"Sure," Bart said, finding his feet and his voice. He felt better as
they moved along the hallway, the limp, muttering form of the old Lhari
insensible in their arms. They reached the officer's deck, got Rugel
into his cabin and into his bunk, hauled off his cloak and boots. Ringg
stood shaking his head.
"And they say Captain Vorongil's so tough!"
Bart made a questioning noise.
"Why, just look," said Ringg. "He knows it would make poor old Rugel
feel as if he wasn't good for much--to order him into his bunk and make
him take dope like a Mentorian for every warp-shift. So we have this to
go through at every jump!" He sounded cross and disgusted, but there was
a rough, boyish gentleness as he hauled the blanket over the bald old
Lhari. He looked up, almost shyly.
"Thanks for helping me with Old Baldy. We usually try to get him out
before Vorongil officially takes notice. Of course, he sort of keeps his
back turned," Ringg said, and they laughed together as they turned back
to the drive room. Bart found himself thinking, Ringg's a good kid,
before he pulled himself up, in sudden shock.
He had lived through warp-drive! Then, indeed, the Lhari had been
lying all along, the vicious lie that maintained their stranglehold
monopoly of star-travel. He was their enemy again, the spy within their
gates, like Briscoe, to be hunted down and killed, but to bring the
message, loud and clear, to everyone: The Lhari lied! The stars can
belong to us all!
When he got back to the drive room, he saw through the viewport that the
blur had vanished, the star-trails were clear, distinct again, their
comet-tails shortening by the moment, their colors more distinct.
The Lhari were waiting, a few poised over their instruments, a few more
standing at the quartz window watching the star-trails, some squirming
and scratching and grousing about "space fleas"--the characteristic
itching reaction that seemed to be deep down inside the bones.
Bart checked his panels, noted the time when they were due to snap back
into normal space, and went to stand by the viewport. The stars were
reappearing, seeming to steady and blaze out in cloudy splendor through
the bright dust. They burned in great streamers of flame, and for the
moment he forgot his mission again, lost in the beauty of the fiery
lights. He drew a deep, shaking gasp. It was worth it all, to see this!
He turned and saw Ringg, silent, at his shoulder.
"Me, too," Ringg said, almost in a whisper. "I think every man on board
feels that way, a little, only he won't admit it." His slanted gray eyes
looked quickly at Bart and away.