Chap. 214 Dinner at Francie's

 

Chap. 214 Dinner at Francie's

"Well, K'ndar, I must say that this has to be the most...unusual...artifact you've ever turned in,"

Raylan, Landing's Science Division Chief.

Several staff members of Landing's stood around Shawn's body, dumbfounded.

He pointed to one.

"Please, go to the Maintenance section, tell them we have a...um, a human body to um..put in.."

He was stuck.

"We've never had a body turned in. I'm not sure what to do with it," he said.

The one he'd pointed at said, sotto voce, 'feed it to the wherries'. Someone else poked her, saying, 'that's not nice.'

"Neither was he. Quite honestly, I'm glad he's dead," the first one said, 'he was a sod of the first order."

"How about we have him put in the refrigerator, where we hang carcasses to age," another said.

Raylan grasped at it.

"Good idea. It gets it off my hands," he said.

Two of them hurried off.

Raylan turned to K'ndar.

"I'm betting my boots there's a story behind this. I can assure you, there's one from Landing's side," Raylan said.

"Yes, sir, there is...and something tells me I should make an official report. But by the egg, Raylan, I'm famished. I've been at it all day and need to get something to eat before I tell you the whole story," K'ndar said.

The Science chief laughed.

"Would you like to have dinner with Francie and me? We can get your fire lizard something to eat, and..Raventh? How's he doing for dinner?"

Are you hungry? K'ndar asked.

I am. It's been three days since that last buck.

"Raventh is a little hungry," K'ndar said, his stomach asking him if his throat had been cut?

"I'll have Francie ask Motanith to take him hunting," Raylan said, "Landing has an entire herd set aside just for dragons."

They'd finished a sumptuous dinner.

K'ndar felt nervous. This is the second time I've been in someone's home that makes mine feel as if it's not more than a..a cocoon, he thought.

The inhabitants at Landing had spent years uncovering and renovating the many buildings the Ancients had constructed before they'd abandoned Landing. Virtually the entire staff now had a building to themselves, although some still insisted on living in one of relatively few caves available. This one was 'small', Francie apologized, but it was far larger than his cramped little weyr at home.

It was nice, he thought. A bookshelf was gradually being filled. Francie's artwork was on the walls. Her artwork was on paper, something that, until paper was re-invented, had been unheard of.

They'd built four shelves for her three fire lizards. "Keeps them from monopolizing all of them" Francie said. Siskin took the fourth one. He was making eyes at her two green fire lizards.

There was something else, something invisible about the home. It took several moments for it reveal itself. Their quarters were heated by some invisible process. No fire pit. So many things at Landing were 'different' than anywhere else on Pern. He'd have to ask them about it, later.

"Are you expected back at your weyr tonight?" Francie asked.

"I don't think so. And at the moment, I don't really care," he said, with a little more heat than he'd planned.

Francie and Raylan both heard it.

"Trouble in Paradise, K'ndar?" Raylan asked.

He told them about M'rvin's castigation.

"I didn't have that coming," he said, heatedly, "I'd obeyed my Weyrwoman's orders. D'nis said M'rvin's been slashing people regularly, I was just 'next'."

"What is going on, I wonder," Raylan said.

"Sounds to me like M'rvin's not too happy being Weyrleader," Francie said, "I'm so glad I ride a green. They're horny little things but I don't have to worry about being Weyrwoman," she said.

"Me too. I'm happy riding a brown," K'ndar said. "I'm not interested in being a leader of anything."

"If you don't mind me asking, I can see there is something on your mind. It has to do with this stuff from M'rvin, but..there's something else, isn't there?" Francie said.

K'ndar sighed.

"Francie, I was his target. M'rvin was pissed at Siena, but didn't want to go for her, so he took out his anger on me. I almost resigned right then and there, Francie. I'd had enough. Good weyrleaders don't reprimand riders in public. If I'd had it coming, I would have taken it like a man, but I didn't. I resented it, I still do. My father used to treat me like M'rvin did. I thought that now that I am on my own, and my father is dead, that I'd left that feeling behind...but no, it was like I was a kid all over again, just like that," he said, snapping his fingers.

"Why didn't you resign?"

K'ndar shook his head. "Raventh. He shouted at me to stop, to shut up. He's never done that before. I don't know why he said it, and I've not had a chance to ask him why."

"So ask him now," she said, gently.

I have been listening Raventh said.

Why did you stop me in mid sentence? Why did you tell me to stop before I said I resign?

Because...there are two of us. You and me. Don't I get a say in what WE do?

K'ndar felt the words stab his heart. Shame washed it. Tears started in his eyes. His Raventh. His brother. I didn't think of him.

Of anyone on this planet, the last one I want to hurt is you. You are right. I am sorry.

It is okay. I know how you felt. I think we should think about this when you are not busy with these humans.

Francie and Raylan saw the expression on his face.

His eyes returned to theirs. Their were questions in their eyes, but there was also a look of understanding in Francie's.

His throat was so tight with emotion he had to cough it clear.

"Um..."

"You don't have to explain, K'ndar," she said. "I can see it in your eyes. There's two of you in each other's mind. It's like with me and Motanith. When I left your weyr to live here with Raylan, it was her understanding that we would not be living like most other dragons, in a weyr. We have a few other dragons here, now, but at first it was just me. She missed other dragons. They're an awful lot like us, K'ndar, they love us and are our mates, but sometimes, dragons just want to be with other dragons."

K'ndar nodded, thinking of N'orald, the old timer at his weyr who'd said the same thing, what seemed ages ago.

"What, by the way, made him say that?" she asked.

"What, stop me from resigning?"

"Yes."

"I had so much on my mind at the moment. Lord Dorn had 'invited me to dine with him, as he has something to discuss with me." That line was running around underneath everything else, I really didn't think it through. I just snapped when M'rvin was shaming me. I thought, shaff this, I don't need this abuse. There must be an alternative to living at the weyr, I know other people are doing it. THAT's when Raventh told me to stop. He had something on his mind, too."

Something that looked like excitement bloomed in Francie's eyes.

"Have you noticed a change in Raventh?"

K'ndar looked at her for a long moment.

"Meaning, how?"

Francie said, "Since she's no longer required to eat fire stone, I've found Motanith mental acuity has jumped. She's smarter. She asks better questions. She comes up with answers I'd never thought of. She thinks more clearly now, and has definite opinions. Her memory has expanded, so much so that I think the old canard of dragons only having short term memories of less than three days was wrong. It was the fire stone that crippled dragons brains, not their brains themselves."

"YES! I've seen it in Raventh, the same thing! He remembers everything. He's thinks things through. He's smarter than he was when we flew Thread," K'ndar said, excited. "Thank you, I thought it was just my imagination."

"It's not, K'ndar. It's real. And I love it," she said.

"K'ndar," Raylan said, "I think I know what Dorn has in mind. It sounds to me as if he's going to contract with you to work for him permanently, to live at his Hold as his personal transport," he said.

Yes. And I want to discuss it with you before you make a decision

Unbidden, his jaw dropped. Raventh was right. Again.

"Target", Francie said softly to Raylan.

K'ndar gathered his wits.

"I think you're right. Raventh KNOWS you're right," he said. His mind began to race with questions. The idea of living on his own, really on his own, was both exhilarating...and daunting.

"Before you ask, K'ndar, the problems of being weyrless aren't insurmountable. It's not like being holdless. I am kept up to date on new coordinates, new holds, that sort of thing, as I'm here at Landing. I think, though, that being at Singing Waters, the problems would lie in information, or lack thereof. Weather comes to mind immediately, you'd have to be able to um, be able to forecast weather at wherever Lord Dorn would want to go. Not having access to Ops makes that difficult."

K'ndar groaned. "I've always had problems with weather," he said.

"And it can be scary," Francie continued, "There's a lot of things a dragonrider in a weyr takes for granted. There's always someone, some ground dweller, as Raylan says, who forecasts weather, or keeps coordinates and dragon stones updated, or knows what dragon is where, that's information that you won't have at Singing Waters."

He nodded, feeling a cold pit in his stomach. The idea of being a true freelancer was growing on him quickly, but...the obstacles were mounting.

Raylan raised his hand. "It might be easier now, Francie, my dear, from when you first cut loose from your natal weyr. Remember, K'ndar discovered the artifacts and gave them to us...the datalink, the camera, the first real artifacts of value. We're sending those things out to anyone on Pern who wants one. He could easily access OUR Flight Ops, Landing's computers, the Yokohama's cameras, with a datalink."

Francie slapped her forehead in mock dismay.

"Duh. You're right, Raylan. Thank the egg ONE of us has brains in this family," she said, laughing.

Raylan's thoughts were light years ahead.

"K'ndar. When you found Shawn's body, did you, by any chance, find items like a datalink?"

"No, I didn't, Raylan, but things were moving fast. I heard one of the men say that "Karloch's" data link couldn't get a signal there". Duh!! Shawn had a datalink!"

Raylan nodded. "Of that I have no doubt. One of the reasons Shawn was, um, 'relieved of his duties" here at Landing was because too many things like datalinks were missing. We had no proof it was him doing the thefts, but still, very few people had access to artifacts other than him.

Once we started making them, though, we made them available to anyone, for a price, of course.

We fumbled around for a while, then someone came up with the idea of giving every item a serial number. It's a brand, if you will, every item had a different, sequential number.

The number was registered in database as to who made it when. We didn't think of tracking where it went or to whom it went to. We were starting from zero, you know?

These things aren't books, but the loaning out of these things was. So...for lack of any better idea, we dumped the entire concept in Elene's lap. She's Chief Librarian, after all, used to loaning out and tracking valuable things. She started the entire concept of tracking things like datalinks and cameras. "If you're going to use my library as a source to lend out these toys, then you need to give me a database that tracks them," she said, and she was right.

Elene made a borrower sign for every item, she knew where they all were and made sure they were returned on time...but if Shawn snagged a datalink before it was registered in the library's database to begin with, we'd never have known.

When you told me that Shawn had tried to bribe you into working for him, that alerted us to the fact that things were, in fact, unaccounted for. That was pretty much the end of Shawn, soon after he was demoted, he vanished. And, I'm certain, he took all those toys with him."

His face screwed up in dismay. "K'ndar, do you know if the things he had are still in his hideout?"

K'ndar nodded. "Don't worry. Lief and Lord Dorn told me they'd secure anything they'd find in the cave. I trust them both to honor their word. I'll figure out how to return them to Landing," he said, wondering if it meant another trip to the hideout.

Francie said, "Raylan, if K'ndar had a datalink with him at Singing Waters, he'd have no problem using our Flight Ops, correct?"

Raylan nodded. "That's not really my department, but yes, of course. Anyone can tap into Landing as long as he or she has a datalink."

"And records are kept of when and who accesses the databases?"

"NOW, yes, of course. They started that, oh, about the same time as Library had enough toys, as Elene calls them, to lend out. Whenever someone accesses the database, or links to the Yokohama, for instance, it takes up a little bit of the computer's time and memory, and that data is automatically calculated and recorded. We even can tell WHAT data the person is accessing."

"Did Shawn ever access it after he left?"

Raylan looked at the ceiling for answers. He shook his head.

"Again, that isn't my division, so I don't know for sure. I'm guessing, but I'm going to say no. If he had, we probably would have known immediately that he had an unregistered datalink," he said.

"Raylan," Francie said, her eyes gleaming, " now we know Shawn went by the name Karloch. I bet there's records of a "Karloch" accessing the database."

His jaw dropping, Raylan stared at her. It was his turn, then, to slap his forehead.

"Duh. DUH! Yes! Yes! It's all there, I promise!"

He looked at his wife with what could only be amazement and admiration.

"Who has the brains in this family? YOU, my love."