Sweet Starfire

remarked.
    “Just don’t decide to trail your fingers in the water when we stop for the evening,” Severance advised.
    “I won’t.” She glanced at Overcash. “Do we stay on board the skimmer tonight?”
    “No. Some dracon or a skater might decide to get playful. Skimmers are safest when they’re in motion. We’ll stay on shore.”
    “Is that any safer?”
    Overcash chuckled. “Sure. We’ve got the heavy-duty deflectors and the armor tents. No problem. If something does decide to come looking for a midnight snack, we’ll have plenty of warning. Not much can get through a deflector. Severance, here, wouldn’t have brought you along if there was any real danger.”
    “On the contrary,” Severance informed him, “I had to bring her along because she digs up the worst trouble when she’s on her own.”
    They turned off the main river later that afternoon, swinging into a tributary that wasn’t quite as thick with sediment as the first waterway had been. This river was also narrower than the first, and the walls of vegetation on either side seemed to loom higher and closer. But that might be just a trick of the waning light, Cidra told herself. She realized that she wasn’t looking forward to camping out this evening.
    As if he sensed her uneasiness, Severance became more talkative. He gave her a dissertation on how effective the big deflector screens were and how they had revolutionized field camps on Renaissance. The invisible grids they produced were based on the same principle as the Screamer. They were set to repel any creature with nerve impulses different than those of human beings.
    “I get the feeling that some things out there haven’t even got nerves.” But Cidra made the observation with a smile to show Severance that she wasn’t really worried. Wonderful what Harmonic training could do when it came to covering up one’s true feelings. Or perhaps she was so adept at it because she had been covering up the Wolf side of herself for so many years.
    Overcash chose the campsite just as the shadows along the river became uncomfortably long. With the instinct of a good guide he managed to find a rare break in the undergrowth. Carefully he slowed the skimmer, letting it sink down onto the water. The craft rocked slightly in the lethargic current while the pilot made it fast. A flexible landing plank emerged when Overcash activated a control panel.
    “I don’t see enough room here to erect a couple of tents,” Cidra observed, eyeing the bank. The vegetation was thinner along this stretch of bank, but it was still fairly spectacular to her eyes. She watched as a small, wriggly creature flashed on the bank and slid into the water. Cidra had a mental picture of it sliding just as easily into a tent.
    “Don’t worry, we’ll make a little space for ourselves.” Overcash went into the cabin and came back with a long-barreled machine that had a squat base.
    “What’s that?” Cidra asked.
    “A crisper.” Overcash switched on the machine, and a narrow band of white flame jumped out, searing the vegetation it touched. With a few sweeping movements the guide cleared a relatively large area along the bank. The undergrowth that had fallen into the path of the crisper smoked for a moment, wilted, and then disintegrated.
    “I guess that’s one way of dealing with too many weeds.” Cidra was a little appalled by the small devastation.
    “Too bad this thing hasn’t got a longer range,” Overcash remarked, stowing the machine. “It would make a useful weapon.”
    The deflector screens were hauled out next. They were charged on the skimmer’s power cells and then carried ashore. Severance helped the pilot set them up so that they produced a grid that completely encircled the campsite. Occasional tiny hissing noises gave notice that the screens were working. Inside the protected area the light metal tents were erected , two of them, Cidra noticed. Severance moved his and Cidra’s small travel packs into one. Neither he nor Overcash seemed to have any interest in how Cidra felt about the sleeping situation. It was apparently a foregone conclusion that she belonged in Severance’s tent. She shouldn’t have been surprised. Among Wolves it was clear that when a man and a woman spent time together, it was assumed that they had a sexual relationship. Well, she thought bracingly, she’d already lived with him for two weeks in the confines of a mail ship. This wasn’t much more intimate, all