Энн Маккефри - The Ship Who Won

«To begin with, those globular shells were manufactured.»

«Sure, a natural adaptation to survive.»

«No, they're artificial. Plastic. Not spit and pond muck. Plastic. And they speak the sign language. I think we've found our equal, spacefaring race, Keff. They're the Ancient Ones.»

«Oh, come on!» Keff said out loud. Nokias and Chaumel turned to stare at him. He smiled sheepishly. «Come on, High Mage. We want you to be prosperous.»

«Thank you, Keff,» Nokias said, a little puzzled. Favoring Keff with a disapproving glare, Chaumel reclaimed his guest's attention and went on with his carefully rehearsed speech.

Carialle's voice continued low in his ear. «They're so easy to ignore, we went right past them without thinking. That's why the Old Ones moved up into the mountains—to take the technology they stole out of reach of its rightful owners, who couldn't follow them up there. When the humans came, they didn't know about the frogs, so they inherited the power system, not knowing it belonged to someone else. They thought the globe-frogs were just animals. It would explain why they're so interested in any kind of power emission.»

«I think perhaps you're on to something, lady,» Keff said. «Let's not mention it now. We're asking for enough concessions, and the going is hazardous. We can test your hypothesis later.»

«It's not a hypothesis,» Carialle said. But she controlled her jubilation and went back to being the audio-video operator for the evening.

«Very well,» Nokias said, many hours later. «I see that our world will die unless we conserve power. I will even discuss an exchange of greater self-determination for greater responsibility from my workers. But I will let go of my items only if all the others agree, too. You can scarcely ask me to make myself vulnerable to stray bolts from disaffected . . . ah . . . friends.»

«High Mage, I agree with you from my heart,» Chaumel said, placing a hand over his. «With your help, we can attain concord among the mages, and Ozran will prosper.»

«Yes. I must go now,» Nokias said, rising from his chair. «I have much to think about. You will notify me of your progress?»

«Of course. High Mage,» Chaumel said. He turned to escort his guest out into the night.

Gasping, Plennafrey pointed toward the curtains. The others spun to see. A handful of spy-spheres hovering there flitted out into the window and disappeared into the night.

«Whose were they?» Chaumel demanded.

«It was too dark to see,» Plenna said.

«I am going,» Nokias said, alarmed. «These eavesdroppers may be the enemy of your plans, Chaumel. I have no wish to be the target of an assassination attempt.»

Escorted by a wary Chaumel, Keff, and Plennafrey, the golden mage hurried out to his chariot. He took off, and teleported when he was only a few feet above the balcony.

«I do not wish to distress you, but Nokias is correct when he says there will be much opposition to our plans,» Chaumel said. «You would be safe here tonight. I am warding every entrance to the stronghold.»

«No, thank you,» Keff said, holding Plennafrey's hand.

«I'd feel safer in my own cabin.»

Chaumel bowed. «As you wish. Tomorrow we continue the good work, eh?» In spite of the danger, he showed a guarded cheerfulness. «Nokias is on our side, friends. I sense it. But he is reasonable to be afraid of the others. If any of us show weakness, it is like baring one's breast to the knife. Good night.»

Keff mounted the platform behind Plenna's chair, and put his hands on the back as the blue-green conveyance lifted into the sky. He watched her weave a shield and throw it around them. Chaumel, his duties as a host done, went inside. The great doors closed with a final-sounding boom! He suspected the silver mage was sealing every nook and cranny against intrusion.

Nothing was visible ahead of them but a faint jagged line on the horizon marking the tops of mountains. Plenna's chair gave off a dim glow that must have been visible for a hundred klicks in every direction. The thought of danger sent frissons up his legs into the root and spine of his body, but he found to his surprise that he wasn't frightened.

His arms were nudged apart and off the chair back, making him jerk forward, afraid of losing his balance. He glanced down. Plennafrey reached for his hands and drew them down toward her breast, turning her face up toward his for a kiss. The light limned her cheekbones and the delicate line of her jaw. Keff thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

«Am I always to feel this excited way about you when we are in peril?» Plenna asked impishly. Keff ran his hands caressingly down her smooth shoulders and she shivered with pleasure.

«I hope not,» he said, chuckling at her abandon. «I'd never know if the thrill was danger or love. And I do care about the difference.»

They didn't speak again for the rest of the journey. Keff listened with new appreciation to the night-birds and the quiet sounds of Ozran sighing in its sleep. In the sky around them was an invisible network of power, but it didn't impinge on the beauty or the silence.

The airlock door lifted, allowing Plennafrey to steer her chair smoothly into the main cabin. This time she was able to choose her landing place and parked the conveyance against the far bulkhead beside Keff's exercise equipment. Keff handed Plenna off the chair and swung her roughly into his arms. Their lips met with fiery urgency. Her hands moved up his back and into his hair.

«Keff, can we talk?» Carialle asked in his ear.

«Not now, Cari,» Keff muttered. «Is it an emergency?»

«No. I wanted to discuss my findings of this evening with you.»

«Not now, please.» Keff breathed out loud as Plenna ran her teeth along the tendon at the side of his neck.

Crossly, Carialle gave him a burst of discordant noise in both aural implants. He winced slightly but refused to let her distract him from Plennafrey. His thumbs ran down into the young woman's bodice, brushed over hard nipples and soft, pliant flesh. He bent his head down to them.

Plennafrey moaned softly. «Carialle won't watch us, will she?»

«No,» Keff said reassuringly. He bumped the control with his elbow and the cabin hatch slid aside. «Her domain ends at my door. Pray, lady, enter mine!»

In the circle of his arm, Plenna tiptoed into Keff's cabin.

«It is like you,» she said. «Spare, neat, and very handsome. Oh, books!» She picked one off the small shelf by his bed and lightly fingered the pages. «Of course, I cannot read it.» She glanced up at Keff with a bewitching dimple at the corner of her mouth. Her eye was caught by the works of art hanging on the walls. «Those are very good. Haunting. Who painted them?»

«You're standing in her,» Keff said, grinning. «Carialle is an artist.»

«She is wonderfully talented,» Plenna said, with a decided nod. «But I like you better.»

There was only one answer Keff could give. He kissed her.

At the end of their lovemaking, Keff propped himself up on his elbow to admire Plennafrey. Her unbound hair tumbled around her white shoulders and breast like black lace.

«You're so lovely,» Keff said, toying with a stray strand. «I will feel half my heart wrenched away when I have to go.»

«But why should I not come with you to your world?» Plenna asked, her fingers tracing an intricate design on his forearm.

«Because I'm in space eighty percent of my life,» Keff said, «and when I'm planet-side I'm seldom near civilization. My usual job is first contact with alien species. It's very strange and full of so many dangers I couldn't even describe them all to you. You wouldn't be happy with the way I live.»