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back up without her. And the underdecks aren't strong enough to take the point-strain of a line the
sponges would simply tear between their spicules."
"She can use the other lift on the leg," he suggested. "There are two at each piling. She can tie onto one
and ride the other. If her timing's good enough, she might not even get wet."
Tucker snorted and gestured with his chin at the water that dripped from her blunter. "If she got soaked
on the decks, she'll be taking a deep bath in the sea."
Tsia followed his gesture and abruptly shook the water from her jacket as she paced back and forth and
fingered the flexor on her hip. In its dormant form, it was shaped like a blunt stick, and she nervously
snapped it into a sharp point, then an edged blade. The custom-wrapped hilt was a green and brown
pattern broken up by swirls of muted purple the only object with color that she wore.
Kurvan eyed the weapon with a frown. "Best leave that here. It won't work against a biological the
jellies, not the cat," he added quickly at the flash in her eyes. "And the weapon will be awkward in the
water make it harder to swim or get untangled from the brash. Take your knife instead your flat knife,
not your raser," he said sharply. "You can at least bite back with that."
Tsia nodded slowly and tucked the flexor into the side slot on her pack. Then she checked her flat knife
in her boot.
Kurvan moved to the door with the scanners. 'Tucker, give me a hand with the nav systems on the
skimmer." He glanced at Nitpicker. "FU send him back with Bowdie."
Nitpicker nodded absently; her attention was on the guide. She did not try to speak until Wren had
cranked the door shut after Kurvan and Tucker stepped out into the storm. By then, Tsia was
near-dancing with impatience.
"Nitpicker," Tsia urged. "There's not much time to decide "
"Before the weedis is torn apart," the other woman cut in. "I understand that." She regarded Tsia soberly.
"How will you hide this from the guide guild? This isn't a standard use of your gate, and interfering with
the cats, even for the Landing Pact, will raise questions."
"I know."
"The combination of a feline and a guide will be obvious to any sensor sweep that's still active. You go
after that cub, and your guide gate will be pegged to the felines."
"I know," Tsia repeated.
"It just takes one question, Feather," Nitpicker said sharply. "One question about that feline
biological to start a trace along your ID dot."
A trace to her name. To the past she had hidden behind her. She could hear the words as if Nitpicker
had said them aloud. "I set webs to protect my mere ID "
"Any web can be broken if it is tested long enough. You know that."
"What about the mere guild?" Her hands rubbed uncon-sciously at her wrists. "They've promised me
protection. Ev-erything I've done for the last decade has been because of that promise."
Wren cleared his throat. "The meres can protect your link as long as it's not challenged beyond the time
you joined the guild. There are always traces left in the node by a temple link. You know you can't hide
every image every trace of yourself for your entire life. The only way to get a completely secure link a
completely clean ID is to make a deal with the Shields."
She stared at him. "I can't do that. The risk& "
Wren shrugged. "Every time you use a laze, you run the risk of fire from the beam. Every time you set a
grazing limit as a guide, you run the risk of misjudging the land so that it's dam-aged beyond repair. You
could burn a cedar stand, and be wiped for that as easily as for being the guide who broke the Landing
Pact. Everything you do is a risk. Everything affects a life somewhere."
Tsia's eyes grew hard. "And everything I don't do can be just as important. I know I'm on contract, and
that if I help the cougar, you could say that I broke that contract with you. But if I don't help the
cougar especially since I've got a link with the cats I break the Landing Pact. Which one do you
prefer I do?"
Nitpicker cursed under her breath. "You know I hate ani-mals."
"I know."
"I'd rather carry a cargo of digger dung hand-loaded than some kind of beast in my ship."
"I know," Tsia said more sharply.
"Why can't you just put him back on the next island that comes along?"
"We could be here for hours before a thick one floated close enough to the platform."
"Goddam guides," the pilot muttered. "You've been running ghosts in the node for a long time, Feather,
but you aren't as good as Kurvan. You want him to help set the webs to hide this if the node goes
back-up?" Tsia shook her head almost be-fore Nitpicker stopped speaking. "Then," the pilot said curtly,
"make sure your own traces are goddam tight."
The door burst open, and Bowdie staggered in from the wind. His blunter sprayed water, and the straps
of his mottled harness shed water like sealskin. Nitpicker barely glanced at him as he cranked the portal
shut. "So let's say you get the cub to the deck," she continued. "Where do you propose I land on the
mainland if you ever get the cub in my ship?"
"The beach. It can find its mother from there."
Nitpicker stared at her, then laughed a short, sharp sound. Bowdie frowned, and stomped his feet to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]