Yuen-Mong's Revenge (13 page)

     
When the food was ready, she again helped him sit and brought a
wooden platter with a bread, topped with thin slices of fresh fish, she
must have caught and marinaded earlier, and cut green leaves of swamp
spinach, as well as a cup of bark tea. She sat on the floor while he ate.
After a while, she said: "Atun, we must talk."

 
     
She waited to get his full attention. He forced himself to meet her
eyes.

     
"I know you blame yourself for what happened, but it is no use to
dwell on things that you cannot change anymore. Such thoughts only
steal your energy, and to survive on Aros, you need every bit of it. All
you can do is to learn from it. If it was bad, not to fall into the same trap
again. If it was a missed opportunity, to be ready to grab the next one
when it comes along."

 
     
She locked eyes with him, as if she tried to read whether he understood. He did not know how to react to these unexpected words. His
whole mind was in turmoil. Then she added with a smile: "And you are
no fun if you are morose."

 
     
He wanted to tell her how sorry he was, felt the tears rush into his
eyes, tried to blink them away. He did not want to humiliate himself by
crying in front of her.

     
She touched his left arm briefly and said: "It is OK to cry. There is no
shame in it." She got up and went back to the kitchen area.

     
"Yuen-mong, please forgive me," he murmured.

     
She briefly looked over her shoulder, smiling, and replied: "Atun, I
have."

 
     
She prepared herself some food and drink and went out onto the balcony. When she was finished, she returned, picked up his tray and cup.
"Do you want another drink?"

 
     
He nodded, not sure of his voice. She filled his cup, and he took it.

     
"There is another thing I want to ask you, Atun." There was a twinkle
of amusement in her eyes. "My mother taught me that it is nice to say
‘please’ and ‘thank you’. I don’t know whether this custom is followed
on Palo, but I would like you to do it with me."

 
     
He blushed deeply and lowered his gaze, murmuring. "I’m sorry,
Yuen-mong. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for all you’ve done
for me… I owe you my life several times and will never be able to repay
you."

 
     
"I do not ask for that. That too is part of the past that cannot be
changed. It is also nice to say please and thank you for small things, like
asking for or receiving a cup of tea … And now, lie down, give your
mind the long-needed rest. Sleep is the best remedy for a speedy
recovery… I have plans for you."

 
     
She quickly cleaned the dishes and cups they had used and then took
the flute and disappeared from the cave.
She is again fleeing from me
,
were his thoughts. How could he really believe that she had no bad
feelings against him, that she did not despise him? Such magnanimity
was not human. But then she was more than human, and as far as he
could remember she had never said anything that she did not mean, even
if he had often failed to listen. Nor did to forgive mean to forget.

* * *

Yuen-mong knew that Atun had fallen in love with her. It did not raise
any serious concerns. In his current mental state, he would not dare to
voice it. It would only make him more amenable, pay more attention to
what she said, make him more willing to follow her wishes. From her
reading of his mind, she also knew that he would not act on his love or
try to make sexual advances, nor did she fear that. She would easily be
able to handle him.

     
Her mother had told her how she and her father had fallen in love with
each other and that she had gone against the express and strong wishes
of her father, who had wanted her to join in union with one of the
powerful families on Andromatis to cement mutual ties.
Will I ever fall
in love?
Her mother had said it happened by itself, whether one wanted
it or not, and for some, it never happened.

     
Next morning, she helped Atun to shower and she soaped his back.
She brought out some of her father’s clothing, a loose shirt and loose
pants, also made of craw wing leather. They fitted reasonably well. After
breakfast, she enticed him out onto the balcony, spreading his sleeping
pad out there to make it softer.

     
She joined him, mending her clothing. The tight pants she had worn
to go into the mountains had suffered and the seams were fraying at
several places, needing strips to be inserted. It felt strange to have her
every move watched, but occasionally she met his gaze with a smile. He
seemed to be in better spirits and did not avert his eyes every time she
looked at him. Maybe the talk yesterday had helped at bit, although she
realized that it would take quite a while before he gained back his
confidence and self-esteem. She did not mind if his cockiness and feeling
of superiority would never return.

     
"Have you given the idea of converting your shuttle to manual control
any more thought?" she asked him after a while.

     
"No."

 
     
"Do you think that the various mechanisms that activate the propulsion and steering thrusters could, in fact, be operated manually?"

 
     
"How?"

 
     
"How are they operated now?"

 
     
"Microprocessors controlled by the AI unit activate the pressure
pumps and ignite the fuel mix."

 
     
"Could the microprocessors not be bypassed and the pumps activated
manually … by switches, like the one that turns the power on or off?"

 
     
He thought about this for a few moments. "I guess with the right
equipment and tools that could be done. But that doesn’t mean, a person
would be capable of coordinating them and manage to fly. The AI unit
controls much of it alone by feedback, without the pilot even being aware
of it. All these often minute adjustments would have to be done by the
pilot. It looks impossible to me. The surest way to get killed."

 
     
"Many things look impossible before they have been done," she
replied with a smile.

     
"Yes, I know." He lowered his gaze, blushing, and then added in a
murmur: "Like my rescue from the middle of the savages’ camp."

 
     
"I am sure that worked because it looked so utterly impossible."

 
     
Surprised by this remark, he briefly raised his gaze and responded to
her smile.

     
"So maybe we could learn to fly the shuttle manually."

 
     
"Are you serious about this?" He sounded alarmed.

     
"Yes, I am. It is our only chance to get off this planet."

 
     
"But it would be useless unless there’s a space craft up there waiting
to pick us up, and what’s more we have the ability to communicate with
it, to let them know where we are."

 
     
"Sure. But Atun, you did not think that I just wanted to go on … what
did you call that? … a joyride?" She chuckled, pleased to remember that
word he had once used.

     
"But my mother ship has left days ago."

 
     
"There is a fully operational space craft up there," she continued. "My
parents parked theirs before they tried to take samples from the ring."
When she saw his frown, she added: "It is parked just above the ring,
orbiting Aros like all the rocks and dust of the ring. My father thought
that the probability was practically nil that anybody else would discover
it, unless they were systematically searching for it. So there is a good
chance that it is still up there … waiting for us." She smiled again as she
said these last three words.

     
For the first time, his eyes lit up.

     
"May parents named it ‘Vishnu’. I think it is the name of a deity once
worshiped on Old Earth."

 
     
"But will it still be operational after twenty years?"

 
     
"Yes, my father said that they left it there on automatic control using
only solar power and that it could last for centuries."

 
     
"Did he tell you what class ship it is?"

 
     
"Yes. Vishnu is a PA4 class. Do you know what that is?"

 
     
"They were once the most advanced small space craft, mainly used for
private purposes. I heard that they are quite fast and have an excellent
range."

 
     
"Would you know how to fly it?"

 
     
"I guess yes. Most functions are automatic. But how would we be able
to gain access?"

 
     
"I know the access code."

 
     
"To be transmitted electronically from the shuttle? But we have no
workable AI unit."

 
     
"Once we are outside the magnetic field, it should be possible to
reprogram the shuttle’s AI unit so that we can transmit the access code,
and that is where you come in." She could sense the increase in his heart
rate.

     
"You’re really serious about this?"

     
"Yes. I know there are risks, but I believe they are worth taking."

 
     
"And you would trust me, Yuen-mong? After all that has happened?"

 
     
"Do I have a choice? Did you not say that you could have taught my
father some electronics? Here is your chance."

 
     
"I said many things I shouldn’t have said," he murmured, looking
away.

     
"Atun, I will hold you to this one."

 
     
He met her eyes again. She could sense his gratefulness. "If the AI
unit has not been damaged, I think I should be able to do it… Your father
thought that the magnetic field only disabled the working of the AI unit
and did not damage it, am I right?"

 
     
"Yes, I recall the way he put it so I could understand when I was a
child was that the electrons get confused and any active memory is wiped
the moment it is exposed to the magnetic field. That is why I knew the
laser gun would not work."

 
     
He looked embarrassed about that reminder. "But once outside, the
hardwired modules should again work and the memory becomes usable
again. Is this what he thought?"

 
     
"I think so."

 
     
"And any external memory cubes should still be OK?"

 
     
"Yes."

 
     
"So if there are systems backup cubes in the shuttle, I should be able
to get the AI unit working again, and we can then gain access to that ship
provided it is still up there… You don’t know the coordinates of the
ship’s orbit?"

 
     
"No. Can we not search for it?"

 
     
"If we’ve a working AI unit, yes. We would get into an orbit above
the ring. The trouble is that even that’s difficult without an AI unit. I
don’t even know how much fuel is left. I guess it’s enough to get into
orbit, although I wasn’t supposed to land on Aros. It’s therefore essential
that we use as little fuel as possible and that needs exact timing for
cutting off the main engine. We don’t even have a timing device and
counting the seconds in our head for several minutes is not accurate
enough."

 
     
"Timing device? You mean a watch?" Her father’s antique should do.

     
He nodded.

     
She quickly went to one of the niches where she stored various things
and retrieved a spring driven watch. While coming back, she wound it,
checked that it still worked, and handed it to Atun. "This is an antique
watch that has been handed down in my father’s family from father to
oldest son for generations. He claimed that it was the kind of pocket
watch men used on Old Earth in the 19
^th
century. I think it was one of his
most cherished possessions."