“Youwillexplain and calm her, yes?”
“Sure I will. Don’t give it another thought. She’ll be waiting for you in your quarters.”
Martha’s glib reply, for some reason, was not very reassuring. But the sooner he finished here, the sooner he could see to Brittany himself.
He watched her Transfer, along with Jorran’s remaining people. Corth II and the half-dozen warriors at the exits remained, in case they were still needed. He then turned toward the newspeople.
Their cameras were still pointed at him. They tried to back up as he approached them, but there wasn’t much room for that. And they were still recording, even when he stopped in front of them.
One of them, though obviously nervous, said, “Man, that’s about the best special effects I’ve ever seen. Want to clean up some?”
A cloth was tossed at him. He looked down at his torso to find what might need cleaning up. He hadn’t felt the cut that ran from his upper left side across his abdomen to his right hip until he saw it now. He patted the cloth along the line. It did no good. More blood immediately oozed out to flow down and soak into his jeans.
The cameraman, however, had expected the line and blood to be gone, was staring wide-eyed at the new flow. “That’s—real, isn’t it?”
Dalden looked back at him, and said only, “I require the evidence you have recorded. If it can be removed from your camera and given to me, then I will not need to destroy the camera.”
“Ah, sure, whatever you want, guy. No problem.”
The man couldn’t get the film out of his camera and into Dalden’s hands fast enough. The other camera holder was still backing away, though not in nervousness. He was apparently looking for an exit. He had no intention of giving up his evidence.
Corth II became a solid, immovable wall at his back. “The big guy requires your film, bud. His option was to not destroy your camera to get it. My option is to not destroy you to get it. Which of us do you wish to deal with?”
“Okay, okay,” the man tried, stalling until he could turn around to take a swing at Corth II. Big mistake, that. He ended up with broken knuckles that hadn’t budged the face they struck, and wailed, “What the hell is that, a steel plate in your jaw?”
“Torenosteel to be exact, and not just the jaw, but the whole body. Welcome to your worst nightmare, friend,” Corth II said as he prepared to flatten the guy.
“Enough with the showing off, children.” Martha’s voice rang out loudly with distinct displeasure. “Must I doeverythingmyself?”
Not surprisingly, the heavy video camera disappeared from the man’s hand, Corth II disappeared next, then Dalden and the remaining warriors followed. Martha was, after all, capable of doing almost everything herself.
A shocked silence remained in City Hall. It was finally broken by a chuckle from the fellow who still possessed his own camera, minus any film. “I’d sure like to be there when you try to explain what just happened,” he told his friend. “And why you shouldn’t have to replace that camera yourself.”
“I’m not the only one who saw things poof around here,” the other man snarled.
“What you saw was one hell of a performance that you shouldn’t have gotten involved in. But if you’re lucky, those magic people will return your…” There was a pause due to the camera reappearing on the floor between them. “Wanna bet the film’s not in it?”
Chapter 28
HE FOUND BRITTANY WRAPPED IN A TIGHT LITTLE BALLon the floor of his quarters aboard theAndrovia,her back against the padded wall, her face tucked against her raised knees, her long copper hair spread like a cape around her. She didn’t look up when the door slid open and then closed behind him. She was rocking slightly, and making sounds of angst.
Dalden felt a constriction in his chest. Her pain was not physical, it was mental, and he wasn’t sure how he could help that.
Martha had warned him that the shock from the Transfer had put Brittany into a refusing-to-believe-anything mode. Most people had warning beforehand, knew what Molecular Transfer was, knew it was going to happen prior to it happening. And even if they didn’t know it was going to happen, at least they could guess what had happened to them if they suddenly ended up in a place other than where they had been. That required knowledge of Transfer, which most of the known universe had, all except undiscovered planets like hers.
“Brittany.”
She looked up instantly, her dark green eyes wide, full of fear and confusion. But then she shot to her feet, flew at him, clung to his chest. And in a small voice that steadily grew louder, said, “I was beginning to think you weren’t real, that I’d dreamed you, too. You are real, aren’t you? Tell me you’re real!”
“Very real,kerima.”
“You aren’t going to disappear on me again?” she demanded sharply.
“You will never be far from me, not ever. I would not allow it.”
She relaxed somewhat, leaned back to stare into his eyes, as if she might find all her answers there. She found none, but she did seem to find the reassurance she’d been in need of. She stepped away from him, agitation now taking the place of her fear, though the confusion was still rampant.
“You’ve got some explaining to do.”
