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Raf, his mouth dry, his hands sweating on the controls, took them up higher than was necessary to coast above the last of that rocky spine to see below the beginning of the downslopes leading to the plains the range cut in half. He heard Hobart draw a hissing breath. "That was a close call." Lablet's precise, lecturer's voice cut through the drone of the motor.
He thought fleetingly of Lablet's preoccupation with this spoil, of Hobart's hope of gaining knowledge they could take back with them. But would the aliens keep their part of the bargain? He no longer believed that. Why not give these barbarians a chance, and the colonists. Sure, he was breaking the stiffest rule of the Service.
It seemed that they were to be ignored. Hobart paced along the flat roof, and Soriki sat in the flyer, nursing his com, intent upon the slender thread of beam which tied them to the parent ship so many miles away. "I don't understand it." Lablet's voice arose almost plaintively. "They were so very persuasive about our accompanying them. They were eager to have us see their treasures "
But he did not doubt the truth of Lablet's surmise. Sooner or later the aliens were going to reappear. And it did not greatly matter to the marooned Terrans whether they would drop from the sky or rise from below. Familiar only with the wave-riding outriggers, Dalgard took his seat in the alien craft with misgivings.
They offer us an equal share if we'll make the next trip in their company and help them clean out the storage place " Hobart's answer was a whistle. There was an avid hunger on Lablet's lean face. No more potent bribe could have been devised to entice him. But Raf, remembering the spear-torn body, wondered. In the heart of the enemy country, he repeated to himself.
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