Lady Lure (23 page)

“I don’t know.” Perri looked to Rolli for
advice, but the robot’s eyelights were fixed on Halvo.

“See if you can get one of those large salads
out of it, will you?” Halvo asked. “And some bread, too. I’m
hungry, but not close enough to starving to eat a Regulan main
course. I may never be hungry enough for that.”

Perri did as he bid her. She was glad to get
out of the cockpit for a while. With only cockpit and galley usable
and the air recirculation system set at minimal level, the
Space
Dragon
was beginning to feel like a prison. Perri longed to
stand in an open place with no confining walls around her and take
a deep breath. Fresh air might help the headache that was bothering
her.

To her delight, the food processor was
functioning well. It delivered not only the salad Halvo wanted, but
a mug of steaming heskay tea for her and two loaves of dark bread.
After piling everything onto a tray, she returned to the cockpit.
There she discovered that Halvo and Rolli had effected a partial
repair of the navigational instruments.

While the two humans ate Rolli piloted the
ship, but Halvo never moved out of the copilot’s chair and he
constantly monitored what Rolli was doing. Just as Halvo finished
his salad and handed the bowl to Perri, Rolli spoke.

“Admiral, there appears to be a star of the
type you have described to me.”

“Where?” Halvo’s full attention was on the
controls, then on the large viewscreen.

“Good job, Rolli. A solar system with three
planets, one of them with two moons. Yes, this may be what we are
searching for. This may be Dulan’s Planet.”

Aboard the Jurisdiction ship
Krontar,
a grim-faced Capt. Jyrit paced the bridge, knowing he was about to
lose the argument in which he was engaged.

“Jyrit, my friend,” Kalina said, “I beg you
to try to understand a mother’s aching heart. I cannot concede to
your insistence that Halvo will never be found.”

“Lady Kalina, I do understand your feelings.
My own emotions mirror your anguish. Though sadly maimed, your son
still had much to live for, much to look forward to in his future
life.”
More than I have,
Jyrit added silently to himself.
I have little life left at all.

“Jyrit, I do know about the Jugarian rules of
honor,” Kalina said. “If the shame of losing Halvo to a kidnapper
cannot be expunged by his rescue, then you must die as restitution
for his loss. I have grown to know you well, my friend. I suspect
you of scheduling your own death for the near future.”

“It will be necessary,” Jyrit responded,
uncomfortably aware of Armaments Officer Dysia’s troubled gaze on
him as well as Kalina’s clear blue eyes. Jyrit knew what Kalina
would say next, because Dysia had already said the same thing to
him several times. Much as he liked and respected them, they were
both women, and Demarians at that. Therefore they could not be
expected to comprehend the requirements of the strict code of honor
that bound all Jugarian males. Jyrit was the son of a long line of
warriors, and he knew what he would have to do.

“It would be sheer ineptitude on your part to
take your own life prematurely,” Kalina said. “We may still find
Halvo. Jyrit, we are so close to the Empty Sector. I think we
should search there, too.”

“You know as well as I what the law says
about the Empty Sector.” Jyrit and Dysia exchanged sympathetic
glances, both of them realizing that Kalina’s suggestion was the
last, desperate hope of a parent unable to admit her child was
gone, never to be seen again. Out of his affection for Kalina,
Jyrit made a decision that he knew was hasty and probably
ill-advised. But he could not do otherwise. He owed the grieving
woman every consideration since her grief was his
responsibility.

“What I can do without breaking any law,”
Jyrit said, “is take the
Krontar
as far as the buoy at the
edge of Jurisdiction space. We can get information from the buoy
about any ships that have approached that boundary. If there is no
data available to show the passage of a ship answering the
description of the
Space Dragon,
will you agree to turn back
to the Jurisdiction without objection?”

“There are two buoys marking the Empty
Sector,” Kalina said.

“Very well. We will check both of them,”
Jyrit said.

“Agreed.” Kalina looked almost cheerful.

* * * * *

Several hours after that conversation, the
information extracted from each of the buoys by the Krontar’s
communications officer was identical.

“One small ship, similar in description to
the
Space Dragon,
has entered the Empty Sector,” the officer
said. “It was followed by a Regulan war vessel.” She continued with
technical information about the time of entry and the course taken
by each ship.

“Halvo.” Kalina spoke the name in a whisper.
“He is alive.”

“All we know for certain,” Jyrit said as
kindly as he could, “is that the ship has survived.”

“Halvo is in danger, Jyrit.” Kalina’s voice
betrayed her tightly wound nerves. “That Regulan ship can mean no
good to him. We must pursue them into the Empty Sector without
further delay.”

“This is a grave decision, Lady Kalina.” But
not as grave as ritual suicide, Jyrit thought.
If we can locate
Halvo and by some unexpected miracle save his life, then I may live
to see my wife and child again.

“I have another son, who has established a
colony in the Empty Sector,” Kalina said. She gave Jyrit a brief
explanation about Tarik’s settlement on Dulan’s Planet.

“I have heard rumors of such an outpost,”
Jyrit said, “but never anything definite enough to make me believe
in it.”

“I know the coordinates for Dulan’s Planet,”
Kalina said. “Tarik gave them to me before he left Capital. They
are engraved in my heart and in my memory. Let us follow those two
ships, Jyrit, and when we can follow them no longer, we will find
Dulan’s Planet and stop there to visit Tarik. I will tell him
myself what has happened to his brother.”

“I did not expect to locate it so soon.”
Halvo stared intently at the viewscreen. The
Space Dragon
was close enough for those in the cockpit to be able to make out
the three planets that Halvo had insisted would be orbiting the
star. “You can see the middle planet of this system does have two
moons.”

“That doesn’t mean this is the planet you
want to find. Many stars have associated planets, and planets often
have moons.” Perri was afraid to hope they would reach safety so
easily. She was even more afraid of what would happen when Halvo
was reunited with his brother, who, she was certain, would not
approve of her. “Halvo, Rolli has pointed out that we cannot even
be sure the image we see on our view-screen is a true one.”

“We have to believe that it is,” Halvo said.
“After using Starthruster, the
Space Dragon
is in worse
condition than before. The two largest cracks in the hull have
increased in size. The life-support system is on the verge of
collapse. We need help, and we need it soon. We are going into
orbit around that third planet.”

“Our sensors indicate a ship dead ahead,”
Rolli said.

“It’s the
Kalina,”
Halvo said. “I
would know her anywhere. My brother, Tarik, and I had her refitted
to our own specifications before he left Capital with his people.
This proves we have found Dulan’s Planet. Rolli, try to contact the
Kalina.

Perri sat back, waiting, a knot tightening in
the pit of her stomach. She ought to be as happy as Halvo was that
their dangerous journey was almost over. But all she could feel was
fear and a sense of impending loss. With a sigh, she turned to her
own instruments at the navigator’s console.

“We cannot raise the
Kalina,”
Rolli
said. “The problem appears to be with our own communications
system.”

“I am sorry to add to our problems,” Perri
said, “but the Regulan ship is still following us.”

“They have crossed into the Empty Sector?
They do want us dead, don’t they?” Halvo’s voice was light, but
Perri saw the cold look in his eyes. “Check your instruments again,
Perri.”

“My readings on the Regulan ship are
consistent,” she said after obeying his command. She frowned,
seeing new information displayed. “I should say my readings on the
first Regulan ship. There appears to be a second ship following the
first – and now I am receiving a third image! Are there three
Regulan vessels chasing us? Or could these readings be the result
of some distortional effect of the Empty Sector?”

“If it is,” Rolli added to Pern’s excited
remarks, “then my instruments are showing the same distortion. I
also note three ships, but I do not believe the third one is
Regulan.”

“Could it be a Cetan vessel?” The knot in
Perri’s stomach twisted tighter as she spoke to Halvo. “You did say
the Cetan sector is near.”

“That is no Cetan.” Halvo had the image on
the larger viewscreen.

Having seen models and telscan images of
similar vessels all of her life, Perri was able to identify the
Regulan ships at once. As Halvo sharpened the picture she could see
that the mysterious third ship was definitely not Regulan though
it, too, was oddly familiar to her. She recognized it just as Halvo
spoke again.

“That’s the
Krontar!
Now how in the
name of all the stars did Jyrit find us?”

Before either Perri or Rolli had time to
speculate on the answer to that question, the
Space Dragon
was rocked by an explosion.

“The Regulans are firing on us,” Rolli said,
her emotionless voice making the dire statement seem even more
terrifying than it otherwise would have been.

“They want us blown into atoms before the
Krontar
can rescue us,” Halvo said.

“Now the
Krontar
is attacking the
first Regulan vessel,” Rolli said.

“With a ship the size of the
Krontar
and the armaments it carries, Jyrit can probably take those two
Regulans,” Halvo said, “but the
Space Dragon
cannot fight.
Nor can we survive even a single direct hit.”

“What shall we do?” Perri asked.

“We have to get away from the field of
battle,” Halvo said. “We don’t dare to use Starthruster again. If
we try, the
Space Dragon
will break apart.”

“Then what shall we do?” Pern’s despairing
cry was punctuated by another explosion.

“That was entirely too close,” Rolli
said.

“I can’t argue with that assessment.” Halvo’s
face was grim. “I think we ought to seek shelter behind the larger
moon. I’ll take full control, Rolli. This will call for some fancy
flying.”

The words were not out of his mouth before
the
Space Dragon
began to change course. Halvo handled the
ship entirely by himself, using only occasional navigational
assistance from Perri.

She did not know how he managed to avoid the
frequent blasts coming from the Regulan ships. There were a few
near misses that rocked their little vessel, and Halvo performed so
many twists and turns in direction and so many sudden, breathtaking
swoops that Pern’s stomach began to protest.

“Admiral,” Rolli said, “you are taking an
exceedingly dangerous course, which is placing intolerable stress
upon an already disabled ship.”

“Just a few seconds more,” Halvo said. “I
want to confuse the Regulans and make them wonder if perhaps they
have succeeded in destroying us.”

The larger of the two moons loomed on the
viewscreen, an airless, meteor-pitted surface that reminded Perri
of the small world on which she and Halvo had taken refuge earlier
in their adventurous voyage. But on this particular world they
could not land with any hope of survival because it had no
atmosphere at all. As Perri watched in admiration of his ability,
Halvo piloted the
Space Dragon
around the limb of the moon
toward the dark side. Just as Perri thought they were safely out of
range an ear-splitting blast shook the ship. The
Space
Dragon
shuddered. Perri was almost thrown to the deck.

“They got us,” Halvo said. “Nicked our tail
at the very last second. We almost made it.”

“Almost?” Perri cried. “No, we’ve won. We’re
still alive, aren’t we?”

“Right.” Halvo’s smile held no humor. “Now
all we have to do is reach Home with a ship that is slowly losing
both its air pressure and its artificial-gravity system, not to
mention the small detail of engines that aren’t functioning at full
power.”

“Home?” Perri echoed, not ready yet to deal
with the implications of Halvo’s other remarks.

“It’s what the colonists on Dulan’s Planet
call their headquarters,” Halvo said.

“If we go there, assuming we are able to
reach this Home,” Perri said, “we will draw the Regulans right to
your brother’s doorstep. I cannot think he will be happy about the
loss of concealment when secrecy is vital to his project.”

“While we are on this side of the moon,
communication and sensor scanning from any ship on the other side
is blocked out, making us as good as invisible to all three of
those ships,” Rolli said. “I am certain you plan to use this
situation to our advantage, Admiral.”

“I do,” Halvo said. “Right now, the
Krontar
is probably keeping both of the Regulan ships too
busy for them to have time to pay much attention to us, which gives
us a slim chance to reach the planet’s surface without being
closely tracked – and that is our best hope of staying alive and
free.”

“My knowledge of space flight is still sadly
limited,” Perri said. “But from that one book I read, I learned
that a vessel entering the atmosphere of a planet must do so at a
precise angle in order to avoid being bounced out into space again
or, alternately, being burned to a cinder.”