Bart had felt profoundly moved; now he snapped back to awareness of who
he was and what he was doing. So only the Lhari had courage? Life has
surprises, all right, Captain, he thought grimly.
He glanced down at the badge strip of plastic on his arm. It began to
tinge faint orange as he looked, and a chill of fear went over him. He
had to get away somehow--get to cover!
He looked round and his fear was almost driven from his mind. "Captain,
the rocks! They're moving!"
Vorongil said, unruffled, "Why, so they are. They do, you know; they
have intelligence of a sort. Though I've never actually seen them move
before, I know they shift places overnight. I wonder what's going on?"
They were edging back, the path widening and changing. "Oh, well, maybe
they're going to do some more landscaping for us. I once knew a captain
who swore they could read his mind."
Bart saw the slow, inexorable deepening of his badge--he had to get
away. He tensed, impatient; gripped by fists of panic. Somewhere on this
world, Montano and his men were setting up their lethal radiations....
Think of this: a Lhari ship of our own to study, to know how it works,
to see the catalyst and find out where it comes from, to read their
records and star routes. Now we know we can use it without dying in the
warp-drive....
Think of this: to be human again, yet to travel the stars with men of
my own race!
It's worth a few deaths!
Even Vorongil? Standing here, talking to him, he might--say it! You
talked to him as if he'd been your father! Oh, Dad, Dad, what would you
do?
His voice was steady, as he said, "It's very good of you to show me all
this, sir, but the other men will call me a slacker. Hadn't I better get
to a work detail?"
"Hm, maybe so, feathertop," Vorongil said. "Let me see--well, down this
way is the last row of bunkers. See the humps? You can check inside to
see if they're full or empty and save us the trouble of exploring if
they're all empty. Have a look round inside if you care to--the robot
machinery's interesting."
Bart tensed; he had wondered how he'd get hidden inside, but he asked,
"Not locked?"
"Locked?" The old Lhari's short, yellowed crest bobbed in surprise.
"Why? Who ever comes here but our ships? And what could we do with the
stuff but take it back with us? Why locked? You've been on the drift too
long--among those thieving humans! It's time you got back to live among
decent folk again. Well, go along."