Timegods' World Read Online Free PDF Page B

circulation returning to my fingers and toes, the absence of wind alone was not enough to immediately thaw me out.
    “I do hope Jerz managed to leave Jillriko early. He took the runabout.” Germania kept her eyes on the winding road as her small voice continued. “It’s such a long trip back, especially if the rain gets heavy, and that can easily happen at this time of year …”
    Allyson half-turned and ran her eyes over my cloak. “It’s too cold to rain, Mother. Don’t you think so, Sammis?”
    “Ice or snow, I suppose.”
    “I do hope that it isn’t ice. The runabout is so light, and the hill to our place is so steep … Sammis, would you like me to run you all the way up to your doorway?”
    “What … ?”
    “Mother wanted to know if you wanted to come over and have hot cider, or if you had to get home immediately,” added Allyson quickly.
    “Cider sounds good …”
    “Then we’ll just take you to our place. All right, Mother?”
    “If you think that is all right, dear. But won’t your father and mother worry? Especially in this weather … and if it gets icy …”
    By then, the steamer was nearing the turnoff for our drive. I looked up. A pair of soldiers stood by the drive, each carrying some sort of weapon.
    “Just keep going, Mother.” Allyson’s voice was commanding.
    “If you say so … dear … but … what are those men doing there? Doesn’t your father work for the government, Sammis? Is there something wrong?”
    Germania kept driving toward the Davniadses’, and the soldiers watched us go without even turning their heads.
    I felt cold again—very cold. Why would soldiers be stationed at our house? Did it have something to do with all the coincidences, or with the power losses?
    Allyson was looking at me. She raised her eyebrows.
    I shrugged, and shook my head. “Don’t know.” My words were barely more than mouthed.
    She nodded.
    Although I continued to study the lower part of our grounds until we started up the wide drive to the Davniadses’, nothing seemed changed—except for the soldiers.
    “Here we are … I do believe that I will put the steamer in the locker. The weather will not do it any good, and we certainly don’t plan to go anywhere …”
    “Sammis?”
    “No. When it’s time to go home, I’ll just take the back path. It’s
sheltered most of the way, and it’s quicker than driving.” More important, I could take it and not be seen. Perhaps someone in a case my father had been prosecuting had made a threat against him. That had happened once several years ago, and we had soldiers guarding the area for weeks. But nothing had ever happened.
    The steamer hummed to a stop inside the locker building.
    “Mother, if you would see to the cider, Sammis and I will drain the tank and close up …”
    “If you wouldn’t mind …”
    “It’s certainly no problem,” I volunteered.
    “Would you like your cider straight … or with chyst?”
    I opened the door and scrambled out, carefully checking the hinges before closing it. “With chyst, please.”
    The drainage hose was in about the same place as in our locker, and I unrolled it, attaching the funnel clip to the end. The gray steamer—the name plate said Altera—had one of the new side pipe drains, which made it easy.
    Unless it was going to be cold enough to freeze, steamers didn’t need to have their water drained, but Mother—she was the mechanical one—always insisted that both of ours be drained whenever they were not in use. Allyson didn’t object when I began to drain the water. It was almost clear, the sign of a well-maintained vehicle.
    Allyson was topping off the etheline, presumably so that she did not have to do it in the morning. But etheline never froze, not in Bremarlyn, anyway, although in places like Southpoint all the steamers had to have heating systems built into the water and fuel bunkers and even into the steamers themselves.
    I finished draining off the water and closed the