She shook her head, and the light slid across its dark yellow tresses. “Ira weaving now,” she told him. “Ferenczi Mei-Ling-Karl’s wife, you know-wants a new rug, and she can pay for it.” The broad forehead drew into a scowl. “Nothing new ever happens.”
‘I should think your whole Nomad life was founded on the idea of having something new always happening,” he said.
“oh, we jump from one planet to another still crazier, but what does it mean?”
“Life,” he reproved with a smile, “has no extrinsic purpose or meaning; it’s just another phenomenon of the physical universe, it simply is. And that’s also true of any society. What you’re angry about is that you can’t find a purpose for yourself.”
Her eyes were smoky-blue, meeting his. “There you go againl” she flared. “Cadt you look at anything or do anything at all without seeing it as a-a specific case of a general law?’
As a matter of fact, thought Trevelyan, no.
Aloud, he said mildly, “I have my fun. I like a glass of beer as well as the next man. Speaking of which, will you join me in a gulp?”
“You’re not answering me,’ she accused him. “les always the same. Women can’t think! Leave them with the, kitchen and the kids. I’m getting sick of itl”
“I’m a Solarian,” he reminded her. “We’d be the last to have ideas of male superiority.”
“Sol-:’ For an instant her expression softened, the long soot-black lashes dropped and she breathed the word with a caress. Then, scornfully: “What has Sol to offer? What are you doing there but trying smugly to run the universe according to a bunch of-of equations? A theoryl”
‘Any culture is based on a theory,” he said. “Ours simply
happens to be explicitly formulated.”
“There are times when I hate you,” she said, and her fists
clenched.
“I’m not trying to talk down to you;’ he snapped. “If
I wanted to tell you a soothing fairy tale, yoifd never know
I was doing it. But don’t spit on what you can’t understand!”
She countered his gaze steadily and then, amazingly, smiled. “All right, I surrender,” she laughed. “Let’s go for that beer, shall we?”
And I thought I was a good psychologistl Trevelyan reflected wildly.
A siren whooped. Nicki stiffened, listening to the blasts.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Signal,” she answered tightly. “Battle stations alert. All hands stand by for byperdrive.”
“This close to the planet?”
“It may be urgent.” She ran over to the library Fye.
There were many such televisor screens aboard-each apartment had one, as well as public places. They could be tuned to any of the scanners throughout the ship, strategically mounted to give a view of all points where something of general interest might happen. Nicki dialed swiftly past scenes from the airlocks. The Nomad readers crouched by her and Trevelyan looked over their shoulders.
Minutes stumbled bv before the flickering screen steadied on one image. Trevelyan recognized the egress from one of the boathouses. Joachim was just emerging, and his face was grim.
His words roarecl out of’tbe ship’s loudspeakers. -Attention, all Peregrinesl This is the captain. We’re getting out of here on gravity drive at once. You hear me, engine
room? Full gravity drive north from the ecliptic at once. Stand by to go into hyper if necessary.” The voice relaxed a little. “No, I don’t think we’re being chased or that they’re angry with us on Erulan, but you can’t tell. We’ve picked up some information that could be worth a lot of lives, and we’re going where it’s safe to know things.”
Trevelyan felt the deck quiver, ever so faintly, with the forward surge. Gravitic acceleration being uniform on all objects, he experienced no pressure, but he imagined they were running skyward at a good fifty G’s.
Joachim’s voice iarred him. “Will Trevelyan Micah please
report to me on the bridge at once? I’ll need some help on ffis.”
Nicki thrust past the men. “What can it be?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out,” said Trevelyan. “Then I’ll come, too.”
Joachim stood by the a@ogational computer, letting Ferenczi direct the ship. Sean was on hand, his thin features twisted. But it was to Ilaloa that Trevelyan’s eyes went. She sat in the astrogator’s chair, crouched over the desk, and he could see how tension bent her form into a bow.