could've been a surgeon," she said. "You have good hands. I'd like to spend more time studying your hands."
"I'd like that," he murmured against her hair. "I've always wanted to know you better. You know that."
"I have to warn you, I snore."
"I noticed," he said. They held each other and swayed on the docking bay. "You drool, too," he said.
"Don't be crude." She pinched him in the ribs. "Ladies don't drool."
"What's this wet spot on my shoulder?"
"How embarrassing," she said. Then she took his hand and guided him up the walkway toward her building. She glanced back at him and said, "Nobody lives long enough for dillydallying. Let's get to it."
Panille realized right then that the pace of his life had just turned itself up a full notch. Tired as he had been, he sparked with the measure of energy that she injected into the air around them. There was a new bounce to her step that he hadn't noticed in surgery. Her body moved smoothly, quickly across the black-tiled foyer and he matched her step-for-step. When they walked into the ambassadorial quarters they were still holding hands.
***
Pattern is his who can see beyond shape: Life is his who can tell beyond words.
- Lao Tzu, Shiprecords
Both suns stood high in the dark sky, raising heat shimmers off the water. Brett's sensitive eyes, shielded by dark glasses Scudi had found in the foil's lockers, scanned the sea. The foil cut through the waves with an ease that thrilled him. He marveled at how quickly his senses had adapted to speed. A feeling of freedom, of escape soothed him. Pursuit could not move this fast. Danger could only lie ahead, where heat shimmers distorted the horizon. Or, as Twisp called it, "the Future."
When Brett had been quite young, standing with his mother at Vashon's edge for the first time, the heat-dazzled air had been inhabited by coils of long-whiskered dragons. Today's sun felt new on his arms and face, glistening through the canopy onto the instruments. The suns ignited golden glints in Scudi's black hair. There were no dragons.
Scudi bent intently over the controls, watching the sea, the dials, the guidance screen above her head. Her mouth was set in a grim line, which softened only when she looked at Brett.
A wide stretch of kelp drew a dark shadow on the water off to his right. Scudi steered them into the lee of the kelp, finding smoother water there. Brett stared out at an ovoid green mat within the kelp. At the very center of the oval, this particular green was a vivid reflector of the sunlight. The green darkened away from the center until the kelp patch became yellowed and brown at the edges.
Seeing where he was looking, Scudi said, "The outer edges die off, curl under and fortify the rest of the patch."
They rode without speaking for a time.
Abruptly, Scudi shocked him by shutting down the foil's engines. The big craft dropped off the step with a rocking lurch.
Brett looked wildly at Scudi, but she appeared calm.
"You start us," Scudi said.
"What?"
"Start us up." Her voice was calmly insistent. "What if I were injured?"
Brett sank into his seat and looked down at the control panel. Below the screen near the center of the cockpit lay four switches and a sticker labeled "Starting Procedure."
He read the instructions and depressed the switch marked "Ignition." The hot hiss of the hydrogen ram came from the rear of the foil.
Scudi smiled.
As the instructions told him, Brett glanced up at the guidance screen. A miniature line-drawing of a foil appeared around a green dot on the screen. A red line speared outward from the green dot. He touched the button marked forward and pushed the throttle gently ahead, gripping the wheel tightly with his free hand. He could feel sweat under his palms. The craft began to lift, tipping on the flank of a wave.
"Right down the trough," Scudi reminded him.
He turned the wheel slightly and pushed the throttle farther ahead. The foil came out of the water with a gentle gliding motion and he gave it more throttle. They came up on the step and he saw the speed-distance counter flicker, then settle on "72." The green dot tracked on the red line.
"Very good," Scudi said. "I'll take it now. Just remember to follow the instructions."
Scudi increased speed. Cabin air felt cooler as vents exchanged topside air from a clear and sunny day.
Brett scanned as much of the horizon as he could see from the