." He poured a generous glass from a bottle labelled simply In Vino Veritas. "It's a Liebfraumilch. Goes over well with the sweet-toothed younger generation here. I prefer a nice Margaux myself, but there's not much you can do when you've got crushed asteroidal chondrite for soil. No need to comment; I can read faces. Have some more."
Karil looked to Loris for help. "Don't look at me," she said, "I couldn't get a word in either." Karil felt Kelley's huge arm around his shoulder. "I remember this handsome woman too. If they'd had Captains like her forty years ago, I'd still be in the Space Marines. Oh yes, I almost forgot your gift." Kelley strode to the bookcase and came back with a leather-bound book, which he thrust into Karil's hands.
"It's the latest volume of your Terran History," Karil said, delighted. It was huge and heavy, and the edges of the pages were gold. "But I couldn't..."
"Don’t be silly. I've got a whole crate of them. Somewhere. Probably Terry knows where they are. She knows where everything is. Terry?"
Terry appeared at the kitchen door, more demurely dressed, pinning her hair up.
"Where's that crate of Histories?"
"At the Institute. In your office. Third shelf in the closet."
"What did I tell you? She could find my lost innocence for me."
"Our records don't go back that...What's the matter, Charles?"
The Professor was looking at Karil with suspicion in his eyes. Karil glanced down and saw his own laser in Kelley's hand, pointed at him.
Kelley was clever: he had passed up at least two opportunities to grab the laser, and it wasn't until Karil's hands were busy with the book and his attention distracted by Terry that he had made his move. Now he had stepped back out of reach, and not even Loris, who was already on her feet, would be able to disarm him before he could squeeze the trigger.
"Charles," Terry said, "this is Karil. You know him. What's the matter?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Karil saw Loris glancing from face to face. He shook his head at her to tell her to remain calm. Jay sat with mouth open, uncomprehending. Students, strange faces, gathered in the doorway.
"It may be Karil," Kelley said, "but I'm a member of the Titan Council, and another member has asked me to arrest him. And there's something funny about the stories we've heard. They don't add up, and I need to know the truth."
"I suppose it would be al-Zubair who asked for my arrest," Karil said.
"Yes, that's right."
"Did he involve the whole government in this? Alert the security forces? Bring the request to the attention of the citizens at large? Or did he ask you in secrecy to turn me over to him personally, with as little publicity as possible?"
"Hmmph! The latter, as I suspect you know."
"Were you all right with this, or did it strike you as a little undemocratic?"
Kelley chuckled. "Well, it struck me that he was being a little self-serving, as if there was something personal between you two. But that doesn't mean his security concerns are illegitimate. And I still don't know how to interpret the inconsistencies in the stories. Atalanta leaves Mars on the way here, presumably with you on board. Then we find you still on Mars, telling us that Atalanta is headed here. Then she turns up in Jupiter orbit, full of dead bodies. Then the Galilean Press reports that you are in the Jovian system and wanted by Galilean Security. Then you disappear and turn up here, but you couldn't possibly have come from Jupiter to Saturn in so short a time, so either you were not left behind on Mars or you were not on Ganymede. I know a thing or two about space-travel myself."
"Al-Zubair knows more than all of us," Loris said. "We came here in an antimatter-powered vessel that he designed and built."
"That's impossible too."
"Not for al-Zubair. He's been working on it all his life."
"I know that's an area of expertise. But how could he build such a ship? And where?"
"On Tethys," Karil said.
"There's nothing there but mining."
"Have you been there lately?"
"No, but nobody could hide an operation of such..."
"Are you sure? Does anybody really monitor al-Zubair's activities? Do you know anything about his business that he hasn't told you?"
"Well, no. But why would he do such a thing?"
"They're warships. There are at least two of them. Or there were.”
"Warships!"
"Yes and fitted with antimatter weapons. They can reach any planet in the system in jig-time and bring incredible firepower against anyone he chooses to threaten. Atalanta has it all on record. She's in Saturn orbit now, running cold and silent--undetectable, unless you know her precise orbit."
"The last I heard of her, she was dysfunctional and being kept under wraps by Galilean Security."
"She was," Loris said. "But she was repaired, brought here aboard a ship called Mjolnir, in which Karil and I were imprisoned. We escaped and came here. The ship met with a little accident. You remember Shagrug, her Captain?"
"Yes. Of course. Hard to forget him."
"He's being held in prison on Titan. If he's still alive. That's why we're here. We need a consular order to get him out. He can verify our story. There's a secret seventh level to the prison there, where al-Zubair keeps political prisoners."
The needle-nose of the weapon had begun to waver. Now it was steady and pointed at Karil's heart. "There are only six levels in that facility," Kelley said. "Most of those are engineering and mining levels. There's only one prison level. I've seen the plans."
"Professor," said Jay, "who showed you those plans?"
"Well, al-Zubair, of course. He was the engineer who designed it in the first place."
"In the first place," Jay said, "he designed it with seven levels." He went to a computer and began tapping keys. "Later on, during construction, the plans were ostensibly changed. I never understood why. Why spend more money to make something smaller?"
"I worked there," another student said. "The prisoners scare each other with stories of the Seventh Level of Hell. I thought they were just stories."
"The facility was built by robot labour," another student said, "entirely programmed by al-Zubair. Just like Tethys."
"Here," said Jay. "Original plans. Look." He turned the screen to face the Professor, who carefully glanced at it, still keeping Karil under guard. Even from across the room he could count the levels.
"Jesus Christ," he said, flipped over the laser, and handed it to Karil. He strode to the screen and examined the plans in detail. Then he tapped the keyboard.
"Yes, Professor?" said a voice.
"Lee, prepare a shuttle for the morning. Do it yourself, and don't tell anyone."
"Yes, Sir."
Kelley turned to Karil. "I still find all this hard to believe, but you've answered my questions consistently, and I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. If I find prisoners being held without trial, I won't need any more evidence to have al-Zubair arrested. Then we'll check out this facility on Tethys."
***
After dinner, Terry led Karil and Loris up the stairs to the guest rooms under the eaves. "Do you sleep together?" she asked matter-of-factly.
Karil was not surprised by the question, familiar as he was with Martian candor, but Loris was startled. "I'm not sure how to answer," she said.
Terry touched her arm in another familiar Martian gesture. "There's no need to be embarrassed."
"I'm from Ganymede," Loris laughed. "We don't embarrass easily. I'm just not sure what the answer is."
"I just wanted to know whether to find you another room."
"We can share this one," Karil said. "It's the roomiest quarters we've had in a long time. Trust me."
"Okay, then. See you in the morning." She kissed them both, Loris quickly, Karil lingeringly, and left.
In bed, listening to the unfamiliar sounds of the country, Loris spoke in the darkness.
"Sorry about your friends, Karil."
"What do you mean?"
"You know they're lovers. I saw it in your face."
"I'm happy for them both," he said unconvincingly. "Anyway, Terry's Martian. It doesn't mean anything to her. I mean, she can..."
"But it means a lot to you, Karil. You're jealous of your best friend and it disturbs you deeply. You Terrans still think of women as property."
"That's not true," Karil said. "At least, not me."
"No? If I were a man, would you have gone after Johanna?"
Karil was silent.
"Good night, Karil." Loris turned away and dropped instantly into deep sleep. Karil lay for some time, listening to the slap of water on the lakeshore, the myriad chirpings and murmurings of the night. He was strangely homesick. He got up and slipped out of bed, Loris still sleeping, and rummaged in a desk drawer until he found some paper. In a few minutes, he had a poem:
Whatever gods bestow good fortune,
reproach me not.
For I have one
who is the very sun to me.
In her laugh is sunshine;
in her step
is energy inexhaustible.
Dependable and giving,
warm and proud,
she is the source of being,
the Queen of Day,
the central fire;
A golden corona is her hair.
And yet another comes,
a night-haired, ancient,
deep and restless being,
responsive as the sea
to my embrace.
And in her smile
is Diana's laughter in the forest.
When she shrinks into herself,
dark dreams disturb the mind,
and when she opens,
like some night-anemone,
priest-like, I mark the day as holy.
Whatever gods bestow good fortune,
reproach me not:
If a man shall have the sun,
shall he not desire
the moon also?