The warhorse would be even heavier crated than it had been by itself. But only in the crate for Wendis would they get it off the planet. Subject to any ordinary inspection, it would be impounded by the Planetary History Division, or rival branches of the government, possibly even Haze’s own department.
If it became known that it was a robot, TARC would seize it from anyone else.
Tai said, “The same logic applies for Rusty. If you try to keep him, he’ll be taken from you.”
Haze looked stricken. He had a hand on Rusty’s back, his other hand holding Mercury’s.
“You can’t bear to be parted from him,” Mercury said.
“I’m doomed anyway.” His voice was strangely bleak. It made Mercury shiver as though a cold draft had touched her heart.
“Tell us why.” It sounded more like Tai giving an order than a suggestion.
“The day of the Fall, I ran into the wild park, Tetra. I knew how to survive there, what water is safe to drink without putting my hands in shockthreads. I knew where there was a TARC survey platform in the park. I thought I could ask for help there.” His voice was rough with barely contained feelings. “Wreckage of the tower came down there too. Within a kilometer of the platform. It broke the ground open and revealed an underground mine. Resource extraction in Tetra and the other wild parks and reserves is illegal in the constitution that governs Faxe—but it was going on just the same to a huge extent. And I saw it.”
They all stood on the safety of observation deck. Below, Hopper climbed back into the copter. The Great Crate rested next to the copter and the cargo hook had engaged the crate’s loops. Crate and copter were ready to go.
Haze looked out over the widening restored river. “Thinking about when I returned to Tellus then, and the times I’ve been off-planet since, I suspect I’m on a watch list. It’s always the same questions about my state of mind. My guess is that if they know I remember the TARC mine, they’ll give me amnesia again. Next time it could take out half my life. You included.” Pain scored his face as he looked into Mercury’s eyes.
“I’d say you’re right about that,” Tai said.
“I can’t bear forgetting you. So I’ll have to stay. You’ll have to go. You wouldn’t be safe on Tellus with me. Take him.” Haze put Rusty in Mercury’s arms. Then he kissed her forehead. “I will remember you.”
Her heart sank. It felt unbearably wrong to be forced apart. Not after last night. Not ever.
He told Tai with a pained levity, “If I did think I could leave Tellus, I’d ask if you, the Pastfinders, need a biologist.”
For the third time in three days, Mercury’s world went glassy, this time with astonished hope. If Haze became a Pastfinder they could be together—now and ever after!
Tai said, “We do need a biologist.” The wind blew her long dark hair.
Haze lifted his head. “Where’s that wind coming from?”
Mikal was on the observation deck watching the Rift. Haze shouted up at Mikal, “Look east!”
Mikal did and went ramrod tense. “Flood! Flood! It’s a wall of water!” Mikal yelled.
Tai told Haze, “Get aboard the copter! I’ll get you off this planet with the crate. You’ll see your little family later.” Then she bolted away, shouting orders at everyone else.
He looked dazed for a split second. Then he gave Mercury and Rusty a hard, fast embrace and ran. Mercury helplessly ran after him. She had to stop just outside the station gate. A tongue of water roiled between the gate and the copter. Hopper already had the copter blades spinning up. Haze waded through the water visibly fighting against the current.
In Mercury’s arms, Rusty struggled. “Wait, we’ll see him later,” she told Rusty. If they make it!
Silk pushed through the Pastfinders to stand beside Mercury. She was seeing her man leave into the teeth of danger too. “What about the extra weight—and the wind?” Mercury asked her.
“Hopper can make it if any pilot in all the worlds can.”
Suddenly Rusty broke free of Mercury’s arms. He ran toward the copter like a rust-brown arrow. But the water was deeper than Rusty, and it was fast.
“Rusty! No!” Mercury screamed.
Haze turned back under the copter’s accelerating blades. His face showed instant inner conflict. Knowing he might try to save Rusty, Mercury held her breath.
Membranes unfolded out of Rusty’s ruff, opened to be wide, gauzy wings. With wings beating hard, Rusty lifted himself above the water, flying to Haze. He landed in Haze’s arms. Hopper extended a strong arm and hauled Haze into the copter, Rusty and all.
The copter lifted off from the ground when the first wave of water touched the crate. The first few meters of the copter’s ascent were effortless. Haze added to the load might not make that much difference. With the weight of the crate, though, the copter labored. The water seemed to reach for it.
The copter pulled the crate out of the reach of the water. Mercury felt like cheering. Then the copter turned east. It thudded toward the wall of water from the shattered dam. Mercury’s heart went into her throat.
From the observation deck, Mikal shouted, “Get up here! You’re not safe there!”
Hopper got the copter airborne, dangling crate and all. In Haze’s lap, Rusty tucked his incredible wings back into this ruff. Haze recalled another Theorem of Xenobiology: Is the life form biologically probable? No, further proving that Rusty was a robot.
Hopper turned the copter east, facing the wall of water that was coming at them. Incredibly, Hopper flew toward it.
Haze wanted to live. He specifically wanted to live with Mercury in the stars. But he stared at death in the form of a foaming wall with boulders bouncing around at its feet.
The copter began to gain altitude. Then Haze understood what Hopper was doing. The wall of water pushed air in front of it. Flying into the wind of the wave let Hopper wring better performance out of the heavy copter. Haze knew superb atmospheric flying when he saw it, and said nothing, not wanting to distract Hopper even for a microsecond. Rusty, evidently not programmed to react fearfully to circumstances that he couldn’t protect Haze from, chirred reassuringly.
In front of the wall of water, the copter still ascended. Flecks of foam flew onto the canopy. Then Hopper pivoted the copter and flew it back the way they’d come. Miraculously, it maintained then gained even more altitude. No, Haze thought, the miracle was such human skill in flying. It was pure physics that the wave pushed air ahead of it, and the air, in the Rift bounded by sheer rock walls, had nowhere to go but up. Hopper was skilled enough to keep the laden copter balanced on the crest of the surging air, like a surfer of the sky. Haze unclenched his teeth just a fraction.
Surfing the wave of air over the wave of water, the copter sped past the station. Haze jerked in dismay at how low the station looked. He twisted around to confirm the worst and it was true. The wall of water was higher than the observation deck.
Hopper said, “Don’t worry. There’s a bolthole for the people, even if we lose our stuff. Tai always gets her team out.”
Haze sat back. He felt a pang of loss for his faithful old backpack being taken by the flood. But yes: the people were most important. Mercury most of all.
A lesser copter pilot would have lost altitude at the wrong moment, veered into the Rift wall, or had to release the heavy crate from the claw. Hopper didn’t, at least not yet. He displayed the nonchalance of the superb pilot at the top of his game, becoming slightly conversational. “Your weight and that,” Hopper indicated Rusty with a tilt of his head, “aren’t much compared to the cargo, but every ounce matters. Why’d she send you with me?”