Power Play - Anne McCaffrey [98]
“I don’t see why I can’t ride one of those lovely creatures,” she cried, with a flirtatious appeal to her new kinsman. “Muktuk, dear, you did say they were not the virgin-exclusive sort of mythical-beastie unicorns, and I am quite a good rider.”
“I’m sure you are, cousin,” Chumia said firmly before her mate could be cajoled. “But since you’ve fallen in with evil companions who are known to be a bit free with other folks’ property, we’d like to get to know you better before we entrust one of our curlies to you.”
Dinah opened her mouth and closed it again, nonplussed, then allowed herself to be bundled onto one of the sleds. She did sufficiently recover her aplomb after being so uncompromisingly confronted to complain in an exaggerated whine that a dogsled was not the same thing as a unicorn ride at all.
On board the shuttle, Yana used the pirate comm unit to monitor the Intergal satellite. Not only would it still be night for another six hours at Bogota, but the whole of the southern continent was wrapped in a massive blizzard, making flying inadvisable.
“I could try,” she said. “I hate to leave ’Cita in the lurch.”
Sean thought for a moment and shook his head decisively. “No. Johnny’s there and the copter, and Coaxtl won’t let anything happen to her. If those two can’t take care of her, we won’t add much to the equation, especially with you half-frozen and about to drop.”
So they bedded down on the shuttle, happily warming each other, to await a more appropriate time to start their journey. They didn’t get to sleep immediately: they had been parted a long time for newlyweds. Nanook, who had insisted on staying with them, discreetly adjourned to the next cabin.
When they awoke, Yana checked the comm unit again, once more monitoring the Intergal Station for a weather check. Though they’d land in daylight now, the weather was no better; but they decided not to delay any further. After all, they had the map that Petaybee itself had presented to them, indicating all the trouble spots, and Sean knew the coordinates of Bogota. In a shuttle of this class, it was not a long journey, but their destination was lost in the swirling mass of a first-rate late-spring blizzard.
“I’m a good pilot,” Yana insisted to Sean as she fought the controls. The winds buffeted the sturdy spaceworthy shuttle. “But I was too preoccupied to pay much attention to my surroundings the last time I was here. What am I looking for exactly?”
“A cluster of buildings . . .”
“Which I can’t see in what is virtually a whiteout.” There was a slight edge to her voice, because Yana was prudently aware of her limitations. Piloting a shuttle when you could see where you were going, even if you didn’t know what you were looking for, was one thing. Flying blind over unfamiliar terrain in these conditions without a beacon to set you down was another.
“Put us down anywhere. Nanook’ll reconnoiter,” Sean said understandingly.
“He’ll know where we are?”
“He’ll be in touch with Coaxtl. And while Coaxtl may not know where we are, he’ll know where he is, and can give Nanook directions in—er—cat terms, I suppose.”
“Which you will then translate to coordinates I can follow, huh?” Yana shook her head in doubt, glancing from the white-on-white outside and back to Nanook.
Sean gave her one of his slow cryptic smiles. “He operates best in these conditions.”
The shuttle sank a little farther, settling into the snow. Nanook was already at the shuttle lock. He gracefully leapt out and almost instantly disappeared from view; only a thrashing of the snow in his path indicated his direction.
Yana looked over at Sean. “Now what do we do?”
Sean grinned. “Wait.”
With a bit of chopping and changing, Tanana Bay folks were able to find enough warm clothing to equip Dinah, Megenda, and the two pirates most recently freed from the shuttle. Their clothing was only