all the servants and family of a great jefe. But the building was massive, the
wood and stone expertly joined. What moonlight was left glinted off metal
tracery and shone streaming images of the moon's face in the polish of the wood.
The roof was darker, barely reflecting. There were gables and a strange turret:
dark spheres, in diameters varying from five centimeters to almost two meters,
impaled on a glinting needle.
"Wake up. We are here." Hands undid the blankets, and the old man gently shook
his shoulder. It took an effort to keep from lashing out. He grunted faintly,
pretended he was slowly waking. "Estamos llegado, chico," the servant, Morales,
said. Wili let himself be helped from the cart. In truth he was still a little
unsteady on his feet, but the less they knew of his capabilities the better. Let
them think he was weak, and ignorant of English.
A servant came running out of the main entrance (or could the servants' entrance
be so grand?). No one else appeared, but Wili resolved to be docile until he
knew more. The woman-like Morales, middle-aged-greeted the two men warmly, then
guided Wili across the stone flagging to the entrance. The boy kept his eyes
down, pretending to be dopey. Out of the corner of this eye, though, he saw
something more ў a silver net like some giant spider web stretched between a
tree and the side of the mansion.
Past the huge careen doors, a light glowed dimly, and Wili saw that the place
was the equal of anything in Pasadena, though there were no obvious art
treasures or golden statuary lying about. They led him up (not down! What sort
of jefe put his lowest servants on an upper floor?) a wide staircase, and into
a room under the eaves. The only light was the moon's, coming through a window
more than large enough to escape by.
"Tienes hambre?" the woman asked him.
Wili shook his head dumbly, surprised at himself. He really wasn't hungry; it
must be some residual effect of the stunner. She showed him a toilet in an
adjoining room and told him to get some sleep.
And then he was left alone!
Wili lay on the bed and looked out over the forest. He thought he could see a
glint from the Vandenberg Dome. His luck was almost past marveling at. He
thanked the One God he had not bolted at the entrance to the mansion. Whoever
was the master here knew nothing of security and employed fools. A week here and
he would know every small thing worth stealing. In a week he would be gone with
enough treasure to live for a long, long time!
- Flashforward -
Captain Allison Parker's new world began with the sound of tearing metal.
For several seconds she just perceived and reacted, not trying to explain
anything to herself. The hull was breached. Quiller was trying to crawl back
toward her. There was blood on his face. Through rents in the hull she could see
trees and pale sky. Trees?
Her mind locked out the wonder, and she struggled from her harness. She snapped
the disk pack to her side and pulled down the light helmet with its ten-minute
air supply. Without thinking, she was following the hull-breach procedures that
had been drilled into all of them so many times. If she had thought about it she
might have left off the helmet ў there were sounds of birds and wind-rustled
trees ў and she would have died.
Allison pulled Quiller away from the panel and saw why the harness had not
protected him: The front of the shuttle was caved in toward the pilot. Another
