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AT breakfast next morning, Tregare said, "How'd you like the pass, eastbound?
Forgot to ask,
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"I-I hate to tell you," but she began.
Almost immediately he interrupted. "Clouds? You went in with an overcast? You
should have turned back."
"Perhaps. But I thought-" She continued. This time he heard her out. Then he
shook his head.
"I tried that trick once-going in high. Damned downdraft caught me off
guard-time I got straightened up, I was too low and too slow to make it. All I
could do was turn downhill to get speed. You reacted faster, to get away with
that dive and still climb the pass."
"Or-from time to time the downdraft may vary in strength."
"Maybe. Anyway, your luck was in. But I hope you won't try it again under
those conditions!"
"Unless it is necessary, I will not, certainly."
"All right." He pushed back his chair and stood. "Time we got dressed." He
stacked the dishes to soak and joined her in the front room. "We'll take Anse
along today; Hain can do the watch here."
"You brought Deverel up with you last night?"
"Sure. He gets lonesome down at Two-same as I do."
"Yes. Well, I am nearly ready, except-what do I need to take with me? I
mean-will we return here tonight?" She twisted her hair into a knot atop her
head and secured it with a clasp.
"And every night-unless something comes up and we have to work straight
through. I don't expect that, but it could happen."
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He called the scoutship; Kenekke was ready and met them at the aircar. Tregare
took the controls. They rode in silence until close to landing; then Tregare
said, "Remember, both of you-
it's Tari Obrigo joining our work force today. I'm sure of the people I know
on these ships, but there's some new to me."
"Yes."
"Sure, captain."
"All right." He landed midway and to one side of the path between the two
ships, where crates were being moved from Lefthand Thread to Carcharodon.
"Tari, you come with me. We're starting the fourth turret; I want you to mark
the cuts
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\rfor the torch men-in the existing structure and on the girders to be
installed. Then spot the holes for the new bulkheads and the projector
mounting itself. I'll check you first time 'round -
after that, you'll be checking the work."
She nodded. "Yes, I can do those things. I will need the drawings, though-I do
not remember all of it yet."
"Hell, yes, you'll use drawings! I wouldn't try it from memory myself, and I
drew the damn things!"
She touched his hand. "Bran-perhaps I do not joke enough..."
He looked at her, then grinned. "All right-you got me. Well, let's get to it."
They entered
Carcharodon and climbed upship. Kenekke left them to join three men sorting
out piles of components in a storage area. As they passed the control room,
Vanois and Limmer stopped arguing over a circuit diagram long enough to give
them brief greetings.
Then they neared the top of the ship and Rissa could see the magnitude of the
work-some nearly completed and some only begun. She saw that structural
members had been cut away and replaced to fit around turret and missile
positions without weakening the ship. "Tregare-seeing this in three
dimensions-it gives me a feel for the work, that the drawings could not."
"I know; it's the same with me. Well, this is where we start on Turret Four,
and here's your chalk and measuring tape. This end sticks where you put it-"
He demonstrated. "-unless you twist it or flick it, like this. So one person
can do all of it."
"Yes. I knew of these, but had not used one before." She stood, looking at the
sections to be removed. "Lacking a place to anchor a power hoist, we must move
everything by hand?" He nodded.
"Then there must be more cuts-no need to measure them precisely-to divide the
girders into manageable weights."
"Almost right. More cuts, yes. But we reuse as much as we can, so you cut the
right sizes to fit the new structure."
"Of course. Well-in that case-" She looked at a drawing, then to Tregare,
catching him in a half-
smile. "Your design uses that junction of four girders, unchanged-merely cut
free and inverted, then rotated a quarter turn?" He nodded, and
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she climbed onto a protruding beam to take a measurement. "Then I shall begin
here, mark to remove the junction, then work from there toward the perimeter
cuts. Do you agree?"
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"That's about the way I've been doing it."
"All right." She began work-measuring, marking, climbing from point to point.
As the morning progressed, the air grew hotter; when she paused to check a
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drawing, she was sweating freely.
"No," she said, "that is wrong. I can lessen the waste by taking the longer
segment here and using this for three shorter ones." Taking Tregare's silence
for assent, she rubbed away a few chalk marks and measured anew.
She had lost track of time when Tregare said, "Everybody else is stopping for
coffee and what all. You want to?"
With the back of her hand she wiped her forehead. "Yes, I would enjoy that."
As she followed him downship she noticed her muscles had grown tense; she
shrugged and moved her neck, relaxing. "That is harder work than I would have
thought."
Half-turning as they entered the galley, he said, "It is when someone
concentrates on it as hard as you do."
Side by side at the end of a long table they found two seats. Rissa sat and
Tregare brought coffee. She did not know the man and woman who sat facing
them. The woman-dark, scar-cheeked, hair hidden under a bandanna, spoke
harsh-toned. "You're Tregare's new wife?"
"I did not know he had an old one. But yes, we are married."
The woman laughed. "Didn't mean it that way, but that's all right-you caught
me out. I'm Corane
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