“ETs,” Donovan said automatically.
“ETs what?” Ryan asked.
Donovan removed his pipe from his mouth. “Sorry. ETs are extraterrestrials. Aliens. We know a little about the Totality Concept. Supposed to have been a division, called Department Thirteen we think, that had made some kind of contact with an alien race.”
“And you believe that?”
“Enough that I’ve given my life over to finding out whether it’s true.”
“Waste of time.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Had some kind of ETs here,” Ryan said, “you’d have known about them before now.”
“Not so sure about that.”
“You ever seen an alien?” Ryan asked.
“Of course not. If we had, there wouldn’t be such a desperate need to know.”
“Then how can you believe in them?”
“I want to believe.”
“Friend I used to know had a saying. Want in one hand and shit in the other. See which one gets fullest first.”
“Whether you’re ready to deal with it or not, Ryan,” Donovan said harshly, “it happened. The world was on the brink of an alien invasion, and it was them who started the nukecaust that blew up the world.”
“Don’t give a damn about that,” Ryan said. “I’m here now, and I got my own problems. I want to know what we’re going to do about Krysty.”
“There’s someone I can send for. I’ve got a lot of friends in out-of-the-way places.”
“What’s this friend going to do?”
“We’ll have to see. First we get my boat to shore and set up camp for the night. Then you and I have got some more dickering to do.”
“About what?”
“About what you’re going to do for helping me get your lady friend’s ass out of the sling it’s in.”
“Saved your life,” Ryan said. “Saved your boat. You owe me big time.”
Donovan gave him a hard stare. “That’s one of the Chosen dancing around in your lady friend’s head. You can’t save her, and she can’t save herself. She’s knocking on death’s door right now. Don’t know how she hasn’t gone under before now. But she hasn’t. Mebbe she still has a chance. But to give her that chance, I’m going to have to call in a marker that’s owed me, mebbe give one back that’s going to be pure hell to pay. And I’m the one going to have to pay it back.”
Ryan glared at the man, not trusting himself to speak. But he knew Donovan was right; he didn’t know the price the man was going to have to pay. And Ryan was willing to pay whatever price was asked. It was a seller’s market.
“If you could have done something,” Donovan reminded him in a gentle voice, “you’d have done it before now. All you got left is the best you can do.”
Ryan said nothing because he had nothing to say.
THEY PUT IN TO THE RIVERBANK just before dark descended on the mountainous terrain the stream cut through. They’d made good time because the wind had been with them, but going against the flow of the stream pulling the foundering ship behind them had slowed them considerably.
Ryan wasn’t at all comfortable with the distance they’d managed to put between them and the pirates, but he ordered everyone off Junie, including Morse and his sons, and established a watch rotation among the companions.
The Heimdall Foundation people spread out along the bank, making do with the sodden camp gear packed aboard Calypso. Donovan organized his people, setting up a work team to continue pumping the boat out during the night. Ryan wasn’t happy about the lanterns the work team operated by. Even within the belowdecks of the boat, the soft yellow light diffused over the dark landscape and was reflected in the stream. But he knew they had no choice if they were going to save the boat. Left untended, the boat would have sunk to the bottom of the stream where they anchored for the night.
Donovan also put out hunting teams, and Jak and Dean volunteered to go with them, anxious to get away from Junie’s confines.
At first, Ryan was reluctant to let them go. Allowing them away from the group put them at risk as being taken captive or killed by the Heimdall Foundation people.