Tenacious

30

Kris was careful what she did that day. Despite the painkillers, she hurt. She checked on the retrieval of the scientific teams. More sensor pods had been knocked together and Sailors trained on them.

There were no more surprises.

Indeed, no one tried to surprise them.

The testing of the young boy, now well on the mend, caused no problems with his parents. Indeed, they wanted to be tested just like him. When Kris asked how the testing was going, the doctor who had replaced Doc Meade while she got some well-earned rest suggested the admiral look over someone else’s shoulder.

“You tend to your knitting, Admiral, and we’ll tend to knitting bones and muscles.”

Kris asked Nelly’s help to locate Jacques, and found him and Amanda combing through a huge list of research results, hunting for any reference to something like a divine being. So far, all it yielded was null data.

“You think Doc Meade is onto something?” Kris asked.

“We’ll know when we have more data,” the anthropologist said, giving Kris an answer she very definitely did not want to hear.

Kris headed back for the drop bay. She avoided the people standing around the med center, waiting to be tested, and edged over to the hatch that led out into darkness.

There she found the bald woman, sitting cross-legged, staring at the moon.

“Nelly, could you make us a bench?”

One rose from the deck.

~You only say a word, and even the ground does your will.~

~It is a craft,~ Kris said. ~We have the craft to make all that you see. We can change it.~

~You do not make all that I see. Not the moon. Not . . .~ Here she paused, and glanced at the planet below. ~Is that what was beneath my feet all the days of my life?~

~We are very far away. That makes it small.~

~As when my husband walks to me from out on the great prairie. Far off, he is no bigger than the ant at my feet. He gets closer and grows.~

~But he is always the same.~

~Is he?~

Kris measured all the potential questions in those two words and didn’t try to answer any of them.

A longboat dropped away from the Royal above the Wasp. The old woman watched it intently. Another was on approach for the Wasp.

~Men, in them, like a cave that flies like a bird.~

Kris nodded.

~But not.~

~Yes, but not,~ Kris agreed.

~What heart beats in your chest?~

~One like yours,~ Kris said, bringing her hand up to her chest, then pointing to the woman’s. ~My blood is red.~

~Your blood is red,~ the woman agreed. ~The men, down there. What do they hunt?~

Unfortunately, in their tongue, “what” was not a word, but an inflection of hunt. Kris could find no way to answer that. NELLY?

I’M STUMPED, TOO, KRIS.

HOW ABOUT THAT, THESE PRIMITIVES STUMPED A COMPUTER.

KRIS, THAT’S NOT FAIR.

SORRY, NELLY, NO IT ISN’T. IT’S JUST FRUSTRATING ME.

~We hunt to see what we see. Why do men walk over a mountain?~ Kris tried.

~Men do not walk over a mountain. Other men live over the mountain. Men with clubs.~

~So we hide and look from between the leaves.~

The woman sniffed. ~You hide like little baby. We saw you. If you had taken one fish, one animal, we would have hit your head so hard.~

~So we ate our own food. You like our own food?~

~It taste strange. My stomach.~ She rubbed it. ~No tree to go behind. Your ground strange.~

Kris bet the Wasp’s deck, and, no doubt, its Sailors were none too happy if these natives were using it for a latrine.

NELLY, HAS ANYONE SHOWN ONE OF THEM HOW TO USE THE HEAD?

GUNNY TRIED TO GET IT ACROSS TO THE OLD MAN. HE THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE. GUNNY IS STILL WORKING ON IT.

Another point for failure and potential conflict. What had Kris gotten herself into?

Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.

Kris tried another track. ~Your son’s son will hunt again.~

~Yes,~ the woman said, shaking her head. ~What will he hunt?~

~There is much to see among the stars,~ Kris offered.

~Our mothers of old chose our path long ago. We chose not to walk the stars.~ Now she was nodding up and down. ~The stars were not meant for our feet.~

~I hope your heart will be gladdened by what you see among the stars,~ Kris said.

She left the woman nodding at the stars.

NELLY, COULD YOU GET A CAMERA SET UP TO FOLLOW WHEREVER THAT WOMAN GOES? I THINK WE MAY NEED A BETTER SUICIDE WATCH THAN THE LAST ONE WE HAD.

I’LL SET UP THE CAMERA AND WATCH IT MYSELF, KRIS.

GOOD.

Kris found that she had done just about all that she could for the moment. Maybe it was true that officers were superfluous to a Navy run well by its chiefs. She’d given all the orders she needed. She’d read just about all the reports she could stand, and everything was humming along smoothly.

She had Nelly check with Sal on what Jack was doing.

And found out that Jack did, indeed have a job. He was checking out each landing team to make sure it had the right equipment. Neither he nor Gunny intended to have another team ambushed. He was also making sure that there were always Marines in the drop bay. The natives might be little and have only stone knives, but he wasn’t about to lose the Wasp to them running amuck.

Indeed, everyone was busy except their boss. Kris considered sticking her nose in where it wasn’t wanted or needed. However, she’d read about bosses who were like that and sworn she’d never be like them. She had expected to have some more fun as a junior officer before being locked away in Admiral Country. However, Longknifes never did it the right way.

“Nelly, draw me a warm bath. I could use another soak.”

“That sounds like a very good idea, Kris.”