Infinite Day Read Free Page B

familiarity that made no conceivable sense.
    Kala felt herself shiver again and saw that Hanna’s brown eyes were wide.
    George looked at the ceiling. “You know, if this wasn’t space, and it wasn’t a vacuum at minus one hundred C out there, and we weren’t doing five hundred klicks an hour, I’d say . . .”
    â€œWhat?” Kala asked.
    â€œThat someone was walking on the roof.”
    He thought so too! Kala was aware that her hand was trembling and she lowered it so that no one would see. She realized that it was cold.
    A grimace appeared on Hanna’s pale face. “I said you were too credulous. A strand of filament probably.”
    Kala looked at the screens. They were closing on the Lanuane ; you could see the fins, the detector pods, and the missile packs. I ought to strap myself in . She took hold of the steering arms and adjusted her feet on the control plate.
    She snapped out a command. “Engineer, give me some explanation for those noises other than a . . . ghost.”
    â€œCaptain, I am running a computer identification on the sounds.” George sounded somehow both frightened and irritated. “It’s checking the database of fifteen hundred years of L and Cs. There is no camera active that can image that part of the hull. Wait. . . .” George gave a strange yelp.
    Of frustration? or something else?
    â€œWhat is it?” She looked at him.
    George’s face was pale. “Hey . . . it’s playing up. Says it is closest to . . . wait for it . . . ‘footsteps on the hull during servicing.’”
    â€œN-nonsense!” Hanna snorted angrily. “I’m sick to death of your imaginings, George. Captain, I’m not crewing with this man again. Formal request.”
    â€œCrew, crew . . . ,” Kala protested wearily.
    â€œ My imagining?” George snapped back. “Maybe. But the computer? Hardly.”
    Kala could feel fear in the room. I should call the Lanuane . But what would I say?
    The noises began again. This time they moved at a slow, unhurried pace across the roof of the cabin toward the port side of the tug.
    Now that we have used the word footstep , it is impossible not to imagine that these sounds are just that. But they can’t be. They can’t!
    The tapping noises changed to something else. Kala felt her hands twitch again.
    Can it really be that after eleven millennia of peace and light the old fears of the dark and spirits have not left us? And as she posed the question, she answered it. Yes .
    The noises stopped.
    Hanna’s head moved abruptly in nervous agitation. “Okay. I admit it. I don’t mind . . . the d-diagnostics hearing me say . . . I’m s-scared.”
    â€œI’ve joined the same club,” George said, his voice muted.
    Kala was going to add something, but above them the noises started again, then changed direction, heading pace by pace toward their right.
    â€œThe starboard access ladder,” George whispered.
    â€œThe h-hatchway.” Hanna’s voice was a tiny rustle.
    They all turned toward the recess with the compartment hatch. Kala could see the stars through its square porthole. I know the Xalanthos-B as well as my own apartment. There are twelve rungs of the ladder curved down the side to a narrow ledge. That ledge leads to the hatch. Kala realized she was still shivering. What do I do?
    Above them the footsteps stopped; then she heard new noises.
    It’s going down the ladder.
    A thought slid into her brain as brutally as if it had been stabbed in. It is Death . She felt herself tremble at the notion. This death was not the joyful, going-to-be-with-Jesus death that she had always known of but a death of darkness, loss, and endless, biting pain.
    There was a new sequence of six or seven sounds on the hull.
    â€œIt can’t be,” gasped Hanna. “I think it’s