...
She was approximately two meters tall, a little over average female height.
Her black, coarse, and straight hair was in a pageboy bob. Her eyebrows
were thick and dark. The wide-spaced, slanting eyes were large and as green
as the Persian Gulf. Her skin was a soft golden-brown. The facial skin
below the eyes was paler than that above. The contrast gave her features
an almost clown-like appearance.
Al-Buraq' a crew, when on Kalafala, wore green masks, in the corner of
which was a silver-winged mule with a woman's face. The scarlet mask
that hung around her neck was the regulation color used by Pegasus's
crew. In its lower right-hand corner was a silver-winged horse.
She wore a shimmering light-green dress, knee-length, flaring out at
the waist. The sleeves came to the elbow, and the V-neck was wide and
plunging. He did not need her to tell him that she had gotten it from
a Kalafalan. Her legs and feet were bare and dirty. She carried a small
leather bag in her left hand. Her right hand was heavily bandaged.
She put the bag down and saluted. His return salute was sloppy, resembling
a gesture for her to go away.
"You look tired, Davis. You must've had a long hard journey. Sit down
before you fall down. Before you report, would you like a drink?"
She smiled, showing beautiful white teeth. Sighing, she dropped onto
the inflatable chair as if her legs had given up the ghost.
"I'd love a drink, thank you."
He gestured at the bar, installed by the hotel for its smaller and more
recent guests. "There's plenty of native liquor there. But I have a bottle
of Scotch in my case."
"Scotch will more than do."
"On the rocks?"
"Rocks? Oh, you mean . . . It's been so long. I mean . . . I've been talking
Urzint so long that I forgot . . . Yes, Scotch on the rocks."
He asked her when she had discovered that al-Buraq was in port. She said
that she'd found out a few minutes ago. She'd returned to the hotel,
gotten a room and had fallen asleep at once, hadn't even bothered to
wash. But she'd awakened about fifteen minutes later and had seen some
Earthpeople on the street through her window. She'd gone downstairs
at once, and the clerk had told her that Captain Ramstan was in his
room. She'd come up at once.
He handed her the drink and sipped on his Djinn's Delight. Then he said,
"So what happened?"
"I'm a marine biologist. I was left behind, at my request, to continue
experiments at a Kalafalan station on the northwest coast. When it was
close to the time for Pegasus to return from the Raushghol system,
I packed up, said good-bye to my Kalafalan scientist and technician
Mends, and drove off in my jeep. Its a-g generator malfunctioned about
a thousand kilometers north of here. The jeep fell, but fortunately it
was only two meters above the ground. Unfortunately, it was on the edge
of a cliff. It went into the sea. I jumped out when it struck but almost
went over the edge, too.
"I tore up the skin on my hand, enough to put my skinceiver out of operation.
My NI transceiver went with the jeep, and so I couldn't call the spaceport.
Also, I lost my TR box. I also lost my clothes. I like to sunbathe,
and so I was nude when the accident happened. I borrowed a dress from
a farm woman and started walking. Alter a week, I came to the Kurodan
River. I got passage on a fishing vessel which was returning to the
capital. And here I am."
"Pegasus hasn't returned," he said. "She was supposed to rendezvous with
al-Buraq at Sigdrauf. We waited a month for her. Then we went to Tolt,
her stop before going on to Sigdrauf. She had not showed there."
She was pale, and her voice was very low.
"What do you think . . . ?"
"I don't know. We can only assume that Pegasus is lost or has been delayed
for some reason. Perhaps she is having or had bio-mechanical troubles,
and she may be
She was approximately two meters tall, a little over average female height.
Her black, coarse, and straight hair was in a pageboy bob. Her eyebrows
were thick and dark. The wide-spaced, slanting eyes were large and as green
as the Persian Gulf. Her skin was a soft golden-brown. The facial skin
below the eyes was paler than that above. The contrast gave her features
an almost clown-like appearance.
Al-Buraq' a crew, when on Kalafala, wore green masks, in the corner of
which was a silver-winged mule with a woman's face. The scarlet mask
that hung around her neck was the regulation color used by Pegasus's
crew. In its lower right-hand corner was a silver-winged horse.
She wore a shimmering light-green dress, knee-length, flaring out at
the waist. The sleeves came to the elbow, and the V-neck was wide and
plunging. He did not need her to tell him that she had gotten it from
a Kalafalan. Her legs and feet were bare and dirty. She carried a small
leather bag in her left hand. Her right hand was heavily bandaged.
She put the bag down and saluted. His return salute was sloppy, resembling
a gesture for her to go away.
"You look tired, Davis. You must've had a long hard journey. Sit down
before you fall down. Before you report, would you like a drink?"
She smiled, showing beautiful white teeth. Sighing, she dropped onto
the inflatable chair as if her legs had given up the ghost.
"I'd love a drink, thank you."
He gestured at the bar, installed by the hotel for its smaller and more
recent guests. "There's plenty of native liquor there. But I have a bottle
of Scotch in my case."
"Scotch will more than do."
"On the rocks?"
"Rocks? Oh, you mean . . . It's been so long. I mean . . . I've been talking
Urzint so long that I forgot . . . Yes, Scotch on the rocks."
He asked her when she had discovered that al-Buraq was in port. She said
that she'd found out a few minutes ago. She'd returned to the hotel,
gotten a room and had fallen asleep at once, hadn't even bothered to
wash. But she'd awakened about fifteen minutes later and had seen some
Earthpeople on the street through her window. She'd gone downstairs
at once, and the clerk had told her that Captain Ramstan was in his
room. She'd come up at once.
He handed her the drink and sipped on his Djinn's Delight. Then he said,
"So what happened?"
"I'm a marine biologist. I was left behind, at my request, to continue
experiments at a Kalafalan station on the northwest coast. When it was
close to the time for Pegasus to return from the Raushghol system,
I packed up, said good-bye to my Kalafalan scientist and technician
Mends, and drove off in my jeep. Its a-g generator malfunctioned about
a thousand kilometers north of here. The jeep fell, but fortunately it
was only two meters above the ground. Unfortunately, it was on the edge
of a cliff. It went into the sea. I jumped out when it struck but almost
went over the edge, too.
"I tore up the skin on my hand, enough to put my skinceiver out of operation.
My NI transceiver went with the jeep, and so I couldn't call the spaceport.
Also, I lost my TR box. I also lost my clothes. I like to sunbathe,
and so I was nude when the accident happened. I borrowed a dress from
a farm woman and started walking. Alter a week, I came to the Kurodan
River. I got passage on a fishing vessel which was returning to the
capital. And here I am."
"Pegasus hasn't returned," he said. "She was supposed to rendezvous with
al-Buraq at Sigdrauf. We waited a month for her. Then we went to Tolt,
her stop before going on to Sigdrauf. She had not showed there."
She was pale, and her voice was very low.
"What do you think . . . ?"
"I don't know. We can only assume that Pegasus is lost or has been delayed
for some reason. Perhaps she is having or had bio-mechanical troubles,
and she may be
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