Free Silent Dances by A. C. Crispin, Kathleen O'Malley Page A

Bruce's thinning red
    hair seemed to have become sparser. She couldn ' t remember it being
    so gray, either.
    He hugged her, kissing her forehead. " I really missed you, ol girl," he
    whispered.
    "Who the hell you calling old?" She laughed. " Lot more snow on your head than when I left."
    Moving to a chair , Bruce sat with arms crossed, stretching his legs out.
    "If we had that bill ," he said to Lauren, "we might be able to find the error."
    The technician turn ed to the infirma ry 's comm unit.
    Bruce, Lauren , Meg, and Scott had been the core of the colonizing
    team that had first discovered Trinity. The four of them had elected to
    stay when their- company ship had leftMeg and Scott because they
    believed that the Grus were intelligent, and Bruce and Lauren in spite of
    their doubts. The four had always worked as a team, and after fifteen
    years of space-hopping they were practically family.
    " Lauren , call Peter in here , please ," Bruce requested. "Maybe he can get to the bottom of this."
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    "Right," Lauren answered, and turned back to the comm. "Does she know
    anything about it?" Bruce asked in a low voice, indicating Tesa.
    "I'll ask her," Meg said. She could see the young woman's confused
    expression. Poor kid, she thought, I'd planned an organized briefing session, not this. She looks so lost. Meg remembered suddenly that Tesa's birthday
    had passed while they were in deep-sleep. She was twenty now, and had
    left her teens while asleep with no one but a stranger to even think of it.
    "Tesa," Meg signed in Grus, "we can't find those new Mizari voders. Is there any chance they're in your luggage?" It was a long shot, but Meg was
    desperate.
    Meg could see Tesa thinking it through, fuzzily.
    "Ask her again," the doctor said. "She didn't understand."
    "She understands just fine, give her a chance," Meg answered curtly.
    "The Mizari voders?" Tesa signed, finally. "They went in with our cargo. Did you check--"
    Meg turned away from Tesa at the sound of a new voice. "I've got that lading
    data from Captain Stepp, Meg," a black man said from the doorway. "Want to
    give me your data-card so I can compare? By the way, it's sure good to have
    you home again."
    Peter Woedrango, the Crane's chief engineer , software specialist, and
    ecologist, gave Meg one of his expansive smiles as he took her card. The
    tall Senegalese man had his computer link in his ear and a pocket crowded
    with computer pens. He was good-looking, with a shaggy mane of hair and
    laughing eyes.
    Tesa tapped Meg. "Can we go to Trinity now?"
    Meg felt a stab of guilt. This is terrible. I turned away while she was in the middle of a sentence. I haven't introduced her to a soul. This voder thing has
    me too rattled to think.
    "Captain Stepp," Meg signed, "can't leave till we know what happened to the voders, and you and I can't go planetside until this is solved."
    Tesa nodded , glancing self - consciously at the strangers. "She'll feel a lot better after dinner and a night's sleep," Dr. Li announced to the room.
    "Szu-yi, please stop talking about Tesa in third person," Meg said quietly.
    The doctor pressed her lips together.
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    "Sleep! " Tesa signed abruptly . " I've been doing nothing but sleep for the past month ! C an 't we go ? Please?"
    Meg was surpri sed. "You understood her?"
    Tesa smiled wry ly . " How hard is it to understand àno-go' when you
    see one?"
    " What was all that about ?" Bruce asked , interested. Befo re Meg could an swer , Peter interrupted . " Meg, both your data - card an d the lading bill tell Captain Stepp to transfer our voders to the Holly."
    "Those things are halfway to Novaya Rossiya by now," said Lau re n , ruefully . " Maybe your brother can send them back, Meg."
    "How could that happen?" Meg demanded . " It's impossible!"
    Peter shook his head. " You could ' ve picked up an error while that card was accruing its approvals . Gove rn ment cards a re used over an d over . After you tr an sferred the data onto the lading bill