“This cave is a mere hour’s flight from SpaceBase,” Hans said, his expression decidedly aggressive and his anger focused on Seamus Rourke, because he didn’t dare accuse Marmion.
“How could we have lost so much time … sitting in mist?” That aggravated him even more.
“Why, I found it” Marmion stopped, cocked her head, and then regarded Sally and Millard. “You know, I’m not sure I found anything.”
Seamus let out a mighty guffaw. Mischief, as well as satisfaction, twinkled in his eyes.
“You got ‘found’ anyway, missus. Now, let’s not lose more time.” He made a whooshing gesture at Rick to start back to the copter.
‘How could I get ‘found,’ Mr. Rourke, when I haven’t been lost?” Marmion asked, a quaver in her voice as she allowed Rick and Millard to take her arms as they made their way across the uneven terrain.
“Oh, I ‘spect it’ll come to you, missus.” Seamus chuckled again.
“Mr. Rourke, nothing at all of the nature described by Dr. Metaxos, his son, or even Major Maddock and Dr. Fiske occurred to us,” Sally said in an even voice that held just a hint of carefully controlled surprise and disappointment.
Seamus eyed her, his lips curving slightly: she was a very attractive young woman, and he could still appreciate looking.
“Sure hope you wouldn’t now the planet’s calmed down with no one gouging and blasting holes in it. But you were spoken to,” he assured her.
“That’s utter nonsense,” Hans said. Rick made a noise that sounded like a patronizing rebuke, and Hans whipped around. “I experienced nothing once the mist rose to obscure everything. And then it cleared. You’d have us believe that thisthis show took nearly thirty hours?”
“Seems to have done,” Seamus replied affably, helping Marmion up onto the copter’s high passenger level. “Think on it awhile. It’ll come to you.”
“Outrageous,” George said, his face contorted into a sneer. “Waste of valuable time.”
“I’m not sure how we’ll explain our defection to Dr. Luzon,” Marcel said dismally, the first sentence Marmion had heard him speak.
“Ah, but you don’t have to, my dears,” she said, buckling her seat belt. “I shall assume all responsibility for this expedition, and I’m sure such industrious young men as yourselves will be able to complete your assigned tasks well before Dr. Luzon returns.”
“Do you mean to imply, ma’am,” Hans said, eyeing her suspiciously, “that we should conceal our dereliction of duty from Dr. Luzon?”
“Heavens no, Hans dear,” Marmion said soothingly, laying a gentle hand on his arm. “I wouldn’t conceal a thing from Matthew Luzon,” she added drolly. “It just isn’t done! But I shall assure him that I dragooned you, as necessary escorts, on a personal, and possibly dangerous, inspection of the so-called remarkable cave where everyone else seems to have had most incredible experiences.” She made a move of disappointment and turned to Seamus. “Really,” she said, and she stretched out the next two words to express her disillusion, “nothing happened.”
“We lost thirty hours,” Hans said in an implacable and unforgiving tone. “It’ll be dark by the time we get back to SpaceBase.”
“Well, there’ll be a little time before you have to have dinner,” Marmion said.
“We’ll work tonight,” Hans said, making eye contact with his associates. “We’ll catch up that way.”
“Oddly enough,” Millard remarked, “I feel totally refreshed, with an unusual sense of well-being. Anyone else?”
Sally made a small “oh” of surprise. “I do, too. And I don’t think I was asleep …”
Marmion did not remark on the fact that she, too, felt unusually alert and energetic: as if she could dance all night long and still put in a full day’s work tomorrow.
It occurred to her that maybe the planet had a totally unexpected and exploitable facetfor rest cure facilities. However, she intended to go very slowly on that one, since this party seemed to be the only one to have enjoyed that aspect. Had they just been lucky? Had the planet, as Seamus had suggested, settled down after its aberrant behavior? Even so, she felt almost … almost effervescent. And she hadn’t experienced that buoyancy in a long, long time.
As soon as Yana saw the little curraghs nearing the wharf, she raced as fast as she dared down the steps to tell Sean the news. Ardis Sounik had confirmed that much of what Johnny Greene had off-loaded was the fuel they would need and Sean’s special supplies for his journey. And that Johnny had gone on to Bogota with Luzon, who was up to no good at all. Johnny had hinted broadly that Luzon was bad news. Nanook, who had vanished from the village for some time, suddenly reappeared, fur full of mud and burrs, to bound alongside her. He seemed about to explode with news, too. He licked her hand at one point while she watched the curraghs approach, rubbed his handsome face against her shoulder, and looked deeply into her eyes. She sensed he was trying to talk to her, but she just didn’t know how to listen. But, as they descended, all the other cats of the settlement started hurrying in the opposite direction.