looked toward the light-streaked sky. He waved at it. “You know, that’s an awful lot of trouble to make simply because you can’t bring yourself to hit somebody.”
Chapter 19
THE FINAL MORNING ON TINTERA WAS BEAUTIFUL. We and the horses were in a rock-enclosed aerie high on a mountainside near the coast. In the aerie were grass and a small rock spring, and this day, the final day, was bright with only a few piled clouds riding high in the sky and warm enough that we could put our coats aside. We had eaten breakfast and packed one final time, and now we were just sitting quietly in the sun.
Looking from the top of the rocks, you could see over miles of expanse. On one side, the mountain dropped and beyond it you could see miles of ocean, gray flecked with white, see part of the coast and shore, brown cliffs and dark wet rocks and a narrow beach, see occasional birds gliding on the wind and imagine their calls. Turning your gaze inland, you could see upland meadows in the foreground and mountains much like this one beyond, making a line along the coast. Farther inland were lower hills and curving valleys, blending together, all covered with another rolling sea of trees, a sea at close range made of varying shades of gray and green, but at a distance an even olive.
Down there, under that sea, were all sorts of things—wild Losels and men hunting us. We had seen the Losels and they had seen us; they had gone their way and we had gone ours. The men hunting us we hadn’t had a glimpse of for four days, and that last time they hadn’t even seen us. Also under that sea might be some of the other kids from the Ship, but we hadn’t seen them at all.
Early in the morning we triggered the signal. It was six hours before the ship came. We passed the time quietly, keeping one eye on guard, talking. There was a tiny little animal chattering and nipping around the rocks and I tossed it some food.
We went aboard when the scout came, and put our horses away. Mr. Pizarro was there, checking us back aboard. We were the sixth and seventh.
I said to Jimmy, “I’m going upstairs to talk to George.”
“All right,” he said. “I’ll tell Mr. Pizarro what happened to us.”
We thought they ought to know. Certainly things had been more adventurous for us than anything we thought might have been counted on during Trial. So I went upstairs to see George.
“Congratulations, Adult,” he said when he saw me. “I knew you’d make it.”
“Hello, George,” I said. “Tell me, have you had any trouble in picking up people so far?”
“No trouble,” he said, “but I have been worrying. Look.” He waved his hand at the grid he was using as a guide for his pickups. There were nowhere near twenty-nine lights. I counted them and there were twelve.
“The last light came on two hours ago,” George said. “I’m afraid a lot of people aren’t going to get picked up.”
I told him a little of what had happened to us. I stayed upstairs while we dropped down and picked up Venie Morlock, and then another double pickup. Then I went down and sat with Jimmy.
I said, “There are only six more pickups to make. Look how few of us there are.”
“Is it that bad?” Jimmy said. “I wonder what the Council will say.”
There were only ten of us aboard now. Jimmy and I and Venie were safe, but Att and Helen and Riggy were not yet aboard.
All of a sudden, George called for attention over the speaker. “All right, kids—shut up and listen. One of our people is down there. I didn’t get close enough to see who, but whoever it is is being shot at. We’re going to have to bust him out. I’ll give you two minutes to get your weapons and then I’m going to buzz down and try to get him out. I want all of you outside and laying down a covering fire.”
Some of the kids had their weapons with them. Jimmy and I hopped for the gear racks and got out our pistols. I loaded mine for the first time. There were eleven of us, including Mr. Pizarro, and four ramps to the outside. Jimmy and I and Jack Fernandez-Fragoso stood by one ramp. Then George swooped down, touched light as a feather, and dropped all four