Rusch, Kristine Kathryn - Diving Universe SS3 (14 page)

But Navi didn't say that. Instead she stepped into the street, bathing in the warmth of Amnthra's bright sun. She held up her communicator, pressing it on. She didn't use any identifying words. The signal from the comm should have been enough.

“I'm checking on Roye,” she said. “Is he all right?”

He looks like he's made of snow,
 the pilot of her deep exploration ship answered. 
But he's all right. Glad to be out of there
. 
You coming to join us?

She looked over her shoulder. There were too many changes here, too much going on. Much as she trusted Meklos Verr, she had a hunch he didn't trust her. And there was too much at stake to leave to a man she'd just hired.

“No, I'm staying. I'll send up a full report tonight. We're going to need a lot of experts on the spot very fast. And not the kind that we have. We're dealing with technology now, not ancient art.”

Figured out that much,
 the pilot said. 
Roye wants to know if you're all right. Does he need to come over the mountain to find you?

“I'm fine,” she said, then she took a deep breath of the warm air.

More than fine. She was thrilled.

Everything had turned out much better than she'd expected.

“Tell him,” she said, “I'm just fine.”

* * * *

41

It didn't take Meklos long to check out Navi Salvino, now that he had the proper equipment. He spent most of his time digging through information logs from far away, ones she never would have thought to tamper with.

While he did that, Meklos had his team set up a better perimeter. He put robots and motion detectors all around the rim of the crater, like he'd wanted to do from the beginning.

He was going to accept her offer. He wanted to study the Spires system. It fascinated him. He'd been in countless cities that protected themselves from attack, but not like this place. He wanted to know more.

And he had a hunch there would always be more to know.

He lifted his face toward the Spires. He'd thought them beautiful when he'd first seen them. But now he realized they were more than beautiful. They were fascinating and, more importantly, useful. He smiled at them—and silently promised he would always keep them safe.