Alan Foster - The Icerigger Trilogy

“We’ll see,” Ethan said, “but I can’t make any promises. As to convincing them of the urgency, that’s going to be tough.”

“I’ll take care of that,” said Williams quietly but confidently. “You soften them up, Ethan, and I’ll finish the argument off.”

Ethan looked dubious. “Hunnar Redbeard and Captain Ta-hoding are going to take more than just softening up when I try to convince them it’s not time for them to return home.”

“We’ve been a long time gone.”

As Hunnar finished his little speech his sentiments were echoed by the other Tran in the room. They included Balavere Longax, senior warrior among the crew of the Slanderscree; Ta-hoding, her captain; Elfa Kurdagh-Vlata, daughter of the Landgrave of Sofold; and Hunnar’s two squires. Ethan and Milliken Williams spoke for the staff of the research station while a dour Skua September glowered in the background. Ethan had asked him to join them and since his shuttle’s departure had been postponed to an early morning liftoff, he couldn’t very well decline. But he wasn’t happy about it.

The humans required survival suits for this extended parley, but to the Tran the temperature in the transition room was positively tropic, barely a few degrees below freezing.

As Hunnar sat down Ta-hoding leaned over the plastic table. “They wish us to take them where, friend Ethan?”

Williams unrolled the map Cheela Hwang and her colleagues had prepared. Transfers had been made from the survey satellite’s infrared photos. He wondered how the Tran would react to it, never having seen their world from above. They navigated by wind and stars, landmarks and tradition. If any could make the mental leap necessary, it would be those in this room. The concept of maps was not unknown to them, but aerial photography was something else again.

Tran measured distance in units called satch, and he’d had the outpost cartographer put all measurements on the crude map in those familiar numbers. It helped.

Elfa eyed the map uneasily. “No one has ventured so far south and east. That region is unknown to us.”

Ethan thought she looked wonderful in her furs and leathers. Exotic, very feminine in a feline sort of way, and wholly alien. You’re anthropomorphizing again, he warned himself.

“Until you made the journey in the Slanderscree no one from Sofold had ever been this far east before, either.” He used a finger to trace a route on the map. “We’ll head south to Poyolavomaar. That much is familiar territory and we can resupply the ship there if necessary. From there we turn southeast until we cross the equatorial ice pressure ridge—the ‘bent ocean’ as you call it—somewhere in this vicinity. Then it’s straight on to the edge of the southern continent. The continental plateau runs almost due east-west at that point and we’ll be able to keep the west wind hard behind us. I doubt we’ll run into anything we haven’t already met up with.”

“That is a promise oft disproved before,” Budjir quipped softly.

Ethan rerolled the map. The research department’s publications section would have copies prepared and laminated prior to the icerigger’s departure.

“It’s not like Hwang and her people are asking you to sail them to the south pole. They’re going to make the trip worthwhile. Each member of the icerigger’s crew will share in the profits to be realized upon your return home to Sofold.”

“What of those left behind who wait anxiously for word of that long-delayed return?” Balavere Longax inquired. His fur was tipped with silver and his beard gray instead of ruddy.

“The humans here intend to hire the best ship available to take a portion of the Slanderscree ’s crew back to Wannome. They can report for all.”

“No other merchant vessel has ever made such a journey. Until we came to this place the people of Sofold had no knowledge of Arsudun, nor they of us,” Ta-hoding pointed out.

“Exactly. Now that the route is known and the journey once completed, other Tran should be more willing to attempt it. The owners of the ship we hire will be well paid.”

“We had the wind always behind us.”

“The return trip will involve more time and less danger, since the obstacles are now known. Those of your crew who make this journey will do so in comfort. Others will raise the sails and cook the food. When you stride together into the great hall at Wannome to speak of our adventures you will be honored. There will be more honor to come when the Slanderscree finally returns weighted down with its cargo of metal.

“I’ve talked to the metallurgist in charge of the smelter here. She’ll be glad to fulfill your requests for spear points, nails, small tools, and pipes. Whatever you wish. The humans who want to engage your services will pay for everything. With this one cargo Wannome will leap beyond its neighboring city-states in wealth and prestige. It will make it easier to strengthen the new union. When the people of Ayhas and Meckleven see the benefits to be gained from membership, they’ll rush to join.”

“You tempt us, friend Ethan,” said Balavere. “You tempt us greatly. Were it not for the need to inform our loved ones and our Landgrave that we still chivan o’er the oceans of our world, I would be inclined to stay with you myself. Such a cargo as you describe has never been imagined. I would like to be the one to unveil it.”

“As friend Ethan says, it is not as though we are being asked to sail ’round the globe.” Suaxus-dal-Jagger clearly had no doubts as to which course they should take. “What his friends propose is a journey no longer than the one that took us from here to Moulokin. Those lands also were unknown to us until we visited them. By making the journey we gained knowledge and allies. Why should not this one prove similarly beneficial?” The squire grinned, showing razor-sharp canines.

“And if there is to be a fight or two along the way, why, it would keep us from boredom. That is the only place I fear to visit.”

“I should think you’d had enough adventure to keep you from boredom for the remainder of your life.” Elfa’s gaze shifted from the exuberantly enthusiastic squire back to Ethan. “Still and all, your scholar friends offer a city’s ransom in payment for a little transportation. Long as it has been since my father has seen me, I know what he would advise.”

Hunnar had been studying his right paw, extending and retracting his claws. Now he looked up to where Skua September leaned against the door that led back into the outpost complex.

“What think you, friend Skua? Should we accept this proposition?”

“Yes, what do you think?” Balavere asked.

September let his gaze touch on human and Tran alike. “I think you’re every one of you fools. Some of you are furry fools and some of you smooth-skinned, but you have warm blood and idiocy in common. I think Ethan’s a fool for risking the dangers of your world on still another journey into unknown regions. I think the rest of you are fools for not returning home right now.”

“We know what to expect, Skua,” said Williams, adjusting his glasses. “It would be discouraging if we didn’t encounter one or two new things on such an expedition.”

“Something new ain’t what would worry me. Surprises wouldn’t worry me. What would worry me, Milliken, is that sooner or later a man’s odds will catch up with him. You don’t go give those odds any help against us. Fate’s already on their side. Me, I’ve been tiptoeing on the far edge of disaster most of my life. Just because I haven’t fallen off yet doesn’t mean I’m going to start dancing. I don’t think you should go.”

Williams turned to the watchful Tran. “Certainly there may be dangers to be faced. This is your world. I believe Cheela Hwang and her colleagues when they say that it may be in danger. The kind of danger that can reach across oceans and continents. We seek an explanation because events that cannot be explained have a way of coming back to haunt you. We must find out what is happening to the weather along the edge of the southern continental plateau.”