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he asked. Rhita followed his pointing finger and saw a line of distant vehicles about half a parasang from the asphalt apron.

"No," Atta said, tensing. "We have this part of the field to ourselves." "Then we'd better hurry."

Demetrios moved up behind Rhita as if to protect her. The palace guards and the Kelt joined their group at the beecraft hatchway, falling in line at Atta's command. The military advisor cursed repeatedly under his breath, eyes flicking between the people and piles of supplies yet to be loaded and the approaching wagons.

Oresias rapped on the plastic canopy and the Kybernts opened a small window. "Get this thing off the ground first if you have to. Get her out of here if they reach us before we're ready."

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"I've got a query on the radio," the kybernts said.

"There weren't supposed to be any queries," Oresias told him sharply.

"Then I don't suppose they expect an answer," the Kybernts replied casually. "Everybody has to be loaded two minutes before we can leave

the ground. I need time to get my blades up to speed." He snicked the window shut.

Rhita found her seat within the narrow fuselage, a thinly padded canvas square stretched across two parallel iron bars. Demetrios handed her the case containing the slate and helped her secure the clavicle in its box behind a net in an overhead rack. The whine of the jet motors directly overhead was hideously loud, disorienting. A crewman handed them ear-covers and motioned for all to be seated and strap themselves in.

Outside, the last of the supplies was being hastily piled into the second beecraft. The wagon drivers retreated to their vehicles and spun them away from the apron toward the military road. Rhita wondered what would happen if they were caught; why had things gone wrong? Had they gone wrong?

She clapped her hands over .the ear-covers and closed her eyes. She had never flown before.

Oresias tapped her' shoulder and she opened her eyes.

We're going, he mouthed to her. She glanced out the square window between the explorer's seat and her own and saw the ponderous jet nacelles blurring as the blades picked up speed. The roar seemed to turn her entire body to liquid. She hadn't urinated in hours. The need was intense.

She clenched her teeth.

The two beecraft left solid ground and drifted off the apron, accelerating north. She couldn't see what the soldiers in the vehicles behind them Page 218

were doing. She hoped they weren't shooting.

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