Silent Dances (52 page)

He held one out to Bruce, but the weatherman shook his head. "I've ... got to

take care of Lauren," he said.

The biologist nodded curtly. "Just don't let her get you killed," Thorn warned.

"I'll
take care of Lauren," Dr. Li said forcefully, taking charge of the woman, who was now snuffling and mumbling her regrets. The doctor handed Bruce

her weapon.
"You
can--what's the term--'cover' us." She peered at Lauren.

"Maybe I'll give her something to calm her."

"The Falcon'
s running
this show," Thorn said to Bruce. "He's not coming to talk over old times. Be careful."

"Look, Thorn," Bruce began,
"...
I'm sorry..."

"Yeah," Thorn said, "me, too. We'll talk about it later." Tesa waved to get everyone'
s attention
. She tapped her voder
to make sure theirs we
re
on
an
d working befo
re
she signed.

254

"Everyone
needs to underst
an
d something
. Under no circumstances is
anyone
to fire on the Aquila!"

Blank expressions greeted her. Dr. Li paled. "Aquila?"

"They are native citizens of Trinity," Tesa signed, "fully
intelligent beings.

As the inter
re
lator
,
I'm telling you, the
Aquila are
not
to be fired on."

"Tesa, what are we supposed to do," Thorn argued. "Let them pick us off like rabbits?"

She fixed him with a determined stare. "It's
their
World. Defend yourself, but do
not
harm them."

Bruce
smiled wanly. "Why is it that people who come back from the dead

always want their own way?"

A low humming suddenly rippled through Meg's body. "Oh,
chort!
The sound

barrier's breeched! Get your nullifiers ..." Everyone began scrambling. Meg

only had to turn her ears

off,
an
d Thorn
'
s nullifiers were slung around his neck. Bruce
had a pair in his pocket and struggled to get them on Lauren, but she slapped his

hands away wildly. Tesa took them and gestured for him to get a set on. She

put the protectors on
Lauren
,
holding the wom
an
so the distraught

technici
an
couldn
'
t remove them.

Then the sound rocked Meg's body, shaking her spine. "That's the warning,"

Tesa told Thorn. "They're coming."

Tesa saw the big sleds, eight of them, flying high. She and Thorn were

crouched low on their own flyers, hiding in the
reeds
,
the bellies of the

machines kissing the marsh water.

"Those fr
eight sleds," Thorn signed, "aren't as fast as ours, but the
shields are stronger
.
They can repel
an
energy beam,
but as long as the shield's on, they can't fire out. And they can't lower their force-fields halfway

like we can."

I suppose that's the good news,
Tesa thought nervously.
Aquila flew

clustered around the big sleds in a ragged formation
.
The young wom

an
stared at them
,
wonde
ri
ng what they we
re
thinking
,
what they
would do
.
Rain had just stared
at them when they'd made their offer-a

compromise, for only a day, and if it worked, if they all benefited, then,

maybe"
The Hunters are individuals," she'd said.

Tesa blinked tiredly.
Somewhe
re
in that mob was Thunder. If
an
ything
happened to her ...

The reeds nearest them part
ed,
an
d both hum
an
s jumped.
Sailor-
-

Lightning
!
Tesa reminded herself-stepped out.

255

"What a
re
you doing here
?"
Tesa dem
an
ded. "I thought..."

"That I'
d stay in the forest with the new pa
re
nts
an
d child
re
n?" He
looked injured
. "
I'm pa
rt
of the esco
rt
flock!" Tesa didn
'
t know
whether to be proud or panicky. "Keep

your head down,
got that
?
No heroics
."
If anything happened to him ...

"Taller will keep us in the reeds until the ri
ght time," Lightning told them
.

He looked at Tesa
. "
Be careful
,
my f
ri
end." He tu
rn
ed to Thorn
. "

You, too
-
f
ri
end
."
The avian slipped back into the reeds before the
hum
an
s could react.

Thorn smiled at Tesa. "
I guess that means we can date?" Tesa g
ri
nned
weakly, tu
rn
ing her attention to the sky. The p
ri
vateers were

expecting the Aquila to hunt the Grus down, one by one
.
Tesa gnawed

her lip. What would the big p
re
dators do?

The sky gre
w dark with Aquila
,
until Tesa had to search for the eight

sleds lurking among the dark wings.

They came closer,
until Tesa could read the numbers on one of the

sleds. A p
ri
vateer fired on a nest shelter
an
d it burst into flames.

Suddenly the call rang out across the marsh
, an
d Tesa grabbed Thorn

'
s arm
,
pointing.

Thre
e of the p
ri
vateers clutched at their ears
,
grabbing at their

controls
.
The calling went on and on
an
d the affected hum
an
s finally
fell across their machines
,
unconscious. Their sleds began flying in

circles
,
as the automatic safety controls engaged.

Without warn
ing
,
the Aquila converged on the unconscious p
ri

vateers
,
knocking futilely against the protective force-fields, finally

forcing the sleds into the water
.
One sled
'
s power system failed befo
re
it hit
,
and the field dissolved
.
The Aquila pulled the unconscious
human off the sled
,
tearing
an
d
ri
pping his body until he was almost
shredded
.
Finally
,
they dropped him. He'd been dead long befo
re
he
hit the water.

Tesa'
s eyes widened at the avi
an
s
'
rage
,
and she lost any small hope
she'd had that the Aquila might ally with them du
ri
ng the conflict.

The five remaining pri
vateers suddenly realized things we
re
very

wrong
.
Two of them were gestu
ri
ng at the parked shuttles. Thorn had
assured her he'd disabled both vehicles for their own p
ro
tection
.
If the
p
ri
vateers got control of them
,
they could take over the
Singing Crane
an
d m
an
ufactu
re
new boards for

256

their own ship.
Bruce
,
Meg, and Szu
-
yi were stationed near the shu
tt
les, to protect them.

Suddenly Thorn grabbed Tesa'
s arm
. "
Is that Rain?"

The big Aquila
female was flying low when Jim Maltese loomed over her

in his sled, bent on punishing the dissident avian. He took aim on the

raptor
,
but a pair a
tt
acked him
an
d he was forced to put up his
shields
.
Deborah came up beside him
an
d fi
re
d on the pair har
ry
ing
him
,
killing the male. He dropped into the water near Tesa
,
his body
sizzling as it struck.

Maltese signaled to his cohort
s,
an
d they sped toward the landing pad

an
d the shu
tt
les
.
As the five privateers grouped above the
Crane
crew, Taller burst from cover,
the esco
rt
rising with him.

Tesa hit her controls an
d surged forward befo
re Thorn
could stop her
.

She'd come back from a flyaway
,
too. She glanced back and saw the

biologist following her closely
,
wearing
that
look on his face.

The pri
vateers hove
re
d near the shu
tt
les
,
t
ry
ing to land, but
Bruce an
d Meg kept up a steady barrage with their stolen weapons
,
forcing the

invaders to keep their shields up
an
d stay in the air.

The escort
flock beg
an
spiraling around the big sleds, taunting them.

Suddenly Laure
n broke away from Szu
-
yi. The distraught wom
an

raced into the open
,
waving her arms wildly at Maltese. The doctor r
an

after her, but missed her first grab and was forced to chase the tech

down as Maltese slid under the esco
rt
, his weapon ready. He was

plainly aiming for Lau
re
n.

"YOU BASTARD!"
Tesa screamed at the top of her lungs
an
d pushed

her own sled to its top speed
.
Suddenly Rain appeared
an
d swooped

toward Maltese
,
but Tesa
'
s view became obscured by white wings as

the esco
rt
surrounded the sled
an
d the Aquila
.
The
re
was a flash of
energy as Maltese fired, then Rain flew away unharmed.

As Tesa watched helplessly,
a glistening white body dropped away from

the esco
rt
and plummeted limply to the knoll. Furious
,
Tesa waved her
spear
an
d slipped her sled into the now-vac
an
t slot in the esco
rt
flock's vee.

Disorgan
ized
,
the Aquila assault
be
gan breaking up as the avi
an
s
be
came frus
tr
ated at
be
ing unable to pene
tr
ate the energy shields of
the heavy sleds
.
But the esco
rt
flock only became mo
re
cohesive
,
spiraling around the sleds
,
forcing them to fly

257

closer together
,
forcing them higher into the sky
.
The Aquila who

crowded inside that ascending spiral struck against the sleds r
an

domly, sometimes attacking the p
ri
vateers
,
sometimes a
tt
acking
Thorn
an
d Tesa.

Thorn had worked his way inside the spiral an
d fired on Maltese
,
but his

weapon
'
s ray only bounced off the freight sled's powerful energy

field
,
end
an
ge
ri
ng the avi
an
s
.
He pulled back.

The air grew thinner as they rose.
The mesh bags Tesa had hur
ri
edly

filled with stones were still
re
s
tr
ained on the back of her sled
.
She
knelt
,
her own field holding her lower body snugly
,
as she pulled a bag
free
.
She swung, then let it fly. It struck Deborah
'
s shields hard
an
d
bounced off harmlessly, but the wom
an re
acted instinctively to having

rocks hurled at her face
an
d jerked away.

Tesa batt
e
re
d the p
ri
vateers with rocks
, an
d her
as
sault ra
tt
led
some of the sled
ri
ders so much they stopped paying a
tt
ention to their
location
.
One well
-
timed stone caused two sleds to slam into each

other
,
sho
rt
ing out their fields
.
The other th
re
e got away from them
quickly
as
the Aquila pounced on the now defenseless sleds
.
Several

of the raptors we
re
killed
as
the p
ri
vateers fi
re
d wildly to save
themselves
.
But, finally
,
the sled
ri
ders were overwhelmed by the num
be
r of avi
an
s bent on their deaths
, an
d we
re ri
pped apa
rt,
then
pulled off their sleds
an
d d
ro
pped.

The Grus escort
kept pushing the big sleds higher
.
The deaths of the

last two p
ri
vateers seemed to take the fight out of Deborah
an
d
an
other wom
an.
They ostentatiously placed their weapons on the surface

of their sleds
,
indicating to Thorn
an
d Tesa their willingness to