Silent Dances (46 page)

saying, "Don't worry, I'll talk
you through it." But it was working fine, now.

Thorn had been able to pick up numerous communications from the ship

since he'd installed the program. He'd traced the privateers to their favorite

stopping places; he knew their travel routes. Since the
Crane
crew had

come down to Trinity, they had moved in ever-tightening circles toward the

camp.
That's fine, Thorn
thought,
step into my parlor.

The privateers liked the old-growth forests, especially the area near where

Tesa had been killed. Thorn was interested in that place himself, and didn't

believe it was only coincidence that had drawn all of them to that one spot.

He'd been watching an Aquila nest there months ago, when his computer

had told him that Tesa's Mizari voder had also
found Scott
'
s old camera

and that she was watching the nest,

226

too--observ
ing it almost daily
.
That had stopped Thorn from dumping

the camera
'
s memories into his files to study at his leisure
.
He couldn

'
t
ri
sk having Tesa discover his real mission on T
ri
nity
;
it would only
hamper him and put her in needless danger.

That was what he'
d believed
then
.
Now, he could only curse himself for
that decision
. I
f he'd confided in her
,
he could've told her about the p
ri
vateers' activity in that area
,
he could've wa
rn
ed her to stay away
from there ...

Thorn sighed,
and ran a hand through his hair
,
unable to force his mind

away from those events. When the nest he'd been obse
rv
ing had been

destroyed by lightning in a storm, Scott
'
s last good camera had been

blasted also. When Thorn went to investigate
,
he'd collected the

fragments so they wouldn
'
t foul T
ri
nity
.
He'd felt bad about the nest,
and had wondered what had happened to the chick, but he never did

find any connection between the Aquila and the p
ri
vateers. He was

wonde
ri
ng what Tesa might have learned when he'd found her quilt ...

A data-
line flashed on the screen
.
Well, look at that, Thorn
thought.

They
are
getting overconfident. That
'
s the fourth time they've settled
for the
night at those coordinates.
Since the
Crane
crew had moved into the shelter,
communications between the p
ri
vateers and their contact were

brief
,
with f
re
quent disagreements.

They sure like that spot, Thorn
thought
.
Maybe it's time for me to invite

myself for dinner.
They had to be doing something import
ant the
re,
the
way they kept going back
.
He had to be su
re
before he left camp
,
though
.
Bruce was watching him like a hawk.

Heari
ng a soft footfall
,
he glanced up to see the meteorologist

watching him. Without changing his expression
, Thorn
saved his file

and blanked his screen.

"Why do
you do that eve
ry
time I show up
?"
Bruce asked, by way of
greeting.

"Do you like people reading your mail over your shoulder?"

Bruce'
s mouth twisted into his mocking
,
lopsided smile. "You w
ri
te a
lot of letters
,
but you never send any of them out."

Thorn blushed. "
That
'
s none of your damned business."

227

Bruce shrugged. "Where'd you go today, and why didn't you take Lauren, as

you were supposed to?"

"She didn't feel well," Thorn said.

"The rules," Bruce said tersely, "are, two go out
or no one
goes out. I could get the idea you're trying to defy me."

"You could also kiss my ass," Thorn said quietly, his face

flaming
. He rose slowly. He was tired of this whole setup. He and Meg were

practically prisoners
in their own
workplace. "I don't work for you,
Uncle
Brucie.
Stay away from me."

"You're playing something funny here," Bruce said with
a taunting
grin, "and I'm going to find out what it is. You use people. You used Lauren, then

dumped her." He stepped forward so that he and Thorn were
standing
toe

to toe. "Then, somehow, you suckered Peter into doing your dirty work--

which got him killed. And I'm going to get you for that ..."

Thorn drew his fist back and unleashed it fast, closing
Bruce
's mouth with a

snap
. The weatherman hit the floor, but
was up in a
second,
swinging
.

Thorn was ready and blocked the punch.
But Bruce
caught him with the

next one smartly across the chin, and Thorn fell over his computer bench,

sending equipment flying.

Reaching down, Bruce grabbed Thorn roughly by the shirt,
hauling him

erect. The blond biologist brought his knee up into Bruce's stomach. The

older man exhaled in a whoosh, but he still did not release Thorn's shirt. He

chopped Bruce hard on the neck where he knew it would hurt.

Bruce lashed out wildly, hitting Thorn in the ear with a cupped palm, making

the shorter man's ears ring. The meteorologist's next blow caught Thorn full

in the chest. The biologist slugged back, and they caromed across the

computer furniture, fighting wildly, swinging, punching, kicking. They

crashed over chairs, fell across a table.

Suddenly hands were on them, pulling them apart. Thorn heard shouts.

Then Lauren was screaming at them as Dr. Li
hung on to
Bruce and Meg

clung to Thorn's arm.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked. "Have you gone nuts?" Embarrassed, Thorn looked down. He hated losing
his temper.

"You two make me
sick,"
Lauren whispered in a low, dangerous voice.

"We're the only ones left, and you want to
kill
each other!
I'll
call your families. I'm getting good
at it."

228

She stared at Thorn,
wild-eyed
. "'Mrs.
Albaugh
,
your son died p
ro
ving a
point today
.
No, we don
'
t know what point, and we probably wouldn
'
t
get it if we
did."'
She tu
rn
ed around to Bruce
. "'Mrs.
Carpenter
,
Bruce
died protecting someone
'
s honor
.
No, it wasn
'
t necessa
ry,
she really
didn't have any...'"

The computer tech dissolved into wrenching sobs. Bruce tried to console her

with a hug, but she slapped at him wildly. "Get
away
from me,
just
get
away!"

"
I'm sor
ry,
li'l darlin'," the weatherman murmured
softly.
"Come on
,
don't c
ry
." He took her in his arms and they walked away, Bruce

speaking softly and Lauren weeping.

"
I'll check him over in the mo
rn
ing
,"
Dr. Li mumbled. "You didn
'
t hit
him over the head, did you?"

"
No," Thorn said.

"Like I always say," Szu-
yi told Meg
. "
Two men in one work station is
one man too m
an
y."

Meg looked as though she couldn'
t ag
re
e more.

Thorn looked at the older woman apologetically. "
You were
ri
ght
.
This
was a bad idea
."
He walked over to his bed
an
d fell into it
.
Dr. Li could
check him in the mo
rn
ing as well.

Tesa packed the last of the pemmican into the bags she'd made f
ro
m

the bladder and stomach of the Tree Ripper. There'd been a wealth of

blue winter ber
ri
es along the shrubs, and she'd spent days d
ry
ing the
Ripper
'
s meat, or pounding it with fat
an
d ber
ri
es into energy-packed
pemmican.

Thunder had taken her first flight the day after they'
d killed the Ripper
.
She
began hunting
,
sha
ri
ng her catches with Tesa and Sailor
,
and these
cont
ri
butions freed Tesa to p
re
pare for their
re
tu
rn
.

At first,
Tesa had considered leaving the Ripper where he lay, because

she had no way of knowing whether the c
re
ature was intelligent
.
As

far as Sailor knew
,
no one spoke to the solita
ry
predators
.
But it
pained Tesa to see the magnificent being dete
ri
orate wastefully
.
So,
finally
,
she offe
re
d prayers to his spi
ri
t
,
thanking him for his meat
an
d his pelt, and asked to share his courage
an
d st
re
ngth
.
She made a
fi
re
and offered some liver
,
kidney
,
and hea
rt
to the Wak
an
Tanka of T

ri
nity, and fed the rest to Thunder.

Labori
ously she skinned the animal and tanned the pelt, leaving the

head intact
an
d placing two shiny green stones

229

in the eye sockets
.
She also left the forepaws
,
but the pelt was so

huge
,
she halved it across the width and tu
rn
ed the bo
tt
om half into
leggings and a leather dress. It had taken two weeks of hard work
,
but

while she'd scraped the massive hide
,
then rubbed it soft with brains

and fat
,
Tesa was also pl
an
ning.

It's nice to be warm again,
she thought as she wrapped the red
an
d white
furred robe around her
,
settling the massive skull on top of her head
.

She'd smoked the dress to make it glove soft, and the leggings, with

the hair left on
,
were snug and cozy
.
Only her StarB
ri
dge shoes had
su
rv
ived these eight weeks--but they were nearly indestructible.

She studied Thunder,
who was perched at the edge of the sho
re.
It

would be years before the avi
an
would get the distinctive color of her

people, but already
,
the spines of her feathers were glistening bronze.

Thunder was busy picking at the Ripper claw that Tesa had strung on a

thong of skin
an
d hung around her neck
.
The avian had needed a

talisman to prove to her people that she had indeed helped kill a

Ripper. Until she'd made a significant kill, she'd told them
,
nothing she

said would be taken se
ri
ously.

In spite of the uncert
ainty she faced on their retu
rn
, Tesa felt good

about the future
.
She had followed her d
re
ams. Tesa glanced at the

packed sled and wondered if it could

still get off the ground loaded as it was. Sailor and Thunder were both

watching her expectantly.
She le
an
ed back against the outside wall of

the cave, taking one last look at the beautiful caldera
.
Suddenly she

jumped as something sharp
an
d bu
rn
ing pierced the flesh of her arm
.

She slapped at herself and shook her arm until something small fell out

of the folds of her robe. It was an insect from the ground hive she'd

raided weeks ago. Moving slowly in the cold, it must've crawled up the

wall and under the skin
,
stinging her on the upper arm.

Tesa stared at it, incredulous.
No human had ever been stung on Trinity
.

When she'd invaded the hive, the hapless creatures had swarmed her,

but were unwilling to deal with such alien chemist
ry.
Had this one been

elected to give its life to deliver a final chastisement to the un
-
Worldly

thief
?
Her arm bu
rn
ed fu
ri
ously
.
Tesa shrugged off the robe and
grabbed a handful of powde
ry
snow
,
then packed it around the
re
d
welt that marked the sensitive spot
.
What did this me
an
? That she

belonged to T
ri
nity
,
or that she'd stayed too long?

230