Carpe Diem by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee

us two, even if we are hell on wheels . . ." She shook her head. "And I wouldn't want to have to shoot you. Heard that was the best thing to do for your partner, Yxtrang ever gets you cornered."

    "There are sometimes," Val Con murmured, "other options."

    "Yeah? How many Yxtrang you ever talk to in person?"

    "One," he said promptly. "Though it is true that I took him unaware."

    Miri blinked at him, then glanced at the ruddy board and at each of the screens in turn. "Remember to tell me about it," she managed at last. "Later."

    "Yes, Miri," he said, sternly controlling his twitching lips, and turned back to the board.

     

    The planet spun beneath them five times on the inbound spiral.

    Miri watched the screens in fascination—she had never been on the flight deck of anything on a trip downworld before—and meticulously copied information Val Con read off to her: coordinates of major features, drainage patterns of important river basins, the direction and strength of atmospheric jet streams.

    Her duties also included monitoring the radio, which still gave out its gabble of nonsense words and earsplitting music. But on the third pass over the continent south of their target something different came over the speaker.

    Bringing the volume up, Miri heard the excited voices and the boom and thunder of heavy guns.

    "Boss?" she asked quietly.

    He glanced away from his board, frowning at the radio noise.

    "Somebody's having a war," Miri said, and he sighed, hands and eyes already back to the business of piloting.

    Miri kept with it, hearing the despair in the man's voice on the radio and counting the rhythms of the bursts and explosions until they were out of range. She found the station again on the next pass, but it was only playing music. And on the next pass they were inside the ion shield and could not hear anything at all.

     

    The meager stars had given way to local dawn when Val Con finally brought the ship down. Miri found the switch from a ballistic trajectory to magnetic control unexpectedly harrowing: the deceleration reminded her all too vividly of their close call with the Yxtrang. The final lurch brought forth an involuntary burst of swearing, which she squelched in embarrassment, for by that time the ship was flying smoothly.

     

    Val Con sealed the hatch behind them and slid the key into his pouch, shivering in the crystal air.

    Miri tipped her head. "You cold?"

    "Only a little," he murmured, lifting a brow. "Aren't you?"

    She grinned, stretching tall on her toes. "Where I come from, Tough Guy, this is high summer." Then she, too, shivered as a random breeze ran through the ravine. "Course, when you get as old as me, your blood starts to thin out."

    "So? I had no idea you were as old as that."

    "You didn't ask; I didn't say." She frowned at the crouched ship, a pitted metal boulder among a tumble of rock. "Should we hide it better?"

    "This should suffice. The country does not look well traveled, and from the air it will seem just another rock. We are only in difficulty if local technology proves to include long-range metal detection." He sighed. "We could send it into orbit, but there might be a way to repair . . ." His voice drifted off.

    "So, for better or worse." She came closer and slid a small hand into his. "Carpe diem, and all like that." She grinned, and he smiled faintly, squeezing her hand as she looked around. "Well, where's this town of yours? I could sure use a cup of coffee."

    "West," he said, and smiled at her confusion. "That way," he elaborated, pointing.

    "Whyn't you say so? Though how you can tell up from down this soon after 'fall beats hell out of me." She shivered again in another eddy of breeze and wrinkled her nose. "Guess we better start walking."

    "It would seem best," he agreed. He slipped away, moving like a shadow over the broken shale, Miri silent at his back.

     

    An hour later they rested by a stream. Val Con knelt, cupped a hand into the rapid