JORR (Jim Able: Offworld Book 7) by Ed Charlton (ebook reader ink .txt) 📗

will take some practice to judge distances using it; they are not truly stereo images.”

“This is amazing. I look left but see as if I’d turned around. This is going to make me dizzy. You try it.”

Tamric put on the helmet. He turned his head slowly and then shifted round until his back was toward Jim. “There is a few degrees’ gap immediately behind, but if you move enough, I can see the motion.”

“It’s amazing! Let me have another go.”

Jim tried the helmet again, standing up and slowly moving around the cavity of the boat. He stubbed his toes several times and bumped the helmet on a beam.

“Was our path correct?” asked Tamric.

“I think it was. Can we alter the balance still? I need more visible and slightly less infrared.”

“Yes, the gain will work as before.”

Jim felt under one edge of the helmet for the visor controls.

“Oh yeah...that’s better. This is good, very good.”

“Thank you. Daum Robertus would expect nothing less.”

Jim sat down opposite Tamric. “So that’s how you guys build ships? By meditating on every decision?”

“Of course. In all we do, we strive for clarity, nirrovah, and quality.”

“Wait, what’s ‘nirrorvar’?”

“I’m sorry. There is no Standard word for nirrovah. It means...oh, it means so many things: the correct choice of resources, their appropriateness, their fitting well together. It is also the search we spoke of—the navigation of the path through the simple and the complex. I cannot translate it fully. I am only beginning to understand it myself. It is the foundation of true quality. You can produce something that seems of quality but does not work or is not right. Nirrovah is ensuring that what you built is the right thing. Only when you have nirrovah can you then concentrate effectively on the true quality of what you are doing.”

“I guess it helps to have good tools too,” Jim said, nodding at Tamric’s miniature workshop.

“Of course. The creation of this tool was achieved in the same way. In all our production shops, in all our distribution, in all our activities, we follow the one practice. It is who we are. It is what we do.”

“I’m impressed. Thank you.” Jim took the helmet from him and held it up in salute.

Tamric opened two protein packs and gave one to Jim. “We must now decide how to proceed with our tasks.”

“Yeah. We learned a lot yesterday.”

Tamric sighed. “The base will be locked down tightly. They know we are here and can rightly deduce our intent.”

“They know we are here, but the timing is also important. They are near to launching the fleet. All this traffic and the gra’s...sensitivities...all point to it. The basic logistics of such a venture are our best hope.”

“Go on, please.”

“There will be constant traffic in and out of the base. With security at its height, they will need to check every vehicle. That’s a huge effort, requiring large numbers of troops. Now, they will have estimated the numbers they needed, but our showing up so close will panic them. They’ll probably have to pull guards off the less likely points of entry and redeploy them to check the main ones.”

Tamric nodded. “That sounds logical.”

“We just need to pick an unlikely point of entry.”

Tamric nodded and thought for a while.

“Do you think, now, we should wait for your Neraffan?”

“Not anymore. We don’t know how long Tella will take with the Jorrs. I don’t think we have the time. I’m counting on Tella to get us out of here. But I don’t think we can rely on anything more.”

“Very well. Let’s find our ‘unlikely point.’” Tamric pulled his map-pad out of his backpack and began to examine the images of the false lake. After several minutes of study, he offered the pad to Jim and said, “Notice the riverbed, where we currently are. It starts beyond the base but much farther north. It may flow through the entire complex. Once the road crosses the bridge where we crashed, it avoids the river. We are now in a dead zone between the canopy and the road.”

“You think we could follow the river in?”

“It seems possible. I’m sure there will be a barrier as the river comes under the canopy.”

“More than likely, but one that might be considered low priority.” Jim thought for a few moments. “Let’s do it. I hope mud isn’t the only thing we have to walk on.”

“We’ll soon find out.” Tamric smiled.

***

Jim went first, wearing the helmet. Tamric followed with the map-pad, quietly steering them through the old channels and sinks of a once-mighty river.

Their progress was slow and messy. The mud’s thickness varied every few minutes; many sickly streams fed through into the remaining flow of the stinking black water.

“You know what?” asked Jim after a couple of hours.

“What, Jim?”

“I’m thinking there should be the remains of footpaths along wherever the banks originally were. I’m dreaming of firm footing.”

“It’s possible. I don’t see anything on the images we have. That’s not to say they aren’t over there somewhere.”

Tamric stopped to turn and gaze at the low ridge, marking where the old riverbank might have been. He tensed and whispered, “Jim! Down!”

They squatted in the mud. Jim saw, without turning, the flare of a flier’s exhaust. It came from under the canopy and flew almost overhead.

They waited, silent and still, for several minutes. They waited for a second flier, but none came. They waited for the one they had seen to turn back to investigate. They waited until the strain of immobility overcame Jim and he whispered, “Let’s move on. How about the bank?”

“Let’s try.”

They climbed a slope to find that the low ridge gave them a view of a sunken trail beyond. It was sheltered from the base by patches of dead shrubs and tall brown grasses.

“My dream came true!” said Jim softly.

Tamric hesitated, “I like it, but it confines us if we are spotted.”

“But we’re less likely to be spotted.”

“Agreed. But we can’t see as far ahead if someone approaches us; we must go slowly.”

“True.