Kate Wilhelm in Orbit - Volume One Read Free Page B

them better was great, but he resisted; it would be like straining too hard to hear a whisper only barely within hearing range. One either heard it, or did not. He let feelings enter him without trying to sort them out.
    Emotions had been expressed with every footstep, with every grasp of a door handle, every yank on a drawer, with every shout and curse uttered by the men preparing to abandon ship. The ship had vibrated a different tempo of emotions, and some of the vibrations still echoed along the molecules. Staeen intercepted them with his body and after a long time without movement, he stirred, his mantle rippling slightly as he shifted his position. A great sadness filled him because he knew the answer he found could not be accepted by the Flonderans. In the madness of fear the crew had left the ship.
    What, or whom, had they feared to the point of insanity?
    Staeen pondered that as he started to investigate the rooms assigned to him. He expected to find nothing, but his search was methodical. He had offered to help to the best of his ability and would do so.
    He found nothing in any of the rooms he searched. Now and again a stronger wave of the same crawling, irrational fear bathed him when he opened a door that had been closed since the ship was abandoned, but there was nothing to indicate its source.
    Malko and Conly were depressed and irritable when they returned to the scout. Staeen soaked in his mist of salt, ammonia and water blissfully while the Flonderans unsuited and decontaminated their suits. The three gathered in the cabin afterward.
    “I’m going to call it a bust,” Conly said, running his hand over his shaved head. He looked tired and dejected.
    Malko simply nodded. Scowl lines cut into his dark face and his deep eyes were shadowed. “Read about ocean ships found like that,” he said. “It looked like everyone just quit whatever he was doing and jumped over the side. No explanation ever given, far’s I know.”
    “We’ll make our independent reports as usual then,” Conly said. He looked at Staeen “Will you add whatever impressions you got from her?”
    Staeen agreed. He gazed from the port at the ship, an unsteady pad beneath the small scout. She would sail on, not worth salvaging, keeping her wobbling course toward the rim of the galaxy, and her mystery would go with her beyond recall.
    Two days later the scout was streaking back toward her port when a blip appeared on the scanner screen. Malko, at the control, decelerated and he and Conly watched the blip.
    “Shouldn’t be one of ours,” Conly said. “This is a hell of a long way off course for any place we’d want to go.” He kept his eyes on the growing blob of light on the screen. The object was almost close enough now for a visual sighting. “How about your people, Staeen? Any reason for them to man a ship and come out here?”
    Staeen wriggled his tentacles with excitement. “It must be the regular visit of the Thosars,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion. “I was a boy during their last visit. They come bringing news of the galaxy every twelve thousands of you years…”
    Malko and Conly stared at him. Neither had seen him so excited before. His mantle rippled uncontrollably and his tentacles were a blur of rosy motion.
    “And are they friendly?” Conly asked. A grin broke out on his face even as he asked. Staeen’s pleasure was so undisguised that to imagine that the Thosars as other than friendly was ridiculous.
    Throughout the next hours the ship drew nearer to them, changing on the screen from a blob of light to a pale blue, wheel-shaped ship that was bigger thing yet made by the Flonderans. Staeen radiated such joy and happiness at the approaching visit that the Flonderans echoed it and the small scout fairly hummed with the vibrations. Conly and Malko gaped at the size of the wheel; it had the diameter of seven miles. They demanded Staeen tell them everything he could about Thosars.
    “Just like you, like