0397: Confrontation

Ziggurat #312

"I was just down in the landing bay," Abner Wade remarked to Lamont as the newspaperman approached the shuttle column in the center of the garden. "Mr. Spratt is wondering when you plan to return." He was sitting in the clearing around the column with four other colonists, evidently resting after their latest expedition to another level. They looked exhausted, their collars open and hair plastered to their heads with sweat.

"Presently," Lamont answered. "As soon as Miss Beckett is able to change into her Martian suit. How goes the reclamation effort?"

The stocky young man regarded Lamont thoughtfully. "Are you aiming to take her somewhere?"

Lamont hesitated, recalling Constance's evident reticence when speaking to him lately. "I plan to do some investigation," he said. "She's insisted on helping out."

"Is it dangerous?" Abner asked.

Lamont cleared his throat uncomfortably. "It could be," he admitted.

"Then I'm coming too," Abner proclaimed, standing to his feet.

"I'm sorry, chap," Lamont explained, "but I only have the equipment for the two of us."

The blunt-featured young man's face began to redden visibly. "I've got a suit too. What other equipment do you need?"

"I think it's best that I not go into detail here," Lamont insisted.

Another member of Abner's party stood up. It was Finnian Ward, the red-bearded mechanic. "Now just a minute, Townsend," he said warningly. "You're being mighty evasive here."

"Only because I've got to be," Lamont insisted, beginning to bristle.

"Do you?" Abner asked. "You're fixing to take Connie away from the colony and put her in some kind of danger. You expect us to just roll over?"

Lamont's eyes flickered between Abner and the other colonists, who were following suit and standing to their feet as well. He was surprised by Wade's aggressiveness; he knew that the young man felt protective toward Constance, but the menace that had begun to radiate from the group suggested that they were prepared to physically stop him from leaving with her. He wanted to assure them that he wasn't going to put her in unnecessary danger, but he couldn't even honestly assure himself of that. Perhaps it was for the best. By coming to the garden, he had fulfilled his obligation as far as he was concerned.

"Believe me," Lamont insisted, "I have no more desire to put Miss Beckett at risk than you do. I'm merely trying to do what she asked me to do. She's free to make her own decision."

"Decision about what?" Constance asked. She had arrived in the clearing without Lamont's noticing. Turning around, he saw that she was dressed in her form-fitting Martian vacuum suit, her sandy hair tamed into braids on either shoulder.

"That's what I've been trying to tease out," Abner answered, his eyes regarding her with open admiration. "Monty's got designs for you, but doesn't see fit to tell us what they are."

"That's because I told him to keep his mouth shut while he's in the garden," Constance explained, nodding at Lamont. "And if you have any notions of your own, I advise you to do the same."

"I hear you," Abner replied stiffly. "But it don't sit well."

Constance smiled reassuringly and put a copper-gloved hand on Abner's thick arm. The gesture was striking; as Lamont recalled, she had always been rather gruff with him. Had her attitude toward Abner shifted of late? "I'll be careful," she promised him. "And I'll be back."