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measures would be initiated. No wonder Joat wanted to keep her ace-in-the-hole
secret.
Well, of course, she steals! Simeon whispered in her ear.
How did you think she survived before you took a hand?
280
Asme McCaffrty &SM. Stating
"Like many swords," Amos agreed, "it is two edged.
But, they will be of help, and I shall enjoy testing mine." He smiled at
Channa.
Channa looked at Simeon's column. Just think, well be able to keep secrets
from youjSim. How will you stand it?"
Amos tiptoed carefully out of Joat's room. "She never woke," he said ina
hall-whisper. "I put a blanket over her."
Channa shook her head. Joat's subconscious seemed to know who to trust This
evening was the first time she had noticed die girl sleeping with the limp,
irresis-
tible finality of the trusting child. She'd also had along, hard, if
triumphant, day.
"I thought she'd never get enough of your stories about Bethel," she said. And
neither would I. It didn't have the urban sophistication of Senalgal, but Amos
could make his world and his way of life sound...
beautiful, she decided. Of course, he was an eloquent man, and he was
describing what he truly loved. He had described what she had always yearned
for in a planet-side posting: the hugeness, the variousness, the alweness of a
breathing world.
"It was as much for me as for her," Amos said, leaning back on the sofa and
raising his face to the ceiling, eyes dosed. "I speak, and I see what can
never be again."
She put a hand on his. "Bethel will be freed and made beautiful again. The
Kolnar only stripped the surface, not the nature of the planet"
"Yes. Yes, I believe N must believe that." His fingers curled around hers;
fine long-fingered hands, a little calloused.
from riding horses, she thought A sport she had only read of before. Simeon
had provided holos, and riding looked more dangerous and exciting than
piloting mini-shuttles.
"Yet when the enemy are driven off, the wounds... and
THE Crry WHO FOUGHT
281
beyond that We need to change, we must change. More than I thought or wished,
and I was a rebellious youngster, a radical, a breaker of images, or so they
called me." He turned his head to her. "The enormity of the task ahead
fhghcensme, overwhelms me. Yetwithhelp..."
Oh, great, shethougAt. To herself: "Lost prince of beautiful, exotic& planet,
seeks helpmate/com-
panion/lover to assist in rescue/reconstruction.
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Amos ben Sierra Nueva." What was that quotation?
Get thee behind me, Satan?
Amos sat quietly beside her and placed Joat's box in her lap. His glance was
filled with meaning. Channa opened the box and they each took out a
crystal-tipped rod. Then diey glanced at Simeon's column with iden-
tical scheming smiles and clicked the two parts together.
Amos leaned over. They kissed; she stroked his dark hair and gently cupped the
back ofhis head in her hand.
"It is good to have privacy," he said huskily.
"Yes," she agreed, "it is good." And it adds spice, she thought Like sneaking
out of bounds when you're in school.
Simeon watched Channa's door open and close, though no one appeared to be near
it He suppressed a burst of resentment He had told them he'd turn off the
sensors if they requested it. But no, they'd just gone and shut him out
without a word...
What is the universe coming to ? he thought in irritation.
Besides, there's a child present!
A child who had presented him with a techno-itch he could not scratch. On
reflection, he decided the anal-
ogy was maddeningly accurate. Try as he might, his attention came looping back
to the nagging gaps in his recordings. He was accustomed to knowing everything
282
Atme MeQtfny fc? SM. Stirling
THE Cnr WHO FOUGHT
283
that went on. Joat's earlier white-noise machines and attention-deflectors
were minor irritations compared to this newest gadget Of course, she hadn't
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