A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [61]
“Prop her struts up on creteblocks and let the weeds grow all around,” Rlinda said. “Then you’ll be a real dirt-bound homebody.”
He sipped the dark red wine she had poured for him. “I’m happy here, you know. Crenna’s a nice place, good weather. You should hear the wind through the flutewoods. Could be an ideal place to settle down—by choice rather than necessity. I, uh, wouldn’t mind having you around, Rlinda—and not just for your wonderful cooking, either.”
She laughed with warm delight. “I knew I came here for a reason. In tough times, flattery is hard to come by.”
He set his wineglass down. “But, much as my ego would like to believe it, visiting me wasn’t your only reason for traveling here. Need any help?”
She wasn’t surprised that he had guessed, and so she told him everything.
Davlin Lotze was already waiting outside the Curiosity when Rlinda returned to her ship an hour after dawn. Hands empty, he stood like a statue, the left side of his face scratched with faint scars as if some predator had tried to claw his eye out. He was muscular, exuding intelligence, watchfulness, and a demeanor of utter competence. “I believe Chairman Wenceslas sent you for me,” he said. “Even so, bringing the medicine was a nice gesture.”
She measured him with her eyes. “You don’t believe in simple human charity?”
“I don’t believe in Basil’s simple human charity.” He ran his gaze over the Curiosity. “Looks like a good ship. Is it well supplied?”
“The Chairman had me put aboard everything we’d need for our little expedition: digging and analysis tools, a survival camp, food supplies, water extractors. Ten thousand clean crossword puzzles in the database.”
Rlinda led him aboard in the early-morning stillness and showed him to a small guest cabin that had once been used to carry the green priests Nira and Otema, before anyone had ever heard of hydrogues. Lotze touched the bunk, noted the computer console and the ship’s library database, and nodded with satisfaction.
“I am ready to go. I’d rather not make a scene packing up my belongings. The colonists think I’m just another settler with a bit of engineering knowledge. They have no clue why I was really here.”
Rlinda was surprised. “No goodbyes? You’ve spent years on Crenna…and you just want to slip away into the dawn? With nothing but the shirt on your back?”
His expression remained unruffled. “That would be my preference. I am ready to go find those missing archaeologists.”
Rlinda drew a deep breath. “It’ll take me a while to prep the ship for departure. In the meantime, I, at least, need to run back and say goodbye to someone.”
31
ANTON COLICOS
The fabled city of Mijistra was everything Anton Colicos had dreamed it might be—and a thousand times more. The crystalline metropolis glittered under the light of seven suns. He didn’t think his eyes could withstand any more wonders.
As he stepped away from the ornate Ildiran transport ship, Anton fumbled in his pockets, searching for his filmy sun filters. Though the captain had warned him that humans often had trouble with the glare, Anton had been so overwhelmed by the sights that he’d forgotten to take the simple precaution. When he smoothed the filter band across his eyes, even more amazing details popped out at him. Spires, stained glass, fountains, gardens…
The city brought to mind thoughts of wondrous places: Xanadu and the pleasure dome of Kublai Khan, mythical Atlantis, the golden city of El Dorado, the realm of Prester John, even the Emerald City of Oz. It would require centuries just to absorb it all…much less interpret and communicate it to future generations.
He wished he could share this with his missing parents. They would love it here! Just before leaving Earth, he had received a formal message from some unnamed bureaucrat in the Hansa that they would “look into the matter” with whatever resources they had available, as soon as it was “appropriate.” Anton did not take much encouragement from the answer, but it was something.