Shasti gave him a frank look. “I want you to stay. I don’t want to be alone either. I guess I am at least that human.”
They slid back into the bed and lay next to each other. Fenaday dropped into sleep almost immediately.
Shasti, who needed far less sleep than an ordinary human, lay awake for a while. Memories she had never shared with anyone, surged in her, tearing at her nerves. Finally, she invoked mental disciplines learned long ago and banished her past. She altered her body chemistry and entered REM sleep by an act of will.
Shasti woke, her mind sharp and alert, at exactly 6 A.M. as she’d ordered her body to awaken. She rose out of the bed smoothly.
Fenaday stirred next to her. It took him longer to wake up and his head ached. He had that skittery feeling of too little sleep and too much caffeine. Morning seemed somehow unreal.
Shasti finished in the shower before he could get his mind together. He smiled at her wanly. As usual, she didn’t smile, but she seemed well-pleased with the world. Looking at her he thought, one wouldn’t think extinction might be only a few hours away.
Fenaday got into the shower, letting hot water beat down on his head. He wanted to stay there forever. The idea of taking a fighter down seemed insane. More than ever, he wanted to live. Despite everything, he wanted desperately to live.
Shasti pulled the curtain back. He looked up at her.
“Time to go?” she asked, as if it were out to a movie. Then he noticed her flight suit.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, turning off the shower.
“One of the Wildcats is a two-seater,” she replied. “We’ll take that one.”
“No, you don’t,” he said. “There’s no reason to for you to get killed in this.”
“Assume we aren’t killed,” Shasti said, throwing him a towel. “Once down on the planet, it’ll be hours before the shuttles arrive. Telisan is incompetent in ground fighting, and you need me to watch your back.”
“No,” he said, firmly.
“Has it occurred to you,” she replied, “that arguing with me while you are stark naked and soaked doesn’t enhance your authority? See you on the flight deck.”
Before he could summon a reply, she left. He could either run naked down the corridor after her, or have a major blowout with her in front of everyone on the flight deck. She had him mouse-trapped.
Fenaday found his clothes and returned to his cabin to get into proper gear for the flight. A cup of Irish tea sufficed for breakfast as he didn’t want much of anything on his nervous stomach. Fenaday considered adding a shot of courage to the tea, then decided against it. Rummaging through the weapons locker a cautious captain learned to keep in his quarters, Fenaday chose a heavy laser pistol and a tri-auto carbine. Then he reached for his father’s ancient Scottish dirk. It seemed a pitiful weapon to take against what had devastated the planet below, but there was no guarantee that more modern weapons would fare any better. Perhaps, as his father had thought, there might be luck in the ancient blade.
Fenaday looked around the cabin, realizing he would probably not see it again. He walked to the bedroom and looked at his wife’s picture. “Good bye,” he said, silently adding a plea for forgiveness. Then he left for the flight deck.
Shasti stood on a ladder, making alterations to the ejection seat in the stubby matte black Wildcat. Her oversized frame meant he would have even less leg room than usual in the small fighter.
A sizable crowd gathered in the hanger bay. Hangar crew prepared the fighters, which had been brought in from the wing mech-link stations for a thorough check. The other shuttles, large Dakota class transports stood ready as well. They’d launch and assume an orbit for a later landing if disaster didn’t overtake the fighters. A number of the crew gathered to watch them launch. This deprived Fenaday of his last chance to have a quiet battle with Shasti. Not, he reflected, that it was likely to work. He walked up to her. “You fight dirty, you know that.”
She looked down at him. “It’s how I was raised,” she replied in all seriousness.
Chapter Nine
“Ready?” he asked Shasti as he tightened the straps on his helmet.
“Always,” she replied.
Fenaday pulled back on the stick and the Wildcat fighter lifted from Sidhe’s main shuttle bay. He