Chap. 284 Loggerheads

Chap. 284 Loggerheads

“Hello, K’ndar, may I come in?”

He looked up from his desk to see Jansen in the doorway. She had a look of excitement in her eyes.

Siskin chipped a hello from his perch high above K’ndar’s head.

“Hello, Siskin, you’re looking dapper today. Just had a bath?”

The blue fire lizard tilted his head, not understanding.

“We all three got wet yesterday. It was still warm enough for them to go fishing. I waded around in the water at Cove Hold. I wanted to see dolphins but they were somewhere way out in the ocean.”

She sat down next to his desk. “How nice it must be to just be able to go,” she said, wistfully.

He looked at her, wondering if she was just saying that as a conversation opener or wangling for an invite?

“Have you ever been Searched?”

She sighed. “Yes, but I didn’t make the cut, I guess.” She shrugged in acceptance. “No matter. Your desk is piled high. Hammer and tongs, eh?”

“I hate this, I’m trying to figure out how to do this bloody survey, fumbling about and getting nowhere. Except more confused,” he said, heatedly.

She looked worried.

“It’s difficult?”

“Aye. Where do I start? I had this ugly baby tossed in my lap without any form of guidance other than ‘I have the experience’. But the last expeditions, I was just a brown rider doing biology. I was fine. Now I’ve been poring over these pathetic maps coming from the database. As far as I can see the boundaries of Singing Waters and Southern Hold are nebulous at best.”

She nodded. “I know. These data are fifty years old, back when Piemur did his initial survey of Southern Hold. Lord Dorn-the first, not the present one, just extended his boundaries from Toric’s existent ones. His data collection skills weren’t, well, I won’t slam him, Piemur was just exploring. Any data he had was put on hides. You, and your team, on the other hand, will have paper notebooks, datalinks, dragons, and that new toy, the laser rangefinder.”

He put his head in his hands. “It doesn’t matter if I had the entire Yokohama plotting my every step. Toys don’t answer the basic question, what do I do? I feel as if I ‘m blindfolded at an archery match and expected to hit the mark precisely, every single time.”

“Don’t worry too much, K’ndar. Please. No one will behead you if something isn’t precise to the millimeter. To be frank, no one in Science Division knows how to do this. Either.”

Then why me, he thought, but he held his tongue.

She froze, her jaw dropping. “What you said, K’ndar! By the egg, why didn’t we think of it earlier? “

“Think of what? Archery?”

“No, silly, the Yokohama!”

“What do you mean?”

She put up her hand, obviously trying to block him out as she thought.

“Ssh, I’m thinking, and if I interrupt my brain I’ll lose it.”

He sat back in his chair, glad for the break.

“Yes. Yes. I am such a wherry, why didn’t I think of this earlier? K’ndar, it’s easy. I’ll talk to the Yokohama. And the database. Between the two, I’ll plot a course for you, I bet I can break it down to a daily target! I’ll put the maps on your datalinks, a daily objective, and even a paper map just in case you can’t get a link.”

“You can do that?” he asked, hope dawning in his anxious mind.

“Yes, and I’m sorry I didn’t think of it earlier.”

“What if, um, what if I don’t make the daily objective? Some of those areas are going to be pretty hairy when we’re on foot. I’ve read Piemur’s accounts in the database. He didn’t keep the best of records, I can’t blame him. He also did a lot of bushwhacking and sidetracking. If where we’re going to be going includes rain forest or jungle, I can promise you that we’ll be creeping along, having to hack our way through thick and chewy stuff. I don’t know what I’m heading into.”

Shards. Another thing to add to the ever growing equipment list. Machetes. And something for blisters.

“That won’t matter, there’s no set end date, for one, and two, the objective will be just a suggestion. I think, because I’m all at sea about the entire thing, too.”

He shook his head, his misgivings growing ever larger.

“I’m about ready to ask Raylan if I can just say no to this.”

“K’ndar. I know it looks like you’ve been served an entire Turnover wherry with just a spoon to carve it with. But I trust his judgment. I can arrange the course for you, hopefully it will make it easier. Give it a go, at least?”

I’m stuck, he thought. He shrugged, noncommittal.

That’s not an affirmative, or a denial, she thought. Why did Raylan stick ME with this? I don’t do this sort of thing. I’m not Grafton, a counselor, a headman. My job is just inputting data, massaging it, analyzing it. I don’t like pressuring K’ndar.

“Let me jot down my plans before I forget.” Her fingers flew over the board.

“There. I‘ll have a preliminary plot for you in, um, maybe by tomorrow? It’s not set in stone, you can always tweak it. Now then, I didn’t come here to give you another headache. It’s not why I’m here.”

She was stuck, too, he thought. Why isn’t Raylan proposing this, instead of dropping in her lap?

“Okay, but it’s always a pleasure to talk to you,” he said, hoping to reassure her. She beamed.

“Thank you. I’m here because last week, early? You led a blue rider named L’ichen here. You showed him where to find Elene and then left him.”

Shards, he thought, did that twit whinge? I’m not a babysitter.

“I’m in trouble for that?” he said, getting angry.

“No, no, no, no. Not at all. What Science Division wants to know is, where did he go? Where is he living, they want to talk to him. I think they want to hire him.”

“HIRE him? He’s just a dragon riding Miklos.”

“Maybe so, K’ndar, but his data collection skills are incredible.”

He nodded. He’d merely skimmed a few pages in the blue rider’s notebook. The tiny numbers, so precise, the intricate drawings he’d made of plants down to the ovary level-the young man’s notebook looked more like art than pure science.

“I saw his notebook. It DID look very neat, very precise, very, um, voluminous. Like he spent every waking, non-duty moment on his knees, counting plants.”

“Precisely, K’ndar. Blindfolded at an archery meet you might be, but you’re in the gold. That’s what he HAS been doing. For years. I’ll bet it was even before he impressed his dragon.”

“How do you know that?”

“When you introduced him to Elene, he had A notebook for turn in.”

“Yes, I told him that Elene always gave me a new notebook for one I turned in.”

“And they’ve always been neatly done, with sketches, maps, everything shipshape. Remember, I scanned in your notebooks. You do good work, K’ndar.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you saw my field notebooks, the ones I keep.”

“It doesn’t matter, the ones you turned in are very professional. L’ichen, though, didn’t turn in just a notebook. He turned in a backpack full of data. On hides.”

“No! On hides?”

“Yes. He’d mentioned that it was his first ever notebook. Where he got it, I don’t know. I think Elene said it wasn’t from Landing’s printing press. All the rest of his data is, was, on hides. Like old times, before we had printing presses, before we started harvesting papergrass. Just like what you and I and people two thousand years before us used. Hides.”

He was gobsmacked. “I THOUGHT he was taking a long time to pack up his data. So, how many hides?”

“Two dozen. They go back years. He’d taken great care with them, they’re quite legible but still, a hide is a hide. He wasn’t interested in getting them back. I can’t blame him, hides are heavy and they tend to rot. Elene said he doesn’t really care what happened to them. That was a relief for me, I scanned in every hide he had, and then turned them over to the tanners to be recycled. I think the collection is the thing that interests him, not what happens to the data after it’s annotated.”

“Hmm. And he only wanted one notebook?”

“Uh huh, although Elene insisted he take six. He said he’d be back when he filled them up, now that he knows how to get here.”

“And now they want to hire him?”

“Yes. His data are incredible. No matter if it’s on hides or notebook, they provide the most detailed census of plant life we’ve ever seen. It’s from everywhere, Northern, Southern, some of the Eastern Islands. Even the database was less detailed. He’s discovered species of plants that have no name, no known genus. He’s singlehandedly quadrupled the number of species we know live here on Pern, the population numbers of each, the soil conditions, the families, the amount of rainfall and grubs, whether it was adapted to Thread, even coordinates using lat long or cairns. He’s born to it, like you were born a biologist. But he doesn’t seem to care what becomes of the data. To him, I guess, it’s the chase and the annotation, not what can be done with it afterwards.”

“Huh. I have to admit, he did seem obsessed. And mind you, that was just the one conversation I had with him. I’ve not seen him since.”

“Raylan wants him. Hire or contract, Raylan wants me to train him on inputting data and then set him loose with a datalink. He even mentioned possibly attaching him to your survey.”

Resentment exploded in his mind.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I’m a biologist, not a surveyor, I didn’t want this leadership job and was told I wasn’t to do biology. Now I’m to take this blue rider because he collects data better than anyone?” he shouted.

“K’ndar. Stop.” she said, surprised at his reaction.

“Jansen! From the word launch, I’ve felt unready to take this on. I was told I’m boss of it, given my choice of team, and then it’s been strictly hands off from Raylan and everyone else. I had B’rost foisted on me, and I only hope I can keep him leashed. Now you want me to take L’ichen? From what I’ve seen of him, and again, I only know from that one meeting, it takes him hours to move from one meter square to the next. Granted, I believe that he really understands ecology, and the environment. He said the steppe is changing, and he’s right. But I want to do this survey in a few weeks, not spend a year watching him kneeling and counting every tiny speck of plant beneath his nose.”

“Um,” she said.

“I mean it, Jansen, I am considering asking Raylan if I can be relieved of this. Put someone else in charge. I’ll go as a biologist, if it’s data collection he wants, but otherwise, I’m this close to saying, no thank you. If it means being fired, well, I suppose that’s a price I’m considering.”

“Don’t say that, K’ndar! You can’t be serious!”

“I don’t know if I am or not. I have to think it through. I like this job, I like being here at Landing, but if Raylan or whomever keeps galloping me up to higher and higher jumps, ones I’ve said I can’t handle, eventually I’m going to refuse. I’m just a dragonrider, Jansen, and before that I was a herdsman. That’s all I am. Not a leader, not a survey planner, and certainly not a manager or supervisor.”

I shouldn’t shout at her, she’s not to blame, he thought. But I’ve had enough.

She looked glumly at her hands. I had a feeling he’d react like this and I can’t blame him, she thought. I’m not human relations, Raylan, this is really your job.

“I…I don’t want you to leave, K’ndar. You’re more than ‘just’ a dragonrider and a herdsman. You’re a fine biologist and a kind man. You’re well liked here and highly respected and Landing would be worse with your leaving. I believe you when you say you’re overburdened. I think your objections are valid. So, I’m going out on a limb here, but I will tell Raylan that you don’t believe you can do your job as survey boss with the limitations that L’ichen’s method and pace of data collection poses. I don’t think Raylan knew that, he was just over both moons with the depth and quality of L’ichen’s data.

If I can, no, I know I can, provide you with a detailed course of action, with objectives not set in stone, AND get Raylan to understand that he’s asking too much by including L’ichen, will that change your mind?”

He looked through her, thinking. I hate being at the crossroads like this. For one brief moment, I was free of this whole thing, I felt like I’d lost twenty kilos off my shoulders. But I did say I’d lead the survey. No, I didn’t. It was an order, a finely worded one, but still, an order. I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep. I didn’t promise! It wasn’t my idea at all! I don’t want L’ichen. It’s not fair. But I don’t want to sound like a whinger, either.

He sighed and focused on her. She was such a kind, nice person, and now here I’m making her unhappy. But shards, so am I. Why isn’t it Raylan putting this to me, instead of having Jansen do it? Is it because he knows I’m going to object, but he thinks I’ll acquiesce because it’s Jansen? That’s not right. But shabash, he’s pretty sharp. He knows me better than I thought. How can I say no to Jansen?

He nodded. “I think so. Thank you for understanding.”

“You’re welcome. I think you should know that Raylan does this to people he has tremendous confidence in. Trust me, when I first started working for him, I felt like I was the only crew member on his three masted ship. He thinks the world of you, K’ndar, and it’s not just because his wife Francie seems to consider you a kid brother. I can see your point, and I know I’d feel resentful if I were you. So, let’s set this aside for now. It’s not the reason I came here for.”

“No?”

“No. Raylan wants to interview L’ichen for a position as botanist. Since Lefsa left, we’re down to zero in Botany, and his data showed how badly we need one.”

“Lefsa left? Hadn’t she been promoted to taxonomist?”

“Yes, but, we sent her out to the west coast to check on the oat crop situation there, and we finally got word that she’s resigning for real, this time, and is staying there. She said she’ll send data as she gets it, but she’s no longer interested in being at Landing anymore. She’s asked to have her belongings shipped there, she’s not even coming back to officially sign out.”

“Um, that was rude.”

“Aye. She always was flighty, like a flutter in a windstorm, never satisfied as to where to settle.”

That’s another person I’m glad I won’t have to deal with, he thought.

“Okay, I guess, if that’s what she wants, it’s her choice. So Raylan wants to hire L’ichen?”

“Interview first, then he decides.”

“Whatever. Don’t take this the wrong way, because I know you’re just the messenger. Why are you asking me about L’ichen?”

“I’m not taking offense. We want to know, where is L’ichen?”

“Where?”

“Yes, where does he live?”

“Isn’t he at Kahrain Weyr? That’s where I met him, at the Impression.”

“No. Kahrain Weyr has no idea who L’ichen is. The only person who knows anything about him is you, and Elene. You two are the only people here at Landing who had any contact with him.”

“And B’rost, but that was only for the few minutes it took to launch for Landing. Once I got here, I showed him where Administration and the Library are, and left him.”

He said he was from Greystones Hold, and impressed Sorath at Benden Raventh said.

“Raventh just reminded me, he said he was from Greystones Hold, somewhere up north, and impressed and trained at Benden. And he said he’d signed in at Kahrain, even mentioned the wing he’d been assigned to.”

“Kahrain begs to differ. They’ve never heard of him. But that’s okay. We recently input the names of every dragonrider on Pern, living and, as much as we could, dead. I’ll find him,” she said, brightening. Her fingers flew over her datalink.

Then her shoulders slumped.

“Zero. Nichts, nein, nada. No “L’ichen” anywhere in the database.”

“What about searching for his dragon? Blue Sorath,” he said.

Jansen shook her head, dismayed. “You would think the database would include the names of dragons. It doesn’t.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Aye.” She didn’t take the sting personally. It WAS stupid. “That’s something it will take time to fix. Why wouldn’t the rider show up in the database?”

They both came to the conclusion at the same moment.

“L’ichen is an alias.”