“Ohhhhh!” Bunny drew out her exclamation, rounding her eyes, apparently finding great significance in this.
“Does hypothermia age you?” Yana asked.
“On Petaybee it can,” Bunny said tersely. “So did they find anything?” She leaned conspiratorially close to Sean, her eyes glistening with eagerness in the lamplight. “The usual?”
Sean snorted, sopped up more stew on a piece of bread, and ate it before he answered. Yana thought he deliberated over his reply.
“More or less the usual. The kid gave some pretty concise descriptions. Caves, glistening lakes of free water, horned animals, sleek water beasts-you know, the usual.” He broke off more bread, affecting keener interest in the business of eating than telling.
“Ahhhh!” Bunny let out another of her pregnant syllables.
“If you’re deliberately speaking in parables, I’ll go walk the cat,” Yana said, rising.
Sean’s arm reached out and pulled her back down to her chair, grinning an apology.
“People lost for weeks, gripped by hypothermia and close to the edge of starvation, tend to hallucinate.”
“But you say he gave concise descriptions …”
“Vivid ones, though not necessarily accurate,” Sean said, but Yana had the feeling he believed them. “Then the Spacebees arrived and took them all away. Rounded on Odark’s people for not bringing them directly in to SpaceBase. But Terce was at the base and you were with me out at the lab, so what were they supposed to do? Clodagh’s is certainly on the way, and closer.” Sean took a deep breath, suppressing his disgust. “They needed aid as soon as could be. They got it. I’m not sure the geologist will pull through, though.”
He chased the last of the juice in his bowl with the last of the pan bread. Yana debated the protocols in her mind and had her hand on the stewpot to offer more when Sean held up his hand.
“That does me fine, Yana, and you share a portion. More would be considered as impolite as too little.” He pushed his chair back from the table, smiling at her.
“What did ours say?” Bunny asked eagerly, sitting forward again.
“Not much. Too busy warming up and far too glad to have been found to deal with more than that right now.”
Yana nodded. She knew what Sean meant. “They’ll be debriefed then?” she asked.
“Oh, and how!” He tilted the chair back, balancing himself with one foot on the table leg.
“Front, back, inside out, and outside in,” Bunny agreed, shaking her head as if she felt sorry for the victims. “Did they find anything? I mean, anything real?”
“Like the deposits they thought sure they’d locate?” Sean’s voice was level, but there was a silent laugh in his eyes, as if he knew something no one else did and treasured the knowledge. “No, they didn’t find the sites, though Lavelle and Brit swear they should have, for they had updated and accurate readings and should have been right on site when the storm hit them. They dug in, of course.” Bunny nodded, and Sean went on. “No time to make a decent icehouse, but Siggy’s a dam fine survival artist.”
“They owe their lives to him, I’d say,” Bunny remarked stoutly in support of Siggy’s abilities.
“They do indeed, and the boy, Diego, said as much several times.” Sean shook his head. “I hope they go easy on the kid with this debriefing nonsense. He was telling the truth or I’ve never heard it.”
Bunny’s mouth twitched irritably. “They wouldn’t know the truth if it bit them.”
“And it has.” Scan and Bunny locked eyes, sharing some private knowledge. “I must get back,” he said, rising and walking to the door to collect his things.
“Have you a light?”
He held up the long cylinder he extracted from a pocket. “I’ll be fine. That rib-sticking stew’ll see me home.” He grinned at Yana, tipping the cylinder to his forehead in gratitude. “Yanaba, Buneka!”
The use of formal names surprised Yana, but she smiled and nodded in acknowledgment. He was gone in a swirl of cold air. Peering out her small window, Yana saw him, the cylinder held over his head as he jogged off at an easy pace, quickly lost in the night.