Vernor Vinge - The Children of the Sky

Of course Ravna heard no such thing. No one was visible on the hillside below them. Even the glider had flown out of sight, leaving the sky to the birds and the low sun. She gave Amdi an acknowledging pat and leaned back against the rock.

Yes, there was someone coming up the south path, out of sight behind them. The squish-crunch of boots on moss sounded like a single human.

Ravna and Amdi sat silently for another thirty seconds. The footsteps came along the west side of Pham’s rock—but the visitor wasn’t headed here.

It was Jefri Olsndot; he took the path down to the two headstones that sat nearest the end of the promontory. He and Johanna had picked that place for their parents. As much as Pham Nuwen, Sjana and Arne Olsndot had fought the Blight. So Jefri, what do you believe and what do you deny?

Jefri knelt between the headstones. He put one hand on each, and stared out over the glittering sea. After a long moment, he shook himself, like a man waking or remembering an appointment. He stood and turned—and saw Amdi and Ravna watching him from Pham’s rock.

“Hei there, Jefri!” said Amdi. He waggled some noses in a tentative wave.

Jefri approached with measured tread. He stopped three meters from the rock and glared at both human and pack. “What is she doing here, Amdi?” His words were flat and angry.

“Just a coincidence?” The pack looked at Ravna for confirmation.

“That’s what you told me, Amdi.” She glanced at heads that were looking everywhere else. Just now, Amdi reminded her of a way-too-smart teenager. Well, literally, he was a way-too-smart teenager.

There was no good humor in Jefri’s reaction. He closed in on those of Amdi who were farthest from Ravna. “ You suggested meeting here. You picked the time. I show up half an hour early, and I find you—and, and her —” a look in Ravna’s direction, “waiting for me.”

“I’m sorry , Jefri!” Amdi’s voice rose, childlike. “I just couldn’t stand the idea that you, I mean that we—” He dithered a second, then his voice took off on a new tangent. Now he sounded a little like the salesman he had learned to be in the circus. “We should talk about this. We really should.” The one on the ledge above Ravna moved aside, and the one that had been resting its head on Ravna’s lap climbed up to fill the gap. At the same time, another patted the space beside Ravna that had just been vacated. “Here, why don’t you sit down and we can all explain this to each other.”

This chatter lost some of its audio fidelity about at the word “explain,” when Jefri grabbed the one who had been patting the open space and shoved him against Ravna.

“Oops, sorry,” Amdi said in an aside to Ravna.

She had seen these two play this roughly, even since their return from the Tropics, but there was no playfulness in Jefri right now. He’d have been taking a chance with his life if he used this kind of force against a stranger pack as big and heavyset as Amdiranifani had become.

“Okay, we’ll have our talk.” Jefri sat down.

Now one of Amdi was sandwiched between him and Ravna. The rest of the pack surrounded them. Altogether, Amdi seemed a bit disconcerted. He looked back and forth at himself for a moment, then patted Jefri gingerly and crept in close to his old friend. When Jef didn’t respond, Amdi continued in his showman voice, the volume turned down to an intimate purr: “Okay, I confess. Though this was a coincidence, I gave it some help. I was pretty sure Ravna would come up here at low sun. If she hadn’t, I would have thought of something else to get us together. We three have been through so much, don’t you know? I didn’t want it to seem to Ravna that Jef and I were sneaking off—”

“What?” said Ravna.

“Amdi, I swear, you have no right—”

“You two are leaving, Jef? I thought, I thought you were staying with the Domain.”

Jefri didn’t look her in the eye. Maybe he was too busy glaring at first one of Amdi and then another. “We aren’t sneaking off. Amdi is just jerking you around.”

“I am not!”

Jefri finally looked at Ravna. “This may seem like another betrayal, but I’ve talked to Woodcarver and Flenser about it, ah, just this afternoon. You and Johanna would have learned soon enough, but I really didn’t want to argue about it with either of you.” And as an aside to Amdi he said, “How could you do this to me?”

“You’re going to Best Hope?” she said. Powers, how I hate that name.

Jef nodded. “But it’s not what you think. I’m not doing any good around here. No one really trusts me. You—”

“I trust you,” said Ravna. As long as you stayed, I could hope. “Why are you going, Jefri?”

Jef hesitated, then: “Okay. You remember when we were on the road, you suggested I look for testable evidence about the Blight. But what could I find, Down Here, ten years later? Now … I think I have a chance. Bili stole equipment from the Lander, equipment that idiot-me never recognized. I know Bili. By now, I even know Nevil. Watching them, watching what they do with this gear—one way or another, I’ll figure out what I have to do.”

“That’s—” insane . “That’s not reasonable, Jefri. After you saved my life, Nevil has less reason to trust you than almost anyone.”

“I’ve been working on that. Vendacious is gone. Chitiratifor and company are gone. No one on the other side knows what went on with you and me except Tycoon’s people. And Tycoon is perfectly happy to feed Nevil a story that will suit me.”

“Huh?”

“I had Amdi work out all the details the last time Mr. Radio was up here.”

Amdi shrank down a fraction. Now he had Ravna glaring at him. “It’ll be okay, Ravna,” he said.

Jefri nodded, deeply into his crazy spy plan. “Nevil won’t trust us, but we’ll be good propaganda for his cause—I-I’ll speak out in his favor. He’ll want to keep us around. And we’ve got a snoop-proof way to report. Amdi has a set of Scrupilo’s new prototype radio cloaks; he’s been practicing with them. Amdi will be Woodcarver’s ambassador to the Deniers.”

Ha! She glanced around at Amdi. “What do you really think of Jefri’s plan?”

Amdi’s gaze—all his gaze—was steady. “I think it’s the best we can do, and it’s our plan,” he said.

“Oh.” She wasn’t going to be able to stop this. She sat back, remembering their endless, futile arguments. Her suggestion had turned into an incredibly dangerous long shot or—her gaze snapped up to Jef’s face as she remembered the promises he’d made about Nevil and the Disaster Study Group. “Oh, Jefri—”

Jefri shook his head. “You see why there was no point in this meeting?”

Amdi was watching them from all sides. The one between Ravna and Jefri had its snout stuck up toward them, its gaze twitching back and forth. Now it wriggled free and hopped to the ground. The ones behind Ravna were nudging her like a gentle hand, toward Jefri. One of those above gave Jef a sharp tap on the head. “Say what you never say!” demanded Amdi, his voice adult and imperative. And then suddenly, the pack was scarce.

Jef gave his head an angry shake; he looked as surprised as Ravna felt. He was silent for almost ten seconds, his eyes averted. Finally he turned back to Ravna. When he spoke, his voice was stiff: “You still think I’m eight years old, don’t you?”

“Huh?”

“An incompetent little boy with deadly, false beliefs.”

“Jefri! I—”

He gave her a jagged smile. “Well, I’m not little anymore, and my beliefs are under review, but”—The smile went away, and his gaze was direct and angry.—“I was a terrible fool, and my shitheadedness almost got you killed.”